TheSamba.com :: View topic - Digitalbill's official 73 Super rebuild thread.

Mon Jan 14, 2013 7:13 am

Since I am about to start my SLOW process of a driving rebuild this weekend, I figured it was time to start a thread.
I have not named her yet but, here she is the day I brought her home. She started and ran and I was able to get it into first and second gears however; the total lack of brakes stopped me from going any faster.
This was on December 22nd. $500.00 bucks and she was all mine.

Obviously she has some issues. a missing drivers side fender is one and, this rust is another. This is the result of the "Death Foam" so I am on the right track.

The interior is in shockingly good shape. The floors are solid with the exception of a few holes in the driver’s side. My heater channels appear to be solid.
I ordered a new Master Cylinder and I am waiting for it to get here so I can start my brake work repair. There are already brand new wheel cylinders on all four corners.

A friend of mine lives in Dade City and literally 2 miles away from Sunray Bugs. He was able to score a new fender and a new hood for me. I went there this weekend (Jan 12th) to pick them up.

The fender needs just a little work to be perfect but for $60.00, I could not pass it up. The hood is about as perfect as it gets. There is a cardboard thing on the inside of the handle which is apparently a hard to find item. Corky (Owner of Sunray) was very animated about me NOT getting rid of that. I might give it back to him as this is NOT going to be a 100% restoration at all and quite honestly, if he can use it or sell it to a true enthusiast, I would rather someone else use it who really appreciates it.
Corky also hooked me up with some odds and ends things like bolts. I was missing the hinge bolt for the front seat and he had one. He also hooked me up with some lug bolts and some deck lid bolts that I was missing. I showed him pictures of my car and he invited me to bring the car to him for an inspection and see what else I needed.
He also gave me a large sheet of metal. I am not sure what he cut it out of but; he said it was the said it could be used for the repair to my quarter panel and a good metal guy “will know what to do with it”
All in all, he was a pleasure to deal with.
So, I am going to a VW meet in Miami this weekend for more photos so I have something solid to compare mine to
Anyway, this is the start and I will be posting as this slow process continues.

Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:23 am

Congrats on the 73! Where in Florida are you?

Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:37 am

beetlenut wrote: Congrats on the 73! Where in Florida are you?
I am in Lake Worth which is a Suburb of Palm Beach County.
About 1 hour North of Miami, four hours North of Key West, and about 2 hours South/East of Disney World.

Mon Jan 14, 2013 4:35 pm

have you found anywhere to get parts locally?/?
im in the bahamas and always have people in south fla...
would make my life a whole lot easier...

Tue Jan 15, 2013 8:31 am

bahamianbug wrote: have you found anywhere to get parts locally?/?
im in the bahamas and always have people in south fla...
would make my life a whole lot easier...
Not super locally but, it is about a four hour drive for me to get to Dade City.
My Mother in law told me that there is a VW graveyard somewhere in West Palm Beach but, an internet search came up with nothing. She might be insane but, you never know. Maybe I will ask her to drive me there this weekend and if I get eyes on, I will give you the details.

Tue Jan 15, 2013 7:06 pm

thanks... whats the name of the place in dade city??? ive got friends all over fla... just looking for an alternative way to get parts aside from the west coast... cant find much on the east coast on the internet and cant find anything in fla... our import duty (tax) is a % added on based on sales invoice + shipping... so if i fed ex or overnight something my tax goes up... a lot... not to mention the fact that i have to pay 2 shipping bills because most vendors wont ship to a p o box in the bahamas... so my stuff goes to fla then a courier brings it to the bahamas... the price you pay to live in paradise ...

oh and i dont need super parts... just std ...

Wed Jan 16, 2013 6:34 am

bahamianbug wrote: thanks... whats the name of the place in dade city??? ive got friends all over fla... just looking for an alternative way to get parts aside from the west coast... cant find much on the east coast on the internet and cant find anything in fla... our import duty (tax) is a % added on based on sales invoice + shipping... so if i fed ex or overnight something my tax goes up... a lot... not to mention the fact that i have to pay 2 shipping bills because most vendors wont ship to a p o box in the bahamas... so my stuff goes to fla then a courier brings it to the bahamas... the price you pay to live in paradise ...

oh and i dont need super parts... just std ...
PM sent.

