66 Bahama Blue Father/Son Project

[corro23]

[sportin-wood]

Very nice! Congrats!
_________________
Dave

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1966 Bug project
1973 Thing project
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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

[corro23]

Got everything reassembled. Plus, wheels and tires on. The breaklights and headlights gave us some problems, but got it all worked out after a bit of hair pulling. Mostly done and had it on the road for about a month. Couple of little things to work out still, but I am guessing we always will.

Its GREAT to see it back on the road!

Gotta say bluetooth amp / no head unit and the tach are are my favorite additions.

Cant say enough how amazing this community is here... It has been so amazing to be able to search thesamba and get a answer to almsot every question we had on our adventure putting this thing together. Thanks to everyone here!

We have a 64 waiting for us for the next project (going 100% stock) and will prob give "button" a proper repaint this at the same time we paint that one.

_________________

64 - Next project
66 - Maintaining
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73 Super (sold)
63, 66, 73 Super (history)

[corro23]

Got the interior done!
Misc stuff - new boots, mounted the fuel filter, checked the fuel pressure, adjusted valves.
Put in a new starter ... No need for that hard start relay.
Put a ton of time into body work and some temporary paint. Got fenders back on did some wet sanding and polish. Pretty happy with the body work.... Didn't see some things til the fenders were back on, but overall not bad at all. Paint is pretty ok for aerosol cans and should hold us over til we get some pro paint gear next year.

Now to put everything back together!

_________________

64 - Next project
66 - Maintaining
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73 Super (sold)
63, 66, 73 Super (history)

[corro23]

[sportin-wood]

Nice progress! I like the door pulls in place of the stock door panel handles. It gives it a cleaner look. Can I ask where you got the rear window louvers? And how do you like the quality?
_________________
Dave

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1966 Bug project
1973 Thing project
.
"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman. He's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." --- Jeff Spicoli

[corro23]

[Larmo63]

Your headlight glass is installed upside down.
_________________
Lawrence
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‘61 Mango Green Single Cab
'62 Pearl White Ragtop sedan
'66 Ruby Red Cabriolet
'86 Porsche 911 Carrera

[rcooled]

[corro23]

Been plugging away. Got some stuff done.

The Interior looks good. The carpet kit we got didn't fit ... So, we went with the WW kit and ordered a couple extra carpet pieces for the front speaker panels.

Put the new drop spring plates.

Pulled the old shift rod refreshed it with a little light sanding and some grease. Put in a new shift bushing and new pads on the shift coupler. Had a minor WTF moment when I saw that the shift rod has a bend in it that I was unaware is how its intended to be. The 73 SB was not this way. thesamba search button the the rescue

Mounted the master cylinder and ran all new breaklines. Figured out the configuration we wanted to use for the brake fluid reservoir. We decided to keep things looking stock. So, we mounted a dual master cylinder reservoir on the master cylinder and ran a line from the old (tiny) OEM brake fluid reservoir down to the new master cylinder. Looks like it will work well.

Doors are good. These took way more time than I thought they would. We did all of the seals, rubber, scrapers, chrome, and new door card panels. Added sound deadening, rust neutralizer, and welded up a couple patches where rust had eaten through the door. Rebuilt the wing windows and put new wing window locks in. The old wing locks were way sloppy and old.

Got the wiring completely done! Whew. Few extras ... Usb charger in ashtray, X-Celerator Speed Wheel and Clutch Pedal Shaft from classic bug parts, Pedal-Activated Brake Light Switch, wired up a floor dimmer switch for the fog light we will be adding later. Also got the stereo, tach, and electric windshield sprayer in.

For the stereo we went without a head unit and installed a Sony XM-GS6DSP GS Series 6/5 Channel Class-D Bluetooth Amplifier with DSP / 2 - 10 subs / 2 - 6x9 in back / 2 - 6.5" up front. This turned out as good as I had hoped it would. Its a great stereo system and we (my son and I) both love not having a head unit in the car. I was SUPER stoked that our sub/speaker box that we built for out last bug fit perfectly in the 66. Got our front speaker panels mounted and carpeted.

We got lucky and a little lube got the speedo running good. It was jerky and bouncy. Does anyone know why the speedo cable is so freaking long? I was wondering if I got the wrong one, but I have double checked the order.

Got the headlights rebuilt/cleaned-up/repainted. Added LED headlights.

Getting started on the rear brake conversion this weekend. 

