1966 pearl white / Pigalle father son project

[57BLITZ]

Yer welcome!

FWIW . . . these are on sale 'till the 18th of Feburary . . . http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C24%2D111%2D701%2D062%2DM

$270 shipped to your door.

If ya miss out on the sale, ya might as well go for Wolfsburg West floors . . . . closer to $440 for the pair
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Jesucristo es mi Señor y Salvador!

[Bala]

[zoobum]

Great find, excited to see what the finished product is!!

[Bala]

[Bala]

Picked up a FREE parts '66 on Friday! The PO's was one of the nicest dudes I've met in a while. His father actually bought the beetle new for his wife as a wedding gift! Then it was his first car. At some point in the late 80's I think him and a buddy turned it into a "farm buggy". Too bad, because it would have been a nice survivor from the looks of what's left. He sounded a little remorseful about it. Oh well! The title is still in his parents name, so a one owner beetle. He's getting me the title this week. It was only maybe 3 miles from my house. My dad and I threw some rollers on it and towed it home with his truck. Plenty of usable parts!

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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[Bala]

The Bentley I have is up to '65. I realize a few things changed in '66, but not the sunroof correct?
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[Bala]

Started cleaning out the parts '66. Despite having sat out in the weather for years the pans seem to be okayish. The PO drilled holes here and there to let water leak out and prevent rust. It seems to have worked.

Lots of trash and leaves.

the glove box didn't have anything too interesting. There were a few pens and cards for Austin businesses that were really old. So, it's been local for quite a while.

Some parts that were sitting on the passenger's side floor. German 009, German 30 PICT 1, Brazilian 34 PICT, and other junk that could maybe be salvageable.

And no Texas VW clean out would be complete without finding a bullet! Found this little .22 round under the driver's seat.

Scored a logo gas cap and I pulled the almost perfect horn grills too.

More clean up needed and lots of parts to pull still. Once I get the title I could maybe use this pan for my shell. Hmm, any thoughts on that?
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[cn63bug]

How much for the "8 ball" shift knob? LOL

[Bala]

[notchboy]

Nice score Bala Clearing the hantavirus out asap is a good thing
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[cjargo]

[quote="Once I get the title I could maybe use this pan for my shell. Hmm, any thoughts on that?[/quote]

Great project. I'd keep the matching number pan and keep it original.

Earlier you mentioned keeping the original exterior patina. Awesome choice. I'm a fan of paint preservation and there is a four step process that has ok results and done by a complete amateur (Me). 1) Pressure wash. 2) Clay bar. 3) Machine buff with "FLITZ" metal polish. 4) Wax.

Here's a before and after:

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'63 Vert. Bug - '58 Bug Ragtop RHD - '63 Vert. Bug -
'78 911 SC Targa - '69 911 E - '57 Vert. Porsche - '84 GTI - '69 Bus - '57 Bug - '68 Bug / Sunroof -
'65 Bug - '63 Bug - '74 Bus - '72 Karmann Ghia
'67 Bus / Sundial - '59 Karmann Ghia

[Bala]

Thanks notch!

[Bala]

With the help of my dad and some good friends (and fellow VW owners) I got the body off yesterday! A week ago I got it prepared. That only took a couple hours maybe, really not as difficult as I was thinking it would be. Every single bold was rusty. I used PB Blaster and a whole lot of threading in and back out to get them all removed. Luckily I didn't have a single one break! Everything is bagged and tagged. It looks like most, if not all, of the hardware will need to be replaced.

I made some low rise saw horses out of scrap wood I had laying around and metal brackets from Home Depot. They're ugly, but get the job done!

My dad went ahead and towed it the 30 miles out to his shop in Elgin. He has the new pans waiting and plenty of tools I can use.

I added some lateral supports after I took this picture.

Man, you can really see how bad my pans are now!

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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[silkvw]

I made it home with the '66 pan in tow. And, the '66 engine from the free blue bug with the roof cut off in the bed of my single cab.

