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A-Wall
Samba Member
Joined: March 03, 2010
Posts: 267
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 Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 11:27 pm Post subject: My 58 Beetle Project (lots of pics) |
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I figured id start a log here on the samba. it's mostly copied from another thread i started so bare with the my writing.
First I'll start with the trip.
Off to ohio, perfect day.
We arrive and there it is with it's little crocked bumper.
Several attempts at loading on the trailer.
Perfect drive back.
until...
truck fuel pump dies as we enter the gate at US customs... US customs officers rock BTW!
Several hours later and unable to export the car, CAA and Mac arrive to save the day and the car is imported into Canada.
72 hours pass, I bring the car back to US customs to export it and here it is!
First on the agenda is to convert the wipers to 12v. i used a 72 beetle 2-speed 12v wiper motor that i found in my shop, and adapted it to the 58 assembly.
oilite bushing i made to adapt it.
Installed
Then i welded on civic wiper arm tips to the stock ones so i can use a standard blade that's available a CT. Works perfect and i even made the 2-speed switch look factory!
Night shoot.
Previous owner's badass company logo
Blurry fail
Today i super cleaned the windows, gave it a wd-40 bath, made some beetle friends and restored the worst of the two headlights.
Restored from total rust.
This one is in better shape and will take a lot less to clean up.
Yay for the US, found my 'Sound deadener" at home depot in the states yeaterday, I should have bought 2 more rolls tho!! Awesome stuff so far to work with.
Also picked up some random stuff at CT for future projects. i love only spending $20 here, $15 there on stuff like this and i can do soo much with it.
Here some shot of the totally finished headlights i did on friday. i redid the left one that i originally finished on thurs because i just wasn't happy with it. there were a couple pits that i left that i thought you couldn't see once assembled, but they were totally visible so apart the came...
then i fucked around with the carb for a couple hours with no avail.. so i moved on to sound deadening. Having never done this before i think it Looks freakin sweet IMO.
it's 3am and off to bed for the night...
A bunch of awesomeness arrived last week! 29 to be exact. yay new parts.
Current state of the car
Some under carriage shots. Solid! its like a boat haul.
Sanded, primed and painted one of the seat frames, no finished pics yet.
Stole my vintage Sun tach from another project. Made a gauge mount cup out of 3 1/2" exhaust pipe and sheet metal.
Looks nice and vintage.
Other things i have done with no pics are, installed many of the parts and discovered i need to order more parts. gutted, shortened and mounted the stock radio. Received a stock 205T distributor yesterday to replace the shitty 009.
more to come!
Picked up my distributor parts this morning.
New parts installed.
New distributor compared to the old. the old one is a centrifugal advance, the new one is a vacuum only advance. better for fuel economy and drivability.
Old pulley vs. new degreed pulley.
Distributor installed, old pulley off.
Pulley on.
So then i got it all back together and got it running.
and then this happened. took 45mins taking my time.
up on the bench, easy to work on.
A gaping hole.
Reason for doing this, now i get to go over everything and work my magic on it.
Beetlemania weekend!
some pics are blurry, i was getting spun from all the fumes and late nights.
Motor striped down and in the process of getting cleaned.
I filled and shaved everything unnecessary on the tins. time consuming to say the least.
little rubber pad i added, keep looking to see what it's for.
I picked a grey/bronze/brown colour. looks very wartime. i love the way it turned out.
2am mockup after all the tins were painted, the block cleaned, all brackets cleaned and painted, generator restored, coil painted etc. Some much more simple and clean looking.
the spider
Then came today, wet and humid.
cleaned up the exhaust, welded some cracks and painted it. looks new.
McDonalds cup condensation in an alien like formation.
painted my air breather, no chrome allowed anymore!
The final assembly, i couldn't stop staring at it. i want it at home as artwork.
Car engine on an office chair.
Almost back in
Done and running again. New fuel lines, some new wiring and i think i fixed an intake leak. it fired right up, i was surprised since the whole rear fuel system was empty.
"hits the that was easy button" 
Engine before
the little rubber pad. since this motor is from a 70's beetle the tins rub on the decklid spring. not anymore!
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MAYHEM
Samba Member
Joined: January 30, 2006
Posts: 1813
Location: Warm and sunny coastal CT
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 6:47 am Post subject: |
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Well done.
Is the quick roof working well as sound deadener?
