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My 66 Beetle - Green Machine
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one4house
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 11:25 am    Post subject: My 66 Beetle - Green Machine Reply with quote

I have spent a lot of time on message boards geared toward automotive interest. One of my favorite boards is Ramcharger Central. It is a great community of like-minded individuals much like the Samba. The difference being the car that they are interested in.

To consolidate my project and help me keep up, I am going to create a thread about my car. This will be a work in progress thread. That way my old ass can remember what all I have done. Here is the project that ended and lead me to my current 66 Beetle.

http://ramchargercentral.com/rcs-tds-durangos-etc/86-ramcharger-and-so-it-begins-62011/

Now onto my car. UPDATE (8/20/13)
I was looking through craigslist when I stumbled on this 66. There was a certain look about it that caught my eye. I fell in love with it.

I had been working for a couple of months to trade off the 86 Ramcharger mentioned above. I had been working on it for 2 years and got to a point where any other mods were going to take big dollars. Another strike against it was the fact that it only got 8-10 mpg. The love affair was over.

That's when I decided to take a chance with the guy with the bug. I contacted him wondering if he was interested in a trade. He replied that he would love to trade because his first car was an 85 Ramcharger, but he had to run it through his wife. I thought I had lost him.

He contacted me a couple of hours later saying "I think the wife is more excited than I am about the trade."

He did not know much about what his car had. You could tell that he got the bug because it "looked cool", but he was not a bug person at all. He didn't know engine displacement, but he did know that "it had a new engine and brake system." Long story short the deal happened.

A lot of times you get a craigslist deal with limited information you get screwed. This was NOT the case with me. I found out the car did in deed have a 1915 professionally built with less than 10,000 miles on it. The person that had it before my PO said that I got one hell of a deal because it has already been gone through.

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As the engine looked last night.

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More to come.......
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My Old 64 Field Find
My Old 66 Squareback
My Old 66 Beetle
My Old 70 Squareback


Last edited by one4house on Tue Aug 20, 2013 11:14 am; edited 5 times in total
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Jon65
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 7:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice car! Looking forward to seeing your progress (historical records). Smile
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one4house
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 8:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jon65 wrote:
Nice car! Looking forward to seeing your progress (historical records). Smile


Thanks man. You are rocking a pretty sweet ride yourself. I love that color of blue.
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My Old 64 Field Find
My Old 66 Squareback
My Old 66 Beetle
My Old 70 Squareback
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one4house
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 8:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If anyone in Colorado (namely Denver) knows who painted and styled this bug, I would love to know. I know the 2 previous owners, but I have not found the 3rd in line that actually styled it like this. It would be great to talk to them
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My Old 64 Field Find
My Old 66 Squareback
My Old 66 Beetle
My Old 70 Squareback
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one4house
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 9:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here are some interior pics

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My Old 64 Field Find
My Old 66 Squareback
My Old 66 Beetle
My Old 70 Squareback
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Jon65
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 10:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

one4house wrote:
Jon65 wrote:
Nice car! Looking forward to seeing your progress (historical records). Smile


Thanks man. You are rocking a pretty sweet ride yourself. I love that color of blue.


Thanks. And those are some sweet door panels in that car.
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one4house
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 7:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have an addition to the gallery. This week my father and I were trying to figure out a cool way to cover the back seat. As I bought it; it was a metal frame with two lawn chair covers tied to it. It was cool but not cool enough.

Finally my dad suggested some army canvas. When I went to the Army Surplus store, I realized that two used pup tents were perfect for what we were doing. My dad said he wanted to tackle this task. This is what he came up with.

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Cjm005
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 7:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That is pretty cool. .
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one4house
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 6:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

In the last couple of weeks I was able to find some lowback seats in need of a little bit of covering. In sticking with the theme of "use what you have available" we decided to go with the same coverings for the front seats.

He had one 90% complete last night. I decided to throw it in to check it out.

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He surprised me with the brass inserts in the back. At first I was a little weary. Once we threw the seat in the car I noticed that the metal inserts matched the driver's side beer tin. I was sold. I even like the imperfection of it all. The seats fit the theme perfectly. I am more than pleased, and the whole job cost around $100 (front and back) including the price of some very good shape lowback seats.
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My Old 64 Field Find
My Old 66 Squareback
My Old 66 Beetle
My Old 70 Squareback
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one4house
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 8:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I forgot about my find of a nice set of YOM plates at a local antique store. I like their old school look.

