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rah253 Samba Member
Joined: June 07, 2018 Posts: 66 Location: wa
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Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 10:59 pm Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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Nice build, i'll be watching closely, building my first air-cooled, lots of inspiration here. |
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AirKooledGarage Samba Member
Joined: September 28, 2012 Posts: 314 Location: Wisco
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Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2020 2:49 pm Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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Another weekend in the garage. Getting closer on the air beam build and pan updates.
I'm thinking a 3/4" pie cut should do the job (sorry purists).
Trans had sixty years of goo on it. Still not all the way there, but getting closer.
Five+ hours in I'm starting to see metal. Wire brush is helping. Will pull axles next. _________________ 1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug |
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AirKooledGarage Samba Member
Joined: September 28, 2012 Posts: 314 Location: Wisco
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2020 1:45 pm Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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It's officially winter in the Midwest (first snow) so time for the winter builds! The Patina bug's pan is finally wrapped. Will have to wait until body is closer to done before I pie cut the front (body will need to set on pan and have as many connection points as possible. Lost my rear torsion arm covers, though!
_________________ 1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug |
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AirKooledGarage Samba Member
Joined: September 28, 2012 Posts: 314 Location: Wisco
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2020 2:14 pm Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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Now on to the body. Bottom 5+ inches of this car are screwed. Very likely bit off more than I can chew here. Channels are bad as well as some of the connecting tissue. Tentative plan is to mount the replacement channels to the pan as well as the rear crossmembers and then lower the body over it, picking up the beam mount and rear shock tower mounts to locate the body.
Body was braced and I left doors on
channels are toast as rear crossmembers and part of the front bulkhead.
Managed to cut all the rotted parts off today and will get back to it next weekend and grind off all the remaining rust. That should give me a pretty good sense of what panels I'll need to order. What could possibly go wrong? _________________ 1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug |
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AirKooledGarage Samba Member
Joined: September 28, 2012 Posts: 314 Location: Wisco
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Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:22 pm Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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Spent the morning prepping the Dansk heater channels. Typical of these things, fit is sketchy. They hit the seat mount and often have incorrect threshold plates. Mine did both.
Ground back the inside seam to clear the seat mount, drilled out spot welds on the driver side threshold plate and removed it (oddly, passenger was correct) and chased all the threads with a tap.
Correct threshold clip (opens to inside of the car)
Wrong shape and facing wrong way
Channels fought a bit, but finally got them to lined up. Rear cross member and front cross panel are on the way and once I have them sorted, I should be able to drop the body on the car and start welding. Likely going to need bottom of front door pillars as well as complete rear wheel house and front lower wheel house pieces. When all is said and done, I should roll in at about $700 in steel and a number of hours that I'd rather not tally. _________________ 1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug |
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pastellgreen Samba Member
Joined: January 06, 2012 Posts: 1049 Location: Germany
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Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2020 9:53 am Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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I took Gersons and they are a pleasure to work with. Also, they are period correct, have a real good thickness and will last long. Perhaps you may overthink your choice? Look up my 1960 thread. |
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AirKooledGarage Samba Member
Joined: September 28, 2012 Posts: 314 Location: Wisco
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2020 5:18 pm Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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More prep for mating the body to the channels. If everything goes as planned that should happen this month.
Channels and Crossmembers loosely bolted in and mated to eachother.
Cleanup up the package tray and what's left of the quarter panels. New Crossmembers should mate nicely, but there's barely any quarter panel left to mate to.
Once body is laid on channels I'll graft in quarters and tie it all together. The missing material on the inside may be bought panels or just some sheet made to fit. We'll see after they are together.
Also bought a really silly turbo header and intake manifold off of a random FB group. This definitely fits the look I'm after!
This car is pretty much my inspiration (sorry purists!). _________________ 1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug |
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AirKooledGarage Samba Member
Joined: September 28, 2012 Posts: 314 Location: Wisco
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 2:16 pm Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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Some more updates on the dirty 61. Ground down and fitted the new heater channels and cross members. As anticipated, this stuff needs a fair amount of prep to fit and be weldable. Bolted beam back on the pan to use it as a guideline for aligning the body (front body mounts are one of the few parts that are stable on this car). Also trimmed out the nose for the single bag.
