My 1964 Birch Green Canadian Squareback

[bobnorman]

Thanks Monte, I must say it feels really good to be back at it.

Spent a little time out there last night despite the cold. Took the rear driver’s side drum off, was a bit hard to remove even with the shoe adjusters wound all the way down. Ended up improvising a way to use a puller which did the trick.

Brakes look pretty good, drum looks great with no real wear, backing plates still have some original paint, cylinder is seized solid, and one shoe was, oddly enough, dented - so much that the lining had worn thin in that spot. Perhaps that's why I had trouble getting it off.

One of the biggest finds of the night was that there was no sign of any handbrake gear at all. No cable, no lever arm, and no spreader bar. Really odd. I thought I recalled a seeing a cable on the other side but now I’m not sure...

The other big surprise was when I pulled the main transmission drain plug. Not a drop. None. Nada. Plug was still moist with lots of build up and some metal pepper stuck to it, but the tranny was bone dry. Weird. I guess that’s where my rough rattling noise in the axle was coming from! Clearly it's been leaking, but enough to drain the whole thing? The engine was leaking too, but that still had lots of oil in it... I guess I just fill it up and try it and see.

Front drain plug is actually sticking out about ¾ of an inch, I tried to gently turn it but no go. Didn’t want to force it and I’m not sure if it’s leaking, but I don’t think so. Would be nice to get it out though and check for oil and metal bits, but I’m kinda nervous about getting it back in. Should I just leave it for now?

Also changed the shift bushing a few nights ago, shifter is still pretty vague, with lots of space between the gears, but at least its engaged now and no longer spins around. Perhaps the problem is in the hockey stick? Here's bits of the old bushing sitting in the tunnel.

Overall things look pretty good in the rear end, lots of cob webs, loads of dust and grease, not a real lot of rust, mostly surface stuff. I will end up needing a drivers rear pan ¼ though.
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[bobnorman]

And so it begins....

Made a small patch for the front pan edge. Did the compound curve with a vice anvil and ball peen hammer.

A bit tricky welding so close to the pan seal but managed to do it here, further down will be harder. Spent a lot of time chasing pin holes.

The pan here can be rusted through in one spot and pretty much factory thick just a few millimeters away. The underside looks pretty good, when I lifted the tarboards there was lots of scale, so it clearly rusted from the inside down, likely condensation from years of sitting.

I’ll tackle the heater channels later on, and may eventually do a pan off, but for now I’m getting it solid enough to pass inspection. I guess I’ll get a rear section from ISP. Sucks that the shipping on that is higher than the cost of the piece. Checked into CIP1’s Ghia pan, but really it’s totally different back there, so ISP it is.
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Air does not freeze. Air does not boil.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=289807

[MonT3]

Got some work ahead of you. How are you going to treat the pitted areas?
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MonT3
67 Squareback
64 Squareback
63 Squareback
Engine rebuild
Trailer rebuild

[bobnorman]

[bobnorman]

Been picking away at the squareback as time allows. Got my pan section from ISP- very nice, it’ll make things much easier. I started in on cutting out the rusted rear bit, I sized it all up and figured the best course of action was to just remove a section of the kick plate rather than the whole thing. But pretty much right away I made a rookie mistake.

Funny thing is, I had made a mental note to watch for the cable but when I started in with the angle grinder it totally went out of my mind. I cut the cable and about an 1/8” of the tube. I may try to tack the line back together, I might just replace it.

Rest of it came out pretty easily, bit tricky cutting around the jacking point and the threaded bits for the carrier plate bolts, but overall it went ok. Out with the old...

About this time a buddy of mine dropped off a dual reservoir from a 67 that he had. Was very happy to get that, as I’m doing the conversion. Here’s what was there...

And here it is fitted up. I used copper tubing to get the shape and use as a guide for making the steel lines, made things much easier to sort out.

I’m a little concerned about the dip in the lines but after reading a little and thinking a little, I don’t anticipate it being a problem. As long as the fluid is kept topped up, once the air is out it should be ok. We’ll see... I re-profiled the existing retainer strip and used a longer bolt with a bit of brake pipe for a spacer. Also had to oval out the hole to get the lines fitting. I guess I’ll use two largish grommets here when I do the final fitting.

Also cleaned up the front spare area, as well as around the steering box and beam. Replaced the steering coupler while I was at it. I’ve been using a degreaser and wire brush, then rust remover that is 25% phosphoric acid, followed by a rinse of brake clean, then rust converter spray, which turns all the remaining rust to black ferric tannate. Seems to be working well. I must say this car, in spite of how it looks in my crappy cell photos, is very solid with mostly only minor surface rust, and lots of original paint under the dirt and undercoat. When I get the brakes done and the weather gets a bit better, I’ll pull the thing outside for a proper pressure wash.

From there I decided to take off the front drum and have a look at the brakes and wheel well area. Again things were quite messy but over all solid.

After I cleaned a little I noticed the shock has some sort of paper tape on it, could be that it was replaced just before the car was laid up. The rest of the area is covered in undercoating with a layer of dusty dirt on top.

Also noticed that something was a bit funky with the tierod. Hmmmm... I'm assuming that this is supposed to be like the arrow, not the bow.

Seeing I had the brake assembly off, I started in on cleaning up the brakes and rebuilding the wheel cylinders - a messy job, and with brake components this old I made sure to wear my respirator and keep the dust down by keeping it all soaked with degreaser. Wheel cylinders were well seized, and I know what a bitch they can be to get free. I have an NOS kit and am planning on rebuilding them, I know that they are hard to come by so I wanted to minimize the damage. So after a bit of research I settled on the best way to get them out. Threaded the end of my grease gun into the brake pipe holes and started squeezing the grease into them.

