Great Grandpa’s 1964 Sunroof Bug Full Stock Restoration

[matthew henricks]

Not alot of work the last few weeks. Other priorities.

I have been looking for a better option for fender beading than Black or Bahama Blue. Sea Blue is what i need but cannot locate any. (Anyone???)

Compared Bahama Blue from WW and Dark blue from SST. What do you think?

In the shade.

In the sun.

Slowly building my doors. First major disappointment in the reproduction parts i got from WW. The window vertical bars. (Vent wing separator) Mine OG ones are OK. The repro are... Lousy. I have not spoken with them yet but they are very scratched under the chrome. you can tell they were not sanded or polished prior to chrome and the chrome looks thin and one layer only. Disappointing.

I then quoted getting mine re-chromed. Lowest quote was $180 each. Holy cow...

Repro on left. OG on right.

OG on left, Repro on right.

Thoughts??


I cleaned up my OG ones the best i can. They are clean but lots of small pits that will rust. These are the pits i am dealing with.

Any ideas out there?
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1964 Original Owner build Thread. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=702135&highlight=

Ambulance Fan's. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=627707&highlight=

Parts i am looking for:
64 bug nice used front/rear Black LHD floor mat.

[BSheldon]

I know the re-chroming quote was steep, but man I'd try to keep those original parts if I could.
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"Betty" - 1966 L41 Sedan

[Blue Baron]

[matthew henricks]

[Busstom]

Yes, (good) chroming prices have gone through the roof the last 15 or 20 years. I think it's an EPA thing, makes it costly to obtain/maintain the chemicals.
Anyway, I agree, I would bite the bullet and kick down the $360 and keep your genuine parts. Sad that WW attempted a noble feat to repop those things, but executed poorly (read: CHEAPLY).

[Blue Baron]

I wouldn't worry about stenciling for the popouts. Those were often dealer installed, so wouldn't have been an exact match even when the car was new.

As for the fender beading, the only Sea Blue I've ever seen were NOS. (I could use them for my Sea Blue car as well.) I'd suggest looking for the best set of originals you can find, and painting them, adding a flexing agent to the paint.
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We are striving for perfection, to make our cars run forever, if possible.

Heinz Nordhoff

[matthew henricks]

Headliner work yesterday.

Sunroof panel. Pretty easy. wrinkles will come out once installed.

I was a dummy when i pulled out the old headliner main panel and did not record where the bows went nor what bow goes where. Searching the Samba did not yield the answer. After some testing here is where they go. Long one in rear. Short ones with ends bent in front on the spring hangers. For location you need to measure your headliner. Mine was 10" from rear for the long bar and 9" between the shorter bars. The rear bar gets the rubber end caps. The shorts do not. Also the rubber end caps tend to come off when you remove the rear bar so have extras.

Headliner top panel. Not easy at all. Heat gun and whatever trick i could try and no-joy. The weather was not helping me. Only 70 and overcast. I installed it from the front towards the back. You have to trim the front for the sunroof crank and dont forget the sunroof padding. No matter what i tried i was 1" short.

After alot of fiddling i got one of the ends to stretch into place and started working from the outside in. Then disaster. RIIIPPPP... Both sides. One side about 1" and the other 2". Man. Took it out to assess....

Moved on to carpet. Installed the heater channel, front kick panel and rear. Glued down the heater channel. Only nailed the front kick area so far and did not glue the rear. The shinny dots are the nails. I will touch them up with something not so shinny later.

I cannot remember. Are the front panel, side front panels and rear panels glued in? anyone know?

Happy with the carpet.
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1964 Original Owner build Thread. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=702135&highlight=

Ambulance Fan's. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=627707&highlight=

Parts i am looking for:
64 bug nice used front/rear Black LHD floor mat.

