Carrying On To Completion: '62 Sunroof + '63 Sedan

[stembridge]

BACKSTORY

I've owned air-cooled VWs since 1987, when I bought my first, a '71 Campmobile that subsequently got painted like a WWII B-17 bomber.

The Mayfield Belle was pressed into DD duty for six of the eight years I owned her and starred in a spoof of the movie The Memphis Belle which was my gift to a college friend for his bachelor party.

A 1964 Beetle ('Eeyore') succeeded the Belle and was purchased in Atlanta from the son of the original owner. It took a bit of tuning-up to get it running well, and it served as my DD for six years in Atlanta traffic. I left everything stock, including the 6V electrical system. Eeyore was treated to an engine rebuild and new wiring harness somewhere in there.

In the summer of 1997, while poking around Tara Field (airport) south of Atlanta, I noticed an '62 sunroof Beetle parked under the wing of a forlorn-looking Cessna 152. The Beetle had obviously not been run in a while. I asked a guy in one of the hangars if he knew who belonged to it, and it turned out that he was the owner. We negotiated a price of $1200 for the car, and I came back with my wife to pick it up. After pumping a tire up and adjusting the points, the car fired right up. I let it idle for about 10 minutes and changed the oil. After a few short test runs around the airport, I gave the owner a check, and we drove home.

I drove this car infrequently for a couple of months until the engine started making clanking noises under load, at which point I parked and subsequently began disassembling the car. It's gotten a little attention here and there over the years, but has essentially been a stalled project going on 25 years now.

Having started my own creative consulting business around the same time, I decided I needed something more reliable than Eeyore, and a 2000 New Beetle TDI soon graced our driveway. This car would end up being one of my all-time favorites, serving me as a DD for over twelve years and nearly 220K miles before I sold it on. I was still seeing it around town over five years later. It got decaled as a Herbie tribute around 2004, and I was photographed on the highway frequently.

We moved from Georgia to the Middle West in 2001, where the NB continued to serve me well, once I learned about diesel fuel gelling in cold weather. During the summer of 2010, I noticed a '63 sitting in the yard of a house I drove past on the way to work (we lived on a farm in a rural area). One Saturday, on the way into town for building supplies, I noticed the car had a For Sale sign in the window, and the homeowners were having a yard sale. I stopped and inquired, to find out they were selling the car for a friend who decided to abandon his plans for a restoration. He wanted $800, but also had it listed on eBay. So when I got home, I found the listing and bid $600, which won. My younger son helped me tow it the four miles to our farm, where we got the engine running prior to disassembling the car. It, too, has been a stalled project ever since.

In 2013, I decided to sell my NB and bought a '13 Beetle Convertible TDi as his successor. It was a nice-enough vehicle, but really never felt like a true Volkswagen. It also had a few issues, such as side windows that froze in place in the wintertime, as well as a low spot in the intercooler piping that would fill up with slush and choke off intake air. I sold the car after 18 months of ownership, and bought a Honda Fit for my DD.

Around 2014, we bought our last VW product, a '13 Routan, which was essentially a rebadged Chrysler Town & Country minivan. We gifted it to our Pastor when it was about five years old, with 120K on it (they really needed a new vehicle and had no money to buy one). We bought a '18 Buick Regal TourX to succeed the Routan.

In 2018, I happened upon a video of a Chevrolet SS Sport Sedan (captive import Holden Commodore SS-V Redline from Australia). I was smitten, and put money down on one at a dealer five hours away that evening. It succeeded the Fit, and was a blast to drive for the next four years. Having by then retired and moved back South, I was not able to drive it in an 'engaging' manner, and decided to sell it, as we were also looking to reduce our insured vehicle count down to two.

Around 2019, I used an unexpectedly large annual bonus to purchase a 1976 Cosworth Vega (my first car was a '71 Vega), which became my Autox and Cars & Coffee vehicle. It was a hoot to drive, but also a very crude vehicle compared to pretty much any modern car. I sold it just before I retired.

Finally, while this listing is not all-inclusive, I will add that I went through a succession of four farm trucks, starting with the 1969 Ford F-100 I learned to drive in. I bought it from Dad when we moved to the farm and sold it about ten years later when rust and other issues got to be more than I wanted to tackle. It was succeeded by a '95 F-150 4x4 (straight six!) and then a '99.5 Ford F-250 Powerstroke. When Dad's dementia was getting near the point we had to move him to a care facility, I sold the Powerstroke and bought my first new truck, a '15 RAM 2500.

I sold the 2500 last year (and did very well with used truck prices sky-high), and ordered a new '21 RAM Classic Quad Cab, as we'd downsized to a one-level home on one acre for our retirement.

Which brings my story up to today. I had numerous outbuildings at the farm, and despite having sold off all my farming equipment except the two tractors (one since sold off), I had literally nowhere to store anything. The two-car garage initially was so packed we could barely walk into it. All my mowing equipment had to sit out in the weather until I bought a 10'x16' storage building. I designed a 30x48 shop, and started construction in late 2020, and am nearing completion nearly two years later. The workroom is done, and I'm almost done hanging the drywall ceiling in the main part of the building; trim and paint will have it completed.

After which, I will finish emptying out the garage, find and organize all my VW parts, and get busy getting both cars back on the road.

This will be their story.

es
_________________
1962 VW Type I Sunroof
1963 VW Type I Sedan
---------------------------
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) …being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[67rustavenger]

Fantastic back story. Thank you for chronicling your auto life.

My mentor used to connect his life events through what car he owned at any particular time in life. Sadly he has moved onto that great garage of the after life.

Your new post retirement shop looks great, and well organized.

Looking forward to your restoration progress on these two life long survivors.
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[stembridge]

The Mayfield Belle
1971 Campmobile (owned ~1987-1995)

This writeup was first published at Curbside Classic.

It was the late eighties, I was single, and I needed a truck.

When I learned that a friend’s sister had a non-running ‘71 VW van for sale for $100, I thought to myself, “I can fix it; why not?” So I dragged my then-girlfriend (now wife of 32+ years) halfway around the Atlanta perimeter, and found a very rusty and forlorn Campmobile sitting in the driveway, the rear bumper adorned with “Take it Easy” and other various ‘hippie culture’ bumper stickers.

Money changed hands (the first of a rather large sum associated with this vehicle) and girlfriend was given a quick course in how to tow a vehicle with a chain (around I-285, no less): we were off.

My second purchase – like one so many other VW owners had made before me – was a copy of How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive ~ A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot. After scratching my head at John Muir’s quirky writing style (and liking it), I poked around in the engine compartment and eventually discovered the points were closed up. Ten minutes later, I had a live vehicle on my hands.

Since this was a Campmobile and I needed a truck, I spent the next weekend gutting the van. Everything behind the front seats went out to the curb, including the gasoline-powered “Eberspächer” heater (dumb move; didn’t know how valuable it would become) and the usual assortment of flotsam and jetsam that accumulates in dead and abandoned vehicles (consistent with the bumper stickers, natch).

I used the van infrequently for hauling trash and other bulky items, including cleaning up the dead car parts pile out beside the carport (over a ton of old engine blocks and the like went in one single trip to the scrapyard). My brother then drove it for a while, followed by an admin at work who borrowed it while she had her ‘67 Mustang restored one summer. When it came back, we had just sold one of our two Honda Civics (baby coming – need cash!), so after a back-lot engine rebuild, the ’bus became my daily driver.

