My 64 Notchback S rescue. (The Un-Cal-Looking of a car)

[lawn ninja]

I figured I'd start a new project thread here to document the build on my 64 notch. I just picked it up on Monday and I will start tearing things down on it pretty shortly.

So I picked up this car because it seems to have good bones. The PO stated that he had all the rust repair done in 2008 and replaced the pan halves at that time as well. The pan halves were done with Gerson parts so that seems like a good start. The car was also painted and converted into an "EV" at that time as well. The EV conversion was essentially an oversized golf cart conversion.

There are some serious basketcase things going on with the car and the modifications to it are not my style, so I'll be changing a lot of things. It's not going to be a 1500 club car by any means but it will be stock but "slightly" modified. It's how I build my cars. You can look at my past projects to see how I bastardize things.

The initial plan is to clean the existing paint up so it looks clean (read: color sand and buff), then build the car completely out the way I want it to be. That includes changing the interior back to something resembling stock, getting an air cooled motor in it, fixing the wheel situation, etc... Then once my son and I get the car together we'll likely just drive it around to shows and events for a bit until I can save up for body work and paint.

So the first stage of this will obviously be tearing the interior out, pulling panels and going through the mechanicals to make sure it is safe to drive with my kids. Then I need to build a motor, he gave me a 64 1500 type 3 case. But I'm not planning on building a 1500 for it and I'd hate to kill a nice stock case. So I'll probably sell it. Then I'm gonna sell a bunch of the other parts too, it should help fund things. In any case I left a couple of links of prior builds of mine. Photobucket probably killed most of the threads but I'll leave them anyways. I'm glad to be back in a type 3, they are my favorite of all the VW's.

My 58 bug build...

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=332247&highlight=

My 63 ghia buildup. This one I stopped posting about so there is a lot I did that isn't in the thread.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=576176&highlight=

Here was my old 356 that I sold in 2016. No thread on it, but the pic is still the background on Bring a Trailer when you search for 356's

And then last but not least, some pics of the the notch on the trailer and moved from one dark hole to another.

On the trailer and ready to drag home

As you can see not a bad start, but many things need to be "fixed". apologies in advance if you saw these pics in my "looking for a notch" thread but I just wanted to start an official project thread.
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Jason

My 64 1500 S Notchback project here
My 58 sedan project here
My 63 Ghia here

[Jason37]

Those seats are awful.

But based on your previous work the notch is in great hands!

[lawn ninja]

[lawn ninja]

So just a small update. I haven't started pulling the car apart yet or anything really fun, but I did start doing some things for it. I placed a couple of orders with ISP for stuff I know I'm going to need without digging too deep. The first order arrived yesterday and while I haven't unpacked it all, the pics give you an idea of what I got for it. I have another small order coming today.

This weekend I'm heading up to a place out here called Bug Acres. They are in the process of closing down right now but they have a few Type 3's left and I'm hoping to score a motor and some small stuff. If anyone is looking for anything let me know and I'll keep an eye out for it.

Another thing the PO did was when he converted it to EV he cut out the rear luggage compartment area, including the bracing, just ahead of the engine lid. So I want to find a whole new section for there. It also looks like he may have cut out the rear parcel shelf, so I may be going down that road too. I'm going to start pulling the interior out of this weekend so I can sell some of the parts and see where I'm at with metal work. If anyone has any of the metal I'm talking about let me know. I'd like to put OG metal in it if I can vs. making something. I'd love to just put it in like the factory so you can't tell it was ever butchered.

Well here are the pics of the stuff in boxes, not much but it will give you an idea of where I'm going. I'll take more pics at Bug Acres this weekend so y'all can see what's there.

Nothing too exciting, just window trim

stock headliner so I can de-abortion the inside of this poor car.

Stainless steel molding kit, running boards and belt line trim

Box of goodies. There is a new wiring kit, lenses for around the car, rubber seals, pop out frames, etc... Some good stuff in this box.
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Jason

My 64 1500 S Notchback project here
My 58 sedan project here
My 63 Ghia here

[notchboy]

Gona make it look sick like the bug? Let me know if you need anything and keep me in mind on that OG case if you want to let it go brother.