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After finding these plates I stumbled on a collection of 5000 or so, never been registered, Colorado plates of all kinds. They have everything from "Truck" plates to "City" plates. The price was right, so I picked up another set of plates that say "City" above the plate number. The cool thing is that they are still in the package from 1966. They are also solid green.

If anyone in Colorado needs license plates for their ride, let me know. There is a huge collection.
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My Old 70 Squareback
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veedubcrazy
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 8:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Inside, looks like a rolling bar... Laughing
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one4house
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 8:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

veedubcrazy wrote:
Inside, looks like a rolling bar... Laughing


It is not a car you would want to get pulled over driving with beer on your breath, that is for sure.
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My Old 64 Field Find
My Old 66 Squareback
My Old 66 Beetle
My Old 70 Squareback


Last edited by one4house on Mon Aug 19, 2013 9:56 am; edited 1 time in total
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veedubcrazy
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 8:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

But it's different. I like that. Cool
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one4house
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 6:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

We got the interior complete the end of last week. I love it.

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Now onto getting the window scrapers and such replaced. That is a job I am not looking forward to.
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one4house
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 3:19 pm    Post subject: Fixing Other's Mistakes Reply with quote

My last challenge was a noise I had in the front when I would turn left. At first I thought it was a bearing going out on the passenger side. This prompted me to pull apart that side and check the bearings. I ended up replacing the smaller outside bearing because it felt like it might be a little rough. The noise continued.

After this repair did not fix the noise I started to look at the suspension components. That is when I saw these two things....

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Not only was the balljoint crushed, it had been installed wrong and forced itself crooked in the hole. This was allowing the suspension to collapse to the point that the bottom of the balljoint was scraping on the inside of the passenger side rim.......

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Then the balljoint press decided to push the whole thing through the casing without taking the casing out......

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After getting this far I decided to let the casing sit overnight with some penetrating oil.

The next day the casing came right out with a little persuasion. This allowed me to take the trailing arm off and hand it to my local front end shop so that they could press in the new balljoint. This time I had them install it correctly so that it did not blow itself to pieces a few miles down the road.

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Here are a couple of pictures of the balljoint installed. Notice how the indexing marks are running headlight to taillight instead of cocked to the side like the picture above? For anyone installing these things, remember to have it oriented correctly before pressing it in. It will save you having to do it all over down the road.

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Here is a picture of the balljoint without the cover on it. This is why you have to index them correctly. If you put it in sideways it is forcing itself to move in a way that it was not intended to move, and then you end up with the blown out balljoint I had up top.

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There is no greater fun than fixing other's mistakes. Most of the days I was working on this it was mid 90's with zero wind. It was a fun as I am making it sound.
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My Old 66 Squareback
My Old 66 Beetle
My Old 70 Squareback
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one4house
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2013 1:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Today I decided it was time for a little tuneup. While making my decision where to pick up a new cap, rotor, wires and coil I notice that my local upullandpay had just received a new 70 Beetle. I decided to drop by to see if there were any treasures to be found. I am glad I did.

Sitting in the passenger floorboard was a collection of new parts that had been thrown in before it was sold. Among the pile was a new cap, rotor, a new set of wires and a couple of coils. I grabbed the lot and decided on the best coil.

While I looked over the rest of the car I found a custom glovebox that they had made out of fiberglass. It is a nice spot to mount the stereo so that you don't have to cut the dash. It was quite the find.

THe best part is I get everything for $18.35. You have to love when you find new and custom parts at the junkyard. I was excited.

Here is a picture of the coil and wire install. I decided to add some flavor to the new coil.

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And here is an inside and outside picture of the custom glovebox. It is going to be perfect for the stereo I have sitting in the spare bedroom.

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Until next time.
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My Old 64 Field Find
My Old 66 Squareback
My Old 66 Beetle
My Old 70 Squareback
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one4house
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 12:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A few more updates. I finally got a full steering wheel, and I was able to source a new door handle that came with a full cut VW key. I was also able to source a couple of old seat belts that match the interior. Here are some pictures.

Got the steering wheel for $25. It is in great shape.
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Here is the seat belt. I love the look it adds.
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And here is the old-school key. A bonus is that my driver's door now unlocks.
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My Old 66 Squareback
My Old 66 Beetle
My Old 70 Squareback
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one4house
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 9:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

And just like that, she is gone. But she is going to a good home to get put back to life in a MAJOR RESTORATION type way.

Chad, keep me updated.

I should be picking this one up this weekend if all goes as planned.

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mfergel
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 10:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Awe. I liked it the way it is. Smile
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