Brendel20's 1954 Beetle Build

[Brendel20]

I picked up this really cool little oval back in April from a great guy who had it stored away for about 30 years. It was given to him by a neighboring farmer who drove it around his property. After three months of waiting, the birth certificate arrived from the Stiftung Auto Museum indicating it left the factory on September 24, 1954 and was delivered to the Rossel Volkswagen dealer in Wiesbaden, Germany. The car was originally Iceland Green L213.

While the car has rust and is (was) missing a few of the 54-55 specific parts, the price was right and I was ready for a new project.

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking but this project required removing the body to really tackle things correctly. I also had to source (which has been a fun challenge) a few items to make it correct: drivers fender, hood, engine lid, seats , and the heart taillights. After some wanted adds, I've pretty much found everything needed. I was able to find a 55 parts car that had the front seat frames, hood, and drivers fender I needed. The rest got parted out.

Here is the lid and rear seat I was able to find:

The car came apart pretty easily, only broke off one bolt. The pan and body are matching, however the 36hp is a later 1960 case. More on that later.....
The interior had some creative coverings and platforms inside. The engine did not want to come off the trans housing, so I had to leave it together until the body was off. Wait till you see what was hiding inside. Here are some pics:

Got the tunnel cleaned up somewhat and built a rotisserie.

While my plan is to sort out the chassis first, I decided to have the body, fenders, etc blasted and primed early on so I knew exactly what metal I'd need to start slowly start sourcing.

The tunnel is pretty solid other than some rust areas near the head. That's where I'm at currently, cutting out some rust spots and welding in donor metal. Then onto the pans. I'll add pictures of this once I'm made some progress.

While I've done work on a couple busses, this is my first attempt at a beetle. So installing pans, heater channels, etc. will all be new territory.
Any advice or suggestions are welcome.

[René R.]

I am looking forward to following this build! Do you plan a stock restoration or modified?
_________________
Gone but not forgotten: 1950 Hoffman split (restored in 1966) - another 1950 Hoffman split (restored in 1996)

[Brendel20]

100% stock. 36 hp (already found a 54 case), 6 volt, non-synchro trans, correct 54 everything....

[sled]

a 54 would have a synchro transaxle would it not?
_________________
drive your split.

[Brendel20]

1st is not syncro

[sled]

correct. generally non-syncro refers to a full crash trans of split beetles. 54 is the same trans from 53-59ish right? interesting that the second gear also had no syncros in standard model bugs of '54.
_________________
drive your split.

[txoval]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong

Deluxe 54's have no synchro 1st, synchro 2-4

Standard 54's are full crashbox-no synchros

[sled]

Ive never owned an all originnal standard 54..just read the owners manual that says it has syncro 3 & 4
_________________
drive your split.

[Bruce]

[aa390392]

Looks as if your doing it proud keep us posted with anything new.
Thomas
_________________
.
getting grumpy & less tolerant!


55 ragtop
56 delux sedan
56 Kabriolet

[txoval]

I was reading the repair manual as well, but I believe the Owners manuals posted on this site under Technical, state the same

[Bruce]

I know what the confusion is!

When they say "silent", they don't mean the gear change is silent. It means the gears are silent when driving. IOW, the silent gears are helical cut. Engaging them is still noisy. 1st gear in the Deluxe's gearbox is straight cut. 1st and 2nd in the full crashbox are straight cut.
_________________

[Brendel20]

Rust repair continues on the frame head. Should be good for another 60 years I hope.

[TheLadyBug]

This is gonna be good. I'll be watching!
And envious because you seem super handy.

Congrats on the car and finding the parts you need!
_________________
Charmaine
-------------
1954 Beetle - because I can
2016 Golf highline - hubby’s daily
2016 Golf R - my daily

[3foldfolly]

[caleb0101]

Nice job on the frame head.
_________________
Ruby red 1967 beetle sedan with a 2021cc
1967 beetle sedan baja project
April 60 euro spec ragtop beetle with a 1641cc

[Brendel20]

caleb0101, TheLadyBug, René R, Mike (3foldfolly).... I appreciate the well wishes. I'll try and keep the thread rolling. It definitely motivates me when I know people are following!!!

[Brendel20]

Just got my case back from the machine shop. Thank you Hazetguy for a great deal on a case for this build.

Line bored and ready to start building. I need lots of engine parts... Pretty much everything :/

[hazetguy]

Glad it finally made it to your house!

[Brendel20]

Finally finished up the frame head and sealed it. Now I'm onto fitting the pans in. These are from wolfsburg west and fit almost perfectly.