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[lawn ninja]

[lawn ninja]

Ok, so a first weekend update for it. It's been raining off and on today so I got limited work done, but I pretty much took a big chunk out of what I can get done right now. My two car garage is waiting for me to seal the floors before I put it in where it's permanent home is going to be. So I have it in my one car for the moment. That means if I want to do anything it has to roll outside. So I'm limited on what I can do for the next few weeks. So once my two car is done the full teardown starts.

My son and I also went to a place called Bug Acres here in Central TX, they had a few Type 3's so if you see parts let me know, I may be able to go get them for you. In any case I threw those pics in too. On to the car pics!

I uncovered the armrests and it looks like the factory metal is in tact and in really good shape. Depending on what I do I may shape some foam and reupholster them again. Or I may search out clean original stuff, haven't decided yet.

Car looks to be originally Sea Blue.

Here you can see the EV butchery. I'm going to need all this metal so if you guys have any leads on some, I'm all ears. So far I figure I need the upper rear parcel shelf, bracing, and luggage compartment floors. Do you guys see anything else?

Properly gutted all the interior, pulled the covers off the back seat and pushed it back into it's dark hole, until next time.

Put the seats in the other garage. Trying to keep them as far away from the Notch as possible. Hopefully they aren't a bad influence on my Mercedes.


And here are the pics of Bug Acres.

_________________
Jason

My 64 1500 S Notchback project here
My 58 sedan project here
My 63 Ghia here

[notchboy]

This stuff very closely matches the original grain and color of the the dash, arm rests and all pebble grain materials in the cabin. Its 4 way Stretch.

https://www.sailrite.com/EverSoft-Indoor-Outdoor-Black-54-Vinyl-Fabric

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[lawn ninja]

Outstanding, thank you for that. I'll have to pick up a few yards of it.
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Jason

My 64 1500 S Notchback project here
My 58 sedan project here
My 63 Ghia here

[Bobnotch]

Are they (Bug Acres)willing to cut some of metal for you? Just asking, as you've got a few cars to get metal from, and could save you some real money on shipping. Those Squarebacks would be good for floor metal (might be dented though as they live a hard life). A Fastback would be a good source for the rear shelf with some trimming. An alternative is shipping some Notch metal from Joel (Boo-Koo-Z ), as he advertises in the classifieds.
Looks like you've got a nice solid project to work with. Doing the metal fab work will take the longest time.
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Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[lawn ninja]

[Bobnotch]

Like I said, check into it and see if they'll do some cutting, or let you do the cutting (cut it bigger). Shipping big pieces of metal can get expensive. If you're working some place that has a hi-lo, then truck shipping is the way to go. Just a thought. I only mention shipping, as I live about 70 miles north of Detroit, so I basically have to have stuff I need shipped to me. It wasn't bad when my dad lived in Texas, as I could get some clean solid metal. Sometimes we'd even bring back a Texas car loaded up with sheet metal just to help pay for the trip.
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Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[lawn ninja]

Alright y'all, I have literally been crushed by the heavy hand of work for the past few months. I've been at home a day or two a week and the rest of the time I've been travelling. I have been stockpiling parts though. I do need some help from the forum though and I hope you guys might have some leads for me.

I am in need of a late model engine for this car. I just need a rebuildable core with all the parts. I want a late model because I want the dual relief case and all the dual port tins. I'm planning on tearing down and rebuilding whatever I get but the late model also nets me the larger oil galleys and bigger pump.

I know someone out there has a lead on one. There is a couple for sale back in Jersey but the guy has absolutely horrible feedback on here and I'd rather not play that game.

It does look like I may get the month of August to play around, so hopefully I get some time to work on my garage and start the teardown of the car, finally.
_________________
Jason

My 64 1500 S Notchback project here
My 58 sedan project here
My 63 Ghia here

[nogoodwithusernames]

[lawn ninja]

First of all I want to say thanks to everyone out there who has helped me gathering parts for this thing. You guys have been a great help and I appreciate the support from the community.

With that being said I have finally started to work on the car. It sat around all summer while I pushed it back and forth from garage to garage. I built out the garage it's going to live in mostly and I have been crazy busy with work. Travelling all over the country to start up new accounts, but it pays for this stuff so I can't complain.

