1965 sunroof 1200 named Mushu

[tzepesh]

Off to prep and paint! Actually fun story: I kept looking for a painter, and most of them shied away due to "amount of work". Well, most painters make much more money working on smaller elements, so why bother with a full car? I was in a paint shop with my wife so she could select the color, and there was one guy also buying stuff, and he made some remarks in a very well mannered, modest way. Long story short, he is also a painter, by discussion he knows his stuff, he came to see the car with the prep guy, and they had a totally different attitude: good vibe, eager to work on the car, no bad remarks or shortcuts proposed. Actually they planned to do much more than we expected. So yesterday we delivered the car (you can barely see the rest of the parts packed in the blue Dacia behind trailer). Fingers crossed they would do very good work. Hint: it will be a bright red with sparkle. But not the usual metallic dark red.
Now my task is to work on the chassis, I already installed the spring plates, turned one notch for 6cm drop in the rear. Shall work well with the dropped spindles. I need to find somebody to ream the king and link. That long reamer is nowhere available around.
Also, I tried to mount back the axle tubes, and learned a new thing: they are adjusted by paper gaskets. Hmm, did not expect that, I just ordered two gaskets because I thought they are used for sealing, not for setting anything. RTFM... Waiting for a gasket kit this week.

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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[Stetoppingphoto]

Looks a fun build!

Look forward to seeing this in fresh paint
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Fender Bug

[tzepesh]

Yes, pretty fun, all family involved. But this old design is new to me, so I keep hitting my head and learning. My 22 years experience is with 1303.
Small update, no pics: I managed to pull put the needle bearings from the front beam. At first I tried with some home made tools, no result. So I bought an interior bearing puller, in 10-20 min they were all out.-
Now two topics: how do I get the deep bushings out? The ones made out of some resin. I have new ones, I would change everything if I'm at it.
And second: where do I find a long piloted reamer for king and link bushings? I could not find one to buy, also not one to rent. Again, Romania...
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

Is this the kind of reamer I shall use? Long, piloted, adjustable. But I do not understand how it would center the two holes, as there is a cone pilot bushing, and if it sits slightly sideways, I would get the holes misaligned... Am I missing something? And how would it be used, ream one hole and them move to the other side?
https://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Expanding-Reamer...Y&th=1
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

Edited: stupid question, there was no bushing inside, it is just a step, I guess used to stop the needle bearing. And the steps are present in all tubes.

So back to the original questions:
1. How do I drive the inner bushing out? Or press it more in? And press in new ones to the correct depth?
2. Is the reamer from the link above suitable for link pin bushings?
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

Small update: I started to install parts on the chassis. Front beam body is up, gearbox cleaned up, axle tubes up. I found that 3 paper shims were needed for the right side, and two on the left. I ordered the wrong nose cone mount, the one for 62 chassis, with 10mm bolts, I needed the 64- one, with 8mm bolts. Mix of parts from different years...
I decided not to pull out the inner beam bushings. The new ones need to be reamed, and I do not have such a reamer (long and large).
Also, I ordered the king pin piloted reamer, should arrive any time now. Of course, from the US, I do not understand why here in Europe such tools can not be found.
Sorry, no pics today.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

Small update, no pics. I reamed the link pin bushings, and the piloted reamer works very well. Took it in small increments, and once the pin could be slipped in, it went through both holes, so I can confirm very good tolerance and perfect alignment.

And a question: what dimensions is the loudspeaker? I don't have the body anymore to measure the space. I think it should be oval in shape, but no idea on dimensions. I have a nice Blaupunkt Karlsruhe Deluxe I will use, it also has rear input socket, and I can use that to switch between radio and aux input, like a BT or audio jack.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

Whining time: I tried to install the seat bases on tracks. Well, they don't fit. First, the distance between the tracks on the floors was larger, so I used some pliers and some wood to bring them closer. But then, the base still does not slide easily. So, checking the base on top of the tracks, they are not on the same plane. I have no idea hkw I will solve this.

