“Ella’s” new beginning…

[CoastalBug]

[heimlich]

I have a 68 in the same color. I'm trying to figure out why the outside of yours looks darker. I think there was a darker red as well.

Either way you have a nice car.
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[CoastalBug]

[heimlich]

Is that car a different color on the inside? The outside looks darker.
_________________
www.vwnos.com [email protected]
Classic Brands. Classic Quality.
Not all parts are made the same. NOS OE/OEM parts made mainly in West Germany, Early Germany, and Early Brazil are where VW produced the best quality parts and best fitting products.
5% Off your order with coupon code: 5%OFF
Restored Distributors Available (<--Click here)

[CoastalBug]

I forgot the best part!! I finally got all the necessary ORIGINAL parts to correct her steering wheel.

Before:

After:

_________________
Chris - 1968 Beetle Sedan, a book, and a lot of determination.

[heimlich]

You've got a nice car there. It looks really similar to the first one I had at 16 years old. It's the same color.
_________________
www.vwnos.com [email protected]
Classic Brands. Classic Quality.
Not all parts are made the same. NOS OE/OEM parts made mainly in West Germany, Early Germany, and Early Brazil are where VW produced the best quality parts and best fitting products.
5% Off your order with coupon code: 5%OFF
Restored Distributors Available (<--Click here)

[Bobs67vwagen]

Good work Chris , it does feel good to not be dependant on others to do things like valve adjustments. Sometime long ago before the internet one of my vw friends told me that the 2 most important things to do on your acvws were to change the oil often and check valve clearances. That has served me well for about 57 years. In that time I have never blown a motor or even suffered a breakdown that I could not remedy with my spare parts assortment that I always carried. This included 5 one way trips of 3k miles across country along with regular commuting to work with the cars. Most of the time unless your engine has been apart recently or run very hot recently the valve adjustments will really be a valve check where you run the feeler gauge through each one to make sure nothing has changed. Now you will find that there are folks on this site who feel that these cars even though 50 plus years old should be run at full throttle all the time. I do not subscribe to that theory and I think if you do those 2 things and drive your car moderately without winding every gear out to the limit and cruise on the highway at 65 your car can live a long life. Enjoy your nice bug.

[CoastalBug]

Ella and I had a good day yesterday. I feel like I passed the VW Clubs initiation day. We went for the longest drive yet, about 40 miles round trip, stoped off at the VW house for parts, our local VW clubs presidents house, Oreillys for more stuff, and she got an oil change, new shift coupler, new boot strap, new valve cover gaskets, and a valve adjustment! She even got up to 65mph on the freeway (which was a little butt puckering) but she was great!

There was definitely a major sense of satisfaction after I was done. I’ve done a lot of things on cars but have never adjusted valves! It was quite fun!

_________________
Chris - 1968 Beetle Sedan, a book, and a lot of determination.

[Bobs67vwagen]

Chris I asked about tire size because the 165s are close to what the car came with originally. Back then they were either 560-15 or 600-15 and were bias ply tires. When the 67s were new with the wider track transaxle( which your 68 also has ) they made the rear fender a little wider to accomodate that. If you go to a wider tire you may create some new issues such as fender scraping and tire scraping on turns. Do some reading on this before making the changes to avoid problems. Bob

[CoastalBug]

[Bobs67vwagen]

Are the tires on the car now 165-80R-15? The width of the wheel can usually be found on the inner hub of the wheels near the lug nuts.. it will say 4jx15, or 4 1/2 jx15. . Bob

[CoastalBug]

[OldSchoolVW's]

[CoastalBug]

[Bobs67vwagen]

Looking better every day Chris. Did you happen to notice the wheels on the press photo that Rome posted? Nice huh?

[CoastalBug]

Got some new bolts today and installed the new running boards! Thanks for the suggestion Rome! The hose washers worked great! I even put them around the bolts on the fenders to prevent rust.

_________________
Chris - 1968 Beetle Sedan, a book, and a lot of determination.

[Bobs67vwagen]

Nice score on the parts today Chris. Your car looks better all the time like the rocker panel you showed in the photos.. is the carb a Chinese copy? Since it was free you can try it as you have nothing to lose. Keep up the good work Bob

[Rome]

The ivory round "donuts" in your gasket set are for the pushrod tube ends. Those are the better quality ones; cheaper sets have those donuts in "brick red" which tend to split in only a few years.

For the running boards, the bolt thread size is M6 x 1.0 which is the same thread size as the engine's cooling tin. I don't remember the length you need for the running boards, but it's about 1" long. Use fender washers under the bolt heads. Also, I fit round rubber seals from a garden hose squirt head between the board itself and the body. This allows any rain water to quickly drain out, instead of having the board firmly along the body.

When you install the boards, line up their bottom edges so that they are even with the bottom curves of the fenders. A small detail for correct fitment. You see alot of boards that are higher than the fender bottom curves. This is a '69 press photo but gives you an idea of that alignment.

[heimlich]

Hello Ella
_________________
www.vwnos.com [email protected]
Classic Brands. Classic Quality.
Not all parts are made the same. NOS OE/OEM parts made mainly in West Germany, Early Germany, and Early Brazil are where VW produced the best quality parts and best fitting products.
5% Off your order with coupon code: 5%OFF
Restored Distributors Available (<--Click here)

[CoastalBug]

Boy you VW hippies are a very cool and gracious crowd! I bought an engine stand from a guy today for a song.

And he GAVE me a BRAND NEW PAIR of running boards and a box of gaskets! Super cool guy!

And then because I work nights and got off work at 6am, another guy who lives close by and picked up the stand for me, GAVE me a brand new carburetor!

They’re super cool guys!

And I also stopped by the local air cooled shop and met the guy who owns it! He hooked me up with an original correct steering wheel! The horn ring screw holes are stripped but I’m going to fill them and redrill the holes, and restore the rest of the wheel as well.

And I couldn’t help but wrench on something so I took my old boards off and got a good look at the body. NO RUST! Wooohooo!

I have a lot of research to do tonight on carbs and tomorrow I have to go get new bolts for the new running boards!
_________________
Chris - 1968 Beetle Sedan, a book, and a lot of determination.