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Mon Apr 04, 2022 7:08 pm

So, our club went out on a cruise yesterday. A few of the guys got separated from the group and happened upon a 67 Fastback. Stopped and talked to the guy and he said he wanted to sell it. When we all met back up and they told me about it, it was a I’ll go and buy it tonight price. So, we did. Went and picked it up today. It runs, and drives, and is very solid. Needs a ton of mechanical work. Never owned a type 3 before December. We bought a project Fastback cheap. It was a bigger project than she wanted, so we started looking for another.

Anyway, here are some pics. Is there anything obvious I am missing here? Other than I’m pretty sure the seats are wrong.

Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:40 pm

Looks clean and solid. Should be a semi quick fix. Keep in mind that there's a few things that are different on a type 3, but there's a lot that still interchange with other air cooled VW models.

Sat Apr 09, 2022 4:10 am

Been tinkering with it in the evenings when I get home from work. I’m waiting for parts to arrive. I’ve got 2 carb rebuild kits, and a gasket kit. Going to pull, clean, and reseal the engine this weekend. Then run through the electrics. A lot of the lights don’t work, or work intermittently. In the meantime, I cleaned it up some and put the front bumper back on. And before anyone says anything, I know. The fuel filter is getting moved this weekend. Really dumb place for it.

Sat Apr 09, 2022 2:24 pm

Are you sure it's a 67? Just asking as it has a lot of 66 attributes, like 6 volt generator, no rear back up lights, wrap around parking lights, non day/night rear mirror, no 4way flasher set up (emergency 88 knob). Although it does look like it has the inside door lock knobs at the top of the doors, I wonder if this is either a very early 67, that used a lot of left over 66 parts, or...

Sat Apr 09, 2022 3:05 pm

I checked the VIN. November of 66. So 67. The generator is a GR16x which is 12v. The flasher know was missing when I took pics , but I found it in the trunk. The mirror I don’t know much about, and I’m not a type 3 Ghia, I’m a Bug and Ghia guy. It could’ve been replaced with an earlier one at some point.

The bigger issue is what I doubt today digging into it. It’s running poorly on 3 and 4. 60psi of compression on number 4. Going to pull ot out of the car tomorrow and tear into it.

Cylinder number 4

Cylinder number 3

Going to check the rest tomorrow. Got a late start today and it started getting cold.

Sun Apr 10, 2022 6:30 am

Bobnotch wrote: Are you sure it's a 67? Just asking as it has a lot of 66 attributes, like 6 volt generator, no rear back up lights, wrap around parking lights, non day/night rear mirror, no 4way flasher set up (emergency 88 knob). Although it does look like it has the inside door lock knobs at the top of the doors, I wonder if this is either a very early 67, that used a lot of left over 66 parts, or...

The wrap front parking lights are on both the 66 and 67 model year. I've owned a few 67's and none had the 4 way flashers in them or a day/night mirror. The rear view mirror is a one year only part on the 67, IIRC.

Along those lines - people are much more likely to mess with electrical and engines than they are doors. The belt line trim says 67 like the pull knob doors that you pointed out. 67's have a lot of one year only parts and someone impatient likely wouldn't wait to find the right part.

The doors and the door handles/locks are specific to a 67. The locking mechanism in the door is a Type 1 part. The brake fluid reservoir is a one year only part as well. I tend to look at those things when deciphering if it's a real 67.

Sun Apr 10, 2022 1:53 pm

With both left side cylinders showing low it may just be a loose head. It make be worth pulling the rocker shaft and checking the torque. If loose, I'd pull the motor and tighten both upper and lower of both 1/2 and 3/4. Wait too long and it my burn and not seal even after being torqued.

Sun Apr 10, 2022 3:31 pm

KTPhil wrote: With both left side cylinders showing low it may just be a loose head. It make be worth pulling the rocker shaft and checking the torque. If loose, I'd pull the motor and tighten both upper and lower of both 1/2 and 3/4. Wait too long and it my burn and not seal even after being torqued.

I thought of that last night. Got up early this morning with this in mind. Tightened the 4 under the rocker just to see if it would make any difference. Got good compression on 3, 4 is still low. So, I pulled the engine and pulled it apart. I’m the the process of uploading pics. Will post in a bit.

Cylinder number 3

Cylinder number 4

The heads, while dirty, weren’t in hateful shape. No cracks, and no leaks in any of the exhaust or intake chambers. Rings don’t seam worn. The studs were all loose. Most likely will put in case savers. It’s a good thing I decided to pull it and reseal and do a minor rebuild. I’ll let the pics speak for themselves.

Oh, and as far as the year, it’s VIN is 317. Built in November of 66, and the engine is October of 66.

Wed Feb 01, 2023 7:41 pm

So I got sidetracked and never posted the pics.