Body dropped on without much of a fight, but rear mounts are not stable enough to support it. The result is rear slid over channels to far, putting doors on top of channel/jams. Next move is to jack up rear of the car to get it into position and replace the wheelhouses. Front aligned well and clearly shows where metal will need to be added.
Next up was engine mockup.
Scored a slick header and intake off of a Facebook group and everything mocked up nicely. Engine is a barn find 1600 out of a bus that had clean plugs and oil, so we're not blowing it apart for now. Plan is to use this motor to learn turbocharging and at some point build something bigger. Turbo is off of Amazon and carb is an S&S Super G. What could possibly go wrong?
Stumbled across this one on CL for super cheap. Came off of an air boat! Prop must have destroyed thrust bearing as it has an 1/8" of endplay!
_________________ 1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug |
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AirKooledGarage Samba Member
Joined: September 28, 2012 Posts: 314 Location: Wisco
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2021 11:53 am Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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Tackling rust repair this week. As I get deeper into this it often occurs to be not to ever buy a rusty car again!
Rear quarter panel and wheelhouse on both sides were destroyed. Took an entire afternoon to align the body on the new channels and crossmembers without the guidance of the rear body mounts. Less than fun.
Wheelhouse required some tweaking, but went in OK. Not too concerned about aesthetics and more about strength, I layered it on some existing metal and rosette welded as well a bead on the perimeter. The quarter panel was another story. It was lipped across the top seemingly with the intent of allowing the material to overlap the existing metal and remain aligned. It do not.
Way too much filler to make this blend. I feel like I may regret this later. Wheelwells will get a raptor liner which should hide any ugliness.
After 90 minutes of wresting with door hinge bolts that had been comfortably in place for 60 years the door was removed and the bottom hinge will soon be replaced. Next up was the lower piller. Grabbed a replacement from CIP1 thinking that should be low drama. Cut away all the old material and aligned the new post. Before I started tacking it, did a few measurements only to discover the hinge bolts sit 1/2" higher than factory. Thought about cutting it up, but not stoked on cobbling such a critical part. Not great. Ordered an AutoCraft unit and hopefully it fits better. _________________ 1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug |
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AirKooledGarage Samba Member
Joined: September 28, 2012 Posts: 314 Location: Wisco
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Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2021 1:57 am Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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Not sure if anyone is watching, but here goes. Wrapped up the sheet metal repair on the hoodride build, doors close nice and gap is good. Pure miracle considering rust on channels and lower door hinges.
Couple of minor spots to attend to and a few fender mounts to replace and the metal is wrapped. Fender wells will get Rapter lined and visible parts of the body will see a light coat of rust and a clear. _________________ 1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug |
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AirKooledGarage Samba Member
Joined: September 28, 2012 Posts: 314 Location: Wisco
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Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2021 2:02 am Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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Next up on the to-do list is pie cutting the pan. Look away purists. This move will help keep the tires off the headlight buckets at full drop as well as adding a little caster angle. Front body mounts will need some tuning to sort out and steering column to box will get a u joint.
_________________ 1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug |
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AirKooledGarage Samba Member
Joined: September 28, 2012 Posts: 314 Location: Wisco
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Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2021 2:11 am Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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Now onto the turbo build. No idea what I'm doing, but really stoked on the process. Grabbed a crazy header from a buggy guy on Facebook and went to town.
First up was the intake manifold. Original piece was designed for a center mount alternator, so I cut one side off and added 3.5" to the other to re-center it. Couple of bends and it tied in nicely with turbo
Exhaust and wastegate dumps came out good, although it looks like exhaust side is a few degrees off. May have to cut and re-index it.
Now on to vacuum and oil lines! _________________ 1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug |
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AirKooledGarage Samba Member
Joined: September 28, 2012 Posts: 314 Location: Wisco
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2021 3:01 pm Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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Exhaust and intake coming together. Oil lines will be challenging. Always hated the Rube Goldberg look of oil/fuel/breather lines crisscrossing the engine.
Boost gauge port and feed line guide tabs welded to manifold. That should wrap up that piece and will go to powdercoat after test run.
