Aquifer's '67 Beetle Thread

[dave conklin]

Flowed out nice. Thanks

[aquifer]

Over the last several weeks I got the transmission installed, and installed new brake shoes, wheel cylinders, & drums. I filled the transmission with Red Line MT 90 (75w-90) GL-4.

In case you wonder why my drums have studs in one of the pictures below, my car had aftermarket wheels when I bought it, and I like them enough to leave them on for now. I have OEM rims and hubcaps, so when I want to return to the originals, all I have to do is remove the studs.

I started working on the front end this weekend. I’m going to install new drums and bearings, brakes, ball joints, torsion arm seals, tie rods & ends, and rebuild the steering gearbox - all of which it needs pretty bad. I’ll post pictures of that project in the near future.

Here are some pictures of the progress at the back end of the car:

This torque multiplier tool is slick! I’m glad I bought it.

I had to get a little creative to fill the transmission. Added the specified capacity without spilling a drop! Ended up just below the fill hole as prescribed.

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Parts needed:
Front & rear NOS or used OEM door panels for a '67 in the original Gazelle color (dark tan/light brown).
Also looking for used white headliner pieces, both perforated and non-perforated.

[scrivyscriv]

Looking good!
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Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[aquifer]

The turn signal detente wasn’t working, had to hold the signal lever because it wouldn’t stay up or down when turning. Since I have the steering box out to rebuild it, I decided it would be a good time to pull the steering shaft up and take off the turn signal assembly to see if I could fix it.

I found a thread on here that was incredibly helpful. I took it apart and found that one of the little arms had came off of its hinge point and fallen down. The circled piece is what had fallen off. I peened the top pretty good to keep it in place, hopefully better than it was originally. I cleaned off all the grime inside the assembly and applied fresh dielectric grease to the moving parts. It works good now.

_________________
Parts needed:
Front & rear NOS or used OEM door panels for a '67 in the original Gazelle color (dark tan/light brown).
Also looking for used white headliner pieces, both perforated and non-perforated.

[scrivyscriv]

I lost the tiny spring that goes under the sliding contact when I cleaned mine up. It took DAYS to figure out why nothing worked when I put it all back together!!
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Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[aquifer]

[scrivyscriv]

What's weird to me is how expensive those switches are new, and how cheap they are used. I found quite a handful on the classifieds here for a reasonable price that would make great donors to repair mine, which won't stay in the "up" position and also doesn't self-cancel. A new switch is just shy of three bills from wolfsburg west right now!

I'm sure years from now someone reading this thread will think "A '67 turn signal for $300, I would have bought five of 'em at that price!"
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[aquifer]

Yes, I saw the WW one, and probably would have ordered it if I hadn’t been able to fix mine. I might try to find a used one just to have it on hand. Problem is, there’s no way to know how wore out it is. I know $300 will seem cheap 10 years from now when I will probably need one!
_________________
Parts needed:
Front & rear NOS or used OEM door panels for a '67 in the original Gazelle color (dark tan/light brown).
Also looking for used white headliner pieces, both perforated and non-perforated.

[aquifer]

Here are a few pictures of the left front suspension parts, before & after. I cleaned them up in the parts washer first, and then let the heated ultrasonic cleaner work its magic. Then I soda blasted the steering box and sand blasted the other parts, and then rinsed them off and used a brass brush to make everything super clean.

I forgot to sandblast and paint the backing plate, so no pictures of that yet. Next step is the steering box rebuild. I have cleaned the box itself but I won’t paint it until I’ve mocked up the assembly and have chosen the correct shim. After that I will sandblast and paint the right side suspension parts.

_________________
Parts needed:
Front & rear NOS or used OEM door panels for a '67 in the original Gazelle color (dark tan/light brown).
Also looking for used white headliner pieces, both perforated and non-perforated.

[aquifer]

The spring plate that keeps the brake adjuster stars from turning was missing on one of my front backing plates. I ordered one and drilled/tapped a hole for a machine screw. A little red Loctite and it’s better than new! I used a #36 drill bit and a 6-32 tap. The screw is 3/16” long and doesn’t protrude into the adjuster opening.

Here are a couple pictures. The backing plates were pitted pretty bad, but I sandblasted them and got them cleaned up pretty good.

_________________
Parts needed:
Front & rear NOS or used OEM door panels for a '67 in the original Gazelle color (dark tan/light brown).
Also looking for used white headliner pieces, both perforated and non-perforated.

[aquifer]

I’ve been reassembling my front suspension recently. I started another thread with a question about the steering bump stops which was very helpful, but I’ll post the pictures here.

