Body Off - Pleasant Surprise

[Neil Davies]

[millerje78]

[donny1973]

[Neil Davies]

[donny1973]

I installed the new firewall and rear engine compartment seals today. I'll do the new firewall tarboards one evening this week. I've decided to take care of a few more small tasks before dropping the body back on. I think it will be much easier to install the carpet on the body side while I can stand on the ground. Same for the dynamat and carpet in the package tray area. Also, I'm able to stand in the gas tank hole and easily access all the wiring and speedo, so I'll put in the freshly painted steering column and hook up the wires while the body's still on the blocks. Gotta be easier than leaning into trunk from outside.

View from below

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Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here

[Eisenhauer01]

I agree with the people that say on the east coast we would consider that a finished restoration before you started. I wish my car looked like that before had to disassemble it completely.. because then i wouldn't of had to. lol You have a nice base there that car is clean. great find. I wasn't so lucky as I had a little rust on mine but have since sandblasted and painted the whole chassis. I have a 71 super beetle. So atleast you had it somewhat easy when it came to suspension and rolling your car around with the body off. The struts make it a PITA lol heres a pic of my car:

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1971 Super Beetle Convertible Restoration (started in 2010)

[donny1973]

The horn bar that I've been waiting for arrived today and it was worth the wait. The chrome is perfect with absolutley no pitting. It really sets off the restored/recolored wheel.

I took a closer look at this little aluminum tag that came on my key ring when I bought the car. I cleaned it up and just noticed today that it has a VW logo and the VIN of my car on it. Anyone know what the scoop is with this?

_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here

[donny1973]

I keep finding tasks to perform while the body is still off and access is easy. I picked up a nice OG dash pad and pulled the original cracked pad. Installed Dyanmat in the package shelf and new firewall tar boards. Still want to glue in the carpet, at least on the body side, install the dash pad and put the painted steering column and wheel on. Once these last few things are done, the body will be ready to drop back on.

_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here

[71sbeetle]

[the martins bug]

wow donny, awsome build. Definitely luckier than I was with regards to rust.
Seeing your pictures makes me consider taking off the body. I would have to find a home for the chassis while I work on the body. I have a couple friends with property, I think I might see if they will keep it for me for a couple months. Certainly seams the easier way to go in the long run.

[donny1973]

Everything that I wanted to get done on the body and chassis is finally done and I'm ready to drop the body back in place. It took longer that expected and I had a few setbacks. I wasn't happy with the first firewall tarboard set I installed. It was made of a thin material with the consistency of a rubber floor mat. It was easy to work with, but it just didn't look close enough to the original. Paul at JB Bugs got me another set that's real close to the original. It's thicker and less flexible so it was harder to work with. There are no repro sets specifically for convertibles, and it had to be modified quite a bit, but the end result justifies the effort.

I found a small crack in the "perfect" OG dash pad I bought but I was able to repair it and refinish the pad so that it's not noticable. I wound up having to take the pad out three times because I didn't put things back in the proper sequence. The new pad didn't have a hole for a lighter, so I took mine out. I also cobbled together a radio block off plate. I think the cleaner look is better. I decided to change the color of the grab handle to match the recolored column, wheel, e-brake lever and shifter. There were some damaged wires on both sides so I repaired them using original style connectors.

My goal is to have the body back in place by next weekend. The only hurdle will be trying to round up three or four of my buddies on a week night. Worst case will be that I have to wait until Saturday morning. Since I removed the body by myself, I considered trying to replace it myself but decided against it.

Original

Recolored

_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here

[donny1973]

Rolled the chassis under the body today. All ready for the reunion Saturday morning. I finished the rebuild of the engine about six months ago and I hope to finally be able to do the initial start up and run-in this weekend. The body has been residing on the other side of my property for the last few months and the chassis has been in the garage. Once the body is back on I'll roll the car into the garage for final assembly.

