1966 pearl white / Pigalle father son project

[Bala]

Sway bar installation success! This is a pretty cumbersome job, but not terrible with a few tricks.

If you're doing it alone a little string is all you really need to hold the assembly in place. Tied up in 4 spots works pretty well. 2 on the bar and two on the smaller bushing.

The only tools I used. It takes some muscle and patience, but it's really just about a 1/2 hour job.

Installed with the little shims I made in place and the safety tab bent down!

As you can see in the photo's above I was also able to install my original refurbished spindles and backing plates. Thanks go to my dad who swung buy and helped with the final sway bar bushing, backing plates and also the hood seal (forgot to snap a pic. of this).

While working on the front end I noticed that all 4 of the outer torsion arm seals were badly cracked. These were bought new from Wolfsburg West and the chassis has been sitting in my carport. Has anyone else experienced this? Are those too badly cracked, or should I not worry about it?

On to my steering box. I did a lot of research into the new TRW boxes and it sounds like they shouldn't even be considered as an option. Poor quality and performance seems to be the norm. NOS seems to be $$$ if you can even find them. So it looks like I am going to attempt a rebuild.

Here it is, being inspected by our pup Rue.

It's pretty grimy.

The grease inside is a mix of goo and almost solid chunks, but no grit.

It comes apart relatively easily for the most part.

To get the large lower adjusting screw out I made this little "tool" from 2 M16 nuts and a M18 bolt. Worked perfect and only cost about $1.50.

Here is the last picture I took. Since, I have it about 99% disassembled and I've started the clean up process.

Everything looks surprising good so far. I plan to buy the rebuild kit from OKType3Tim, https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2013334

His thread on rebuilding steering boxes and why TRW are horrible has been very helpful!
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=660446&highlight=

That's all for now. I've got some time off soon, so hopefully I make some more progress!
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[sportin-wood]

Nice progress! I too experienced cracking on my outer torsion bar seals that I purchased from WW. My car also sits outdoors under a metal carport. I decided to change them out again, and when I removed them, they were still like new beneath the cracking, so mine were just superficial outer cracks. I’m betting yours are still good where they really need to be, as well.
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Paused 66 project bug
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"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman. He's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." --- Jeff Spicoli

[Bala]

[Bala]

Well, I contacted Wolfsburg West about the seals. They said they are German and they will send me a new set. I'll put them in my parts stash for later I suppose.
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[Aaron Williams]

This is a sweet build! Reminds me of the build I got to do with my dad and brothers on a 67 Squareback. Definitely going to follow this to see how the end result turns out!

[Bala]

[Bala]

Steering box rebuild is about to enter the final stage!

Looks like I’m just about ready for reassembly!

Everything has been cleaned and rebuild kit purchased.

New worm shaft on the left.

If you look closely at the old shaft on the right, you can see how the shinny wear pattern has almost reached the base of the spiral. Fortunately new worm shafts are available.

Lucked out and a neighbor gave me this granite sink cut-out. Just the right size.

Resurfaced the adjustment screw.

I have Corn Head grease being delivered later this week. In the mean time I’ll get the body, lid, etc. painted black.
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[Bala]

Next steps complete.

I resurfaced the housing/lid mating surface.

Before

I used 1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper, and it took a LONG time. Just what I had around and was actually kind of relaxing working it on the granite.

After 3-4 sheets of paper and a good 1/2 hour. I can still see a few original tooling marks and what looks to be some sort of factory stamping (check out the upper left corner), but otherwise it is very flat and mirror shiny.

Painted all my parts.

New worm shaft all cleaned off.

And got my Corn Head grease in the mail! They sent me horizontal CHG when I requested vertical as it specifies in the Bentley. Hope this still works.

I've installed the adjuster screw bearing dry and it feels perfect I think. But, I'll have to take it back apart and add grease to see if it still feels right.
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[Bala]

105 degrees yesterday, what a great time to get back to work!
My pops came over and we were able to get the pan cleaned and first coat of "storm trooper white" down. It's been sitting under the car port, so there was some surface rust and a lot of dust. Quick wipe down and Navel Jelly treatment got it prepped.

Might be scrapping some of that seat rail paint off later, oh well.

First coat on and seams all sealed up.

While the paint was drying we moved to the front end. Installed steering box, tie rods, steering dampener, and front shocks.

