"We decided to tear down the old barn..."

[BSQUARE]

A young couple:

Karen

...and Mike

Bought this 1968 Squareback in Colorado in 1975. It was Karen's first car. They loved it and drove it for about 10 years, until the engine blew.
They moved to Wisconsin in the mid-1980s, and brought the car with them, intending to rebuild the engine and get it back on the road.
They parked it in the barn at their new old farm home, and life got in the way of those plans. So it sat.

>> Fast-Forward to 2014 >>

The old barn was deteriorating, and it was time to tear it down. But, they pulled the car out before taking it down.

I'd planned to retire my 71 Square this year.
It's been a very reliable car for the 7 years I've been driving it, but it was too rusty to feel safe driving anymore or be worth fixing.

I wasn't actively new Square shopping (I already had too many cars, and barely drive), but had been keeping my eyes open for a suitable replacement.
A friend tipped me off to the CL ad. After a day sorting out the logistics of getting a 5th car, I called the seller.
Talked to him for a total of ten minutes on a Thursday. I committed to buying it over the phone, based on these pictures:

It was 300 miles away, in rural South Central Wisconsin. That Sunday, I loaded up the Truck to tow it home.

I left Minneapolis at 3:15am, and drove,


and drove,



Once I got there, I put on some tires that held air and loaded it onto the trailer for the drive home. It was the first time it had worn radials.

We pulled into the garage at about 7pm. I really hadn't much chance to even look at what I just bought...

_________________
1988 Ford Festiva L
1965 Honda 50 "Super Cub"
2016 Miami Sun Trike

[Mike Fisher]

You got that car out in the nick of time. That is a bad looking barn!
_________________
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

[BSQUARE]

Having it home, I've had a chance to check it out more thoroughly.
What I've found is a really solid, complete, and un-fucked-with (albeit, really dirty) car.

It was bumped in the rear at some point, I haven't dug in to see how bad it is yet.

The battery tray is rusted

The interior is trashed. there was 1/4" of dust on the seats, and mouse nests under the rear seat. It smells worse than it looks.

I'll have to rip it all out. Hopefully I can save the original carpet.
Fortunately, I have the interiors from 68, 69 and my 71 I've parted out to piece this one together.

What kind of radio is this? It has VW logos on the knobs.

After driving my 71 for so long, I know I'm going to turn on the 4-way flashers the first time I drive this one in the rain...

A little rust above the fuel filler neck, but, otherwise, a really solid car. I'm sure I'll find more as I dig into it.
_________________
1988 Ford Festiva L
1965 Honda 50 "Super Cub"
2016 Miami Sun Trike

[BSQUARE]

[Bobnotch]

Looks like a decent car. You'll probably hav to go thru the entire brake and fuel systems before going too far with it.
_________________
Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[Mike Fisher]

That is a fancy German AM/FM/shortwave Becker? radio put in VW's. You can weld in a new Bug battery box patch panel.
_________________
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

[Tram]

[BSQUARE]

[LOW N SLOW66]

Hey just noticed your profile pic is an old montana plate. Are you from there? I am from the Bozeman area and don't see too many type 3 people around

[BSQUARE]

[260KMN]

Hi B, nice looking square you got there, some rust but it should clean up nicely.
I love these untouched finds, even if they are usually filled with mouse houses and pooh.
Good luck with the repairs, will be following
Paul

[one4house]

What did you use on the paint? I have been wanting to tackle getting the oxidation off my paint. I used EZ Off Oven Cleaner to remove some silly stencils that were on the car. Now I need to polish what is left of the Granada Red on the exterior.
_________________
My Old 64 Field Find
My Old 66 Squareback
My Old 66 Beetle
My Old 70 Squareback

[BSQUARE]

[BSQUARE]

Haven't updated this thread in a while - largely because, although I've been working on it, it doesn't really look like I've done much of anything.

I gutted the interior - lubed all the latches, hinges, adjusted the vent window pivots, replaced a couple dash knobs, lubed the window felt (they roll up and down really smooth now), replaced the driver's inner door handle, zapped a few pinholes in the rear deck and the speaker mount holes in the front foot wells, and scrubbed, and scrubbed.

