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Tue May 05, 2015 9:39 am

Personally, I detest anything green (except my wife's eyes) so when I bought the 1963 truck that was Turkis I immediately decided it wasn't going to be that color. I looked over the available 1963 colors and found that Light Gray L345 gave the truck a working-man's truck feeling and it was not seen very often. I found that Wolfsburg West (Southern California) offers several spray paint colors that are closely color-matched to stock colors. The L345 Light Gray was one of these colors. Cost is about $13/can + shipping. Not sure if they would have restrictions for mailing spray cans in airplanes to you in Brazil.

Here's the link to search the Wolfsburg West web site. Enter "spray paint".
https://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/SearchResults.cfm

Tue May 05, 2015 2:21 pm

Thanks to Everett for confirming I needed E1 lenses, I was quickly able to find Steve from Eugene Oregon who had a pair at a great price (under $100/pair shipped). He packed them really well and after cleaning they were ready to swap out for the SB19-21 lenses. I'm so happy to finish this project with headlights I can be proud to have restored myself, and learned a lot in the process. If anyone need the SB19-21 lens pair for a 1963-67, let me know.

Tue May 05, 2015 2:52 pm

Lee Hedges wrote: Personally, I detest anything green (except my wife's eyes) so when I bought the 1963 truck that was Turkis I immediately decided it wasn't going to be that color. I looked over the available 1963 colors and found that Light Gray L345 gave the truck a working-man's truck feeling and it was not seen very often. I found that Wolfsburg West (Southern California) offers several spray paint colors that are closely color-matched to stock colors. The L345 Light Gray was one of these colors. Cost is about $13/can + shipping. Not sure if they would have restrictions for mailing spray cans in airplanes to you in Brazil.

Here's the link to search the Wolfsburg West web site. Enter "spray paint".
https://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/SearchResults.cfm

Thanks, yep looks like domestic shipping only. Am trying to find an equivalent spray paint here in S.America. Not easy.

That L345 Gray is perfect for a working truck, nice choice.

Tue May 05, 2015 11:57 pm

Nice work on the headlights... they look way better.

Bulb might need to get rotated 90 degrees?... so 'wagner'??? or 'halogen'??? words are horizontal. I see the fluting is different on the lens where the bottom is supposed to be. Looks like they're set up as if in a Beetle configuration.

Maybe it doesn't really matter too much.
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Wed May 06, 2015 9:06 am

Good catch easy, those headlight might have Beetle rear bulb holders - they will rotate the bulb 90 degrees.

The pieces seen in the lower left and lower right in this photo:

To explain further, they have 3 little tabs that go into the 3 slots in these pieces:

Bus ones have the bulb holders above have tabs in a different spot so that the headlights are rotated 90 degrees.

Wed May 06, 2015 9:27 am

Uh huh, the bulbs are cocked 90 degrees.

I bet it makes an interesting pattern as well as one crazy hi-lo switch.

Do it fast and it might cause vertigo or hypnotize an oncoming driver.

Wed May 06, 2015 9:31 am

Damn, and I thought I was done.
So let me understand ... I've got Beetle headlights. Since the three-tab design is unique for the Beetle & different for the Bus, I won't be able to simply turn the bulb unit 90 degrees to fix the problem? Do I need to find Bus bulb holders?

Wed May 06, 2015 10:15 am

Lee Hedges wrote: Damn, and I thought I was done.
So let me understand ... I've got Beetle headlights. Since the three-tab design is unique for the Beetle & different for the Bus, I won't be able to simply turn the bulb unit 90 degrees to fix the problem? Do I need to find Bus bulb holders?

Parts of your assemblies are for a Bug.

The piece that goes in after you install the lamp housing. They have 3 notches to locate the lamp and 3 tabs to locate the ring in the housing.

In this picture it is the part between the retainer springs and the lamp housing.

Wed May 06, 2015 10:16 am

Yes, you just need to switch the small circular back pieces that align the headlight in the housing to Bus ones and they will rotate for you.

The small circular pieces with the tabs that stick out.

Wed May 06, 2015 10:50 am

Anyone have a spare pair of these Bus bulb holders that I can buy to do the swap-out? I can restore them myself to match the Stone Gray painted parts.

Wed May 06, 2015 10:55 am

What happened to your old ones? You can cut/file new rectangle notches in the Beetle ones. Go 90 degrees but go the correct way so they don't end up upside down.

Are your drains in the right place? If not you can drill them.

Wed May 06, 2015 12:29 pm

Good advice Barry but it's easier for me to find the right Bus parts. Not considering that WW might sell me the separate bulb holders, I called them just now to find they do! And the holders come with a new set of clips to replace the rusty ones I have now. Nice! So I've ordered these along with a fresh pair of outer headlight chrome rings. The rings will need to be drilled for the drain holes before mounting. Can anyone supply a detailed photo of the drain hole in relation to the ring? Are they in the center or closer to the bottom edge of the rings?

Wed May 06, 2015 1:28 pm

Lee Hedges wrote: fresh pair of outer headlight chrome rings.

