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Mon Aug 03, 2009 6:32 pm

Nice! Have fun with it.

Wed Sep 02, 2009 8:35 am

Dont sell It!!!!!!!!!! You can fix it.

Wed Sep 02, 2009 12:37 pm

I am doing the same thing with my 57 barn find
good thing is that I am at the put back together stage afte a year of body work and parts cleaning
looking for to share progress with you

Gene C
Burlingame ca

Wed Sep 02, 2009 12:53 pm

I know that it's not my call or anything, but I hope that you put it back Coral Red! Awesome OG color.

Wed Sep 02, 2009 6:37 pm

Quote: I had to buy the 1 car that was resprayed the right way! Will post some pics when I get a chance.

I had the exact same issue with my car...the repaint looked like crap but it was prepped very well.

Fri Nov 20, 2009 5:22 am

hello all, this is my first post! i bought this oval through thesamba. the previous owner decided he couldn't handle the rust repair. the photo above shows the '57 sitting behind the shop where i work. currently i am saving/buying the sheet metal parts to repair the rust. obviously, the floorpans need to be replaced. the heater channels, front and rear aprons, along with a few other holes will need to be repaired. the fenders aren't too bad...they will need tlc with a hammer and dolly along with a few rust repairs.

since most of the original parts are there, including the engine block, and all the numbers match, i would like to restore her to her former glory.

while i'm waiting for the floorpans to arrive from wolfsburg west, i disassembled the pedal assembly. the original accelerator wheel has a lot of slop in it, so i drew a wheel in solidworks, grabbed some aluminum bar, and machined a new wheel. i added more meat in the center to press an oilite bearing which will slide on a stainless steel shaft bolted to the original arm. i will post some pics of this if anyone is interested.

Fri Nov 20, 2009 6:16 pm

I like it...I like it...I like it...Very cool. 8)

Fri Nov 20, 2009 6:31 pm

flyertim wrote:

hello all, this is my first post! i bought this oval through thesamba. the previous owner decided he couldn't handle the rust repair. the photo above shows the '57 sitting behind the shop where i work. currently i am saving/buying the sheet metal parts to repair the rust. obviously, the floorpans need to be replaced. the heater channels, front and rear aprons, along with a few other holes will need to be repaired. the fenders aren't too bad...they will need tlc with a hammer and dolly along with a few rust repairs.

since most of the original parts are there, including the engine block, and all the numbers match, i would like to restore her to her former glory.

while i'm waiting for the floorpans to arrive from wolfsburg west, i disassembled the pedal assembly. the original accelerator wheel has a lot of slop in it, so i drew a wheel in solidworks, grabbed some aluminum bar, and machined a new wheel. i added more meat in the center to press an oilite bearing which will slide on a stainless steel shaft bolted to the original arm. i will post some pics of this if anyone is interested.
Good luck! She'll be a beauty and worth all the labor you'll put in to her!

Sat Nov 21, 2009 9:02 am

Nice! I'm glad to see it's staying in OH too....

Sun Nov 22, 2009 1:58 am

machining the replacement accelerator wheel...

here's the blank in the lathe...a chunk of 6061 aluminum bar from a previous project.

making chips! just finished step two...beginning to machine the pockets on the mill.

the final step, a ball end mill is used to add the radius at the bottom of the pockets.

the finished wheel! all that's needed is some bead blasting to remove the tool marks. i made a few in case i messed up anything. i build and design private experimental aircraft for a living, so these parts will find their way into a bunch of aircraft parts to get powdercoated (free!!! :D ). when i get them back, i will press in an oilite bushing which will rotate on a stainless steel pin i have yet to machine. i will mount the wheel onto the original vw arm. i plan to add an oilite bushing to the bottom of the arm as well. this should last quite a long time. no more loose accelerator pedal!

Sun Nov 22, 2009 6:21 pm

Great work ! i have made a few vw parts myself over the years .this kind of innovative stuff is what its all about for me.Keep us posted!

Sun Nov 22, 2009 7:27 pm

Sun Nov 22, 2009 10:11 pm

That is really cool. How long did it take you to make it?

Mon Nov 23, 2009 3:23 am

toxic56 wrote: That is really cool. How long did it take you to make it?

i would estimate about 4 hours...spread out over a few days. i spent less than an hour drawing the wheel in solidworks (cad software), using the original for reference. i then used gibbscam (the cam, or computer aided machining software) to write the g-code for both the lathe and mill. actual machine running time was 10 minutes and 30 minutes respectively. then there is time spent setting up the machines.

Mon Nov 23, 2009 7:47 am

Pretty cool. :lol:

Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:23 pm

Baddass!

Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:11 pm

WOAH

I love this... Between that schwimmer replica guy and this machining stuff... I am amazed.

Can't wait to see the resto progress!

Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:53 pm

If you can do that, then repairing the body will proceed without a problem.
One more vote for Coral Red.

Tue Jan 05, 2010 2:41 pm

I was about to give congrats to the first person that bought this bug, but now it will go to the second owner on this thread. Shuper sweet find, and lucky for you second owner. Nobody ever pays me in gum :(

Sun Jan 31, 2010 7:41 am

i could use some help with a plan of action. when i first assessed the car, i found it odd that the decklid hit the air cleaner. not knowing much about bugs, i figured there was a wrong part somewhere. after i tore into the car, i realized the rust damage was pretty bad. (sound familiar to anybody? :D ) at least it's pretty bad on the lower part of the car.

here's a picture of the '57 from the side:

hopefully, it's apparent that the car sits lower in the rear. here's a picture of the front right tire of the car:

the gap between the tire and fender looks pretty big. (the gap looks a little better in the first picture because i lifted the rear apron with a jack to see if i could get the body away from the air cleaner.) this did indeed help. i bought the car without floorpans which were removed in the 70's according to the previous owner.

there's extensive rust at the rear body mounting locations as can be seen in the following pictures:

it appears there isn't much holding the rear end of the car onto the chassis. the body is bolted to the chassis along the rear crossmember and the rear mounts in the fenderwell. the passenger side heater channel isn't too bad. the driver's side needs to be replaced. i found one here on thesamba.

the bottom plates of the heater channels are good enough for me to use the original weldnuts to locate the new wolfsburg west floorpans. my question to all of you is this...will the newly welded-in floorpans support the body on the chassis in order to repair the rusted out rear body mounts? would the body sit at the correct height? should i repair the rear body area first by simply tack welding the repair sections and stepping back to see if the car sits level...then tackle the floorpans?

the gas tank and interior is removed from the car...would this affect the ride height of the front end which accounts for the large gap between the tire and fender mentioned earlier? (besides the body sitting at an angle...)

does anybody know what the tire and fender gap should be for a stock '57? what's the correct ride height? (maybe this is in my bentley manual?)

any help would be greatly appreciated!