Here's what I found.

Started with pulling the engine:

Wed Feb 01, 2023 8:01 pm

Then the disassembly began. I drove this car home when I bought it. I dont know how I didn't cook it. It was about a 10 minute drive.

As I piulled it apart I realized quickly i was in for a full rebuild. The heads had been leaking at the top of the cylinders. The case didn't have case savers, and I didn't want to build it without them. So, i totally disassembled it and cleaned it to send it to be machined.

There were quite a few things wrong when I took it apart, some of which I didn't get a pic of. The Tstat was broken and stuck open for example.

While it was at the machine shop we decided to get the tin cleaned up and ready. My wife wanted grey with gloss black accents. So, she blasted quite a bit of it herself and we coated it all.

I'll post more tomorrow.

Thu Feb 02, 2023 9:50 am

Coming long nicely....I am sure you are finding out the type three items are few and far between.

Thu Feb 02, 2023 10:06 am

gt1953 wrote: Coming long nicely....I am sure you are finding out the type three items are few and far between.

Yea, dew and far between and a lot more money than their Type 1 counterparts. Luckily between TheSamba classifieds, CIP1, my local air cooled parts guy Mark1vws, I’ve managed to find almost everything I’ve needed. I wanted to find some better heater boxes, but couldn’t get anyone to respond to their ads with a shipping price. I don’t blame them in a way. VW people are generally cheap and shipping on heater boxes could be expensive. I was willing to spend the money to get some boxes in better shape but it didn’t happen. So in the end I cut out the rusted spots and welded new metal in. They’re at the blaster now getting ceramic coated.

Also managed to pick up 2 complete dual 32s and set them off to volkzbitz. I still have the originals that came with the car.

Thu Feb 02, 2023 10:08 am

Here’s all the parts after coming back from the machine shop.

Thu Feb 02, 2023 7:04 pm

While waiting on machine work we did some powder coating and replaced the shifter and bushings.

This would be why it shifted so sloppy.

Then new wheels and lights.

Now on to assembly:

We pick up the exhaust this weekend.

There are a lot more pics in my gallery if you're interested.

Sat Feb 04, 2023 8:58 am

Exhaust is back. Much better.

Sat Feb 04, 2023 1:08 pm

It looks good, very nice work. However, that's probably the absolute worst muffler set up you can run on these cars, as they take away hp, and allow exhaust fumes to enter the car. They are even worse on Squarebacks. Just a heads up, and watch your shins around the tips. :wink:

Sun Feb 05, 2023 6:47 am

Bobnotch wrote: It looks good, very nice work. However, that's probably the absolute worst muffler set up you can run on these cars, as they take away hp, and allow exhaust fumes to enter the car. They are even worse on Squarebacks. Just a heads up, and watch your shins around the tips. :wink:

Well that sucks. Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of exhaust options available for these cars, and she wanted one that didn’t look busy. It had a header on it she didn’t like. The heater boxes were a whole other story. New ones are about $1000 and the fins are smaller so they don’t work as well.

Just waiting on the carbs now. Then after almost a year it can be whole again.

Btw when we got home I mocked the exhaust up just to see how well it fits and looks. Fits pretty good, and a vast improvement over the before pics.

Mon Mar 13, 2023 5:46 pm

Slowly coming together. It’s been taking way longer than I wanted, but progress is being made. About 2 months ago, I sent a set of carbs I had bought really cheap off to Tim to work his magic. They came back today. I can’t describe how used these looked. I literally picked them out of a tub where they had been stored outside, and the tub had snakes in it. They look like NOS carbs.

We also cleaned and masterseriesed the engine compartment. I went and bought some paint for it, but it’s been too cold to spray.

After we were done I realized the area where the oil filler is looks like crap, so it’s getting painted as well.

Mon Oct 23, 2023 6:17 pm

So, it's been way too long since I udated this thread.

I finally got the engine assembled in May. Ran into a snag with the pressure plate, but finally got it in.

That was the first weekend in May. We got it in, but it just wouldn't kick over. It would pop here and there, showing it was firing however. We wrapped up for the day, with every intention of getting back to it the following weekend.

Mon Oct 23, 2023 7:11 pm

That week my Mom died unexpectedly. Needless to say we never got to it the following weekend. In the meantime, life kinda got in the way for several months. Until last month, when a Fastback came up on Facebook Market Place. It was a 66. So, we went and bought it.

I initially bought it as a parts car, but I'm starting to like it. However, the armrests are missing in the 67, and the seats aren't correct. So, i'll move them over and then figure out what to do with the 66.

Anyway, we eventually got back to the 67. Found that no fuel was getting back to the engine, so we pulled the tank, sealed it and cleaned it.

I'll link the pics tomorrow.