1964 VW Squareback "The Don's"

[Miguellito29]

Hi all! Slow night here at work, so I thought I'd start a build thread. I've owned a handful of bugs in my 35 years on this earth, but this is my first Type-3. A buddy of mine passed this deal on to me and I just couldn't say no. Right time, right place, and in my hometown at that. Below are some pictures taken by the previous owner around 10 years ago.

[Miguellito29]

I reached out to the owner on May 6th and by the 22nd I was bringing him home. The car came with some extras: TMI seat covers, and carpet, windshield (since the one in the car is cracked), rear reflectors, light housings, rusty bumper, hubcaps, beauty rings.

[Miguellito29]

All ready for powerwashing...

After a good bit of scrubbing he turned out pretty decent

[ALLWAGONS]

Awesome Car! You have a nice starting point! What are your plans for this beauty? It looks like it was a sea blue car from the engine pics. It looks like a nice 80's Restomod. Nice early squares are getting more and more scarce. Yours look solid. I own a '65 sunroof European model. Let me know if I can be of any help. As far as parts and accessories, VWISPWEST is your best bet here in the USA, and T3 Headquarters in Germany have many NOS parts for sale. You may want to navigate here for local people with local parts. Good Luck with your new car! BTW! Turno over those hubcaps, they are scarce, People would kill for a clean set of those. And the rusty bumper can always be rechromed.

Martin
allwagons
_________________
I'd be UNSTOPPABLE if not for Law Enforcement and PHYSICS.

I recycle old cars and parts, other than when I rot, that's as Green as I am going to get.

Thanks to my Tesla driving neighbors, I feel more relaxed driving my SUBURBAN and old VW's.

NON INFLUENCER APPROVED

[Mike Fisher]

I'd repaint the bumpers with chrome paint.
Have an Upholstery Shop fit good carpet in it.
_________________
https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

[Miguellito29]

Thank you for the kinds words! I have many more pics to post when I get a chance.

[Miguellito29]

Quick history on the car. It sat outside for around 10 years prior to me purchasing it. After the owner realized the front windshield had crack in it he put a car cover on it to prevent any more water from dripping inside. That's why the floors are the way they are. He stopped driving the car because it was sputtering and backfiring. Rebuilt the carbs, slapped them back on and no change so that's where it sat until I bought it.

After the first cleaning I wanted to hear it run so I went to Advance Auto and bought a battery and the local gas station for gas . The engine turned over freely but wouldn't run. After some quick diagnosing I realized the carb on the passenger side wasn't squirting fuel. I took an air hose to the diaphragm and it freed up whatever was sticking and started working properly, but still wouldn't run.

After a little more diagnosing I pulled the distributor cap and noticed that the rotor wasn't spinning while I had someone crank the engine. I pulled the distributor and cleaned the base and clamp up and re-installed the distributor. Come to find out, the reason the car was not starting and had been backfiring for the previous owner was due to the distributor not being inserted the whole way. The rotor was spinning intermittently. Below is a video of the car running for the first time in a decade
https://youtu.be/3HbbV9XEsMw

[Miguellito29]

After I got it running it was time to check timing and give it a full tune up. Oil change, new screen, plugs, wires, cap, points, condenser, rotor and coil.

First time around the block...

[Miguellito29]

After the first cruise and the brake pedal going to the floor I realized the main line had rusted through and was leaking fluid inside the car. He was running good so it was time to get him to stop just the same. I decided to replace the brake line that ran from the front to the rear of the car, the "T", the font and rear hard lines, and rubber lines. After I pulled the hubs I took a power washer to the insides.

[Miguellito29]

While the car was up on stands I decided to do a few more things. The inside of the fuel tank had some kind of liner that was falling off in pieces inside the tank so I took it to a local shop that specializes in tank repair and restoration.

The before:

and after:

I took the silver painted slot wheels, and a set of smoothies I had over to my buddy and had them blasted and powder coated. The slots are wrapped with 185/65's and 135/50's. The smoothies are 145/r15 & 165/r15 w/ porta walls.

[Miguellito29]

With the main brake line out I thought what better time to work on the floors so I went to town with an angle grinder with a wire wheel attached.

Untouched

Progress

wire wheelin' finished!

Next it was time to clean and lay down some POR-15

[Miguellito29]

After 2 coats of POR-15 I laid down some Dynamat

Next, I cleaned what I could and reinstalled the brake hardware and drums

Then it was time to put the carpet in and the new seat covers on. The car came with a standard gray kit from TMI, and I figured anything was better than the bright red. I've never done any upholstery work before so I took the seats to a local guy to be covered. I did the best I could with the carpet.

[Miguellito29]

Fuel tank back in

I planned on keeping the slots on until I got everything buttoned up, but I'm a sucker for white walls (real or fake ) so they had to come off

The car also needed a new clutch so I ordered one from CB and had the flywheel cut and machined. While the car was at the mechanic I had him adjust the valves for me, add a hard line in the rear for fuel, and adjust all the brakes

Type 1 exhaust is a no go

[Miguellito29]

Couple random photos I took thus far in the build

Checking out the new lenses

Got a good deal on this so I'm going to use the glass because it has defrost

My roof rack from Reese

At the gym

[Miguellito29]

This past Sunday I decided to get rid of the boat look and lower the front end down a bit. After reading a bunch of threads on here and watching a few Youtube vids I decided to go 3 inner clicks down

3 clicks did cause the car to hit the bump stop mounts pretty hard when driving around. PA roads suck. So I added Monroe MA785 air shocks to the front. Instead of the air line that came with the shocks I bought some 1/4" air tubing, fittings and a gauge. At around 40psi he sits right about the mounts and doesn't hit at all

On Labor day I plan on lowering the car 2 outer clicks in the rear and installing another set of Monroe gas shocks.

Took this picture yesterday at ROFO

[Qldelsie]

Just a thought, but, like you, I fitted Dynamat throught my Fastback,(and love it) but when the new carpets sit directly on the slippery Dynamat, I found that they tend to slip and slide around a bit.
So I just put a thin layer of that "non slip" rubber matting between the two, and it stops the carpets slipping, both under foot in the front, and in the rear trunk area. Light and cheap and easy - And the carpets can still be easily lifted out as required for cleaning etc.
G

[Miguellito29]

[Bobnotch]

[Bobnotch]

[andybla]

Very nice progress with that interior!

Does the dampening mat help alot to reduce cabin noise?