I got bored, so thought I'd start a build thread. This is my 1970 model 1500 bug, picked it up for real cheap. It has it's fair share of rust so this is going to be a full body off pan rebuild. Mods are going to include:
- Semi-auto pan swap (IRS rear, ball-joint front)
- Commodore disc brakes all round
- EJ22 swap
- Air conditioning
- Custom interior etc....
How it was when I picked it up...
Now to start uncovering the cancer...
Rear passenger window
Rear window
Windscreen
Parcel shelf
And the floorpan is completely rooted - which is why i found a reasonably good semi-auto pan to use for it. Thankfully the heater channels are mostly okay and the front door pillars are solid - it's just the inner guards at the front that need taken care of. The good thing is that apart from the rust the car is mostly straight meaning less work (and $$$) at the panelbeater.
Yeah all the rubbers were badly perished originals. I would go with an EJ if I didn't already have 3 EA's and an adapter plate sitting in the garage. Hopefully soon I'm gonna be picking up a donor shell to cut some good sections out of.
a lot of people move the fire forwards a few inch to make it easier working on the motor.
good idea to go IRS.
what colour are you going to paint the vw .
super charging them old motors has been do before not with much success 🥲
😂🤪😂🤪😂
car forums. where a lot of peoples good intentions end up taking a good old car off the road forever never ever to see the road again. 🥲
ian.mezz wrote:a lot of people move the fire forwards a few inch to make it easier working on the motor.
good idea to go IRS.
what colour are you going to paint the vw .
super charging them old motors has been do before not with much success 🥲
There will be custom work done on the firewall, considering the amount of rust in that spot. At the moment i'm thinking of painting it denim blue off the new beetle and doing an oem style interior, and try to keep it looking old school. I am considering engine options at the moment - I could end up going with an EJ22 but not sure. I want to get chassis/suspension/bodywork sorted before I decide on that. I am seeing lots of liberties for sale at the moment going for less than $500 with reasonable k's so I might just buy a whole car and wreck it for the ecu, harness, a/c gear and engine and then scrap the car.
Aussie Dubbin wrote:Hi fellarnTell me more about vs commodore calipers on the front are you using a kit or mixing up something yourself
It's something we're making up ourselves. Custom hubs all round incorporating stock beetle wheel bearings with commodore pattern, caliper adapters to bolt to the spindle. We're designing it so that when you need to go and do brakes it's all standard off the shelf parts that you can buy easily and cheaply, so front and rear rotors are standard VS commodore, front pads are vs commodore, rear pads are r31 skyline.
Joel wrote:Cutting up a 76 bug for rust repair sections, that will upset a few of the 76s are the best model ever choir 😂rnrnI like where this thread is going anyway.
Ha! It was cactus anyway. (Not that mine isn't, but this one was dinted, bent, buckled and rusted!)
Got my gearbox back from Dunham Automotive in Woonona (Shimmo). A basic performance rebuild on a single sideplate L-bug box. 1800 kombi 3rd and 4th gearset (1.26 and 0.89), 2 litre kombi main and pinion bearings, welded selector forks etc etc. Not that you need to see what it looks like but meh:
Also found the engine donor, a complete 1993 Liberty with 180000 km for its sweet running EJ22 and whatever wiring and air con gear I can salvage. Ditched plans for an EA81 - I figured for the power I wanted the cost to get it going would have been the same but with more hassles and headaches, especially in regards to mounting an a/c compressor. Picked up for $500.
By AC I did mean just the compressor. I already have a universal condenser to use and I'll probably use a vintage air hvac unit under the hood up the front.
Started working on the floor pan. First we cut out the section that the standard master cylinder bolts to and welded thicker plate in, ready for the new holes to be able to mount the clutch and brake master cylinders. We're using a bay window kombi master to go with the commodore/skyline brake combo. Also started welding in the new Wolfsburg West floorpan halves.
Work on this took a bit of a break due to work going crazy and having no time, back into it now though.
Gearbox crossmember
Custom pedal assembly to accomodate hydraulic clutch setup without mounting a master cylinder inside the tunnel. Note the pedal stop adjustment as well as resting position adjustment. And before anyone says anything about those gaping holes beside the framehorn, we've completely reinforced that section with 6mm steel plate and boxed the section with angle underneath as well for strength (see photos below). They're to feed through the all the fluid lines that need to be run.
We decided to create an external channel to to make it easier to install all the new hydraulic/fuel/coolant lines. We were toying with the idea of running them inside the tunnel, but decided to go this way as we could make things a lot more neat and tidy as well as being easier to access if anything did go wrong. In here we'll be running heater lines, brake and clutch hydraulic lines, fuel flow and return. The existing fuel line will serve as a vacuum line for my Vintage Air HVAC unit and we will run AC lines through the heater channel.
The main coolant lines are going to run undereath the angle on the outside of the channel, through these rings and the holes up the front, everything else is going to be run inside which will all be covered with an aluminium plate.
Progress has moved to the body now. I found one in better condition to use that had already been sandblasted but unfortunately it had some rust repairs done that were sub standard, so these had to be re-done. I have no idea what year this body is, I'm assuming either a 72, 73 or 74 as it had the vents behind the rear windows but still the same size rear window as the 70 model. The metal seems thinner. My dad made all repairs with 1.6mm zinc coated sheet from scratch as the repair panels these days are such poor quality. Hopefully rust wont re-appear for at least a couple of decades.
Cutting out a cavity for the under-dash AC unit to fit into so it doesn't hang so low into the footwell (this will be enclosed and strengthened later)
Heater channel repairs - we deleted the ducts coming through from the engine bay on the passenger side and modified the drivers side to make it easy to feed the AC hoses through.
Repairs to the bottom of the A pillar. I wish I got before pics, because these sections were terrible. The rust just had bits of sheetmetal welded really badly over the top.
This is the passenger side, but both sides had exactly the same repair work done.
