TheSamba.com :: View topic

Thu Mar 29, 2012 3:34 am

Hi

We are watching everything you´re doing, all over the world.

Really good work you and your boys and now even grandad are doing. :D

That car has come to a good person/family who take the best care of it.

Hakan from Sweden

Thu Mar 29, 2012 7:02 am

^^
Well said! x2 from Canada.

You're a great inspiration.

Thu Mar 29, 2012 3:18 pm

Thanks for the kind words guys. Much appreciated.

Dave, you'll see that 40hp you sold me appear here soon. And I'm loving that 55 you're working on!

Tue May 01, 2012 7:03 pm

Alright, back to the build. With the spring plates and new bushings all put back together, we then sanded down the underside, applied a couple coatings of corroless, and sprayed some chassis black.

My 11 year old son has been a big help along the way, and enjoys getting his hands dirty too. He wanted to use the bead blaster, so I had him blast down the rear transmission brace and front cover plate. He’s telling me he’d like a ghia when it’s his turn. Dad is a-ok with that idea :D

Next, we pulled the shift rod, cleaned it up with some sandpaper and rust inhibitor, replaced the shift rod bushing and clip with a new unit, greased up the rod while we reinstalled it, then set the front cover plate and new gasket back in place.

Next stop - installing floor pans

Wed Jun 06, 2012 2:11 pm

hi im liking your resto i to have a 60/61 turkis rag top living in the uk mine is a rhd im not sure if there are many right hand drive cars out there im on the hunt for green rag top and green rubber floor mats keep up the good work.

Wed Jun 27, 2012 1:52 pm

Thanks ragtop kidd, would love to see some pics of your turkis RHD. I've hunted for a NOS green ragtop and mats for some time now with no luck. Hopefully you'll do better than me. I've found a NOS green convertible top in the netherlands for a turkis car, but no sunroof.

My plan is to dye both the ragtop and mats the proper color. Tyring to decide if I go with pinpoint vinyl like the original or canvas for a better fitting top...I need to decide soon!

Wed Jun 27, 2012 3:18 pm

With the wishbone all ready, it was time to install new floor pans. I began by test fitting the pans to the chassis, and found they fit remarkably well which is one of the advantages of the WW pans in addition to their proper thickness. The new cross members did need some reshaping to countour properly against the tunnel, but it wasn't difficult, and I'm not a metal worker by any measure so anyone could do it with a little patience and common sense.

I then marked up the edge of the pans every couple of inches, and used a pnumatic flange tool to punch holes through the metal. Next, I ground down the chassis lips and undersides of the pans to clean, bare metal to ensure a strong weld. I then sprayed the chassis lips and undersides of the pans with copper weld-through primer. At this point, we were ready to fire up the welder.

From the moment we began the project, Wade has repeatedly said he wanted to learn how to weld. I figured this was a great place to learn, so I gave him some quick lessons (don't forget I'm a novice myself), then turned him loose with the plug welding. Crazy, right? It didn't take him any time at all to figure out the technique and he did an unbelievable job. We only had to redo a couple welds on the passenger side of the pan, and didn't have to redo any on the driver's side. He's a natural, and clearly has better skills than me. I just hope I can talk him into welding for my other projects as well!

With both pans welded to the chassis, we then applied seam sealer, lightly sanded down the grey factory primer, then applied a couple coats of gloss chassis black. We were very pleased and proud of how well it turned out.

Wed Jun 27, 2012 3:26 pm

This is beautiful. This pan is HANDSOME!

Thu Jun 28, 2012 9:58 am

Thanks SgtSamy, we're very proud of it!

While the pans were being fitted and installed, I had a local paint shop mix up urethane paint for the interior pieces, and put it in spray cans. Shortly after I bought the car, I picked up an NOS 61 turn signal switch with perfect hydrate green paint still on it, so I had the shop use it to mix the color - it came out perfect. I had the formula cataloged so if any of you need hydrate green for your project, please let me know. I sprayed the paint on the shifter, e-brake handle, steering column tube, and column support, then mounted the shifter and e-brake handle to the chassis along with another goodie I picked up along the way - an NOS green 61 shifter boot. It was great to see the chassis start to look like a VW again.

