Jeremy.G's 1973 Super Beetle restoration

[grandpa red]

[TK-CS]

[jeremy.g]

Wow, good eye TK! Yep it sure is. Guess I'll be drilling and welding a new pin in place.

Meanwhile I stripped the transmission to 'fairly' clean:

Then I hit it with a quick coat of metallic silver/aluminum. Cuz why not?

-JG

[Gbanci]

I have taken on a similar project, 79 super convertible, with a lot of rust repair. Your work is very inspirational! I will be watching your build process and possibly starting a post to cover mine. I think you have me beat with the chassis rust, but I can't imagine your body having more rust than mine. LOL.

Anyway I just wanted to say that this is very impressive so far, and I look forward to seeing more!

[Buggeee]

[jeremy.g]

Thanks Buggee! The painted trans will give me something to admire while I'm crawling around under the car looking for oil leaks.

Gbanci- Welcome! Yes, please start a post about your '79! I'd love to follow along and cheer you on. Maybe when we're done we can weigh all the scrap we cut off our beetles to see who wins the 'most rust' game.

Hey Red- Yeah, I had trouble figuring out how that pedal spring was supposed to install too. I kept trying to put it in backwards. I think this is how it goes...

Here's the spring with pedal removed for clarity. The short leg points DOWN towards the floorpan:

With the pedal installed, you lift up the long leg of the spring and tuck it behind the little tab:

Like so. This way it pulls the pedal forward to contact the roller:

I'm still waiting for my brake parts, so I tinkered with some other areas.
I fixed that handbrake pin that TK-CS noticed was broken/missing.
I just drilled a new hole, made a pin to fit and hammered it home:

The pin is tight, but I'll probably zap it with a tack weld to make sure it stays put.

Remember when I mentioned my transmission had trouble going into Reverse gear? I suspected something might be odd with the geometry of the 'modified' shift coupler that came with the autostick-conversion-kit. So I decided to replace the coupler, shifter, and shift rod with stock parts made for the Manual transmission.

I found this shift rod on the Classifieds. It's supposedly from a '73 beetle and looks correct. Here it is on the right, with the standard 'unslotted' cup. (auto-sticks have slotted cups)

The Autostick rod is shorter, which is why it needs the modified (lengthened) coupler when swapping in a Manual gearbox:

My newly acquired shift rod was a lot rustier than I had hoped, but cleaned up nice with some 500grit (and oil), and a trip on the buffer:

Much better. Ready to grease it up and send it down a dark tunnel.
But first, maybe a new shift coupler? Yeah, looks about time to replace:

Oh, and here's my new (old) shifter I picked up on the cheap. I plan to install a really nice shifter eventually (Berg? Hurst?) but this will suffice as I troubleshoot my reverse issue. Needs to be cleaned up a bit first:

Slowly but surely. . .

-JG

[vamram]

[jeremy.g]

Glad the pics were useful, Victor! I'm happy to hear I wasn't the only one confused by that spring.

Hurricane Dorian delayed my shipment from TopLine (Curses!) so I'm still waiting on my rear brake kit.

So, I piddled around with the heater cables a bit more.

The black conduit for the front heater cables was pretty trashed:

Nobody sells a ready-made replacement for these conduits but something called "cable housing" made for bicycle shifter cable is a good replacement. I bought the 4mm OD stuff, which is about the right diameter. You have use the metal hardware from your old cable, but it's pretty easy to pry the pieces open and stick 'em on the new cable with pliers:

Oh, and the shift lever is blasted/painted/greased/installed.

-JG

[jeremy.g]

Oh! I also bought and applied some of this expensive goop.

I tried to apply it as neatly as Buggee did.

I'll let it dry and then slap some more epoxy over it.

-JG

[jeremy.g]

It's one of those "two steps backward" kind of days.

I tried to get German ball joints and wheel bearings, but failed miserably.

The Mayle ball joints I bought have German writing on the box, but are also labeled, "Product of China".

My F.A.G. brand wheel bearings are stamped, "Vietnam".

Also: Most of the stick-on weights adorning my freshly balanced wheels have fallen off.

