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Sun Sep 21, 2014 2:13 pm

Been a while since visiting the site and I saw your thread... Very nice work!

Care to share where you had your sandblasting done? I'm working on a '64 and am wanting to get my body blasted in the near future...

Also, any good VW salvage yards that you know of here in the valley?

I started my project several years ago, got sidelined and am now back actively working on it again and am looking for parts...

Thanks for any info and Congrats on a cool project!

Steve

Sun Sep 21, 2014 5:14 pm

Salvo wrote: Been a while since visiting the site and I saw your thread... Very nice work!

Care to share where you had your sandblasting done? I'm working on a '64 and am wanting to get my body blasted in the near future...

Also, any good VW salvage yards that you know of here in the valley?

I started my project several years ago, got sidelined and am now back actively working on it again and am looking for parts...

Thanks for any info and Congrats on a cool project!

Steve

Thanks - its been a wild ride. And its not over yet!!

Sandblasting done at Pro-Strip in Mesa just off Main and Extension. Patrick does excellent work. Tell him Steve with the Blue and White 66 F250 sent you :D

Blair and Sons is the only VW salvage yard in the Phoenix area I know of. Its on way west Broadway Road. My son has been out there several times for tin and other odds and ends. They have a lot of cars and parts. The classifieds here are Samba are pretty good as well. Bought a few parts that way.

Sat Oct 25, 2014 9:49 pm

More progress on our 66. Primed the oiling system with the coil wire disconnected. Then we fired the engine and did the break in - running it around 2000-2500 rpm for 20 minutes after setting the timing to 30 degrees full advance (its a 090 style dizzy with no vacuum advance). That was the recommended procedure from the shop that sold us the block and parts and is consistent with the Wilson book. Had a little trouble shutting it off. We either have a dieseling problem or an electrical problem that is feeding power to the coil with the ignition off. Have not had time to explore since the break in. Found that we have a little oil leak on the oil pump face plate that only leaks when the engine in running. Not sure there is anything we can do about that short of pulling the engine and trying to re-seat the face plate - or just live with it? Really do not want to pull the engine. Think we still have a little more work to do on adjusting the air volume screw (the little one on our 34 Pict-3). We had a tiny bit of trouble getting it to fire initially until we realized we had plumbed the fuel pump backwards :oops:

Got the front bumper installed and have the hood on. Not getting a clean fit as the pull cable fails to pop the hood up and so opening it is a two person job :( We seem to be out of adjustment on both the latch stud on the hood back and on the latch receiver on the body. Maybe we need to also tighten the nut on the plunger stud to tighten the spring? Perhaps there is not enough spring pressure to pop the hood on release? Will keep working at it. All re-pop stuff so perhaps the piece that attaches to the handle on the back of the hood will need to have the adjustment slots lengthened a little. Would not be the first adjustment we have had to make on repop parts :)

Got our complete interior kit as well. We went with a Sewfine set-up in a two tone tan and off-white vinyl - what they call the "Simple Line Seat Covers" with stitched pleats. The quality is excellent from what we can see so far. Only have the bottom cushion of the back seat done so far - started with the simplest part to gain confidence. The rest will be more challenging and we plan to take it nice and slow. Ordered the conversion style headliner in perforated off-white. Have been unable to find any exact videos on such an install, but watched the entire 6 part Youtube videos of Chris from Classic VW as he installed an 8 piece headliner in a 54. The conversion style will be quite a bit different but at least the videos showed us the general techniques. I guess one big difference with the conversion is that the headliner goes from front window frame to back window frame rather than from the the little shelf where the visor and rear view mirror attach. Once again, we will take it slow and easy. If anyone knows of a good conversion style video we would appreciate it. The carpet is what they call medium saddle in 400 loop pile. Have yet to install any of that until we get the headliner in. Here is a photo of the back seat bottom. Stay tuned!

Sat Oct 25, 2014 10:34 pm

You're doing a beautiful job. Really looks great. Thanks for posting this build.