Although extremely correct in construction, the material they use is plated steel. They rust quite rapidly even though guaranteed. Originals are plated brass and never rust. The OG corrode but don't rust. If you don't put fiber washers under the adjuster screws on the WW ones they will rust immediately as the screw head cuts.

The hole is at the lowest point without touching the tangent of the bent lip. Place it up there and you'll see exactly where the lowest point is. Right is opposite left, duh.

Wed May 06, 2015 3:14 pm

BarryL wrote: Lee Hedges wrote: fresh pair of outer headlight chrome rings.

Although extremely correct in construction, the material they use is plated steel. They rust quite rapidly even though guaranteed. Originals are plated brass and never rust. The OG corrode but don't rust. If you don't put fiber washers under the adjuster screws on the WW ones they will rust immediately as the screw head cuts.

The hole is at the lowest point without touching the tangent of the bent lip. Place it up there and you'll see exactly where the lowest point is. Right is opposite left, duh. Why would WW go to so much trouble to reproduce a part that looks accurate, and not use a quality material that will perform like the original? Would anyone complain at a price that is only a few dollars more, but last many years longer AND be a good accurate copy?

Wed May 06, 2015 5:52 pm

Here's a drain hole photo:

I measured from the mounting hole along the curve of the ring to the bottom of the mounting tab and got 7.25"

Wed May 06, 2015 6:09 pm

Just awesome! Thank you!

The WW parts arrived today, absolutely LOVE overnight delivery to keep a project moving along! The repro bulb holders were stamped L & R to make it easy to install. The chrome headlight rings were beautiful, but without holes so they will get drilled after careful measurement (thanks to Everett) in the daylight. All went back together and now the bulbs are in the correct orientation. Thank you, everyone, for your sage advice & not laughing at me while I learned as I put these headlights back to stock.

Thu Jun 25, 2015 5:34 pm

This past weekend I attended the El Prado VW Show in Southern California. I drove the T34 and walked around to see all the cars. One of the coolest ones I saw was an Anthracite 1960 Double Cab with canopy & lowered in an aggressive stance. I looked around and saw buddy Jacin & Ami Ferreria & their new baby nearby. He had finished his truck and it looked SO GOOD!

Jacin was the one that offered the side gates for my 1963 truck. So we inspected every detail of his truck and he shared the many stories of the work. He asked how mine was going and asked if I needed rubber mats. Mine were torn in several places, so I told him I'd take his mats. His mats were new but were dirty from being installed during the resto work.

So today I got home and found a nice surprise on the doorstep. Jacin had sent the mats! They installed easily and look really great. I'm always super-thankful for the relationships that I have with other VW owners over the years. Jacin was really generous to send the mats and wouldn't even let me pay him for the shipping costs! Thank you, Jacin & Ami!

Thu Jun 25, 2015 5:45 pm

The truck had both its original outer "ice pick" door handles, but both were pitted. Several months ago I was fortunate to find an NOS driver's side handle in the Netherlands. But I've had a really hard time finding the non-locking handle for a reasonable price.

Last week I was very happy to see Chadd Magee list a repro non-locking handle in the ads, so I bought one for $50 shipped. Killer price and I was hoping it would fit. I'd previously bought a repro handle from ISP West that was supposed to fit, but it wouldn't release unless it was removed. Chadd said he thought the earlier version of door handle might work.

Today I installed the new handle and it installed easily, opened easily, but the handle stuck out, not returning the lever to the closed position. With a bit of force the handle could be pushed-in and the latch pushed-out. Much easier to use than the ISP handle, but something was sticking inside.

Anyone have experience on modifying the pre-1961 handle to fit the 1963?

Thu Jun 25, 2015 10:15 pm

Nice mats, please post a photo of the back side of that rear floor mat in the Double Cab rear seat thread

On your front floor mat, a '63 would have the rubber e-brake boot.
I think you have the metal cover? If you like that better, keep it.
The metal cover actually uses a different floor mat that just has a slit for the e-brake cables instead of a big rectangle for the full rubber boot.
Part "B" instead of the "C" you have. C is correct for 1963-65.

On the door handle I thought you just had to swap the door handle base out as they are different depths but your door handles look strange - it's possible you have to swap out the actual hook piece too.

There are some pic in the door handle thread here
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=481086
(Not just the first post, later in the thread)
There may or may not be enough detail there.

Fri Jun 26, 2015 7:34 am

Lee Hedges wrote:
Anyone have experience on modifying the pre-1961 handle to fit the 1963?

Hello Lee, it is impossible to modify a 55-12/60 handle to work as a 1/61-12/63 handle. All components are different, even the retention spring is special on the "61-63" handle.
Also, if you´d take the flater base of a 61-63 handle and combine it with the handlepiece of --> 12/60 either it will be stuck in the base or the pin will not aligne or if you force the pin through base, hook and handle the handlepiece will not stand in a normal position.
There is no other way than to find a correct 61-63 handle for a 61-63 door.