Project 76 German Look

cam070 · 2011-10-19T11:26:12+00:00

I thought it was about time that I started a build thread for my 76. I've had it for about 2 years now and bought it off a family down in Albury who had owned it about 20 years. This is my second 76 and the 3rd bug I've owned and was bought for me by my wife for my 40th (that's right getting old). These pics are what it was like when I bought it. Apart from the bodykit and wheels it was pretty standard but in good condition apart form the obligatory C-pillar rust. The basic plan is to build a nice street Beetle with a German Look theme and hopefully a few custom touches that will make it a bit different. Some of the grunt work has been completed and I'll provide some updates of what has happened to date over the next couple of weeks. In the mean time any (more) advice and guidance is greatfully appreciated.

cam070 Custom Title Time!

1,332 posts · joined Jul 2009 · 27 Dec 2011, 9:00 pm

#878707

Pumba wrote:No worrys,my body will be off the pan so should be straight forward.
cheers shane.

Shane, FYI I found a radial twisted wire brush tool on an angle grinder to be quite effective for removing dirt and paint.

cam070 Custom Title Time!

1,332 posts · joined Jul 2009 · 27 Dec 2011, 10:36 pm

#878715

As mentioned in previous posts I replaced the inner and outer bushes. Pictured below are the old (left) and new (right) bushes. As you can see the outer bush is somewhat distorted after many years of use.

The new ones were purchased from a popular local retailer. Should the inner bush be non-concentric?

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Craig S Wolfsburg Wizard

635 posts · joined May 2008 · 28 Dec 2011, 7:30 am

#878733

cam070 wrote:The new ones were purchased from a popular local retailer.

How facetious are you being?

If I know what I'm looking for, I sometimes shop with confidence at one place in Sydney. If I need any help at all, or aren't sure exactly what I'm after, I shop at another, where I know they will sell me the right part for the right job, even though it might cost a little more.

1969 Beetle - June
1974 L Bug - Gwendolyn
2002 Bora V6 4Motion - Anita

Pumba Veteran Volks Folk

2,138 posts · joined Jan 2007 · 28 Dec 2011, 7:58 am

#878737

cam070 wrote:
Pumba wrote:No worrys,my body will be off the pan so should be straight forward.
cheers shane.
Shane, FYI I found a radial twisted wire brush tool on an angle grinder to be quite effective for removing dirt and paint.

Yep got one of them👍

69 Beetle
66 Beetle
56 Beetle

cam070 Custom Title Time!

1,332 posts · joined Jul 2009 · 28 Dec 2011, 4:52 pm

#878820

Craig S wrote:
cam070 wrote:The new ones were purchased from a popular local retailer.
How facetious are you being?

If I know what I'm looking for, I sometimes shop with confidence at one place in Sydney. If I need any help at all, or aren't sure exactly what I'm after, I shop at another, where I know they will sell me the right part for the right job, even though it might cost a little more.

Not trying to be facetious at all. Just trying to say I didn't buy some random parts off e-bay and not wanting to publicly slag off any retailer, especially if these are the correct parts.

1303Steve Scirocco Rare

8,650 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 28 Dec 2011, 7:16 pm

#878843

Hi

The inner stock knobbly rubbers are left and right handed ??? ??? 245 is left and ??? ??? 246 is right.

Looks like the bushes you have are meant for left and right fitments. Are there any markings on them?

Steve

cam070 Custom Title Time!

1,332 posts · joined Jul 2009 · 28 Dec 2011, 9:41 pm

#878873

1303Steve wrote:Hi

The inner stock knobbly rubbers are left and right handed ??? ??? 245 is left and ??? ??? 246 is right.

Looks like the bushes you have are meant for left and right fitments. Are there any markings on them?

Steve

Correct. The nobby bushes only fit right or left. They have a slight taper so will only fit one side.

There were no markings on them to identify them, so it was a quick trial and error scenario.

But my main issue was that the nobby bushes seem to be non-concentric, while the original ones and the outer ones are concentric.

1303Steve Scirocco Rare

8,650 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 29 Dec 2011, 8:57 am

#878936

Hi

On every car I've fitted new bushes to I only fit one pair of urethane bushes, either inner or outer.