Took an initial bit of pressure, but they came right out. Cylinders don’t look too bad, no pits that I can see/feel anyway. I‘ll know more once I do a proper clean up.

And that brings me pretty well up to date... not a lot of progress, but it’s something. Seems I’m a bit all over the place with the work on this car, but I’m trying to do a few things at once and knock off jobs, big and small, as time and interest allows. Hey, it’s all got to be done eventually right?
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Air does not freeze. Air does not boil.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=289807

[MonT3]

Nice work! Your clean-up looks really nice! From the looks of it, you're tackling the front end. Finish it off and choose another area to get on. You've done well! Keep at it man!
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MonT3
67 Squareback
64 Squareback
63 Squareback
Engine rebuild
Trailer rebuild

[ataraxia]

Your car looks super solid and clean under all of that dirt and dark green paint!

The tie rod definitely looks bent, unfortunately. Does it have a clamp at one end or are both ends with 'double nuts'?

You can probably bend one of those kick panel wires up - there's not a lot to them, actually. Or I can pop a couple in a box the next time I ship something to you.

Keep going, Bob! You're making good progress and one day, you'll look back and realize how all of these little things added up to a 'well oiled machine'!

[sharmstr]

I can totally relate to your "all over the place" comment. Great job!

[Bobnotch]

[bobnorman]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the encouragement.

[Evilgtiguy]

I'm enjoying the progress of your car! Keep up the work it's coming along nicely, love the colour.
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66 sunroof Fastback http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=590530
84 Rabbit GTI (gone and missed)
80 Rabbit (gone and missed)
92 Nissan 240SX turbo

[ataraxia]

I don't know how difficult it is to straighten tie rods - I just replace them because I've always had spares. I can look around and see if I have a spare if you want it for the cost of shipping (with the rear kick panel wires).

[260KMN]

Coming along nicely there bob, keep at it.

[Bobnotch]

[bobnorman]

[bobnorman]

[bobnorman]

[Mike Fisher]

I have squares here that came with all the VW sizes- ET46,41 & 34 and they all fit fine/the same more or less!
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https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

[Bobnotch]

[bobnorman]

So I’ve been still chipping away on the front. Like always I haven't had all the time I'd like to have lately, so updates are taking a back seat to the bit of work time I've managed to get.
I continued refurbishing the front brakes, rebuilding the cylinders with NOS kits, and cleaning the springs and plates, before spraying with rust convertor. I’ve been using a silicone brake lube for reassembly, as I’ll be using silicone fluid when I’m done.

I cleaned up the drums by giving them a spin on the brake lathe with 40 grit, then sanding and rust converting the outside.

I put in new inner bearings and races and new outer bearings but kept the original outer races, as they were in good shape and I trust original German more than I do new parts.
I had a bit of a time finding grease seals and finally found some part numbers for replacements, which I ordered through a local shop- none in Canada and just 8 found in the US, so it took a little while to get them. Just after that I found 4 NOS felt seals which I ordered as well, as I was still a little dubious if the modern ones were the right size. I ended up using the felt one in the driver’s side drum and the modern one in the pax side.

The pax side drum had a bit of an issue. The inner bearing race was actually loose and spinning inside the drum. I removed the old race and had a beer and a thunk about what to do. First I thought the outside of the race may have worn and tried the new one but no such luck. That one spun as well. The drum was otherwise in great shape and I know they are hard to get, so I figured I'd try to bush it myself. I mean as long as the race is centred and it doesn't move it should be OK, so I cut a narrow strip if very thin zinc and lined the hole, and then I pressed in the race. It went in pretty well and took a bit of effort to get it bottomed so I think it should be good. It all went back together well and spins very nicely so I think it should be ok. If it does loosen, or is off centre, then I’ll get another drum, which I would have had to do anyway... nothing ventured nothing gained.

I also installed the master cylinder and hooked up the front lines and hoses. I had to bend the DS line to sort of wrap around, as the port for the brake light switch (larger hole in the bottom) was on the left side where you'd think the line should go.

Got the master cylinder reservoir finally installed and hooked up to the master. I kinda made it up as I went, using the drawing from the parts book. It all clears the tie rods so that’s the main thing.

So, now I just have to re-install the tank spigot and screen, install the tank, and the front should be pretty well done... with the exception of a bit of metal bashing on the DS fender and the bumper installation.

Moving on to the rims... I had picked the best Type 3 rims I had. Had them sandblasted and primed, but unfortunately they're in pretty poor condition and will require a lot of work to get them into shape.

So in the interest of time and moving forward, I decided to use some decent 66 beetle rims that I have. I cleaned up the rusty spots on the edges and backsides and treated them with converter before mounting my new “Classic” brand 165 80 15s.

I hope they'll fit OK, given that the offset is different. I'm thinking they should, as the T1 rim is narrower. Oh well, there goes my 1500 Club membership - at least for now ...then again once the trim rings and caps are on, who’s to say what is on the car.

I’ve postponed the removal of all the undercoat for now (but thanks for the tip Bobnotch –that’ll come in handy later), as I'm really trying hard to concentrate, for now at least, on the things the car needs to get licensed.

I’ve set a goal to have the car on the road by the end of July, and because of the time available to get at it, I’ve decided to focus on the bare essentials to meet that goal. I’m still making sure that what I do complete is done correctly, and that means cleaning and treating a lot of parts, just not everything –for now- the rest will come later. I’ve found it a bit hard to do, as I get distracted easily, so I’m constantly having to remind myself to stick to what’s important now.
_________________
Air does not freeze. Air does not boil.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=289807