Restoration of our 66 Bug in Arizona

Cusser · Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2014 9:33 pm Post subject:

On my 2004 Frontier, I used aerosol silicone lube on the window channel, helped the power window work.

I've never tried that spray on rubber, or on my VW.
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

The Volkswagen Ranch · Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2014 6:43 am Post subject:

I used CRC Heavy Duty Silicone. Spray on the channels and on the inside of the wipers. Did not hurt paint.. Cleans off the paint and trim with window cleaner. Used an old towel, rubbed it in . Coats the rubber and soaks in. Amazed at the difference. Work the window up and down each time you spray. Lube the regulator with lithium grease as well.
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1963 Convertible (Lizzie) and 1964 Convertible (Patience) 1976 Westfalia (Winnie)

Rustforlife · Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2014 7:44 am Post subject:

Awesome work, the car is coming along!
I can't seem to get the link for the bus master cyl reservoir to work, can you repost it please?
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1956 Ragtop

AZ66Bug · Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2014 10:38 am Post subject:

Rustforlife · Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2014 1:01 pm Post subject:

AZ66Bug · Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 6:12 pm Post subject:

FINALLY, we are working on the headliner. This is a chore we were not looking forward to, but so far it is looking pretty good - especially for our first try at a headliner of any sort. We went with a Sewfine conversion headliner in perforated off-white. Watched (twice) all six episodes of Chris of Classic VW doing an original headliner and then got a hold of the interior video from Jbug where they demonstrate a conversion style HL. Watched that twice as well. We decided to use contact cement as they did in the Jbug video to avoid all the overspray issues with the spray can adhesives. I think that was a good choice even though we still managed to get a little in places we did not intend to.

Started with the door pillars and then went for the full one-piece top, which includes the back window and the rear pillars. Had a little trouble positioning the 5 metal rods on the first go around. Took a break, tore it out and tried again with much better results. That has been a key to our relative success. When things go south and you get frustrated - take a step back and come back fresh.

We are about 3/4 of the way done and I think it looks pretty good. I think a little work with a hair drier and misting with water will take out some of those wrinkles that popped up but we'll have to see. Will finish up the rear pillars and then the three little separate pieces that cover under the rear window and under the two side windows in the back.

Its the kind of thing that would be nice to practice on someone else's car first! Don't plan to do this again anytime soon Laughing

Will post the full install in about a week. Once this HL is in it is pretty much downhill to the finish with the rest of the interior.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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66 Beetle Sedan, restored 2014
66 Mustang: Original Owner, restored 2008
66 Ford F250: 4th Owner, restored 2013

The Volkswagen Ranch · Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 6:25 pm Post subject:

Let me know if you would like to borrow my heat gun...remember, I am only about 15 minutes away. Bob
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1963 Convertible (Lizzie) and 1964 Convertible (Patience) 1976 Westfalia (Winnie)

AZ66Bug · Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 6:40 pm Post subject:

Thanks Bob. Been using the wife's hairdryer so far and that seems to be working pretty well.
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66 Beetle Sedan, restored 2014
66 Mustang: Original Owner, restored 2008
66 Ford F250: 4th Owner, restored 2013

AZ66Bug · Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 10:14 pm Post subject:

More progress on the interior. Finally got the headliner completed. Wish we had a practice car for this task! Not perfect, but serviceable. The toughest part was the rear pillars. Just did not know where to start and there are lots of really odd bumps and curves in this part of the car. A few more wrinkles than we would like around the rear seat bumpers but that will largely hide behind the rear seat.

Once the headliner was defeated it was time for carpeting. A little challenging but not too bad. Started by laying down padding in the rear area and on the floor panel area. Next came the carpet. Started with the two pieces that fit over the heat channels and then on to the tunnel. Next were the front kick panel areas, the "firewall" and then the floor. The trick we used was to attach half of each panel at a time. With that spray on glue it is just too risky to coat the whole thing and then hope you can lay it down in the correct place. We positioned each piece and the held it in place while applying glue to half the panel. Once that first half was in place the second half was a relative breeze. Finally, we did the rear fender humps - quite challenging - and then the easy part - the floor and engine wall behind the seat.

The rear door panels gave us a bit of trouble as it is really hard to figure out where the clips need to be placed around the perimeter of the panel. Ended up making a template out of 1/8 hardboard. Then we used a little bit of print making ink on the rubber boots in each hole in the body. Then we simply pressed the template into place and the ink was transferred to the template. Drilled out the holes in the template and then transferred the position of the holes on the actual panel. Never in a million years would we have gotten each angle correct without the template. It was a relative snap - pun intended - to push the panel into place with all the pins correctly placed. We think the front door panels will be easier since all the holes are pretty evenly spaced around the edges where the panel will fit. Oh, and we installed a vapor barrier on the rear panels using a thick plastic sheet and some of that rope putty you use for sealing windows. Made the install easy and reversible. That quality is not so critical in the rear but will be handy in the front doors.

