TheSamba.com :: View topic - Squeaky Clean 68

Fri Dec 28, 2018 8:14 pm

Hello all,

My name is Drew, and this is the start to the "build" thread of mine and my pops' 1968 Beetle. We purchased the car about a month ago as a project for the two of us to share. This is a life-long dream project for me, as I've been an air-cooled beetle fanatic for as long as I can remember. My dad isn't new to the air-cooled VW world, but this is the first one I've really gotten to work on and drive, so I can't wait to start digging into the little odds and ends this car needs to make it a perfect driver. I've had some highly modified Subarus over the years, and I have a bad habit of not leaving my cars alone, but I'm going to try to be mild with this one but I doubt it'll stay that way ;)

Onto the car:

We were on the hunt for an earlier car originally (58-66 preferably) but kept striking out and either cars were being sold out from under us or sellers weren't responding back/picking up the phone when we called. We were to the point where we were about to call it quits for a few months and start again in the spring when we came across this 68 in Phoenix Arizona. We talked about it, and after looking at the pictures, we decided we were going to go for it.

The owner said the car had never seen snow/salt/much rain, and that it had 33k original miles, and had undergone a mild restoration with basically just new paint, new interior/headliner, and a refreshed engine. We had it shipped to my dad's house in Indiana, and could not believe how clean this thing is. The pan is spotless, spare tire well is rust free, as is the battery tray. We're beyond excited about this thing. We're currently working on cleaning up the mess that is the wiring (previous owner hacked it all up and had no idea what he was doing with it) and restoring the dash to its original state as well. The ugly fiberglass cover is now gone, and we will be either buying a factory padded cover, or shaving the holes and making it basically into an pre-68 dash. Also on the list to be replaced are the tacky door panels.

Enough rambling, time for pictures:

Seller photos:

Day the car arrived!

The car in its new home. We took her for a drive the day after Christmas as the weather was warm, and she runs like an absolute dream. Very smooth, and the gearbox feels fantastic! Now that the weather has turned back to winter, we pulled the seats to work on the adjusters & junk dash cover is out:

My Frenchie approves:

Also, had to add this obligatory sticker to my Subaru:

Fri Dec 28, 2018 8:32 pm

Looks like you got the brass ring with that one. Very nice! Not a lot to do—after the dash, glovebox, gas gauge, etc. is done.

You’ll need heat for those cold “Chicagoland” winter days when there’s no salty snow on the ground. See if you can also get a stock air cleaner with the preheat hose. Then you’ll be able to close off that hole in the tin, as well as hook up your open blow-by pipe on the oil filler.

Tim

Fri Dec 28, 2018 8:54 pm

Tim Donahoe wrote: Looks like you got the brass ring with that one. Very nice! Not a lot to do—after the dash, glovebox, gas gauge, etc. is done.

You’ll need heat for those cold “Chicagoland” winter days when there’s no salty snow on the ground. See if you can also get a stock air cleaner with the preheat hose. Then you’ll be able to close off that hole in the tin, as well as hook up your open blow-by pipe on the oil filler.

Tim

Thanks Tim! I'll definitely have to try to find a stock air cleaner so I can get the heater parts all hooked back up. We salt pretty heavily around here clear until the spring, so she probably won't be out of the garage to stretch her legs again until the weather warms back up. Thinking of picking up a set of 2.5" drop spindles to even the ride height up of the car, but otherwise you're right! She really only needs the dash and all the accessories to go with it. Did these have a separate gas gauge from the factory in 68? Ours has the gauge built into the speedo, but we weren't sure if that was original. My buddy's '60 has a separate one, but I know that's a very different bug than mine.

Sat Dec 29, 2018 7:55 am

Factory ‘68 would have had electric fuel gauge. Earlier gauges were mechanical.[/img]

Sat Dec 29, 2018 9:29 am

wayne1230cars wrote: Factory ‘68 would have had electric fuel gauge. Earlier gauges were mechanical.[/img]

That is great to know! Thank you for that reference image!

Sat Dec 29, 2018 6:31 pm

if you need any pieces to repair your dash i could cut some off a dash i have i used for the 1/4 panel.nice car tho.i hope to get my 68 on the road next year

Sat Dec 29, 2018 8:00 pm

Great score.

