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Calvatron Samba Member
Joined: September 11, 2009 Posts: 85 Location: Carson City, Nevada
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Posted: Sat May 03, 2014 6:37 pm Post subject: Nevada '56 build |
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Hello all! I'm starting this thread to document the restoration of this '56 Oval. As I've been somewhat lazy on taking pictures of some of the restorations that I've taken part in, I'm hoping to break the habit. I hope you guys enjoy viewing the pictorial evidence of my labors! So here's the scoop:
This oval is not technically "mine." It belongs to my uncle who has been pretty preoccupied with his '64 kombi resto. He's had this oval for a few years and has been amassing parts, but hasn't really had the time to turn any bolts. It's been getting crispier and crispier throughout the past few years, and since I've been craving a VW project lately, I offered to start work on the project. We've got a ton of parts, but it's just a matter of doing the work involved. The weather has been nice lately here in Northern NV so I figured it'd be a perfect time to start! Here are some pictures of the car as it sat before any work:
As you guys can see, the car is pretty much bare. It has a hood but that's about it. It's got some sweet bondo action on the passenger side and the front, the roof is clean, the drivers side is pretty decent, and someone thought it would be totally eighties-licious to weld the holes shut on the rear clip for the exhaust. I'm going to try and save the rear clip and see if I can just grind out where they've welded on it, but if all else fails I've got a correct clip. We've got a pan for the correct year, fenders, glass, doors, a W decklid, pretty much all the body panels. My hope is to do a bone stock resto on this car. There's barely any paint left hanging on, but after doing some sanding (Pics to follow) I was able to find a bit of O.G. paint inside where the door hinges are. It's either Agave Green or Pistachio Green. Anyways, I hope you guys dig it, and I'll try to update this whenever I do anything picture worthy between work and college! |
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rlmartinez Samba Member
Joined: December 09, 2005 Posts: 233 Location: Whittier, CA
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Posted: Sat May 03, 2014 8:37 pm Post subject: |
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Looking forward to updates. Good luck with your project _________________ 54 Bug
56 convertible |
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Derosse Samba Member
Joined: February 15, 2008 Posts: 404
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Posted: Sat May 03, 2014 10:54 pm Post subject: |
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very nice project! love it! is it a canadian custom, i don't see the semaphore cases? |
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Rome Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2004 Posts: 9602 Location: Pearl River, NY
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Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 6:01 pm Post subject: |
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I wish you endless enthusiasm, motivation and persistence! It'll be an incredible effort to make a running, drivable Beetle from just this shell. You are very lucky that there seems to be no rust/rot on it. |
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Calvatron Samba Member
Joined: September 11, 2009 Posts: 85 Location: Carson City, Nevada
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Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 8:38 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the encouraging words you guys! Canadian Custom? I don't think 56's are supposed to have semaphores? |
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vintagevolks55 Samba Member
Joined: August 02, 2007 Posts: 27 Location: Fairview, Oregon
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Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 10:59 pm Post subject: |
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semaphores lasted til 60 on euro models |
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Calvatron Samba Member
Joined: September 11, 2009 Posts: 85 Location: Carson City, Nevada
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Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 3:55 pm Post subject: Re: Nevada '56 build |
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So seven years later, I now own the car, am not a starving college kid, and have a home and garage of my own. I went over to the dark side for awhile and fixed up an older Ford pickup along with a million other reasons to be distracted and so it has sat unloved since this posting but as of a few weeks ago I am back on it! I am renewing this thread in hopes of staying motivated and having a record of my progress! Some updates on the recent work done:
As pictured below, the floor pan had like five coats of paint on it. On the very bottom coat, I could just barely a stamping that said, "RICKSHAW AUTOMOTIVE." Last year I started stripping it down to bare metal at my uncle's house and got it all painted up. I have had really good luck with gloss black Rustoleum Protective Enamel mixed 50/50 with acetone for things to be chip resistant and looking good. Whoever had this pan before did an alright job of replacing the pans, and the only welding I had to do was where some of the seams were separating and to plug up one drilled hole where it looked like whoever had it before was running two batteries.
After that, I lovingly left it out uncovered in his back yard for the winter and proceeded to move into my first house where it now lives. I have it up on some sawhorse stands in my garage. The paint still looks great, so hopefully it lasts me! I'll post up some more updates once I get the front suspension more put back together but as of this last week I got everything apart, kingpin bushings in and reamed, and some of the parts painted up.
