Double-Double’s Adventure Bug Build

[Double-Double]

New member here with a new build. Just picked up a rust-free '70 sedan and going to be doing a lot of work on it here coming up. It has 82k miles and all documentation in a binder. I have all the original service records and even the "window sticker" and ordering sheet. The only rust I could find anywhere is on the floor pans under the tarboards and battery compartment. Knowing this I decided to completely replace both sides so I don't have to worry about it in my lifetime.

Decided I was going to build a trail runner for dusty trail, national park lands and some fire roads. I enjoy exploring ghost towns and backroads, so I wanted to make something equally as capable on road as off and still get decent gas mileage. I am trying to not going to far from stock VW parts so I can get replacements in any small town NAPA or Autozone if I should happen to break down away from home.

As it sits I've ripped out all the interior and completely stripped the body down to bare metal before I joined the site so I don't have any pre-project photos to share with you all. I am taking the engine and body out next week and will begin replacing the floor pans.

What I have ordered so far are:

JBugs premium 18 gauge floor pans (originally they shipped me two passenger side *doh*)
Complete set of Energy Suspensions black urethane bushings (shifter, control arms, torsion bars, engine mounts, trans mount, snubbers)
All chassis seals, rubbers and tubes from Wolfsburg West

In the next couple weeks I will be ordering and replacing all the brakes, master cylinders and all chassis related parts such as cables and cv boots with OEM or better. I plan on the following mods:

Bilstein 24-006200 Front Shocks
Longer Bilstein Rear Shocks (Will have to measure when back together)
Moog tie rod ends (they are problem solver greaseable)
German Ball Joints
Raptor Line low VOC on the chassis to protect it (have to take away old undercoat)
Thing spindles and trailing arms
Turn rear torsion bars to match front

I will probably be sticking with my stock wheels and tires (they have like 2k miles on them from Les Schwab) until I get farther on my build and see what can fit once I get it all back together.

I am really leaning on doing all the body work myself, which I've never done. The car is original paint, but I took it all off to look for rust, of which I found none other than floor pans where the water collected under the tarboards. I plan on Raptor Lining it in Savannah Beige with the tintable low VOC formula. This takes a lot of pressure off of me to get it looking professional since I am a perfectionist and hard on myself often times.

For now I will be leaving the engine and trans stock as they run fine. I will be having the generator and starter rebuilt while they are out of the car since it's easy to get to. Later down the road I will probably just build a bigger motor and get a freeway flyer style transmission.

Anyways, any suggestions are appreciated and welcome. Thanks for looking!

[calvinater]

Congrats, and welcome. If its rust free , why the new floor pans?
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"Albatross"!

[Q-Dog]

Looks like it was a nice car.
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Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[Double-Double]

[Zundfolge1432]

[TDCTDI]

Keep your original seat tracks & transfer them to the new pans, the aftermarket tracks suck.
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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[Double-Double]

[Double-Double]

[oldschool5er]

[Double-Double]

[Double-Double]

[Double-Double]

I am waiting on some friends to come over and help me lift the body off, so I am doing some odd jobs on the bug today. Ordered new ball joints from Heyd, so they are the real nice German ones. Wasn't real happy with the Meyle ones I had ordered previously, they were too stiff. I decided to pull the bumpers off and sand the rust off the backsides and repaint the interiors of the bumpers. I hit them with black rust stop primer and then Rustoleum metallic silver. Turned out pretty good. Then I polished the outsides of the bumpers with Mother's Mag & Aluminum polish. I like how they turned out and saves me from having to buy crappy new bumpers. This old chrome is very tough stuff. In some places I actually took a cup brush on my drill and polished off years of road grime and garbage off the front sides before I polished them.

[Double-Double]

Finally got the bumpers finished. Ended up polishing the fronts with Mother's Mag & Aluminum. I may end up getting a Flitz ball later on and chrome polish for that extra touch, but I am happy with the progress on them so far.

