My new March 1955 VW!

[dmcglynn]

So, I haven't washed it yet, but instead decided to move it further away from the danger of children's bikes and garden equipment, which involved more cleaning of the garage. I did take both wheels off the front to take a look at what was under there. I think there is probably 10 pounds of grease slopped all over the underside of the fenders & suspension parts. I was also amazed at how much room there was under there and how I could see right through to the other side!

It looks like the tire has been rubbing on the shiny parts? I am seeing more and more red-paint too, so it appears that the entire front of the car was red at some point..

The bottom of both headlight cavities is all rusted out

I see that the fuel-tap is not hooked-up to the reserve-lever, probably because the previous owner installed a gauge in the dash.. I also was wondering what that fuzzy looking connection to the steering-gear is - is that a damper of some kind to take out vibration from reaching up the steering column?

I didn't get a picture of it, but there is some severe looseness in the steering. I could HEAR where it was coming from, due to the grease making popping noises of getting squished around between two pieces of metal. I'll get a pic.

Also, is there a special tool for taking off the hubcaps? I see the two small holes that it would appear a tool would fit into?

Thanks!
David

[Bret2094]

[lowdown55]

grease is good,its there for a reason…but at this point of going through everything you will want to clear it out to inspect everything,,,everything looks about rite (rusted) for the 55

[lowdown55]

pull out your gas tank and you can get to all these components rather easy,clean everything with brake cleaner or degreaser so you can see whats what…..i think about a inch of play in the steering wheel is about normal

[vwsonmybrain]

Given the large size of all your tires (quite a bit larger than stock) it's not a surprise that the tires were rubbing a bit on the beam.

[dmcglynn]

[Bret2094]

[dmcglynn]

[vwsonmybrain]

[dmcglynn]

[dmcglynn]

I started in on taking out the old brakes, and saw just how nasty my pedal cluster was, so I decided to take that out first. I couldn't believe how much "crap" there was all around that cluster. If I didn't look in the repair-manual, I wouldn't have even guessed that there was a fourth bolt holding it to the floor. I literally had to excavate all the cake-y rusty powder that was previously my floorpan and vacuum it up with the shop-vac. I should have taken a picture. I did snap a photo of what was hiding behind the rubber-mat & carpet:

I saw in the manual that I need to disconnect the clutch cable at the rear before sliding the pedal-cluster out of the tunnel, so I looked under the rear and discovered that someone had made me convenient access-hole in the rear of the car:

How Thoughtful of them. I'm not sure if it was for easy clutch-cable adjustment, or that engine-bolt, but they certainly gave themselves plenty of room. And given the little food-nests I'm finding, it's wasn't only convenient for humans!

[vwsonmybrain]

[dmcglynn]

So after a long idle period due to some family health issues and work emergencies, I finally had another chance to work on the car. I got the entire thing up on jack-stands, removed all the brake lines & hoses, and got all the brake components off the backing-plates, with the exception of the wheel-cylinders. I only took one of them off. It took quite a lot of PB blaster & gentle pounding from behind. It seems to be a the correct wheel-cylinder for the car, as they are all 2-bolt cylinders.

The issue I've got now is that the only one that I did take off is frozen. Since they're $100 a piece to buy new I am thinking of a rebuild attempt. My neighbor has a hone, and I see that the rebuild kit is all of $3 or so on rockauto.com. This seemed like a good idea anyway, until I tried to remove the bleeder valve, and with very little torque, it snapped right off.

So, my question to the VW public of thesamba - What is the recommended recourse for broken bleeder-screws? Easy-out? Drill it out?

Also found it funny that the brake hoses in the rear seem to be from Feb 1977? Is that what the yellow ring on the hose means? They are in fantastic shape if that is truly how old they are.

Also wondering what the holes are for in the backing-plate mounting bolts that I took off and cleaned up.. All 3 have a hole that goes clear through them:

Both boots on the axles need to be replaced too, as they have gaping holes in them. Shopping list is getting longer! It was a fun day though.

[56Cabrio]

[dmcglynn]

My wife and I finally washed the car yesterday - and had to take some wet-pics since they were request a long time ago, and I think that's the only way that this paint-job is going to look nice

It almost looks like a few different shades of green were brushed on?

Before:

(excuse the garage mess.. that's also a running theme)

After:

Shiny-ness seems to bring out the multitude of different shades of green:

Closeup of the paint - Those aren't shadows - it's actually dark-green around the windshield there, dark in the drip-channel, and lighter elsewhere. Most of the rubber on the car got paint too.

I also started cleaning up my pedal-cluster. I didn't realize just how corroded it was until i took the wire-brush to it and got all the grease/powdered-corrosion/crap off it. Is this common? I don't see it having any effect on the usability of the pedals, but surprising nonetheless.

I got all my orders of brake components in, so I'm starting in on cleaning the backing-plates up.. I have access to a sandblasting cabinet at work, so I got to play with that for an hour or so, and was very happy with the result. Byron, if you think the wire-wheel is fun, you've got to try one of these things out!

(Somehow this one got rotated upside down)

As I'm new at all this, I did a quick search for paint-recommendations and found that high-temp black gloss is a common choice, so I plan on going that route with them after I make an attempt at rounding out the dents a bit. This one doesn't look too bad but the other front backing-plate looks like someone tried to make a stop-sign out of it.

Thanks for looking!
Dave

[nlorntson]

Eastwood chassis black satin paint is a good match for original chassis parts. Gloss would not look original if you are looking to go that route.

[dmcglynn]

Thanks nlorntson! - that was what the other thread had mentioned, I forgot the exact name.

[Gwdghiaguy]

dmcglynn wrote:

[dmcglynn]

I took the passenger front backing-plate off the car today, and it's pretty bent - I forgot to get a picture. I see some for sale on the classifieds, so I may end up having to pick one up..

I also took apart the pedal-cluster, and didn't realize quite how bad the corrosion was. I stopped cleaning it up because it seemed like I may be doing more damage to it as I cleaned it. It almost seems like if I scrape any part of it, chunks of it will come off.

Also, my accelerator pedal had a bit of wobble to it, seemingly due to the pivot ear-things (making this up as I go along) being bent? I assume this is a casting, so I'm afraid it would break if I attempted to bend it, so I'm not quite sure what to do, maybe put a couple washers in there to straighten it up..?