TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sun Oct 11, 2020 7:37 am

Hello everyone!

I've been browsing these threads for a while, but I feel like now is the right time to make a post about my own car. I'll start with a bit of backstory, since it only feels appropriate.

So, it all started back in the summer of 2015 when on my commute I saw a faded pink 1970 Beetle sitting near some garages. I hadn't previously ever really been into VW-s but the more I drove by the bug, the more it started to spark interest in me. Fast-forward a month, I was the proud owner of said bug, along with a disassembled yellow 1972 1302. Yeah, that escalated rather quickly.
In October, both Beetles were hauled to my yard. I decided to start working on the pink one first and began disassembling the car. As I pulled the poor thing apart, however, it became clear that I had bitten off more than I could chew. The whole floor, heater channels and pretty much everything else was completely rotten to the point of it being completely impractical to even try to restore. :roll:
Long story short, I needed a new project. As time passed, I learned more about the people’s car and ideas started forming in my head about the kind of car I would actually want. Naturally, I started growing fond of the pre-67 sloping headlight bugs. I talked to a local VW enthusiast who recommended me to look for cars overseas. In Finland to be specific, since the vee-dub community and scene in Estonia weren’t particularly big at the time and thus there were only a handful of cars on sale year-round, almost all of them later models. I had scoured the Finnish ads for months when a fitting car finally popped up – a Ruby Red ’66 bug with a price tag I could actually get behind. And so, in September of 2016 the car was brought over from Finland and to be honest, it was love at first sight. Here she is:

It had its flaws, sure, but the overall package was rather decent, most importantly – a solid body and floorpans. Over the four years I’ve owned this car, I’ve put about 3000 km on it and at one point it was even my daily driver. I had made some minor tweaks and modifications in the prior years as well, such as swapping out the one-piece front windows for original vented ones (though they are from a later year bug) and getting a period correct head unit among other things. It wasn’t until this year, however, when the few flaws really started bothering me, the most notable of which are: 1) crunching sound when switching into 2nd gear and 2) horrible bullet hole decals someone slapped on the side of the car to cover up an unfinished rust repair job.
And that brings us to the reason I’m making this post – I decided it was finally time to take matters into my own hands and start this project once and for all. And the fact that I’m just too excited to keep the progress to myself, no matter how small it might be in the grand scheme of things.

So, here’s my progress over the last two weeks:
Pulled the engine:

Pulled the transmission:

Removed all the rust from under those decals, then filled in the holes and smoothed everything out:

Pulled apart another transmission, cleaned it and repainted it along with the axle tubes:

Started repainting the engine tins:

As I’ve been taking things apart, cleaning them and making everything look nice, I’m starting to get a funny feeling that I’ll keep pulling more stuff off the bug, since all those freshened up parts sure do look nice. :o The overall goal is a better looking and driving car that’s also closer to original. I am trying to keep the amount of work realistic though, since I plan on getting the bug back on road again for next year. Fingers crossed I’ll make it!
Thank you to all who bothered to read this, I’ll post updates as more things get done!

Mon Oct 12, 2020 7:30 am

Gorgeous, car, welcome! I hope one day my Ruby Red 66 can look half as nice as yours.

Fri Oct 23, 2020 9:40 am

Thanks! I remember looking at pictures of your car and thinking to myself that I really like that rear fender paintjob :D It's pretty rad!

Got more stuff done:
Transmission is back in:

Reassembled the engine tin and adjusted the valves, no idea when anyone last did that, since they were about 0.009" and the third one was way too tight :shock: :

Assembled the brakes, still need to bleed them:

Also installed the two smaller firewall pieces. Used a heat gun and a cardboard box to soften up the tar, seemed to do the trick rather well.

Thu Oct 29, 2020 1:33 am

Got the rest of the firewall tarboard installed:

Put the engine back in only to find out that the new transmission has the newer style throw-out bearing and the pressure plate has a centering ring on it #-o

No time to waste, pulled the engine back out and swapped out the pressure plate:

Checked to see if everything was working in the clutch department and proceeded to assemble everything engine related. Moved the plastic fuel filter under the car and also got rid of some hoses that were probably used for an external oil cooler.

Here's a before and after shot of the engine bay:

Also found out that one of the brake backing plates had warped somehow, possibly because of using a blowtorch on one of the nuts. This meant that the brake drum wouldn't go back on. Gotta go grab a spare off of another bug and then the brakes can be finished.