Finally, got the rear pop-out windows installed after having them tinted to 50%. Rear window is tinted too and think we are going to have a local shop do the front and rear glass. Seen too many posts on windows breaking during install. We are happy to pass this task along to those who do it all the time.

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66 Beetle Sedan, restored 2014
66 Mustang: Original Owner, restored 2008
66 Ford F250: 4th Owner, restored 2013

sportin-wood · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 5:42 am Post subject:

Man, that looks clean! Very nice!
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Paused 66 project bug
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"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman. He's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." --- Jeff Spicoli

volkoman · Samba Member Joined: August 16, 2005 Posts: 50

Wow. That looks sweet

Cusser · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 8:20 am Post subject:

Good idea to have the windshield installed by an experienced person, it's safety glass, cracks readily easily.

The rear glass is tempered glass, completely different; I did the rear glass in my convertible, a sedan rear would be easier. But since having front done, very little extra to have them do the rear.

Bug looks really great, sure makes mine look like crap in comparison !!!
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

Stock66 · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 9:29 am Post subject:

Really nice job! Ill be ready for you guys to help me soon. Lol

AZ66Bug · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 10:21 am Post subject:

My son is already asking about the next project so he would be available to help others Very Happy

It has been a great learning experience for both of us.

Still have some work to do on adjusting the clutch cable and the carburetor. And we still have a pesky oil leak around the oil pump cover. I'm thinking the cover plate may not be perfectly flat. A new gasket and a bit of sealant did NOT do the job. It is a full flow set-up.
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66 Beetle Sedan, restored 2014
66 Mustang: Original Owner, restored 2008
66 Ford F250: 4th Owner, restored 2013

AZ66Bug · Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 8:42 pm Post subject:

With some time off around the holidays we are finishing up lots of little things and a few big ones on our restoration. Got the rear bumper installed and had a pro put in the front and rear window. Still have the deck lid to install. My son wants to keep an oil bath style air cleaner and our original one from the 1200 is not going to work with our new 1776 DP with a 34Pict-3. It just stands to proud and we will not be able to close the decklid. We think that an oil bath from a 67-68 might work on this intake and carb - are we correct??

Got the rear seat installed along with the lap/shoulder belts. The risers under the rear seat were not the correct size and so we had to send them back to Sewfine for a redo. This is the one and only thing that has not been perfect on the interior from Sewfine. For some reason our original risers were a little larger all around. Got the front door panels installed along with arm rests on both sides. A bit easier than the rear quarter panels because you can actually see where the clips need to seat. Still have the door handle and window crank to install. Given our experience with one door handle on the passenger side those are NOT going to be fun Crying or Very sad

Got the running boards installed along with the chip deflectors on both the front and rear fenders. Only had to make minor adjustments to get all the holes in the RB to line up with those on the body. Have to say the whole idea of running boards on a car that sits so low is kinda funny. Still, the fenders would look silly without tying things together.

Got the dash finalized after finally getting the radio bezel to look correct. We had the piece re-plated but the chrome guy did a pretty poor job of the brushed finish on the bezel face. We fixed that with some careful bead blasting and a bit of scotch bright rubbing. Also got the wiring completed behind the dash and installed the vinyl covered wire cover from Sewfine. Installed the wipers, the side mirrors, the rear view mirror and the visors. Front seats are in now as well but no photos just yet.

All that's left on the outside is the decklid and the original style hubcaps. We have the reproduction slotted wheels from CIP1 and are having a dickens of a time getting the hubcaps to fit. Looks like we will need to do some pretty serious bending of the 5 little clips. Anyone had similar experiences with these CIP1 wheels. We got the hubcaps from a seller here on Samaba. They are the nice polished SS ones.

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66 Beetle Sedan, restored 2014
66 Mustang: Original Owner, restored 2008
66 Ford F250: 4th Owner, restored 2013

ConcreteAce · Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 9:09 pm Post subject:

Excellent work on the carpet and headliner!
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Ethan Dunlap
Spring, Texas

'51 Deluxe
'61 Build
'68 Turbo Diesel Baja
'64 Ghia Vert
'61 Baja Build

Adam91 · Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 10:45 pm Post subject:

that interior came out very nice! the body color is sweet as well!

The Volkswagen Ranch · Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2015 7:26 am Post subject:

[quote="AZ66Bug"]installed and had a pro put in the front and rear window.

Who put in your windows? Need to reinstall front window and would like your guys name
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1963 Convertible (Lizzie) and 1964 Convertible (Patience) 1976 Westfalia (Winnie)

AZ66Bug · Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2015 7:31 am Post subject:

[quote="ashley1"]


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Restoration of our 66 Bug in Arizona
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