Dougs 56 build

[Volksvr6gti]

Thanks cr430c I will def keep piks coming as I go. Kind of on a stand still right now with all the places being closed. I need to order a bunch of parts to get this chassis back together. So once they open it will be go time.

As for the pans on my chassis Zen - they are all original vw pans. Nothing was cut or replaced other than one small hole the size of a dime on the original pan at the battery tray. This was patched up by the previous owner.

[Volksvr6gti]

Now that I have the chassis painted I wanted to get a fresh coat of paint on the front beam and also on the spring plates in the back. The beam I’m not too concerned about, but I did have a question with the spring plates. Will painting the entire spring plates with the 2 coats of master series silver and one of the black possibly cause any rubbing issues when mounting the plate to the chassis. Wasn’t sure if panting all the surfaces would cause it to become too “thick” and rub on the freshly painted shock towers. Any help is appreciated

[Volksvr6gti]

Not a big update but worked on the beam and spring plates this weekend.

Wire wheeled to avoid sand blasting and getting media in the tubes.

One set of the torsion springs had some spotted surface rust, so I used steel wool to clean. I then hit each bar with white lithium and restacked them and wrapped in foil to help keep them clean while I’m working on the beam.

Rear plates:

And lastly transmission bracket:

Then I built a little paint rig out of spare pvc I had laying around it worked pretty good:

I’ll let everything continue curing until this weekend and then put it all back together.

[VW_Jimbo]

Nice! I just got a new set of king and link pins delivered today! I will be rebushing, reaming and repinning everything in the next few weeks!
_________________
Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[Volksvr6gti]

heck yeah sounds like we’re right around the same page haha. So I was looking at my needle bearings and they all look really good and move nicely. And the inner bushings still look good as well... but let’s also keep in mind that this is a fairly new narrow beam (I do still have the original beam in the garage though... as for this narrow beam everything needed cleaning up, paint and will need to be greased as I stripped it all out of the tubes and degreased everything in the process. Now I just need to go read and find out how much grease I will need and what type of grease is recommended.

[Volksvr6gti]

Ok quick question... I feel like I have the wrong spring plate covers on my oval. From what I have found in the search it seems like mine had been switched at some point. Any help is welcomed.
This is what I have that was installed with polyurethane knobby bushings

But I feel like a 56 should have this, correct me if I am wrong

With these bushings:

Also if it matters I do have a swing axle freeway flyer tranny...

[Volksvr6gti]

Yesterday I tackled the interior as I am now finished working on all the chassis until the new parts come in. I placed a fairly large order on Thursday evening with West Coast Metrics and ordered: new windshield, quarter pop out windows, rear Venetian blind for oval, the master series rubber kit, pedal pads, ebrake and shifter boot, heater - choke - accelerator - clutch cables, sealed axle boots, steering dampener, link pin kit, tranny brackets...and a few other things lol. Overall a pretty nice hefty order. I think I got everything I need from them for the car. The rest I plan to purchase from Wolfsburg West once they reopen.

Anywho until that comes in the chassis is on hold, so seats it was for yesterday’s task. My plan is is to have the seat frames and springs powder coated.i was quoted 250-300, still waiting for my second quote to come in on Monday.

I was able to get my seat covers off without damage to the material. I will have to replace the sewn on strip for both front seat backs where they are shoved into the retaining tube to keep the seat material held tight. That’s no big deal I can sew that back on myself. Few pics of yesterday’s endeavors:

Then back seat had some surprises inside

It was actually pretty neat to see the original seats under my covers. Both fronts were cut away, but the rear seat was completely in tact and in good condition !
But like everything all things come to an end. I will box the original seat cover up nicely and save it as part of the cars history, but it’s time to move on and keep the new seats. If the front covers were still there I would have been tempted to just leave it all alone and rock the originals... but I cannot have mismatching front and rear seats lol it would drive me crazy even though the color is close. It’s just not close enough, the new material is smoother and a little darker the originals are slightly textured and a brighter green.

The seat frames all look great and also all of them had a little bit of cool history attached to them as well. Each seat had original paper tags on them which I thought was pretty cool.

Most are difficult to read and you have to get the right angle of light to see the typing or writing on them but none the less pretty neat. So I carefully took all those tags off without damage and after the frames are powder coated and covers back on I will place these tags back where they belong overall the frames and springs are in awesome condition.

