My 1970 Bug Build (work in progress)

[A_BugLife]

I purchased a 1970 bug last fall, just after thanksgiving. It was a car that the previous owner used to drive but let sit for a couple of years. I got the usual song and dance about how great it ran then and it probably only needed a carburetor cleaning to be back on the road. Well, I wasn't born yesterday and knew it needed a lot more than a carb cleaning. Im sure you can tell by the photos that it was neglected and in need of help in just about every department.

I hoped I would find some time over the winter to get to the car and have it on the road by spring. So I started to gather some parts. For the engine I ended up getting a new ignition coil, points, condenser, plug wires, spark plugs, and fuel filter. I rebuild the carb once and cleaned it again 3 more times, finally soaking the thing in Chem-Dip to get it working right. I also got new cooling hoses to connect all the engine tin up properly along with moving the vacuum hose to the right port on the carb and found 3 vacuum leaks while I was at it.

Next up was to figure out what this engine needed to be timed at. I bought the idiots guide for volkswagens book and found my engine code to see where it needed to be timed at. It turns out that my '70 has a '71 1600 dual port engine. The book says it's supposed to be 5 degree before top dead center. However looking at oldvolkshome.com I found my distributor is out of a '67 and likes to be timed at 7.5 degrees before top dead center. So getting this thing timed has been some guess work.

Next up was putting in an original steering wheel. I had a business trip to Portland in January and was able to pick up a real nice used wheel at Always V-Dub Parts.

I have no idea why people insist on putting "sporty" racing steering wheels in a stock 'ish bug. I just had to get that thing out of there.

While replacing the steering wheel I noticed that the turn signal switch wouldn't work. Then I had the aftermarket radio (that is a whole other topic) on while I tried the turn signal switch and the switch made the radio go off, on. off, on, off, on.... yeah okay, so there is an issue there.

So things started to thaw out a little, it gets really cold here and its hard to heat the garage enough to do much. I ordered some Ace Industries dropped spindles for drum breaks. I decided to stick with the drums for now. I also ordered new break pads, hoses and hardware. Up on stands she went.

While she had her wheels off I decided to give them a respray. Here they are all masked up.

And after the color and clear coat.

So while I had the old spindles off I noticed a little rust on the shock tower on the left side of the beam. Then I poked the spot with my screw driver.... OMG that was shocking. So next on my list is a new front beam.

I forged on with the spindles and got them and the breaks installed and dialed in. Good thing I read up on the installation of the new spindles. I marked the caster nut before I started tightening it down so I could maintain the alignment. Here are some before and afters of the dropped spindles. I also threw on some new shocks while I had her up on the stands. Mostly because there weren't any when I put her up and looked and saw half a shock on the right and none on the left.

And finally here is where she is now. Still running stock 4'' steelies and 165 80/15's all around. No rubbing so I am going to keep the wheel tire setup because I like how the tires fill the wheel wells.

Next up will be the beam and patching the floor. Then new carpet, seat covers, headliner. We will see from there.

[aja8888]

Somehow, I feel I know you as I have been going through a 1971 Super Beetle that was sitting for a year that I purchased in December of last year. Everything I touched needed attention or replacement. It is still not roadworthy after 6 months fiddling by me. Soon though!

[Jessechop]

Nice progress. You are well on your way!

The front will rub when you drive it. Hitting bumps, full tank of fuel, passenger, etc. When I lowered mine it was ok with me driving it on less than a 1/2 tank. Any extra weight it would rub on bumps. One day I hit a huge hole in the road. It ended up ripping the side wall of the tire on the fender. Thats when I went to a smaller tire

[A_BugLife]

@aja888, Keep it up, and don't give up. One fiddle at a time and you will be up and running soon.

@Jessechop, Yeah, I think I am going to narrow the new beam when I get it just to be sure the tires don't get shredded.

Thanks,
D.

[BIGMIKEY]

I put a different steering wheel in my Beetles so I can actually fit in the car to drive it. The stock wheel hits my legs or I would leave it in. I like the look of a stock wheel like yours but alas, I cannot fit. At 6' 5" I need the room that a 14" wheel creates. I also enjoy the feel of the fat rim. So that's why.

Enjoying your build.

Mike T
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BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[A_BugLife]

@Bigmikey, Fair enough, that is a totally good reason to put a smaller steering wheel in. Don't let the 6'5" stop you from the VW lifestyle!

D.

[joey1320]

Nice looking bug. Have fun with the project.
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**1971 Super Project
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[Buggeee]

I really like the colonial white wheels with that color blue.
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1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[A_BugLife]

Okay, it's been a while since my last post. I have been spending the summer tooling around in the bug before going on to more work. I spent some time scratching my head on my carburetor idle issue. Rebuilding the carburetor 3 times, and maticulasly cleaning everything out. The issue turned out to be a plugged idle jet. No matter how long I soaked and cleaned that thing it would not clear out. So I pulled a different idle jet from another carb and now it purrs like a kitten. That was a little victory.

