1965 Beetle Project

Cjm005 · Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 7:34 pm Post subject: 1965 Beetle Project

I have been lurking for some time doing some research for the beetle project I am wanting to start. I wanted an early 60's model because I really like the dash set up. I've been looking for around a month now and finally settled on this car. I'm driving Saturday to collect all of the pieces with the trailer. I'm really excited about this car because the pan has already been replaced / restored, along with most of the body work already done. Just needs some finishing touches then re-assembly.

Getting the complete car (minus seats) for $850.00 plus an extra set of wheels, a couple boxes of spare parts. The car is missing one door glass, but the body looks to be in really good shape.

I'm still debating direction of the car. I want the exterior to be very close to original (including paint color). Really the only thing I would like to modify is perhaps the suspension and brake system to make a little more safe to drive.

Some pictures:

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Cjm005 · Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 7:36 pm Post subject:

Supposedly the motor is a 1600 cc, so guess it is not the stock motor? Also, the multi-color (red and blue) can't tell which is the original paint color yet but intend to repaint the original color.

VDubTech · Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 8:08 pm Post subject:

Nice score, that pan looks great!! I'm partial to Sea Blue myself...

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Jon65 · Samba Member Joined: September 29, 2012 Posts: 2417

Nice to see another '65 owner getting their ride back in shape. Cool

You also have a good idea about upgrading the suspension and brakes to make it safer.

1965VWBUGGER · Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 1:45 am Post subject:

Welcome to the 65 Club! I am right there with ya, I'll be doing nothing outrageous myself on mine, just cleaning it up a bit, updating the wiring, and giving it a few Euro touches. Rounding up the parts to build a 1641 motor as we speak..Good Luck and looking forward in seeing progress..
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1965 VW Beetle Project "SIX5BUG" now Zaney"s Rally Racer
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Cjm005 · Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 8:45 pm Post subject:

Update as of 07-22-13: The car is home, drove 4 hours last weekend to collect it from a man who bought the car in pieces and never assembled. The PO completely disassembled, installed new pans and never put back together.

Car on trailer:

In her new home:

Pile of parts:

Cjm005 · Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 8:50 pm Post subject:

Not much done so far. I have been creating an inventory of the parts that I have, parts missing. So far I'm missing:

All seats, passenger side glass, windshield, door panels, wiper motor, gas tank, windshield washer tank, hubcaps, taillights, turn signals... I'm sure more will come up.

Extras:

2 extra horn buttons, what seems to be original jack and brackets, Karmann Ghia seat frames (lol), 4 Karmann Ghia wheels, 2 Karmann Ghia bumpers, extra crankshaft, camshaft, set of bearings, connecting rods..

Bummer, didn't find any documentation or other papers as PO must have stripped the car of anything when gutting.

Jack:

Horn buttons:

Cjm005 · Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2013 8:57 pm Post subject:

So far - working on removing the drums, brakes (still had original VW brake parts), axle tubes and the clutch parts. Will probably need to send the transmission in for a rebuild - Can someone recommend a good tranny company?

I guess my first priority is to get the chassis back up and running/rolling again, so that means:

1. Pull off the front beam and either replace with 2" narrowed or refinish OG
2. Sandblast the original brake drums, rebuild brakes and all new lines
3. Reinstall a rebuilt transaxle & replace or re-pack all of the bearings
4. Reinstall the pedal assembly after refinishing & new pads
5. Install new master cylinder / all new brake lines
6. Sand blast / paint the original wheels, going with the originals/hubs (not sure of the color combo yet)
7. New shocks

Am I missing anything?

Cjm005 · Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2013 7:09 pm Post subject:

Just a few more pictures. So far have removed all of the suspension components, brake lines, transaxle. I just found out from my brother that he recently purchased a media blasting tank - so planning on picking that up soon and blasting the remaining suspension parts that need to be cleaned up. Will work on getting the chassis painted with POR15 then will start working on acquiring a 2-3" narrowed beam from AirKewld.

Bare chassis:

Close up of the heater channels - this car is amazingly rust free for being 50 years old:

Steering wheel is toast - mostly falling apart:

Stock beam:

Cjm005 · Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2013 7:19 pm Post subject:

A few questions:

1. Does anyone have a tranny company that you can recommend in Houston or Texas that I can get it rebuilt at? I really want to keep the original transmission and don't want to deal with shipping it.

