‘66 Project build on a budget

sovereignsamba · Banned Joined: March 06, 2004 Posts: 2846

That ball joint seperator is slick but its not match for pb blast and a nice hammer. When hit correctly is should take the same amount of force... My hammer cost $7 at a yard sale, 100s of tie rod ends later and still coming down like the day i bought her... The hammer...

EA812 · Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2014 4:09 pm Post subject:

Front end looks good! Did u press the ball joints, Or take em somewhere?

sportin-wood · Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2014 8:44 pm Post subject:

sportin-wood · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 4:25 pm Post subject:

My first update of 2015. Took advantage of some awesome January weather (reached 73 degrees). Had some issues with both the left outer and right outer tie rod ends not seating, but thanks to Ken (aka VOLKSWAGNUT) and others, it was determined that my '66 had later model knuckles, meaning the '66 ends I ordered from Wolfsburg West were useless, so I ordered 68+ tie rod ends and they did fit (I have no freaking clue why the PO would change both spindles to later model, other than to torment the next owner!). So I've now replaced the brake components all around including brake shoes, brake springs, all 4 brake cylinders, rubber and metal brake lines (the longest brake line was a pain in the ass to bend just the right angles), master cylinder (kept single circuit), rubber brake line to chassis grommets, and brake line T-fitting.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Next step will be getting the pedal cluster installed. Until then....
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Paused 66 project bug
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"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman. He's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." --- Jeff Spicoli

EA812 · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 6:06 pm Post subject:

we should have got together in the tie rod ends. I ordered the later ones like you needed. Maybe your car is a later 66. I think they might of switched over to those.the front wheel bearings might be different too.
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Herbie build
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sportin-wood · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 6:50 pm Post subject:

EA812 · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 7:30 pm Post subject:

Yeah I bet it was a parts available thing. I found stuff like that on our 65.
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jvulich · Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 1:20 pm Post subject:

The later spindles are a stronger design and with the possibility of an issue early on in life an experienced mechanic used them or they just replaced them with what was available(by the mid 70's the 69 and later spindles were more common than the 66-68 spindles and were essentially a bolt on with new ends which it probably needed by then anyway). I will also note that all aftermarket forged ball joint drop spindles use the later, larger tie rod ends.

sportin-wood · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2015 8:06 pm Post subject:

Since I'm mostly done with the chassis components, I thought I'd try to tackle some bodywork that it'll be needing. Namely, getting the old rear bumper mounts off so that I can have new ones welded in place. Here's what I'm starting with:

I spent close to an hour first wire wheel and sanding the perimeter to find the spot welds. I didn't realize there were so many! And I'm still having trouble getting the left 1/3 of it to separate from the body. Looks like there's a couple of spot welds where the bumper mount tabs go beneath the apron overlap that I'll have to tackle when I have more time.

Does anyone have any suggestions or feedback on anything I'm doing wrong??
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Paused 66 project bug
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"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman. He's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." --- Jeff Spicoli

EA812 · Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 8:21 am Post subject:

I did those so long ago on Herbie but I think I just cut them tabs off and the replacements didn't have the the tabs. I wonder if there are some spot welds on the engine side too? There is deference through the years. The replacement mounts I put on do get in the way now when pulling the engine.
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Herbie build
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=336044

sportin-wood · Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 9:06 am Post subject:

Yeah, that's my next move - cutting off the tabs since I'm not doing any rear apron replacing. I bought a $27 spot weld bit from Eastwood that I figured because of the price, was something that wouldn't dull, but no such luck. Damn thing dulled after about 3 or 4 drillings. I ended up using a cheapie from Harbor Freight, but ended up blowing through the metal on a couple. I was told to only use those when I'm intending to reuse whatever part I'm removing, of which I'm not. I'm wondering if I should just center punch the spot welds (so that the drill bit doesn't stray) and drill them out with a big drill bit, being careful not to go too deep? Another suggestion I was given was to just grind the spot welds until it was thin enough to separate from the body. Well, that's a hell of a lot of grinding given that there looks to be about 2 dozen spot welds! Wonder if an air chisel would be more damaging to the body side.... Razz

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Paused 66 project bug
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"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman. He's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." --- Jeff Spicoli

EA812 · Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 6:05 pm Post subject:

Yeah the grinding thing is tuff but you only need to grind where it still hods the part on. Drilling works too. I killed my drill by this point and wired a cordless drill to a deep cycle battery since it didn't have a battery.
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Project 66 Daily Driver http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=538786&highlight=
Herbie build
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=336044

sportin-wood · Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2015 4:05 pm Post subject:

Got around to cutting the tabs off the bumper mount to get the old one off. It looked like swiss cheese!

Wire wheeled the panel and coated it with some weld thru primer, then dry fitted the replacement bumper mount. Everything lines up good, although I wish I could have found some bumper mounts like the ones it came it. Oh, well....I've never claimed I was doing everything "correct"! Wink

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Paused 66 project bug
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"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman. He's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." --- Jeff Spicoli

sportin-wood · Posted: Sun May 17, 2015 6:40 pm Post subject:

Had time in between Texas storms to work on removing the front apron. Have I said how much I hate spot welds?!?!

I ended up just cutting the apron off along the bottom and grinding the excess off to the tire well even with the metal. I then coated the bare metal areas with weld thru primer from Eastwood.

Here's the replacement apron dry-fitted. It's not an exact replacement from what I believe was the original, but it should work. I opted for a used original apron over a cheaper aftermarket one.

Next up: To drill out the broken stud in one of the front bumper mounts before I get the replacement apron welded in. At the same time, I'll have the rear bumper mounts welding in, about 5 fender weld nuts installed, 1 headlight screw (on fender), and a some minor patch work before I start on the bodywork.
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Paused 66 project bug
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"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman. He's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." --- Jeff Spicoli

63ziggy · Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 8:28 am Post subject:

nice work

post crash comment

I see sunshine in your picture in TX.

I am in SE TX, all my area keeps seeing is rain after rain after rain. missing that TX sun. feels like we have moved to Seattle (no offense meant)

glad you took advantage

sportin-wood · Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 8:27 pm Post subject:

sportin-wood · Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 1:03 pm Post subject:

Got the motor loaded up. Next stop, The Bug Stop in Arlington for a complete rebuild.

_________________
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Paused 66 project bug
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"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman. He's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." --- Jeff Spicoli

sportin-wood · Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 3:11 pm Post subject:

Her home for an estimated 3+ months....like dropping your kid off at summer camp... Razz

_________________
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Paused 66 project bug
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"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman. He's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." --- Jeff Spicoli

EA812 · Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 3:27 pm Post subject:

63ziggy · Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 6:45 pm Post subject:

nice shop, good people

I purchased a rebuilt tranny few years back when in area visiting my brother. He shops there quite often.he lives in NRH


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‘66 Project build on a budget
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