Now that fall is here and winter around the corner I have taken the bug off the road. I knew there was some rusty spots on the floor. So took out all the interior and discovered it was pretty thin and lots of light coming through all those pin holes. Sorta like the night sky. I started on the drivers side. Lucky for me the heater channels are in really good shape, so I only have rotten floors.

I had to cut out the rear floor section on the drivers side and up front around where the heater channel meets the pan by the drivers feet.
Now, with the drivers side mostly done I moved to the passenger side and have the battery tray area and the same place up front by the heater channel. I also discovered some rot by the rear fender wells and the body mount bracket. So I will be fabricating that up soon too.

So hopefully in a few weeks I will have all of that buttoned up so I can coat the floor, sound proof it and get some carpet and interior parts ordered up. It will be a busy winter, but should be fun.

[mikewilkinson007]

What distributor do you have?
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72 Super - Marina Blue
1641 AH Dual Port
Dual Weber ICT 34's
Bosch 034

Long Gone: 70 Vert, 66, 68, 73SB, 70, 72, 61 Rag and a 64 with a cinder block in the spare tire well.

[A_BugLife]

The one on the car is a Bosch SVDA.

D.

[A_BugLife]

It was a long record breaking winter here in Montana. I was able to finish cutting out the rusted floor sections even with the cold weather but I needed to wait for the warm up before I could POR15 and paint the finished floor repairs. At this point the floor is finished. Up next is sound deadening, carpet, headliner, door cards, seats etc.

Front passenger footwell before.

Front passenger footwell cut out.

Rear battery section started to weld in.

Passenger side, front and back started to weld in

Package tray needed some patches too. I fabricated the pieces I needed and welded them in and seam sealed.

Everything welded and sealed.

The floor finally complete with two coats of POR15 on the old surface rusty bits and a final two coats of acrylic enamel black.

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1970 bug
My build thread

[exsystem]

I like the progress. Looks great!

[A_BugLife]

With the floors repaired I decided to strip the remainder of the interior and pull the windows so I could start installing the new headliner. Of course that just revealed 48 years of debris, dirt and general crap that fills every nook and cranny. It's like a little archaeological dig. I found a ton of spare change, cigarette butts, graduation tassel, ear rings (not matching), concert tickets and about 5 pounds of dirt. That is on top of all the stupid rotten tar board sound proofing and headliner stuffing that has turned to a fibrous mess.

Anyway here is where she is now. The dash padding was a cracked up mess so I pitched it and will run without a dash pad. I didn't like the look of the pad anyway so that saves me some headache and cash for a new one. I know the vents stick up a little but I have a plan for that and the "geesus" handle on the dash. I plan to make a custom one that looks way nicer that a plastic hoop sticking out of the top of the dash.

Almost ready for paint in the interior, I still have some more prep before masking but this is where its at now. All this because I wanted to replace the headliner, ugh.

I don't mind the diamond blue that was original for the car but my wife doesn't like it so much. We went to the Texas Classic in Fredericksburg last month and we settled on a new color for the bug. My goal is to get a good enough paint job for the interior so that you can't easily tell there was a color change. I would be happy if you have to dig into the interior a little to tell but I'm not going to go too nuts with it since this is not a pan of restoration. Stay tuned for the new color...

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1970 bug
My build thread

[bug70]

I recently picked up a 70 bug diamond blue. I'm excited to see your progress!

[scdevon]

That body looks pretty solid other than the floor patching that was needed. That factory styrofoam tar board will take out your floors once it gets permanently wet. It's best to use a loose fitting sound deadener that simply lays on top of the floor rather than one that is bonded.

Nice work. Great car! 1970 was the best year, but I'm biased.
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1970 Beetle 1600 DP

[Q-Dog]

[scdevon]

[scrivyscriv]

[A_BugLife]

Thanks scrivyscriv, good to know the difference. There are so many types of distributors for these.

So I have been thinking about the whole sound proofing of the floor pans. So I am wondering why everyone likes to stick the tar foiled stuff down on the floors when that seems to be one of the biggest causes of the original floors to rust out. I know the new stuff is more flexible and sticks down into the contours of the floor where the original just stuck to the high spots. Would sticking new sound deadening on the pan just cause it to rust again? I put all this work into fixing them I would hate to just make it rust out all over. I am wondering if there is a good closed cell foam sound deadening that just lays on top of the floor that can be pulled out so I can let it air dry? Just thinking out loud.
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1970 bug
My build thread