Not long after, one of my three close college buddies was getting close to his wedding date. We had established a tradition among the four of us to produce a spoof movie for viewing at the bachelor party. We had been to see the film The Memphis Belle earlier in the year, so we simply changed the name to The Mayfield Belle, which was both my friend’s name as well as that of a regional dairy. Naturally, the ‘nose art’ utilized the dairy’s “Jersey” logo, with all of the missions indicated by milk bottles – targets were of course sighted using the top-secret Borden Bomb Sight.

So, $100 worth of olive drab and grey paint later, my ‘bus was converted into a VW-17 “Flying Buttress,” complete with fake .50 cal. machine guns menacingly protruding out the windows and rear door. The movie was a huge hit with my friend, and after “demilitarizing” the Belle, she continued to soldier on as my daily driver.

She was now, however, attracting a lot more attention in war paint than she ever did while in mufti, especially from the local constabulary. While I never received a single ticket in eight years of driving the Belle, I was pulled over more times than in any other car I’ve owned.

For example, one late night while driving through a small North Georgia town about one in the morning, a local squad car pulled out and followed me a couple of miles before switching on the blues. I pulled over, hands at 10 and 2 on the wheel, and politely answered all questions and provided the required documentation. I happened to have a lot of computer equipment in the back under an old army blanket (to keep road grit out of everything), and one of the officers finally couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer and asked “You got drugs or guns back there, boy?” I explained my cargo, and said I’d be glad to slowly (!) pull the blanket back, at which point they were satisfied with my story.

When you drive a beater for eight years, you tend to accumulate a lot of stories and memories, and both our sons spent many hours of their early boyhood playing ‘bomber run’ in the Belle. One particularly memorable family trip involved a drive from Charlotte, NC to Boston, MA to retrieve items from a grandparent’s estate. I had optimistically rented a small U-haul trailer and bumper-mounted hitch, which seemed to be manageable in a quick test drive around our subdivision.

Things quickly looked ominous, however, as top speed going up the rolling NC interstate hills was working out to around 45-50 mph (the only bright spot was that people gave us plenty of room on the highway). To make matters worse, a stress crack developed in one of the bumper mounts after several hours. A quick stop at Wal•mart for some tie-down straps only slightly prolonged the inevitable, and sometime around 10pm, having just passed through the Bronx in New York, the bumper finally let go completely. This being pre-cell phone days, I had to untangle the mess and go find a pay phone to call U-haul and tell them to come get their stuff. All the goods intended for the trailer ended up riding home in the van – the wife and children got home via rental car.

The Belle came to an inglorious end one late summer in Central Illinois, not too far from where we would eventually live for nearly two decades. We were on our way to Oshkosh for the big airshow, and not too far past Bloomington, IL, the Belle simply gave up. After running all the normal checks and procedures in the Idiot manual, it was obvious she had Gone West.

As there was really no point in trying to save her at this point (we were far from home, and rust and age had pretty much already won the battle), our friends were called in for a Search and Rescue mission; tears were shed by the boys (and maybe a few myself), after which we towed the lifeless hulk to the next exit with a gas station and left instructions for them to call a nearby junkyard on Monday to come haul it away.

I’ll always miss the Belle – she carried me through five jobs in three states and gave me some great memories. She was also the first in a still-growing list of Volkswagen vehicles to grace our curbsides and driveways over the past two-and-a-half decades.

So long, old gal…
_________________
1962 VW Type I Sunroof
1963 VW Type I Sedan
---------------------------
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) …being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[stembridge]

Eeyore
1964 Type I Sedan (owned ~1994-2001)

Eeyore was my 1964 Volkswagen Type I Deluxe Sedan (better known as a Beetle, Bug, etc.). We got him not long after the untimely demise of the Mayfield Belle. He was built in Wolfsburg, Germany in December of 1963 and was sold new in Atlanta, Georgia.

The original owner drove him back and forth to work for a number of years and eventually passed the car on to his son. He had been sitting idle for quite a while when we found him (the car, not the son). After recharging the battery and adjusting the points (the magic cure-all for any ailing VW), he reluctantly came back to life.

I cleaned him up a little and started driving him to work on a daily basis. A few weeks later, I did a more thorough tune-up, which brought more life back to the 1200 engine. With a good downhill run, Eeyore would still actually reach the published top speed for a stock 1200 VW (72 MPH!). Not that you'd want to stay there long, mind you .

Eeyore was pretty much original as we purchased him, including a Blaupunkt AM 6V radio (non-functional). He had been through both front- and rear-end fender-benders, so new bumpers had to be fitted. As I worked with the car, I eventually discovered that one rear-end collision was bad enough to require a new rear apron/clip, and the passenger-side door had been replaced with one from a '65 at some point (angled vent window).

After driving Eeyore an average of 40-50 miles a day to work in Atlanta over about three years, the 1200cc engine was beginning to make ominous thudding sounds at speed (rod knock), so he was parked for about 6 months as I gathered parts to build a fresh 1200cc engine.

Here are photos of my son (age 9) helping me remove the old 1200...

To facilitate easier removal of the engine and general access to the underside of the car, I built a wooden dolly to put Eeyore on while we work.

Here's the old engine, resting behind Herbie. This engine will eventually be overhauled and installed in Herbie.

And here's the new 1200 engine being built up...

I had to replace a broken clutch return spring before installing the insulation in the engine compartment...

Here's Eeyore being spun back around in preparation for engine installation.

Here's the engine coming off the workbench...

Here's the engine being rolled under the car...

Here's the engine in, car still on stand...

And here's the run-up being done (May 29, 1999)...

One Week Update
Eeyore seems to be taking to his new engine quite well! The only adjustment I've had to make was to adjust the cooling ring so it didn't rub on the cooling fan.

Nothing else.

Not the points, timing, idle screw - not anything! He runs just as smooth as you could ask for, doesn't ping under acceleration, and idles much better than any VW I've ever driven.

I'll be up for an oil change at 500 miles (probably in a couple of weeks - I drive about 50 miles a day round trip). For now, I'm taking all the back roads so I can stay at 55 or slower. Trying this on Atlanta's I-85 would be virtual suicide!

500 Mile Update - June 1999

I hit the 500 mile mark today and did the oil change and bolt retighten routine. There was a good bit of trash in the oil screen, but nothing large or alarming. It mostly looked like leftovers from the overhaul. The longblock came from GEX, and I had heard that it was a good idea to check the engine for 'builders leftovers' during the breakin period.

My first gas fillup indicated that I'm getting about 30 miles per gallon. I fill up again tomorrow, and it looks right now as if that may be improving a bit as the engine settles in.

The BAD NEWS is that my transaxle has started popping out of 4th gear under load. This happened with the Mayfield Belle, and quickly led to a replacement of the transaxle. I'm going to go ahead and pull the transaxle from Herbie and get it ready to swap for Eeyore's transaxle. Herbie is rapidly turning into a parts car!

Almost 10,000 Mile Update - April 24, 2000

It's been almost a year since I built the new engine for Eeyore, and it's still running quite well. I started my own business out of my home last fall, so my commuting days are gone, but I seem to be putting even more miles on than before driving back and forth to client offices. Gas mileage has stabilized right around 29 - 32 MPG, and the engine is not burning oil (at least, not enough to add oil between changes).

I did end up swapping transaxles, and the one from Herbie works better, although it does whine a little at speed. At least it's not popping out of gear anymore!

