TheSamba.com :: View topic - German look '69 beetle project

Sun Oct 18, 2009 6:01 pm

My dad and I have been all over new england in search of a bug for me. After a long time looking I've managed to find what I believe to be a real decent one. I've got a thing for late bugs, and I'm glad I held out until I found a solid one within my price range.

It's a 1969 Auto-stick. Semi-auto was definitely not my first choice, but I'm more interested in body structure than mechanics... that's the easy part.

As we found it yesterday:

After a little fluff and buff today:

Interior:

The car was parked under a pine tree for a while by the previous owner. It was covered in small specks of pitch and sap, which took a lot of scrubbing to get out.
From what we can tell, the car underwent a comprehensive restoration at some point. The interior is all new-ish. It came out of the factory blue, but was resprayed white. Only indication of the car ever being blue is some chipping in the trunk and on the door hinge. The paint was very thoroughly done. Even all factory stickers are in place over the new paint.

My current plan for this car is to go the German Look road, or just drop it, but I just might roll it as is for a while. It's most likely going to get a 4 speed put in. And once that happens, it will probably get the 1776 we've had on the bench.
It runs, but only on three cylinders. The previous owner claimed the transmission doesn't shift into 1st (real first, not low). My dad believes once we get the engine tuned, it will boost the vacuum and maybe resolve some transmission issues... but like I said, mechanics are the easy parts.
We may or may not pull the body off and re-do the floors. My dad seems to want to. I'd love to have the whole chassis rhino-lined 8)

So that's my bug... I'm so pumped to get it on the road, I just hope it doesn't snow again for a while :shock:

Sun Oct 18, 2009 6:16 pm

Looks like a nice car

Sun Oct 18, 2009 7:27 pm

Nice score-looks really clean! keep us updated with the progress

Sun Oct 18, 2009 8:46 pm

I'd leave it an autostick, just cause I think they're cool :lol:

But there's definitely nothing wrong with German look cars 8) Regardless, looks like a pretty decent car!

Sun Oct 18, 2009 9:58 pm

I can see a German look Auto stick. Dare to be different, dont swap it out.

Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:28 am

Honestly, the auto stick is kind of cool. It's just got a certain novelty to it. I've already have had a couple friends look at the decklid badge and say, "wtf is an automatic-stickshift?", lol.

Mon Oct 19, 2009 6:35 am

Nice ride! Good to see more NH VW people around, I know there was a group over Nashua way that was getting together on Fridays during the summer.
Looks like you have a really good platform to work from.

Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:03 pm

I got my beam in the mail today 8) :D (thanks to Matthew Tylka)

3" narrowed adjustable beam
I'm debating whether or not to get some drop spindles too. I've got two good pairs of ghia disk stock spindles, I had planned to run a pair of those (for the disk brake conversion of course).
I still need tie rods and all that fun stuff, so car is gonna ride stock height for a while

Last weekend I tuned up the engine with some new spark plugs and genuine bosch wires. That #3 plug is a bitch to get to with the auto-stick vacuum valve in the way :shock: , but I managed and now she's running great on all fours.

It will suffice for keeping it mobile for the mean time. Once we start the transmission swap, the new 1776 is goin' in there.

My dad painted those ugly black tail light housings for me (duplicolor matched quite nicely).

My dad and I have also concluded that 1st gear is completely gone from the trans, so 4 speed conversion is definitely on the list. I spotted a guy advertising rebuilt transmission here on the samba just up the road in Manchester for reasonable dough, so my dad and I are taking a ride up there Saturday morning to check it out.

^ here 's what the rims my dad had laying in the attic of the garage look like. They were for my moms scion, but never mounted tires to them. They're 17x7" with a 4x100 bolt pattern.
I'd love to get them on the bug, but that's not at the top of the list right now.

That's all for now 8)

Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:51 pm

Hey,

Funny story:
I was going to look at that car the morning that you bought it. I live in Maine.. I caled the guy and e said it had just sold.

Congratulations! :D
Nice looking car.

Anyway, I know where there is an autoshift in downeast Maine, and I am going to be up there next weekend. If you want I can take a look at it for you. It may be easier to replace the autoshift than to witch to standard.
let me know!

Sun Nov 01, 2009 3:11 pm

4Doora wrote: Honestly, the auto stick is kind of cool. It's just got a certain novelty to it. I've already have had a couple friends look at the decklid badge and say, "wtf is an automatic-stickshift?", lol.

