Build/ restoration journal for 71 Beetle.

[yjuinn]

Hello ! had been lurking for a number of years and finally had something worthy to post about.

This thread's for me to document my build/restore process for this particular beetle; Eggsy. Feel free to throw in some constructive advice, follow along and hopefully I'm able to provide back to this community.

Eggsy was bought by my maternal grandmother back in 1972, the first car in her little village located in the hills of Malaysia. As far as I remember, the car had always been yellow (I'm now 26), but shows signs of a shoddy touch up, plentiful with drips and overspray.

Since I could drive, I've always looked after her car for her. And her words to me, "Since you love it so much, how about I give it to you next time?"

Its 2019, grandma's 90, admitting she's a tad too old for driving, she's finally handed its reign to me.

The bug got into an accident 2 years ago, spent half a year in a shoddy shack , a year of being parked, and the 6 months having the mechanical bits repaired properly.

It has been parked under shade for the past 30 years, but the past year+ of inactivity jammed the brakes and made it tough to get on the flatbed.

On the way to the workshop. Ran by three brothers who were VW mechanics back in the day and have since came out on their own, specialising in the air cooled variety for the past 40+ years.

Backdated to early May 2019.

Juinn[/img]

[VW_Jimbo]

Looks like fun! The car looks to be in great shape!
_________________
Jimbo

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

[jeremy.g]

Awesome!

I wish mine was that clean when I started. . .

-JG

[yjuinn]

[yjuinn]

The very day it got towed, this gentleman crawled underneath to take a look at my complaints. - pulls left very hard, lots of play in the steering, jammed brakes.

This gentleman does communicate closely with me, letting me know before changing any major components. And he doesn't use a smart phone hah.

Car was determined to be in a mechanically bad shape; its spent over 40 years somehow knocked together by someone who knows nothing about VWs.

Front beam was bent, ball joints were shot, steering box was broken as well. Other miscellaneous things were done as well: servicing, headlight stalk, speedo, shifter bushings, bonnet locking mechanism, cleaned out fuel tank, fixed the vent window, and window winders.

Backdated to mid June.

[yjuinn]

Before I go any further, I'd like to clarify that this is a budget oriented build. Super thankful I've started out with a good base, I'll try to do more things on my own, hopefully without having to buy lots of new parts.

First order of business was polishing all the chrome items, I believe they are all original German items.

Just before a quick wash inside. 2 were in near perfect condition while the other two are super dinged up.

I don't think they've ever been washed before, look at the build up of dirt/ brake dust. Blasted with brake clean to soften it, and scrapped of with a flat head.

A very brief polish to remove the surface stains, wash and second polish to make it really shine.

Chrome bumpers got some work as well.

Honestly, probably spent an hour a piece, but eyy, I didn't have a buffing wheel for the cordless screwdriver.

Got some new tyres, and hoping to start on seals within the next month or so.

[yjuinn]

Looking at the few pictures I have for this update, makes me realise I don't document the process enough !

An update from the polishing I did last post.

Washed the steelies, polished and waxed the caps.
Tinking about repainting the steel. Probably still a silver, should I go lighter or darker? Lemme know what you think.

Installation of Lapbelts. Airplane style buckles from ebay, Chineseium?

These are the stock locations for the bolts. Thankfully the centre tunnel already had a bolt I could bring to the shop as a reference. The hole on the outer side of the car is covered by fabric lining, feel for the whole and cut an X into the centre of the hole.

I'm in Malaysia, where most bolts are metric- mm and m5 m6 etc, but the Seatbelt threads are 7/16th fine thread. Use the Carbon steel (i.e. grade 5, grade 8 ones), avoid Stainless bolts as they tend to shear whereas carbon steel would bend first.

final product. Because of how far back the bolts go behind the seats, the belts are not long enough. Any chunkier and I wouldn't fit in them. Will definitely have new belts made for them.

[yjuinn]

Installation of Rear Quarter Windows

Had the rear windows cut out carefully from the inside. Made sure not to cut the roof liner.

Squeezing the crusty seals would make them crumble; thats how I removed the chrome trim.

Glass was first washed with dishsoap, melamine sponge and vinegar, and the tough bits scraped away with a shaving blade.

Chrome trimmed cleaned up. Covered with overspray, bits of adhesive and old seals. I tried Autosol and melamine sponges initially, but finally tried 2000g sandpaper to remove the tough ones, followed by autosol to finish it off.

The car was repainted atleast 30 years ago. A rush job, briefly taped up and sprayed over, thus the original paint underneath. Washed off some of the surface rust, and briefly sanded over where there was roughness in the paint. Atleast it won't be two colours of yellow with various specs of brown betweem.

Installation wise was a pain in the bum. Using shaft of the pen, here's the trick to laying strings deep in the groove. Silicon grease makes the line laying easy. Have the string go around twice is important. The first pass of the string generally sets it in, but a second pass ensures that its proper.

Had my brother pushing in on the glass while I was tugging the strings inside. Again, silicon lube is important, go HAM with it. Also had another line, meant to be pulled from the outside.

Completed ! All in was 4 hours for the first window, and 2.5 hours for the next. Its either door seals next, or sound deadening the rear panels.

What do you think so far? Any thing I can improve on to make this documenting process better?

[Rome]

You're doing very well with the actual car work, as well as with the documentation.