Final Update

I sold Eeyore in late 2001, and bought a 2000 New Beetle TDI to replace him. Eeyore was hard to let go of, but with my new web design business taking off (with clients as far as an hour away), Eeyore's cantakerousness (mostly related to the old 6-volt wiring) was keeping him in the garage too often. I still miss him, but the reality was that he was going to need some more major work (the floor pans were getting pretty rusted out), and with the '62 Herbie project underway, I didn't want to tackle two bugs at once.
_________________
1962 VW Type I Sunroof
1963 VW Type I Sedan
---------------------------
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) …being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[stembridge]

Making progress on my shop... half is trimmed and painted, starting to mud and tape the ceiling on the other half. The Beetles got moved around again for the umpteenth time, and I spun both engines over by hand a few times to keep an oil film where it needs to be.

es
_________________
1962 VW Type I Sunroof
1963 VW Type I Sedan
---------------------------
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) …being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[stembridge]

We finished the shop about six weeks ago (final trim and paint inside), and then moved the rest of my "junk" out of the garage so my wife has room (finally!) for her gardening and other outside tools and materials, not to mention her car.

Of course, that means I have a lot of organizing to do (and probably a big yard sale) ahead of work on the VWs.

But I am getting closer!

es
_________________
1962 VW Type I Sunroof
1963 VW Type I Sedan
---------------------------
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) …being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[stembridge]

Having reasonably caught up on my 'honey-do' list, I've been cleaning up one of the pans, starting by shelving all of the parts that found a resting place on it some years ago. It's going to need to be pressure-washed, which I'll tackle as soon as I clean the abandoned mouse nest out of the tunnel using a leaf blower at one end and shop vac at the other (and a mask for me).

I did some reading up this evening on replacing the shift rod bushing, and have ordered same, plus couplers and inspection plate seals for both cars. As long as I'm working in the tunnel, I think I may go ahead and replace the gas lines, too.

I recall reading years ago about using linseed oil as a rust preventative (IIRC, it was being sprayed in the heater channels on a mid-70s Beetle). Might look into doing that in the tunnel before I seal it back up.

es
_________________
1962 VW Type I Sunroof
1963 VW Type I Sedan
---------------------------
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) …being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[stembridge]

An hour was required with the shop vac and leaf blower to blow out (hopefully) all the mouse nesting materials from both tunnels. I alternated blowing from each end until nothing was coming out.

After taping up all the holes in the tunnel, I pressure washed both pans, and they look a lot better now, but will still need going over by hand with a washrag. My meticulous paint job from 11 years ago (!) has picked up some scratches here and there, which will need a spot of touch up.

es
_________________
1962 VW Type I Sunroof
1963 VW Type I Sedan
---------------------------
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) …being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[stembridge]

Haven't done much the past few days, other than disassembling my parts washer to see why the motor quit working (many years ago). I'll be needing it quite a bit as I clean and refurbish parts.

After tearing it down, I found that the motor is sealed and there was no obvious way to get into it without destroying it, so it went in the trash and I screwed a metal plate over the hole where it was mounted - the washer will now be powered completely by me... I've got the first steering knuckle and kingpin carrier soaking so I can clean it up thoroughly before building it back up.

I also received my shift rod bushings, and need to pick up a length of gas line in town before I tackle both of those tasks.

es
_________________
1962 VW Type I Sunroof
1963 VW Type I Sedan
---------------------------
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) …being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[stembridge]

After digging out my hydraulic press and replacing an o-ring on the drain plug for the parts washer, I cleaned up the first steering knuckle assembly and successfully installed and reamed the king pin bushings. Three more to go.

I think I'm going to have to go buy a hot plate and thrift store pot to set up an oil bath for heating the knuckle to install the king pin (rather than cold-pounding it in as many yootoob videos show). Wife probably won't appreciate me using the gas range in the kitchen for that!

Today's task is to disassemble and clean the rest of the first beam. Hoping I won't need new bearings, but we'll see...

es
_________________
1962 VW Type I Sunroof
1963 VW Type I Sedan
---------------------------
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) …being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[stembridge]

First beam is disassembled:

I think I can get by without renewing the trailing arm bearings/bushings, as there is no rough galling and wear seems to be minimal.

I'll have to order a set of set screws as two were wallowed out, requiring a tack weld to the lock nut in order to back them out. Will also need new sway bar clamps - removing those was probably the most difficult part of the disassembly.

es
_________________
1962 VW Type I Sunroof
1963 VW Type I Sedan
---------------------------
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) …being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[stembridge]

1962 TYPE I SUNROOF - BACKSTORY

I've collected entries related to my '62 sunroof from my personal web site as well as entries on a couple other sites, presented below as backstory to this car.

###

Summer, 1997

While visiting Tara Field south of Atlanta (an airport next to the Atlanta International Speedway), I noticed an early 60's sunroof Beetle parked next to a forlorn-looking Cessna 150. The Beetle had obviously not been run in a while. I asked a guy in one of the hangars if he knew who belonged to it, and it turned out that he was the owner. We negotiated a price of $1200 for the car (a '62), and I came back with my wife to pick it up. After pumping a tire up and adjusting the points, the car fired right up. I let it idle for about 10 minutes and changed the oil. After a few short test runs around the airport (mainly to test the brakes), I gave the owner a check, and we drove home.

I drove this car infrequently for a couple of months until the engine started making clanking noises under load, at which point I parked it. We bought a house not too long thereafter, and I was able to get the car out of the rain (the canvas roof leaked like a sieve!), where it's sat for quite a while waiting it's turn.

Fall, 1998

I pulled the engine out of the ’62 a while back, and have been disassembling it. The reason for all the clanking noise was that the end play on the crankshaft was about 1/8" (.125"), a little beyond tolerances! For now, I'm going to completely strip the engine down and then see how much is usable. I still haven't decided on reusing the 1600, or going back to a stock 1200.

Summer, 1999

The ’62 is starting to become more of a parts car than a restoration! So far, I've had to 'borrow' a clutch return spring, heater cables (which I broke trying to install in Eeyore) and probably a few other items. I sold the front seats out of the car to a fellow in California who had a later model Bug. The seats that came with the car were not original and not correct for the '62 model year anyway. Eeyore is back on the road again with a fresh 1200cc, which is a major milestone! I'll have to make the decision on what engine to use before starting a rebuild for the ’62. I hate to tear apart another engine (too much potential to mix up the wrong parts in my small garage!), but I probably need to do this to determine which engine is the better one to start with. I like the idea of the more powerful 1600, but the purist in me says 'keep it stock!'

September 6, 1999 - 1 hour

Okay, from now on, I'm going to try to keep more accurate notes on what's been done and how long it's taken. So here goes... Pulled the left rear fender off of the ’62. One bolt was already sheared off by a previous owner, and I added two more broken ones to the pile, even after liberal applications of lubricating fluid. I'll have to replace two additional nuts where they were pressed/welded into the main body panel (they twisted out). Since Eeyore's transmission is starting to go, I'll be pulling the transaxle from the ’62 to use in Eeyore. So far, no signs of major rust in the rear areas of the car. The pans, on the other hand, well, you could throw babies through the holes . Between the fiberglass and Bondo, it gives the term 'multimedia' a whole new meaning!