The engine will be a "mule motor" for both of us. And one I can use to test my '59 bus when it's ready.
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'64 single cab Big Bend Bus Bash 2015 '16
'59 camper BBBB 2017 '18 '19 '20 '22 New Mexico
'70 Ghia........Bonneville,........TX Mile,........142 mph......(sold)

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=641871&highlight=

[Bala]

Woohoo!!
Looks a bit cleaner from here. Did you end up giving it a quick bath or did the wind at 60mph do the trick?
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[silkvw]

Good eye!
I did stop at the home town car wash to give it a soap up and rinse off.

Going to be a cool car to have on the road again!
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'64 single cab Big Bend Bus Bash 2015 '16
'59 camper BBBB 2017 '18 '19 '20 '22 New Mexico
'70 Ghia........Bonneville,........TX Mile,........142 mph......(sold)

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=641871&highlight=

[Bala]

Thanks pops!

Picked up "new" tires yesterday! Date code October of 2015. Really nice condition and I think I'll use them on the donor '66 wheels which all seem to match and have a nice patina to them, ha!
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[Bala]

Got the old pans removed on Friday! We used a sawzall to cut away most of the metal then an air chisel to separate the spot welds. The boy helped of course. And, before anyone says anything he was wearing shoes, safety glasses, and ear plugs when he was helping. That last picture is after we were done.

I was pretty surprised at how fast it was. Start to finish was right at 1.5 hours. And that was getting every single spot weld removed and doing some grinding. We even laid the new pans down, but I have a few questions about keeping or leaving the rear sections that are welded to the top of the tunnel. The old ones are just fine and I'm kind of inclined to leave them and remove the existing ones from the new pan. I'll do some research, but if anyone has any suggestions feel free to share!

Sazalling the old metal off.

More chopping!

I tried to just air chisel this part off, but it really helps to cut out any metal you can first.

All done!

Headed out to my parents on Friday for more workin'!
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[Bala]

Grabbed some parts at the Texas VW Classic last weekend! I love getting quality OG stuff at prices lower than the aftermarket junk!

Horn button and ring (did not pay $30 for these )
NOS tranny boots. No clue who made them, but they are nice and thick.
Aftermarket antenna (2 bucks, so I'm not complaining here)
License plate light assembly
Dual circuit master cylinder (got this in a straight up trade)

I also picked up some nice running boards and some early high back seats that I'm thinking of using for safety's sake. Maybe still restore the lowbacks for shows.

Off to my parents on Friday to hopefully wrap up the pan installation!
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[Bala]

New pans are in!!!
Just a little disclaimer, I've never done much welding. A little arc welding in high school and some pan patches here and there. This was my first major project. They are maybe not the prettiest welds, but they seem to be strong and passed the hammer tap test.

This little spot on the front Driver's side brace had some rot going on, but that was my only "repair".

Cut and bent some scrap metal my dad had lying around.

Welded it in place and ground it down a bit.

Fitting the pan into place.

There was a major blob of weld in the driver's side rear corner that took multiple chisels and then a dremel to remove. I wanted the pan to fit as close to the existing metal as possible.

I used Rustoleum oil based gloss black to paint the bottom. I've had this same paint on my bus fiberglass pop top for several years and it has lasted extremely well. I should have 3 coats on the pan when I'm done.

Painting the bottom

This is only one coat. It really covers well!

I did not remove the orange paint, just scuffed it really well with a sanding sponge and orbital sander. Then cleaned it really well with acetone.

This was over 2 weekends, so I kept it covered and dry as we've been having a ton of rain here recently.

My not so pretty welds.

Tilted it on it's sides to bend, clamp, and weld the back corners in. This was my only gripe about the pans. They are not made to fit if you leave the rear braces on. Really had to bend them and trim a little to get them installed. And, I could only get a few spots welded. They do feel secure though. I'll be treating all that rust with naval jelly and painting everything later.

And back on the ground and all done!

I still have to tilt it up again to do some seam sealer and a few more coats of paint, but the hardest part is over. I actually really enjoyed installing them, and it was not nearly as hard as I expected.

And, a huge thanks to my dad for all the help and use of his welder and miscellaneous tools!
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle