1967 Velvet Green Deluxe

[velvetgreen]

For sure a good time to tend to the fuel tank/sender. If it were me and you already have the engine out I would pull the tank to 1) make sure that the inside of the tank isn't filled with old crud and 2) check to make sure the sender is working. Once engine is back in it is pretty much impossible to change out a defective fuel gauge sender.

Also a good time to give engine once over and replace any seals while it is out. Check the rubber firewall seals that run along the side of the engine and over top of the trans. These rubber seals like to rot out and are important to have functioning to assist is engine cooling.

I am sure you are going to have people giving you grief over that copper fuel line. Did you make sure all the rubber grommets are in place for the fuel line, battery cables etc. It may seem trivial but the grommets prevent the sharp metal edges of the firewall from rubbing against fuel line, battery cable etc.

Final thought - might be a good time to change out the fuel lines running from the bottom of the gas tank. They are a pain to change once the engine is in the way. Also good time to check all is well with you starter as it is a lot easier to check/replace with engine out

[scottvw]

I looks like you have a fair amount of original paint on the bus. You would be surprised how good it will look with using a random orbital polisher and some compound. You can always get the corners blended in too. Check out my build thread below. You can see how good the paint comes back.

They are only original paint once.

Glad to see a new bus in Colorado.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=469219&highlight=sea+blue+colorado

[1970PAKombi]

Sweet grab, what a nice bus! Also, congrats on the purchase, keep us updated

[wcfvw69]

What a dream bus you got there! Thanks for the compliment on the fuel pump as well.

Look forward to your updates!
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Contact me at [email protected]
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Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.

**Now rebuilding throttle bodies for VW's and Porsche's**
**Restored German Bosch distributors for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored German Pierburg fuel pumps for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche fuel pumps or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche distributors or I can restore yours**

[JonL]

[id'r]

Great bus, I like it!
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16 9
425 025 797
UP 2412 454483 502xxxx

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=699902&highlight=65+barn+find

[shanks]

Thanks guys!

velvetgreen-I will get the tank pulled now while the engine is out. Engine is good, runs great and no oil leaks! The firewall seals are all installed and pliable. Why grief over the copper fuel line? This is what I got from Wolfsburg West since the old pump had a different inlet fitting. Grommets are all in place and I will put new rubber lines from tank.

scottvw-I think the paint is original except front doors and nose. I asked Santa for an orbital polisher so I can try to shine it up. Not sure mine will look as good as yours though

Everett-I looked at the green switch on the dash and it is wired to the Southwind heater. I guess that is how the dealer did it.

Colorado boys-good to know there are more VW nuts here! PM me if you know of any cruises or get togethers. Or if you want to meet up and talk Volkswagen.

Anyone got any tips for the upper left engine bolt? I'm not looking forward to trying to get it back in.
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1965 Beetle
1967 Deluxe Microbus
1969 Squareback

[ToolBox]

[scottvw]

Anyone got any tips for the upper left engine bolt? I'm not looking forward to trying to get it back in.


Weld a nut to the head of the bolt to give you more to grab on to.

[shanks]

OK, next question for the masses. As you can see in the earlier photos, the sunroof is very ratty and needs to be replaced. I have removed the header bow, middle bows, and rails after soaking everything in PB blaster for several days. Some of the spring tabs and steel bows are bent. The problem is the rear tension bow. I soaked all the screws for several days and hit the screws with a punch to try and break the rust free. Of the 13 screws I was able to get 6 of them out. I am able to turn the remaining 7 screws because the captive nuts are spinning in their holders. I cannot drill the heads off the screws since the captive nut is spinning. I tried bending down the tab on one of the holders to see if I could get access to the captive nut and there is not enough room to get vice grips or anything in there to hold the nut. Any ideas on how to get these removed?

Then how do I repair the holders so that the nuts won't spin?