September 14, 19, 1999 - About 1 hour

On the 14th, I broke out the 36mm Rear Axle Nut Persuader and removed the rear brake drums. The shoes look like they have good wear left, but I'll probably go ahead and put new ones on since it's such a bear to change them. On the 19th after church, Chad and Tyler helped me remove the right rear fender. I loosened the bolts and Chad undid most of them, with Tyler helping on a couple. I have the rear deck lid off now, too, so the back end of the car is beginning to look a little sparse. I fiddled with the handbrake cables and got them disconnected from the handbrake, but the cables wouldn't pull all the way out. By removing the connection at the brake backing plate, I was able to get the cables free from the axle shafts, and will have to figure out something else to get them out of the car altogether.

Late September, 1999 - 2 hours

I finally figured out how to remove the brake cables, and finished removing the transaxle, which is now sitting on the garage floor awaiting a good degreasing. Since Eeyore's transmission is starting to fail, I'll be swapping them out. I have Eeyore in the garage ready to pull the engine as soon as I can spare an hour or two.

October 19, 1999 - 2 hours

I pulled the engine from Eeyore today and persuaded the castle nuts off of the rear axles. I discovered that the transmission mounts are about shot, so while I have everything apart...

October 25, 1999 - 1 hour

All of the extraneous cables and such were disconnected today in prep for removing the transaxle from Eeyore. This story has shifted gears (pun intended) for a bit as I borrow from the ’62 to keep Eeyore on the road. I figure this is all good practice for when I rebuild the ’62... I finished up by removing all of the major attach bolts, and gently dropping the transaxle out of the car. This is the first time the transaxle has been out since the car was new - many of the bolts had pristine black paint under them when they were removed.

October 27, 1999 - 3 hours

I bought some cheap casters and carriage bolts today, and cobbled together a dolly to bolt to the transaxle support forks so I could still roll the car around. I moved Eeyore outside in preparation for a good cleaning this weekend, weather and time permitting.

October 30, 1999 - 4 hours

The pressure cleaner was hauled out, and I spent several wet, dirty hours cleaning the transaxle from the ’62, as well as the underside of Eeyore. The transaxle is relatively clean now, although I may attack it with carb cleaner or oven cleaner to see if I can get it really clean. My first shipment of parts arrived Friday, so I should be ready to start re-assembly soon.

November 1 - 21, 1999 - 8 hours

As of last night, I have the transaxle and engine back in the car, along with new parking brake cables, new shocks, new transaxle mounts, new axle boots and new swing-arm bushings. I adjusted the swing-arms to give me a little more height in the rear, as the car was starting to sit kind of low in the back. The engine went in a lot easier this time, since I kind of knew where to pull and push to get it to clear the rear apron. All I need to finish is a set of axle seals, repack the rear bearings, reassemble the rear brakes (with new drums and shoes), and go for a drive! Oh, and I've picked up another Volkswagen! Actually, it's a friend’s, who is letting me do some repair work on it for him. We've named this '66 Beetle "Bonnie Bluebell."

December 10, 1999 - 3 hours

I finally got the remaining parts I had been waiting (and waiting) on today. I cleaned and reassembled the brake backing plates, axle seals and brake hardware, and put the new brake drums on. I still have to torque the castle nut down, hook up the brake lines and bleed the brakes before I can drive again. I also have to install a new heater cable. At any rate, it's moving forward again!

December 11, 1999 - 3 hours

Eeyore is back on the road! I put the remaining components on the car, adjusted cables, and fired 'er up. I spent most of the rest of the day cleaning out the garage, which had become a bit unsettled with all the work going on. I swung the ’62 around 180 degrees, so now I can start disassembling the front end.

Late December, 1999 - 10 hours

Eeyore has had a case of 'bad brakes.' Actually, they went completely out on me (thankfully in a parking lot). I enjoyed driving 40 miles home in Atlanta traffic with nothing but the emergency brakes to slow me down! I ended up having to pull the rear wheels again to replace the wheel cylinders, which had started leaking. I also ended up redoing the front brakes, too, which entailed replacing the inner wheel bearings due to stuck races on both wheels. At any rate, after some help from my Dad in bleeding all of the air out of the lines, Eeyore now has better brakes than ever before!

January 29, 2000 - 2 hours

While in the midst of the second major ice storm in two weeks, I got some more work done on the ’62. I've now removed the front fenders, hood, running boards and petrol tank. I have found evidence of previous repairs on the front left side - bondo and small welded-in patches. I won't know how much will need to be repaired until I can get the paint and bondo off. Thankfully, the heater channels appear to be solid, at least from what I can now see. I now have a correct steering wheel for the ’62, too.

Eeyore is running pretty well, although the choke doesn't really work well - I've disabled it for now. Also, one of the rear axle seals is leaking again, which means I'll have to replace the seal plus brake shoes yet again. Sigh...

Late March, 2000 - 1 hour

I took five rims and had them sandblasted in preparation for a respray and new tires for Eeyore. These are rims I picked up at a junkyard. One was pretty pitted - it will probably end up being the spare tire rim.

April 15, 2000 - 3 hours

After a long hiatus, I finally got a few hours in on the ’62 this weekend. I stripped all of the wiring out of the car and removed all of the dashboard instruments. I also removed the windshield washer bottle and brake fluid reservoir, and got started on disconnecting tie rod ends in preparation for removing the front axle/beam. The PO had installed a sway bar on the front end, and getting it off is going to be a challenge, due to the way it was 'engineered' into place originally.

April 24, 2000 - 3 hours

I took advantage of the Easter holiday weekend to get a little more work done on the ’62. After trying 'normal' methods, I finally resorted to the Ball-peen Hammer and Vice Grips method of auto disassembly. After bullying the aftermarket sway bar off of the front axle, the rest of the front suspension came out easily. So now, the front and back ends of the car have been almost totally stripped (there are a few more little things, like the brake master cylinder, to remove). I'm at the point where I need to create some more storage areas so I can move all of the components out of the car in order to finish stripping the interior...

April 28, 2000 - 1/2 hour

On a whim, I got my matte knife out and removed the passenger side rear quarter window. It came out pretty easily. The PO had painted the car, but apparently didn't do very good prep - the top layer of paint was peeling away from the original blue-green paint without much encouragement.

May 4, 2000 - 1 hour

Needing a break, I took the matte knife to the windows again, and succeeded in removing the rest of the window glass from the ’62 (except for the door windows, which Tyler was kind enough to point out). It's amazing how small those pieces of glass really are when you get them out of the car.

May 20 & 25, 2000 - 3+ hours

As of this evening, all of the remaining headliner material, the rollback sunroof and the remaining rubber body seals have been removed from the ’62. I bought a heavy-duty metal shelf the other week, and spent last weekend transferring all of the stuff I had stored inside the car to the shelves. I still need to pull the brake pedal assembly and master brake cylinder, but after that, the car will be pretty much completely stripped clean.

May 27, 2000 - 1/2 hour

I took a break from other grimy house projects and finished pulling the brake pedal assembly out of the ’62 this afternoon. I forgot that there is a small fitting in the rear for the brakes, but I will remove that later, after I take the body off the pan. The next big step is to clean up the existing floor pans as good as possible to see what needs to be cut out...

May 29, 2000

Memorial Day Parade. We honored those who gave their lives defending this country by attending the Dacula Memorial Day Parade today. Did you know that Memorial Day was originally created to honor the dead from the Civil War? We entered Eeyore into the parade, so we got a little different perspective from normal this year.

There were a large number of antique vehicles, including old tractors, Model A Fords and many others to watch!

We really had a great time, especially seeing a lot of kids yelling out "Slugbug!" while punching their nearest neighbor as we drove past. We also had fun doing the "parade wave," which brought laughter from quite a few folks.