I am not sure what a conversion headliner is, but I have read that the JBugs headliner installation video is helpful to many.

http://www.jbugs.com/product/VIDEO-INTERIOR.html

Sun Oct 26, 2014 6:33 am

The conversion headliner is made up of fewer pieces than an original. There is one single piece that goes from the front window all the way to underneath the rear window, two door pillar pieces and then two pieces that fit under the rear quarter windows. Its supposed to be easier to install - but we will see :lol: I knew about the j-bug video but was hoping there might be a free one available on the web. We've had no luck searching.

Sun Oct 26, 2014 8:11 am

AZ66Bug wrote: Found that we have a little oil leak on the oil pump face plate that only leaks when the engine in running. Not sure there is anything we can do about that short of pulling the engine and trying to re-seat the face plate - or just live with it?

Why can’t you just remove the crankshaft pulley and then the tin? did you use new nuts with rubber sealing rings on the oil pump when you installed it, and use a little torque wrench? Did you use a LITTLE sealant on the oil pump cover gasket?

Sun Oct 26, 2014 8:31 am

Wasn't sure you'd be able to get the small pulley tin off without lifting the engine, but we can try to remove the crank pulley and try that. I honestly don't remember all the steps we did, but we used sealant. Can you get the crank pulley off with a puller and the engine still in place?? Not a lot of room for the puller.

Tue Nov 11, 2014 7:28 pm

We got a hold of a little crank pulley puller that works with the engine in the car (from CIP1). Pulled the oil pump face plate and the paper gasket was soaked in oil. Why would they make this gasket out of paper?? Cusser, we have a modified oil pump to accommodate the external cooler lines and so there are no rubber sealing rings. We put on the gasket from the German gasket kit - but it too looked like paper so we may be no better off. Will have to keep working on that one.

Think we have solved the "dieseling" problem. Not dieseling at all, but somehow, someway the coil was get power AFTER the ignition was off. My son did all the wiring himself and did a great job, but he made the mistake of wiring up the generator idiot light on the speedo gauge. We are of course running an alternator. This connection to the idiot light was somehow making a path for electrons from the alternator back to the coil - go figure. Guess that was a hard lesson learned.

We also managed to get the belt on too tight and warped the alternator pulley pretty badly during the break-in. Got a higher quality replacement already and then followed some advice to set the belt a bit looser. Seems so loose it would come flying off, but it works perfectly. This Bug keep throwing curve-balls :D Every car I have ever owned wanted the belts nice and tight - not this one though.

As for positive progress, we have gotten all the seat upholstery done shy of the carpeted hardboard backing on the rear seat back. Will post some photos later on. The Sewfine covers are very nice. Next up is the headliner and I am really, really not looking forward to that.

STAY TUNED!

Tue Nov 11, 2014 7:44 pm

Awesome build guys!!! Love the color you chose!! Your son will never forget this project! Great work!

Tue Nov 11, 2014 8:13 pm

Great to hear of your progress :D

New "V" belts will always stretch a little, and they will shape themselves to the form of the pulley vee's too, so it's best to set them up just "snug" to start off with and let it break in a few 100 miles, then re-adjust. Too tight can also cause excess wear on the GEN/ALT bearings.

And, when you do check it, be aware due to thermal expansion there can be a big difference when checking the belt play hot vs cold with these engines too. Once a belt is "broke in" I usually adjust play to the loose end of specs with a cold engine, then when it's hot it is what it is.

Tue Nov 11, 2014 9:02 pm

Very nice work so far. This is very inspiring as I am doing a pearl white 66 and am hopefully not too far behind you guys. Let me know if I can ever help you guys out, as I'm just down the road in Gilbert. 😃

I'm sure I will have some questions for you soon.

Tue Nov 11, 2014 9:47 pm

Great to hear of your project - good luck. With any luck we will be on the road before Xmas. Getting real close now. It has been a learning experience throughout and I'm sure its not over :D Let's us know if we can help in any way.

Wed Nov 12, 2014 6:20 am

AZ66Bug wrote: With any luck we will be on the road before Xmas.

Great. I may need to make a road trip from NE Phoenix to see it.

