Black 55 from 36 years ago

[esde]

lots of short work sessions fit in over the last few days, between holiday shopping, cooking and eating. Amazing what you can fit in with an hour here and an hour there.
For starters, the chlorine dioxide treatment definitely made a huge difference. The bad musty smell is mostly gone, and the car smells like a public pool. None of the upholstery was bleached or affected, though it probably needs and will get another round in the near future, as there is some residual smell thats not just chlorine. I scrubbed the carpet down and extracted everything with a vacuum, and then scrubbed all the seat covers several times. Followed by a round of conditioner for the fabric.

I had rinsed all the loose dirt but had not touched anything with soap or a cloth..
Many changes of water later, and lots of clean cloths..

yes, the steering wheel is upside down

It looks really good

Bad news is, there are some rust bubbles, is a few places. Driver front fender, driver door under the trim, and rear engine lid all have some bubbles, but the body, roof, and hood are all nearly perfect.
Small dent here

and here

I'm thinking of trying my hand at some of the glue on dent removal kits for the roof dent, the other will be easy to push out.
I've replaced all the wheel cylinders, lines, and hoses. About to clean and repack the front wheel bearings before buttoning it all back up.

So far it's been starting every time, though I haven't run it for long with no way to pull it outside. I read through the 55 engine thread, and based on that info I think this is very original. I'll get some better pics posted once it's outside in better light. It looks like Nick went to the trouble of modifying a dual tip 36hp muffler to have the single tip, so he obviously valued keeping things original.
Pics don't do it justice, it's the cleanest car I've ever seen pulled from storage.
Waiting to hear of it was accepted for display at the Simeone Museum for the VW focus month. I got the form submitted last minute, but they seem very interested in it.. fingers crossed as it would be a nice setting for the first public viewing.
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[VW_Jimbo]

DUDE! That car is immaculate! What a beauty! Lucky man!

Before throwing the drums back on, grease up those adjusters! Easier now!!!!

Good luck on the museum setting. That seems pretty cool, unless there are restrictions on you or liability on you.

Love checking in on this one!
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Jimbo

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

[esde]

[esde]

ok, finally I got to drive it, and now I can take a break
Here it is, pulled out of the barn. Needs another wash cause I got greasy fingers all over it, but it's too cold tonight. Might turn there heat on in the barn tomorrow and give it a bath inside. Make sure to listen to the solid click when the doors shut. Sorry for the breathing, my nose is super stuffed

Link

And, starting.

Link

It's got a bit of a stumble just off idle that I'll figure out. I literally got it to run, and went for a drive. Haven't turned a single screw on the carb, except the one that secures the throttle cable. So, a little work to do yet
Took it out for a drive to the corner to see.. I live on a mile long dead end road. So even though there was no tag or registration I wasn't worried, but BAM! Immediately red and blue lights and sirens behind me!
Damned Santa. Now I'm in the shit

Link

And the second maiden voyage w my son Jasper.
Brakes need more bleeding and adjustment, and the trans oil needs to be dumped/changed..
And then when I got back, the charge light was staying off (yay) but now one headlight was out (boo)
I flipped the high beams and everything shut off and wouldn't restart. Bleh.
So time to clean more contacts and fuse blocks and stuff...
But it runs and drives!! Or, ran and drove..
and man it is a nice quiet cabin, for a beetle.
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[EverettB]

Awesome!

That door opening and closing is nice, nothing like original in nice shape.
The decklid handle "clicks" into place too

I can hear the fire truck sirens in your Cold Start video, what was going on?
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[esde]

[VW_Jimbo]

Those are awesome videos! WOW! That thing is immaculate!
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Jimbo

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

[esde]

So after I turned the high beams on, and the car stalled out I still can't start it.
The coil is 1.4 on the primary and 10.4k on the secondary, but no spark when I open the points. Wondering if the new condenser could have crapped out, or???
I did clean all the fuse blocks and chase down some weird wiring, so steady voltage it the coil hot connection but no spark..
In other news I pulled a door handle to find SG81 key code, and have ordered the correct VW keys for door and ignition, as all I have is a generic hardware store ignition key.. progress.
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[VW_Jimbo]

Pull out your spare distributor. Move the cap and rotor to the spare distributor. Ground the body to the engine. Connect the spare’s condenser to your coil, then go turn the key to run. Connect a spark plug to the end of, the easiest to get to, plug wire. Stick a spark plug into it and lay the plug on a good ground point. Then spin the shaft of the plugged in distributor. Got spark?
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Jimbo

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

[esde]

Hey Jim, good suggestion. I was confused at first, cause I had spark, and then suddenly I didn't. Seems the coil cuts out after a few sparks and then no more.
So I need to find a spare 6v coil, and keep my eyes open for another TE6 A3 coil
SD
_________________
modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[esde]

had a few minutes this weekend to track down some issues, and found no specific cause to why it quit running.
Went through the ignition, and had spark, but occasionally it dropped out. Took everything apart and reassembled... and now I have decent spark but still it wouldn't fire. I could smell gas at the exhaust.. but the carb was unknown so I tore into it. The neighbor that was helping the seller had the carb off but I wasn't sure exactly what he did. The top screws were lose so I assumed it had been at least cleaned out

