1964 Family Beetle Build

[luvium]

Hello, we just brought home this beauty, it was owned by my wife's aunt since 66, my mother in law learned to drive in it so it has some sentimental value.
It has been sitting in the high desert of San Diego for the last 35 yrs, had the motor stolen 20 yrs ago and left for dead. We have a soft spot for vintage vws so we decided to take on another project.
We bought a 59 beetle that was already clean and didn't need any work a few years ago but sold it due to no garage space and a baby, now we want to do most of the work ourselves to save money and be proud of our work or mistakes. Hopefully teach my 3 yr old son a few skills.
So please comment on anything you like, any help is appreciated, and I will definitely need plenty of it.
I will try to update as much as possible.

[lovethatconvertible]

Sweet, Give it a good bath and see what you have under all that junk, looks like
it needs some pans, what the heck happened to the shifter, front wheels? looks like the poor critter has been neglected for a while. keep the updates coming
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1960 Convertible

[67rustavenger]

Great story. I like that your mother in law learned to drive in this little car.
2x on the pans and it looks like a front quarter panel is in order as well.
Not to mention the interior. But we love these little cars. Like what's said above, give it a bath and have a look at what you have there.
Of interest to me is the Blue color that I can see in some of the pics. I have no idea what color that is. Maybe, hopefully the Blue is an original paint color. By chance is the color sticker still intact behind the spare tire?
Was the interior done in Mexico at some time? The very plain door cards look like it was done there in the 70's. Not to mention the cross stitch pattern on the seats.
Have fun with the build and keep us updated.
Sorry about your t-shirt. It has some kind of stain on it. Looks like "arger's" or something like that. Is that some kind of arena football team. Never heard of them. Lol Or maybe they are a scrimmage team for the Raider's.
Enjoy the ride.
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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!

[sportin-wood]

I definitely see potential in your '64! Nothing that can't be fixed. I'll be following your progress.
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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

[luvium]

[MomoMoto]

How fun this is going to be to follow, super find and great back story. Some will probably tell you to replace the whole pans, but if you have good metal, just replace what you need to - and you won't have to remove the body from the pans. Can you tell if the heater channels are good? Maybe poke around under the car with a screw driver, see if anything pops through - just behind the running boards where the channels are...

I love the diamond tuck seat backs : ) If this were 'Fast and Loud' we'd say just clear coat that patina buddy! Let'er rip tater chip!

Have fun, and keep us posted!!
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'61 Beetle Ragtop
'15 Golf GTI

[Bala]

Looks like a great project!

I just did the full pans (body off) on my '66 and it turned out to not be as difficult as I was expecting. I'm really glad I did and didn't attempt to patch them. If you decide to remove the body it's also not as hard as you might think. Just takes patience with the rusty bolts and a few strong friends!
Gives you easy access to all sorts of other things you can replace/repair while you're at it.

Looks to be Sea Blue from here. Hey maybe that thin brown paint will come off to revel some good OG paint! The underside of the decklid looks like it's still blue, so maybe the red is just another layer of paint.

Does you mother-in-law and/or your aunt-in-law have any cool stories or interesting history on it?
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[sportin-wood]

[ExtremeBean]

How does one steal an engine from a car? I know vw are probably the easiest cars to remove the engine from, but thats still a pretty lengthy/risky heist!

[grandpa pete]

[luvium]

We were able to get a few things done today.
Removed bent up bumper mounts.
Removed beat up door panels.
Cleaned the steering wheel, we want to keep it.
Put some used rubber on the front and pulled the rear wheels to do the same.
Hit all the fender bolts with wd40 to loosen, any pointers on removing rusted bolts? Wd40 and a impact?

I decided to remove the body and replace the pans, not sure if I can tackle that but I want to give it a shot.

[Abscate]

Get a better penetrating oil than Wd40, which isn't good got that

PB blaster
Liquid Wrench
Kroil
Or a mix of ATF and acetone ( hardware store) 50-50 by volume
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.ssS!

[sportin-wood]

Replacing the pans isn't as much trouble as I thought it would be. Just use lots of penetrating oil like the suggested above (NOT WD40), and keep your parts in ziplock bags, labeled. A body dolly to keep the body on would be of benefit as well. Lots of threads with different types of body dollies on here to give you ideas.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/search.php?search..._chars=200
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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]

Yes, use PB Blaster, works great!

I would not use an impact, especially on fender and body mounting bolts. Odds are that several of them will just snap off if you do. That will add a lot of extra time and work and it's just plain annoying. Use a 1/2" drive and work them out slowly. Thread them in and out if you get to a spot where it gets hard to turn. Keep the PB Blaster close and continue to use it. Spray it on both sides of the threads if possible (some of the inside threads are impossible to reach on fender and body bolts). I left the fenders on my bug and it made it easy to lift the body, they make great handles!

And, when you get to the point of removing the rusted pans, I found that sawzalling to within a 1/2" or so of the lip then using an air chisel worked best. You want to get ever last little bit of the old pan and spot welds off that you can.

You're going to love having new pans!
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[luvium]

Today I removed headlights, tail lights, blinkers, running boards, gas tank, and began working on the body bolts. I made a 50/50 mixture of atf and acitone to loosen bolts. The steering coupling is really stuck together, soaking it all day.
Also picked up 4 smoothies that I will clean up and paint then store until the end.

Any pointers on getting it apart?

[mukluk]

[luvium]

[luvium]

Minor victory, rag coupling removed!

[mukluk]

Congrats. From the look of it in your pic, it needs to be replaced anyway. Stay away from the urethane replacements as they have a reputation for failing suddenly.
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1960 Ragtop w/Semaphores "Inga"

[grandpa pete]

I have a suggestion ;
Stop taking things apart and start reading the project and build threads for your year car ;
You will save money and time by learning from others mistakes and not repeating them .

It really is worth your time .
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63 two fold rag
66 sedan delivery Type 6

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=569619&highlight=sedan+delivery