_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here

[donny1973]

I put the body back on yesterday morning. My helpers couldn't make it until today and I was too impatient to wait so I wound up doing the job myself. It took about an hour and a half start to finish and went smoothly. Looking inside and under the car and seeing fresh pans is awsome. I'm really anxious to start the motor, but I don't want to risk damaging the fresh engine so I'll move slowly. Based on the recommendation of a VW expert, I'm going to hook up an oil pressure gauge, pull the rocker shafts, push rods and spark plugs and crank til I get pressure, reinstall the parts and start it up and run through the break-in process. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Just hope it not an oncoming train.

_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here

[donny1973]

Well, it's alive! Fired up the fresh motor last night. I pulled the rocker shafts, push rods and plugs and cranked it over until it built about 30 psi of oil pressure. Reinstalled the parts, hit the key and it fired instantly. I ran it for five minutes at 2000-2500 rpm and it sounded awsome. The straight cut timing gears sound pretty cool. Oil pressure remained around 45 psi. I checked for oil leaks this morning and was happy to find none.

Tonight I'll adjust the valves and run it at 2000 rpm for another 15 minutes to finish the cam break in, change the oil, adjust the timing and carb and call it a wrap.
_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here

[donny1973]

Project is moving along and the end is in sight. All the mechanicals are done, engine is tuned and running like a clock and I had the front end aligned last week. I did a little detailing on the engine, installed the 8 spokes, the rear fender guards and the new running boards and last night. The boards ranged in price from $20 a pair to $140 for the German set. I opted for the German boards and I'm glad I did. The fit was perfect and the quality is great. The metal is as heavy gauge at he originals.

I'm getting ready to start on the interior and top/headliner. The tires are old and dry rotted, so I've got to figure out which way I want to go with the new ones. I'm considering dropping the rear one spline to better match the 2.5" drop up front. I had raised it up one when I bought the car because the rear sat a bit lower than the front. I've decided to leave the original paint for as long as I can stand it, so I guess the next thing I should do is wash the body since it hasn't been done since 1985.
Before

After

_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here

[donny1973]

Been a while since the last post. Got the new tires mounted and put a few hundred miles on the car. I'm quite pleased with the job. All the mechanicals are are operating flawlessly. The shifter was a bit sloppy so I wound up replacing the shift rod bushing and coupler. That tightened things up considerably.

After these pics were taken, I buffed out the OG paint and remarkably, got a quite a shine, and a cool patina. I've also replaced the spinner wheel caps with billet cone type caps with Wolfsburg logos which look much cleaner. I also bought a set of euroblade bumpers and conversion bumper brackets to replace the unsightly and bulky late model originals. Can't wait to get them mounted up.

For the last four weeks the car has been at a local trim shop that specializes in VW's. They're doing the complete interior, including reupholstering the seats in white, installing a new white top and headliner as well as a complete carpet kit. I bought a set of low-back seats to replace the original high-backs, which give a cleaner and less cluttered look to the interior. Before I dropped the car off, I stripped down the seats, blasted the frames and painted them in correct silver beige. During the resto, I gave the same treatment to the steering column, steering wheel, shifter and e-brake handle, which were all originally black. I'll install the new white door panels once I get the car back. I stopped by the shop earlier this week and had a chance to see the completed seats. They look incredible and will really set off the Yukon yellow paint. This guy's work is outstanding and the end result will be well worth the wait. He thought he'd have the carpet and top done by this weekend, but it's not looking too promising. I'm pretty sure I'll have the car back by the holiday weekend. I'll post up some pics of the finished product soon.

_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here

[503Tim]

Great thread, its awesome to see one man taking a project on by himself. Great job!

[gunat]

fantastic to see a ground up resto going well- envious that the car was in such great condition to start with!

What are the tire sizes did you put on the car- noticed the front is smaller...
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'73 1303 RHD 1300cc Resto-Mod
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[Culito]

Great job! Looks good.

Now get some drop spindles and a 2" narrowed beam for the front.
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© CJ Industries, Inc.
'64 standard w/2.0L type 4
'62 bug

[my65rhd]

Very nice job. All the hard work sure paid off. Now time to enjoy the car...Kyle