My first Bug build... Finally on track

[57BLITZ]

Lookin' GREAT, Chris!
Keep up the nice work!
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Jesucristo es mi Señor y Salvador!

[Chochobeef]

Nice work. I love that color. Reminds me of my current mazda 3's color except yours might be slightly darker.

Looking forward to seeing more.

[Cmontoya9]

Success! The inside is all painted and done and it came out great! Some pics for your enjoyment...

Next week I'll get the body back in the pan, get the doors back on and get the body ready to paint. Stay tuned...
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My First Bug Build:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6369627&highlight=#6369627

[Cmontoya9]

[TX-73]

Doing a decent resto-rebuild takes time, glad to see you're back on it. It will be worth the effort plus it's a hobby so don't get worried about schedules.
I've used similar color in a corvette blue and IMO that color you picked will look great.
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My 1973 Standard Beetle Build SOLD
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[Cmontoya9]

So I got to get some color down finally last night. I was trying to get the door jambs, interior, frunk and engine bay done but I misjudged how much paint I was going to need. I had one full quart of sealer and one full quart of color. I was only able to get one coat of color down on everything but the engine bay, so I did not clear coat anything yet. I will have to wait til Monday to go to the paint shop, so I will have to probably give everything a light sanding before I coat it again. Here are some pics though...

Hopefully I can get it all finished up later this week. Stay tuned...
_________________
My First Bug Build:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6369627&highlight=#6369627

[Cmontoya9]

Hello everybody, long time no see! Damn, a year and a half flew by and i'm just getting back to work on this project! it has been a very busy year, a bit of a recap, I had intended to have the bug in primer by Christmas 2013, didn't happen. Tried again January 2014, didn't happen. February 2014 a buddy brought me a side job to do, ended up taking 4 months, did some other projects. Took the family on a nice vacation in July which was nice, but still paying for that. I finally pulled the bug out of the corner around February and started messing with it again. If any of you remember, I had a guy "fix" the rear fenders for me. Well, I ended up stripping them back down to bare metal and started over. All he did was slap a ton of filler on them and primer over it. Didn't even remove the old paint first. I hadn't had them back for a month before they started cracking. I'll be honest, I kinda lost the want to work on the car after that, don't know why. Anyways, I've been picking along on the last little bits of body work and stuff and finally got the car in primer last night!!!

Here it is in my "paint booth"

So she now has two good coats of epoxy primer on inside and out. I still have to do the doors, which I should be able to next weekend. I'm still working on the fenders but they are almost ready. But I finally feel like i'm making progress again. I have been trying to get to this level for over a year. Stay tuned... Hopefully it won't be another year til my next post!
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My First Bug Build:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6369627&highlight=#6369627

[Cmontoya9]

I dont mean to barg in your post, but im painting my engine bay, and i have no idea what these holes are for? Do i need them???[/quote]

I believe he mentioned that they were for the line from an 'autostick'.

This body was a donor (apparently from an AS)

Yes the holes were for the ATF Fluid reservoir and something else. This car was originally an autostick, I converted it to manual. The car I originally started with ended up being too rusted out for me to go forward with. I'm still chugging along, still haven't primed though. Hopefully soon. Thanks for the kind words, keep checking in.
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My First Bug Build:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6369627&highlight=#6369627

[LeninCas]

This is a very fine example of a restoration of a vehicle! Keep up the good work.
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one, two, many
one too many

[lyrikz]

[Steenkbug]

[lyrikz]

[cjsuner]

I know those feels man, orginally my car was supposed to be done last year, but we just finished last week, so keep going!

[Cmontoya9]

Hello all, once again, its been a while. I am getting closer to being able to primer the body. I keep having to push it out farther and farther. My goal is to try to have it in primer before Christmas. I really wish someone had told me that I wasn't going to be able to do a full body off rebuild in a few weeks!
So my original target date for completion was September, I didn't even come close. My new target date is July 4th. We have an annual car show downtown on the 4th and I really want to be sitting down there this year. I figure if I can get it primed before Christmas, painted before March and back together by June, I'll be on track. OK, on with the progress...

Got the roof all smoothed out, rear fenders are in primer, replacement rear apron is just sitting in place, will be making that removable. The fenders were done by a "professional" body guy that I had traded work with. I ended up waiting on the rear fenders for 3 months, and after excuse after excuse, he finally got them done in one weekend, then wanted double what we had originally agreed on. After I got them on and blocked out I saw that they will need more work, and they weren't all that bad to begin with. Needless to say, he will not be touching the fronts.

My little guy really wanted to help! This is Jett, and this will hopefully be his Bug one day. He is more excited to see it finished than I am!

Passenger side is nice and straight, passenger door is waiting to be sanded down, but is straight and will need minimal filling if any.

Driver side is straight and driver door is done, was a little rough, but not too bad. Front decklid is pretty much done, just a few small spots to finish.

Finishing up on the front fenders now. The driver side was the worst. This lower area was folded under and really rough. This was the one I was most excited about having that other guy do for me, too bad he was a flake. I am pretty surprised with myself, a hammer and a few different dollies, and a ton of patience, and I got it straighter than I thought I ever could. I do need to go buy a different hammer to pop that little dimple at the bottom out, but i'm pretty impressed with it. So once the fenders are done, primer SHOULD be close behind. In fact, I will be buying the primer this week, before the money I saved for it turns into Christmas cash! Well, guess that's all for now, Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas to you all, stay tuned...
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My First Bug Build:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6369627&highlight=#6369627

[Cmontoya9]

Well, body work has been chugging along, damn I really hate sanding! We(my brother-in-law and I) got the car all sanded down and ready for filler and such.

