TheSamba.com :: View topic - 1966 body off resto "Stute The Wonder Bug"

Mon Aug 27, 2012 6:28 pm

My brother (aka:Braun)blessed me with a 66VW body and chassy with a 1200 / 6v. I decided to take it down to bare metal and rebuild completely - body off. I am in the 10th week and decided to log the progress here.

Welcome to your new home "Stute".

Not too bad.

did quite a bit of dismantling the first night. The girls were helping too.
they found 3/4 of doobie under the bonnet.

Mon Aug 27, 2012 6:42 pm

As long as the girls are helping out, it should go fine. If it doesn't, blame the girls. Have fun and make memories

Lots of folks name their cars, but "stute", share this one with us.

Tue Aug 28, 2012 8:16 am

glass & tank out

Engine out

ready to take body off.

Tue Aug 28, 2012 8:36 am

Saw a DIY body off on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va6A68yiimE
it worked. simple as it looked.

Ta Daaaaa! body off. . .

Tue Aug 28, 2012 8:47 am

Great work so far, I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:05 am

I found that 4 office chairs to roll the chassy around worked like a charm. I can sit in one place and maneuver the chassy about with ease (while seated).

Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:03 am

Was going to take the spring plates off and got a bit trepidatious because of all the horror stories (WATCH OUT!). So I decided to take the transaxle off first.

Pulling the bearings was a PITA! I finally reshaped a HF puller and it worked.

Here is a close up of the tool that did it. The chain vise kept it from slipping off.

Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:06 am

This project is one of my "bucket List" things. I am a body off resto virgin. Please...any pointers will help.

Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:21 am

I found that coffee filters were perfect for keeping the tranny free from debris

Now it is time to strip the chassy of all the cables n such.

Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:23 am

Is that thick asphalt type stuff on the pan original or after market?

Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:28 am

Now to remove the front end. I have no idea as to what I am doing or the order in which to disassemble this thing.

Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:34 am

Great work and a very interesting post. :) Keep the pics coming.

Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:50 am

Hmmmm... I used a dremmel to mark the steering box location. What a mess!. it grinds when turned, so I guess I have to rebuild this too. Any pointers?

Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:05 pm

Cables, shifter, and the beam has left the chassy! Now I get to media blast and clean stuff.

Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:12 pm

First attempt at blasting (HF sale on blasters). Nozzle too large for soda ash - try again next week.

This was originally posted on page 198 of what did you do to your beetle today.
I am sorry for the double post. I am trying to get it all on this one thread.

Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:35 pm

Bought a radio off a Samba member (locally)... seems the only thing the car didn't have. Second purchase was the glass to frame seals for the pop outs. Spent many hours searching info on how best to do it (not a whole lot out there). I found one post here http://www.thebugshop.org/bsp57_17.htm with photos. The guy used a nylon binding strap which was difficult to keep centered. I was dreading the task - as it appeared daunting.
Lo and behold, after trying diff things for several hours, I thought of this cable / turnbuckle thing. The cable rides in the window to body seal grove and cinches it up like a hot knife through butter.Each window went together in 20 minutes. Oh, and I found KY jelly to be the best medium to aid in slipping the frame on. This photo was taken prior to final cinching - see the gap at the seam.

Dental floss perpendicular between rubber n frame helped to keep the rubber in place while cinching.
[/img]

This is the last double post I promise! I was so excited about the result that I posted it here http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...lass+frame before starting this resto thread.

Tue Aug 28, 2012 7:33 pm

Looking really good so far! You have some really nice workspace too!

Sat Sep 01, 2012 5:58 pm

TCBeier wrote: Bought a radio off a Samba member (locally)... seems the only thing the car didn't have. Second purchase was the glass to frame seals for the pop outs. Spent many hours searching info on how best to do it (not a whole lot out there). I found one post here http://www.thebugshop.org/bsp57_17.htm with photos. The guy used a nylon binding strap which was difficult to keep centered. I was dreading the task - as it appeared daunting.
Lo and behold, after trying diff things for several hours, I thought of this cable / turnbuckle thing. The cable rides in the window to body seal grove and cinches it up like a hot knife through butter.Each window went together in 20 minutes. Oh, and I found KY jelly to be the best medium to aid in slipping the frame on. This photo was taken prior to final cinching - see the gap at the seam.

Dental floss perpendicular between rubber n frame helped to keep the rubber in place while cinching.
[/img]

This is the last double post I promise! I was so excited about the result that I posted it here http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...lass+frame before starting this resto thread.

OMG, please, please PM me and I'll send you illustrated details on how replace pop-out seals, I do a set every few weeks and it really is the easiest job to do - and I've never ever had to cinch them either. All credit to you for the ingenuity and well done.

Sat Sep 29, 2012 6:10 pm

TCBeier wrote: I found that 4 office chairs to roll the chassy around worked like a charm. I can sit in one place and maneuver the chassy about with ease (while seated).

That is too funny, love it!

Sun Sep 30, 2012 7:46 am

Looks like a great project, I see you live in Granite Bay Ca. I am surprised you are able to work on your car in the garage there without neighbors saying anything. My mother lives right near Sierra College and Douglas just up the hill on Sierra College and her neighborhood is full of HOA nazi's I swear!

Looking forward to seeing your progress, have a good one!