European '66 Beetle Restoration Log

Here's the spot to show off your 1966 Beetle Restoration projects
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scruffy
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Post by scruffy »

My condolences also friend. Scruffy
66vw,62vwtrike,71vw super project car and 73vw bus,and one sometimes understanding wife
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SeeBlauKafer
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Post by SeeBlauKafer »

scruffy wrote:My condolences also friend. Scruffy
Thanks Scruffy, I always enjoy reading your posts.

-SBK
'66 Type I
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rokemester
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Post by rokemester »

What an amazing chronology! Nicely done and thank you for sharing the highs and lows of your restoration. I hope to come into the possession of a 66 red bug in a few months. It's a solid little car, but as you are showing me, looks can be deceiving! I can't wait to see the rest of your project! Please don't keep us waiting too long. :D

I'm sorry to be coming into your string so late in the game and also to hear about the passing of your Dad. My Dad has been my inspiration when it comes to doing stuff around the house and he also planted the early seeds of car infatuation with his TR-3. You should consider publishing a book after all you have been going through.
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SeeBlauKafer
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Post by SeeBlauKafer »

rokemester wrote:What an amazing chronology! Nicely done and thank you for sharing the highs and lows of your restoration. I hope to come into the possession of a 66 red bug in a few months. It's a solid little car, but as you are showing me, looks can be deceiving! I can't wait to see the rest of your project! Please don't keep us waiting too long. :D

I'm sorry to be coming into your string so late in the game and also to hear about the passing of your Dad. My Dad has been my inspiration when it comes to doing stuff around the house and he also planted the early seeds of car infatuation with his TR-3. You should consider publishing a book after all you have been going through.
Hi Rokemester,

Thank you for the kind comments and no worries about when you joined, glad to have you here. My Dad was my inspiration too. Well see about the book! HAHA!
'66 Type I
Born in 1966
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project

Post by Born in 1966 »

I read all of the posts and am waiting for an update! thanks....JJ
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SeeBlauKafer
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Re: project

Post by SeeBlauKafer »

Born in 1966 wrote:I read all of the posts and am waiting for an update! thanks....JJ
Hi "Born in 1966" - Apologies but I just came back to visit the site today after work and noticed your message. Fear not ... I am about to resume work on the car.

This past Wednesday I sold my 1956 oval window Bug to an enthusiast friend so I'm now fluid enough to start shopping a paint job for the car.

At this point I'm terrified I won't remember where everything goes! I have items for this car stored under my house, on racks in the garage, in the car itself, behind my work bench, and under the bed in the guest bedroom so readers please don't tell the wife! (actually she's probably reading this now!)

So here's the plan:
1.) Clean out the garage - things accumulate on a project car when you let one sit
2.) Bolt the body to the pan temporarily - easier said than done - some of the holes don't line up exactly and I didn't do a heater channel replacement while the body was off so I don't know how this could be
3.) Re-align the doors. The passenger door functions perfectly when I bolt it in but the driver side door doesn't even come close. I don't know what happened there.
4.) If/Once the driver door is aligned, I will remove any surface rust that has popped up and re-prime
5.) Shop a paint job
6.) Tow car to paint shop then home once done
7.) Remove body again and repaint pan (more on this later)
8.) Cut new belly gasket to fit the old one I saved and install it (this should be a good read when I get there)
9.) Re-mate chassis and body and bolt together for final assembly
10.) Begin installation of new wiring harness (I will LOVE being here - this is a nightmare for most folks but this is work I love to sit back and savor)

That's enough for now ... I'm just hoping to get the garage cleaned out for now.

Thanks to the faithful ... maybe it will end up like the gent who built a custom Lambo in his basement over 10 years ... only slower!

PS - I spoke to the original owners wife in December and she said she understood if I thought I needed to sell the car. Ouch. That re-kindled the fire.

Cheers!,

SBK
'66 Type I
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SeeBlauKafer
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She's been decluttered

Post by SeeBlauKafer »

This past week has been filled with all kinds of VW action around my house. I sold my 1956 Oval and the new owner finally picked it up on Friday 05-March. What a sad moment for me, as I've owned her for 18 years now, but I've really been toying with the idea of selling her since the early 2000's. Along with the Oval went all the Oval era spare parts I've been hoarding for the last almost 20 years. Don't worry, I was compensated, but a lot of the items are almost impossible to locate these days even on the Internet. Every piece I collected for that car was obtained live/in-person from swap meets and never from Internet sources (ebay didn't exist for many of the years I owned the Oval).

The resulting parts move to the new owner has decluttered the garage enough that I'm starting an early spring cleaning. I took a before picture to show what the '66 looked like before the decluttering and after. I'll upload it when I get the chance.

You'll also notice in my signature line that the only VW I now own is my '66 Beetle. Gone are the two Golfs and '70 Beetle of my father. Also gone is my '01 New Beetle TDI and my beloved '56 Beetle.