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Greg
Model Citizen
| johnnypan wrote: |
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lovethatconvertible
Samba Member
Joined: August 22, 2008
Posts: 1434
Location: Las Vegas N. V.
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 7:13 am Post subject: |
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| Nice Shop you have there. Man your on this thing like a bee on honey, lookin' awsome. One thing you might want to consider is Dumping that red steering donut I've read they are crap and start cracking soon after install. Keep the pic's coming. |
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Amigo-2k
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Joined: August 06, 2003
Posts: 384
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 8:35 am Post subject: |
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Any thoughts on going to an oil bath air cleaner?
also, what is the plan for the body, respray or keep it as is?
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1958 Rag Top
http://ryanendres.com
Operations manager with a results-driven passion for process improvement |
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Mispoes
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Joined: May 28, 2009
Posts: 13
Location: Aalst - Belgium
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 8:48 am Post subject: |
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First off all, that's a very nice car sir !, and great job on the engine, beatiful!
But i would recomend a normal oil bath filter, everywhere i hear and read that with your type filter the engine won't run smooth, especialy when it's idle. |
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A-Wall
Samba Member
Joined: March 03, 2010
Posts: 267
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 8:50 am Post subject: |
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| MAYHEM wrote: |
Well done.
Is the quick roof working well as sound deadener? |
it passes the knock test, just a thud when i hit it. i haven't driven it yet with it in. i have to get more to do the inside of the doors and the front firewall.
| lovethatconvertable wrote: |
Nice Shop you have there. Man your on this thing like a bee on honey, lookin' awsome. One thing you might want to consider is Dumping that red steering donut I've read they are crap and start cracking soon after install. Keep the pic's coming. |
thanks, i haven't read anything bad about them yet. is it because they are made of cheap urithane? i could make one out of some red urithane material material i have and i know it wont fail.
| Amigo-2k wrote: |
Any thoughts on going to an oil bath air cleaner?
also, what is the plan for the body, respray or keep it as is? |
Lots of different ideas are going through my head on a breather. old bath would be cool or a vintage performance looking air breather.
As for the body, for now i'm going to drive it as is, and pick away at some dents and stuff. eventually i want a gloss black bug. |
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A-Wall
Samba Member
Joined: March 03, 2010
Posts: 267
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 8:54 am Post subject: |
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| Mispoes wrote: |
First off all, that's a very nice car sir !, and great job on the engine, beatiful!
But i would recomend a normal oil bath filter, everywhere i hear and read that with your type filter the engine won't run smooth, especialy when it's idle. |
thanks you very much!
this may explain some things! i am also worried that if i ever have a good backfire the foam element may catch on fire. why an i scared? this happened to me before on my freshly finished 66 elcamino. the edelbrock foam filter caught fire, ruined my carb with melted goo and my engine bay, not mention i got burned too.
this is the filter that came with the car, ill keep my eye out for another. |
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Mispoes
Samba Member
Joined: May 28, 2009
Posts: 13
Location: Aalst - Belgium
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 9:00 am Post subject: |
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| A-Wall wrote: |
| Mispoes wrote: |
First off all, that's a very nice car sir !, and great job on the engine, beatiful!
But i would recomend a normal oil bath filter, everywhere i hear and read that with your type filter the engine won't run smooth, especialy when it's idle. |
thanks you very much!
this may explain some things! i am also worried that if i ever have a good backfire the foam element may catch on fire. why an i scared? this happened to me before on my freshly finished 66 elcamino. the edelbrock foam filter caught fire, ruined my carb with melted goo and my engine bay, not mention i got burned too.
this is the filter that came with the car, ill keep my eye out for another. |
Yes, indeed, that is also a risk, so, a standard oil bath filter is the best thing i think  |
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jmsmilin
Samba's Most Posted
Joined: November 10, 2005
Posts: 3302
Location: Out on Pa-troll.
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 9:30 am Post subject: |
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clearly its in good hands now
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A-Wall
Samba Member
Joined: March 03, 2010
Posts: 267
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 9:36 am Post subject: |
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| jmsmilin wrote: |
| clearly its in good hands now |
I'm freakin obsessed with this thing. its my first VW. it's been a huge learning curve. i pretty much love anything mechanical, so I finally getting to learn about aircooled engines and german engineering. |
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bgup619
Samba Member
Joined: April 29, 2010
Posts: 79
Location: San Diego
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 10:45 am Post subject: |
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| Wow thats an insperation... You just reminded me of why I picked up another bug after 5 years of not having one.. keep it up!!! |
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skabonner
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Joined: May 12, 2009
Posts: 854
Location: La Habra, Ca
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 10:58 am Post subject: |
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I love it when people take pride in their engines. I just bought a 67 and the engine needs what you did and than some. If I wasn't using it as a daily driver I would do it too.
