My 1961 VW Beetle Build Thread

[wachuko]

Front bumper brackets and inside the bumper blade painted silver. Missing blade brackets installed. Missing bolts installed. New grommets installed... all nice and tight!! One less thing making a rattle...

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Drive safe,
Wachuko

1961 VW Beetle - Ownership Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711372

[wachuko]

Horn installed and now working. Old one had to be fine... when I got under it it was just a broken cable... Noticed that when I was replacing the harness, but by then I had replaced the horn and was halfway replacing the harness...

Also replaced harness for headlights along with all the grommets that were missing... Was the perfect time to to this as the harness on the left side also had the wires for the horn, brake switch, etc.
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Drive safe,
Wachuko

1961 VW Beetle - Ownership Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711372

[wachuko]

Found something else that will need attention. Working fine but searching the forum noticed how these are wired.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...p;start=80

My car has dual brake master cylinder... but only using one swtich. Will connect them in parallel as suggested in that thread.

Mine:

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Drive safe,
Wachuko

1961 VW Beetle - Ownership Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711372

[aaronr25]

The car is looking good. Nice work.
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65 Bug
66 Landcruiser FJ40

Life's too short to drive a stock VW

[Sharp64]

Nice upgrade. Still need to do that on mine
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1960 Indigo Blue Ragtop (Blue Barry)
1967 Ghia
1985 Westy Money Pit
“...some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” - Michael Caine

[wachuko]

Thank you for the encouragement. Not too productive today...too many interruptions... but started working on fixing the rear bumper mount. This was the one missing the upper supports...

Now to paint the lower supports...

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Drive safe,
Wachuko

1961 VW Beetle - Ownership Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711372

[wachuko]

Rear bumper install done.

Wheels removed. Dropping them off at the tire shop to install matching brand tires. Went with the 215/60-R15 Khumos to match the front...

While I wait for those (tires get in at 4pm), going to install the rear passenger side brake drum and wheel bearing that the PO gave me.

Driver side was done by him...

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Drive safe,
Wachuko

1961 VW Beetle - Ownership Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711372

[wachuko]

Started working on the passenger bearing. Parts ready to install:

Out with the old:

Noticed this contraction...not sure what that is ??? :

Noticed that the brake shoes could use a new set... so had to take a break to drive over to get a new set and new hardware... and picked up the wheels with new tires on the way back...

When I removed the brake drum and the cover to the bearing, I could not see anything wrong with the bearing... with the temperature dropping, I was not going to spend several hours trying to get that out without a proper pulley... and since it looked and felt fine, I just replaced the o-ring, gasket, and oil seal retainer...

Those springs that hold the brake shoes in place where a pain to install... had to use my daughter to help me keep them compressed while I turned the holding pin...

New brake shoes and hardware installed...

Brake drum installed... nut torqued using the torque multiplier tool... need to finalize adjustment of the brake shoes... but temp dropped and I am doing this in the driveway... so I will finish another day... I will be replacing the brake shoes on the other side as well...

So for now, wheels back in and I will leave it alone until it warms up a little bit more...

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Drive safe,
Wachuko

1961 VW Beetle - Ownership Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711372

[mukluk]

Your contraption in the drum is the stock oil slinger. Later bearing retainer housings and backing plates had a weep hole and catcher that would allow any oil that gets past the axle seal to drain outside the drum and not contaminate the shoe linings... what you have is the earlier version which would sling the oil seepage out the hole in the face of the drum.
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1960 Ragtop w/Semaphores "Inga"

[Sharp64]

Hold onto the old brake parts. Some have reported issues with the quality on the new parts. Save them for backup.
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1960 Indigo Blue Ragtop (Blue Barry)
1967 Ghia
1985 Westy Money Pit
“...some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” - Michael Caine

[wachuko]

[wachuko]

Now for the other side...

Daughter is out, so need to wait for her to help me with the install of the brake shoes... I will take is as far as I can.