Its all pretty straight. The worst parts are the roof and the front deck lid. Lots of little waves and dips so this will be the first point of attack. We skimmed the whole roof with glazing putty and sanded, and sanded, and sanded...whew! Did I mention I hate sanding! It was probably nothing that would have stood out after paint, but after all this work that roof will look like glass!

Its looking good, almost there. The front deck lid will be next. It will get the same treatment as the roof. I'm still trying to straighten out the rear apron, but I don't know, that might be a lost cause.

Here is a shot of the factory Autostick holes all done.

Once I get the top and front done the rest should fly. Minimal work on the doors to do and the rest is good. I'll use a good hi build primer and block it out some more, the inside is ready for color so hopefully soon. well, that's all for now, stay tuned...
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My First Bug Build:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6369627&highlight=#6369627

[Cmontoya9]

So i'm going to try to straighten my OG rear apron. It's in pretty rough shape, but I don't like the fit of the replacement. I really would like to use as much original metal as possible. I wish I had tried to straighten the front apron BEFORE I welded the new one on. Oh well...

I started by removing the inner panel(heat shield?)by drilling out the upper spot welds and cutting the panel at the bottom. Those lower spot welds were just too hard to get to.

Like I said, it's pretty rough. There is a small crack on this side that needs to be welded too.

This will be the hardest part for sure.

I will keep you updated on the progress on this, not sure how well this is going to turn out. On the lighter side, I sprayed a test panel of the blue I will be using.

The pictures are kinda weak, but trust me, it's a beautiful color.

Here is the best one...

We had a local car show today and Chip Foose was here. I got to meet him and talk a little with him, and got his autograph on my test panel! I was totally pumped!
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My First Bug Build:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6369627&highlight=#6369627

[Cmontoya9]

That channel came from CIP1. When I purshaced the front apron, also from CIP, I went fr the actual VW replacement. Great quality panel, but does not have the channel installed. It comes straight too, so I had to tack, bend, tack, bend...wasn't bad though.
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My First Bug Build:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6369627&highlight=#6369627

[Hyperspace]

[Cmontoya9]

Hello all, been a while huh? The past few months have been very busy for me with the kids and work, so the Bug has not had much attention this summer. Finally got a little work done on it this week. I managed to get all the welding done FINALLY!

I know, ugly welds, but I'm pretty good with a grinder!
So the front apron is fully welded, the weather strip channel is on, and I even managed to fill in the hole on the driver door. Also finished filling in the holes I left in the engine compartment from the last welding attempt.

I also got some undercoating done. Using Duplacolor Bed Armour I undercoated the front and rear bottom as well as the bottom of the heater channels.

I have also been working on getting the inside ready for paint. Almost ready.

I have chosen Santorini Blue as the color. It is the deep blue color from the newer Kia's, awesome color. I traded some work with one of the local body shop guy's to get my fenders ready for paint. I really wanted to use the OG fenders and as banged up as they were, I'm pumped to have a pro doing them. He has even offered to let me use his paint booth!

Well, that's all for now, hope all your projects are going well too. Hopefully it won't be 3 months til my next update!
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My First Bug Build:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6369627&highlight=#6369627

[Cmontoya9]

Hello all, its been a while. Unfortunately, not much progress has been made in the last month. The body is back off for more body work. I pulled out all the fenders I have (all 8 of them!) to figure out which ones I was going to use. I am pleased to announce that all 4 original fenders will be going back on. They will need more work with the body hammers and some welding, but I think its the right call. The 72 fenders I have are fairly straight, but 2 have some rust issues and one is aftermarket. I did manage to tack the front apron on, but afterwards I was playing around and managed to straighten the OG apron pretty good. I'm debating on cutting the new apron back off and putting the old one back on. Any opinions on this?

This is the new front apron. It is an original VW replacement part, not the cheapo panel. It is very thick and strong and fits great, but nothing is better than original right? The only downside is that the weatherstrip channel does not come attached, it was purchased separately. Unfortunately I haven't taken a pic of the original front apron but I will. The OG rear apron is another story. It is pretty beat up, but the replacement I bought is the cheapo panel that I was told is the only one on the market. Can anyone confirm this? It is very flimsy and will take a fair amount of work to make it fit right. The weatherstrip channel is not positioned correctly so it will have to be cut off and re-welded in place. The latch is crooked and poorly welded on, and would probably break off after shuting the deck lid a few times. I think I'm going to try to fix the old one, what do you guys think?

It will definitely take some work but probably worth it right? I think I'm going to make the rear apron removable also. As for the fenders, they all need work, mostly on the bottom portions. Mostly just from bumping into things over the years probably. I'll try to get some pics up of those soon. I have also decided it's time to take it somewhere else to work on it. I am going to try to finish all the welding on the body this week then bring it home for the rest of the body work. Now that its warm outside and the days are longer, I hope to make some more progress soon. Well, that's all for now, stay tuned...
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My First Bug Build:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6369627&highlight=#6369627