One thing I would recommend is to cap off the freah air vents on the fan housing and cover up the holes on the tin. You're losing cooling and adding hot air from the exhaust area.

Can you please post better pics of the engine?

Sat Dec 29, 2018 10:17 pm

walter kandetzki wrote: if you need any pieces to repair your dash i could cut some off a dash i have i used for the 1/4 panel.nice car tho.i hope to get my 68 on the road next year

Walter, I will definitely keep that in mind. Thank you! I wish you the best in getting yours back on the road.

joey1320 wrote: Great score.

One thing I would recommend is to cap off the freah air vents on the fan housing and cover up the holes on the tin. You're losing cooling and adding hot air from the exhaust area.

Can you please post better pics of the engine?

Hey Joey, the fresh air holes on the tin are capped off with little screwed in pieces currently. Not really sure why the previous owner chose to go this route, but we plan on restoring the engine back to being completely 100% stock. I definitely need to get better pics of the engine. I took a video of her running, but I took no pics of the engine for some reason when I was with the car yesterday. I'm back home now, but will see if I can grab a still frame from the video, or have my old man snap a few better pictures.

Sun Dec 30, 2018 8:44 am

You did really well to spend some more money up front for a solid, unrusted car and have it shipped to the midwest. Wishing you lots of enjoyment with it.

What a shame that the dash metal is so hacked up. I think you can reshape it close to original by using a body hammer and dolly. That large tear-out at the left bottom of the radio opening will require welding to close up. But if you decide to go with a stock dash pad, you can probably get by with riveting a patch panel over the tear-out, and drilling a new hole for the left fresh air knob.

The left opening next to the speedometer already has its cross-brace cut out. This enables you to buy a panel with pre-made openings for accessory gauges such as a large tachometer, oil pressure and oil temp. gauges. Like this one: http://vwparts.aircooled.net/VDO-Gauge-Panel-Left-Side-14-1003-0-p/14-1003-0.htm

Horrible wiring mess. The original wiring harness was easy to work with. Probably best alternative is to buy an OEM replacement harness for the front half of the car. Hopefully the wires going to the back of the car for engine and lights have not been hacked up front. Here's a good replacement stock harness- http://vwparts.aircooled.net/VW-Wiring-Harness-Kit-1968-69-Beetle-WK-113-6869-p/wk-113-6869.htm

There is an outlet for that fresh air box in the trunk, that is not going anywhere except draining generally into the trunk. There should be a tube, such as a garden hose, that goes from that outlet down to a depression and hole just to the rear of the gas tank. Rain water that comes through the hood air vents drains down through the fresh air box, goes out that drain, through the tube, and the tube front ends up above the transmission tunnel. Again, you can cut a spare section of garden hose to make it run through that access hole and let it dangle about 2" down from the gas tank ledge.

Sun Dec 30, 2018 11:52 pm

Rome wrote: You did really well to spend some more money up front for a solid, unrusted car and have it shipped to the midwest. Wishing you lots of enjoyment with it.

What a shame that the dash metal is so hacked up. I think you can reshape it close to original by using a body hammer and dolly. That large tear-out at the left bottom of the radio opening will require welding to close up. But if you decide to go with a stock dash pad, you can probably get by with riveting a patch panel over the tear-out, and drilling a new hole for the left fresh air knob.

The left opening next to the speedometer already has its cross-brace cut out. This enables you to buy a panel with pre-made openings for accessory gauges such as a large tachometer, oil pressure and oil temp. gauges. Like this one: http://vwparts.aircooled.net/VDO-Gauge-Panel-Left-Side-14-1003-0-p/14-1003-0.htm

Horrible wiring mess. The original wiring harness was easy to work with. Probably best alternative is to buy an OEM replacement harness for the front half of the car. Hopefully the wires going to the back of the car for engine and lights have not been hacked up front. Here's a good replacement stock harness- http://vwparts.aircooled.net/VW-Wiring-Harness-Kit-1968-69-Beetle-WK-113-6869-p/wk-113-6869.htm

There is an outlet for that fresh air box in the trunk, that is not going anywhere except draining generally into the trunk. There should be a tube, such as a garden hose, that goes from that outlet down to a depression and hole just to the rear of the gas tank. Rain water that comes through the hood air vents drains down through the fresh air box, goes out that drain, through the tube, and the tube front ends up above the transmission tunnel. Again, you can cut a spare section of garden hose to make it run through that access hole and let it dangle about 2" down from the gas tank ledge.

