Rebuild 1968 Squareback in one year? = FAIL

[bkeith85]

[bkeith85]

I realized that I have gotten a lot more done since I first discovered the rust and the melted wiring. Here are some pics:

I dug out all of the old seam sealer-

Sandblasted all the rusty spots-

Then, I coated all the bare metal with Master Series-

[bkeith85]

After the master series, I squirted in new seam sealer. I figured it was pretty well protected at this point and since I am not ready to do a body-off paint job, I went over the sealer with rattle can primer and paint.

Since I had to dig seam sealer and rust out of the fender wells, I hit those with some spray on bedliner. I like it better than the old gooey undercoating. It really seems to hold up better too.

I don't have any pictures, but I made a new wiring harness to replace the melted one. It's not a 100% duplicate of the original harness, but it's probably about 90%. It has the same plastic sheath and the colors match the wiring diagram. The only difference is that the stripes on the new wires don't all look the same as the original wires. I was willing to let that go to save $100 or so. When I get a chance, I'll snap some pics of it.

[bkeith85]

I also managed to find time to convert one of these:

Into this:

The paint isn't a perfect match, but it's close enough. I realized I was being ocd about the correct paint on a toy car and just went for it.
Now I have something to look at it while I am at work to keep me motivated.

[bkeith85]

Last night I pressure washed the inside of the front fenders to get off as much of the old undercoated as I could. That uncovered more rust, so if the rain holds off on Saturday, I can sandblast that stuff out.

I'm trying to decide if I want to open my other can of Master Series for these fenders. They do get a lot of abuse from water and dirt off the tires. I was saving it for the floor when I get it fixed, but I could order more. I hate that it starts to cure as soon as you open it. You pretty much have to use it all right then.

I won't even use half the can for the inside of these fenders.

[glutenfree]

[bkeith85]

[bkeith85]

For anyone curious about how my car runs and sounds, I will upload some video soon. I did some experiments with different muffler modifications and I shot some footage of each test run to compare later. I am going to put a couple on youtube and I'll post the links here when I do.

The car came with a merged header and a quiet pack muffler. I think the insides of the muffler had rusted away to nothing, as it wasn't that quiet.

I'll hold off on the descriptions until I post the videos. But they have idle, revving, in car and drive by shots.

So until then, I'll share my strange story about acquiring some cool parts a few months ago.

I found an ad for a '67 Squareback that had been made into a truck. Some of the other "features" were the missing engine, tons of rust, and the teal and black custom interior, which had that dripping paint look going on.
The seller wanted $8000.
It turns out that the seller was the owner of the giant antique/flea market nearby, so I went to look at it. It was way worse than I imagined. It also happened to be a '69. Someone had put earlier fenders on the front and moved the fuel filler inside the trunk. They didn't use an earlier tank, that would have been too easy. They welded a new filler to the tank and blocked off the old hole.
At least the price had been lowered to $2000. I only paid a little more than that for mine, and it was complete. The car did have a couple good parts on it, but I didn't want to spend more than about $200 to get them. I knew they wouldn't take that, so I didn't even try to make an offer on it.

[bkeith85]

A few weeks later, we go shopping for a table and I see that the car is still there, so I ask about it. The owner isn't there, so I leave my number. This is the beginning of an off and on game of phone tag. The owner called to say that since they couldn't sell it as-is, they have decided to make a topiary out of it.

What's a topiary?

Apparently it means big flower pot. They had already built some planters that fit in the cargo area and had removed the trunk lid to put more up front.
I've seen this done before, and it usually irritates me that someone would ruin a potential project vehicle by covering it with vegetation. But in this case, the car wasn't good for anything else. I'm well aware that I have a tragic case of optimism when it comes to saving old stuff, but this car was just too far gone.

So I then ask her if she would be willing to just sell some parts off of it. I assured her that I wouldn't want anything that might be necessary when converting an automobile to a flower garden. All I wanted was the arm rests. You see someone had installed the '67 Z style arm rests and they were still in pretty good shape, other than being spray painted black at some point. No cracks and the pads still look ok. I offered her $50 for those. She accepted. I could tell from her response that she thought I was crazy to pay that much for them.
When I went to get them, I noticed that the windshield was better than mine. It wasn't chipped and didn't have the fogging around the edges like mine. She let me have that for $50 also.
As you can imagine, I was pretty excited about this deal. At least these few parts got saved from the impending burial in potting soil.

