| Author |
Message |
donny1973
Samba Member
Joined: November 21, 2008
Posts: 317
Location: Palm Beach, FL
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Cody1963
Samba Village Idiot
Joined: December 12, 2009
Posts: 619
Location: Jamestown, California
|
 Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:52 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
drive the VERT!!!!!
_________________
Cody
57 Oval
63 Bug "Slammed"
68 Bug "Shortened" |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
donny1973
Samba Member
Joined: November 21, 2008
Posts: 317
Location: Palm Beach, FL
|
| Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 7:42 am Post subject: |
|
|
So now that the vert's about done, I'm faced with the daily dilemma of what to drive to work. Decisions, decisions...
_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Cody1963
Samba Village Idiot
Joined: December 12, 2009
Posts: 619
Location: Jamestown, California
|
| Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:12 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Wow this thread just gave me the inspiration to get off my ass and go do some work on my 69 vert, same color as yours (Yukon yellow) but not even near the shape that yours is in! I strive to make my vert look as good as yours does! Great car!
_________________
Cody
57 Oval
63 Bug "Slammed"
68 Bug "Shortened" |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
silvertonguedevil
Samba Member
Joined: September 26, 2010
Posts: 1697
Location: Vale, OR
|
| Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 9:32 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I've really been with you every step of the way on this car and have agreed with you on all of it. But......as original and pristine as this car is, why would you install incorrect taillights on it? I understand that they may be better looking but..... 
_________________
-Greg |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
donny1973
Samba Member
Joined: November 21, 2008
Posts: 317
Location: Palm Beach, FL
|
| Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 9:11 am Post subject: |
|
|
| 69vduber wrote: |
| any updates ? |
Stripped, painted and mounted the '62-'67 style tail lights. Much better look than the late tombstone lights and guardrail bumper in my opinion.
Next on the agenda is to remove, clean and lube all four window regulators, install the new window scrapers and all weatherstripping.
_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
69vduber
Samba Member
Joined: April 23, 2008
Posts: 442
Location: Spring Texas
|
| Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 5:50 am Post subject: |
|
|
| any updates ? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
donny1973
Samba Member
Joined: November 21, 2008
Posts: 317
Location: Palm Beach, FL
|
| Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 12:07 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Finally got the vert back from the upholstery shop and it was worth the wait. I'm very pleased with the job. He did the top, headliner, seats and carpet and I'll do the weatherstripping and door panels. I want to pull all the window regulators and clean and lube the mechanisms before the vapor shileds and panels go in.
This weeknd I installed my new euro blade bumpers. What a pain in the ass as none of the four conversion brackets matched the curve of the bumpers or the mounting holes. In fact, they were not even close. I had to heat and reshape all of the brackets, then repaint them. I also had to cut down the eight little little reinforcement brackets because they stuck our past the edges of the bumpers, but the end result looks great. Much better than the bulky '68 bumpers.
I picked up a pair of '62-'67 tail lights that I'm going to replace the '68 units with. Just have to strip and paint them.
This shows how far off the brackets were. I got them "adjusted", just took a while and several mock-ups.
I had to take quite a bit off the reinforcement brackets to get them to tuck out of sight on the inside of the bumpers.
_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
donny1973
Samba Member
Joined: November 21, 2008
Posts: 317
Location: Palm Beach, FL
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 8:35 am Post subject: |
|
|
Got the new plates welded in, cleaned up and painted. During mock up, I realized that I had to reshape the header bow even more to get it to match the radius of the windshield frame and for everything to line up satisfactorily. Also, none of the existing mounting holes matched the top frame, so I had to fill them in and drill and countersink new ones. Once I was happy with the way everything sat, there was still a pretty sizeable gap between the bow and the windshield frame, even with the J-hooks tightened all the way into the latches. I thought this might have been because there was no header seal in place so I test fitted the header bow with the seal sandwiched in and I still wasn't confident that it would be tight enough to keep the rain out at highway speed. To solve this, I shortened the threaded shanks on the J hooks by about 1/8" and milled the jam nuts to about half their original thickness. Now there's enough adjustment to pull the bow flush against windshield frame even without the seal in place.
