1964 beetle restoration

[platon]

If I remember correctly it was almost a closed loop. You could tack it together if you would like, but I was trying to replicate the other end that was still on the pedal which was not tacked. The tabs were made out of 2mm sheet steel which was not easy at all to bend, so I hope it will stay together and in shape. The accelerator pedal pin was so rusty that I cut it in pieces in order to remove it. Instead of replacing it with a new one, I chose to use a 6mm shoulder bolt and nylock nut. This way, the pedal pivots on the shoulder of the bolt and there is the added benefit (I think) that you can remove the accelerator pedal without having to remove the whole pedal assembly from the car.

Platon
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my 1964 beetle restoration:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=617809&highlight=

[Chicken Helmet]

Much respect. My 65 is in a similar state and i've been hesitant to tackle this much work and I work for a body shop, albeit an estimator. Can't wait to see yours finished and mine to this point. Thanks for the inspiration and taking the time to share.

[wardk]

Platon you do impressive work and must have the patience of an oyster. I've been welding on my 61 rag for 2 months and it is not any where near the project yours is. The part that gets me is every time I cut out a piece the stuff underneath is worse. I only have the lower door skins left and the welding will be done. YEH. I love your build it's inspiring.

[platon]

Really nice to see that this thread has provided inspiration for other people who put effort on restoring their beetles. I have been inspired by other build threads from the samba of too far gone cars that have been reborn, to keep my project going. These old cars are often full of nasty surprises when you dig into them, but it seems to me that staying calm, focused and treating each problem as an individual small project will get you there eventually.

Platon
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my 1964 beetle restoration:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=617809&highlight=

[platon]

Last update of the year for the project. 2016 will find the body in 2k primer.

After quite some time, the body is in one color again! I was back to bodywork for some time now, aiming to prepare the body for paint. That involved mainly countless hours of filling and sanding and trying to get the metal as straight as possible. I managed to spray the body in 2k primer and I will be very happy if I succeed in having it painted before the end of January.

Of course filling and sanding is not a process that will produce photographs of any particular interest, but perhaps I can post a couple of photos of my driver's door wobbly hinge recondition. I had to improvise here as hinge pins for pre-67 bugs were not readily available, so I built my own set up with the help of my lathe.

As the hole at the hinge body had been 'ovaled', I decided to drill it out to a considerably larger diameter and then build a steel tube insert on the lathe that I press fit into the hinge body. That restored the hole to the original diameter of 8mm. Then, I cut an 8mm brass rod to length which acts as a hinge pin. It worked very well and its not far from the original look. Having the hinge repaired allowed for the door to be adjusted properly.

Furthermore, I built a jig for the body to sit on so that I could get paint to all the places underneath and move it around if I have to. Very useful!

The body is in 2K primer now, waiting to be sanded for once more.

Happy New Year!

Platon
_________________
my 1964 beetle restoration:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=617809&highlight=

[platon]

After some delays due to family reasons, I managed to paint the car! Colour is the original L87 pearl white that it left the factory 52 years ago. I took the risk and did it at home but I think it turned out ok.

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my 1964 beetle restoration:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=617809&highlight=

[platon]

It's been two months since my last update on the thread and during that time the reassembly of the car has progressed quite a bit. Feels like this might end up being a long post. I'll do my best to keep it reasonable.

The reassembly started with the installation of the wiring loom which travels through the roof of the car. The 52 year old wiring loom had to be replaced. It was an accident waiting to happen as the damaged insulation of many of the wires would definately cause a short circuit in the future. The main wiring loom was copied and all the wires on the car were replaced with new ones.

New vs old wiring loom

After installation of the new loom, I could proceed at installing the new headliner

Started with the insulating material

New rubber boots on headliner bows

Started installing the headliner

I'm not happy with the way I installed it. I failed to tighten it up as much as I would like (or I should have) but on the other hand its not complete crap. Just an average result. I can live with that for now.

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my 1964 beetle restoration:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=617809&highlight=

[platon]

Then I started restoring individual components and installing them on the car

Horn

Amazing what you can find when cleaning old parts out. This washer came with the non original 12V horn and was stamped 'Made in Poland, 11 / 1981'.