Over the next couple of days, I got to thinking about what they had planned. All they really needed was the body. The pan was in pretty bad shape. The floors were almost completely gone. But, it was a '69 with the IRS manual trans. Other than the bump stops being cut off, the front beam was all there. It even had the original fuel pump mount that my car was missing.
I called her back and explained how the body could be removed and that with a few strong guys, they could move it anywhere they wanted. I offered her $100 for the pan, but this time she needed to consult with the guy who was in charge of that project. Eventually, he called and I explained it all to him. I offered to do all the work, even though I was still trying to figure out how to lift the body by myself. They had to discuss it and would call me back.
In a few days, they called back. They were interested, but didn't want me to try to remove the body myself. Probably a liability concern. These folks were NOT car guys, and I didn't want them to hack it apart with a claw hammer, so I said I would come out and remove all the bolts and maybe a few of their guys could help me lift the body. Everyone was happy and I said I would be out there that weekend. I was told to come on Sunday when it was less busy.

This was back in July or August, in Alabama, in the middle of an asphalt parking lot. Total comfort. I got started that morning before they opened. One of their regular customers passed by and stopped to ask "Can I help you?" I said no thanks, not realizing that he thought I was trying to steal the piece of crap. He parked his car and called the owner while watching me to make sure I didn't make a break for it. Employees and other customers started showing up and it started getting hotter and hotter outside. A lot of the awesome customization that had been done had covered up some of the bolts. The new wooden planters they built covered up the other ones. It took most of the day to get the body loose.
A couple times during the day, I went in to make sure the guys had been informed of the plan and that I would need their help. We all seemed to be on the same page. About 3 hours before they closed, I let them know that I was ready and whenever they had a chance, it should only take a few minutes to pull the body off. I went out and waited in my truck. I didn't want to leave in case they came out to help. After 2 hours, I went back in to remind them. They said they'd help when they got a chance. I left for about 5 minutes to get a snack at the gas station and started thinking that what I was getting may not be worth all the trouble.

But dang it! I spent most of my day sweating my butt off to get this and I wasn't giving up. So I waited. It was closing time, and the last few customers were leaving. They locked the doors and I assumed they'd come help when they finished up inside. Nope. They came out, glanced over at me in my truck, then got in their cars and drove away. WTF?!?!
I was exhausted. I just pulled my empty trailer back home. To heck with these people, they could keep the dang thing.

The next day, they called me at work and said they had removed the body and I could come get it. Awesome! Those guys still ended up having to lift that body. HA!
But they closed at 5:00. I'd have to go home and get the trailer, which would be cutting it pretty close. I left work a little early, went home, changed, and hooked up the trailer. I called the guy and said I was coming, but I might not get there at 5:00. He said he would be there till at least ten after and he would definitely wait on me.
I got there at 5:07 and the place was deserted. I'm starting to think they are screwing with me. Maybe they were sore that it didn't sell for the original $8000 asking price and they are taking it out on me. I don't know.

On the bright side, the pan was free of the body, and I had my trailer. There was one problem: I still hadn't paid them for it. I was so frustrated with the whole thing that I really wanted to just take it home. I'd still pay them for it, but I didn't want have to try again the next day. Or worse, leave my trailer in the dark parking lot overnight. It's not a bad part of town, there's just nothing out there, except for the projects next door. At night, you could do anything and there would be no one to see it.
I wasn't taking any chances, so I loaded it up. A cop stopped to see what I was doing. I explained it all and he was cool about it, then left. I wasn't going to risk these people claiming that I had stolen their rust collection from the parking lot, so sucked it up and left my trailer there and went home. Since this wasn't in the plan, I only had a small lock for the hitch. Those things really only stop honest people. I got home and grabbed some chain and more locks and drove all the way back out there and chained the wheels and also ran the chain around a telephone pole. Someone could still cut that, but it might slow them down enough to look suspicious if a cop happened by.

I called them the next day to let them know I'd come by that afternoon to give them some money. I'm sure they would have waited on me this time, since I had cash to give, but I got there in plenty of time by not having to go home first. I was so happy just to be done with the whole thing even if I never use those parts.

[glutenfree]

Ah yes...the wonderful adventures we encounter!

Fracking topiary! lol
_________________
1971 Fastback Build
VW/Type 3 Parts for sale
Instagram
my Shapeways store

[bkeith85]

As promised, I uploaded a video to YouTube. If you want to see and hear how my engine is running, here you go. Prepare to be bored to tears.

Background: I had a bunch of exhaust components laying around and wanted a muffler that sounded good, wasn't too loud, and didn't drag the ground. I recorded several of these videos so I could see and hear the differences between each of my experiments. The final version turned out great, the attempts leading up to it, not so much. Maybe I will post those later for laughs.

