My '51

[hazetguy]

well, i finally did it and wound up with a Split Beetle. i am sure that some of you know or know of this car, as it was advertised here a few times over the years and discussed a few times in the forums.
long story short: i made prior arrangements with the seller to look at the car the day after Terryville, since i was going to the show anyway. the car was a couple hours from the show, a little over an hour from my friend's house. we checked out the car, looked through all the parts and the pile of paperwork that came with it, negotiated a price, loaded the car on a trailer and left.
the previous owner owned it since at least 1976, bought it in germany, used it over there, had it shipped over in the early 80's. it was at the "restoration" shop for a while, and then i am pretty sure it just sat in a garage for the last 25 years. there is primer overspray over a lot of things, which even the previous owner was not happy about. the "restoration" shop it was in, back in the 80's lost a lot of original parts, which are painfully obvious in the photographs i received with the car.

while there are several blatant, and several not-so-obvious things that are incorrect with the car, it is pretty solid pretty straight, came with a good amount of parts to help with reassembly, and a few parts i can sell to help fund the purchase of other parts. there are many things that are missing and i am on the lookout for, but for now i am focusing on the engine (which i pulled and brought home) and restoring other small pieces. the body is at a friend's house, and i think it may get painted before i bring it here. any repairs, like to the aprons, will just have to wait until a future time. the goal is to get it back on the road and go from there.

i know i have a lot of reassembly questions (mostly with doors, window regulators, felt channels) but i've been reading a lot of past threads looking for answers, so hopefully i can keep the new questions to a minimum.
here are a few pics.

many more pics here: http://s521.photobucket.com/albums/w334/hazetguy2/51split/
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thebucket: I invested in hoodride, now DBD won't return my call?
hazetguy: invested?
thebucket: Yeah Haze, its where people put money into a company in hopes of a return on their money

[Glenn]

"Slam it on Earlies"
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Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"

Member #1009

#BlueSquare

[scvw]

[Glenn]

[johnshenry]

Looks great, glad to see that split finally found a decent home. Keep us posted and drop me a line if I can help with anything...
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John Henry

'57 Deluxe
'56 Single Cab

[Yustrn]

Did you have to bring it home on a TRAILER?
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I own a copy of "The Car of the Century" by Garwood. This means I am authorized to act like a twat in thesamba forums.

[[email protected]]

I dont know if your going to look right in a split maybe you should trade it for a super beatle.
PM me and let me know what parts ya neeed I have a ferw extras kicking around, maybe trade for work on one of my rides.

[hazetguy]

[52HoffmanSplit]

[Rich's 50]

Congrat's......Looks like a solid ride

[Wiggy]

Nicely done!
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Kevin "Wiggy"

My 58 Ghia Vert

My 51 Split 11G

My 57 Deluxe

My 56 Oval

[mbugz60]

Yank that Mickey Mouse engine out of there and put a big turbo stroker in that engine compartment.
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Mike

[johnshenry]

[Rich's 50]

[mbugz60]

[Dave]

mbugz50 would have you throw some crawfish in the gas tank, etoufee in the master cylinder reservoir, and air up the tires with Bayou swamp gas.

KEE yaw law DAY
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2003 Samba Chummie Winner- Best Story

"Those that matter, don't mind,
and those that mind, don't matter"

[hazetguy]

ok, first question(s), about the doors. the driver's door appears to be an original split door. from what i have read/seen in other threads, the passenger door is a later replacement that is for split & early oval.
is this correct?
the "restoration" shop lost the glass and window regulators, so i am looking to find some of those right now (i have a line on some, just need to know what to get). what i need to know is which regulator do i need for the passenger door? the door appears to have the holes and mounts for a split regulator, no provision for a vent window (reinforcement in the window channel) and i plan to put '51 style one piece (no vent) glass in the doors.
if using a split regulator, is there a sash on the glass, or is the sash incorporated into the regulator? does anyone have a piece of glass they could trace for a template so i can get some glass cut?

driver door:

passenger door:

and then the next set of door questions are about the felt channels/window scrapers.
i got the metal channels with the car, and some retaining wires for the rubber scraper seals.
are there scrapers just on the outside of the glass, or on both the inside and outside?
how are the felt channels secured to the door? i got one NOS long channel and one NOS straight channel with the car, but i do need to re-rubber and re-felt the other. are the channels "sided" (left or right specific)?
i don't have the car here to look at, so if anyone has some pics of the door internals, i would greatly appreciate seeing them.
channels that came with the car:

thanks for any help.
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thebucket: I invested in hoodride, now DBD won't return my call?
hazetguy: invested?
thebucket: Yeah Haze, its where people put money into a company in hopes of a return on their money

[johnshenry]

Well let's see.

Yes, it appears your drivers door is a real split door, and the pass one a late split/oval, or possibly a "universal replacement".

I just recently somewhat reluctantly broke up a good set of split regs and sold the driver's side, so e-mail me if you want the pass one ([email protected]).

The split regs have "button" wheels that engage in slots in the sash attahced to the glass. Good sashes are hard to find, they rust out. If you find a rotted one, you can usually reconstruct the U channel part using 1 or 2 later sash sections. The part that accepts the button wheels is welded to the U channel.

I could trace a glass template for you, my '51 glass is out of the door.

Scarpers go inside and outside.

Steel channels are the same left and right. Ricardo at splitpartunlimited makes some excellent repro rubber for them. You can get a UV tolerant mohair felt from restorationspecialties.com. Its not exact as original, but looks and wears good. (see the pic I posted in the oval forum of the a channel clamped up, window hard to go up thread). I have other pics of channel restoration I could send along, e-mail me.

Channels are secured with a few sheet metal screws, one at the bottom of the straight one (it might be an M5 machine screw). Haven't messed with those in a while.

To restore the channels:

Give them a rough straighten if needed

Media blast them

Go over them again, tweaking and dollying where needed

Paint them, I use eastwoods Chassis black epoxy enamel

Glue new rubber seals in, not you have to cut the long slot in the top. The glass actually goes all the way up through the channel at the top.

Glue the felt into the U channel. I use masonite forms to hold it all the way in. Important if you actually want to be able to roll your windows up and down.

When dry, glue the felt around the sides and back of the channel, trim.

A couple strips are glued around the tall "U" brackets at the top to keep it from rattling/squeaking on the door. I think there are sheet metal type screws there.

Hope that helps...... you are just beginning!!!
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John Henry

'57 Deluxe
'56 Single Cab

[ScottMcW]

Congrats Jon! Can't wait to see it take shape.
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Read the story of Vern as it unfolds

[hazetguy]

i've begun the refurbishment of several components. since this is going to be more of a "run what you brung" car rather than a "buy NOS replacements for everything", the parts i got with it are going to have to suffice for the time being.
semaphore switch before:

after i cleaned the primer off, cleaned the terminals and hardware, etc.
contacts make good connection now with 0 ohms resistance when actuated.

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thebucket: I invested in hoodride, now DBD won't return my call?
hazetguy: invested?
thebucket: Yeah Haze, its where people put money into a company in hopes of a return on their money