First mockup of tin/alternator revealed a massive misalignment of the pulleys
Only to realize I had used the wrong year pulley. Finally an upside of having a ton of parts laying around.
Carb support will be a real challenge. Will also be guide for throttle cable and fuel line. _________________ 1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug |
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AirKooledGarage Samba Member
Joined: September 28, 2012 Posts: 314 Location: Wisco
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Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2021 9:21 am Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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Travel slowed things down a bit, but we're back at it.
Trans now has bus nose cone and is mocked up with RLR 1" raise. Plate seems a bit gappy, so we reached out to Russ for some guidance.
Pertronix dizzy showed up and and is now recurved and advance limited to 20 degrees.
Also ran across a pic of my 80's high school car. Have had a VW problem since 1982! _________________ 1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug |
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OvalinAz Samba Mini Tech
Joined: June 09, 2009 Posts: 1076 Location: AZ
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Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2021 9:42 am Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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AirKooledGarage wrote: |
Interior isn't bad. Looks to be original door panels, seats, dash, etc. Didn't notice at first, but no fuel gauge!
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looks like the original sand stone column and steering wheel are still in there, possibly the E brake handle and shifter too. you gonna preserve that stuff? 61's are very cool cars with the offset interior colors. that is also more scarce than the hydrate green stuff. _________________ Dad's 4/55 Oval
8/56 Oval
5/64 French Notchback
12/62 French 11 Window Bus
Wedge VW
Pandraggers C.C. |
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AirKooledGarage Samba Member
Joined: September 28, 2012 Posts: 314 Location: Wisco
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Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2021 9:52 am Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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Entire interior will remain intact.
OvalinAz wrote: |
AirKooledGarage wrote: |
Interior isn't bad. Looks to be original door panels, seats, dash, etc. Didn't notice at first, but no fuel gauge!
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looks like the original sand stone column and steering wheel are still in there, possibly the E brake handle and shifter too. you gonna preserve that stuff? 61's are very cool cars with the offset interior colors. that is also more scarce than the hydrate green stuff. |
_________________ 1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug |
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kpf Samba Member
Joined: March 01, 2017 Posts: 852 Location: California, US
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Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:50 pm Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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This build is looking great! Awesome skills. _________________ 1971 Super Beetle |
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sportin-wood Samba Member
Joined: September 12, 2010 Posts: 2008 Location: Texas
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Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 10:44 am Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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Nice work, and excellent documentation! I actually get a little anxious watching the progress because I don't have near the metal work skills that you have. Hoping for the best and looking forward o seeing a cool final product. _________________ .
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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AirKooledGarage Samba Member
Joined: September 28, 2012 Posts: 314 Location: Wisco
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Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 7:05 am Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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I appreciate your response on my metal working skills, but honestly, I'm average at best. Rally love the learning process, though and this car would have been a scrapper otherwise.
sportin-wood wrote: |
Nice work, and excellent documentation! I actually get a little anxious watching the progress because I don't have near the metal work skills that you have. Hoping for the best and looking forward o seeing a cool final product. |
_________________ 1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug |
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AirKooledGarage Samba Member
Joined: September 28, 2012 Posts: 314 Location: Wisco
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Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 7:13 am Post subject: Re: 1961 Bug Rescue and Patina Build - Pic heavy |
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Got a wild butt hair and decided to bag the rear end (I'm never going to finish this car!).
Looked at everyone else's stuff and in a moment of grandiose confidence in my design/build skills went for it. Using paper templates, I mocked up the support plates and then drew them in Corel Draw and sent to laser. Used 1/4" steel for all the pieces. The rod ends are Amazon items.
The shackle is just scrap metal as I have not decided on length. Also need to design a seat for the bag.
Pretty happy with the results so far. Everything is squared to the pan and for the most part allows cables and brake lines to live happily (rear brake split will get a minor relo)
This pan has endured a lot!
Sheet metal replacement
Pie cut tunnel
jack mount removal
F&R bag systems
1" trans raise
The voices want me to paint it red. _________________ 1973 Bus
1974 Long Body Buggy (sold)
1965 Manxish buggy (kids car)
1961 Patina Bug |
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