For the ice blue color used on the seat frames, I had the shop use a coat hook bracket that was well preserved to mix the color. Again, I wasn't disappointed in how it turned out, although the shop unfortunately forgot to save the formula for that mix. It wouldn't be difficult for them to reproduce, so I'm happy to help anyone that needs that color as well. I haven't sprayed the seat frames yet, but that part of the project isn't far off now.

Thu Jun 28, 2012 11:57 am

To Wade and your father- GREAT WORK! I admire you for your immediate welding skills- I tried MIG welding about 20 years ago on my Ghia sheetmetal with a rented unit and could not get the hang of it.

Please consider this opportunity with the body and chassis apart to weld in nuts and reinforcement plates for 3-point seat belts for both front seats. I suggest the later-style retractable ones due to ease of use. Even though they are not correct for your '61 which came with no belts at all, they are excellent and practical for daily use. An essential safety upgrade for any older car when driving in any traffic. Like these:
http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/DetailsList.cfm?ID=ZVW20BBK

or

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C16%2D111%2D707BK

My first car was a '60 sunroof Beetle, back in the mid 70's. Dad insisted on having a body shop weld in mounts for 3-point manual belts which worked out well.

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress on the car, and your first drive in it!

Thu Jun 28, 2012 3:43 pm

Thanks Rome, I absolutely agree with you and have included seat belts in the plan. They are a must for daily driving in my opinion.

Another project going on behind the scenes while Wade and I were tackling the floor pans was bodywork on the doors, hood, decklid, and fenders. My body & paint guy called one evening wondering if we wanted help with the project. We'd made a goal to have the car done by the end of summer, and knew that was a tough deadline so I decided to let him body work the external panels, and shoot epoxy and 2K primer for us.

Both doors required rust repair in the lower skins, the hood had the typical break near the hood prop and was rippled at the nose a little, the decklid had a couple dents and a tear that needed welding, and both front fenders had rust issues around the headlight buckets and the running board mount area. Pedro did an excellent job (as usual) working out these problems, and getting them into primer.

We are not using the original rear fenders as they are in good condition, and I'd rather save them for a time when the car is truley 'restored' and driven very little if you know what I mean...we'll be using aftermarket ones for the driver. We had Pedro weld up the incorrect holes and dress them up in primer as well. We still need to drill holes to mount the snowflake tail lights, and will use the original fenders as the template when it's time.

I didn't get any shots of the body work as it was being done, but here's a few shots of the final product.

The floor pan installation and panel body work were all performed in May so I'm almost up to date on this thread. Hang in there with us!

Fri Jun 29, 2012 4:04 pm

Looking great! I'm definately following this build. I cant believe that oval isnt under a cover sitting so close to you guys working on that chassis :shock:

Sun Jul 01, 2012 1:43 am

This is exactly what I plan to do with my 1961 beetle, now in Gulf blue but will return to its original Turkis form.

Can you please post the formulas for the Hydrate green and, if possible, for the ice blue? That would be a great help for my planned restoration.

Thanks and like Vanagonswede said, we're watching your progress all around the world :D

Mon Jul 02, 2012 7:55 am

I'll see if the paint shop gave me the formula for the hydrate green paint and post it if so. I know they cataloged the mix in their system so if I want more paint, it's available. I know they didn't save the ice blue formula, so I don't have that one unfortunately.

Mon Jul 02, 2012 3:47 pm

Alright boys and girls, here's the posting that brings us current. Over the past couple weeks, Wade has focused his efforts on cleaning up the front end. He's been degreasing, sanding, detailing, and painting it to a level that will match the chassis and new pans. We have all new tie rods, king pins & link pins for it, but will wait to install them until it's all back together and rolling to see if they're needed.

Last week, I turned my attention to the engine. We've decided to use an original stale air 40hp with a 12v flywheel and a 67 trans for better gearing. I've talked to several people about this combo, and I think it will work fine but welcome any suggestions or feedback. My VW background is primarily 36hp and split case trannys so this part of the build is venturing out of my comfort zone.

Before I tore my 62 long block 40hp apart, I did a mock up of the tin to be sure I had everything and it was all in good condition. I discoverd that one of the stale air heater boxes had a broken control arm so I found a replacement in the classifieds and bought it. It showed up on my doorstep this past weekend, so I'm close to sending the tins off for media blasting and powdercoating. I'd like to send the brake backing plates as well, so I've got to get those removed from the car and cleaned up first.