_________________

64 - Next project
66 - Maintaining
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73 Super (sold)
63, 66, 73 Super (history)

[corro23]

Both my son and I were off work/school over the holidays and got some time in on the car.

We have not done any body work in the past. So, that part has been particularly fun.

Before

After

Got a bunch of other stuff in. Master cylinder, pulled all the wiring, but still have some stuff to wrap up, painted the trunk, steering coupler, turn signal switch, POR15 in the wheel wells, new beam, shift rod bushing and coupler. touch up paint along door sill and inside vent areas, replaced some of the sharp pointy tabs on the seats to get them ready to recover.

_________________

64 - Next project
66 - Maintaining
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73 Super (sold)
63, 66, 73 Super (history)

[corro23]

[richparker]

I have a hot start relay in my bus. It’s not a bandaid, it shortens the amount of travel the power has to go.
_________________
__________
’71 Westy build
Adventure thread
’65 Deluxe Build

[corro23]

The PO had the car had converted over to 12v. From my searches it looks like it has a hard start relay. Should we ditch the relay? From my reading it sounds like they tend to be a band-aid and really shouldnt be needed with all new wiring. We will be removing the relay. If we need to add one back in we can do that.

Does this mean the starter is a 12v starter? Cleaned the gunk off this to make it readable, its a 12v starter.

Going to get up and running, then switch out to a alternator. For anyone reading this thread --> Ended up finding this good thread.
Generator vs Alternator with small sub and speakers

Bonus ... I think the PBblaster finally worked its magic and I was able to pop the old distributor out of the original engine.

EDIT: Can anyone tell me if the steering box coupler should be splined? I have looked at quite a few pictures and it looks like a new chrome empi is splined to fit the steering box, but I found a pic here in the gallery that looks the same as mine and does not appear to be splined, just a pinch clamp.
_________________

64 - Next project
66 - Maintaining
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73 Super (sold)
63, 66, 73 Super (history)

[corro23]

Its fun to see what you find in your new/old car. We have found quite a few loose buttons in this car. Even in the tunnel. So, I think the car has found its name. "Button"

We are going through and rewiring the car right now and I ran into a couple questions. The PO had the car had converted over to 12v. From my searches it looks like it has a hard start relay.
Does this mean the starter is a 12v starter?
Should we ditch the relay?
The old engine had a generator stand, but it looks like the new engine has a alternator stand. We will be running a new stereo/amp/speakers setup. Would switching to a alternator make sense?
We have a 12 Volt flywheel.

_________________

64 - Next project
66 - Maintaining
---
73 Super (sold)
63, 66, 73 Super (history)

[corro23]

Thanks!

@richparker : Thanks! Looking forward to watching your build.

@Pruneman99 : Yeah, I agree doesnt really matter, but I was curious and its fun to know the history of the car. Was oviously not the original engine. I went digging in the recipts. Looks like it got a new rebuilt 1600 engine at 121808 in 1996.

_________________

64 - Next project
66 - Maintaining
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73 Super (sold)
63, 66, 73 Super (history)

[Pruneman99]

The engine stamping on the top of the case seem is indictive of Type III. You can reference the technical section to find out what it originally was, but it doesn't really matter.

[richparker]

Sounds like a shop set it up for you and I hope it works well. These engines are amazing when they are built and tuned correctly.

Looking forward to reading the progress. Enjoy the time with your son!

Rich P
_________________
__________
’71 Westy build
Adventure thread
’65 Deluxe Build

[corro23]

Thanks Rich! I just read through your '65 thread yesterday. Looks awesome!

Honestly ... That is just what I was told about the engine we were given. I am learning, but dont know much about engines. That is my sons department for now. By "Stroker cam", I am guessing it means crankshaft with a stroke longer than stock. We pulled the original engine and all the engine parts/tins off this 66 and had some spare parts from our 73. We then took these down to the local shop with the engine we were given and the shop put together a running engine for us (with a couple additional parts) and got it running on the bench. Hopefully, thinks will plug in, run, and we can go from there. The new engine has a EMPI carb and seems like it was running pretty good.
_________________

64 - Next project
66 - Maintaining
---
73 Super (sold)
63, 66, 73 Super (history)

[richparker]

Nice project!

What do you mean by “stroker cam?” I don’t think that is a thing, is it like a w110? How do you think it’s gonna play with that PICT30? Did you do anything to the carb, like enlarge the Venturi?
_________________
__________
’71 Westy build
Adventure thread
’65 Deluxe Build