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VW_Jimbo Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2016 Posts: 9880 Location: Huntington Beach, CA
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Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 7:20 pm Post subject: Re: Nevada '56 build |
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It is always good to see progress! Keep it going! _________________ Jimbo
There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!
TDCTDI wrote: |
Basically, a whole bunch of fuckery to achieve a look. |
67rustavenger wrote: |
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo! |
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Patmus Samba Member
Joined: October 23, 2005 Posts: 149 Location: Carson City NV
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Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 7:43 pm Post subject: Re: Nevada '56 build |
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Looking good Calvatron ( If that is your real name). I sure hope you finish this project and make your sad, sorry uncle regret the day he chumped out and sold you this oval. I think you are off to a good start and I hope to see solid progress in the times ahead. Stay with it and ask for help when you need it. These old cars are becoming scarce and need our help to stay with us. Good luck! _________________ Samba Bottom Feeder |
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Calvatron Samba Member
Joined: September 11, 2009 Posts: 85 Location: Carson City, Nevada
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Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 8:30 pm Post subject: Re: Nevada '56 build |
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Well, tried to put my kingpins in today and I couldn’t get my spindles to fit into the carriers. I’m pretty sure that I have the wrong bushing. I bought the JBUGS kit that claimed to work through my year, but alas, it’s not seeming to be the case. All of the Youtube videos I see show guys using a nylon bushing under the little dust cap but the ones that came in my kit are these little wood fiber looking dealios. Pictured below along with a picture of my assembly not fitting due to their excessive thickness. Anyone able to confirm my suspicions?
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VW_Jimbo Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2016 Posts: 9880 Location: Huntington Beach, CA
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Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 10:00 pm Post subject: Re: Nevada '56 build |
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You got it. Too f’n thick! Or made that way to be custom fit. I remember when I would rebuild these and I would just reach into my container of different thickness shims and slide the correct one in. Now, you have to make your own!
Those fiber washers can be sanded down, to the thickness needed. I use 220 grit sandpaper on a pane of safety glass. I work the washer flat, with moderate pressure, in small figure 8s. After each 4 or 5 of the 8s. I check the fit. Back and forth until they slip in with slight pressure.
You will know when you get it right. When they do fit, slide the king pin in and check for the action. If there is a lot of resistance, remove the washer and take a gnats ass hair more off the fiber washer.
Hope that helps you out! _________________ Jimbo
There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!
TDCTDI wrote: |
Basically, a whole bunch of fuckery to achieve a look. |
67rustavenger wrote: |
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo! |
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Calvatron Samba Member
Joined: September 11, 2009 Posts: 85 Location: Carson City, Nevada
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Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 10:06 pm Post subject: Re: Nevada '56 build |
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Thanks Jimbo! Appreciate the advice. I’ll give ‘er a sanding tomorrow and hopefully be on my way to spindle town. I was thinking about it but didn’t know if sanding off that smooth surface might make the fiber flake apart and wear out fast. |
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SnyderFam67 Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2021 Posts: 5 Location: Carson City, NV
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Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2021 10:40 am Post subject: Re: Nevada '56 build |
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I can't believe it's almost been 6 years since you started this. Keep up the progress Cal, it's looking good. |
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Calvatron Samba Member
Joined: September 11, 2009 Posts: 85 Location: Carson City, Nevada
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Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2021 10:25 pm Post subject: Re: Nevada '56 build |
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Well, Jimbo’s advice was sound and after some time spent sanding down the fiber washer and my fingertips, I had a kingpin assembly. How tight to make these bad boys seems to be a topic of debate and I’m sure there are some kingpin sticklers out there that might curse me, but I have them fairly tight. Not so tight that I strain to move them, but firm enough that they don’t jiggle back and forth my thought is that with enough driving, they’ll wear in a little more.
Up until this point it has been pretty much all cleaning, prepping, and painting stuff but I was very stoked to finally get to turn a bolt on this car. I got the front beam bolted on, control arms on, and then got the link pins shimmed correctly to the torsion arm offset. My furry helper was less stoked...
