Aquifer's '67 Beetle Thread

[aquifer]

One other thing I forgot to mention about the engine rebuild process. I bought a cheap T shaped engine stand with three wheels. It was extremely tippy! I hadn't anticipated that problem so I was very careful, but it always felt like it wanted to pitch sideways when I moved it around with the engine on it. I also couldn't get the hydraulic lift cart close enough to the yoke, so I was forced to call on some of the strength that I no longer have in order to do it! I don't recommend buying this type of stand.

For the 1600 dp rebuild I'm starting on next, I bought a yoke from Type E Motorsports linked below, and the 4 wheel engine stand that is recommended by Type E for this yoke. I haven't used it yet, but the stand and the yoke both look MUCH better than what I had. I'll be able to wheel the lift cart right up to the yoke.

https://type-emotorsports.com/collections/featured-collection/products/engine-stand-yoke

It made me nervous to hang the entire weight of the engine using only two bolts on the bell housing. I know it's done that way all the time, but I took a lot of the weight off while it was still on the lift cart (tinwork, generator, heads, pistons & jugs, flywheel, etc). For the reassembly I did the internals and case halves while it was on the engine stand, but then set it on the lift cart to do the pistons, jugs, heads, end play/flywheel/clutch, and tinwork.
_________________
Project vehicles:
1967 Beetle #1. Bought in 2024, mostly original, October 1966 build date. Java Green.
1967 Beetle #2. Bought in the mid 80's, restored myself in the late 90's, June 1967 build date. Java Green.
1998 Jaguar XJR. Bought in 2015, rust free AZ car, refurbished myself. Driven in nice weather.

Parts needed:
Original brown rubber floor mats for a '67
Original gazelle seat upholstery for a ‘67

[aquifer]

[scrivyscriv]

Nice work! I really like your oil filler. Where'd you get it, original or repro?
_________________
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.

[aquifer]

Here are a couple videos of the break in drive.


Link



Link

_________________
Project vehicles:
1967 Beetle #1. Bought in 2024, mostly original, October 1966 build date. Java Green.
1967 Beetle #2. Bought in the mid 80's, restored myself in the late 90's, June 1967 build date. Java Green.
1998 Jaguar XJR. Bought in 2015, rust free AZ car, refurbished myself. Driven in nice weather.

Parts needed:
Original brown rubber floor mats for a '67
Original gazelle seat upholstery for a ‘67

[aquifer]

I decided to rebuild the engine after a compression test revealed low numbers. The internals were really rusty and there was significant blow by on a couple of the cylinders. Here are some pictures from the project.

I used these plastic construction wedges to split the case. Tapped with a mallet at the bell housing until I could get one started, then went around and around tapping and driving the wedges in a little at a time. No idea how you’re supposed to do it, but it worked well.

You may notice the numbers written in magic marker. Not to worry, just my machine shop buddy’s way of making sure the rods went back in the correct place. Nothing to do with the cylinder number.

He refurbished the rods and honed them back to spec. Deck height was exactly the same for each one.

A picture of the push rod tubes and seals. No leaks after the break in period this weekend. I’m not a big fan of the aftermarket heads. I should have rebuilt the original heads. I will keep them and rebuild them sometime if possible. Then someday I will put them back on the engine. But these will work fine I guess. Just not impressed with the sloppy casting. The fins are kinda rough.

_________________
Project vehicles:
1967 Beetle #1. Bought in 2024, mostly original, October 1966 build date. Java Green.
1967 Beetle #2. Bought in the mid 80's, restored myself in the late 90's, June 1967 build date. Java Green.
1998 Jaguar XJR. Bought in 2015, rust free AZ car, refurbished myself. Driven in nice weather.

Parts needed:
Original brown rubber floor mats for a '67
Original gazelle seat upholstery for a ‘67

[aquifer]

[Bobs67vwagen]

Nice find acquifer, will you now do the seats back to original?

[aquifer]

Well it definitely pays to advertise on the samba! For quite a while I’ve been running a want ad for original oem Gazelle door panels. Out of the blue a member emailed me a couple weeks ago, saying he had what I need.

He had redone the interior of his 67, but had kept the original panels because they were in good shape. He was gracious enough to sell them to me, and I installed them today! They’re in really great shape for being almost 60 years old, and I couldn’t be happier.

Here are some pictures. The “new” pieces I installed are the kick panels, the rear seat panels, and the door panels with arm rests. I recently placed a want ad for a set of original brown rubber mats, and maybe I’ll get lucky again. For now the black is fine, and I may try to dye my gray mats brown to see how that turns out.

The drivers door panel is actually one that I had previously found on the samba. It’s NOS and had never been installed. It is a little warped, but I’m hoping it will straighten out. The only reason I used this one instead of the one that came with the set is because of the pouch, which is in better shape than the other one. Aside from that, the drivers door panel that came with the set is in great shape. I think the pouch could be removed and repaired, which I might do someday. But this pouch is in good shape, so I used it. I won’t store anything in it because I’m sure the elastic is brittle.

From this angle the drivers door panel looks like a different color, but it’s just the lighting or my camera.

_________________
Project vehicles:
1967 Beetle #1. Bought in 2024, mostly original, October 1966 build date. Java Green.
1967 Beetle #2. Bought in the mid 80's, restored myself in the late 90's, June 1967 build date. Java Green.
1998 Jaguar XJR. Bought in 2015, rust free AZ car, refurbished myself. Driven in nice weather.