May 31, 2000 - 3 hours

This chunk of time was spent hand-sanding the five VW wheels I had bought from a junkyard several years ago. A couple of them have bad pitting from rust, but they'll work fine for everyday wheels, and will be going on Eeyore when they're done. I'll put pristine wheels on the ’62 when it's his turn. At any rate, the wheels are now at my neighbor's paint & body shop being painted in the original two-tone color scheme.

June 4, 2000 - 1 hour

I started working on the floor pans today by removing the "repairs" that had been made by the PO. The passenger side had two pieces of sheet metal pop rivited (inside and outside the car) in the rear part of the floor pans. It took a bit of persuasion, but I finally got the pieces removed, and found that the pan on that side was pretty much a goner. The driver's side has a bunch of fiberglass on it, and I'll have to tackle that another day...

June 7, 2000 - 2 hours

I picked up my painted wheels yesterday and took them to Firestone today to have new tires put on. I also took all of my other assorted VW wheels (including the EMPI-style wheels that have been on Eeyore for the past couple of years) and had the old tires removed. I plan to sell the EMPI-style wheels, and to sandblast and paint the VW wheels to eventually go on the ’62. At any rate, it's neat to see Eeyore looking original again!

June 16, 2000 - 5 hours

Body Off Pan! Being in-between projects, I had some time to kill Friday afternoon, so out came the tools and the ’62. I had received my new floorpans during the week, but had to refuse one, as UPS (Unreliable Package Service) had mangled it beyond recognition. The "Good" one had been beat up also, but was usable with a little straightening around the edges.

I looked at various VW sites to figure out the best way to tackle this project, and had initially decided to repair the floor pan with the chassis still attached to the body. However, after looking things over, I felt it would be easier to remove the body from the pan, cut away the old floor pans, fit the new ones using clamps & clicos to hold them in place and then loosely bolt the whole pan back to the body for final positioning before welding the pans in place. This process will allow me much better access to the old floor pans for removal purposes.

So... after prodigious quantities of WD-40 were applied, I started in on the body-to-pan bolts. I had heard all sorts of horror stories about these bolts being notorious for breaking off, and was surprised when the first couple came out relatively smoothly. Three, four then five bolts came out without a problem! I was starting to feel pretty smug by this point!

However, I guess these little cars really can tell what you're thinking, because the next two bolts broke coming halfway out. I got some more out okay, and then started on the two large bolts at the very front of the pan, and promptly broke the first one. The second one came out okay though. With much trepidation, I moved to the other side of the car, and started in on the bolts, expecting the worst. To my utter amazement, every single bolt on that side came out without a problem! Go figure...

The next step was to break the 38+ year-old seal between the body and pan seals. I gently put some pressure between the two using a small pry bar, and was rewarded with the sound of old rubber peeling away from the original painted surfaces. With a little tugging here and there, I had the body fully separated from the pan!

This photo says it all! The real challenge was now to figure out a way to get the body off the pan *by myself.* My first attempt ended up with a bloodied thumb. I stepped back and thought a bit, and finally figured out a way to raise the front of the body (onto my engine stand), and then use an engine hoist to raise the back of the body high enough to roll the pan out of the way. After a few chancy moments, I had a VW pan sitting in one side of the garage, and the body sitting in the other side. Woohoo!!

The body is now sitting outside on my patented VW "Dolly-Matic", while the pan is on sawhorses inside, ready for cleanup and repair work. It's now off to Home Depot to pick up tools and supplies for the odyssey ahead.

June 17, 2000 - 3 hours

I made a quick run up to the 2000 VW Jamboree in Commerce, GA this morning, hoping to scarf some parts for the ’62. I was really hoping to find a pair of good front seats, but no-one had any. I did manage to locate a radio speaker grill to replace the one that came with the car in which the PO had cut and installed a tachometer through.

June 24, 2000 - 1 hour

Didn't get too much done this week due to work and other stuff.. I did manage to remove about half of the old tarboard from the old floor pans, though. I decided to take the stuff off, even though I would be cutting the pans off later - mainly to see how bad the pans were underneath the tarboard. Turns out, they had some surface rust (besides the rotted out parts under the back seats), but not as bad as I had thought they would have been. I used a thin chisel and hammer to scrape the stuff off. It looked like obsidian (the volcanic rock), and was pretty brittle, but still stuck on to the metal quite firmly. After getting the boards off, I was able to easily scrape the rest off by hand with just the chisel.

June 26, 2000 - 1 hour

Chad and I finished removing the old tarboards from the ’62’s floorpans tonight, and got everything all cleaned up for the next step, which is cutting out the old, rusted floorpans.

June 29, 2000 - 1 hour

Two things. One, I bought a wire-feed welder two days ago. I got to try it out this morning making some repairs for a friend. Even though it's been 15 years or so since I last welded anything of substance, by the fifth or sixth weld, I was actually making some nice looking, if somewhat wavy, welds! The welder I bought is the Lincoln Weldpack 100. I decided to not get the MIG kit for it at this time, although I may later. Without the MIG kit, you use a flux-center wire, that works much in the same was as stick welding does. As the flux burns off, the gasses from it do the same thing as the gasses used in MIG welding, although in MIG, you don't get any slag as a byproduct. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with the purchase. The second thing is that I've removed the right floor pan! The next step will be to use the air chisel to remove the last remnants of the old pans where they were originally welded to the center tube. Once that's done, and everything's cleaned up, the new pan goes in!.

July 15, 2000 - 1 hour

Hmmm... My "vocation" seems to be preventing me from pursuing my "avocation." Well, I finally got back on the ’62 today, and finished removing the remaining remnant metal from the right floor pan.

August 23, 2000

Just checking in... No work on the ’62 for the past month - my business got really busy, and Eeyore's electrical system decided to throw a fit, so he's been getting all the attention lately. Since I needed something that I could rely on to crank reliably, I took the plunge and bought a 2000 New Beetle (TDI). It's really nice, but of course, not the same as air cooled! The sad part of the story is that once Eeyore is repaired, he'll be put up for sale (my wife says I'm now two VWs over my limit!). The good thing about that is that the ’62 will now get my undivided attention going forward...

August 25, 2000

I think I may have finally fixed the problems with Eeyore by replacing the ignition switch and cleaning all of the fuses and fuse block connections. We'll see tomorrow...

August 26 - September 7, 2000 - 4+ hours

Eeyore's electrical problems are all fixed now, and I've been working on getting him cleaned up to be sold (snif). I've spent a bit of time restoring the engine lid on Eeyore, as it was rusting and somewhat dented up. I've stripped it to bare metal, banged on it with my body tools, and am now prepping it for painting.

September 9, 2000 - 4+ hours

Showed Eeyore to two people today. Remember how I said that the electrical problem was fixed? Well, the first prospect hopped in and turned the key, and NOTHING!!! Arrrrgh! He was very understanding, which was nice, but still.. When I got home, I took the starter out and put the original one back in (which I bought when I rebuilt the engine about a year ago). Works fine now. I guess the solenoid on the other one was marginal, and the heat of driving down sent it over the edge... I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing the deck lid. The paint was giving me fits due to humidity and the lack of retarder for the paint. I finally got a somewhat acceptable coat on it, and put it all back together. If I keep this up, I'm not going to want to sell the car! I'm driving up to the SE Bug Fair in Toccoa tomorrow to shop the car around and maybe pick up some goodies for Herbie.