In the mean time I received the thick spacers that go on the spindles on the king pin, the ones with a small eccentric hole that is used to keep them in place. The rebuild kit contains all bushings, shims, plastic shim, caps, but not these two.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[sportin-wood]

What do the seats look like? Wondering if they're from another VW type. I know Thing seat rails are different.
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1966 Bug project
1973 Thing project
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"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman. He's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." --- Jeff Spicoli

[tzepesh]

Seats are original '65 bug, floor pans are new, came with rails installed. It is definitely a misalignment in the rails, I will take some pics today. Not much misalignment, just a few millimeters, but enough that the bases do not slide easily.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

This is the kind of misalignment I'm speaking about. The base sits flat on the other rail. Side-to-side distance I can solve, but this one, I don't know how...
Also the locking teeth on the rails are not fitting with the locking mechanism, Those I have to grind a bit.

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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

Yesterday I worked a bit on the front beam. I received the metal shims for the king pins so I finished assembling the dropped spindles. Then went on to install them. Well, the rebuild kit comes with 8 shims per pin, and I have the pre 59 arms, where 10 shims are needed. And I have just two post 59 arms as spare... Ugh, search through the boxes of parts as I remembered having some more shims. I found many, so I combined some of them to reach the correct thickness: 6 shims made up for 5, and 4 shims made up for 3. Right side went pretty well, but on the left side I have the offset out of the table limits (4mm instead of min 5mm). So at first I tried to make some calculation and compensate. I installed it, and measured the camber, but it was too negative. Took it off and went to the minimum recommended in the table (as for 5mm offset). The camber is now spot on on both sides: -0.9 on left side, -0.8 on the right.
I continued to install shocks and steering, but I am missing serrated shims, so I will bolt down everything once I buy them.
Today, big day: I'll receive a HUGE order.

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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

Questions on headliner: being a sunroof car, it has only 3 bows. What is the length of the bows? I found this topic, where 39" (990mm) is mentioned for the bent bows, but the last bow is mentioned to be straight. Would this also be 990mm or longer, as for the hardtop cars?
Or maybe the length is different for pre 67 bugs?
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=722017

Second question: on what parts shall I glue insulating material, under headliner? I remember seeing some material on the B pillars and above the side windows, maybe somebody has some pics?
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

Busy week: I installed brakes and suspension, now I need to bleed the brakes when my wife will have one free hour. I also ordered bay window bus front spindle nuts, because I don't like the double nut locking system.
I reworked the right seat rail: made a long cut, installed the seat base, welded back in the correct position, with some added metal.
The only thing I can do more for the chassis is to glue the vibration absorbing material on the floors.

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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

Good observation by a friend, the seam of the boots shall face back of the car. Haynes says front or back, just to be horizontal. I will move them with the seam to the back.
The questions one post above are still valid.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[Rome]

Will you paint your bare metal brake drums for rust protection?

[tzepesh]

I never thought about that, but now that you mention it, I should. I think I can do this in situ, masking everything. Sooo, bright red or green? Just kidding, black should suit them well.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

Nothing much to show, I've been working on preparing the engine: cleaning the case, plugging oil galleys, sent the crank and flywheel to balancing, changing connecting rod bushings. For interior, I cut new cardboards for doors and for the back. Made some templates for carpets. Placed the order for the last parts. Waiting for painted body. My wife made a decision on color, now waiting for a test.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

Interesting story: I bought a new ignition tumbler and keys some time ago. So I wanted to have the same key for all locks: ignition, door, engine hood. I disasembled everything, shuffled the wafers, and in the end made them all work with one key. But then I wanted to have some better looking keys, so I identified the new keys as being R profile. The door lock is SU, the engine hood is K. Well, they all work with the R key profile.

Still wiating for wide to decide on color. First attempt is Triumph Korosi Red, with extra glitter. We did not have one sunny day to see it shine. Under strong light, it looks nice, at shade, not so much (for my taste. And I am partially colorblind). We need to make one more test with Mazda Soul Red Crystal Metallic. And hope for 10 minutes of sunshine.

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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration