Yoshi's 1967 Squareback

[T3Yoshi]

My rear fenders had too many trim holes and they were placed too low. I made this depth gauge thing to place the new ones. The rears already had holes for wide trim. I went around the car and drilled out the other panels for wide trim. This car is not going to be 100% stock and I think wide moulding looks great.

I retrofitted the front fenders for side markers. I followed a thread someone else made but here is the info anyways.

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1967 Squareback

[Qldelsie]

Mine only has that wide trim down on the bottom, below the doors. All the upper trim is much narrower - About half that width. What year did they change over to narrow trim on the upper sections ?
I think I prefer the wide trim up there..........
Read your entire rebuild and watched all the videos last night, Yoshi. Very impressed with your work and your skills.
Giles

[T3Yoshi]

[Clatter]

Wow.

Nice work.

Glad to see you keeping the thread updated.
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Bus Motor Build

What’s That Noise?!?

[Bobnotch]

The trim came out looking good. Nice job on the side marker light.
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Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[T3Yoshi]

Thanks for the compliments guys! Kinda feels like I'm making progress again.

These are the photos from the last video I posted. The video link is on the previous page if anyone wants to watch.

This roof clip has been really difficult. Just finding a decent roof nearby was a process.

I made a 16hr round trip to pick up the roof. I borrowed the Sprinter van from my folks and rented a trailer. It was pretty uneventful except the van sprung a massive fuel leak and the trailer rental company tried to sneak some extra charges by on me. I guess they were counting on me not actually checking my statement.

When I saw the charge on my card I called the rental place. We went back and forth for a while. Long story short they finally conceded and refunded the charge but I probably burned a bridge with the only game in town for trailer rentals. Oh well, at least I dont feel like a chump.

Fuel leak was best case scenario because I made it all the way home and didn't notice until I woke up to an empty tank the next morning. Man, I thought I was burning diesel fast

The roof looked straight but it did have way more rust on the inside than I had expected. It doesnt really come across in the photos but this is not just surface rust. It's crusty crust rust.

I started by removing the loose stuff before bringing it to media blast.

Hard to tell in the photo but 80% of the inside of the roof is pitted like that. This was a huge disappointment. I went out of my way to pick this one up because I was expecting one in better condition, but thats just how it goes with these things sometimes. FYI, I am going to contact the people I bought this from and let them know about the situation. Maybe if I'm lucky they'll cut me some slack. We did have an understanding before hand that this would be in good shape, but maybe my standards are just way too high. I dont know...

So after shedding a few tears over my gold plated problems I set the roof aside to be brought to media blast during the week. I moved on to removing the old roof.

I asked a bunch of people about this and most people said just cut and graft at the pillars. Thats what I was originally going to do, but after looking into it some more, I thought it would be cool to take a chance and try it the hard way by removing the spot welds instead. I knew that if I messed up removing my old roof at the spot welds, I could still abort and cut at the pillars so really no loss there.

The hardest part seemed like it would be unfolding the drip rail. Unlike Bus roof grafts, the T3 roof spot welds are hidden behind the drip rail folds, so it needs to be carefully unfolded.

Getting the unfolding process started was the most difficult part. I didn't have the best tools for the job but I made due with what I had in my arsenal. I had to cut into the A pillar to get underneath the fold to get it started. This was fine because this metal is going to be replaced anyways. I also cut into the rail a little bit because I still had a hard time getting underneath it. Its a really weird angle and requires hook shaped tools. Again, the piece I cut into can be repaired and finished to look fine.

This hook tool that a friend of mine made out of a flathead screwdriver was a life saver on this job. I'm not sure what else in my garage I would have used. Again, hook shaped tools seem like a must have for this job. If I do this again, I'll get a few more hooks and picks to help get this started.

I eventually made my way all the way around the car. I was surprised by how easily the rail unfolded once it was started. The real difficulty was getting under it to start the process and then having lots of patience to unfold the whole thing carefully. Its really delicate so I had to be somewhat gentle.

I drilled out the spot welds at the windshield. Pretty uneventful...

My roof brace showed up in the mail so I test fit the braces. Everything looked good...

Last thing to do was to undo the spotwelds around the perimiter. I was fully expecting to drill out spot welds every inch or so but that was not the case. The roof spot welds are approx 18" apart so there were not very many to drill out. This was a nice surprise!

I tried the regular drill bit method to begin with but I found that a grinding disc fit in the drip rail much better and was way faster.

Here you can see how far the spot welds are spread apart from one another.

Thats basically where I ended the last video.
Right now in real world time I working on fitting up the new roof. I laid down the first few tack welds last night. I'm hoping to have it fully welded in place and the drip rail folded back over this weekend.

I make another video and a detailed post with all the install info.

Wish me luck...

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1967 Squareback

[Bobnotch]

Nice. Did you get the underside of the new roof section blasted already? Or were you concerned about the blasting company warping it?
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Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[T3Yoshi]

[Mike Fisher]

[T3Yoshi]

[T3Yoshi]

Finally, after many many hours spent in the garage and then a bunch more hunched over the computer, I have a video for the roof skin install. This was a great challenge and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I can't say from experience, but I would assume that chopping the roof at the pillars is an easier way to do it and looks fine in the end, but theres something to be said for trying to skin it kinda similar to the way the factory would.

Theres a bunch of helpful info and hopefully some entertainment value in the video. Enjoy if you feel like it and I'll be back with a proper Samba write up soon.


