1973 Standard Beetle "Christine"

[Jayham]

Hello, this is my first post to the Samba. I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

I'd like to share the start of my beetle project. I have a fair bit of mechanical experience, but have really wanted to restore a classic car. I choose the beetle because it's an iconic car over many generations. Plus the wife when we first meet drove a new beetle.


Over the summer I searched and traveled looking for a good project car. Unfortunately I quickly found that in Alberta beetles are generally chewed up with rust and those that aren't command high prices. While I'm not afraid of hard work and a challenge, I do lack experience. Which Is why I wished my father In law was still here.

I found this beetle about an hour outside of town. The details and photos of the online ad were vague. But the family and I headed out for the drive. The owner stated everything was there for the car, except the fenders. But later I found the bumpers and hardware, gas tank, distributor were missing to. But for what I could see in the dark barn, the price of $500 seems reasonable. It did come with an engine but in partially assembled state. And the floor pans and heater channels were brand new. So felt I had a parts car at the very least.

Over the past weeks I've found that I the previous owner put a lot of work into the car but the work wasn't of quality. The floor pans and body don't seem to line up, I don't believe the body was braced when the pan was replaced. The doors sag and despite my best efforts the doors won't line up.

The engine is an interesting story on its own. The parts that were not on the block were stored in a box, in the beetle in a barn. So I believed they were well protected. Well upon arriving home I found the cylinders, heads and small parts were sitting in box of water. Surprisingly all the parts cleaned up, even the cylinders.

The crankshaft however would not rotate by hand or by tool. The pistons were attached to the rods for some reason. So i broke apart the case and found the rear main bearing seized or pinched, because the last owner instead of using a proper dowel pin, drilled a larger hole and used a cut down end of a bolt. I had to use a hammer and chisel to remove the bearing from the crank, fortunately damage free. A case saver was striped free and the hole drilled so that just barely big enough for a larger case saver. And then some corrosion damage. But the case can be saved and in fact i dropped the case of at the local welder for some repairs.Unfortunately two of the pistons are done, but I've purchased a new set of four:).


Good news is the crank is still with in spec when I measured the journals.


But I decided I needed a backup plan. A beetle in an unmolested state. I found one close to my hometown. a 1973 standard, built in the first week for 1973 production. The only downside is it has no motor and the floor pans are shot and it was repainted from it original yellow to blue. But for the price of $400 I was worth it. Since it has everything but the motor!

The previous owner gave it the name of Damien, because the last six digits of the vin are "666". But since I'm giving it new life and want to keep with the creepy nickname it shall be Christine!


My plan is to salvage all parts that I can from the first beetle over the winter, including body parts. The conduct a detailed assessment of Christine and the body repair it requires. Then also over the winter rebuild the motor. Come spring time I will put time into working on Christine's body and pan. Good new is that my brother in law is a professional auto body painter, so when that time comes I'll have experienced assistance.

Thanks for looking at my first post and a long winded one at that! From this point forward I'll do my best to take photos of progress.

[mikewilkinson007]

Good luck and welcome to Samba!
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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.

[TX-73]

Welcome, poke around in my build link, it may help you out.
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My 1973 Standard Beetle Build SOLD
Click to view image

[gt1953]

Decode the date plate here

http://www.hallvw.clara.net/dating.htm
_________________
Volkswagen: We tune what we drive.
Numbers Matching VW's are getting harder to find. Source out the most Stock vehicle and keep that way. You will be glad you did.

72 type 1
72 Squareback
({59 Euro bug, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 73 type ones 68 & 69 type two, 68 Ghia all sold})

[Jayham]

Thanks for a warm welcome!

I'll checkout those links.

[BWingate]

[sminton1]

I am currently (occasionally) working on a 73 standard as well. Welcome and I look forward to seeing your progress.

[joey1320]

Good process on both cars. You can make one finished car from the two and sell the other for a few hundred. Keep the pictures coming.
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**1971 Super Project
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[heimlich]

Why is it we all have 1973's? They must have been a good year!
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[Jayham]

Well the engine case is still at the welders, so I decided to putz around with the yellow beetle. I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel and condemn the body to the scrap heap.

I broke out the mig welder and had a go, first time on something that wasn't scrap metal. The welds weren't great but good enough for the task at hand.

I was able to remove the heater channels, the previous owner didn't weld them in. They are in prefect condition other than some surface rust and still have the part tag. Regardless of what happens I have good heater channels, which is money saved.

The door gap is horrendous, almost an inch at the bottom of the door.

I need a way to pull the body back together and adjust the door gap. So I came up with this

I welded a bolt to the body and an adjustable thread rod slide over the bolt.

Then a piece of angle iron I cut bent and welded. Now with an easy twist I can pull the body back together.

He's the door gap after playing around. Looks better than it actually is but it's a start.

It was a good idea to pull out the heater channels. The body now fully rests on the chassis. In my previous attempts I didn't do that but I'm feeling optimistic about correcting the previous owners failure.

I order to get proper adjustments, I need to order some body bolts and mounts, I have none. When I tried to adjusted the body the rear wants to pull forward, but I need the rear to stay put and have the A post come to the rear and then I should get proper door spacing.

[heimlich]

When pumpkins are growing in your Beetle you might need to think about it.
_________________
www.vwnos.com [email protected]
Classic Brands. Classic Quality.
Not all parts are made the same. NOS OE/OEM parts made mainly in West Germany, Early Germany, and Early Brazil are where VW produced the best quality parts and best fitting products.
5% Off your order with coupon code: 5%OFF
Restored Distributors Available (<--Click here)

[Jayham]

[heimlich]

[Jayham]

Well the engine case came back from the welder today.The welds look decent, but certainly wasn't cheap. Now I'll spend some time cleaning up the welds before the case heads off to the machine shop.

Here s the thrust bearing dowel pin welded closed. The case will receive a line bore and thrust cut. Plus have the dowel pin hole redrilled.

Here's the base of the case, three holes were filled in due to someone in the past tapped them larger to like 8mm or larger. The holes will be redrilled too.

Here's a couple photos of some repairs done to the exterior due corrosion.

That's all for now! Thanks for looking!

[SBD]

I'm watching this one!

_________________
"Just $99 down and $64 a month for 36 months buys you a brand new Volkswagen Beetle!"

[Jayham]

[heimlich]

I suppose that is one way to fix a case.
_________________
www.vwnos.com [email protected]
Classic Brands. Classic Quality.
Not all parts are made the same. NOS OE/OEM parts made mainly in West Germany, Early Germany, and Early Brazil are where VW produced the best quality parts and best fitting products.
5% Off your order with coupon code: 5%OFF
Restored Distributors Available (<--Click here)