Dougs 56 build

[Volksvr6gti]

new to the forum and starting a build so I figured I would make a thread as a spot to ask questions and get answers during my build process. been on the water cooled side for quite some time and decided to do my first air cooled this round. A few months back I picked up a 56 matching numbers from Georgia. This car was originally from Jacksonville (which is where I live) and I decided to bring it back. Previous owner was moving a different direction than I intend and now I am working to get it back to what I would consider nice. First thing I decided to do was build a body dolly to aide in the body off Resto. over the past few days I have made a decent amount of progress of starting to strip the undercoating, and so far so good. Pans and heater channels are in awesome condition. Here is the 56 the day I picked it up.

the body dolly I built:

here is the chassis removed where you can see the undercoating prior to starting the removal process:

here is the progress I have made on it so far. Once it is fully stripped I plan on POR-15.

I worked on the bumpers this week. When I purchased the beetle the previous owner gave me 3 front and 3 rear bumpers. I took them all apart and found the best pieces from each and began to build and polish to make one pretty nice set. They are not perfect by any means; however, I can't complain on how they came out.

I also worked on polishing the running boards, which just needed a little touching up but came out nicely

lastly here is an undershot of the heater channel which pretty much looks identical on both sides of the beetle. They are in great shape

all in all a solid 56 to start with. I hope you all will enjoy this build as it progresses and I thank you for your help and assistance with any questions and answers in advance.

[ZENVWDRIVER]

VERY SOLID '56 - pretty neighborhood too.
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5/50, pastel green 11G - SOLD
8/50, gray 11A Beetle
6/52, pastel green 11C - SOLD
11/4/52, black Zwitter - SOLD to my little bro.
1954 Porsche, pre A, with VW 36 horse- SOLD
1/54, black 11C Beetle - TRADED
2/55 Iceland green Beetle, on a 1965 pan
3/55 113 Beetle, stratos silver
1955 Messerschmitt KR175 - SOLD, sadly
1960 single cab
1962 SO33, with SO 42 interior
9/63 Pacific blue, Ghia
'87 Toyota MR2
'02 WestFORDia E-150, GAVE TO OUR SON

All super-heroes, wear a MASK

[txoval]

Definitely clean car. The fenders look like fiberglass and the rears are an inch or two wider than stock.

With it that far down, I’d recommend removing the front end, transaxle, and rear suspension. Then you could spray on the POR15 or get the pan powdercoated

[Volksvr6gti]

thank you for the compliments. Yes the fenders are unfortunately fiberglass and I have been working to try and locate a good set of originals; however, having some difficulty in that field. End goal I would def like to source a set of bullet fenders and also obtain a set of rears as well. The bullets have proven to be near impossible to find so I have been keeping an eye open for a good set once they pop up. Been to junk yards locally and nothing of value.

Tomorrow I will be working to get the transaxle off and rear suspension and also plan to get the front off here as soon as possible. I have nearly finished removing all the top side undercoating... but still have a few areas to touch up with a smaller brush.

Also what’s everyone’s ideas on removing the chassis center channel tar boards and por-15 that as well?

[VW_Jimbo]

Welcome to the Samba! Lots of good folks here and plenty of knowledge!

Looks like a solid car to start a decent project with. It will be fun to watch it go through its stages.

Klassicfab sells some decent stuff. I do manufacture fenders, but do not think they have the bullet fenders. Might be worth asking them though! Here is a link to their rear fenders.
https://www.klassicfab.com/product-category/type-1-beetle/rear-fenders/oval-fenders-rear-fenders/

Good luck! I will be following along!
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Jimbo

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

[Volksvr6gti]

Thanks for the response to the fenders. I did come across klassicfab website and saw some post on here and they seem to be a good alternative. I’m going to hold off for a little while though as the prices are fairly high for all 4 fenders. I am going to keep an eye out for a set of originals to maybe pop up. If nothing does I may bite the bullet and drop some cash with klassic. Just rather use the $2000 on something more productive on the rebuild

[billb]

[Volksvr6gti]

Yeah we will have to see when the time comes to do the bodywork / fenders. Right now my focus is on the chassis
Today I was able to get the front beam and the transaxle off and placed the chassis on a set of rolling dollies. This should make it a bit easier to work on.