So much amazing advice in one post! It's hard to respond to all of it at once. My dad is pretty skilled when it comes to wiring thankfully, and since I've been back home he's started labeling and cleaning it all up thanks to finding a great wiring diagram online. Hopefully it doesn't come to us needing a new harness but we'll for sure use the link you shared if it does. you brought up a great idea with riveting a patch panel in place of the hacked out hole on the dash. If we go with the factory pad, we definitely will consider going that route to mount the switch back in place. We actually hooked up a plastic hose to the fresh air drain a few days back, so I'm glad you mentioned doing that. We were curious as to how that would have been originally done/routed.

Thanks again for all the great info!

Mon Dec 31, 2018 5:30 am

Hopefully the new paint isn’t hiding the same sort of nastiness that the dash cover was. Right off, I see an incorrect year door on the driver side causing misalignment of side molding that wasn’t caught before paintwork was done.

Mon Dec 31, 2018 7:43 am

TDCTDI wrote: Hopefully the new paint isn’t hiding the same sort of nastiness that the dash cover was. Right off, I see an incorrect year door on the driver side causing misalignment of side molding that wasn’t caught before paintwork was done.

Oh wow, you're correct.

Unfortunately this opens a Pandora's box with debating what to do. Let it be and play ostrich or start digging into it.

If I was the OP, I would consider removing the door cards and the rear interior panels and inspecting the inside of them to look for any accidental damage. No rear reason for a door to be replaced unless it was damaged. Hopefully nothing else shows.

Mon Dec 31, 2018 8:11 pm

joey1320 wrote: TDCTDI wrote: Hopefully the new paint isn’t hiding the same sort of nastiness that the dash cover was. Right off, I see an incorrect year door on the driver side causing misalignment of side molding that wasn’t caught before paintwork was done.

Oh wow, you're correct.

Unfortunately this opens a Pandora's box with debating what to do. Let it be and play ostrich or start digging into it.

If I was the OP, I would consider removing the door cards and the rear interior panels and inspecting the inside of them to look for any accidental damage. No rear reason for a door to be replaced unless it was damaged. Hopefully nothing else shows.

Man, that's a good catch. I had noticed the trim was off, but hadn't thought much of it other than that the previous owner reinstalled it poorly after paint. We plan on pulling the cards soon to replace them with factory repop's we ordered from j bugs. I'm definitely curious to see what we find. The pan is very straight, and doesn't appear to have been repaired at any point, but who knows what would cause a door to need to be replaced.

Tue Jan 01, 2019 6:37 am

wrdrew wrote: joey1320 wrote: TDCTDI wrote: Hopefully the new paint isn’t hiding the same sort of nastiness that the dash cover was. Right off, I see an incorrect year door on the driver side causing misalignment of side molding that wasn’t caught before paintwork was done.

Oh wow, you're correct.

Unfortunately this opens a Pandora's box with debating what to do. Let it be and play ostrich or start digging into it.

If I was the OP, I would consider removing the door cards and the rear interior panels and inspecting the inside of them to look for any accidental damage. No rear reason for a door to be replaced unless it was damaged. Hopefully nothing else shows.

Man, that's a good catch. I had noticed the trim was off, but hadn't thought much of it other than that the previous owner reinstalled it poorly after paint. We plan on pulling the cards soon to replace them with factory repop's we ordered from j bugs. I'm definitely curious to see what we find. The pan is very straight, and doesn't appear to have been repaired at any point, but who knows what would cause a door to need to be replaced.

At the end, you guys have a beautiful bug that will bring lots of joy. So a replaced door isn't a big deal, in the grand scheme of things. 8)

Tue Jan 01, 2019 7:10 am

Did you buy the car without seeing it in person?

If you did not you can only rely on what the seller discloses and only looking at pics can be misleading just like looking at houses for sale on websites.You find things that don't show up in pictures!

The possible wrong door is not an issue unless the seller represented the vehicle differently.

Anyway looks like a great project have fun!