I also gathered a few other parts for the powder coated to have done at the same time. If you have any others in mind that you don’t see on this table let me know so I can add it to my list of things to get coated for the most part I think I have them all... but it’s easy to overlook something. Also from what I’ve been reading RAL 7032 is a good color match for the interior pieces so I am gonna take a look at that for the color match route...we shall see

[scotty timmerman]

3 inspection covers that are in the trunk behind spare tire, rear seat support bar, and reserve fuel tap handle.
_________________
71 ghia coupe: Build thread http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=511738&highlight=
71 type 3 fastback auto
71 type 3 fastback manual
73 super beetle
57 oval: build thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8616563#8616563
63 beetle reassembly: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7458619#7458619
2332cc engine build: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8608429&highlight=#8608429
84 vanagon westfalia wolfsburg edition

[Volksvr6gti]

Ohh good call thank you buddy. I also took off the brake and clutch pedal to have done

[Volksvr6gti]

No big update, but parts came in from west coast customs which is always a plus

Also I think I finally found a guy in town to paint the car and tidy up any body work. So will work on stripping the car down and send the shell off to his shop to get worked on.

[Volksvr6gti]

Today I finished up the beam. Put new zerk fittings on, got the torsion bars and arms back on. Cleaned up all the hardware and got grease put back in. Used Valvoline cerulean blue grease.

Also my order from Wolfsburg west shipped and will be here Friday. Ordered a few things for the chassis and a new wiring harness, new stainless trim and shocks

[Volksvr6gti]

Today was a good cleaning / disassembly day. Started with my front brakes. Took them completely apart and ordered a refurb kit to replace all the seals and gaskets and just got all the funk cleaned up.

Also pulled the link pins and have German ones on standby waiting to be installed, but first will be getting the kingpins redone at a local shop.

Also got the undercoating off the body-chassis plates and screws and the bolts for the front beam.

Midday I opened new package that just came in from WW : stainless body trim with clips and boots, replacement spikes to retain seat upholstery, complete 56 wiring harness, front and rear shocks and the correct torsion arm covers from BBT.

And finally I spent the rest of my night getting both doors fully stripped in hopes to get the shell painted in the very near future.

All in all very productive

[VW_Jimbo]

Forward progress! Always good to see!
_________________
Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[Volksvr6gti]

Not much more, but still progress was made today.
Today I got the fenders off, the hood off, all the interior dash pieces off. Also got all the wiring off the car. Everything bagged and labeled. So this week I will plan to make a stop to the painters and see what their quality of work looks like. I have not used this company before but they quoted me 4000-4500 for a diamond green paint job inside and out with all the fenders and hoods painted separately as well as the dash pieces and hinges and such. Anywho, I have a few parts to order first that will need to be welded in first prior to paint so I plan to do those in the next few weeks once the parts arrive.

If anyone has a list of parts that they made or someone passed onto them prior to taking their car to paint, I’m here with open arms. Feel free to pass on good info of suggested parts to get painted so I don’t forget something.

So far I have:
Fenders
Engine cover
Hood
Hood and engine cover hinges
Hood latch
Speedometer conduit
Glovebox cover
Ash tray
Radio delete

[scotty timmerman]

Here are some things missing from your list.

Deck lid spring
Front hood prop rod
Tail light housings
Front bullet housings
License plate light holder
Door support that the arm rest hooks on
Dash/cowl support bracket
_________________
71 ghia coupe: Build thread http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=511738&highlight=
71 type 3 fastback auto
71 type 3 fastback manual
73 super beetle
57 oval: build thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8616563#8616563
63 beetle reassembly: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7458619#7458619
2332cc engine build: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8608429&highlight=#8608429
84 vanagon westfalia wolfsburg edition

[Volksvr6gti]

Thanks Scotty for the additional items !!

This week I worked on my headlights as I am still waiting for other parts to become available for purchase. Headlights were not terrible, but needed some love. Here’s when I started:

Inners have some slight surface rust:

Started off lightly sanding everything down and cleaning. Then sprayed everything with smoke grey paint.

Little overspray, but cleaned up nicely with thinner.

Hardware cleaned up:

H4 cleaned up before/ after:

The small seals here were replaced, which I found at Lowe’s in the rubber washer pull out drawers in hardware aisle. Perfect fit

The rubber washer in the headlight housing was also rotted and I was not able to locate a source for new ones...so I made my own. I found a larger sized OD washer at Lowe’s in the same aisle. The good thing is the ID of the washer was the same size as the original. Here’s the large washer I started with:

I then used a socket to thread and hold in place the new oversized washer and the original on top of it.

