Scrivyscriv's 1967 java green sunroof sedan (stock)

[scrivyscriv]

Sorry, can’t help myself! I had to fit check the seats, I was worried the powder would be too thick for the sliders but it turns out everything is just fine.
Here’s a detail up close of the pan welding... I would really have preferred to STRSW spot weld it all. The roloc sanding discs did a great job flattening the individual welds down but I did leave them all a little high on purpose.

Next step is seam sealing top and bottom. I’m using this 3M factory match:

3M Factory-Match Seam Sealer, 08323, 200 mL Cartridge
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[scrivyscriv]

Apparently I fooled myself in to thinking that I was ready to start assembling the chassis... turns out 95% of my parts are still in urethane high build primer and need to be scuffed, epoxied, and painted. Someone didn’t tell me I hadn’t painted them already

This is it.. today and tomorrow are probably the last good days for paint until spring. There’s a lot to do but I think I can get them all in gloss black single stage by this evening.
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[scrivyscriv]

Maybe it’s my gun.. maybe it’s my settings.. maybe painting base coat is harder than primer. I had a really hard time spraying the black without getting dry coats and orange peel. Seems like no matter how I adjusted my gun I couldn’t get a good wet coat!

If I can convince myself this paint is good enough, I’m ready to start putting the rear suspension and brakes on!
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[scrivyscriv]

Ok, I tried to talk my painter in to not painting again, but he was absolutely NOT HAVING IT. I’ve put too much effort in at this point to assemble parts with paint defects!
The first coat out of my new detail gun is flashing as I type. I got the Horrible Fright hvlp touch up gun with .8mm tip since the tip on my 1.6mm gun seemed like it was the problem... this gun has been awesome! I turned the air down and opened up the paint knob, going over most of the parts again up close. I’m pretty sure this will get the gloss i need!
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[scrivyscriv]

I feel a lot better about the paint this time, although it’s still not exactly what I was hoping for!
Satin looks a lot better than gloss on these parts FYI. I was disappointed to see that “por-15 shine” on my drum backing plates, because I can assure you, I spent MUCH more time on them than a quick wire brush and por 15 slap. Oh well. Moving on!
The detail/touch up gun is what I needed for these small parts. I was able to get close and keep the trigger on so my paint lines stayed wet! I started assembling the wheel cylinders and front backing plates. Here’s a side by side of old and new:

Back in my bay days I bought some caliper bridge seals from raygreenwood, who included some Porsche brake assembly paste... the bay is gone but I had some past left, so I used it to put the cylinders back together. P/N PCG-043-305-11 or 00004330511

The backing plates were dry so hey why not stab them? At work, one particular engine uses Hylomar Blue on the engine inlet-to-case bolts, to keep water out and corrosion at bay. Well.. this area on the backing plate is a great spot for corrosion too. I smeared a small amount on the faying surface of the wheel cylinder, just enough to keep that area dry but easily disassembled in the future

I still had some time after that🤙🏽
On to the adjusters.. they were snug and I had to clean some epoxy overspray out of the bores. There is a thin layer of epoxy on the adjusters and I also have em a DIY zinc plate.
Assembled, but not lubed yet:

The adjuster spring tab is missing on one side and my spare bay spring clips are a different style.
Next I moved on to the transmission mounts and stuff since they were all ready to go. I’ve got new Wolfsburg West front and rear mounts. The rears are stock soft which to me really doesn’t feel soft at all! Since I’m a fan of nut-and-bolt restorations (this isn’t a restoration), I was glad to see all the hardware cleaned up really well, especially these big honking special transaxle cradle bolts:

When I stabbed the transaxle with help from my two boys, I realized the frame horns would be in the way of installing the Weddle flange stiffeners, and since there’s no point in doing work twice I just left all the hardware loosely assembled at this point.

Here’s the current state of affairs...

