Aquifer's '67 Beetle Thread

[aquifer]

[Bobs67vwagen]

Looking good Acqifer. I would have a hard time holding myself back from cleaning / compounding/polishing the off white portion of the wheels. I am just not a patina guy.

[The Pilch]

This is most excellent!!
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'85 Vanagon GL, weekender package, 1.9 wbx named Freddie/ '61 Beetle named Ringo/ '78 Dodge Monaco which is nothing like the Bluesmobile so please don't cast that oily rag upon it.

[aquifer]

Here are the replica tires on original rims installed on the unrestored 67. The rims are from early 66, so not 67’s and not original to the car, but I think the patina complements the car pretty well. The tires are Autobahn bias look radials, 145/95 R15. The car will turn 59 in October this year, and I think this is what it probably should look like at that age.

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Parts needed:
Front & rear NOS or used OEM door panels for a '67 in the original Gazelle color (dark tan/light brown).
Also looking for used white headliner pieces, both perforated and non-perforated.

[aquifer]

I had to install new axle boots on my “other” 67, the one I owned since I was a kid, restored myself, and should never have sold. But was fortunate enough to be able to buy it back in December 2024. So if you’re new to this thread, I now have two Java green 67 beetles. I re-indexed the torsion bars too, and fixed one of the heater arms. Here are a few pictures.

The heater arm was missing so I bought a replacement. I suspect that the old one came loose and the PO just cut the cable wire. So I used a butt connector to splice the wire, and a butt connector to insert into the clamp on the lever. I don’t now how long the repair will last, but it seems pretty good.

I changed the aluminum rims over to this 67. For the faded 67, I bought some Autobahn bias look radial tires that look original. I have a set of original black & white rims that I’ll put them on. The rims have a lot of patina, but I’m going to leave them that way. I’ll post pictures when I get the tires mounted on the rims and installed on the more-original car with the faded paint. I think they’ll look more at home on that car.

Here’s the empi knockoff rims that I moved to the restored 67. This car isn’t very original anyway, so the rims seem more appropriate on this car. The torsion re-index turned out great. The stance seems right, and I was able to get the untensioned angle spot on. When I restored this car in the 90’s I just used coil over springs on the shocks because the internet wasn’t what it is now and I didn’t want to try re-indexing the torsion bars at the time. Like anything, now that I’ve done it a few times it’s no big deal.

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Parts needed:
Front & rear NOS or used OEM door panels for a '67 in the original Gazelle color (dark tan/light brown).
Also looking for used white headliner pieces, both perforated and non-perforated.

[Bobs67vwagen]

Maybe the dune buggy and Baja bug guys will weigh in on what they do to prevent water into the generator or if it even matters.

[scarabee]

A generator hole plug would probably help.

[aquifer]

No, I never had any trouble like that. Then again, after I did the restoration I didn’t drive it in foul weather very much. It entered into retirement at that time and was driven quite a bit but rarely in the rain and never in the snow.

I did a little google work after you mentioned it, and it seems like the later cars didn’t have a tray, though I did see some examples of the external cover that you mentioned. I wouldn’t want to do that either. I suppose the biggest risk is getting water in the generator. Maybe there is a way to protect that somehow if needed?
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Parts needed:
Front & rear NOS or used OEM door panels for a '67 in the original Gazelle color (dark tan/light brown).
Also looking for used white headliner pieces, both perforated and non-perforated.

[Bobs67vwagen]

Thanks for the reply acqifer. I think vw did away with the drains sometime after 1970( hopefully another member will weigh in on that) and that may have been the reason you saw a lot of those black aftermarket covers on alot of bugs after 1970. I do not want to use one of those. I also have a 1974 lid which has the thermostatic vent behind the license plate area and I may try to use that. When driven or left out in the rain did you have any trouble with water in the engine compartment on that 67?

[aquifer]

[Bobs67vwagen]

Nice work on both of those. I have an extra 67 lid for my car also that I have been thinking of grafting the vents into. The one concern I have is that I probably will not be able to get vent drains to fit. I have a 70 lid with the drains but I do not think there will be enough room between drains and air cleaner. Did you put drains on your vents?

[aquifer]

Here are a few more pictures of the project.

I rebuilt my wiper arm assembly because there was so much slop in the movement. Turns out the posts had deep grooves worn in them and the set screws couldn't keep the wiper arms tight enough.

Sandblasted, repainted, and installed new shafts. The red wire is just a jumper wire to ground so I could test it before reinstalling.

A picture of the trunk area. Not sure why I took this, maybe for the washer reservoir and the DOT 5 sticker I put on the brake fluid reservoir.

Here are the original wiper arms reinstalled. I sanded off the rusty spots and had some silver spray paint that matched really well.

Here's a picture of the engine. I'm slowly getting everything rebuilt and returned to oem as possible. I acknowledge that the sticker on the oil bath wasn't present originally, but I like it, so I put it on.

Here is a picture of both 67's side by side. The decklid hanging on the wall is the original decklid from the car underneath it. That's the car I restored myself in the 90's. We grafted the louvres into a used 67 decklid to accommodate the 1600 dp transplanted into the car. We painted the original decklid at the same time and I've kept it over the years in case I ever need to use it.

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Parts needed:
Front & rear NOS or used OEM door panels for a '67 in the original Gazelle color (dark tan/light brown).
Also looking for used white headliner pieces, both perforated and non-perforated.

[aquifer]

Here are a few more pictures. It’s running really good and I’ve been driving it around to give it some exercise.

Oil puddles under the crankcase breather tube led me to discover that the oil deflector at the base of the generator stand was missing. Turns out it was relatively painless to replace. Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the new one correctly installed, but oh well:

I installed the passenger and rear seats along with a reproduction parcel tray:

Here are a couple of pictures from a recent test drive. I’m going to leave these wheels on it for now. It came with them when I bought it, and I like them for some reason. I have OEM rims for when I want to return to stock.

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Parts needed:
Front & rear NOS or used OEM door panels for a '67 in the original Gazelle color (dark tan/light brown).
Also looking for used white headliner pieces, both perforated and non-perforated.

[aquifer]

[scrivyscriv]

FYI… I tried the heat gun on my lobster claw plastic today. Can’t recommend it!
The pebbly surface texture gets soft and flows. It might work on a smooth plastic but you’re asking for trouble on anything with texture
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Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[Bobs67vwagen]

Great ideas from both of these methods. I have had my original Bentley manual for over 40 years and it has accumulated a few fingerprints over the years.

[aquifer]

[scrivyscriv]

[viiking]

Or DIY as I did back here....

4th Post


https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...p;start=20
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1968 1500 RHD Lotus White Beetle since birth. In the hospital for major surgery
1966 Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Coupe - in the waiting room
Discharged: 1983 Vanagon, 1974 1800 Microbus,1968 Low Light,1968 Type 3

[aquifer]

I’ve been meaning to post these pictures as a suggestion for anyone who finds it helpful. I bought a new Bentley manual because my old one is tattered and greasy. I took the new Bentley to a professional print shop and had them cut off the spine, scan the whole book as a high quality PDF, and then 3 hole punch the pages.

I’m in the process of bookmarking all of the chapters and subsections in the PDF for quicker reference. I’ve used the PDF a few times to print a page so I can lay it there without caring if it gets greasy or ripped when I’m working on something.

I put it together in a binder and I really like it. I’ve added a few of my own odds & ends pages at the back - stuff I came across and wanted to keep for reference.

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Parts needed:
Front & rear NOS or used OEM door panels for a '67 in the original Gazelle color (dark tan/light brown).
Also looking for used white headliner pieces, both perforated and non-perforated.