I also run the belt relatively loose on my VW, and have for decades. I've never had any slippage or running hot, and I figure that running loose is longer lifetime for my generator bearings, I did replace those decades ago, and generator R&R is tougher on a VW than alternators on conventional vehicles.

I remove the engine lid and remove the entire fan shroud on mine to do a generator, but it's been well over 20 years that I've had to do that. I also buy the best generator I can find, like a genuine "rebuilt by Bosch" if they are still available. I would choose those as well for a starter, but starters are way easier to R&R.

Wed Nov 12, 2014 6:51 am

After you visit Cusser in NE Phoenix, come on up to the high country in NE Arizona.

Tue Nov 18, 2014 4:37 pm

Great job, keep the updates coming.

Tue Nov 25, 2014 8:09 pm

A quick update on the latest progress.

We got all the seat upholstery completed. We are using Sewfine covers and the quality and fit are excellent. The challenges were relatively minor. Probably the most difficult part was the rear seat back because the covers were tight and trying to pull the edges over the little metal spikes was tough in a few cases. Attaching the carpeted hardboard piece was also a little challenging because the new covers were a lot thicker along the edges where the screws needed to go to attach the hardboard. Had to get a little advice as well on several little details like the strap that is attached to the top of the rear seat back. Some of these parts were missing when we got the car. Generous folks on the forum helped us out!

Got the door internals installed including the windows. Boy, those new scrapers are TIGHT. We are hoping that things loosen up a bit with use. Everything appears to be aligned properly but you really have to crank hard to get the windows up and down.

We got all the headliner padding installed and are ready for the actual headliner. Watched all the Classic VW videos on YouTube and then got ahold of the JBug interior video where they show how to install the conversion HL. Between the two sources we have a pretty good idea of what has to happen. Now the trick will be getting THAT to happen! So far we got the pillar pieces in the grippers and have put things on hold while we have relatives in town for T-giving. Once that headlliner is installed the rest should go pretty quickly. I think our projection for an Xmas completion is on track.

My son took the car out for a quick "test drive" down to the end of the street and back while dad was out of town. No license, no insurance and no windows! Not a great idea, but it did reveal we need some adjustment on the clutch cable :oops: We also need to dial in the total advance on the dizzy. Lots of little things.... Stay tuned.

Wed Nov 26, 2014 6:07 am

Nice! The only time I installed new window scrapers (including everything else like channel felt, vent wing rubber, etc.) was on a '63 bug I owned and I didn't have any extra-tight fitting issues. Wonder if the scrapers are seated in the door all the way?

Looking forward to the progress on the headliner. Not looking forward to doing it on mine eventually!

Wed Nov 26, 2014 6:38 am

AZ66Bug wrote: Got the door internals installed including the windows. Boy, those new scrapers are TIGHT. We are hoping that things loosen up a bit with use. Everything appears to be aligned properly but you really have to crank hard to get the windows up and down.

Since I know you cleaned/lubed the window regulators/gears, did you dust the rubber window scrapers with baby powder (talcum powder), so they don't "grab" the glass?

That's what I did when I installed new rubber into my Convertible a decade or so ago.

Wed Nov 26, 2014 8:24 am

Cusser wrote: AZ66Bug wrote: Got the door internals installed including the windows. Boy, those new scrapers are TIGHT. We are hoping that things loosen up a bit with use. Everything appears to be aligned properly but you really have to crank hard to get the windows up and down.

Since I know you cleaned/lubed the window regulators/gears, did you dust the rubber window scrapers with baby powder (talcum powder), so they don't "grab" the glass?

That's what I did when I installed new rubber into my Convertible a decade or so ago.

We did not do that but will give that a try. The scraper are all fully seated so I don't think that is an issue. Thanks for the suggestions

Wed Nov 26, 2014 4:45 pm

Just finished installing all new scrapers and vent window tracks on my 64 vert..not a task for the timid or weak of heart.....silicone works better than anything else I tried....spray it on a few times, wiping off the excess each time .....by the 3rd or 4th pass it makes a HUGE difference. Easy to clean off the glass. Your car is Looking great! Bob