My 63 Beetle Resto

Let me introduce me and "Bertie". Bertie was given to me by a mate as a project car. He had stored it at a mates property for the last 7 years in the hope of doing it up. Well the usual girlfriend/marriage/kids/life thing got in the way and he finally gave up on the idea of fixing him up so offered him to me free but with to wishes. One the car is to be tastefully done up (no rat rod or chop chop 🥲) and be back on the road by Berts 50th birthday in 3 years time.

I will start the restoration of him over Easter. I plan to do a full body off, ground up restoration and return him back to better than his former glory. I am still yet to finalize the over plan and design but it will definitely be a "California" style beetle and it will be slammed low low low! I am in no rush and fully expect this to take at least 2 years to complete.

I have absolutely none, zero, zip experience with VW's. Have restored and customised a few cars now but more the Holden elk (am i allowed to say that without getting flamed?🥷) I have always wanted a VW and I still can believe how excited I actually am to be doing this resto. Anyway I hope to get to know you guys as this forum seems pretty friendly and helpful.

Anyway I hope you get something out of this guys? And I get some of your wisedom and knowledge to help me complete this wonderful car.

Photo's can be found here: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=43383&hl=

Sorry but I am a tech tard haven't worked out the photo thing yet 🤪


Chap Chap

This is where and how I found him.



This is the kind bloke that donated his ex-car to the project

Interior is in really good nick considering age and the way it has been stored.



Soooo tempted to rat this but I made a promise 😬






Steering wheel is cracked I am hoping it can be restored?










TOKEN ARTY SHOT

Rat it!!!!!! or atlease leave the paint to last and drive it round for a while 👍

Hi Chappo and welcome aboard. I was nearly in the same position as you. I had many a car, but never a VW and had liked them for over 20 years. Well the only difference is that I had to pay for mine (lucky you) and I have free range of what I do.

Just a point, you stated you have 3 years and hope to do it in 2 so obviously a long term project. When I started mine I hoped to have it ready in 6 months, but plans changed and here I am over 2 years later and still dont even have paint on it 🥲 Just be mindful of the time frame, although I know 3 years sounds like a long time.

Good luck with the project and keep the photos coming. There are many that learn from this site and many that help on this site. So a big 👍 to all.

Kev

Cheers Camo and Jr Dacks.

It sooo tempting to rat it as I really get that whole scene. I will however have play no doubt and drop the body when the pan is done for shytes and giggles.

Yes Camo I know these things can get away on you but I need to be strict to the deadline as well as I want to have some fun cruizin' ASAP.

Questions?

Where's the best part to start pulling it down? Planned on pulling out and cataloguing the interior which won't take long. Then where too? Windows, guards, bonnet and boot lids?

Cheers

Chap Chap

Just a quick reply. Take photos (digital ones preferably) and lots of them. Will help when the time comes to re-assemble and it could be 12 months or longer since you pulled it apart and the memory has gone.

Kev

nice project chappo, does it start and run?

best of luck with it and as Camo says photos photos photos!

Thanks Camo! Good advice now I know how to operate and uplaod photo's.

Nickster wrote:nice project chappo, does it start and run?

best of luck with it and as Camo says photos photos photos!

Nickster to be honest I only hand cranked it around the other day and it did spin so I guess that is a good sign? I want to flush the tank and fuel lines, prolly new points and sparkies before giving it a go. Although I am told it's a replant 1200 and will want to upgrade it to be honest. I'll keep the 1200 and see if I can refurbish it for the learning more than anything.

I spent alot of last night reading thru the forum here and I think I have given myself a heavy dose of brain overload. So here's another question for the collective knowledge bank AVD forum members.

Any suggestions on a engine upgrade? Ok open question I know. Let me be more specific. I want a mototr that will:
1. Be reliable as a weekly/daily driver
2. Be able to be hotted up overtime as I know myself too well
3. Have enough grunt to make it a comfortable cruise on those occasions.
4. Not interested at this stage of going the foreign/exotic motor upgrade so WRX and alike are out.
5. Upgrade to a 12V system.

I am thinking about the 1643 upgrade but as I said earlier I am a complete noob with VW motors. And I guess they have the same pro's and con's like the old holden 186 vs 202 (red and blue). Sorry to refer to Holdens but that's where I cut my teeth.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. 🙂

Chappo (Trent)

I am at this stage with the 64 i have, its got a 1200 or 1300 not sure and too lazy to go measure to find out. But my 71 has got a 1600 in it with a header system and cannon and its got heaps of top end. Can easily keep up with the highway traffic. Lke will sit at 120 with ease.

Im sure it wont be long and joel will be on here, he knows alot and i mean alot about vws.