2. The front beam kit from AirKewld is really expensive - are there any other good options not as expensive? I really want to slightly lower - upgrade the front suspension - should I just suck it up and spend the $1000 or so to do it right? If I'm sticking with the stock smoothies and hub caps is there really any reason to narrow the beam?

3. Is upgrading to a dual circuit master cylinder still a good idea even if not upgrading to disc brakes? What is best original style but upgraded for safety?

VWFOLKS · Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2013 8:41 pm Post subject:

1. Try to get in contact with those guys http://www.dlkweb.org/index.html , I know they have some members in Houston, if you pm thebucket, I think he is from Houston and I’m sure he can point you to the right direction.

2. If you are staying with the original rims, you can just go 2” narrowed, depend on how much low you want to go. I bought mine from KCW and I like very much.
http://kustomcoachwerks.com/
a lot of vendors here have the narrowed beams, check the reviews on the classified section.

3. I have not upgraded mine an they work just fine, indeed it is not the same performance as the disc brake but you will probably not going that fast anyway, besides going with disk brakes all you can do is keeping the maintenance in order with the original brakes….Maybe a more experience friend here can help you….

747frieghtdog · Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 9:06 am Post subject:

These cars are just fine with the stock front beam and suspension, there is no reason to change anything if you want to stay stock.

So in other words, dont mess with a good thing is you dont have to.
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Cjm005 · Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 7:24 pm Post subject:

Lots of work done this weekend - more on the tool side. I picked up a 15 gallon DeWalt compressor from Lowes and a Harbor Freight sand blaster cabinet for the small parts. The sand blaster cabinet took HOURS to put together, and I still need to work on it. Overall it seems okay - but definitely needs some additional sealing to keep the media from leaking out.

Compressor:

Cabinet:

Started cleaning up some of the parts - the machine actually works pretty good when it has around 150 PSI of air. I'm using aluminum oxide as a media for now on these parts.

Steering box - going to rebuild this once I get the parts together:

Valve covers - Guess these are supposed to be black?

Cjm005 · Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 7:26 pm Post subject:

Finally got around to pulling the engine number - seems this is a 1969 1500 model correct? For some reason the PO thought it was a 1600.

Cjm005 · Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 8:40 pm Post subject:

I started working on coating the chassis today with POR-15. The pan and main parts were already coated with Masterseries silver - so just had to go over it with POR-15 Chassis Black. The rear suspension had not been treated so I'm using regular POR-15, then Chassis Black over that.

I'm only on coat 1 - have to finish the other coats tomorrow:

Jon65 · Samba Member Joined: September 29, 2012 Posts: 2417

Looks good. Cool

2nd67 · Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2013 5:17 am Post subject: nice work!

im just begining a 67 restore and never done a "pan off" resto. just seems like a huge commitment of time/work. it was a good quality that the po allready had the pan off and all the tough work complete, i can see that it will make the difference in the end result and be a beautiful finished product!. i better start considering pan removal Question

Cjm005 · Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 8:28 am Post subject: Re: nice work!

offshores · Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 6:41 pm Post subject:

Very cool! I'll be keeping an eye on this one. In case you don't already have them, angle grinders and drills with wire wheels are very handy in cleaning up stuff.

Cjm005 · Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 9:02 pm Post subject:

Been busy this weekend. Went with a friend to a local (Houston) VW graveyard and picked up a few missing parts. Paid $20.00 for a good gas tank (with cap) plus the VDO sender, gas gauge and dash panel. Also picked up 2 mint front turn signal and housings for $10.00. It will be a while before I need those.

In line with my resto project, I decided to keep the stock width beam. Today I stripped the beam down, sanded it down with a sanding disc, primered and re-painted it gloss black to match the chassis. More pictures to follow. I knocked at least 1/2 LB in dirt from this thing off.

Also spent some money today... CIP1 2.5" lowering spindles, and a bunch of parts from WW.. new torsion arm seals, new snubbers, king & link pin set, wheel bearing grease seals, new grease fittings, and shift rod bushing and retaining clip.

I will be working on putting the front suspension back together next, plus the brakes. The car has original brakes on it, so I'm going to do my best to restore the original wheel cylinders (hopefully).

More to follow.
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1965 Beetle restoration project:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=562603


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