After the mock up, I tore the engine apart and sent the case off to my machinist for a hot bath and inspection. I'm expecting that to be ready any day now. I'm replacing all the internals with brand new parts, so I'll be sending the old internals off to the swap meet in a couple weeks.

Mon Jul 02, 2012 4:28 pm

The project took a dramatic turn this past weekend for the better. The end of summer deadline has been looming, and over the past couple weeks we've discussed how difficult it was going to be to make it with all the body work, rust repair and welding left to get through. We've stepped up the efforts over the past month, and have felt like the momentum was starting to move, but always knew there was still a mountain of work in front of us.

By chance, I happened to stumble across another turkis 61 ragtop for sale in central California that was stripped, missing several pieces, had front end damage, but had good heater channels, a good body, and a solid rear apron. The timing and price was right, so we struck a deal, loaded up the suburban and headed to central California last Friday to check it out. The car was even better than expected, so we brought it home with us.

The plan is to use the shell from the donor car on our restored chassis, and use the hood, decklid, doors, and fenders that were already body worked. I'll effectively be making one good car out of 2 marginal ones. The front end on the donor shell will need to be reworked or replaced, but it needed to be on the original car, too, so our body work punch list has been significantly reduced.

Due to the amount of rust and other body issues, I've decided to part out the original shell, and sell off the good body parts from the new donor. Over the next couple weeks, I'll be selling the ragtop clip with assembly, a set of matching front fenders, matching door shells, a titled rolling chassis, a few OG heater channels, a complete set of seats, and a few other items. If anyone is interested in these parts, please let me know.

Here's a picture of Wade with the donor car at Donner's pass, and another shot of the new addtion in our driveway.

Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:03 pm

beetleman217 wrote: This is exactly what I plan to do with my 1961 beetle, now in Gulf blue but will return to its original Turkis form.

Can you please post the formulas for the Hydrate green and, if possible, for the ice blue? That would be a great help for my planned restoration.

Thanks and like Vanagonswede said, we're watching your progress all around the world :D

Alright, I checked the paperwork from the hydrate green paint batch I had mixed up and they did not list formula they used. I've had a few requests for my extra cans, and I'm now out so I'm considering having another batch mixed up for those who would like one. I'm happy to do the same for ice blue as well so please let me know if you're interested. Each can will run around $30 plus shipping.

Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:32 am

We finished cleaning and detailing the front end this week, and it turned out great. We used a rust barrier on the bare metal, and gloss chassis black for the top coat. Backing plates will be heading to the powder coater next week along with all the engine tin. We'll bolt the painted beam back onto the chassis tonight.

I dropped the cleaned engine case off at another machine shop last Friday to have case savers installed, and be final prep'd for assembly. We received the new brazillian crank, AA pistons & cylinders, and new cam/lifters a few days ago, so as soon as the case is back, we'll start the longblock assembly.

We're moving along!

Wed Aug 08, 2012 3:26 pm

Thought I'd drop in to give a quick status update. Here's a few pics of some problem areas we inherited on the donor body. The front end was crunched up pretty well, and both rear bumper mounts were in need of replacement due to cancerous rust that had developed behind the mounts.

Additionally, there were some rust holes in the rear wheel wells where the heater channels end, and a round hole had been cut in the dash just above the radio area.

Despite these problem areas, the body still has significantly fewer issues to deal with that the original body we started with and were both very happy with what we found as we stripped the car clean.

Wed Aug 08, 2012 3:37 pm

We shipped the car off to our welder, Kevin, to have the problem areas addressed. A couple weeks later, the car came back with a new front clip installed, new bumper mounts, a filled in dash, and patches in the rear wheel well. Kevin did an amazing job getting everything lined up properly, and we were more than pleased with the results.

One problem that Kevin discovered while he was welding in the front clip was my hood is warped slightly on the driver's side and doesn't line up properly to the body - you can see the issue in the pictures. He used a different hood to determine if the problem was the hood or the body, and the second hood he tested fit perfectly, isolating the issue to my hood. Not sure how to address this issue right now - is it possible to bend the hood in just the right way to straighen it out?