Link

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1967 Squareback

[notchboy]

Dude, you are going to the Type 3 Cruze next year in this thing, right? We need to do a blow out vid of this thing on the road!

Great progress as usual. Keep up the millennial vids and the thread progress reports.
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[Bobnotch]

[TheGrafs]

Some great progress Yoshi! Ive seen some of the hipster youtube videos as well! You have a lot of talent and the quality of your square will surely show. Keep it up!
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1957 Oval Semaphore Beetle
1964 Notchback S
1966 Fastback
1970 Squareback

Youtube: GrafsGarage3
Instagram: GrafsGarage

[T3Yoshi]

[T3Yoshi]

Thanks guys! Glad you guys are enjoying the vids and following the build.

It took a LOT LONGER than expected to get set up at the new place but I'm happy to report that the Square is tucked away nicely in the new garage!

I built this water separator for my air compressor so that we can have nice clean/dry air for paint and tools.

Enjoy the hipster youtube video if you feel like it and I'll also make a proper forum post later on. Hope everyone one is doing alright with everything going on.


Link

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1967 Squareback

[T3Yoshi]

Getting evacuated because of the fires this year was pretty crazy! I'm feeling grateful that our house was okay at the end of the ordeal.

In this installment of the Hipster Youtube Mechanic series I show the evacuation footage, set up some wheel dollies and give a little update on the engine plans.

Happy Halloween everyone!


Link

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1967 Squareback

[Big Bill]

Really enjoyed your build thread, we were evacuated in the wild fire this year too. I had just bought a 67 bug as my next project, and we had to leave the next day. We also live near Sky Hawk which I think was in the video you posted. I find myself on the Type 3 forums more and more lately.

[T3Yoshi]

[T3Yoshi]

Feels like I'm finally settling back into working on the square again. Here's the link for the latest hipster youtube video and some images as well.


Link


In the second to last video I talked about the fires and these Harbor Freight wheel dollies. So far the wheel dollies have been great. This car doesn't weigh much so its very easy to scoot around the garage. It was nice being able to move it to the side so I could have more space to lay down primer.

Its been getting a little chilly. I was worried the garage might drop below 50 degrees when I want to paint. I spent some time insulating my garage door and replacing seals to help with this.

I bought this insulation kit but you could honestly just buy 4'x8' sheets of foam and save money. I got the kit because it fit in my subaru and it was probably a little easier to work with. The panels still had to be trim to fit though.

I filled these incorrect trim holes. I placed new proper trim holes a while back and had been waiting to get around to this.

Admittedly I did accidentally weld up one that I should have left so I'll need to correct that later

I picked up this thermometer/hydrometer that tracks temp and humidity over the last 36 hours. It was getting down to 32F outside at night but the garage was staying just above or at 50F. I don't want it to drop below 50 on paint nights. Humidity has been fine.

To help heat things up, I grabbed this propane heater that I can run for a little bit with the doors cracked for ventilation. Dont want to merk myself with carbon monoxide.
Funny things about this heater, it was really hard to find one locally. All dining is outside only right now so all the restaurants are snatching these up. A buddy told me that the restaurant he works at had one of their large propane heaters stolen! Crazy stuff

Harbor Freight sells literally the SAME thing for like half the price but of course it wasnt available. I know HF is trash, but when its literally the same product, I dont mind paying HF prices.

I nerded out of paint prep stuff a while back and came across the Kevin Tetz video series. These are basically what he recommends using so its what Im doing at my place. Everyone one seems to have their own preferred routine. If the panel is clean thats all that really matters.

Start with soapy water

Degreaser...or if you live in CA like me, we apparently have it rebranded as "Bug and Tar" remover. I almost didnt believe it but I went to two different auto paint stores and the guys there said "Yup, professional automotive wax/grease remover is illegal so we have it rebranded as Bug and Tar remover". I thought this was pretty comical.

Glass cleaner next. Good for fingerprints and acidic stuff supposedly...

Regular surface prep

And lastly alcohol. I diluted this down to 70% with distilled water. 99% is too volatile. 70% evaporates slower so it has more time to remove crud.
Alcohol also helps as an anti static so you pull less trash into the paint.

I used regular shop towels for this primer job but here are the spendy lint free towels. Ill definitely use these on BC/CC

I've been using this HF detail gun. Its been a nice cheap gun to learn on. Its not too expensive to replace if I ruin it and it only requires 9cfm so its very easy to run on my 60gal compressor.

Laying down primer went well! This was the first time using the new paint set up at my new place. Turning the old water heater back on after paint was a little more difficult at this place but I got used to it by the second round. That actually had me stressed out for a minute.

I ran the propane heater before and after painting to help keep temps up. I made sure to place it outside while painting just in case it was hot enough to ignite any paint fumes/overspray. Garage dropped down to 52 while painting. I ran the heater and got it into the 60's. Shut the propane heater off, closed the doors and ran my little oil heater and my work lights. These kept temps in the 60's all night. Those work lights actually throw a lot of heat!

I have a few more bare metal spots to cover up and then I need to work on prepping the interior surfaces. I'll be researching the engine build too. Thats a whole nother rabbit hole for me to go down. I also need to really make sure my panel gaps will be acceptable after paint. I think at least one more round of checking fitment is in order before i start smoothing things out with filler. Its not going to be a show car, but I do want to take it to some shows when its done and things are open. Not trying to win an award, but want to be proud of it if that makes sense. Maybe I'll go full show car on the next one...
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1967 Squareback