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67 Florida Deluxe
Samba Purist
Joined: June 21, 2005
Posts: 7987
Location: Gainesville and Tampa, Florida
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 Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 10:26 pm Post subject: Re: Great Grandfathers 1964 Bug. A four generation story. |
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I never needed any kids, nieces or nephews to inspire me to enjoy working on, futzing around with, driving, or simply loving my VWs. Even if you have to "endure" enjoying it on your own, it looks like a great family treasure, blitz64!  But lemme know if you ever want to part with it 
| blitz64 wrote: |
Wow! I also have my grandfather’s 1964 Sea Blue sunroof California car. When he passed in 1989 I bought the car from my grandmother. I don’t however have kids and can’t seem to attract any nieces or nephews to the car 
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-Kent (BaT "daleallen")
OG member of the '67 Posse
A few of my toys, past and present
'56 Oval, '66 KG Conv't, '67 21-Window, '67 Bug, '79 SuperVert, '55 Pre-A Continental |
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matthew henricks
Samba Member
Joined: January 02, 2002
Posts: 1219
Location: So. Cal
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| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2018 6:30 am Post subject: Re: Great Grandpa's 1964 Bug. Getting her back on the road |
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Friday afternoon we installed the first parts. I think Branden liked putting something together instead of taking apart.
Link arms with new seals installed.
Torsion bar almost installed but we have questions. What are the little shims for? They came off with the old but were not part of the new kit. Help.
Our parts storage area.
Having fun. King pins and brakes will be here tomorrow. Hope to have that all installed this weekend and then move on to the rear brakes. |
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vdubmyk
Samba Member
Joined: October 24, 2008
Posts: 508
Location: Corona, CA
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| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:55 am Post subject: Re: Great Grandpa's 1964 Bug. Getting her back on the road |
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Those shims go in between the sway bar rubbers and the clamp. More specifically, where they are pinched at.
_________________
64 stock bug, 12V (converted 6v unit), 40 hp, all documents even sales contract and dealer window sticker! |
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matthew henricks
Samba Member
Joined: January 02, 2002
Posts: 1219
Location: So. Cal
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| Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 7:01 am Post subject: Re: Great Grandpa's 1964 Bug. Getting her back on the road |
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One spindle assy installed. The other we had to take back off. We could not get grease to go into the link pin zircs. We ended up pushing out the link pin bushings, and cleaning out the gunk in the grease well and better aligning the grease ports. (They were rotated off a bit) Once back together the grease flowed.
School is starting so we will see how much things slow down.
In other big news i gave my son his first stick shift driving lesson in the single cab. It is geared so low that you really can stall it so things went well.
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joey1320
Samba Member
Joined: September 12, 2006
Posts: 2325
Location: Cleveland, OH
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'64cal lookdub
1200 Deluxe
Joined: May 29, 2004
Posts: 1714
Location: TX
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| Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 9:55 pm Post subject: Re: Great Grandpa's 1964 Bug. Getting her back on the road |
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| Nice single! |
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matthew henricks
Samba Member
Joined: January 02, 2002
Posts: 1219
Location: So. Cal
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| Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:12 am Post subject: Re: Great Grandpa's 1964 Bug. Getting her back on the road |
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Short update. School has started and there is very little extra time. We found replacement O rings for the link pins yesterday and installed the drivers side king pin.
Up next is the torsion bar. Any tricks to installing that? |
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rcooled
Samba Member
Joined: September 20, 2008
Posts: 2504
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
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| Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 10:07 am Post subject: Re: Great Grandpa's 1964 Bug. Getting her back on the road |
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| matthew henricks wrote: |
| Up next is the torsion bar. Any tricks to installing that? |
Use a floor jack (or similar) to hold it up in position while you install the clamps. Channellock pliers will squeeze the clamps tight while you tap the locking tabs on with a small hammer. If the rubber bushings are tough to slide onto the bar, try lubing with a bit of liquid hand soap.
Great looking car BTW. And that Hazet tool kit is a real prize!
_________________
'63 Ragtop (current)
'65 Ghia coupe (totaled)
'67 Ghia convertible (current)
'69.5 Ghia convertible and
'62, '63, '65, '69 Bugs (all long gone) |
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matthew henricks
Samba Member
Joined: January 02, 2002
Posts: 1219
Location: So. Cal
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| Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2019 8:50 am Post subject: Re: Great Grandpa's 1964 Bug. Getting her back on the road |
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It has been a while. As expected slow progress on this project. Just no time available with School and i will not work on the bug without my son.
Not alot of pictures so we have completed:
- Front sway bar installed.
- Both spindles installed.
- Front Disc brake kit installed.
- New Master Cylinder installed.
- New front shocks installed.
- Fuel tank removed and cleaned.
- Tie Rod ball joint replaced
- Rear brakes taken apart and cleaned
Two of my boys wrenching. Proud dad moment.
Brakes installed.
Part quality sucks. These are not the same.
So the issues we have faced are:
- EMPI disc brake kit came with a bus Master Cylinder. I am not sure why and not sure how i am going to adapt the reservoir. I do not want to run a bus unit under the gas tank. Any input?
- EMPI front flexible hoses hit everything in site. The rub on either the inner fender or the steering rods. Routing is lousy. How do you all get around this?
- I heard rumor that bleeding the EMPI disc brakes is hard and that i may have to raise the calipers above the MC and insert a wood block to press against. Is this true? More research needed there.
- As shown above the new steering dampener had a totally different angle at the steering arm. I did not even try to install it. Junk.
- The rear brake cylinders where the brake shoes interface are super wide. They provide no lateral support or guidance to the brake shoe. Is this the new normal? Thinking about rebuilding the old cylinders.