It’s exciting being able to start reassembling things and installing parts now! I’ve never been at this phase of a VW project because it’s so easy to get stuck in the weeds of details and meaningless minutiae, and I have gotten burned out, lost interest, felt it was a financial burden, etc. so projects stopped moving at some point.
I think it’s important to mention the reasons this project is still moving... because the car was mostly complete and largely free of body rust, the challenges were way less than many of the guys I see posting here with major bodywork rust fixes.
✌🏾
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[scrivyscriv]

Install and adjust spring plates

There are tons of chassis parts laid out on the pans that really need to go somewhere before I can wipe down and seam seal. Here go the rear torsion bars and spring plates!
I saw a split bus topic a while back that started with the torsion tube and partial rear frame, stuck in the dirt for decades, and when the caps came off, the bars and inside of the tube were completely dirt and rust free. So evidently there's not a lot of opportunity for the tube to rust internally. However... you never really just pull the torsion bars out and inspect everything there for corrosion, ever. And when the torsion tube gets rust, especially on a bus, the whole thing is pretty much a loss... so in the spirit of general overkill, I acquired a can of 3M cavity wax + and applicator nozzles, also for use in the tunnel!

It foamed up quite a bit on initial application but the foam off gassed and shrank in volume significantly. According to 3M, three full passes is required for adequate, industry-standard corrosion protection.

After the Wax+, I powdered some donuts, and got to installing the bars!

It took some time to work out the spring plate angle and full disclosure I'm not 100% sure it's set right. I almost set it to the 17.5 degrees spec'd in Bentley, until I paged over a few more pages looking for torque specs and found there's a separate table with three different angles, depending on torsion bar length and if a Z-bar is installed. So, 20 ish degrees is my magic number, and I got as close as I could!

I don't know how everyone else pulls their spring plates up past the casting lower stop.. but this is how I did mine. The hi-lift jack works about as well as I'd expect for a rigged up tool. I also destroyed a heavy duty ratchet strap the first time around and abandoned that idea entirely, lol.

The Wolfsburg West torsion bar cap hardware is pretty good. It is actually a closer fit to 5/8" socket than a 15mm, which I found out after rounded a corner with the metric socket. The later Bentley lists 25 ft-lbs torque for the cap bolts, and although I'm almost positive I saw that spec in the blue Bentley, I couldn't find it. SO.. 25 ft-lbs, torqued to spec with new hardware, and the torsion bars and spring plates are done. A little bit of "appliance epoxy black" sprayed into a lid, then brushed on the few paint and powdercoat scrapes I made, and we're good to go.
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[scrivyscriv]

Hey guys!
I wanted to update, it's been five months since I last posted here. In that time I've had a timing guide break on my daily driver Ranger rendering it undriveable, had to rebuild two different transmissions for our family F150 and Expedition (I'm sensing a common brand name problem), swapped an engine, radiator, and exhaust out on a friend's Accord, started on our bonus room to make space for the five kiddos, fix a bunch of nickel and dime issues with the old 1958 tractor, and had to deal with a bunch of random stuff that pops up in between it all. So the beetle has been on back burner, patiently waiting for me to have time to put it back together.

Sometimes there's just too much that has to get done, and I get overwhelmed and can't figure out where to start.
Other times when I get a break, I just want to sit down with my coffee and enjoy time not fixing broken things.

If I go ahead and order the flange stiffeners, I could start slamming parts back together and get the pan seam sealed and back under the body. The very last chassis part I have NOT worked on yet is the front beam. The ball joints need to be pressed in, I need tie rod ends and a damper, and lastly I've got to clean up and paint the bare beam itself.
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[The Pilch]

This whole thread is quality - inspiring for myself too as I have the same happening with my 66. Thanks for sharing so much and keep it up your work is fantastic.
_________________
'85 Vanagon GL, weekender package, 1.9 wbx named Freddie/ '61 Beetle named Ringo/ '78 Dodge Monaco which is nothing like the Bluesmobile so please don't cast that oily rag upon it.