I then moved on to dealing with my other furry friend, my steering box, pictured below. After taking it apart, the bearings feel good and the guts look A-OK but the seals looked like they had shrunk... (shrank? Shrunken?) with age. I am currently waiting on those and the seal for the lid to show up in the
mail
Hopefully I’ll have another update for later this week. I guess I should post a disclaimer that nothing I am going to be doing on this build is groundbreaking stuff that no man has done before. So far everything I’ve put on this ol’ boy has been 1956 dated and at this point my plan is to build this thing back to bone stock and as year correct as possible. I have pretty much all of the big stuff for this thing thanks to my uncle who managed to collect a ton of 1956 dated parts. I managed to get a ‘56 coded engine all im pieces at the last Bugorama too which is cool if you’re into that kind of thing. Unfortunately my transmission is ‘54 dated which I’m sure all my cool oval friends will never let me live down. Anyways, more updates to follow! |
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Rome Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2004 Posts: 9602 Location: Pearl River, NY
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Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2021 4:05 am Post subject: Re: Nevada '56 build |
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Good progress on the chassis. Hopefully you have ownership paperwork for it, or if not (i.e., bought just as a "spare part") can you obtain a registration using an "abandoned vehicle" process?
Have you looked for the body number that is stamped into the vertical panel to the left of the brake fluid reservoir to research what month the body was built? Would be a huge coincidence if the body was from the same month as your separately-bought chassis.
As to the Rust-O-Leum on the chassis: I think you'll be fine for a durable finish. 25 yrs ago I had an old Beetle on which I painted the fenders and both lids with gloss black RoL because the original car color was black. I used a spray gun and air compressor in my driveway and also thinned the paint down about 20%. Looked much better all in one color than having those parts in grey primer. I sold the car in the early 00's and the new owner had a semi-pro friend of his repaint it in the '67 Beetle Savannah Beige color. Said his friend had a heck of a time sanding down the RoL because it was so hard. |
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rich caramadre Samba Member
Joined: August 22, 2014 Posts: 145 Location: United States
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Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2021 3:04 pm Post subject: Re: Nevada '56 build |
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It could be just the photo but does your pitman arm have a slight bend in it when viewed from the side? |
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Murrtallica Samba Member
Joined: June 11, 2018 Posts: 2 Location: Nevada
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Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2021 9:11 pm Post subject: Re: Nevada '56 build |
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It's rad seeing this thing come together finally and not just be a bunch of parts in bins we shuffle around a bunch. Definitely looking forward to the day the oval rides again.
Also, I dig that IdealArc 300 in the background. I bet it was super easy to move and was done professionally and not with an engine hoist too. |
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Patmus Samba Member
Joined: October 23, 2005 Posts: 149 Location: Carson City NV
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Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 9:07 pm Post subject: Re: Nevada '56 build |
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Looking super sweet Calvin. I am very impressed by the work you have done thus far. There is hope for this ol'girl yet! _________________ Samba Bottom Feeder |
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Buggeee Samba Member
Joined: December 22, 2016 Posts: 4391 Location: Stuck in Ohio
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Calvatron Samba Member
Joined: September 11, 2009 Posts: 85 Location: Carson City, Nevada
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 9:57 pm Post subject: Re: Nevada '56 build |
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Well, the battle rages on. After almost a year of economic struggles and distractions, I am back on the oval. As per my last post, I got the seals in for the steering box, filled er up with a greasy goopy mixture, and got it stuck on. (Yeah, I know, the dogbone is on upside down)
My in-laws live up in Redding CA, so while we were up visiting last weekend I stopped into Wolfgang International and decided to pull the trigger on some wheel bearings and all the goodies that go along. After getting them home and laughing at my bearing boxes like Beavis and Butthead, I went ahead and pounded the races into the drums. I found that an old intake valve from my '77 Ford pickup was the perfect size to pound in my outer races, and that fifteen minutes spent tapping around with a crusty chisel was the ticket for the inner races.
I would have put the assemblies on tonight, but I'm missing the wheel cylinder for one side and the one that I did have was stuck tighter than J.Lo's jogging pants. Gonna need some new ones. I'm trying to decide whether or not I should spend my life's savings on German wheel cylinders, or go with the significantly cheaper Chinese ones. Anyone have any experience? Will the Ho-Chi-Cylinders go out on me if I go that route?
Thanks fellers! |
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