We also got a nice letter from the city stating that the bug was "a nuisance" and "unsanitary". Boy that got me steamed. I fired a letter right back. In the end all they wanted was for me not to keep it up on jack stands. Well why did you not just say so in the first place??? I think the real problem is that i do not have a car cover on it to hide things... I need to find a good used car cover that is reasonable priced...
Last images are boys being boys...
My son is now 16 and gets his license in 6 weeks. I think he has new motivation but the insurance cost may delay his freedom. |
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matthew henricks
Samba Member
Joined: January 02, 2002
Posts: 1219
Location: So. Cal
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| Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2020 10:02 pm Post subject: Re: Great Grandpa's 1964 Bug. Getting her back on the road |
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Well it has been 2 years. Things don't always go the way you think. My 16 year old is now 18 and really has no interest in the Bug.
So... My sister wanted a "Sunday Car" and has a garage available for a nice bug to live in so i did a thing over the last two days.
We took the car completely apart. Going to go through it. Do it right i hope and not the cheap job i did 30 years ago. Probably a good thing as i found some surprises.
The few surprises. A little rust and TERMITES!
That last image is the wool under the original German carpet. It was being eaten by termites. I killed a few of them. Strange. Of course lots of spiders too.
the rust is not bad. I knew about the drivers side A pillar. The windows i sort of expected. the floor pan was a surprise.
Honestly, i am trying to decide if i remove the body from the pan.
It may be easier to repair the A pillar. I also like the idea of a clean pan.
I am on the look out for a few parts.
- A 64 only rear deck lid in really clean shape
- A drivers side lower A pillar donor section.
- A driver side original Cord Grey seat cover. |
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bad91teg
Samba Member
Joined: February 13, 2007
Posts: 473
Location: florida
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| Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2021 11:05 am Post subject: Re: Great Grandpa's 1964 Bug. Getting her back on the road |
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| really enjoyed your thread . great story and great job . you and your son |
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AutoMechanic
Samba Member
Joined: December 28, 2019
Posts: 483
Location: Roanoke Virginia
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| Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2021 1:59 pm Post subject: Re: Great Grandpa's 1964 Bug. Getting her back on the road |
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Great. Got to teach them young.  |
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flyboy161
Samba Member
Joined: December 26, 2009
Posts: 2091
Location: Perry, GA
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sportin-wood
Samba Member
Joined: September 12, 2010
Posts: 2007
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2021 9:35 am Post subject: Re: Great Grandpa's 1964 Bug. Getting her back on the road |
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It's a bummer that your son has lost interest in the project. I've seen a few threads where the father/son and even father/daughter ended up that way. I really think these kids will look back and regret losing interest and wish they had stuck with it. Life experiences, I guess.
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Paused 66 project bug
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"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman. He's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." --- Jeff Spicoli |
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matthew henricks
Samba Member
Joined: January 02, 2002
Posts: 1219
Location: So. Cal
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| Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2021 9:42 am Post subject: Re: Great Grandpa's 1964 Bug. Getting her back on the road |
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| Quote: |
| It's a bummer that your son has lost interest in the project... |
You are right but in this case I am to blame for this.
Sometimes being a dad is tough and you focus on the goal and not the journey because of so many things competing for your time. I did not make it fun. That was my mistake. He also shared with me that he saw the attachment i had to the car and did not want to risk damaging the car. I forgot that it is just a car. Lesson learned.
We have moved on and he still helps out but not the way i had hoped. |
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schwim
Samba Member
Joined: May 18, 2008
Posts: 271
Location: Western NC, USA
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| Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2021 9:53 am Post subject: Re: Great Grandpa's 1964 Bug. Getting her back on the road |
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| matthew henricks wrote: |
| I forgot that it is just a car. Lesson learned. |
That's a hard lesson I learned too late. Many projects and pastimes were made less than fun and even stressful because of my need to make things "perfect".
_________________
Zippy the Wonderbug's achingly slow meandering toward roadworthiness |
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matthew henricks
Samba Member
Joined: January 02, 2002
Posts: 1219
Location: So. Cal
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| Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2021 9:57 am Post subject: Re: Great Grandpa's 1964 Bug. Getting her back on the road |
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| Quote: |
| That's a hard lesson I learned too late |
It is. So many areas i messed up.
My oldest is great to work with so it is all the more hard to take. My youngest i still have a chance with but he is Soooo different it will be much harder to do. I am glad i am not the only dad who realized the major "swing and a miss" moment in life. |
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Blue Baron
VW Aficionado
Joined: June 16, 2006
Posts: 24059
Location: Southeast USA
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| Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2021 11:20 am Post subject: Re: Great Grandpa's 1964 Bug. Getting her back on the road |
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Another thing to consider is that it's easier to have enthusiasm for a beat-up but friendly little car, and a different thing entirely to stay jazzed about a gutted shell. Somewhere along the way the project appears to have evolved into a ground-up restoration, which may not be what your son(s) thought they signed up for.
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We are striving for perfection, to make our cars run forever, if possible.
Heinz Nordhoff |
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TinCanFab
Samba Member
Joined: April 04, 2006
Posts: 2743
Location: Waterford, California
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matthew henricks
Samba Member
Joined: January 02, 2002
Posts: 1219
Location: So. Cal
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| Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2021 1:38 pm Post subject: Re: Great Grandpa's 1964 Bug. Getting her back on the road |
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| It is not a sad note. He did not want to drive the car long before i tore it apart. In fact he will help me sand blast sections of it tomorrow. I should have alot of progress to post next Monday. |
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