Corney13's '63 Beetle

[Corney13]

Not a whole lot of progress lately, but I did manage to finish my steering wheel. I repaired the wheel I got with the car, which was black. (Not original I'm sure) It had a few minor cracks, but overall in pretty good condition. I filled the cracks with JB Weld and sanded it down. I them painted it with Rustoleum Almond Appliance Epoxy. I then ordered a wheel cover from Wheel Skins and cross stitched it instead of the loop method they show. Lastly I installed a new Re-pop horn ring I got from Koch (Which is local to me) and fitted my Empi GTV style horn button. I think it came out nice!

[Corney13]

I was going to install my new transaxle, but realized I needed a new bowden tube, so installed the Gab-Fab Weber Windows instead....

[67rustavenger]

I'm not a metal fabrication guy. But I'm not afraid to try metal work.
I have all of the metal cutting, gluing, sanding, grinding tools to get the job done.
What is the degree of difficultly involved with installing those "Weber" window's?

I have also considered installing "Hi pacs" from England. Hi pacs are much bigger the the ones you installed.

Nice work BTW.
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I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[emperorwurm]

wow, this is great....I want to restore my 63 like this...good work.
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63 sedan

[subhuman]

absolutly beautiful
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63 restomod build
http://s431.photobucket.com/albums/qq37/johnnysubhuman/?albumview=slideshow

you can have everything you want, just don't want so much!

"the wrong way always seems the more reasonable."
george moore

1963 type1
2002 Subaru Wrx

never argue with an idiot, they will only drag you down to their level and beat you with experience!
Mark Twain

[57BLITZ]

Yes! Very nice work!
Glad to see yer makin' progress!
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Jesucristo es mi Señor y Salvador!

[Corney13]

[Corney13]

Got some more done this weekend! I finally installed the new transaxle. Filled with oil and no leaks so far, so that's good.

I can't express enough how good it is to have a torque multiplier. Makes the taking the axle nut on and off simple.

I also bought my paint on Friday. I am going with anthracite. I decided to do the final paint myself. I got BC/CC in PPG. Now I just need to make sure the body work is as perfect as possible and test fit everything before I paint, especially the custom details like this tach. I realized that I will need a backing plate for it and I will have to cut the trim so it fits on either side of the tach.

There is so much to do, but I have given myself tasks to finish each week. I am chipping away...

[Rome]

[Corney13]

Getting close to firing the engine for the first time (On the stand). Not sure how well it will run, but it sure looks good!

[57BLITZ]

[vwnut1]

Beautiful engine! It's literally a carbon copy of how I plan on doing my next VW motor. Looks super sanitary look with dual carbs.

-Silver Vein powder coat on the tins?

-What size engine/carbs are you running?
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1957 VW Oval Resto Mod

[Corney13]

[arizonabuckeye]

Can I just say I don't understand why carbs are faced so the adjustment screws are nearly impossible to get to - just doesn't make sense to me. Minutes into adjusting my carbs for the first time - with screws that are literally impossible to reach with them in the car and I bought this - https://www.cbperformance.com/product-p/3267.htm and never looked back. Even if your carbs can't just be turned 180 (like Dells - don't know about others) you can just swap them side to side and it would work. Then all the adjustment screws are accessible and no need for windows.

[Corney13]

[Corney13]

I wanted to see what the paint would look like on the car, so I gathered up some of the small bits and base/cleared them. I think they cam out good considering I have never done it before! Hoping to have the whole car painted within the next 2 months. I can see the finish line in the distance!

[63Ragtop NZ]

Looking good man, I was just pulling all those parts out last night, I'll be paint them soon too, forgot about the steering column thing.
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If you can't join them, beat them!

[Corney13]

I took a few days off of work to finally paint the body of my car. Having never bc/cc painted a car before, it was a little bit of trial and error. I learned on when painting the fenders that I need to leave adequate time for the base coat to flash, before adding clear coat, otherwise you will get solvent pop. Spec sheet calls for a minimum of 30 mins. On the fenders I waited 30 mins and then cleared. Bad move. I will have to respray the fenders... So when i painted the body, I waited 12 hours. That did the trick, no solvent pop. I issue I had with the body is orange peal. It is heavy in some areas. I will wet sand and buff where I can and may have to respray a panel or two if it is bad enough. I know there are multiple factors in clear orange peel, all of which stem from inexperience. On the good side, I should be able to fix most areas and even though I may go through twice the paint I need, it is still cheaper than having someone paint it!!

I will post some more pictures after it is buffed, but here are a few of my week. As mentioned I base/cleared the car using PPG Omni. For the fender wells and engine bay, I coated with tintable U-Pol Raptor bed liner. I got the anthracite color without binders from the paint supply store and tinted the bedliner to match the paint. The color is dead on, I am happy with that. Much more to come! This car will be done this summer!

[63Ragtop NZ]

looks good from here man!
keep at it!
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If you can't join them, beat them!

[Corney13]

Damn you Photo Bucket!!!

Anyway, here is the latest on my car...

I have painted the body and am in the process of color sanding and buffing. It is tedious work, but makes all the difference. I also started adding the trim. I am getting a little ahead of myself, but i am too excited not to start adding pieces!

I also started to rewire the car. I got the Bug Me video on wiring, and it is very helpful. One note, I would not wrap the harness in duct tape, without first covering the harness in masking tape or something. If you just wrap with duct tape, you will never get all the sticky goo off of your new wires. I first covered the harness in masking tape, length wise, then wrapped in duct tape and pulled through the pillars and roof. It was kind of a pain, but finally got it to pull through. (the additional wires orange, purple and green are for the gauges)

I used CLR and my ultrasonic cleaner to clean the fuse block

Finally I started to connect all the wires. I thing the dash is going to look awesome! So happy so far! All the knobs are billet and gauge pod panel was painted to match the car. I am liking the contrast of Anthracite and polished stainless or aluminum. I have to fabricate the trim on either side of the tach. Might have them C&Ced from a solid piece, then use 3M trim tape to attach. We will see...