So, the new plates are done, the bow is bolted in and everything fits nicely. This job turned out to be a bit more involved than I had anticipated, but I'm happy with the results. Tomorrow I'll trailer the car back to my upholstery guy so he can finish installing the new top.
_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
donny1973
Samba Member
Joined: November 21, 2008
Posts: 317
Location: Palm Beach, FL
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2010 12:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
My upholstery guy called to tell me that one of my header bow mounting plates was in questionable shape and my header bow was a little soft. This is AFTER he had the top about 90% done. I told him to stop the work and that I'd come get the car and replace whatever needed replacing. So, I went and trailered the car home and had to peel the new top, headliner and padding back from the header bow to inspect things. The bow was junk and the alignment pin mounting tab had rusted off of the passenger side mounting plate. The driver side was serviceable, but I decided to cut off both plates and weld on new ones. I went with a synthetic header bow instead of wood for obvious reasons. The quality of the bow is somewhat lacking, and I've had to do some major modification to it to get things lined up. Tonight I'll finish mock-up then tomorrow I'll weld the plates on, repaint the forward part of the top frame and bolt the bow in. I hope to have it back at the upholstery shop Friday to have the top finished.
On a positive note, the interior guy did a bang up job on my seats and carpet. I swapped out the black high back buckets for a pair of low backs and went with white for the seats, door panels, visors, headliner and top. Getting close to the finish line.
_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
my65rhd
Samba Member
Joined: March 11, 2003
Posts: 1212
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2010 5:21 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Very nice job. All the hard work sure paid off. Now time to enjoy the car...Kyle |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Culito
11010101
Joined: December 07, 2006
Posts: 5882
Location: Columbia Missourah
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2010 10:36 am Post subject: |
|
|
Great job! Looks good.
Now get some drop spindles and a 2" narrowed beam for the front.
_________________
© CJ Industries, Inc.
'64 standard w/2.0L type 4
'62 bug
| johnnypan wrote: |
| ...dont pay no attention to Culito,he's a cornhole.. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
gunat
Samba Member
Joined: May 18, 2010
Posts: 112
Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
503Tim
Samba Member
Joined: January 04, 2009
Posts: 30
Location: pdx
|
| Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 6:23 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Great thread, its awesome to see one man taking a project on by himself. Great job! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
donny1973
Samba Member
Joined: November 21, 2008
Posts: 317
Location: Palm Beach, FL
|
| Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 6:34 am Post subject: |
|
|
Been a while since the last post. Got the new tires mounted and put a few hundred miles on the car. I'm quite pleased with the job. All the mechanicals are are operating flawlessly. The shifter was a bit sloppy so I wound up replacing the shift rod bushing and coupler. That tightened things up considerably.
After these pics were taken, I buffed out the OG paint and remarkably, got a quite a shine, and a cool patina. I've also replaced the spinner wheel caps with billet cone type caps with Wolfsburg logos which look much cleaner. I also bought a set of euroblade bumpers and conversion bumper brackets to replace the unsightly and bulky late model originals. Can't wait to get them mounted up.
For the last four weeks the car has been at a local trim shop that specializes in VW's. They're doing the complete interior, including reupholstering the seats in white, installing a new white top and headliner as well as a complete carpet kit. I bought a set of low-back seats to replace the original high-backs, which give a cleaner and less cluttered look to the interior. Before I dropped the car off, I stripped down the seats, blasted the frames and painted them in correct silver beige. During the resto, I gave the same treatment to the steering column, steering wheel, shifter and e-brake handle, which were all originally black. I'll install the new white door panels once I get the car back. I stopped by the shop earlier this week and had a chance to see the completed seats. They look incredible and will really set off the Yukon yellow paint. This guy's work is outstanding and the end result will be well worth the wait. He thought he'd have the carpet and top done by this weekend, but it's not looking too promising. I'm pretty sure I'll have the car back by the holiday weekend. I'll post up some pics of the finished product soon.
_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
donny1973
Samba Member
Joined: November 21, 2008
Posts: 317
Location: Palm Beach, FL
|
| Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 12:07 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Project is moving along and the end is in sight. All the mechanicals are done, engine is tuned and running like a clock and I had the front end aligned last week. I did a little detailing on the engine, installed the 8 spokes, the rear fender guards and the new running boards and last night. The boards ranged in price from $20 a pair to $140 for the German set. I opted for the German boards and I'm glad I did. The fit was perfect and the quality is great. The metal is as heavy gauge at he originals.