[scrivyscriv]

I noticed over the last few months the donor dual port engine completely leaked out all the oil I put in to test run it so tonight I welded up my engine stand and got the engine up to look through it.
Looks like the guy I bought it from had left a couple oil strainer nuts loose, my fault for not checking that prior to pouring oil in! Anyway, the heater box ends were completely corroded off and the whole engine looks pretty dirty so I started taking a few things off. I’ll get it down to the proverbial “long block” and start putting it back together with some of the good parts I’ve got waiting.
Lots of junk down under the cylinder tins, but otherwise I think it’s going to make a good engine to get this beetle moving. No thermostat or flaps but it does have a Hoover bit

_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[scrivyscriv]

This engine is checking out good so far!
First here’s a gratuitous shot of my engine stand. It’s a combo build/run stand but I realized last night the upper mount is too high to safely use.

I started on the 3/4 side and my goal right now is exclusively to clean up, inspect, and reassemble with new seals. This is NOT a rebuild! I don’t plan on sweeping the floor for this engine but it is just to get the car moving forward. Who knows maybe I’ll like it and keep it in the car
I think I mentioned before this is an AH code case, which means it’s a late model engine with deep studded #3, 8mm head studs, case savers, doghouse oil cooling, and dual oil relief.

I ruined a pulley at the junkyard once because I didn’t have a puller and even though I don’t plan on using this pulley, it’s not timed for the 205k distributor, I wanted to get it off without damage and it was TIGHT. This was the first time using my harmonic balancer kit, originally purchased to do the timing on our Ford Triton engines.

The heads are pretty dirty but there’s no internal corrosion. I doubt I will re use these rockers..who knows! I do have a really nice set of used Porsche swivel foot adjusters and clearanced rocker arms... although originally intended for the stock engine build, they may end up in this engine since I’m here.

Here’s my handy piston pin puller in use! I think I made this when I rebuilt my 1971 bus several years ago. It’s much better to pull a piston pin in or out than hammering it out with a drift. Hammering puts a side load on the big end rod bearings and that’s absolutely the very last thing our engines need with their propensity for rod bearing failure.

The cylinders were IND BRASILIA 85.5mm which indicates the engine has been rebuilt, or at least top ended, at least once, and is stock displacement. I debated with myself on pulling the heads off to replace the pushrod tube seals because it didn’t appear they were leaking. However old seals tend to suddenly fall apart after sitting for a long period and then put back in to service, like the front main seal earlier that crumbled while running. So in the interests of saving time and money in the future I started with the 3/4 side. #4 piston had a seized upper compression ring which wasn’t going to free up any time so even though I knew it would snap I pulled the rings off. Sure enough it snapped! Haynes manuals like to say that a piece of broken piston ring makes a great land scraper and they are sure right. Scraped the carbon right outta there!

My scale only goes down to 1 gram unfortunately but I did weigh the two pistons and their pins to make sure they’re at least within a gram. Both cylinders are drying right now with a medium coat of black spray paint. Once I get a set of rings in I’ll start putting it back together barring any unforeseen problems!
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[scrivyscriv]

I feel like I've been at this stage earlier on in the thread!

Let's all be collectively honest for a moment - I think everyone has seen "temporary" stuff go on for months or years even, and we all know "temporary" or "interim" in the VW world usually means "until it breaks and I'm forced to deal with it again."
It's in that spirit that I am cleaning up this donor engine. I really wanted to be as close to stock as possible - for no other reason than to reduce unknown variables when troubleshooting - so I took a deep dive into the single port engine that came with this bug. Half of the work is done already, but the remaining work is going to be expensive parts and I'm not ready to dump a grand or more into that engine at the moment. Heck the head work alone.. for STOCK SINGLE PORT HEADS... was almost $800 (Well worth it to me by the way).

I digress, so this donor dual port may stay in the vehicle for a while and there's just something really off-putting about crappy junky engine bays. Is that just me?
I'm glass beading all the parts for a dual port install. Most of them will get the same epoxy primer, filler primer, and 2k gloss black topcoat as the rest of my parts I've done so far. Why not powdercoat you might ask? I've had quite a lot of stuff powdercoated over the last several years and engine tins just don't seem to do well with it. Across the board I get chipping and peeling, but only on engine tinware. So after chipping the edges of some fairly expensive powercoated parts while fitting tin... I decided paint would be a better option for now.

Some of the guys here make hammercoat paint jobs look fantastic though, I've really thought about it but the full 2k paint system just seems like it will last longer.