With most lowered cars your always fighting excessive negative camber, so maybe fitting your knobbly bushes with the fat side down would help this.

Steve

Aussie Dubbin Fahrvergnugen

895 posts · joined Jul 2008 · 29 Dec 2011, 9:33 am

#878941

Do yourself a favour and grease all the bolts before they go back together. I used graphite grease and it makes life a dream when pulling down in future. Looks great

'68 BUG build(Racing)
http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=85509
69Baja
http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=88798
Manx(MaxFX)
http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=88799&page=1#pid826884

cam070 Custom Title Time!

1,332 posts · joined Jul 2009 · 29 Dec 2011, 10:27 pm

#879025

1303Steve wrote:Hi

On every car I've fitted new bushes to I only fit one pair of urethane bushes, either inner or outer.

With most lowered cars your always fighting excessive negative camber, so maybe fitting your knobbly bushes with the fat side down would help this.

Steve

Thanks for the tip Steve but they only seem to go in 1 way so I'll just have to see how camber comes out. But with IRS, should camber be an issue?

cam070 Custom Title Time!

1,332 posts · joined Jul 2009 · 29 Dec 2011, 10:32 pm

#879026

Just before Christmas, I got to work on the bits of the pan that i could not access while the body was on and with drive train in place. These have now been removed so I can gain access to the frame horns.

I also wasn't happy with how the inside floor turned out so stripped it back and painted it again.

With a lack of space in my garage I moved operations to the foot path outside my house and made use of a council object which allowed better all round access.

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cam070 Custom Title Time!

1,332 posts · joined Jul 2009 · 29 Dec 2011, 10:38 pm

#879027

With regards to the inner floor sections I wasn't happy with, I think the problem was that I did these with the body on (note to self if I ever do this again, take the body off, it's so much easier). In doing so I was not able to hose it all off when doing the POR15 degrease and rust converter steps. While they recommend using wet rags to clean surfaces, I think some residue may have remained, resulting in some bubbling.

Anyway, all has now been re-painted, and I can finally start re-assembling some stuff.

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cam070 Custom Title Time!

1,332 posts · joined Jul 2009 · 29 Dec 2011, 10:50 pm

#879028

This section is a bit out of order.

At the end of Nov, we separated the body from the pan so it could be sent to be soda blasted.

This allowed me access to the framehead section and the areas where the body mates to the floor.

Here are some progress pics of that sections, first a before, then stripped and then POR15'ed.

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cam070 Custom Title Time!

1,332 posts · joined Jul 2009 · 29 Dec 2011, 10:55 pm

#879029

And here is the body, all strapped up and ready to go to be blasted.

It was a miserable night

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cam070 Custom Title Time!

1,332 posts · joined Jul 2009 · 29 Dec 2011, 11:00 pm

#879030

The body is back from the soda blaster. It's all now in etch primer and you can see the guards in some of the prrevious pics.

The body however has been covered ever since returning home and we had to build an emergency "blue room" at the back of the garage as the weather has been so bad.

So we now have kind of a double/tandem garage. Not sure if this will add to our real estate value......

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cam070 Custom Title Time!

1,332 posts · joined Jul 2009 · 20 Jul 2012, 10:14 pm

#913599

Updates on this build thread are well overdue. Work has been progressing and parts gathering on overseas trips has also been taking place to minimize transport costs.

The pan is basically done, with new hard brake lines all installed.

The following pics are way out of sequence, but work on nthe body has commenced. The body was soda blasted but sat for a few months, so we dicided to rub it all back just in case. There were a few small dents to smotth out, but the front and roof are now ecth primed and ready for primer.

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cam070 Custom Title Time!

1,332 posts · joined Jul 2009 · 20 Jul 2012, 11:17 pm

#913609

Here are my 36 year old Girling calipers after pulling them off. 2 of the pistons were seaized, maybe from having sat for so long idle.

They look a bit sorry and neglected.

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cam070 Custom Title Time!

1,332 posts · joined Jul 2009 · 20 Jul 2012, 11:20 pm

#913610

Here's how they look now, complete with fresh piston seals and dust caps.

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