Some old posts here had sources for the captive nuts but all the links are dead and I can't seem to find them. Anyone know where to find replacements?
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1965 Beetle
1967 Deluxe Microbus
1969 Squareback

[BarryL]

Use a Dremmel cutting wheel ground down on cement to about 1/2" diameter then kiss away the flat head? After that you will be able to do surgery on the frozen threads and nuts.

[shanks]

Success!!
I first tried to cut the captive nut holders with the Dremmel but there wasn't enough room to get a good angle on them. So I broke out the air impact hammer with a chisel bit and was able to pop the holder spot welds very easily. And no damage to the roof metal. Another round of PB Blaster and I was able to get all but two of the screws out. The last two I had to drill the heads off. So my sunroof mechanism is off and ready to be overhauled. If anyone is looking for replacement captive nuts, Grumpy's has them ($4 each), search for cage nuts on the site.

Fuel tank is out too! I had to remove the Southwind heater in order to get the tank out. Looks like an original tank that was painted Velvet Green while still installed. The bottom and back side still have grey paint. The inside was very clean with almost no rust. Got it cleaned up and ordered new seals so it can go back in. But only after I repair the sender unit.
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1965 Beetle
1967 Deluxe Microbus
1969 Squareback

[Alan Brase]

Crank cases from 1971 later cars with original doghouse coolers had an inserted Tee nut because one could not get a wrench on a regular nut cause of the duct.
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Al Brase
Projects: 67 sunroof bug, 67 Porsche 912 Targa, 70 Westy
Dec 1955 Single Cab pickup WANT 15" BUS RIMS dated 8/55, thru 12/55
To New owners: 1969 doublecab, 1971 Dormobile
Vanagons:
80 P27 Westy JUL 1979, 3rd oldest known US
83 1.6TD Vanagon, 87 Wolfie Westy daily driver, swap meet home

[BonTonRoulet]

Upper left engine to transmission bolt:

In the past I've seen where someone welded a bolt, to the head, crossways to make a "T" or perhaps an "L", to the bolt that connects the engine to the transmission. In other words the bolt welded across the head of the bolt keeps the bolt from turning. Got it?

[shanks]

I got all the sunroof mechanism components removed for overhaul. Had a little trouble with some of the screws but they all eventually came out with some persuasion. All the items are accounted for except the handle. And the PO has buggered up the splines with vice grips so I'll have to get a new one.

I pulled the fuel sender to try and figure out why it wasn't working. Turns out the ground connection between the brass tensioner and the housing was bad. So following this great thread from telford dorr https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629435&highlight=fuel+sender I was able to solder a ground wire from the housing to the tensioner.

I spent a bit of time polishing up the OG deluxe trim. I hit it with 00 steel wool followed by 0000 steel wool then used Simichrome with a cotton polishing wheel on my air grinder. Here is a before and after photo.

I then took the new buffer I got for Christmas and polishsed up the velvet green paint. It got rid of most of the oxidation and put a bit of a shine on it. I'm pretty happy with the results. Now I need to get a smaller polishing pad so I can get into the smaller areas with contours. The plan is to put the OG trim back on and rock it while I slowly work on the rest.

The engine went back in today after the fuel pump replacement. New fuel lines all around too. Cleaned up all the electrical connections and she fired right up. I now have a working fuel gage! So the repair worked.

And the best part of the day... I took the bus for a spin and asked my daughter to join so I could teach her how to drive a manual. This thing is so forgiving. My daughter didn't stall once! We still need to work on the mechanics of driving a manual with the clutch, accelerator, and shifting all happening in concert but she did awesome for her first try. And now I think she has been bitten by the bug (or bus if you will)
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1965 Beetle
1967 Deluxe Microbus
1969 Squareback

[Clara]

more pics of the bus!

Your daughter might want to keep 'borrowing' the bus. lol

[shanks]

Hard to believe that I haven't posted anything here since January. I have been working on the bus some but more importantly, I have been driving it! Now that the weather is turning cooler it is back in the garage. Currently up on jack stands with the bumpers and wheels removed. Bumpers have been straightened and all are being painted L87 silver white.

