European '66 Beetle Restoration Log

couion · Post by **couion** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:35 am

Kinda what mine looks like. Still in buckets and boxes but slowly coming around. LOOKING GOOOOD!

SeeBlauKafer · Post by **SeeBlauKafer** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 3:06 pm

Hi Couion,

You're exactly right about the buckets and boxes!

My car is currently in the following places all at one time:
- The body shop
- My home garage
- My guest bedroom
- Under my guest bedroom bed
- The living room
- The dining room

It simply defies all known laws of physical dimension!

Stored in many boxes, one bucket, many ziploc bags (gallon freezer bags are GREAT!), and a Whitman's candy box for the fragile items (horn button, dome light, dash knobs, etc.).

So I see I'm in good company! Thanks for the kind words. Nice job on your pan by the way.

SeeBlauKafer · Post by **SeeBlauKafer** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 12:55 pm

Here's an interesting little tid-bit about the rear chassis mounting points (rear wheelhouses) on my '66. They were very rotten (as were the bumper mounts). I ordered two new rear wheelhouse sections, but when they arrived the actual mounting bracket looked flimsy to me. Luckily my old brackets had miraculously survived the metal being rusted out from behind them so my bodyshop man reused them. He cut the "flimsies" from the new wheelhouse sheetmetal and welded my sturdy original German brackets back on. I was very pleased with his results ... as you see here.

In the picture notice how the replacement wheelhouse area is burgundy and the bracket is the original sea blue? That's where we reused the sturdier original bracket.

SeeBlauKafer · Post by **SeeBlauKafer** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 1:00 pm

Here's what it looked like before. Notice how flimsy looking the new bracket appears? That was taken care of.

SeeBlauKafer · Post by **SeeBlauKafer** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 1:05 pm

Check out these swiss cheesed rusty bumper mounts. Yeeech! That's a tetanus shot waiting to happen!

SeeBlauKafer · Post by **SeeBlauKafer** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 1:10 pm

And then the end result after replacement. Note: These brackets are more "universal" and typical of what's available on the market today but they're better than tetanus city and I think they'll do the job just fine.

SeeBlauKafer · Post by **SeeBlauKafer** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 1:13 pm

I've reposted new pictures to the past history of this thread. So please feel free to go back and have a look.

Cheers!

SeeBlauKafer · Post by **SeeBlauKafer** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 4:41 pm

The rear bulkhead body mount was severely corroded. The entire piece had to be cut out and replaced. (Note: You must brace the body before attempting this operation or you may spring the doors and probably never get them aligned properly again!)

Here's the finished product.

SeeBlauKafer · Post by **SeeBlauKafer** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 3:18 pm

Here's a look at the brand new front bulkhead area (can you really call this a 'firewall' in a rear-engined car?) The old one looked like a rusted out wash board.

SeeBlauKafer · Post by **SeeBlauKafer** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 3:24 pm

And here's the nicely done passenger side footwell. I like this bodyshop guy's welding technique. Neat...as opposed to the 'bubble-gum' look of my welds. He later ground this down and epoxy primed it as you see in the exterior shot. Note: I don't know what those two black dots are, they don't appear there in real life.

Weird thing about the "passenger side" is that it rusted out much worse than the driver side. Even the bodyshop thought that was weird. When they got to my passenger side door they found that the entire lower section 3 inches from the bottom had rusted out, was previously repaired badly, and bondoed up. They cut out the bad metal and used a stretch/shrink machine to make a new section out of exact thickness steel sheetmetal and welded it in properly.

They claim they don't want to see another VW as long as they live LOL!

couion · Post by **couion** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 3:57 am

I don't think that is weird mine is rusted in exactly the same places.The passenger side is rusted out but the drivers side is intact.

SeeBlauKafer · Post by **SeeBlauKafer** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 3:43 pm

And ... here's a picture of what the wheelhouse looks like all finished in epoxy primer (DuPont).

SeeBlauKafer · Post by **SeeBlauKafer** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 10:42 am

Sorry for the long delay folks. My Bug has been moved to another shop for paint. I hope to have some updates within the next two weeks.

Cheers!

Post by **jmartini** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 10:50 am

Sure is looking beautiful so far, can't wait to see the most current pics!

RobM · Post by **RobM** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 8:19 pm

SeeBlauKafer wrote:Sorry for the long delay folks. My Bug has been moved to another shop for paint. I hope to have some updates within the next two weeks.
Cheers!

- An inspiring on-going story. Thanks for all the info and pictures.

Rob