Next I used a scalpel and cut it down to about the right size:

And then I used my Dremmel with 220 sanding wheel and smoothed the edges:

And installed perfect fit and cost like 30 cents.

New west coast metric seals:

And finished results

There’s a slight amount of pitting or micro rock chips in the outer glass, but not enough to buy replacement glass. All in all, happy the way they came out.

[Chickensoup]

Nice write up and great work! Keep it up, stay safe
_________________
-'85 c10 5.3 LS, 222 cam, long tubes, x pipe, 3 inch spin tech's
-'05 B5.5 TDI Wagon 17in sport rims ;EGR + BSM + ASV Delete, Stage-2 Tune, straight pipe
'65 Tourist Delivery Build
'66 RIP
'69 RIP
Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"

[Volksvr6gti]

Today I worked on the rear disc brakes. My issues were that rubber guide pin boots were cracked, the piston dust seal was cracked and had holes, and replacing the piston square internal seal .... it looked ok, but why not fix all the issues now rather than later. The major problem though was finding a supplier for these parts. This brake kit was purchased from cb performance so I called them first. They were of no help and basically tried to sell me a new brake kit. I told them all my parts were in great shape I just need new rubber seals and they proceeded to tell me that seals cost more than a new caliper.... wasn’t buying that bs. I tried to get out of them what brand seals they tend to use and they stated they could not tell me. So I ventured off on my own to take measurements and locate seals myself. Pistons were 34mm and the internal square piston seal was 34mm ID and 40mm OD. I found this kit online and got two kits for less than 20$ shipped. Once arrived I noticed the guide pin boots were a lot bulkier than the original ones installed so I found this boots from advance auto parts for less than 2$

Here is a side by side comparison of original parts on the right and new ones on the left. The guide pin boots above the bulky ones are at the top (from advanced auto).

Here’s my brakes before starting and my process that I completed today incase anyone had the same issues as me.

First things first, cleaned everything with a wire brush and brake cleaner. Next greased and installed new internal square seal.

Then greased and installed dust boot. Make sure to rub your finger on the inside of the boot to ensure it seated itself in the groove good.

To get the piston back in I greased it and then got a small strip of plastic. I rolled it up and put it in the dust boot then expanded it a little.

I then put the piston into the plastic the best I could and started to pull the plastic out of the dust boot until it caught the piston. It was a little tricky but worked well.

Once in I screwed the piston all the way down to get the inner lip to mate up with the groove on the top of the piston. Once mated up I backed the piston back out to its extended position so I could clean excess grease from the piston and boot.

Now onto the rest of the assembly. The spring required a little effort. Safety first and wear glasses. Next I hooked the spring and placed a zip tie on it so it wouldn’t launch to space.

I found a set of channel locks come in handy at this point to Get the spring into position

Then I got the first coil of the spring to bite the groove on the retaining screw.

Now tighten up those channel locks and get the hook end of the spring as close as possible to the retaining screw. An extra person is handy at this point but not required...I managed without one. With a flat head you can guide the spring into its final resting position and tighten up the screw.

Now that part was done I moved onto the carrier. I pushed on the pin boots from advanced auto and greased the pins and installed.

Finished caliper

The real test will come once in the car but I’m having no doubts these will work. I’ll def keep you posted...much cheaper than all new calipers. My front rebuild kit comes in this week and once installed will post pics and updates on that.

[TinCanFab]

IIRC, those Varga rear calipers were used OEM on the back of 93-99 Ford Taurus. FYI for anyone needing pads, calipers or parts
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Check out my truck brought back from the dead... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=420762&highlight=sprayed+blood

They're never really ever finished 58 rag build...
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=658092

[Volksvr6gti]

Thanks for the heads up about the ford calipers, I will have to dig a little deeper on that and check. For now I think the ones I have on the rears will work good...we will test and see when the time comes.

Today I finished cleaning and rebuilding the front calipers. The kit I ordered from FCPeuro.com and are the exact same kit that I removed from the brake calipers... so I know this kit will work well. Anywho onto the piks:

The kit: old on left / new on right:

Cleaned calipers and rebuilt:

Finished product:

Now time to inspect the brake lines and clean them up and install back on chassis.