[yjuinn]

Finally got around to doing the door(s). Already plenty of great guides here, the one by mnussbau was good enough for the tear down - https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=335018, and Chris Vallone's videos on seals was fantastic.

Flathead wrapped in a rag made quick work of removing the door panels.

Paint scrapper made it a tad easier taking off the old deadening. Adding heat could've possibly made it easier? I went with solvent, making a gooey mess.

While I was in there, drilled 3 5mm holes for water drainage, scrubbed it with lots of soap to remove those 40+ years of dirt and grime. Flooded the lower part of the door until the water turned clear. Even then, had to wait for it to dry before vacuuming more bits out. And of course, prime the holes.

This is butyl based roof tape. 1.3kg per m2 of material. Many forums say 20% coverage is enough, while others say 100%. I went in between that and added the horizontal strips first. Knocked and didn't seem that significant until the vertical strips were added. For the other door, I'll try 1 layer of 100% coverage. It would've been the same amount of materials used anyway.


Seals were installed, as per Chris's videos. Glass was cleaned up with melamine sponge prior to reinstallation. This is how the mechanism was flexed backwards to prevent scratching the glass.

Everything was taken apart once more when I realised the window wouldn't go up, the felt channel that's supposed to clip onto this rail was the culprit.
I struggled most with this, and ended up using a tiny C-clamp to squeeze the channels in.

That was 2 weekday nights of work for 1 door. I think its over 10 hours oh man. End result : The windows are no longer leaking, door sills don't collect water, and the door slams shut without a metallic ring.

Not pictured - vent windows chrome was polished, but still waiting for my supplier's word for the rubbbers. Window visors were polished as well.

[yjuinn]

[yjuinn]

Took out the rear bench and back to add deadening but discovered Rust. I was devastated to see the rust , still hoping it won't be an engine-out affair.

It looked horrendous initially, as I vacuumed up the mess and cleaned it with a brass brush, it looked more like surface rust with brief spots of rust-through.

The few pieces of rust through was horrible.

Cleaned with thinner , followed by 2 coats of rust converter. The car was then jacked up on jack stands and wheels removed to access the bottom side. Rust converter was applied with paint rollers.

After the 2 coats had 2 days to cure, duct tape was applied to the bottom side of the holes, then had silicon caulk pumped in to close up the holes.

Masking tape was pushed on gently to spread it out more. Imagine how a rivet works, but caulk instead.

Roofing butyl tape was applied , similar to how Chris Vallone's videos does it. Again, prep the surface before you lay it on.

This is a sheet of 3/8" Air-conditioning insulation, cut to size. Applied with Dunlop contact adhesive, a foam brush would work best

After going for a drive, results are fantastic ! The creaks, bangs and squeaks going over bumps was terrifying, whilst engine noise use to come into the cabin very loudly, probably better than a modern day BMW After the insulating just the rear panel, all the suspension noise has gone away , while engine noise only comes in through the open windows.

For what's coming up next, the driver side door hasn't had its seals nor insulation. The passenger door done previously doesn't have the Foam insulation glued in yet.

[Chinaclipper]

I'm facing a similar repair.. But I am going to be a bit more aggressive. Did you just tape the holes shut and then cover with the butl tape?

That seems a little weak, strength wise doesn't it?

Don't let me tell you what to do, but will that hold up? If your package rack was like mine, the rust was very visable, and the holes were just the parts that were less thin then the others!

Seriously, I am here in the Midwest, and I am planning on either using a OEM piece of tin to repair, or an aftermarket piece. Either way, I am in for a LOT of metal renovation...

Just curious as to how this goes...Did I miss something?
Best
CC

[yjuinn]

[Chinaclipper]

Roger that!

I’m not gonna lie, I’m not looking forward to my package shelf restoration, but as you said, my AO requires a bit more metal between me and those salty roads!

Your work is non the less inspirational, I know we will meet again on a Samba.
Best,
CC

A little something I just picked up today from online

[yjuinn]

[yjuinn]

Its been some rather slow months. With my main ride acting up, it was choice of devoting time to the car that helps me make money, or the one that helps me spend.

Since the last update, I continued work on getting the seals onto the right door. Including quarter window seals. And since the windows were coming out, a glass polishing kit was used to really clean up the watermarks, caked on dirt and dried rubber bits.

Real satisfying process but darn if it didn't make a mess !

As you'd remember in the last update, there was insulation stuck onto the left door panels as well, that was also done onto the right door. This time, I took apart both doors and had weather proofing done so the door cards wouldn't warp as much.

Some new clips on the door card. Having half a mind to go ahead and make them out of a sheet of fibreglass.

I used drop sheets (from the painting section) as its rather thick. The plugs to on top of the sheets and hold them in firmly.

Also recruited the girlfriend to help with removal and installation of the rear windscreen. With my experience doing the 2 rear windows, this went by much quicker than expected. We only struggled and swore for 45 minutes before the glass popped in. The extra pair of hands has been a blessing.

With Chinese New Year just 2 weeks away, I've been getting the car back into tiptop condition before my grandma sees it for the first time since April/May 2019.

[lboos]

Yjuinn,
Hard work like your's always pays off, your bug look's great.

[miller0358]

Don't forget to let us know what Grandma thinks when she see's it

[Buggeee]

Looking Good!
_________________
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