The centering ring is dead on, and the steering wheel orientation couldn’t be much better, so I’m pretty happy for the moment. I’ll point out the ring to my alignment guy so he knows what the starting point for the alignment should be. Then he can adjust the tie rods accordingly for the alignment.

Also flushed the brake lines with DOT 5 and connected them to the m/c.

_________________
Parts needed:
Front & rear NOS or used OEM door panels for a '67 in the original Gazelle color (dark tan/light brown).
Also looking for used white headliner pieces, both perforated and non-perforated.

[aquifer]

I finished assembling the front suspension, shocks, tie rods, steering damper, and knuckles today. I won’t bend any of the retainer tabs til the alignment is done to make it easier for them. The steering movements seem good and smooth.

I still need to install the new speedometer cable. The old one was slightly kinked which was likely the cause of my bouncing speedo needle. Then I’ll install the backing plates, wheel bearings, brakes, & drums. At that point I think I’ll be ready to bleed the brakes using the new-to-me DOT 5 silicone fluid.

Here are a few pictures from today. Not sure why the PO sprayed gray primer in the right front wheel well.

_________________
Parts needed:
Front & rear NOS or used OEM door panels for a '67 in the original Gazelle color (dark tan/light brown).
Also looking for used white headliner pieces, both perforated and non-perforated.

[wcfvw69]

Great thread. I love your attention to detail. The front end looks brand new. It's going to drive really nice after the alignment and steering gear refresh.

Are you going to change your spring plate rubbers? I did on mine and it was good that I did. They were shot.
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[aquifer]

[aquifer]

I installed the rear shocks today. Not sure why I hadn’t installed them yet, the rear suspension was pretty much done before I started working on the front end.

_________________
Parts needed:
Front & rear NOS or used OEM door panels for a '67 in the original Gazelle color (dark tan/light brown).
Also looking for used white headliner pieces, both perforated and non-perforated.

[Redfox86]

I’m glad you posted pictures of all the work you’ve done on the front end, I forgot to take photos on mine so I’ll be able to use yours as a reference.

I’ve just ordered all my front suspension and steering parts, as well as the rear suspension parts.

Looking good though,

[aquifer]

[Redfox86]

I watched a video on YouTube the other day which was done by a VW guy all about the steering box renovation. It was useful but I’ll probably give it a quick watch again before I take mine apart. Turning mine by hand I can feel it needs fresh grease, I’m just hoping that when I get it apart there isn’t anything nasty waiting to surprise me which will mean it needs replacement.

[aquifer]

I'm replacing the front and rear door panel pieces. The existing panels were aftermarket and the color was completely wrong. I ordered a kit from TMI, and the color is pretty close to the original Gazelle.

I bought a NOS front drivers side door panel from the classifieds that I will keep on hand while I continue to search for the other 3 OEM panels. I'm tempted to install the NOS panel, but I don't think the original color and the TMI color are quite close enough to mix and match, and it might look funny. That said, I haven't ruled out the idea, so I might try it to see if it's noticeable enough to bother me.

The ash tray was not installed in the existing rear seat panel, but I found it behind the rear seat just laying there, which was a nice surprise, so I cleaned it up and installed it in the TMI panel.

I'll use the TMI panels until I find NOS or good used OEM panels.

_________________
Parts needed:
Front & rear NOS or used OEM door panels for a '67 in the original Gazelle color (dark tan/light brown).
Also looking for used white headliner pieces, both perforated and non-perforated.

[aquifer]

I got the engine installed and running this weekend! I haven't had much time the past few months, but good progress was made this past weekend. Once I got the fuel supply to the engine, it fired right up and runs like a top! I drove it enough to make sure the rebuilt transmission was working too, which it was. I need to re-adjust the rear wheel camber, which I didn't do quite right. Oh well, live and learn!

The rebuilt OEM Pierburg fuel pump is from Bill at SparxWerks. He did a beautiful job, and it worked great right away.

The rebuilt OEM Solex 30PICT-1 is from Tim at VolksBitz. He also did a beautiful job. It was set correctly right out of the box, because the car ran great from the moment it fired up, with no adjustments from me.

It was expensive to replace the fuel pump and carb with OEM rebuilds, but I'm really glad I did. I'm doing what I can to keep it as original as possible.

Here are a few pictures:

_________________
Parts needed:
Front & rear NOS or used OEM door panels for a '67 in the original Gazelle color (dark tan/light brown).
Also looking for used white headliner pieces, both perforated and non-perforated.