1961 Rag top, first Beetle

[Vstromed715]

Making a little progress on the Bug. The crankshaft is back from the machine shop, the connecting rods are off to get rebuilt. And I recieved this beauty from Tim at Volkzbitz. The correct 30PICT-1 carb for a 1966 1300.

Found some NOS made in Germany Kolbenschmidt pistons and rings.

[Vstromed715]

I really need to get a handle on my double posting!

[Vstromed715]

Update:

I have been getting some work done on my project. I just finished rebuilding the engine and breaking it in on the engine stand. I found NOS pistons and cylinders on the Samba, kept it a 1300. For the money and effort put into it, I could have built a 1600, but the 1300 was in it and I liked the idea of keeping the history of it intact. It is now running an Engle W90 cam and CB Performance rocket arms. I also went with a 12 volt alternator.

The paint is Rustolium Hammered Black, I think it looks good.

I have rebuilt engines before, so I am not new to digging around inside of them, but I have to admit that this thing really kicked my ass. I actually had to do it twice, the first time I ran it, the oil came out full of metal. I thought it might have eat the cam, but it turns out it was the aluminum cam gear. I put it back together with the gear that was original to the engine, which required some milling for the bolts to clear the oil pump. Got to play with my mini mill.

Cooling tins were another challenge, I had OG fan housing, cylinder tins and front tin, everything else had to be aftermarket, with every piece needing to be modified in some way to fit properly. One would think that with how many of these things were built, it would be possible to figure out how to make good fitting parts.

I also ordered the funky green heater channels and rear quarter panels.
And getting a bit ahead of myself, ordered a complete interior from Sewfine. I sold a motorcycle and had the extra cash, so spend it before anything else comes up.

[62ItalianRagtop]

Hi, nice project !
Have you some parts of original carpet ? I need a picture please
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LOOKING FOR 62 ENGINE WITH NUMBER FROM 6.904.xxx TO 6.915.xxx
http://tettodistraccio.blogspot.com/

[Vstromed715]

Here is the carpet from the rear wheel well area, not sure if it is original or not.
There was no other carpet in the car when I got it. New carpet I ordered from Sewfine will be "Oatmeal"

[Pruneman99]

That mill work on the OG cam gear looks great. I've collected quite a few + and - OG gears and was going to bring them to a machinist to get milled like that all at once. I figured I could get them done all at the same time to reduce costs.

[Vstromed715]

I just have a mini mill, suitable for machining small projects like model engines. I'm sure a real shop would have a mill bit with a larger diameter to do it proper. But it worked and I think the original gears are better, and the - and + sizes will be known. The aluminum one I first used was of unknown size and ended up causing me greef.

[Vstromed715]

Started on the body work today. Both rear bumper mounts are rusty and will be replaced.

Using the easy grind weld wire for the first time and am pleased with how it works.

[Vstromed715]

Got the body off the pan and removed the heater channels. Naturally I found more rust than I thought there was. On the plus side, the pans seem to be real solid.

The carnage from the day.

[Vstromed715]

Spent the weekend working on the heater channels and quarter panels.

[Rome]

Clean work with fitting and welding in the rust repair panels.

Have you considered welding in reinforced mounting points for lap+shoulder belts? Now would be the time for that, with the body metal exposed.

[Vstromed715]

Rome,
You are right, thanks for the suggestion.

[Vstromed715]

Rome,
You are right, thanks for the suggestion.

[Vstromed715]

Working on the front bulkhead area. It was a bit rusty here, made my own repair panels.

[57BLITZ]

[Vstromed715]

Working on the front clip and rear bumper mounts.

The front clip was from Cip1 and and fit reasonably well. The rear bumper mounts were Klokkerholm and fit well. Getting closer to fixing all the rust, only have the body mount area in the rear wheel wells left to sort out.

[MomoMoto]

Looking good and coming along great. I'm about to do that same front clip...
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'61 Beetle Ragtop
'15 Golf GTI

[Vstromed715]

I recieved two boxes from Sewfine today.

Bone tweed headliner

Oatmeal carpet set

Beige tweed and vinyl seals and door panels

Also got a tan canvas sunroof cover.
It will be a while until I install all of this, but I had some extra money and got it purchased before something else came up.

[Vstromed715]

Life got real busy for the last year so I did not make any progress on my Beetle. However, I was able to retire from my job in September, so I have had much more time to work on my projects. Luckily, I stockpiled most of the parts I need to complete this car before I had a flip in my time/cash continuum.

I have spent 4 weeks removing paint from the body using various power tools.

[Vstromed715]

Repaired the last rusty spot on the body, the body mount in the passenger side rear wheel well. I harvested the good parts and fabricated the repair panels.