September 10, 2000

Had a really nice drive up to Toccoa today (Eeyore started every time I wanted to go somewhere - woohoo!). Temperatures were pleasant, and Eeyore had no trouble holding 70+ on the way up (okay, maybe we slowed down just a bit on the steep hills!). I got to the show about 2:30, and a lot of folks had already left by that time. After setting up Eeyore in the 'car lot,' I had time to walk around and see the vendors and talk to a few car owners. One fellow had a very original '64 like mine. Had every piece of paperwork for the car (it was his grandfather's car), too. The interesting thing about this car was that it had dealer-installed 'crotch coolers' on it. These are little air vents installed in the kick panels (where the front wheel wells are) that are ducted up to the horn grill openings on both sides. Great idea - wonder if anyone makes an aftermarket set?

December 10, 2000 - Farewell to Eeyore

I sold Eeyore today to a fellow from California who's moving back to his home town of Boston. I spent several hours getting Eeyore cleaned up and tuned up, and even went around and put touch-up paint on all of the dings and nicks that had accumulated over the almost six years I had the car. It was sad to see 'my' car pull out and drive off for the last time. I have a lot of good (and some not-so-good) memories associated with the car, but as I've stated before, I just didn't have time to try to restore one and keep the other in 'daily driver' condition at all times. I think this will work out for the best, although I'm sure I'll probably regret giving Eeyore up...

December 13-14, 2000 - 2 hours

The last time I posted, I was just starting into a very hectic work schedule. Well, three months later, I'm about caught up, and finally got to do some more work on the ’62 this week. I purchased an impact screwdriver set, and started in on removing the doors. This wasn't that hard to do (aside from whacking my hand a couple of times). A couple of the screws at the very bottom of the door were hard to extract due to the threads being rusty on the back side of the retainer plate. Both doors are now off, and will need to be disassembled. I also need to figure out how to remove the dirt and grunge that's sitting at the bottom of the wheel well cavity where the door post is.

January-February, 2001- 3 hours

Not much work on the ’62 going on right now. I've periodically gone out and done some grinding on the spot-weld spots to get the chassis ready to weld in the floorpan. I also got everything I need to convert the welder over to MIG.

February, 2004

Three years and not much to show for it (on the ’62 anyhow). I did finally convert that MIG welder, and it's been handy on a number of repair jobs (nothing on the Beetle, though). All of the ’62 parts are stacked in a corner in the machine shed waiting their turn.

The only significant thing I've done is to buy a set of seats (from a '64) to use in the restoration. The seats are in excellent condition, and just about complete the items I need for the interior.

Don't expect much to happen here for a while. Farmhouse remodeling is top priority at the moment!

Summer, 2005

Now that the house remodeling project is to the point where we are working inside and most of the important rooms are done, I've been able to spend a little time on the ’62 again.

I prepped the chassis by wire brushing the rust and paint away and primed with a weldable zinc primer before welding in the passenger side floor pan. My welding skill isn't very far up there, but I was doing okay by the time I finished. A little grinding and re-welding cleaned up the "oops" spots.

In late-August, I evaluated the drivers-side pan, and decided to only cut out a patch from the original pan (where it was swiss-cheese) rather than taking out the whole pan.

June, 2010

I bought another Beetle, a ’63 sedan this time. “Ran when parked,” of course.

September, 2011

This project is taking a bit longer than planned. However, now that we're working on the '63 Beetle for Tyler, it's given me good reason to blow the dust off and get mine back together, too.

So, over ten years after ordering the parts, I finally got the floor pan repair done.

Progress reports for both cars are merged from this point on.

###
_________________
1962 VW Type I Sunroof
1963 VW Type I Sedan
---------------------------
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) …being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[stembridge]

1963 TYPE I - BACKSTORY

This entry documents the story behind the 1963 sedan, and merges in continued work on the '62 sunroof as well.

###

June, 29, 2010

The owner lost the title and then lost interest in the project. Basically, all the easily removable stuff is off (piled inside), and it was 'running when parked.' ;0)

He was asking $800, we won it on eBay for $609 on July 3rd. After getting it home, we had a moment like in Herbie: Fully Loaded when the glove box popped open and Maggie found the letter, only in our case, it was the title to the car, never transferred by the original owner.

July 31, 2010

Just a quick update that I now have a properly signed title "in hand." I wrote the guy at the address on the title, explained the situation, and he called me back and said he'd be happy to sign. The title had a place for the purchaser to sign, so I filled all that out before I sent it (for obvious reasons!), and it came in the mail today along with a nice note.

My son has decided to go with Gulf Blue for the color. I'm kind of figuring on us doing both cars (my '62 sunroof and the '63) at the same time so we can take advantage of using the experience we gain on one car immediately for the other.

August 5th, 2010

We went and got the title transferred today. Almost had a stroke when the lady said I would need a copy of the former owner's wife's death certificate (she passed a couple years ago, and her name was also on the title). Thankfully the other worker there said because the original title read 'name' OR 'name,' that it was okay as-is - either signature was fine to make it valid.

So, we're now the official owners of 'the little car!'

August 16, 2010

My son and I have had a couple evenings to work on the car together, and have the interior pretty well cleaned out now (what a mess). We've also removed all the fixed glass, hood and deck lid and fuel tank. The original color appears to have been Gulf Blue, which is the color my son has chosen to paint it when we get to that point.

I ran jumper cables from my 6V tractor over to the Bug, and some of the circuits showed signs of life (wiper shafts turn, for example), but the starter wouldn't kick at all. I'd really like to try to start it before we drop the engine, just so I can get an idea of current condition (compression test, etc.). Will have to troubleshoot it first, it looks like.

More and more, the car gives off the vibe of one that was pretty far gone (rust), for which someone(s) had started repairs and lost interest. There were mouse-nest-riddled newspapers in the "way-back" dating from 1988, and I suspect that might have been the last time it was actually in use.

August 20, 2010

Got a little more done on the car tonight. Tyler removed most of the old headliner material, but is having some trouble extracting the bow rods as well as the part of the headliner that tucks up inside the channel in the roof.

I got most of the instrumentation pulled, but have left the starting circuit intact for now... still want to try to start it before we drop the engine.

The main point of this project is profitable time spent with my son, and we had some good conversation together, too.

August 26, 2010

Look what showed up on our doorstep yesterday... came with the car - the guy we bought it from had it tucked in his garage and dropped it off for us...

September 5, 2010

Due to other priorities this week, not much work on the Bug, mainly just stripping the rest of the chrome off the body, and Tyler finally got the last of the headliner bows out.

Oh, and we got our VW Museum 'birth certificates' a few days ago, and confirmed the original color as being Gulf (Golf) Blue. Build date was October 26, 1962, and Port of Entry was New York. It came with leatherette upholstery (Silver Beige) and two-tone wheels (Fog Grey and Royal Blue). Unfortunately, they don't appear to confirm matching engine/chassis numbers anymore.

October 7, 2010

Since the last update, we've stripped the rest of the guts out of the interior, pulled the wiring harness, and removed the engine. We did get the engine to run briefly before pulling it, just to see if it would.

The latest work has been starting to tackle the remaining rust damaged areas, including cutting out a rotted panel around the rear wheels.

November 14, 2010

We got our first patch panel tacked in yesterday... used clecos to hold the panel in place while we welded it in, then pulled them out and welded up the holes. Still have to run the beads between each tack weld and weld up the parcel shelf to the back side.