Thanks 71-Beetle you have confirmed what I suspected. You have a 64 as well? Wow! Mind you I can see how these's little critters get addictive. I spend most of my days day dreaming about all the mods I want to do.

Chap Chap

I'm no expert and only new to the forum as well however my newly acquired 69 has a 1600 twin port motor which goes really well.

my plan is to add twin webbers, new manifold and extractors which I have been told will add quite a great deal of power.

As Josh already said above best bet is go straight for a 1600 twinport

they're by far the most common engine around and in stock form in a lighter early bug will get along quite nicely for a daily but they're also the best base to start modifying aswell

just a few simple bolt on mods like better carb/carbys, exhaust and ratio rockers can really wake them up

your best of mating it to a later gearbox though as the 1200 gearing will drive you nuts on the open road

You can see heaps of pics of the 64 here,

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=79672

Best to start with a 1600 as they are like the 350 chev (you can buy heaps of hot up parts) if you want to make good HP you need to make it breath. putting twin carbs on a motor with std heads and cam is like putting $500 nike runners on a fat, asthmatic guy. Looks nice, but goes sh*t 😁

Ok a little progress today. How many friggin bolts are there????

Thanks fella's for all the advice. Whats the gearbox I should be looking at? Year/model?





























So a little progress but more to come tomorrow. Will keep you lads up to date as it happens. Would appreciate advice on the gearbox though?

Cheers

Chappo

Best uploading pics to photobucket cause we cant see those ones.

Sorry fixed now 🙄

I am not a big fan of pulling cars apart , I just fix what needs doing and get the car up and running.
Good luck with what you are doing.
I hope to see another vw back on the road soon.👍

good luck mate I am in the middle of building a 1960 beetle so I know how you feel

Weeeee!!! Finally got a full day at it today. No kids to run around, no nagging wife to do odd jobs for to keep the peace, no work and sunshine all day. Absolutely stoked.

Ok well finally the pan is separated from the body and the motor is out. I think that there's 47 years of road gunk and funk under and all over this VW.

Still toying alot of ideas but I will concentrate on the chassis, suspension, wheels, tyres and brakes for the mean time.

I want to upgrade the front brakes to disc's. After many a discussion with different experts I feel that my partucular driving style (flatout and sideways 😎) needs to have a decent set of front anchors to prevent Olde Chap Chap from being road kill.

I will lower it but not extreme as I want to enjoy driving this one and maybe a few VW get togethers. I will upgrade all the shockies and probably rebuild and repair all the suspension components. Any suggestion would be appreciated fella's.

Wheels well there's a can of worms. What to do? Thoughts are to keep the originals and widen up the rears to 205's. Pretty them up with a lick of paint. Simple and easy.

Chassis full resto and lick of POR15.

Anyway more photos of whats been achieved so far...

Well I am still forging ahead with the tear down and hoping to start the long process of rebuilding this coming weekend startin with the pan...

Anyhow here's some updated photo's



Stripping more gear like peddles etc..


Pan under the peddles is a little secondhand but still sound. Nuthin' a lick of paint won't fix, Right?





Motor mounted on my engine stand. Had to do a little bit of fabrication but I am pretty happy how it turned out..

Oh and I have been playing on that BugSelecta thingamy and have come up with this as a starting point...

Dunno if anyone bothers with looking at this but hey i guess it keeps a record for me.

Ok attacked the pan today. Cut out dodgy and bodgy battery pan and replaced with new one. Fitting up the panel was a bit painful but it worked out in the end. Unfortunately my back isn't what it used to be so I'll have weld and grind a bit more than I used to.

Anyways here some photo's for those interested.


Marking out the chop. I had to take out more than I planned due to the existing dodginess.

This gives a better view of why I had to do this.

Same again

Old vs new

Gone, chopped and can't turn back now.

Mocking up the pan

More cutting and banging

I like this shot as it shows how far different new vs old is. A little love tap here and there and it came to the party. Be warner these panels are thinner than the originals.

Final clean up before welding

A few tacks down. God knows why I decided to TIG today. I was just too lazy to go down to the bottom shed and lug up the MIG.

Tacked in place

Welding it off.

Just need to shape up some infills for the rear of the replacement pan as I had to chop out a bit more than planned. Then a general tidy up and grind. I'll finish taking the rest of the suspension, gearbox, link pin off the pan and then a wire wheel. Hopefully some fresh paint not too far away.

Any thoughts/experience/reviews on POR15?


Cheers

Trent

It's coming along nicely, I also like the rake of the car whats your time frame for having it finished?

Great stuff mate

As for POR15 i have heard / seen more bad stories than good

most where is doesnt set /go off properly and then need to be ground off

I would either
1) powder coat

or more likely
2)White Knight

Cheers Paulc

I am hoping to have it back on the streets this time next year. I am in no hurry and just want to do a decent job of it.