I suppose I'll install the Chinese/Vietnamese parts and hope for the best. And find a shop to hammer old-style weights onto my nice clean powder coated wheels.

Blah.

-JG

[VW_Jimbo]

I hear you! But you have to have a day like that, to fully relish in the happiness of a truest good day. It’s the ying and the yang! Enjoy it all is my motto. Having gotten close to not breathing, I have learned to enjoy it all. I may not like some of it, but I still enjoy it all.

But it still sucks when shit happens!!!!
_________________
Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[MACJELLY58]

Mr. "G"

You still beat my, "One step forward and three GIANT leaps back!". It hurts more when I know it's my fault. But, like JIMBO says, It's all good. Otherwise we'd all just buy a finished VW.

Great successes! Always moving forward.

[jeremy.g]

Thanks fellas. Wise words Jimbo- They can't *all* be good days.
And these setbacks are super trivial in the grand scheme of things.
Sometimes it just feels good to complain (haha!)

Oh well- Moving on. Dropping off the wheels for re-balancing today.

I didn't get the rear wheels installed as I'd hoped, but at least got most of the rear brake components in place. Which is encouraging:

You'll notice an axle nut is missing. I have no idea what I did with the darn thing. I just ordered a replacement.

One more thing to complain about!

-JG

[Paul Windisch]

[jeremy.g]

Ha! Ain't that the truth Paul?

Well, on to some more fabrication while I wait on parts.

These little nubs that hold the bump-stops on seem to be a common rust casualty. One of mine was missing completely and the other holding on by a rusty thread. Popped right off with little force:

I've seen these replaced lots of ways on other threads. I happened to have a piece of 1" steel pipe lying around so I decided to give that a shot:

I hit the end with a torch and tapped it over into roughly the same profile as the original piece. Then I stuck a piece of round bar inside to give me something to forge to.

Then a bit of localized heat to tap in the shoulder.

Until I end up with this:

It looks about right. I'd like to hacksaw it off and weld it in place, but I think I'll wait until my rubber bump-stops arrive so I can check the fit first. So I'll make one more, and then back to waiting on parts. (Sigh. . .)

-JG

[VW_Jimbo]

WOW!!!!

Okay I rarely, if ever, get flabbergasted. But - DAMN!

DUDE, THAT IS SOOOOO F’N COOL!!!! I wanna do that!

WOW! If it fits the first time....WOW!!!!

Thanks for that! That, to me, is talent, skill and hard learning. I get it and truly am loving seeing this! Very cool!
_________________
Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[MACJELLY58]

Another WOW!! from me.
You make it look like Magic or Cloning!


Sooo, super cool

[TK-CS]

Awesome!
_________________
AC:
'71 1600LE (Type 3 Notchback FI/AT) Sunroof
'75 1303 (Super Beetle) 1600DP, Sunroof
WC:
'77 Audi NSU Ro80
'88 GTI 16V
'91 Corrado G60
Daily:
'04 Passat Wagon 2.0TDI
'13 Passat Wagon 2.0TSI

[dubsteez79]

If you didnt want to chance messing up the finish on everything else, You could weld a flat piece on the bottom of what you just made, and drill through it and the part of the frame, tap it and bolt the thing down. Using small bolts would make it pretty easy to do. At the same time, covering the majority of the chassis and burning that nub on wouldnt be that difficult either. lol. Ya got options anyways
_________________
It drinks the coffee.
Then Engineers the things.
Then drinks the beer to forget the things.

[jeremy.g]

Thanks for the kind words, guys!
And Jimbo- glad you got a kick out of the pipe trick. I do enjoy a bit of fire-and-hammer work.

ds79: That's a keen idea. I actually had trouble welding in the first one because the mig tip is too fat to get close enough. So I used a variation of your idea on the second one.

I cut some tabs with a hacksaw and bent 'em over:

This allowed me to use a big sloppy weld from the inside. I just stuck in the mig and let 'er rip. Like a 3000 degree caulking gun:

Bets of all, it fits! I stuck it on with some silicone, hoping that would help repel water (and future repairs like this)

Oh and I put on a shock, just for fun. Rear end is getting close. . .

-JG