I'm getting ready to start on the interior and top/headliner. The tires are old and dry rotted, so I've got to figure out which way I want to go with the new ones. I'm considering dropping the rear one spline to better match the 2.5" drop up front. I had raised it up one when I bought the car because the rear sat a bit lower than the front. I've decided to leave the original paint for as long as I can stand it, so I guess the next thing I should do is wash the body since it hasn't been done since 1985.
Before
After
_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here
Last edited by donny1973 on Fri Jun 25, 2010 6:54 am; edited 2 times in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
donny1973
Samba Member
Joined: November 21, 2008
Posts: 317
Location: Palm Beach, FL
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 11:48 am Post subject: |
|
|
Well, it's alive! Fired up the fresh motor last night. I pulled the rocker shafts, push rods and plugs and cranked it over until it built about 30 psi of oil pressure. Reinstalled the parts, hit the key and it fired instantly. I ran it for five minutes at 2000-2500 rpm and it sounded awsome. The straight cut timing gears sound pretty cool. Oil pressure remained around 45 psi. I checked for oil leaks this morning and was happy to find none.
Tonight I'll adjust the valves and run it at 2000 rpm for another 15 minutes to finish the cam break in, change the oil, adjust the timing and carb and call it a wrap.
_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here
Last edited by donny1973 on Wed Apr 07, 2010 12:30 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
donny1973
Samba Member
Joined: November 21, 2008
Posts: 317
Location: Palm Beach, FL
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 7:03 am Post subject: |
|
|
I put the body back on yesterday morning. My helpers couldn't make it until today and I was too impatient to wait so I wound up doing the job myself. It took about an hour and a half start to finish and went smoothly. Looking inside and under the car and seeing fresh pans is awsome. I'm really anxious to start the motor, but I don't want to risk damaging the fresh engine so I'll move slowly. Based on the recommendation of a VW expert, I'm going to hook up an oil pressure gauge, pull the rocker shafts, push rods and spark plugs and crank til I get pressure, reinstall the parts and start it up and run through the break-in process. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Just hope it not an oncoming train.
_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
donny1973
Samba Member
Joined: November 21, 2008
Posts: 317
Location: Palm Beach, FL
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Rolled the chassis under the body today. All ready for the reunion Saturday morning. I finished the rebuild of the engine about six months ago and I hope to finally be able to do the initial start up and run-in this weekend. The body has been residing on the other side of my property for the last few months and the chassis has been in the garage. Once the body is back on I'll roll the car into the garage for final assembly.
_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
donny1973
Samba Member
Joined: November 21, 2008
Posts: 317
Location: Palm Beach, FL
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 2:10 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Everything that I wanted to get done on the body and chassis is finally done and I'm ready to drop the body back in place. It took longer that expected and I had a few setbacks. I wasn't happy with the first firewall tarboard set I installed. It was made of a thin material with the consistency of a rubber floor mat. It was easy to work with, but it just didn't look close enough to the original. Paul at JB Bugs got me another set that's real close to the original. It's thicker and less flexible so it was harder to work with. There are no repro sets specifically for convertibles, and it had to be modified quite a bit, but the end result justifies the effort.
I found a small crack in the "perfect" OG dash pad I bought but I was able to repair it and refinish the pad so that it's not noticable. I wound up having to take the pad out three times because I didn't put things back in the proper sequence. The new pad didn't have a hole for a lighter, so I took mine out. I also cobbled together a radio block off plate. I think the cleaner look is better. I decided to change the color of the grab handle to match the recolored column, wheel, e-brake lever and shifter. There were some damaged wires on both sides so I repaired them using original style connectors.
My goal is to have the body back in place by next weekend. The only hurdle will be trying to round up three or four of my buddies on a week night. Worst case will be that I have to wait until Saturday morning. Since I removed the body by myself, I considered trying to replace it myself but decided against it.
Original
Recolored
_________________
Who is John Galt?
The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
'64 Bug
'73 Thing
'68 Vert Body Off Resto: Click here |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