The green/yellow tint on the aluminum castings is from the Alodine prep pen I've mentioned using on other parts in this thread.. just a good corrosion preventative measure for bare aluminum parts. I believe it works by forming a protective oxide layer on the surface of the aluminum, keeping oxygen, and therefore most forms of corrosion, away from the base metal. I can't recommend this type of treatment enough! Mag and aluminum have very finite life spans and it doesn't take long to start seeing corrosion craters all over.

Also check out the stove pipe preheat tube in the top photo, with that nice slice cut in it! Tell ya what these engines really love to saw things apart while running. I'm trying a new welding wire and it should be here this week for me to repair the damaged pipe.. It's an 11lb spool of Blue Demon ER70S-6 .023" dia wire. I've been wanting some for a couple years now.
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[Chickensoup]

Huh. Neat. Does the surface finish change if you polish the casting before hand? Either way looks good. Almost like the coatings on the old vw cases.
_________________
-'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"

[scrivyscriv]

Yup, it’s almost like a stain the way it goes on. I think it’s a very similar treatment but alodine is for aluminum, and I think the VW pickling chemicals were just for mag; I’ve never see any aluminum parts from VW with that color to them.. have you?
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[scrivyscriv]

Here’s my quarterly update!

I meant to seam seal right after powdercoat, there was just too much going on and I’m finally getting it done today. I chose 3M factory match 08323 based on its description of a slow flowing black sealant

Taping on a floor pan is kind of weird and awkward because of all the stamping features and the seat track location... it helped control the mess but I waited to pull the tape off until I was finished seam sealing, and I should have removed it a few minutes sooner! The sooner the tape is pulled the cleaner of a flow out line there is. I did use a clipped acid brush to work the goop into the seams and all the brush strokes flowed right out.

The tech sheet insert said to scuff up the surfaces prior to application and to be completely transparent I only partially scuffed, using the recommended maroon scotch brite hand pad. There was just so much surface area to scuff! The sealant also doesn’t go that far either. I used up 90% of the cartridge and still need more to finish under the pans.
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[scrivyscriv]

I’ve had the stainless brake lines for a while and today I started putting them in. I made a little straightening jig out of to routed 2x4s in a vise and it sort of worked but I think there’s just not really a good way to unbend metal tubing. Thankfully the stainless is fairly soft and it went back mostly straight.

I also rolled out a 1/8” copper tubing alongside the brake line and plan to use that for a mechanical engine oil pressure gauge. Next I have a bunch of type K thermocouple extension wire that I bought back in my bay days! It’s really thin maybe 24ga solid wire. During floor pan prep I drilled an extra hole adjacent to the main brake line hole in the rear so it’s fully powder coated and ready to take the thermocouple wire and/or oil pressure tubing.

Running wires and plumbing never really looks exciting at this point in a build I get it. But it’s stuff that has to get done to move down the road!
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[scrivyscriv]

Man that main brake line for the rear brakes is a lot of work to get right! It would have been a lot more challenging with regular 304 stainless though
I started at the back with my bends and worked my way up to the master cylinder. Ideally a tighter bend radius would look better!

I never really cared for the brake line routing by the pedal cluster.. I ran a fairly snug PET wire loom over it where it will see the most foot wear.

Hopefully these old brake light switches will hold up! One is aftermarket, the other is a VW ATE switch. After a little cleanup I swapped them over from the old master cylinder... they couldn’t be any worse than the current leaky aftermarket switches.

Went ahead and got the new clutch and accelerator cables in and bolted up so hopefully they give me a long service life!! When I was stabbing the pedal cluster in I realized the blue Bentley doesn’t have a pedal pushrod length, not sure why but the photo calls out the “a” dimension of the push rod but doesn’t say what the measurement is! So.. orange Bentley to the rescue.. it says the pedal has to be a minimum of 7 and some change inches from the bulkhead after the free play is adjusted (with the stop).

So about that stop! Wolfsburg West mentions somewhere that the brake pedal stop they include with their floor pans has to be used since the welded in nut is in a different location from stock; I think to accommodate multiple years in one pattern. Anyway so the old stop won’t fit at all which is fine, the original one was in rough shape.

