Josh's 74 Super restoration "Lil Sno"

[buggin74vw]

I love looking at other builds for tips, ideas, and motivation so I figure why not post the start of what I'm sure will turn into a full restoration. About the car, I bought this in 1998 when I was 17 years old the way you see it. I instantly fell in love with the hotrod theme it had. dechromed, moonroof, 2" wider fiberglass fenders, frenched ant. and 39 ford taillights. custom paint with pinstripping. and a 1776cc engine with dual dells. it was a fun car to drive but always had wiring issues, the typical super shimmy, gassy smell after fueling. Being a rookie to the vw scene I didn't realize that the 74 super seems to be the bastard of all the beetles with year specific differences and one year only changes but it was my car!. So in 2005 a year after I bought my first house. The bug failed PA state inspection for rust issues in the pass floor pan and napoleon hat area, then lost compression in cly 3. pulled the engine and discovered someone had pop riveted panels over rust holes and undercoated in the engine bay and bumper brackets. being house poor and knowing the amount of work it needed it sat for a decade parked in storage. The time has come to get her back on the road!

[buggin74vw]

So after 10 years of sitting here we go. I pulled out the door panels, seats, carpet. found more rust in the luggage tray area ugg. took off the rear fenders and started cleaning off a thick covering of undercoating. heres where Im at. Theres a few small holes here and there. the engine bay panel is shot. seems like no one sells a 74 super bumper bracket repair panel surprise surprise. it had small custom thin bumper brackets to hold a single blade bumper. How should I approach repairing this area? custom cut and repair every rust hole with spare metal? or could I weld in the 71-73 super bumper bracket here without fitmit issues? Btw Im making the rear apron removable for what its worth. thanks in advance

[buggin74vw]

question 1. underneath the 74 super in the area towards the front of the pan where the frame head meets. on the ends of what I would call the frame head are 2 17mm bolt heads on each end. do these need removed to separate the pan and body? I turned the 2 on the drivers side , 1 broke and the other turns. its a rusty mess.

Question 2. the door alignment isn't the greatest, the hinges and pins are solid with no play. when the doors are closed the door jam latch pulls the door up and the alignment is decent. when the doors are opened the passenger side seems to "drop" about a 1/4" should I align the doors now before the door is removed or deal with it during reassembly?

Question 3 does the body always need to be braced inside to keep it aligned correctly when removing the body. my rust seems to to be the napoleon hat and wheel well areas. not door if i'm removing the doors if that means anything. thanks in advance

[runchman]

Here's an article about door alignment that I found interesting, maybe you will too:

http://www.hotvws.com/content.php?contentID=73
_________________
1971 super total body-off restoration

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=532247&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

[buggin74vw]

Thanks ranchman. I actually thought of that article and dug it out. they used rubber washer removal for a lot of the adjustments. I just don't want any surprises after paint. which is a long ways off.

[buggin74vw]

So I got the rear apron removed, the bumpers, fenders, gas tank, and one piece windows which are NOT going back in. undercoating looks really thick in the front wheel wells and shock area. going to be a nasty job removing that junk.

Here is the outside. P.O. cut a single moon in the rear. must have had an exhaust that needed clearance

the inside apron had this makeshift heat shield. I noticed a few small blisters in the paint. so maybe the P.O. made it for that reason. something I may revisit later. does anyone out there have problems with too much heat for the paint on the rear apron? I will not have a stock motor in the car.

this is the inside. Pretty much the reason I had to remove it. horrible bodywork, pop riveted metal with filler. no wonder it had cracks. I'm going with a removable rear apron since I went through the trouble of removing it. and going with the clean no exhaust cut out look.

[Dodgy]

[buggin74vw]

Thanks dodgy, I checked out your build thread. Great job! Helps the motivation knowing that others are fixing there rusty Super. I wish someone would start making oem quality replacement panels. Once I'm deep in the bulkhead area I'll be referencing your build again. I'll keep updating the progress.

[buggin74vw]

Removed the rear decklid and hood seal channel. Couldn't believe all the rust behind them. Heres a shot of a small section of the hood section removed. I got really good drilling out the spot welds and barely kissed the second panel. Not putting these rust traps back in. gonna grind it all smooth and go with the Mexican seals.

Used these 1/4" Irwin twist drill bits. cheapest thing out there and worked great.

[buggin74vw]

Also finally got the body separated and on a stand with wheels

[buggin74vw]

Been awhile. project stalled out a little. bouncing from body to frame. I figure any progress helps. Napoleon Hat crusty on both sides. time to work

[buggin74vw]

Took my time, used parts of the Nap Hat and Bottom frame head repair panels and keep as much original metal as I could.

[buggin74vw]

While I had the welder out notice one of the frame horns was separating, welded the entire seam closed

[Marinablau703]

Great work!

I had similar holes in the rear quarters as you; I was given a new RR quarter, but ended up cutting out a rectangle of rot and making a new one from an old GM doorskin I have laying around, hammered in to shape. That way, I didn't have to worry too much about getting the bumper bracket holes perfectly back in the correct locations.

Are you keeping the "hot rod" look, or changing up the rear end area?

[buggin74vw]

Im changing the rear a little, grafting in earlier rear quarters to accept 73 and earlier bumpers. also want to do a removable rear apron. I do like the wide fenders with the 39 ford teardrop lights, might stay with those

[buggin74vw]

Driver side wheel well and bumper mount area is a mess. Always uncovering more rust. Not a fan of the shock absorbing bumper mounts on the 74 Super. Since the rust was bad i lopped the entire bumper mount clip off and will graft in earlier ones.

Little patch here little patch there

[buggin74vw]

sourced a set of good rear 73 and earlier bumper mounts. gonna make a removable rear and carb windows

Fender mount repair

[VW_Jimbo]

ALMOST 7 YEARS!

Good you picked it back up! Some of those repairs remind me of what my last year has been about, RUSTY STEEL.

Keep on, keeping on! Let’s see more forward progress!
_________________
Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[AutoMechanic]

Wow on delay for 7 years . Glad to see you back working at it again. Cool looking beetle too.

[buggin74vw]

I haven't been idle all these years. I have a Westy that keeps me busy. and I did a 72 super build in between