My son an I used the 100 degree cool early afternoon to lay down the final coat.

Hope to have a big step complete next weekend!
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[bad91teg]

awesome project . lookin forward to seeing update !

[67 Florida Deluxe]

Nice!
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-Kent (BaT "daleallen")

OG member of the '67 Posse

A few of my toys, past and present
'56 Oval, '66 KG Conv't, '67 21-Window, '67 Bug, '79 SuperVert, '55 Pre-A Continental

[Bala]

Thanks guys! Hope to have the body back on the pan this weekend!
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[Blue Baron]

It's great to see this project back on track. I'm a '66 freak, so it's a great read. I hope your son doesn't lose interest.
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We are striving for perfection, to make our cars run forever, if possible.

Heinz Nordhoff

[Chickensoup]

[Bala]

[Bala]

It was an off Friday for me, so I took the day to prep everything for dropping the body back on the pan.

Dug up the old 22 rectangle-ish pan and 2 frame washers. They were in sad shape and needed a good vinegar bath.

Into the vinegar

Vinegar doing it's thing

Greasy rust on the left just peeled off in a sheet

This is after the vinegar, wire brushing them, navel jelly, soapy water wash, and acetone wipe down

I was trying to figure out a way to paint all these parts both sides at once. Simple solution, just ran a string from the fence to the deck. Worked out very well and much quicker than hanging each individual part.

First coat

Second coat

I used some Rustoleum silver, lookes okay

All done and dried

On to the pan to body seal

Got the new Wolfsburg West seals I bought years ago dry fit and punched out holes for all the pan bolts. Picked up a hallow punch set at Harbor Freight for 9 bucks, and it worked well.

I used a line of silicone to glue the seal in place and taped it down to dry overnight

Went around to all the body bolt holes and cleaned up the threads

New pan bolt kits (1 per side) and rubber mounts from WW. Note, these only come with 2 body mount bolts per kit, so 4. You need 10 total, so I had to make a quick run to the hardware store. I had saved all my old bolts, but they were far to gone to reuse.

Saturday morning my pops came over and after making a game plan of sorts we eventually got the body resting comfortably on the pan. We sort of met in the middle. Starting at the front we jacked up the pan and put it on blocks. Then jacked up the body and removed the sawhorses. For the saw horses we found the easy way to get them out was to just disassemble one side and slide it out horizontally. Once the sawhorse was out of the way we were able to drop the body down on to the pan then remove the blocks from under the tires. Basically the same for the back. I neglected to take any pictures as it was just my dad and son helping. Once on the pan it did take maybe 20-30 minutes of bumping the body around to get all the mounts lined up with the chassis. There is very little wiggle room we found. I thought all the mount chassis threads had been cleaned, but I guess not. I found them all very hard to work the bolts in. Time and spray lube, but finally got them all done. My dad was able to get all but one pan bolt started and once the mounts were snugged down the finally one lined up enough to start. We did have to drill (waller as we say) out the 4 rear interior pan holes in the body to get those in. Eventually got every bolt tightened and managed to not strip out a single one. Overall it's not a difficult/complicated job, but it did take a bit longer than expected.

Back on the ground after more years than I expected, but it's done.

We ended up with two pan to body bolts/washers. Anyone know why? My guess is that the new pan is missing the rearmost corner hole, but there is definitely nowhere for these to go.

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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[kwalker]

Cool! Did you use anti-sieze on the bolts? I did not think to do that on my car's body off work 15 or so years ago. I do it now when I remove fenders or bumpers. Every little bit helps. My youth had been filled with torn up knuckles working on my first bug.

[Bala]

No anti-seize, didn't really even think about it. I don't remember any of the bolts being particularly difficult to remove despite the beetle sitting in the woods for many years. Hopefully I won't be separating the body and pan again. Still, wouldn't have hurt anything to use some as a precaution. I'm actually out, so that'll be on the shopping list next time I'm at the hardware store.
Thanks for the comment, and reading along!
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[Bala]

I'm getting ready to install the steering shaft and connect it to the steering box. I just noticed that these beam to pan lock plates might have another use. They come in the WW kit, 111498001, and are for early link pin front ends and too small for a ball joint front. But, I happened to notice they are the perfect size for the steering coupler. Anyone see any issues doing this? The hardware store was out of M8 nylon lock washers, so I figured this was a good alternative.

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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[Smurf]