[Chickensoup]

It must be fun to be at the stage your at!
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-'85 c10 5.3 LS, 222 cam, long tubes, x pipe, 3 inch spin tech's
-'05 B5.5 TDI Wagon 17in sport rims ;EGR + BSM + ASV Delete, Stage-2 Tune, straight pipe
'65 Tourist Delivery Build
'66 RIP
'69 RIP
Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"

[Jos.Hall]

[matthew henricks]

[RUN99]

Amazing job so far Sir!

Can I ask, are you replicating Windsor Blue upholsery?

I need one for my 64, but can't find it anywhere

[matthew henricks]

[52brezelfenster]

Matthew, would it be possible to use the Bahama Blue as fender beading to start with, then paint / dye a custom mix of Sea Blue to make it look the part?

I'm looking to do the same thing, happy to split the cost of materials with yah if you want to pursue that avenue. Something to kick around I suppose.

Dustin

[quote="matthew henricks"]Not alot of work the last few weeks. Other priorities.

I have been looking for a better option for fender beading than Black or Bahama Blue. Sea Blue is what i need but cannot locate any. (Anyone???)

Compared Bahama Blue from WW and Dark blue from SST. What do you think?

In the shade.

In the sun.

[matthew henricks]

[matthew henricks]

Headliner is stalled. I did repair the tears as shown below. Some whip stitching back to the cardboard stitch and then glued the seam to re-enforce. I am also this time starting from the back of the headliner towards the front. It has been too cool to try again so when it warms up a little. I figure i have one chance left with this one.

Been messing around with glass. OG front window glass does not exist and Laminated is not reproduced. I have an original piece of glass from the 70's that is aftermarket where the original glass logo is nearly faded. Kicking around polishing off the rest of the label and re-branding it. I know to some this is not cool but my car... Here is what i have come up with and my test run using tempered glass as a test bed worked great.

I am very pleased with the results.

That is all for now.
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1964 Original Owner build Thread. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=702135&highlight=

Ambulance Fan's. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=627707&highlight=

Parts i am looking for:
64 bug nice used front/rear Black LHD floor mat.

[viiking]

I've said this on another post re "rebranding" glass with another logo.

The glass on cars is marked as an AS1 or AS2 amongst other things to identify to the users (and probably the authorities) that the glass has met the Federal Glass standard as verified by the manufacturer.

If you change the glass manufacturer by etching the glass with another maker's mark or indeed the glass standard you may be bordering on fraud not to mention possible legal liability now or into the future. It's a form of counterfeiting involving the Federal government.

It's your car and do what you like but remember the possible consequences down the road if it ever comes to light. I have a friend who did something similar only to find the insurance cover was cancelled after an accident because he had done something similar and modified a safety part which was subject to a government "standard".
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1968 1500 RHD Lotus White Beetle since birth. In the hospital for major surgery
1966 Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Coupe - in the waiting room
Discharged: 1983 Vanagon, 1974 1800 Microbus,1968 Low Light,1968 Type 3

[sportin-wood]

I seriously doubt in the US they're going to come after you for altering the markings on a window....
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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

[viiking]

They may not, but I'm just pointing it out.

So what happens when a future person gets thrown through the window and it isn't the proper kind and they forensically find it has been doctored. Given the level of litigation in the states I'd be concerned.

I don't want to be a spoil-sport about it. I just wanted to express an opinion of the legality and perhaps morality of doing so.

It would be like a Chinese company stating that a seat belt complies with an ISO or US Standard when it doesn't. Oh? They do it now?
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1968 1500 RHD Lotus White Beetle since birth. In the hospital for major surgery
1966 Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Coupe - in the waiting room
Discharged: 1983 Vanagon, 1974 1800 Microbus,1968 Low Light,1968 Type 3

[matthew henricks]

Thank you Viiking for your input.
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1964 Original Owner build Thread. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=702135&highlight=

Ambulance Fan's. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=627707&highlight=

Parts i am looking for:
64 bug nice used front/rear Black LHD floor mat.

[Jos.Hall]

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