I started the teardown at the end of December, but have only been getting a day here and a day there, and not even full days. But things are starting to settle into a groove, for the moment, so I should be getting some more work done.

The guy who built this car. He should really stay away from them if you ask me. This car is so hacked together I'm glad I've decided to deep dive this poor car. So anyways, you can see some of his "work" in the pics to include his "metal work". Overall I'm just glad the car is as solid as is it is. I haven't found very much rot yet. But we're still early. I can see why no one wanted to buy this car though...

So this is just an update with pics of the teardown. The motor I put in is a boat anchor that is rusted together that I'm going to strip for parts. Everything I don't need will be put in the classifieds to help other people out hopefully.

Started by tearing out all the glass and taking apart the dash. My garage was still a work in progress at this point, please excuse the mess.

black silicone to hold the windows in, neat.

bye bye cal look rubber

Hot glue, also neat.

US fenders with hacked in marker lights.

He didn't even bother to make sure they were the same side to side, let alone correct spacing from the edge of the fender.

"metal work"

boat anchor installed. I did it to get some preliminary measurements
_________________
Jason

My 64 1500 S Notchback project here
My 58 sedan project here
My 63 Ghia here

[Jason37]

So what are the plans for the motor, with the late engine bay duals shouldn’t be a problem. And I’m not sure if I would have rather had the “metal work” over the monofoam and fibreglass used to repair my 69.

[Rome]

Is Bug Acres still open so that you can go back and get your donor metal? In the photos you posted, are rattlesnakes a possible threat when you're scouting around the cars? I'd also recommend pulling the interior wiring harness from the best car; the one in your car was an attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill unless the electro-PO needed so much more for the electric conversion systems.

Any usuable stock front seats at the yard? If no lowbacks, then you could buy the high-backs, strip off the upholstery, cut off the headrest pipes and weld in a lowback-style crossbar made of scrap pipe. Bobnotch has probably done that. Though having highbacks with headrests would be a safety bonus.

"Boat anchor" engine? With some elbow grease those engine tins can be made presentable again. Does the engine/crankshaft rotate?

[ataraxia]

If you're really 'in' it - I wouldn't bother with trying to remove an old harness from a donor car - buy a new one with new grommets. They're not that hard to install.

[Rome]

^ good recommendation; since the harnesses from even the latest, original Type 3 will be 50 years old by now and have inevitable oxidation in the connections between the wires and the spade connectors. Though such oxidation can be remedied with various home-brew solutions. We also see material brittleness in the connections so that at first appearance a connector seems OK but with just a normal wiggle/pressing, it can break. The labor will actually be less to fit a new harness, since you won't need to take the original one out of the donor car.

[lawn ninja]

The plans for the motor is a turbo fuel injected car. I know the purists are dying inside when I say that, but this car is never going to be stock again. I've decided to go pretty deep on this one, since I don't plan on getting rid of it. So I'm going to convert it to IRS and modernize the suspension. I want it to sit low, but with camber adjustment.

After sorting through everything I can't really start messing with the body and the engine bay until I build the chassis. So I'm going to order up everything for the conversion in the next week or so and start building the rear suspension out first.

As far as the wiring goes, I have a harness from ISP I'm going to use. I'll probably go to a larger fuse block so I can add components to the system. I'm still in the boring to look at part of the tear down, but since these pics I have completely stripped all the electrics out of the car and it's down to a bare shell. I'll be divorcing the body and pan pretty shortly as I'm running out of excuses to not dive into that.

I have most of the sheet metal thanks to Jason37 selling me metal off a notch he was parting out. And yes, Rattlesnakes are always a concern when hoping around in fields like that out here. But they usually let you know they're around with plenty of warning, you just have to be aware of what is around you.

The boat anchor doesn't spin at all, and I'm guessing rust is the issue. I'm going to pull it apart to see what I can save but all the tins look like they can be saved. Then I'll just part it out to people who need stuff. I have two complete sets of tins now and I found some seats in the classifieds on here that I picked up. I also may be picking up a squareback in the next couple of weeks for a donor car. It's pretty rusted out at the core, but has some good parts on it
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Jason

My 64 1500 S Notchback project here
My 58 sedan project here
My 63 Ghia here