I love that badge. I hope you will leave it on there. Nice find.

Sun Nov 01, 2009 6:42 pm

Doogles wrote: Hey,

Funny story:
I was going to look at that car the morning that you bought it. I live in Maine.. I caled the guy and e said it had just sold.

Congratulations! :D
Nice looking car.

Anyway, I know where there is an autoshift in downeast Maine, and I am going to be up there next weekend. If you want I can take a look at it for you. It may be easier to replace the autoshift than to witch to standard.
let me know!
Glad I made it up there first :lol: :wink:
Thanks for the offer on the trans, but it's definitely getting swapped for a 4 speed. My dad said he did a few back in the 70s, and that it's a pretty cut and dry procedure.

...With the trans swap will be the inevitable rear decklid script swap too :P

Anywho... while I've been in school during the day, my dad can't help but do some work on the bug.
He managed to get the front beam out, framehead cleaned up/ painted, and installed the new beam

^firewall painted with brush on rustoleum (wicked solid too)

^painted the framehead with POR-15... for some reason it dried flat :?:

Beam mounted up, very tight clearance but fit without a hitch.

We discovered a little rust... if that's what you want to call it :lol: ... to be expected here in new england. I'll get that cleaned up and patched.

Currently just waiting on front end parts from California, which should arrive by the end of the week. Until then....

Sun Nov 01, 2009 7:32 pm

keep me posted on the 4 speed changeout.

Car looks good so far!

Now for winter........... :?

Sun Nov 01, 2009 8:23 pm

pretty clean!!

good work so far.. keep it up!

Sat Nov 07, 2009 7:31 pm

I've got a few updates for tonight...
Yesterday we got a pile of parts in the mail, and today was like Christmas, getting to open them all and install them.

There's my dad, pressing the new ball joints into the control arms. It's the first time the press has got any use since we brought home from my grandmother's garage over the summer... great tool to have.

Once all the ball joints were pressed in, we got the control arms on the beam. The lower ones were a little tricky, but we managed to get them in with a little persuasion.

Here's the spindle mounted up to the passenger side, as well as new lowered shocks. Also notice the hole that was in the inner fender has been patched, puttied, and the whole thing gone over with por-15.

Disks with 4x100 bolt pattern

These next two shots were inevitable =P~

as far as the front end goes, we still need to:
-clean up/rebuild the calipers and install new pads before they're mounted
-get some studs for the rotors
-mount the tires
-narrow the tie rods
-few other misc things...

until next time :D
-Peace

Tue Nov 10, 2009 7:31 pm

We were pretty busy on monday...

Cleaned up the trunk:

Before (well, before paint, after rust was cleaned up)

after paint

It's got a few runs, and it's not the best match to the original white that was still intact in the trunk, but it looks better than the rust.

We cleaned and painted the calipers:

they still need pads, but they looked too good to just leave hanging around :lol:

Wheel on:

Should have the tires by thursday

next on the agenda is to get the tie rods tapped out. my dad already cut them down, but we don't have a big enough tap to do the job.
+ still have to narrow the sway bar.
We'll probably have it off the jack stands by Sunday.

-peace

Wed Nov 11, 2009 3:57 am

Nice! You've gotten more done in a month than most of us do in a year. I like the rims, nice choice.

Wed Nov 11, 2009 5:34 am

looking good keep up the work

Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:11 am

I'm very interested to see how the wheels look once you have the stance dialed in and your on the ground. Great build so far!

Wed Nov 11, 2009 5:28 pm

Green_Lantern wrote: I'm very interested to see how the wheels look once you have the stance dialed in and your on the ground. Great build so far!

Same here, lookin good too. 8)

Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:32 pm

Thanks all for the props and support!
The tires came in the mail today. I tried to mount one onto a rim, but my puny little tire irons were no match for those stubborn low profile tires :x . my dad's taking them into work tomorrow to mount them with the proper equipment.

since we don't have the drums for the back, we'll only be able to mount the front rims. The ass end is probably gonna be riding high until after we're through with the transmission swap. We also don't have a transmission yet... I think the trans guy from Manch-vegas bailed or died :? .
The tie rods have been successfully shortened and tapped also.

With nothing much to do while we wait for parts from California, I was just messing around the in garage and tried this on for size:

Just some red pinstripe tape I had laying around... opinions? I like it 8)

-peace