Wed Jan 02, 2019 10:58 pm

Nice VW! I'd personally also install the correct engine compartment insulation. You mentioned doing a "correct" engine, and your firewall is not show car finished, so why not enjoy a quieter interior? I am in Chicago, good to see another person at least in the vicinity. It will also probably be easier-as well as more reliable, to just replace the wiring harness, as has been recommended above. Even if you guys sort that old wiring out, it can become pretty brittle over the years. A standard VW beetle wiring harness is pretty straightforward-my dad and I installed one over a couple of weekend evenings in my '67.

Thu Jan 03, 2019 10:10 pm

joey1320 wrote: At the end, you guys have a beautiful bug that will bring lots of joy. So a replaced door isn't a big deal, in the grand scheme of things. 8)

I really appreciate that! It seems to be a well sorted little car, and it has definitely so far brought a lot of joy to us both. We haven't had something like this to work on together for a pretty long time, so it's been really enjoyable.

grandpa red wrote: Did you buy the car without seeing it in person?

If you did not you can only rely on what the seller discloses and only looking at pics can be misleading just like looking at houses for sale on websites.You find things that don't show up in pictures!

The possible wrong door is not an issue unless the seller represented the vehicle differently.

Anyway looks like a great project have fun!

Unfortunately we did purchase it sight unseen aside from the seller provided photos. For the price we paid for the car in its condition we still feel really good about it regardless of the few mismatch parts here and there, and the funky dash/wiring. Thank you!

chicagovw wrote: Nice VW! I'd personally also install the correct engine compartment insulation. You mentioned doing a "correct" engine, and your firewall is not show car finished, so why not enjoy a quieter interior? I am in Chicago, good to see another person at least in the vicinity. It will also probably be easier-as well as more reliable, to just replace the wiring harness, as has been recommended above. Even if you guys sort that old wiring out, it can become pretty brittle over the years. A standard VW beetle wiring harness is pretty straightforward-my dad and I installed one over a couple of weekend evenings in my '67.

Hey neighbor! It's funny you mention the new harness. We did end up purchasing a new one, as the condition of the old wiring just wasn't worth our time. She's stuck in the garage until April at the earliest (fingers crossed) anyways, so we've really started to dig into this thing to make it perfect in our eyes by summer. Do you have any more info on the engine compartment insulation? I had no idea our bug was missing that.

I think I might order a set of 2.5" drop spindles for it as well. I've never left the height alone on a single car I've owned, so I'd love to take care of a little of that gap up front.

Fri Jan 04, 2019 2:10 pm

That speedo says the car has done 30000 miles but it isn’t the original Speedo. It’s a much later Speedo. Wrong font and has tenths miles. Speedos are marked with a manufacturing date on them. Bet yours has a seventies date on it.

Sorry but it’s unlikely it has so few miles on it. I’d dig deeper if I were you for peace of mind.

viiking

Fri Jan 04, 2019 2:21 pm

I'd have thrown a stock air cleaner on it, a set of heater tubes for the fan shroud, and driven it all over town with a huge smile on my face! I dig the flat dash glass mod and the Miami-Vice door cards. Showing my age here! Really nice bug. More than a bit jealous of your starting point on this one. :)

Fri Jan 04, 2019 11:07 pm

viiking wrote: That speedo says the car has done 30000 miles but it isn’t the original Speedo. It’s a much later Speedo. Wrong font and has tenths miles. Speedos are marked with a manufacturing date on them. Bet yours has a seventies date on it.

Sorry but it’s unlikely it has so few miles on it. I’d dig deeper if I were you for peace of mind.

viiking

Dad has the speedo pulled out right now, so I'll shoot him a text tomorrow and see if he will look at the back of it to see the year. This car is becoming a little mystery.

Buggeee wrote: I'd have thrown a stock air cleaner on it, a set of heater tubes for the fan shroud, and driven it all over town with a huge smile on my face! I dig the flat dash glass mod and the Miami-Vice door cards. Showing my age here! Really nice bug. More than a bit jealous of your starting point on this one. :)

I appreciate the kind words! I don't hate the smooth dash, but I'm much more into things like the dash and the door cards appearing to be stock in most circumstances. Yet again, I'm constantly tempted to throw early bumpers on this thing with conversion brackets simply because of my love for overriders.