This was the baseline. It is the quiet pack that came with the car. When I took it off, I dumped a big pile of rust out of it. This is a long video, almost 30 min. But it shows real driving conditions instead of a few revs in the driveway.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6FrtjY20W8

[costonjs]

[Bobnotch]

Very cool video. I do have to ask what are the 2 red lights under the tach needle for (they were on for most of your trip)? Your engine sounds healthy though, and for the muffler being "rusted out" internally, it sure sounds the same as the new empi muffler I just changed out on a 70 Square. Can't wait to see and hear your changes.
_________________
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

[bkeith85]

[bkeith85]

This is the result of my experiments. I think it's a resonator from a stainless Borla exhaust system that came off an Audi.

There was also a muffler in the system and this is a straight through design, so it didn't really dampen things that much by itself. I had seen screw shaped baffles for other mufflers, so I ordered one from Speedway Motors. I can't remember what I didn't like about it, but I ended up making one myself.

If I decide it needs to be quieter, I can add another disc or two. So far it sounds pretty good. I like that it is compact and stainless.
I have to admit, that one of my goals was to keep my car from sounding too much like a Volkswagen. Yeah, that's crazy, but I didn't want that pea-shooter sound that beetles have. Eliminating it completely would be impossible with the ticking lifters and firing order, but I think it sounds smoother with this setup. Maybe I can do a video of this one.

[bkeith85]

OK, I uploaded another one. This is basically what I am currently running, just rerouted to the other side. It doesn't have the baffle inside that I made, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edZ6HJxpGx0

I have a buddy who moved out of state a few years ago, so he donated a ton of stuff that he had collected over the years, including a bunch of stainless exhaust pieces. You'll see in a later video how I basically ruined what is probably a pretty expensive Borla muffler.

I kept trying different setups with either long or short pipes, but from what I can tell, they all sounded about the same.

[bkeith85]

Until I can get another video on YouTube, I'll share my tach conversion project that fell short of a success.
I spent a ton of time cleaning and restoring my original clock. I kept adjusting it trying to get it perfect, but it always seemed to run too slow or too fast. I got tired of messing with it and decided to try and put a tach in it's place. I remembered that I had an old tach in a box that I got with some other junk from a friend. It looked like a cheap knock off of a VDO gauge. I hooked it up and it seemed to work. I could have just mounted it somewhere, but I can't leave well enough alone.

I started measuring things and taking it apart and the more I looked at it, the more I realized that it was the perfect size to fit in the dash. I had a couple old clocks laying around, so I cut one of them up to fit the guts of this tach.
Here it is in the cup of the VW clock:

I trimmed the inner structure of the tach so it would sit at the correct depth.

I was able to keep the cup part of the tach and just trim it to fit around the light and the clips that hold it in.

I removed the short hand from the clock and painted it orange, then glued it to the clock adjust knob so I could use it as a redline indicator.

When I got it all together, I thought it looked awesome. Check out how the tick marks from the clock lens line up with the tach face. Sure, the numbers don't match the speedo, but for something that was just thrown together, it doesn't look terrible. I mean, I could have done much worse.

The problem is, it doesn't read quite right. I can't remember, but I think it is shows lower rpms that it should and I think it gets worse the higher it goes.
I am sure it was my fault. When I put the needle back on the tach, it would catch on one of the screws in the face, so I trimmed the needle a little. Well, that throws the balance off, so it is now a different load is applied to the mechanism inside. I could probably put a small drop of epoxy on it and try to calibrate it back, but that's a lot of work.
Especially now that ISP has a tach that works and looks like it belongs there.

[Bobnotch]

The Borla muffler difinetely sounds "throatier" than the QP did. I kind of like the sound of it, but don't care for it hanging out in the breeze like that. I'm betting the "U"bend you added later sounds much better still. I like where it dumps out now, as it looks more "stock".
_________________
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

[bkeith85]

Hey guys, I'm back to working on the VW and I have decided to go ahead and get it ready for paint. It just seemed stupid for me to pull out all the glass, replace the headliner and windshield seal, only to pull it all back apart again to paint it someday.
I have some body and paint questions that may be more specific to a Type 3. Should I post them over in the paint forum instead of here? I can think of a few T3 guys who probably have some good advice.
I did a quick search, but didn't see an answer to my hatch problem. I'm also curious how I should approach painting the inside and outside.

[Bobnotch]