Sunroof resto is almost done. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had to replace some of the rear tension strip captive nuts. Here is a photo of the new nuts installed with JB Weld.

The side tension strips were a bit challenging but thanks to the info here I was able to get them installed. I probably measured 10 times before putting holes in the strips. The mechanism operates smoothly.

New canvas cover from Grumpy's being installed.

I found an OG rear hatch emblem here in the classifieds, polished it and got it installed. You can see in the photo how the green paint shined up with an orbital polisher.

Next I started tearing down the rear seats. I thought the covers were original but now am not so sure. The tarboard backing was present on the seat backs and there was burlap between the springs and padding but the padding was not horsehair. The middle seat sat in a barn resulting in a bunch of mold and a significant odor of mouse urine. Lesson learned-wear a respirator when tearing down seats.

The rear seat frame and springs are in decent shape. The middle seat is rough. I attacked the frame with a wire wheel and got most of the major rust off. The horizontal bars in the back where the covers slide into will need to be replaced. Is there a source for these or has anyone done it? Several of the zig zag springs in the middle seat back are rusted through. Is there a source for new springs? Or should I try to find a whole spring assembly? Now I need to source burlap, padding and covers.

Tried to fix the drivers door latch. The clip that secures the rod to the handle mechanism was missing. I sourced a new clip from Wolfsburg West but it does not fit on the rod. The rod diameter is too big for the clip. Maybe I have the wrong rod.

A few other items that have been done in the past months.
-All deluxe trim was polished and reinstalled with green insert except the rockers. Most of the rocker spear holes are oversize and I don't want to chance losing the rocker spears.
-Forward cargo door latch was broken inside due to rusted in place latch bar. Found another and got everything overhauled and reinstalled.
-Ordered new interior panels from Clara.
-Cleaned up OG cargo floor mat.
-Removed all popouts. Had to drill out some of the hinge screws and broke one glass pane . Fortunately I have several spares. The popout frames have significant rust so I ordered a new set of frames from Wolfgang.
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1965 Beetle
1967 Deluxe Microbus
1969 Squareback

[shanks]

I've been working on a few things over the last several months and finally have some progress to report. Sadly I don't have many in progress photos since my computer was stolen while on a work trip in CA.

I removed both bumpers and had them straightened and painted L87 Silver White. My deluxe trim was beyond salvageable so I purchased a new set from Westling Machine. I am impressed by the quality and fit. Spent hours shaping and sanding the trim inserts and got them installed.

Also sandblasted the original wheels, had them painted L87 Silver White, and installed a set of Hankook Vantra LT 185R14C tires. Ordered the tires from Tire Rack in January and it took 2.5 months to receive them. Put all new hubcap clips on. Now just need to find some hubcaps...

As mentioned earlier tore down all the seats except the driver in preparation for restoration. I was able to source a rear seat back from a friend to try and repair my middle seat long back that has rust damage. Was able to get enough zigzag springs for the repair. Interesting to note that the flat metal frames that the springs attach to are not the same between the rear and middle seat backs. The corner radii are different so I'm back to the drawing board. I'm still looking for a source for the thin wall steel tubing for the middle seat back. As shown in earlier photo the middle seat long back cross pieces that have the groove cut for the covers are rusted. Anybody out there know where I can find the tubing? I did source the middle seat grab bar rubber and plastic ends from here on The Samba. Refurbished the metal bar and aluminum ends and got them put back together.

Bumpers and wheels installed and she was off to the first car show last Saturday.

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1965 Beetle
1967 Deluxe Microbus
1969 Squareback

[KWZ]

That doesn't suck.
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'57 sunroof Standard
'63 15 window
'65 Westy SO44

[obus]

That photo is a tease
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July 1959 Mango Standard Bus aka Obus L346 L347 https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=256592&highlight=
June 1973 Pumpkin Orange Thing aka Othing L30H
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711775&highlight=
1960 Paprika Red Karmann Ghia Convertible aka Schatze L452 built 5/20/60
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight=
66 21 window bus built 8/31/65 https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=777273