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Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:08 pm

I bought a 1970 baja bug 1600cc SP with a stock solex carb about 1 year ago for 1500$. It was in great shape, very little rust, engine runs well, it has been sitting in a guys garage as a project car for the past 20 years so it has low miles, and in the area I live (which is northern wisconsin) it is very hard to find these that aren't falling apart with rust problems. This is my first car and I haven't had any mechanical experience before this. We dont have alot of body work experience and we dont have a welder readily available. I hope to learn as I go along with my dad helping, he has had some experience with vw's and other cars but hes a little rusty as its been about 20 years since hes worked on one. I will be driving it as my DD through the spring, summer, and fall. I won't be driving it in the winter except on really nice days here and there (gets pretty cold up here lol). The person I bought it from did alot of body work, he put in like a big nerf bar that runs where the running boards would be. He re-welded the front shock towers all the way down to the lower portion below the bottum torsion tube. He also what I think is some kind of rust inhibitor in the crevices up in the trunk where the heater tubes come up, also behind the back seat panel in the side. He tarred underneath and along the back firewall I think its called. Sorry if my terminology is off a little, im learning. Then so far what I have done is ripped out all the old interior, spray canned a rust killing paint on the pan, tore out the old headliner, painted the interior of the car white, I wont be painting the outside for a few years. We are in the process of carpeting, about half way done with that. We took off the stock exhaust and heater boxes and replaced with j-tubes and a stinger. We resized the rear engine cage bumper to have it fit more snugly with the new exhaust. We replaced the stock oil bath with a louvered case with a foam filter inside. I bought new wheels off ebay, 15x8 in the back and 15x6 in the front. Over the weekend we picked up 4 used tires off craigslist and had them balanced, we will be putting them on today or tomorrow. The front are 205/75 snow tires in fair condition, on the back we have 235/75 goodyear wranlgers A/T one having 80% tread and the other has 50-60%. Thats about all I've done so far, will be trying to get more pictures for you. Things on the to-do list are: add skid plate, put on a oil filter, finish some electrical work(pretty simple stuff), preload front and rear suspension, fix the only bad spot of rust by the bake fluid reservoir, and put 2 new front seatbelts in. Thats all i've been able to come up with so far. Sorry if its a lengthy read. Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:16 pm

Welcome to the Samba! You will learn quick here.

Lets see some pics of the new ride!

Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:17 pm

Ya im trying to figure that part out right now. Thanks, this place has been very helpful.

Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:57 pm

You might want to consider keeping those heater boxes for that daily driving in the spring and fall. VW heat can work really well if its all intact. I hope you really enoy VW's... you can get alaot of info here.

Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:15 pm

Welcome! I also would like to see your ride. I found it easiest to get a photo bucket account and upload pics that way. With my Android based phone my photos automatically go there every time I take one. 8)

Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:55 pm

This is the day I brought it home, it has the fenders I just had to put them on. These are the only photos I have right now, I will try to get more this week. Sorry I dont have any photos of the interior when we first got it, it wasn't much to look at anyway.

Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:11 am

Engine

I wanted to do a before and after with the new and old wheels when I get the new ones on.

The area thats kind of not painted perfectly on the roof area will be a headliner material.

I put on some of quick roof from home depot for some vibration and sound barrier.

Dash

The rust spot, after I get rid of all of it have any tips on how we can strengthen that area?

Trunk

The original horsehair seats with a seatcover over it.

This me and my dad made ot of some sheat metal and a small hinge, its used to keep any water out, and it looks cool lol

My nice new shiny rims on dirty used tires lol

Engine

Heres some more detailed photos of what we've done so far. Please comment on the progress and give out any tips or experiences you might have, thanks.

Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:15 am

Looks like a great start! What are your plans for it? I know you said daily driver baja, but are you going to do some off-roading too?

Tyler

Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:18 am

Yeah, I do plan on going off-road/trailing, nothing to serious but I would like to go as often as I have the time for it. And have this be able to keep up with my friends jeeps and trucks, and of course not break somthing in the process.

Tue Feb 07, 2012 5:02 pm

The next thing I will be doing after I get the wheels on will be fixing the rust spot in the trunk, its in the pictures above. After we get it gone how should I strengthen that area?

Tue Feb 14, 2012 10:24 am

Got the wheels on, everything fits within the wheel well, it actually looks like a baja bug now lol. Will get pics of them soon. No replies to the rust question?

Tue Feb 14, 2012 10:32 am

That rust was caused by a leaky master cylinder resevour. Cut out the old and weld in a new patch. Make sure you don't overfill the fluid and spill it under there, and all the hoses are tight and not leaking to avoid future rust damage. I would also paint that area with POR or something, although brake fluid is nasty stuff and will just eat paint off if left on.

Tue Feb 14, 2012 10:43 am

Yeah It was there when I bought it so I didnt do anything to have it leak, as I said earlier I don't have a welder readily available, I do have a rivet gun. I could have some one weld it for me but are there any other options?

Tue Feb 14, 2012 11:46 am

I'm seeing a fuel filter with no hose clamps.

I should see

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=420661&highlight=npt

Tue Feb 14, 2012 11:51 am

Yeah we noticed that to, we bought a new fuel line last week with clamps and a new fuel filter, we just have to put it on.

Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:49 pm

Cortland15B wrote: Yeah It was there when I bought it so I didnt do anything to have it leak, as I said earlier I don't have a welder readily available, I do have a rivet gun. I could have some one weld it for me but are there any other options?

you gotta kill or cut out the rust that is there before you cover with metal or paint. a wire wheel on drill to clean the area and into the what you think looks good paint to see if the rust has started spreading. then do a Ospho rust treatment then cover (welding would be better but you can rivet it). then paint with the POR (as suggested) the metal on both sides that you are going to cover with and also where the metal is going so there is no bare metal.

it is not a high stress area but it does go into the wheel well and passenger compartment. you might have to cut and shape more than one piece of metal and fit and seal.

wire wheels i use:

Tue Feb 14, 2012 5:17 pm

Great looking start.
If you are not using the heat exchangers right now plug or cover the two openings on the fan shroud.
Just in case you ever try to cut and weld the sheetmetal where the brake fluid leaked be extra careful. Welding anywhere there is, was brake fluid is death.
DWP

Sat Feb 18, 2012 3:37 pm

If you had a small spot sand blaster like they sell at Harbor freight and a small compresser you coulod spot blast the area then use fiber glass mesh inside and underneithy to seal the spot from future rust.

Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:28 pm

Sorry I haven't been posting lately, I put the wheels on and will upload the pictures soon. I have a question, should I add a oil filter? I was thinking I should but what do they usally do for a stock engine?

Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:15 am

We took the gas tank out today and will be working on the rust in the trunk and replacing the fuel line. For preloading the front suspension with using the cut and turn method, do you have to take the front suspension off or can you do it with it still on the car? Cause after we took the gas tank out the torsion tube was right up against the body, might have pictures of it but it looked like we would have to take it apart to preload it. Then is preloading both front and rear required for going off-road?