Sun Nov 01, 2020 3:40 am

She's back on all four wheels!

I did a little test drive as well and everything seems to be working. It feels pretty weird to finally have a transmission that shifts properly without making any painful noises :)
The engine sounds much better as well thanks to the valve adjustment, I wish I had done that sooner.

Pretty much all of the mechanical work I planned on doing is now done, so next up I'm going to focus on the paintwork. There are a few more areas other than the driver's side door that need work. Such as the roof that had two deep scratches and some peeling in the paint:

And also there's some pretty ugly peeling between the windshield wipers that I want to fix.

Sun Nov 01, 2020 4:51 am

Noice job. :)

Sun Dec 13, 2020 12:07 pm

So, remember that little bit of ugly peeling I wanted to fix?

Yeah, I guess I got carried away :shock:

To be fair, I just figured that since I'm already going to be doing some paintwork, it would be a shame to half-ass it so here we are.

We'll see how this goes :D

Mon Dec 14, 2020 7:43 pm

Beautiful paint job. I'm curious--If it came from Finland, how come the steering wheel is on the right side? I'd say the wrong side 8), but then I'm not Finnish.

Finnished

Tue Dec 15, 2020 9:38 am

The steering wheel is actually on the left side aka the correct side :D

Sun Jan 03, 2021 11:26 am

These past few weeks have mostly been about sanding, rust repair and more sanding.

Thankfully most of it has been surface rust with a few exceptions, e.g there was a small hole in the passenger door, the front quarter panel and also under the rear quarter window seal but those have all been fixed now.

Up next is some more sanding, body filler work and if everything goes as planned, I can hopefully lay down some primer in a week or two.

Here she is in her current state:

Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:37 am

I finally got to the exciting part - laid down some primer today! Didn't come out completely perfect but it's my second time ever painting with a paint gun so I'm not really fussed about it :)

As she is now:

There's still some welding to do on the front wings before they can get sodablasted along with a few other bits and pieces. Then those can be painted up as well.

Wed Feb 03, 2021 9:18 am

Fenders are finally done, here are a few pics of rust repair, prepwork and primer:

Thu Mar 18, 2021 7:27 am

Progress has been slower than I would have liked for the past month but as of today, all of the primer work has been completed!

Tomorrow is the big day when I'll finally lay down a fresh shiny coat of red paint and after that it's assembly time.
I cannot wait for my bug to be back on the road!

Sat Mar 20, 2021 1:59 am

The body is finally painted after 3 months of work!

The overall finish came out okay. I'm obviously no professional, not even close, so there are a few drips and dust spots but I can hopefully fix all of those later.
Super stoked to finish this :D

Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:56 am

Looking good, nice work!

Wed Mar 24, 2021 6:04 am

Thank you!

Got the fenders painted today as well as the hood and deck lid:

Now I just need to get the door hinge pins sorted, paint the doors, polish everything and then it's assembly time! :)

Thu Jun 17, 2021 10:08 am

It's been a while since my last post as I've been busy with school and work. Didn't make any progress at all during April and May, but now that I have more free time, the bug's finally getting worked on.

A quick summary of what has happened:

Started fixing paintwork related mistakes:

Moved the bug to a different and better workshop:

Did some more painting:

Started polishing every single painted body panel and accessory:

The polishing process is a rather lengthy one, but I'm getting really good results so it's all worth it.

The current plan is getting the bug back on road by the end of June. I'm also planning on getting museum license plates, which considering the state of the vehicle when it's finished, shouldn't be a problem at all.

Fri Jun 18, 2021 5:03 pm

Looks great. Well done.

Wed Jun 30, 2021 8:21 am

I did it! Bug's all assembled and ready for use with a few minor bits still to work out. Here are a few more pics taken over the last two weeks.

Drove it home like this :D Only a kilometer long trip, thankfully:

Assembled the rear end first:

Then moved on to the front (kinda digging the bumperless look):

Mockup of the correct wheels, can't wait to get these restored:

And the final product as of right now:

Next up, I'll try to get museum plates for the car and just enjoy driving it. I'll post updates whenever something gets done, thanks for reading!

Wed Jun 30, 2021 9:54 am

looks amazing! Nice work!