Also received my Thing front suspension parts from Michael and got immediately to work cleaning them up. He was a very fast shipper and everything arrived safe and sound. Compared to what I'm used to in the West Coast, they looked like they came from the bottom of the Pacific, but I think they will clean up nicely. I am attempting to get them as clean as possible before I press the old ball joints out. I have finished half of them this morning and kind of gives a good before and after picture. I will be taking these down, along with the front beam, tie rod centers, rear trailing arms and spring plates to the powder coat shop and having them done in hammered black finish. They will sandblast them before they coat them so I think they will turn out awesome. I think this will match the Raptor lining I am doing on the chassis and new floorpans shortly, very well.

Now my big question is what size tire to run? I know I am going to get BF Goodrich KO2, no doubt in my mind! I love the looks of those tires and I am satisfied with their tread and I am happy about them having the inclement weather snow peak rating. I think they are perfect for my needs because they will work equally as well in the snow, dirt, rocks, and on road.

I am considering between either 215/75R15 or 235/75R15. My research shows that I should be able to run either size with support from my mods (mainly the Thing front end and preloaded suspension and eventually upgraded CVs). One positive for the 235 is they are cheaper for whatever reason, probably a more common size, and there are more options in that size as well if for some reason these were discontinued.

Next up is removing the body and putting it on rollers so I can cut out the floor pan and get the new ones welded back in. Then I will be disassembling the entire chassis to have the suspension pieces powder coated, the chassis Raptor Lined and new chassis seals which should be arriving any day now.

[oldschool5er]

Those Thing spindles actually look pretty good as they are usually a lot worse. As far as the 235’s you should still roll the inner fender lips under as they will still hit under compression and tear stuff up, both frt and rear. Also the lower edge lip on the lower frt fenderwell should be hammered up or ground down because they can sometimes hit under a hard turn depending on the tire brand and tread pattern.
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HRE in Westerville,Ohio

Full machine shop with all types of CNC. Rapid prototyping available, CNC Plasma cutting, 3D printing and Laser engraving.

[Double-Double]

[oldschool5er]

I have only run 235’s on my class 11 but I believe the 215’s will clear at full compression.
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HRE in Westerville,Ohio

Full machine shop with all types of CNC. Rapid prototyping available, CNC Plasma cutting, 3D printing and Laser engraving.

[Double-Double]

[Double-Double]

Picked up a set of Atomwerk Engineering raise plates today. They are a double plate set for my '70. The raise plates are very well made and I ordered them in the raw finish so I can send them off when I have the rest of my suspension powder coated and everything will match. I believe these plates are 1/4" thick while the stock look to be 3/16" so that is a substantial upgrade in strength.

I called Jennifer at Atomwerk and she was very cordial and answered all my questions. I had the option of how many inches I would like raised and if I wanted single or double plates. I went with the double, why not? I already have double on there. I also chose the 2" lift version so I can fine tune it from there to match my Thing spindles in the front. I would like some droop as well as lift so I can have a nice ride on and off road and not jar my fillings out of my teeth and just maybe my wife will still want to ride in it with me. I was very pleased with the customer service and they welded them the same day I ordered.

It turns out they are a local company to me so I was offered to save on shipping and drive 20 minutes down the road and pick them up in person. I met Jennifer at their shop and was given a tour of the equipment and machines used to make the plates and covers. Its a very nice setup! They have an on site powder coating department as well. They gave me some hints on soaking parts in vinegar water before sand blasting and it helps with rust and mill scale both on new and old parts, in prep for powder coating.

This month they were including a free load and unload tool, so that was a very nice bonus addition and should make changing out my plates and setting the preload much safer.

Overall, I paid $229 for the double spring plate setup, which I feel is a fair price. The only modification I have to make to the parts I already purchased is now I have to exchange my bushings for the early bug style as the spring plates are 1 3/4" bushings style instead of the 1 7/8" I asked why they are like this and they explained because there was so many sizes though out production and some had one size inner and outer, they did this to standardize the sizing. I believe they offer the bushings as well, but I prefer Energy Suspension brand with the graphite impregnation to BugPack brand.

I am now looking into upgrading to Weddle 100mm flange drives, 944 CVs and Thing or Type 2 final drives to be able to take greater advantage of my suspension capabilities.

My dollies I ordered to put the body on finally arrived so I should be able to remove the engine and then body here shortly!

[frankydee]

Lets see a top view of those SP please. Also, you are not worried about those welds chewing up the bushings?

Are those plates not as wide at the stops (from top to bottom) than stock to allow more travel?

[Double-Double]