[VW_Jimbo]

Just so you are aware. Those pans look like replacement pans meant for later years. If you are going for a “nuts on the money” restoration, you might want to change those. It would not bother me, but some people look down on using later pans in an earlier Bug. Oval pans have a large curved portion at the battery area.

Looking good! Is the tyranny built. It looks like the one side cover is aluminum?
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Jimbo

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

[Volksvr6gti]

I didn’t know that about the oval pans, but I don’t think that I’m going to get too nitty gritty on it. I will leave these pans as they are in great condition. As for the tranny it is a Rancho tranny, but I do have the original tranny as well I’ll snap some more piks later today

[sunroof]

Better make sure about the pans. I'm pretty sure they changed to the style you have in 55 or 56. Also: POR 15 may not be your best choice. POR means Paint Over Rust, if you're not painting over rust it will have adhesion problems. It may or may not stick. I've painted a few pans with it and it forms a super hard surface when it works but on clean metal I've seen it fail. Good luck with the build. I'm lucky that my car is completely original but sadly it is badly rusted.

Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[Volksvr6gti]

After looking into the pans I went and checked out klassicfab and for 53-57 pans they have these:

Which look pretty much like mine:

I am not noticing much of a difference if any. What’s your thoughts

[VW_Jimbo]

Sorry man. Thought it looked different from one of the earlier photos. What you have are correct and look good! Carry on.

On the pan painting. If you wanted to paint them. Eastwood sells some nice chassis paints. You could use Naval Jelly on the pans, which would turn any rust into iron oxide, then paint it with a chassis paint. Might need a primer before, but the directions would be the official guide.

https://www.eastwood.com/paints/under-car-coatings/chassis-frame-paints.html
_________________
Jimbo

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

[Dan22]

Strange that Klassic Fab messed up on the dates for the compatible panels. That style you show and they list is for MY 56 and later.

All 54 and 55 are the "53" style where the battery area is much more forward.

[Volksvr6gti]

woo relief on the floor pans lol. yeah klassicfab shows the other pan dates from 1949-1952 and 1953 - 1957. well next step is to finish off the top side of this pan and flip it over and knock out the bottom side. As for the POR15 comment about not sticking to the clean surface that is free of rust; their product "metal prep" states that it is used for shiny and polished metal surfaces and will create a slightly rusty surface perfect for por15 coating. so whats the pro / con benefits of applying POR15 vs painting? from what I had gathered POR created a harder and stronger surface coating that would hold up well.

[Keith]

[Volksvr6gti]

What’s the opinions on removing all the original tar boards from this center tunnel of the chassis and cleaning the metal up and painting? Does this help / hurt value of car. Is it preferred to leave it alone and keep the originality of the car?

[djfordmanjack]

I believe that your chassis has never been welded. orginal floors also, you can see the early 'nipples' where the og rubber floor mats are attached. Battery tray area looks great and correct even down to the small latch for the battery hold down strap and the long and narrow bead from the tray area to the ribbed section. compare this to the wide bead on the KF pan metal. yours should be correct for a 56.
Considering how nice the pans are and that the center tunnel tar mats are mostly intact, imho would leave them in place I highly doubt there is any rust under them at all. seeing how clean the body mount flanges are on your pans.
You will hardly find a similar material to the og tar mats today and it sure helps in quieting things down. it would be a mess to remove
you could just brush paint over the mats with some flatblack, just to seal up the surface and keep it from disintegrating and leaving debris all over those freshly painted floors. I think you should use epoxy paint for the floors. they look clean enough. nice oval project btw !
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[Volksvr6gti]

I actually looked back on my emails from the person I purchased the beetle from and he had actually wrote exactly what you pretty much just stated. These are the original floors. Little history on the car is that it was original to Florida, and original owner had it for 30+ years. It then was sold to a guy in Georgia who held onto it for a short time and he then sold it to the guy I bought it from. This person had it for the past 14 years and really didn’t get around to restoring it.

I think I am also on the same page of keeping the original tar boards. You are prob correct that if the floor boards are in such good shape the tunnel most likely is as well. Plus I would like some originality to remain. I may take your advice and just hit it with a little flat black to at least keep it from falling apart and to help keep it preserved.

[Cr430c]

Awesome find. Look forward to seeing how the build progresses. Awesome job on the chrome. Gives me hope. What product are you using? Buffing wheel on drill as well?