Ordinarily that would be great but the problem is their pedal stop adjustment groove was machined too far to the left and not far enough down. Honestly I think I just look for excuses to use my vertical mill now so even though I’d already painted the stop, off to the mill we went!

First I extended the slot, and machined it slightly more to the right.

Sorry if this gets into the machinist nerd weeds.. I thought about grinding or sanding the edge to help up drop into its location on the pan, but since I was already at the mill I set up to take 0.10” off the side.
First set it square in the vise

Then zero the dial indicator on one end, and run the slide down to the other end and see if I’m still at zero. I was off by about 0.010” from level so I gave it a tap and checked again... it came out flat within about 0.003” which is fine for what I’m doing.

I made five passes taking 0.020” each time and here’s the finished part:

You can kind of see the area I extended is slightly offset from the original groove.

So overall it’s not that much of an adjustment but having a mill and maybe a belt grinder make it a lot cleaner than just trying to hog out the slot with a die grinder or a drill bit.

Last couple of photos from finishing up:

_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[scrivyscriv]

First of all - OOPS!
I messed up the routing on the front to rear brake line I installed yesterday!! I misunderstood one of the photos in the Bentley book that showed it running diagonally under the pedal cluster, and made my diagonal bend too far aft which puts it directly under the driver’s heel. I even mentioned in my post that I didn’t like the routing! It’s because I did it wrong!

I’ve seen that mistake done before which makes it worse so oh well, there goes my nice looking bend. THANKFULLY this is a soft stainless so I was able to use a hammer handle to maneuver it in position under the accelerator pedal.

Routed better, not great, but it will be ok. I ran my two K thermocouple extension wires for CHT and the copper oil pressure capillary tubing and tidied it all up. The issue I’ve run in to making things look nice is often the clean look isn’t conducive to maintenance down the road, like sleeving everything or using lots of adhesive shrink tubing on wires, so this time I am trying to be mindful of working on any of these parts in the future.
I like to rob grommets and wiring and little bits and pieces from scrapped Vws and that’s where I got my fancy VW grommet to run CHT and oil pressure through!

When I started to run the heater cables I realized there was still glass bead media in the tubes
It wasn’t a big deal to clean them out, and instead of greasing them right away I used my 3M Cavity Wax+ to fill them all up. I’ll grease them later, maybe. I had wanted to install the shift rod prior to using cavity wax inside the tunnel, and it went in easily through the solid bronze bushing I circlipped in a few months ago.

I ran out of the Cavity Wax+ before getting a full three passes, you can sort of tell it didn’t hit the top of the tunnel as much as the sides and bottom.
That CRC corrosion inhibitor is similar to a type we use at work in a few specific applications.. I generally see this stuff applied as a film to inner airframe structures, on top of a primer coat. Most inside structures on aircraft are not painted, only treated with a chemical etch and primed with a corrosion resistant primer. I applied the CRC as an aerosol film to the brake master cylinder, front brake lines, and a bit on the frame head area. I’ll put more down as we get closer to driving the bug because it does tend to be a little sticky or tacky even after setting up, which will end up covered in dust and misc junk.

Last thing...I installed the 4AN bulkhead fitting for the tunnel fuel line, blew the line out and pressure checked it briefly before capping both ends off.

_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[Chickensoup]

dont sweat it bro. I did the same thing when i routed my brake line. Just a goof up. brake line is cheap... and malleable.
_________________
-'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"

[scrivyscriv]

Well, we turned the pan over yesterday afternoon so I can seam seal the underside!

I love a fresh, clean underbelly!
Unfortunately I found a mistake I made on the driver side jack point. The spot welds did not adequately penetrate in one area and I forgot to mig weld the jack point to the pan like VW did. The passenger side is good - I mig welded it correctly - but I must have overlooked this side.

The best option is going to be welding it back in place and just work hard at controlling temperatures so the surrounding powdercoat isn’t destroyed in the process. I used the 3M panel bond at this location and it has completely failed, quite an interesting observation!

_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[sportin-wood]

Glad you caught the jack point issue when you did, instead of down the line when you put any weight on it. Looking good!
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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