The carpets cleaned up OK.
I'll be able to reuse them, even if they're not perfect.
They don't smell, and the staining is less dramatic in real life than in photos -although the foot well pieces have some weird red fading

On first glance, the rust traps in the front wheel wells didn't look too bad.
We know better...

On closer inspection, it was bubbling all around the perimeter of that area where it always rusts. It's also rusted through to inside the cabin.

Cleaned up the spare tire carrier, it had one dent in it that knocked back easily.
Squirted it with "Hammered" paint, to give it a uniformly uneven texture.

Started on the battery tray area, using 18ga galvanized steel. I hate welding on the stuff. It's left the crooks of my knees looking like someone shot me with a shotgun.

But, for now - I have 2 spools of .024, a full bottle of C25, 2 dozen ciders, a pound of coffee, and a 3 day weekend.
If anyone is looking for me, I'm in the garage...
_________________
1988 Ford Festiva L
1965 Honda 50 "Super Cub"
2016 Miami Sun Trike

[BSQUARE]

I got this piece under the dash fully welded in - one simple bend, fairly straightforward.

The entire boxed-in section in the frunk cut out, descaled, and rust converted.

I'm not just drinking beer and staring at my car, I'm "Engineering"...

A few hours of cutting and shaping, I came up with the graft piece.
Ended up making it out of 3 pieces - I could have done it with 2, but should have used 4.

But, as they say - 3 is a magic number
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU4pyiB-kq0

Once satisfied with the fitment, I cut the tacked-in patch back out and squirted some paint inside the box.
And that's where it sits this morning - showing little difference in the frunk than when I started on it.
_________________
1988 Ford Festiva L
1965 Honda 50 "Super Cub"
2016 Miami Sun Trike

[BSQUARE]

And - welded in.

Stay tuned.
_________________
1988 Ford Festiva L
1965 Honda 50 "Super Cub"
2016 Miami Sun Trike

[BSQUARE]

I want to solicit some input/suggestions on how to approach the rear wheel wells.

It's rusted through pretty much all the way around on the right side and, to a lesser extent, on the left.

Being that it's an area where 15 pieces are spot welded together then subjected to road spray/debris, it would be impractical to try to replicate it as per factory
but I also don't want to be the proverbial "PO" hacking it together, should someone wish to properly restore the car some day...

After staring at it for several beers, my thought is:
Extend the "wall" (the vertical section the interior panel mounts to) downward as far as necessary,
add sections to the inner and outer wheel wells to meet the wall - possibly flaring the joints a bit to lap up onto the wall piece.

I'd like to see/read how others have addressed this area.

Sorry about the Botophucket links, my internet connection doesn't like to upload to the TheSamba.com gallery for some reason...
*edit* fixed the dead links.
_________________
1988 Ford Festiva L
1965 Honda 50 "Super Cub"
2016 Miami Sun Trike

[MonT3]

My 67 had similar issues in the cargo area. Pitting, holes, rot, all of it was present in various areas. I stared at it with a few beers and decided to cut the larger piece of the cargo area out and replace it. I also had some holes at the front of the wheel well along with some in the lower corners which was cut out and replaced. And since my rockers were spent, it made sense to me to clear that area out. You can see what I did beginning in the middle of page 26 - http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...;start=500
The area you’re dealing with is a big chore indeed but it can be corrected if you have the replacement pieces? Have you sought out donor pieces? Study the cars underside so you know what you’re dealing with. Get a good sense of what you’re going to have to do as well as how to go about it. There are quite a few spot welds in there and under that cargo area. Take a look underneath there so you have no surprises. One more thing, my shell was removed from the pan so I had no obstructions while working that area. Calculate your steps before moving forward.
If I had to do it again, the only thing I would do different is change where I cut into the engine bay area. I cut into the corners. Cleaning those areas out was a pain. Don’t be discouraged with what’s in front of you as you can overcome that.
_________________
MonT3
67 Squareback
64 Squareback
63 Squareback
Engine rebuild
Trailer rebuild

[Mike Fisher]

Might as well patch it with home made patches similar to how you've patched so far, but donor metal is available.

_________________
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]