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Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:49 am

Well folks, I have been lurking around the Samaba now for 8 years, I have been working on the same car the whole time and have flipped a few in between as well. I got my car when I was 19 years old and I am 40 btw now, a lady wanted it out of her yard and was giving me the car. it was a 63 with a sunroof. I went and bought a tow bar and went and picked it up, it was blue with a respray on it, and solid, 2 pin holes in the floor. It had a clogged fuel pump and I made a promise to the car, if you run I will fix you. I dirt dragged the car for a few years with a 1776 and made some monster truck REDNECKS pretty mad that a long haired dude in BUG could whip there a$$ in 100 yrd race!

Well fast forward 21 years a wife 2 kids and a mortage or 2, and the car is now under fresh coat of L87 and is being put back together slowly so I dont hurt anything.

Here are some pics of her rebuild, I will post the updates to keep my build current

2005

body rust

Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:58 am

Here is some more pics, all th metal was sourced from the Samba fro OG 63 cars from SoCal and shipped to me on a GreyHound bus.
My pan and 4" airkewld beam and parts have been powder coated

the first time we set the body back on the pan

it was a snug fit

I had all of the rust repir done by JeremyRockJock here on the Samba, he needed a garage wired and I needed rust repair corrected, nice trade!

Getting it sealed up

Mon Sep 30, 2013 7:12 am

Back at home in Jan of 2011

My lame attempt at body work, I gave up!

Fianlly got some paint on her in Aug of 13

putting the dash together very slowly so I dont scratch anything, I have been cleaning everthing as much as I can.

I have been trying my hand a t restoring my steering wheel, I will post some pics when I can get tem moved over to my computer.

Mon Sep 30, 2013 9:20 am

Cant wait to see it done Roy!!!!

Mon Sep 30, 2013 1:56 pm

Hi! I live on the Southside. Hope to see you driving around when its done. I would love to have a ragtop!

Tue Oct 01, 2013 6:44 am

Jerry & BugXbandme,
Thanks time will tell its been 21 years and the car is just getting older. It will be out soon, I hope.

Wed Oct 02, 2013 12:26 pm

TRAILER QUEEN! :D

Wed Oct 02, 2013 12:39 pm

BUGN VW wrote: TRAILER QUEEN! :D

dont be a HATER its bad for your heart! :shock:

Thu Oct 03, 2013 9:24 pm

first steering wheel I have ever tried restoring, did a lot of searching and youtubing...
before

after

Fri Oct 04, 2013 6:13 am

I've got to do the same for my 65 in the near future. I wasn't sure what I was going to do about my steering wheel until I just read your post. What did you fill in the gaps with? Any info you can share would be greatly appreciated. And, if you have any after pictures - that would be great! Thanks!

Fri Oct 04, 2013 10:26 am

Once I get the wheel back into color I will be posting pics of it, I read numorus articles online and here on the Samba I also watched lots of videos on you tube about it, found countless folks using J.B Weld 2 part epoxy in the round stick form. I am using the 2 part liquid form from the tubes for small areas. So far I have 20.00 invested in this wheel.

I used a dremel tool with a carving bit to open the cracks up and I used a flat file to get the epoxy sanded down close then followed it with a small detail sander and then good old elbow grease to finish the detail. Its time consuming but not to hard to do.

Fri Oct 04, 2013 7:36 pm

May I say I did a steering wheel once -- on a '67 shortbed Ford, and I did it as you did... read the posts about it, saw the kits from Eastwood, etc., and my style,.. came up with the "JB Weld" steering wheel restoration system. (take-away message; it's not rocket science).
Your filler looks great, and the sanding/shaping looks good too.

Oh, I sprayed my shortbed Ford steering wheel with spraycan "appliance epoxy".

Fri Oct 04, 2013 7:58 pm

Also (may I say) I like your project. Wish you had painted it back to Cobalt blue. Im sure with the compleat resto, the color you picked is correct.

What color is it??

Mon Dec 23, 2013 8:50 am

jzjames wrote: Also (may I say) I like your project. Wish you had painted it back to Cobalt blue. Im sure with the compleat resto, the color you picked is correct.

What color is it??

JzJames sorry for the late reply... its the OG L87 Pearl White, not sure where the pearl came from it looks like bad mayo to me but it is the og color for the car

Mon Dec 23, 2013 9:00 am

well my job keeps me gone alot so I had some time this weekend and got a few things done to my car.. Engine seals installed, hood and deck lid seals (buy the German ones its worth it) installed, and the biggie was my wiring harness (Wiring Works) and fuse block (Wolfsburg West)... it was a chinch followed the directions from wiring works and it was way easy, I guess it helps having the body on a dolly and being able move freely around the body in the nooks and crannys... I did break a tab on the fuse block, waiting to hear back from Wolfsburg West on that.

One thing I did do extra was make my own harness with 3 16AWG and 1 18AWG for any extras that may be added in the future, oil, temp or tach. and I left a pull string in to ease in the installation if any extras are ever needed.

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Mon Dec 23, 2013 1:10 pm

They make a "piggy back " clip that you can put on the bottom terminal...it turns one spade into two ...if you get stuck

Mon Dec 23, 2013 4:04 pm

Grandpa Pete, thanks I have seen them but feel good that WW will stand behind there parts, I havent had it but a week....

I have been watching your sedan delivery build, keep up the good work!!!

Sat Feb 15, 2014 7:04 pm

well I got the body back on the pan, a the fenders mounted, I have pressed my vent windows back into there frames.

Damn its been a long time! 2 kids, homes, and lots of other stuff inbetween but I should be behind the wheel soon!

Sun Feb 16, 2014 7:03 pm

Started my window rebuild today wow tat is a nerv wreacking expearince!!! I am not done I have 3 sets of glass to sort through to find the set with the least scratches... Have all the seals in the car though, went with all German stuff from WW

Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:49 am

Nice work overall.