TheSamba.com :: View topic

Thu Mar 09, 2017 5:09 pm

Hey guys. Been lurking on here for a few months and thought I would post a thread so I can put it in my sig so yall can get to know me and my car better.

I have a 1971 super beetle. According to the PO I am the 3rd owner of the car. Seems to me that the original owner had it from purchase to mid 2014 and then the PO had it for about 2 years. Other than some seat covers the guy I bought it from didn't do much to it and it seemed like he was WAY in over his head.

Found it on craigslist listed for 3300 and I talked him down to 2700.

Here is what it looked like the day I got it.

Here is the engine bay when I got it.

The back window seal was leaking and it looked like someone had tried using sealant to seal it but it either didn't work or was late so there was some rust holes behind the back seat and the passenger pan was pretty holy

here are some shots of the area after pulling the carpets and the rest of the interior

and after I cut the panels out and repaired (was my first time welding) I caulked the bejesus out of both seams to ensure water wouldn't creep in anytime soon.

I then sprayed the entire interior (roof, inside of door panels, luggage area and engine bay with "Silent Running" (basically a sound deadening material) here is a pic of the engine bay when I was done.

all stripped down and ready for painting and stuff. (Im pretty sure it was in an accident in its life cause it was def resprayed and the passenger door had a spot for a mirror and the drivers door was a different color)

After a first coat.

Carpet and interior going in

floor mats and front seats installed (those sombitches were rusted in place when I got the car so I was pretty happy to get them free and not have so much rust on the rails that I would have to replace)

More or less what it looks like now.

My son posing like he did all the work.....

I have since replaced all the tie rods (both assemblies and the center drag link) Control arm bushings and Ball joints plus put some new rubber on it.

Also added the caps and stuff and done a bunch of tuning on the engine.

Thats about all I have to say about that. Ill be around.
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Thu Mar 09, 2017 6:56 pm

Excellent start , looking like fun. Take the boy for some ice cream.

Tue Mar 14, 2017 3:54 pm

How did you prep the chrome bumpers for the black paint?

Tue Mar 14, 2017 7:28 pm

jacophilis wrote: How did you prep the chrome bumpers for the black paint?

I sandblasted the rust off of them (surface rust) and the parts that weren't rusty I sanded with 80 grit to get them good and roughed up.

Then I primed and painted using Black Matte paint.

I think it was the Auto specific Rustoleum stuff from Lowes

Wed Mar 15, 2017 11:39 pm

Thank you! I will be doing this soon with my lightly-rusted "71 SB front and rears!

Mon Mar 20, 2017 8:06 am

Tom....Thanks for the post. I've got a 71 SB in the garage that has had a leak at the rear window. I don't think I've got any areas that are completely rusted through, but a good bit of surface rust in the luggage area. I'll be sanding it down and prepping for some new carpet back there.

Have you used the "Silent Running" before on other cars....how is it holding up? Also are you putting a pad between the silent running application and the carpet as well?

Mon Mar 20, 2017 8:15 am

jcdavis081 wrote: Tom....Thanks for the post. I've got a 71 SB in the garage that has had a leak at the rear window. I don't think I've got any areas that are completely rusted through, but a good bit of surface rust in the luggage area. I'll be sanding it down and prepping for some new carpet back there.

Have you used the "Silent Running" before on other cars....how is it holding up? Also are you putting a pad between the silent running application and the carpet as well?

I have not used this specific stuff before but I think it makes a pretty big difference. I sprayed the inside of the engine bay with a thick layer and the roof, floors, doors and luggage area. Its hard to quantify how much of an improvement but there is one.

The only downside is that this stuff is sprayed so it can get a bit messy which didnt matter as much to me when I sprayed cause the car was stripped down with nothing to get overspray on but yeah it can be a bit overspray heavy at times.

I didn't put anything between the sound deadening spray and the carpet. Just a layer of contact cement when I layed the carpet down.

Its weird when you do those kind of "hidden" mods that no one sees. I mean it looks more or less EXACTLY the same when done but the sound levels are much more reasonable. I think at least.

Sun Mar 26, 2017 5:54 pm

I replaced my shift rod bushing and coupler today and

HOLY MOLY

it shifts SOOO much better now.

Best improvement in drive-ability that Ive made so far.

I was having some slop and metal vibrating noise through the gear shifter (which is why I changed them) and now it shifts much shorter and also doesn't make a noise.

Fri Mar 31, 2017 12:09 pm

Changed my rear shocks.

When I pulled out the old ones they didn't even push back at all.

Back of the car raised like 2 inches which is sweet cause I was considering lowering it in the front to make the car not look so slanted toward the back.

Good shit.