While I wait for her, good time to empty and fill the transmission.

I had this in the garage, might as well use them now. They have probably been on the shelf for at least 4 years... I have two quarts of this:

Guessing that I can top off with regular GL-4 SAE 80w90w, right?

Let me get to it...
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Drive safe,
Wachuko

1961 VW Beetle - Ownership Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711372

[wachuko]

Now I know that I was not alone... looks like the PO ran into the same challenge and decided to cut the springs instead... glad I bought the complete kit... will replace those...

Ready now for installing new brake shoes and hardware...

But first, let me drain the transmission... learned long ago (the hard way) to make sure that I can remove the filling plug before draining the transmission...

I sure hope this is because they never cleaned the plug... that is a lot of metal shavings!!

What it looks like after cleaning...

Transmission should be empty by now... back in a few...
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Drive safe,
Wachuko

1961 VW Beetle - Ownership Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711372

[wachuko]

Transmission filled - as mentioned in the forum search, took 2-1/2 quarts.

Brakes done

Drum cleaned and installed...torquing nut and inserting cotter pin to finish this task...

_________________
Drive safe,
Wachuko

1961 VW Beetle - Ownership Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711372

[wachuko]

Since the rear wheels/tires require a spacer, I can't adjust the rear brakes with the wheels on (easier to turn back and forth with a wheel on)... so had to use the spare to make the adjustments... got the driver side done, but got too cold (at least for Florida weather standards) before I could do the other one...

I will try again today after work.

One thing is patina and another is stuff just being dirty... cleaned these knobs and the emergency brake button... looking like new now...

Since it was a bit of a pita to open the glovebox (it did get better after replacing the rubber inserts), I bought this...but was not really the one I wanted...

Was able to find exactly the one I wanted from a fellow forum seller... This is what I was looking for... I know is silly, but I just love the looks of it.

_________________
Drive safe,
Wachuko

1961 VW Beetle - Ownership Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711372

[mukluk]

The new glove box latch and pull isn't silly at all, it looks quite good if you ask me. Much better than the miniature late model decklid latch.
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1960 Ragtop w/Semaphores "Inga"

[wachuko]

[wachuko]

Door brace for armrest installed. Also installed the missing door handle springs.

Let me update the list...
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Drive safe,
Wachuko

1961 VW Beetle - Ownership Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711372

[wachuko]

Installed the hood seal... son of a gun! The seal I got only had three rubber dots in the corners and it was impossible to get those into their respective holes... I ended up cutting them and gluing the sucker in place...

I need to find another seal, like the one on these photos:

With long rubber tips that I can pull into the holes...

Need to figure out if the ones from WW are like that... their photos do not show this section. I found one at JBuggs but even they mention that those are for installing when selling the car, lol, not for keeping them a long time.

Need to find a quality rubber seal with those long tips...
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Drive safe,
Wachuko

1961 VW Beetle - Ownership Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711372

[wachuko]

I am still not using my beetle as a daily driver until I finish fixing all major things... but took it out again last night and it felt great no longer hearing weird noises like before... having the bumpers fixed in place, the alternator pulley replaced, and all exhaust leaks corrected made a world of difference! All I hear now is the engine fan whoosh... and even that might be mitigated once I install all the interior back...

Next on the priority list is getting the wiper motor working. Hopefully it is just a matter of connecting the wires and voila!

Will be doing the front brakes as well, just so that I know those were done... eventually I would like to install disc brakes in the front... no rush since car is braking fine as it is...

After that, I might just need to remove engine to check clutch and condition of transmission mounts. I want to get rid of the random shudder I get when taking off from a stop...

On another note, tried to install the inner squeegees for the driver and passenger side... no luck getting those wires to go in... I am going to order those from WW along with a new hood seal and hope that the ones they sell are a better fit.

Seat covers arrived... just need to take the seats apart and get the frames powder coated to tackle the install...
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Drive safe,
Wachuko

1961 VW Beetle - Ownership Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711372