March 17, 2011

Had another good night with Tyler. While he cut down the patch panel for the RH rear wheel well, I finished making some of the ugliest bead welds you ever did see on the LH side. :b

Ty then clamped the patch in place, drilled and clicoed, and then tack welded it up. First time he's MIG welded, and he done right good!

April 5, 2011

Tyler has finished bead welding the RH panel, and spent some time grinding the welds down this evening while I did some wire brushing on the inside where the parcel shelf abuts the new patch panel, getting it ready to weld in an angle bracket to tie it all back together again

June 11, 2011

Tyler and I have worked sporadically on the ’63, continuing to grind and weld, weld and grind...

July 21, 2011

We continue to weld and grind, grind and weld... But, needing a change of pace, we decided to go ahead and separate the body from the pan.

August 4, 2011

Built a rolling cart for the body shell, and moved everything out of the workshop for now. I've got the pan for the '62 on sawhorses in there at the moment, and think I'll go ahead and finish replacing the drivers side so we can start working on cleaning, painting and building up both pans together.

August 20, 2011

Did some work on my '62 sunroof pan tonight. I had already cut out the rotted section of the drivers side pan (years ago!), so after wire brushing it down (and finding some more rot under the seat track), I did a little more trimming, then cut my replacement pan down to size and clicoed it in place - ready to weld after I w/b the paint off. In case you're wondering, I decided against replacing the whole pan because the rest of it was in good shape and is heavier gauge metal than the replacement (which is a WW part, which are supposed to be "the best").

September, 2011

Tyler's pan is cleaned up nicely, and he pulled the front beam off to be able to wire brush out that area better. We're also going to pull the transaxle, and with both those removed, can take both his and my pans to be sandblasted.

October 16, 2011

After a bit of a hiatus (getting some outside farm work done before freezing weather), Tyler and I got in another hour or two on his '63 last night, this time, removing the transaxle (and all the stuff that is attached to it). I also began installing the driver’s side floor panel on the ’62.

April 14, 2012

I had to go to Germany for a week due to work, and lookie what showed up while I was away:

For reference, they were done at Bolton's using my old wheels as donors, and the cost was $65/ea. plus shipping for a total of $331.24 (not including my cost to ship to them).

There was a bit of confusion over the meaning of "stock negative (rear) offset,” but we eventually got it figured out - it really helped that I had printed a photo of someone else's wheels for reference.

I have a lot on my plate right now that will continue to keep this a "back burner" project for a while, but Tyler is still very keen to complete the project, and we talked this morning about taking a week-long family road trip in both cars when we're done. Looking forward to it!

May 5, 2012

Getting ready to deliver my two donor engines to the rebuilder... it's the world's first water *and* air-cooled VW!

May 26, 2012

I'm quickly learning that the bad part about doing two cars at the same time is that it takes twice as long to do everything... Not to mention I have several other projects running at the same time.

So this evening's efforts resulted in all ten wheels getting their first coat of etching primer. Here's the setup:

In the foreground, I take a sanded-out wheel and vacuum it really good. Then over to the red tool cabinet, on which I wipe it down really well with lacquer thinner. From there, a pair of wheels go to the table in the background, where I shoot the primer. After it has a chance to dry 5-10 minutes, I use a couple of long bolts stuck through the lug holes to pick up and rotate each wheel a bit so I can shoot the area blanked by the jack stands on which the wheels are resting. From there, the wheels go to the staging area:

Tomorrow's Saturday, so we'll start with the primer surfacer, and hopefully end the day with top coated wheels.

Depending on how long all that takes, we may be able to start sanding out the pans, too:

A couple of you have said this is the fun part. Tedious is more like it! It will be "more fun" when we have two rolling and functional chassis!

The work is taking place in one of two machine sheds on the farm (80'x50' - the other is about 55'x40' and has most of my farming equipment in it). The problem with having that much space is that stuff tends to accumulate until its all full - you really never have enough room!

We just finished shooting the first coat of primer surfacer on the wheels. Took a while to get the gun adjusted right and many of the first ones we painted suffer from "dry paint syndrome," so we'll probably need to wet sand and shoot 'em one more coat before the L87 goes on.

UPDATE - I wet-sanded my five wheels and reshot a second coat of primer. I think the heat (~93°F in the shed) is causing the primer to set up pretty fast, as my last two wheels had the same issue with the paint getting too thick and landing in dry globs instead of a shiny liquid. So, one more round of wet-sanding will be needed and then the first coat of L87 goes on. Hope to knock that out on Monday... If it stays this hot, I'll have to start mixing smaller batches of paint at a time and clean the gun more frequently.

May 29, 2012

Well this is taking a lot longer than I had thought it would. All I was able to complete this weekend was to get the wheels for my '62 top coated:

Tyler's still wet sanding his wheels for the second primer surfacer coat.

I wire wheeled and prep cleaned my pan at the end of the day yesterday, but decided I need to touch up a couple of my pan repair welds before I shoot the etch primer on. Also need to get some seam sealer so that's ready to apply after the primer.

June 3, 2012

Finally got the '62 pan wire brushed, prep cleaned and etch primed over the weekend. Also applied seam sealer, so the next step is primer surfacer.

Oh, also got a call from Rancho, and our two transaxles are enroute.

June 4, 2012

Got the surface primer on the top side of the '62 pan tonight, and Tyler finished wet-sanding the first coat of primer surfacer on his wheels. The rest of the week looks pretty full (for Ty especially). I should be able to prime the other side of my pan, hopefully.

Have also started researching brakes and suspension hardware... too many choices!

June 7, 2012

Finished shooting the surface primer on the '62 pan last night... Kind of OT, but we also woke up to a new baby calf in the pasture this morning.

June 8, 2012

Bottom of the '62 pan is black.

June 9, 2012

Shot a second coat of black topcoat on the bottom of the '62 pan this morning, and hit the top of the pan late this afternoon. Out of black paint, so I'll have to get another quart for the '63 pan once it's primed and ready.

June 12, 2012

Transaxles arrived today from Rancho.

June 17, 2012

A little more work this weekend; we put the second primer coat on Tyler's wheels, and got all four swing plates painted black:

June 26, 2012

We cut and baled hay last week, so no work on the VWs until tonight, when Tyler finished wet sanding his wheels, and I shot the L87 on them.

I also stripped down the first of our two old transaxles to send back to Rancho as cores. The one in front originally came out of my '64 and got swapped for the '62 sunroof trans when it started whining and popping out of 4th. The one behind came out of the '63, and not knowing the condition, we're opting to go ahead and replace with a Rancho stock rebuilt.

July 16, 2012

Another little update (been busy with other house and farm projects)... the old transaxles are stripped and ready to go back to Rancho as cores. Our tires arrived last week as well, and as soon as I get Tyler's wheel centers painted Gulf Blue, we'll go have them mounted.

July 19, 2012

Finished painting the second color on the '63 wheels tonight, and after they cure out for a few days, I'll go have our new tires mounted and balanced.

While technically not correct for '63, we used L87 and Gulf Blue on these - the car itself will be Gulf Blue when done.

November 16, 2012

Given that today and tomorrow are probably the last days this year to be above 50°, I decided it would be prudent to pause a couple other projects and get the '63 pan in primer before it simply won't be warm enough to paint (and 50° is really pushing it, too).

November 20, 2012

Got the black on today...