So needless to say I went through it, stopping short of pulling the throttle shaft and plating stuff. The shaft is slightly loose and if/ when I remove it I plan to fit one of Mika's oversize throttle shafts to tighten it back up. So, reinstalled with a new carb support as the old one was missing. I got my son to crank it over, yes we have good spark, and yes the carb is filling. And just like that it kicked over and runs well again..
I'm going to try to get it registered this week, so we can attend the VW focus opening at the Simeon museum on the 14th..
Next issue: driver side semaphore will not go up or down without assistance.
It's pretty clean, but the pivot is worn on one side so it binds while moving. I've rebuilt more vocmlicated things but never a semaphore specifically. I'm contemplating DIY vs sending it to Matt in Alberta, need to look up some threaeds on how these things work.

And, contemplating the wide whitewall vs all blackwalls. Something about an all black car is just perfect, but then I think I'd be tempted to lower it..
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[Rome]

Esde, I'm very happy for you to luck out on such a special Beetle! Am looking forward to seeing it in person next year (e.g., Dubs by the Shrubs?).

For the semaphore revival, don't forget John Henry's detailed explanations from ~ 20 years ago (The Bug Shop); out of Massachusetts. Hopefully his methods can help.

[esde]

[obus]

[Rome]

I don't remember any specific threads from him on semaphores, but he explained so many systems in detail while reviving his split window Beetle that I'm sure he covered them.

I think Obus found a very relevant thread!

[esde]

Thank you Rome and Obus, I have been reading all the semaphore threads and will probably tackle this one after the holiday. This video shows the issue, the pivot is worn, and it gets bound up before it opens fully..

Link

The coil, plunger, wires and lens are nice, so hopefully I can just repair the pivot and reinstall it..
And then on to buffing the paint out..
So I ordered some new foam pads for the buffer, and went at it with a medium cut compound on a soft sponge. Holy shit

It took about 4-5 hours to get everything. I will probably use a super soft sponge with some polishing glaze on the roof, doors, and hood.. just for the wow factor. But even as is it looks great. In comparison, my other black car looks like I painted it with a live chicken.
There are a dozen places where there is rust under the paint, both front fenders around the horn grills, both doors right under the trim, drivers side front fender above the wheel arch, rear decklid in random places. A very little bit on the roof. I'll ignore it, as the car is just too nice as is to consider taking it apart.

And, it is just getting pretty cold here, so my outside cat is hanging in the barn, and he is completely underfoot while I'm doing this.
Got shine?

Link

I love it, wish it was warmer so I could take it for a nice long drive...
And last good bit of info: I got a nice oversize "Big M" radio trim from 56Cabrio, but I can't show it off till I get a radio to go with it. But it will cover the unfortunate damage to the radio area, many thanks for that 56Cabrio!
SD
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[esde]

So a quick follow up with some pictures as I have started getting into this lazy semaphore..
It is a 111953021B semaphore, marked SWF and from what I have read here on Samba correct for this 1955.
Overall it is in decent shape, though the lens is a little warped and misshaped..
What I thought was a loose pin, is actually the bushing that the pin goes through, that bushing is loose in the body of the arm. Here I am pointing at the bushing

I did just drill the peened ends of the pin till I could separate the arms from the main body. I assume the pin is intended to move in the bushing if the arm, but here it is very stiff and the bushing is spinning and now is sloppy..
So the plan is to solder the bushing to the arm, source a new pin, and drill the bushing to match the pin. Fingers crossed.
Here are a few pics as there are not many here on Samba.
Body and arm just after separating, you can see the pin thats been drilled

Here is where the return spring hooks to the body

Remove the arm from the lens, and the lens stays with the main body

All the parts

You can see the lens has shrunk and deformed a little

The complicated pivot. I think the secondary spring allows a play in the mechanism

_________________
modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[56Cabrio]

[esde]

trying to button up the semaphore stuff before the holiday....
First I soldered the brass pivot bushing to the semaphore arm. The solder layed on sort of heavy but I did carefully sand the lumps down.

I sourced some new stainless steel 3mm pins online, cut them to length (about 17mm) and drilled a little dimple in the ends so they would be easier to peen into place.

Test fitting the pin and spring. Getting it all lined up with the spring in place takes some serious dexterity. You need to use a little pick to land the bent end of the spring in its tab as you slide it all together.

Back apart, painted the bare spots, lubed the pin and back together.. fingers crossed

Success!!

Link

_________________
modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[VW_Jimbo]

Wicked cool! Nice workmanship! One of the semaphores which came with the Bug is lazy and rusty. I know that I will be resurrecting the pair down the road. Your post gives me a bit more information, allowing me to gain some confidence in knowing that things can work out well!
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Jimbo

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