On Sunday I re-examined the door mounting situation. The driver side door is ill fitting now, with strange gapping and does not line up evenly with the body seam (droops about 1/4 inch). The hinge pin does appear to need replacing however (I already have the first oversize pins and a reamer.) The passenger side door is perfect though. Beautiful gaps all around and effortlessly opens/closes, not to mention everything lines up perfectly with the body seam.

Upon measuring the door I had my first unpleasant news. The opening for the driver side door is approximately 1/4 inch narrower at two points measured from drip rail to B-pillar. The two points I measured from were at the base of the door and at the seam where the chrome trim mounts.

I'll admit I don't recall exactly how well or ill fitting this door was prior to removal, but the heather channels and pans had been replaced for several months before I separated body and pan so unless the firewall or rear bulkhead replacement caused this I'm at a loss to explain it.

Maybe it will partially re-align after I bolt the body and pan together, but don't count on it. I have heard of a method employing a bottle jack to re-align a door - which to me sounds both scary and not very precise. (Any thoughts from the forum on this one?)

As I said, the only VW I now own is my '66. That should prove it's rightful place in my heart to anyone who may question my intentions, especially since I elected to keep it over a very nice solid running Oval. Long live the '66 model year and continued thanks to John for this site and forum.

(Picture added 11-March-2010) ... and this is AFTER I decluttered the area so you can imagine the mess before! Still it looks pretty good to resume working on it don't you think? The shelves in the back are filled to the gills with all the bits and parts I've taken off her. I wonder how much has gone missing? I recently found the steering column lurking behind one of my racks of manufactured shelving.

-SBK
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Last edited by SeeBlauKafer on Thu Mar 11, 2010 4:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
'66 Type I
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SeeBlauKafer
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Driver side door woes

Post by SeeBlauKafer »

I fitted up a spare (yes I have a spare) '66 model driver side door I had laying around and fitted it up to the car last night.

The hinge pin wear is minimal on this door. With the new door fitted now the gap appears to be more correct at the A-pillar but the door alignment still droops by about 1/4" at the lower part of the B-pillar.

So I will have to either resort to manual adjustment of the hinges or maybe even the bottle jack method I mentioned which scares me a little.

As I've never done either of these processes before I think I'll try the hinge adjustment on one of my doors as a test in case I ruin it. It may be the original door since the hinges need oversized pins anyway.
'66 Type I
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SeeBlauKafer
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Possible resolution to door alignment issue?

Post by SeeBlauKafer »

I think I may have found the smoking gun to the driver side door issue. If I recall correctly, when I initially removed the body from the chassis back in '02 and placed it up on sawhorses I remember finding a gap on an area underneath the driver side heater channel just aft of the b-pillar. This gap was annoying to the extent I had to find a 1/4" thick piece of scrap masonite siding to place directly under the area to keep it from wobbling slightly to and fro while the body was being stored. (Sort of like a table that rocks with one leg slightly off.)

Now remember, the door aligned properly just prior to lifting the body off the pan and I already had the channels and pans welded in place too.

I also said the alignment with the A-pillar seemed uniform enough with the spare door attached so if that holds true then my guess is I may not be able to align the door properly until I bolt the pan to the chassis. The bracing action of the pan might just be enough to correct the 1/4" offset at the B-pillar.

My plan is to lift the body enough to install the old pan gasket then temporarily bolt everything up with the bolt plates and all. I ordered brand new pan bolts as well as new door hinge bolts from Wolfsburg West too.
'66 Type I
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jmartini
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Post by jmartini »

Sounds like you are really digging in to it again - way to go! Looking forward to seeing more pictures as she comes back together!
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SeeBlauKafer
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Post by SeeBlauKafer »

OK, so I bolted the pan back to the body and tightened the pan bolts snug but not to torque specifications yet. No change in the door alignment. From what I've been able to find out from the web (mostly from The Samba) one potential treatment for this issue is to ... gulp ... place blocks of wood against the A and B pillars then employ a jack to slightly increase the gap in tiny increments until the door fits.

I don't think I want to try this but may have to resort to it. Once you jack the door opening wider there's really no going back! I'd hate to ruin the car because of this.
'66 Type I
KKV270
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How did the project end??? (if it did??)

Post by KKV270 »

Hi.

Was that the end of the matter?? How did your project end??
Going through restoration jobs as I am trying to gather energy, know and inspiration towards my reostoration undertaking.
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SeeBlauKafer
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Re: How did the project end??? (if it did??)

Post by SeeBlauKafer »

KKV270 wrote:Hi.

Was that the end of the matter?? How did your project end??
Going through restoration jobs as I am trying to gather energy, know and inspiration towards my reostoration undertaking.
Hello KKV270.
Do restorations ever really end? Nothing further has taken place on the restoration as of late. I got married then about 3 years later became a father. So I have not had much time for the VW lately.
Oddly enough recently I have been going through the boxes and bags of parts I saved for the car and have been getting that old familiar VW restoration feeling again. Everything has been kept in my garage and is in good condition awaiting the appropriate time.
Thank you for checking in.
SBK
'66 Type I
Seibert66
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Re: European '66 Beetle Restoration Log

Post by Seibert66 »

I hope one day you'll surprise us and we'll see a sneak peak of your Euro 1966!
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