And although the scratched note cannot be seen clearly in the picture, the speedometer was opened for some reason in March 1978 when the car had covered 97.536km

Door swithes

Various relays cleaned up nicely

Headlights, although not in bad condition, had some room for improvement

I tried to maintain attention to detail as much as possible

Window installation

New engine seal installed

Windshield wipers were refurbished

Running boards needed some work

After wire brush, some welding, 1 coat of rust stabiliser, 2 coats of primer and two coats of paint, they were looking much nicer

And fully assembled

_________________
my 1964 beetle restoration:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=617809&highlight=

[wcfvw69]

You're doing a nice job there on your bug!

Keep up the good work.
_________________
Contact me at [email protected]
Follow me on instagram @sparxwerksllc

Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.

**Now rebuilding throttle bodies for VW's and Porsche's**
**Restored German Bosch distributors for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored German Pierburg fuel pumps for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche fuel pumps or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche distributors or I can restore yours**

[platon]

This piece of engine insulation material had to be replicated

It was made by two pieces of tarboard cut to shape and joined together

The sunvisor and mirror assembly would not do as it was

So the mirror was polished and the sunvisor ends were painted

The licence plate light needed some cleaning, a new wire and two fresh gaskets

One of them was not available so a template had to be made to cut one from scratch

Decklid handle was cleaned and polished

The old bumper blade (on top) had some serious rust spots and some dents. I chose to replace it with a new one (bottom).

The remaining pieces were rechromed

Bumper brackets were wire wheeled, primed and painted

Front bumper assembled

Rear bumper was in better condition, so it was just given some tlc

_________________
my 1964 beetle restoration:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=617809&highlight=

[platon]

Finally, it was time for another big chapter of the restoration, the engine (which worked fine but looked awful).

So I started the disassembly

Along the way I had to fabricate some of the special tools required, like a tool to loosen the special nut that holds the oil filler neck and a tool to remove the oil pump

I started restoring each part individually before I started reassembly of the engine

Exhaust

Generator

Valve covers

Carburator

Intake manifold heat riser tube was fully(!) blocked with carbon. Even mineral spirits could not travel from one end of the tube to the other!. I cut it in three different areas so that I could insert a drill bit long enough to unclog it.

Heads

Broken exhaust studs had to be drilled out

One side cleaned, other pending

Both of them done

Made this tool to remove the worn valve guides

_________________
my 1964 beetle restoration:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=617809&highlight=

[platon]

Reassembly of the engine

Its done

A little of improvisation to get it near the car

Getting close

Job done

Hope you enjoy the thread.

Platon
_________________
my 1964 beetle restoration:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=617809&highlight=

[67rustavenger]

You sir ROCK!
Just amazing work. I must compliment you on your English. It's better than most here in the USA.
Keep up the fantastic work.
Have a great weekend.
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I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[andk5591]

Very Very nice!
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D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[Volktales]

Very inspiring work you have done there. Very nice! Love how you fabricated so many of your own panels and done your own paintwork too.
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1974 "Restfalia" Camper 2000 cc EFI 2001-
1970 Beetle first car, rotten, yard art 1985-
1966 Sunroof Beetle, restored 1998-
1964 Ghia, ongoing project 2007-
1962 Beetle Beryl,original paint survivor 2012-
1970 Savannah Beige Beetle 2012-
1992 16v GTI, 100% stock 2006-
1991 "Terseo", wife's old daily 1995-
1969 Chevrolet CST/10 (family owned since new)
1965 Gold Corvair Monza 2021-
1966 and 1965 Monza 2022-

[samstheman]

Homeward stretch nice job.

[Pitwhip]

Very nice work. Gave me some inspiration to do a complete resto to mine. Thanks!

[Bilscho]

That is one luck bug, well done!!

[platon]

Hi again and thanks for the positive comments. It is very rewarding to hear a good thing or two after all the hard effort!

these are the front seats of the bug. They needed a little bit of tlc.

The left one is not the original. For some reason it was changed in the past and it probably is from a '65-'67 bug.

Seat frames were rusty

They were wire wheeled epoxy primed etc and then painted.

I then sent all the pieces to be retrimmed. The non original seat was converted to a 64 and earlier style. They ended up looking like this, which is the closest we could get to the original specification.

_________________
my 1964 beetle restoration:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=617809&highlight=

[platon]

The steering wheel was not in very bad shape, but it was full of small cracks and a few larger ones.

All cracks were opened with a dremel tool and filled with a very hard two part epoxy. Then the wheel was sanded down, primed and painted.

The finished wheel in the car

_________________
my 1964 beetle restoration:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=617809&highlight=