If you didn't catch on: awesome job man, my only question is did you remove the rear apron to replace it or has it been set up to come off?
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| Douglas Adams wrote: |
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'68 Beetle "Sadie" (R.I.P.)
'67 Beetle "Ilsa"
'06 Gti "Heidi" |
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iaccy
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Joined: September 24, 2007
Posts: 1380
Location: CT
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left_coast*9
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Joined: March 02, 2009
Posts: 740
Location: Puyallup, WA
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A-Wall
Samba Member
Joined: March 03, 2010
Posts: 267
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 8:18 pm Post subject: |
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| bgup619 wrote: |
| Wow thats an insperation... You just reminded me of why I picked up another bug after 5 years of not having one.. keep it up!!! |
Thanks, glad i could help! any links to your build?
| skabonner wrote: |
I love it when people take pride in their engines. I just bought a 67 and the engine needs what you did and than some. If I wasn't using it as a daily driver I would do it too.
If you didn't catch on: awesome job man, my only question is did you remove the rear apron to replace it or has it been set up to come off? |
Thanks for the kind words. the body can look like crap but the engine has gotta be flawless in my book. this car will be my summer DD, i'm going to be very anal about keeping it clean!
As for the rear apron, it's made to come on and off, makes the engine removal much easier, well at least i think it would compared to having it there lol. i assume the way to pull the motor out with that pan still there, you'd have to jack the back end up real high and drop it from the bottom.
| iaccy wrote: |
I loveeee your tach mounting idea!! I'm pretty much gonna steal the idea from you Very Happy Car is coming out awesome so far
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thanks man, its a simple and clean way of doing it, if you have any questions just ask.
| left_coast*9 wrote: |
| well scheit, for a newbie, or anyone, that engine is came out awesome! Freakin' sweet, love ur car! |
I have learned everything i know about beetles in the last 2 months, before that, i knew that they were air cooled, rear engine and easy to work on.
I've spent so my hours reading on the samba it's not funny, i love this car so much its all worth it. every bit of new information i read about it, just makes me more excited at the fact that i actually/finally own this awesome piece of engineering and i can give it my personal touch. |
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A-Wall
Samba Member
Joined: March 03, 2010
Posts: 267
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 8:27 pm Post subject: |
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and thanks to you guys, i just did a whole crapload of reading about oil bath air filters and found out how awesome they are, so now i REALLY want one, and i seem to like the pre 57 style.
so wtb a 36hp dome top breather WITHOUT the snorkel off the side for the hear riser. not a fan of the cone top style. |
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Johnny.Baba
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Joined: August 13, 2006
Posts: 476
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| Posted: Tue May 04, 2010 11:33 am Post subject: |
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| Love this thread... |
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A-Wall
Samba Member
Joined: March 03, 2010
Posts: 267
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| Posted: Sun May 09, 2010 1:00 pm Post subject: |
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Well eff my single one year only 30 pict-3 carb, going duals!
Just bought this setup from "The Kaddie Shack" but with a Scat linkage instead. can't wait for it to arrive!
Link to the details
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=940817 |
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seanboy69
Samba Member
Joined: October 22, 2008
Posts: 1107
Location: Templeton PA
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| Posted: Tue May 11, 2010 6:17 am Post subject: My 58 Beetle Project (lots of pics) |
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Awsome work, I like your car!!! Keep the pics comming!!!!
_________________
In a sea of american muscle there is alittle bug hiding in the corner...
Oh, and I am 39 years old.....I am supposed to know better......ha!!!
1956 oval ragtop
1962 baha
2276 in progress |
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seanboy69
Samba Member
Joined: October 22, 2008
Posts: 1107
Location: Templeton PA
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| Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 8:40 am Post subject: My 58 Beetle Project (lots of pics) |
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Bump!?!?!?!?
_________________
In a sea of american muscle there is alittle bug hiding in the corner...
Oh, and I am 39 years old.....I am supposed to know better......ha!!!
1956 oval ragtop
1962 baha
2276 in progress |
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Car is coming out awesome so far