December 16, 2012

Well I didn't get the beams painted yet. The inside of the backing plates is too convoluted to clean up with a wire brush, so I decided to remove them and use my electrolysis tank to de-rust. This meant pulling the inner bearing and seal races, and my memory of spending the better part of a week removing these from my old '64 with a cold chisel prompted me to try to find a better tool for the project:

It took me longer to put the tool together than to remove all four sets of races. I got the tool at Harbor Freight for about $40. Worth every penny.

March 9, 2013

Just a quick update on what's (not) been going on over the winter. I still haven't gotten the front beams painted - I got one wire brushed and ready to prime, and then we got really cold weather and things pretty much stopped on the VWs.

So instead of that, I've spent most of the winter getting my shop finished up, and other than final sorting and organizing needs, it's in pretty good shape now. With the heater set on low, it stays in the mid-50s, which has made it nice for working on projects as well as repairs to the daily drivers. As it's gas heat, I still can't do any painting (kaboom!), though.

We're starting to have early thaws now, which makes the outside ground soft or soupy and everything in the machine shed gets drenched in condensation (one of the reasons I'm glad to finally have a heated shop, as everything stays nice and dry). As soon as it's warm and dry enough, those front beams will get re-blasted and painted, and then I can start assembling the pans.

I got an email last week saying my 'hot rod 40' engine should be done in a few weeks, so there's that to look forward to, too.

March 10, 2013

(in response to a question from someone) One will be a 40hp, 6v original Type I Deluxe Sedan in Gulf Blue, the other will be a Herbie replica with the 'hot rod' 1385cc engine. My '62 has the sunroof, but I'm now thinking about putting that body on the '63 pan (so Herb will be the correct year).

May 23, 2013

Well, I had been hoping to get my front beams painted now that the weather is warm again, but unfortunately that project is going to be put on hold for a while:

The '62 came through fine, but the '63 sustained a dent along the side of the boot as well as a larger one in the roof at the top of the rear window. I should be able to repair both acceptably, but obviously I have bigger fish to fry at the moment.

Our best guess is that this was either a short-lived tornado or straight-line winds between 80-120mph. Nobody was hurt, thank The Lord!

May 27, 2013

So here's the worst of the damage to the '63:

Maybe a little worse than I initially thought. Panel beating is not a highly developed skill I have...

June 30, 2013

Just an update a month on that all the debris from our windstorm has been cleared and I'm waiting on quotes to rebuild the machine shed. I spent most of yesterday reorganizing and cleaning up the stuff in the front half of the barn that was still standing, which included getting the VWs squared away:

I also learned my "hot rod" 40hp engine should be done soon.

So no actual work on the cars as of yet, but at least I'm getting closer to being back where I was.

October 11, 2013

Beams are back and look "mahvelous, darling!"

October 31, 2013

Bet you didn't know VW offered the Routan with an air-cooled engine option, did you?

Actually, that's my freshly-done "old-school hot rod" engine just back from the rebuilder. 1385cc, and lots of performance goodies. I'll compile a full list and post later.

November 13, 2013

Here's a quickie list of some of the build details:

Started with a low mileage 1200cc block (it actually mic'ed out within ‘new’ specs, but they went ahead and cut it .010 just to clean things up)
Relieved case, added case savers, cam bearings
1385cc jugs
6v 200mm flywheel (balanced)
DeMello crank, counterbalanced & heat treated
Engle W100 camshaft
High performance valve springs
Late 40hp heads, ported
1:1.1 rockers
German muffler
EMPI valve covers (they painted the bails red to match a pic they saw in a 1960s VW magazine)
Bosch 094 distributor
12v short coil
12v generator/regulator
12v pulley
34 PICT carb (smaller jets, but don’t remember the size at the moment)
Racing heat exchangers (no internal fins)

January 4, 2014

Will they ever get finished? Stay tuned – I'm just as curious as you are!

(the machine shed now has about 1/3 of the roof installed and most of the walls are up – hope springs eternal!)

April 24, 2014

It's been nearly a year since we got hit with the tornado that ripped off the back half of our machine shed, and I'm happy to report the shed has been rebuilt (other than pouring concrete in the new back half, which will have to come later when the budget allows).

The photo is from February - we had snow on the ground into early April! I'm still cleaning up the jumbled mess in the front half of the shed, and now have the enclosed shop area cleaned out enough to get work done on various projects.

So tonight, I installed one of the face frames on a cabinet I'm building for our kitchen, and then dug out my now-very-dusty widened rims and set up a jig to install the hubcap clips. I watched a couple yootoob videos over lunch of other folks installing them, and managed to get the job done without buggering up the paint too badly.

In the morning, these will go to the local shop I use for tire work to get mounted and balanced. Once the main part of the shed is cleaned and organized, I will then be able to start putting the running gear back on the pans as time permits.

April 25, 2014

Mounted:

Now I just need to finish the rest of the two cars!

October 12, 2014

Hope springs eternal! We had our annual office cookout at our farm yesterday, which has the side benefit of forcing me to clean out the machine shed. Everything but the engine and front beam was exposed to the weather when the shed got hit with the tornado, so it's all going to need a thorough cleaning before I start putting it together. Still have to finish the work island for my wife before I start this, so don't go all getting your hopes up that I'll have it done by Christmas. (c:

October 14, 2015

Thanks, it's getting there! I've done more than my fair share of car repairs in the dirt and gravel, and am really enjoying the building. Turns out the tornado that hit us was a blessing in disguise!

From this:

To this:

October 26, 2015

I did something more significant than move parts around this evening - yay! After moving a lot of stuff out of the way, I pulled the pans out and pressure-washed both of them (we had a rare 64°F day for late October). I have one pan staged outside my heated shop area and the other is easy to get to for later this Winter.

February 6, 2017

Don't fall out of your chair, but I installed the transaxle on the '63 pan a couple nights ago.

Oh, I did finally finish the wife's kitchen work island, and am now started on built-in dining room cabinets, which are the last cabinetry items to do in our remuddle.

April 11, 2020

Believe it or not, I still have the VWs and still intend to complete them! I retired earlier this year and we're in the process of moving closer to grandkids in a different State. Once our current place sells and we pay off the loan on the new house, I'm building a 36x48 shop and will finally have some free time to focus on these cars (I hope!).

The only update on actual work done on the cars is that I ordered parts for king pin rebuilds and have the first one disassembled and ready for cleanup and reassembly with the new parts. I'm converting the front brakes to discs on the '62 sunroof and have those parts on hand, too.

October 29, 2021

It dawned on me that I've owned the '62 sunroof over 23 years. These will almost certainly be my last car projects as my retirement income won't accommodate doing more in the future (especially the way things are going these days).

###

This brings everything up-to-date! We now return you to regularly-scheduled sporadic updates.
_________________
1962 VW Type I Sunroof
1963 VW Type I Sedan
---------------------------
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) …being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[stembridge]

Not much work on the cars the past week or so, but I did receive all the parts I need to reassemble the beams, so there's that. Also removed one of the shift rods just to see what was involved. I think I'm going to try a pressure-test on the original gas lines - if they hold air, I think I'll maybe poke a rod through to clean out any gunk (and retest for air-tightness) and leave them in. If they fail the pressure test, I'll replace. Will probably do that for the other tubes running through the tunnel, too.
_________________
1962 VW Type I Sunroof
1963 VW Type I Sedan
---------------------------
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) …being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[wdfifteen]

[quote="stembridge"]

Glad to see you stuck with a tried and true 40hp engine. Most of my VW miles were in front of a 40.

What make and model of tractor is that? It looks European.

[stembridge]

[quote="wdfifteen"]

[wdfifteen]