Fri Mar 31, 2017 4:18 pm

Tom Butler wrote: I replaced my shift rod bushing and coupler today and HOLY MOLY it shifts SOOO much better now. Best improvement in drive-ability that Ive made so far.

Not surprised.

Tom Butler wrote: Changed my rear shocks. When I pulled out the old ones they didn't even push back at all.

The rears in my 1970 were like that (it had sat for 23 years); I actually got freebie replacements from Gabriel as I still had the receipts from 1978.

The fronts on mine were KYB and did have some spring left in them, but I bought new shocks for its front.

Sun Apr 02, 2017 1:56 pm

Cusser wrote:

The rears in my 1970 were like that (it had sat for 23 years); I actually got freebie replacements from Gabriel as I still had the receipts from 1978.

The fronts on mine were KYB and did have some spring left in them, but I bought new shocks for its front.

I was doing the push test (pushing down on the car to see how springy it was) and the rear had little to nothing but the fronts seem pretty good. They push back pretty well when I push down on them.

I was having to really lean into to turns before changing them and now its so much better. I don't feel like I have to tighten my gut and lean hard to make it through them.

Tue Sep 19, 2017 8:41 pm

Ive done a few things Got a rack and changed the front shocks. Been driving it a lot. Weekend trips with the club.

This was our meetup last weekend at Half Moon Bay. Real nice drive from the east bay if you ever get a chance.

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Tue Sep 19, 2017 10:27 pm

Love half moon bay! Like seeing all those vw sitting there. Need to drive up next time you guys are all going there!

Wed Sep 20, 2017 3:40 am

Wow! I am super impressed! I WISH I had the skills to do even a portion of that.

I am in the decision making of purchasing a 1970 bug that probably needs everything done...because it has been stored for decades!

All I want is to drive it but would love to repaint it.

I didn't think I read but how long did that project take?

Wed Sep 20, 2017 4:11 am

Tom Butler wrote: Changed my rear shocks.

When I pulled out the old ones they didn't even push back at all.

Back of the car raised like 2 inches which is sweet cause I was considering lowering it in the front to make the car not look so slanted toward the back.

Good shit.

Just curious......did you use 'coil over shocks' in the rear? Cause regular shocks won't change the ride height.

mort

Wed Sep 20, 2017 7:14 am

vernonc wrote: Tom Butler wrote: Changed my rear shocks.

When I pulled out the old ones they didn't even push back at all.

Back of the car raised like 2 inches which is sweet cause I was considering lowering it in the front to make the car not look so slanted toward the back.

Good shit.

Just curious......did you use 'coil over shocks' in the rear? Cause regular shocks won't change the ride height.

mort

Suprisingly no I actually just put some stock ones in.

I think the ones in it were at least 20 years old and they were just so shot that they had bottomed out and stayed there hence why the car got a bit higher when I installed New Working shocks.

Wed Sep 20, 2017 7:16 am

dogdoodles wrote: Wow! I am super impressed! I WISH I had the skills to do even a portion of that.

I am in the decision making of purchasing a 1970 bug that probably needs everything done...because it has been stored for decades!

All I want is to drive it but would love to repaint it.

I didn't think I read but how long did that project take?

From tear down to driving it took maybe like 6 months I could have done it faster but I took my time with alot of stuff and cause it was my first time doing it I learned alot.

Pretty much every time It would be like 2 hours on the passenger side to do something and then like 15 minutes on the driver side cause I figured out what NOT to do.

If you are planning on buying a car that needs a little work I would recommend the "bug me" videos. They dont have EVERYTHING covered but it is pretty good all the same.

Wed Sep 20, 2017 7:20 am

VW_Jimbo wrote: Love half moon bay! Like seeing all those vw sitting there. Need to drive up next time you guys are all going there!

Of course Jimbo

Next year mexican independence day we will be there. I will keep you posted when it rolls around again.

Next weekend is a show in Santa Cruz. My kids are super excited to go to the beach again.

Thu Sep 21, 2017 10:21 pm

Because some people want to attack me and say I am a liar I have to add that when I changed my shocks I went from oil to gas

I feel this was the reason that my ride height changed.

Some guy wanted to say I was lieing about it. Why would I lie about something like that?

This site is nice and all but GOD DAMN there are some douchey old guys on this site.

Fri Sep 22, 2017 6:24 am

Tom Butler wrote: Because some people want to attack me and say I am a liar I have to add that when I changed my shocks I went from oil to gas

I feel this was the reason that my ride height changed.

Some guy wanted to say I was lieing about it. Why would I lie about something like that?

This site is nice and all but GOD DAMN there are some douchey old guys on this site.

I was thinking that you must have went with gas shocks to have changed the ride height. There's douchey old guys everywhere!