Parts needed:
Original brown rubber floor mats for a '67
Original gazelle seat upholstery for a ‘67

[aquifer]

[67conv]

[aquifer]

While I had the engine out I replaced the tar boards. The kit I installed previously was cheap and flimsy, and had kind of a glossy look. I should have returned it at the time, but I installed it and disliked it the whole time. So I got a good quality set from WW and installed it while the engine was out to replace the clutch.

The shiny flimsy tarboard set:

The better quality set from WW:

I found a replacement insulation kit for the heat risers. Mine were mostly missing. They’ll get greasy and turn black soon enough.

Here’s how my fuel line is routed. The braided pieces you see are just for protection from rubbing. I split the braided line and clamped pieces in place over the steel line where needed. I couldn’t find the exact clip and grommet sizes that VW used.

The rebuilt Bosch short coil:

The current state of the engine. The black wire you see looped over the right deck lid hinge is a cord for my BatteryMinder charger. I routed it to the engine compartment for convenience. I also put a plug on my timing light, so all I have to do is plug the timing light in to the BatteryMinder cable to power it up. It works slick. Obviously not original, but definitely handy. Most everything else is either original to the car or original for the 67 year.

As I’ve stated, my goal for this car it to keep it as original as possible, and what isn’t original, be as true as I can to the original. Let me know if you see something that’s not 67 correct. Chances are I’ll try to change it!
_________________
Project vehicles:
1967 Beetle #1. Bought in 2024, mostly original, October 1966 build date. Java Green.
1967 Beetle #2. Bought in the mid 80's, restored myself in the late 90's, June 1967 build date. Java Green.
1998 Jaguar XJR. Bought in 2015, rust free AZ car, refurbished myself. Driven in nice weather.

Parts needed:
Original brown rubber floor mats for a '67
Original gazelle seat upholstery for a ‘67

[aquifer]

My clutch had a pretty serious chatter problem. I don’t really know what the problem was, but I ended up replacing the disc and the pressure plate. I also used a depth gauge to make sure the flywheel was true, which is was.

I also repaired the #3 spark plug hole with a Time Sert insert, which is the topic of another thread I started specific to that repair.

_________________
Project vehicles:
1967 Beetle #1. Bought in 2024, mostly original, October 1966 build date. Java Green.
1967 Beetle #2. Bought in the mid 80's, restored myself in the late 90's, June 1967 build date. Java Green.
1998 Jaguar XJR. Bought in 2015, rust free AZ car, refurbished myself. Driven in nice weather.

Parts needed:
Original brown rubber floor mats for a '67
Original gazelle seat upholstery for a ‘67

[aquifer]

Been a while since I’ve posted my progress. I didn’t end up liking the gray floor mats. The original mat color was brown (Gazelle interior), but of course nobody reproduces that color, so it was either gray or black. The gray was lighter than the pictures led me to believe, and the longer I lived with them, the less I liked them (the quality was fine, but the color just didn’t work with the rest of the interior - to my eye anyway. So I decided to switch it to black.

Anyway, I found a NOS black front floor mat so I bought it. That also meant that I had to change the front vertical carpet with the gray mat sewn to it, so WW sent me a new front piece with a black mat sewn to it.

I located a black NOS rear mat after literally just buying a new black rear mat from WW. I don’t have the NOS one in my possession yet, so if it doesn’t materialize, I’ll install the black WW mat.

Here are a few pictures of the gray to black swap. Here’s the gray when I first installed it.

I tried to tell myself I could leave the front vertical carpet and gray mat in place, but that didn’t last long.

I like the black better, but it needs to be brown as VW designed it, so I’ll keep my eyes open for a brown OEM floor mat set. Might get lucky someday!

I cut holes in the WW mat, but I’m in a holding pattern to see if I can work a deal with the owner of the NOS rear mat. So I haven’t installed the back mat yet.

_________________
Project vehicles:
1967 Beetle #1. Bought in 2024, mostly original, October 1966 build date. Java Green.
1967 Beetle #2. Bought in the mid 80's, restored myself in the late 90's, June 1967 build date. Java Green.
1998 Jaguar XJR. Bought in 2015, rust free AZ car, refurbished myself. Driven in nice weather.

Parts needed:
Original brown rubber floor mats for a '67
Original gazelle seat upholstery for a ‘67

[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!!
_________________
'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.

_________________
Project vehicles:
1967 Beetle #1. Bought in 2024, mostly original, October 1966 build date. Java Green.
1967 Beetle #2. Bought in the mid 80's, restored myself in the late 90's, June 1967 build date. Java Green.
1998 Jaguar XJR. Bought in 2015, rust free AZ car, refurbished myself. Driven in nice weather.

Parts needed:
Original brown rubber floor mats for a '67
Original gazelle seat upholstery for a ‘67

[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.

_________________
Project vehicles:
1967 Beetle #1. Bought in 2024, mostly original, October 1966 build date. Java Green.
1967 Beetle #2. Bought in the mid 80's, restored myself in the late 90's, June 1967 build date. Java Green.
1998 Jaguar XJR. Bought in 2015, rust free AZ car, refurbished myself. Driven in nice weather.

Parts needed:
Original brown rubber floor mats for a '67
Original gazelle seat upholstery for a ‘67

[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.