Wed Jan 16, 2013 5:01 pm

The first hiccup of this process.
On Friday, I ordered a new master and brake resavour from Rock Auto.
I got a package in today.....
A pulley for the altanator.
I called them and they insisted that is what I ordered.
I explained that I never left the brake section but they wouldn't budge.
Needless to say, they lost my business.

Wed Jan 16, 2013 5:11 pm

best place I've found is http://vwparts.aircooled.net/ quality service, John is a member here and also updates Facebook occasionally

others will recommend CIP and others

as for local business-the samba has an "app" for that

heres a link for florida business, no clue whats close to you though

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/shops/search.php

Thu Jan 17, 2013 7:42 am

So, a bit of good news today.
I got the car running this morning.
I have ben trying to start it and I just kept flooding it out so, after charging the battery overnight, I tried again this morning.
And then, I disconnected the choke wire and she fired up no problems.

Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:13 am

Looks so cool.

Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:25 pm

Quote: I disconnected the choke wire and she fired up no problems
That means the choke will never open. :?

Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:03 am

Agreed, without power the choke is permanently on.

The cut off solenoid is on the same wire, if that wasn't getting power that's the reason it was hard to start.

I wouldn't worry too much about the sound deadener inside that new hood, it's unusual to see them still there yes but its abit beat up and missing a huge piece.

They don;t do much, first thing I did was rip mine out too, makes no difference, just more weight.
They are easy to replicate though.

Fri Jan 18, 2013 6:31 am

OK.. .it is weird.
The coil has two places where a wire can be attached.
The green wire basically ran from one side of the coil to the other side.
I would imagine that, somewhere, there are two connections that need to be married. I will play with it this weekend when I have some daylight.

Thanks everyone for your help so far.

Fri Jan 18, 2013 9:24 am

Green wires(original factory wires) go to the negative terminal of the coil. One goes to condenser
Black wires (factory color) go to the positive side of the coil.
Should be a black wire going to the idle solenoid and a piggy backed wire from there to the choke....also backup lights circuit (black)

Fri Jan 18, 2013 11:20 am

digitalbill wrote: OK.. .it is weird.
The coil has two places where a wire can be attached.
The green wire basically ran from one side of the coil to the other side.
I would imagine that, somewhere, there are two connections that need to be married. I will play with it this weekend when I have some daylight.

Thanks everyone for your help so far.

There's nothing weird about it, the coil has + and - sides.

Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm just trying to help, but for goodness sakes man, don't guess! If you aren't gonna use a service manual, at least download the wiring diagram from this site. All the colors and terminal numbers are on the diagram. You can keep guessing if you want to, but one wrong guess and you could burn up the unfused ignition wire all the way back to the key. Melt that wire bad enough and you will melt other wires in the harness too. Then you'll have to rewire the entire car.

Fri Jan 18, 2013 11:44 am

Brian,
Thank you for the tip and, to be honest, I really do "know better" then to do what I have been doing.
I have not had a single weekend free since I brought this car home so most of my "work" on it is in between the time my kids are eating breakfast and the time I need to drive them to school.
I have the Haynes for it and I have not gotten very serious about messing with the car at all.
My concentration right this moment are the brakes, tires, and suspension (stuff that will get me killed)
I promise that I will start paying attention before messing with it anymore.

Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:06 am

OK.. D Day is fast approching.
This car WILL be ready for the road by Sunday, Feb 03.
This means that I need to have the brakes sorted out and new tires put on.
Currently it is riding on 185/65 R15's all the way around.

Take a look at these pictures. Does it look like the front has been lowered? I suspect the springs might have been cut.

Once I get new tires, I will have it aligned and I am concerned that if someone did a hack job, an alignment might be impossible.

Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:33 am

Congrats on your purchase..I just recently picked up a 73 Super myself and my son and I are in the process of restoring it to our taste.

Your car looks good so far...can't wait to see another update.

Mon Jan 28, 2013 8:55 am

Just a quick update. I was able to get a tow bar this weekend from my Brother but I will need to make some small modifications to it to pull my bug.
I also got a set of rust free hubcaps and a new jack for the Beetle.
Slow and steady....