Yeah I like the rake on the image thingamy. Still trying to decide on suspension, brakes and driveline. So fricken many options with these beetles you start to get lost in it all. Actually I am a bit confused to be honest with where to go as I haven't ever driven a beetle 😂 Let alone a modified one so I really don't know what to expect.

Thanks Bizarre that was the reports I was getting outside of the forum so I'll stick to plan A and paint with PPG Chassis Black with an undercoat and rust converter.

I really need to decide on this driveline...

I am no expert but one thing to consider is if you reassemble as standard then registration will be much easier otherwise you will need an Engineers certificate which will cost $$$$.

looking forward to watching your progress

Chappo wrote:Dunno if anyone bothers with looking at this but hey i guess it keeps a record for me.

People are always interested, even if they aren't posting comments. Especially when you include so many photos. 😎

It helps keep those who are still building inspired, and makes everyone happy that another VW will be back on the road.

Keep the progress going and looking forward to seeing this one finished.

Cheers
Craig

Yeah I hear you Paulc about the engineers but I'll have to get stuff certified at some stage so i may as well do it all at once and take the pain in one hit.

BTW I like Rosie she's beaut!

Been tossing up buying a later bug as a Friday drive car.

Chappo wrote:Yeah I hear you Paulc about the engineers but I'll have to get stuff certified at some stage so i may as well do it all at once and take the pain in one hit.

BTW I like Rosie she's beaut!

Been tossing up buying a later bug as a Friday drive car.

Thanks Chappo, rosie will get quite a transformation in the next 6 months, new wheels and tyres, lowered front and new interior

Paulc that bug is a cracker can't wait to see it with some new shoes. BTW I would go with the leather with your interior if it was me. I have had 3 cars now with leather as it's great to keep clean, even with 2 kids and 2 dogs. I plan on leather for this one as well.

Gwendolyns Master wrote:

Chappo wrote:Dunno if anyone bothers with looking at this but hey i guess it keeps a record for me.

People are always interested, even if they aren't posting comments. Especially when you include so many photos. 😎

It helps keep those who are still building inspired, and makes everyone happy that another VW will be back on the road.

Keep the progress going and looking forward to seeing this one finished.

Cheers
Craig

Thanks Craig for the encouragement I will keep posting up the progress even if it is a little slow.

Need some advice and or opinions on Front end setups.

Ok I have basically made up my mind to:
1. Add adjustable height link pin either install myself (perferred option) or buy one already done.
2. Add 2" drop spindles
3. Disc brakes - Thinking Porsche ATM but I am open to other suggestions if you have them.
4. New coil over shockies
5. Rebuild/exchange steering box
6. New bump stops
7. New bushes all round

Now only from what I have read I believe if I am using the stock rims and porsche disc's there is no need to narrow the beam,is this right?

I am playing with the idea of rebuilding the gearbox and 1200 motor to a performance spec. Well the engine is a wee 1200, I believe I can up it to a 1300 fairly easily? I am really starting to get into this bug and think tweaking rather than out and out modifying to the riddiculous is the better way to go? I like the idea of a nicely modded bug to an improved 63 spec without going over the top. Just a little personalized 😊.

I might have to go knock on Dak-Attacks door for some help, advice and a chin wag as I noticed he only lives at the other end of my street 😂. I saw the beast in his yard a few weekends ago after the Gold Coast club day. Then again it might also be my downfall with all that VW porn?

Hey Chappo Loving the progress on your bug. I'm doing the same thing ATM to my 65 beetle...
just like you;
I got it for free and was so so SO tempted to Rat it!!
But I promised my sister (who gave it to me) that I'd do it propperly.

I'm in the same boat with mods... what to do what to do;
stockish with a tweak... light rebuild to 1776... flat out 1916 witht the lot? hrmm...

My plan is to to run an adjustable front end with a 2" narrowed beam and disc conversion from vintage in sydney. Their conversion fits the standard wheels (a little pricey thou) but I think the porsche ones are just a little to big especially if you run drop spindles... (this is what I've read not from experience, so I'm not 100% on it)

Here's a link to my build up
http://aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=85098

good luck with it mate

looking good so far.

can i suggest that you weld up the hole in the top of the tunnel. i've seen 2 beetles bent at similar holes from decent front end prangs. one would have been rebuildable if the pan hadn't bent.

going the vintage speed route won't make for a super fast car but it is fun and can be done fairly cheaply + IMHO gives major bonus points for style 🙂

pm sent with a few ideas.

i am planning to run skinny tyres so i can still play silly buggers but don't need lots of power or speed to get the same fun.