I thought it was about time to introduce 'Myrtle', my 67 bug. I bought her about 3 years ago in Sydney with 3 days rego. The only huge down side was she was painted Yellow with house paint and a brush, ok from a distance but terrible close up and she began to flake.



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After a few tweaks and a bit of bog she ran for roughly 18 months. She had the usual issues, I replaced the starter motor and had to replace the Generator for an alternator. The other issue was the brakes, one day the master cylinder failed.....unfortunately I was on the M4 at the time.......3 points and a fine and this was the result.




Shot at 2011-07-25


Shot at 2011-07-25

At this stage I had to make the decision.....replace the front or do a full resto. The plan was always to return her to her former glory but life got int he way.

I decided on a full resto, the paint was terrible and she needed quite a lot of other things. So I figured while she was off the chassis it was a good time.....That was 18 months ago.

The following photos show the past 18 months.

First I lifted the car off the chassis.


Shot at 2011-07-25


Shot at 2011-07-25

Then focused on the floor pan, replacing all of it and getting the chassis weatherproofed (well looking pretty anyway)


Shot at 2011-07-25


Shot at 2011-07-25

Then came the replacing of all brake lines


Shot at 2011-07-25

Once the chassis was complete it was onto the shell. After many hours of denial and internet searching on how to....I admitted I had to replace the heater channels.

Some what rusted


Shot at 2011-07-25


Shot at 2011-07-25

Bracing


Shot at 2011-07-25


Welding back in


Shot at 2011-07-25


Then came the MANY MANY MANY hours of sanding back. I found the best option for me was the wire wheel. However I now bear the many scars of wires braking off and stabbing you as well as the many incidents of dropping it on to skin and clothing.


Shot at 2011-07-25


Shot at 2011-07-25


Shot at 2011-07-25


Shot at 2011-07-25


Shot at 2011-07-25

At this stage I decided I needed more body parts and bought West from Yortle. She came with many parts and my neighbours were thrilled with the results while sorting out.


Shot at 2011-07-25


Shot at 2011-07-25

Then the replacing of the front and rear. First I cut off the offending crumpled parts, then came the reattaching (not that easy...alot of tweaking involved)


Shot at 2011-07-25


Shot at 2011-07-25

Myrtle is now sat in the garage primed and just having a few pannels smoothed. Hopefully she will be covered with spray putty in the next month ready for painting.

I'll keep this post updated with how shes progressing.

Kaz,

Great that you posted a thread on Myrtle, wow thats a hugs job. Did you think of paint stripper rather than all that manual labour?

what colour are you planning on? Look forward to seeing more updates

Wow, I enjoyed viewing and reading that. I think it's always great seeing a lot of work carried out over a long period of time, in a short period (1 post) and a lot of photos as you have done. Unlike my car, that has slowly made changes on this site over 3 years. Your car is introduced from purchase, smashed and then the large amount of work carried out. And I get to see all of this in a few minutes

It's a bloody big job you have taken on and all credit to you. I wish I had more skills and could tackle something like you have done, but I would run a mile when seeing that rust.

Well done and keep up the hard work and the photos coming.

Cheers, Kev

Yep, hat's off to yer, inspirational work there!

Thanks for the nice comments guys.

I have to admit its more stupidity and not fully understanding how big a job it was that made me take it on. I had no idea how to do anything before doing this project, thank god for good internet sites and forums where you can ask for advice. I found the bug me videos really good for changing the heater channels....although it took them about 2 hours and me about 3 weeks. Also had a lot of help and advice from my other half, Thank god.

I tried all sorts of ways of getting it to bare metal but found i was most comfortable with the wire wheel (even with the trillion man hours involved). I had this wonderful idea that if she went back to bare metal then i would know all her faults and could fix them......as it turned out .....there's a lot of faults

The next adventure is trying to get the right shape on the front sides. And then figuring out how the hell to use an air compressor and spray her with spray putty. I'll see how the spray putty goes before deciding if i'll paint her.....i'd like too but at the same time i'd like a good finish...it would be a shame to have come this far and then it look crap because i can't paint very well!

Hopefully she'll be spray puttied within the next four weeks.....having said that i thought the entire project would only take 3 months so who knows....maybe xmas.......question is Which xmas?

Oh sorry Paul, the colour is going to be Zenith Blue........I think........been through more than enough Test spray cans! It's had a few changes......it was originally going to be Black, then Matt black, then i went down the route of Gunmetal grey but couldn't find a tone i was happy with. So decided to keep it original (ish) and go for a light blue....i tried Bahama Blue but found it too aqua (a little too girly for my tastes)......so it was on to Zenith Blue.

I'm pretty happy with Zenith and think its the way i'll go. Need to figure out the interior colours.....i think white / cream would be nice but is it really practical?

Hey Kaz!

Brilliant work so far, like Paul said, I love how we've already seen how far it has come, all in one post!
You're right, forums and the internet have definitely come in handy when it comes to finding out information that isn't already stored within our heads.
AVD has definitely helped me along the way. I keep asking questions and someone knows the answer, this whole community is out to help each other and it is great!

Can't wait to see the outcome of the spray putty and so forth, really excited to watch this happen!

Hi Kaz,

sorry wasn't sure if it was you doing or this work or the better half

Not being sexist, but this makes it even more interesting to me to see that you are the one getting in and doing this yourself. My wife would know the first thing about cars and I give you all credit for your efforts.

I too sprayed my own car in etch primer and then high fill primer in my home garage, but then left it up to someone else to put the final coat on. Especially with the colour I chose. Had it been a solid colour I think I could have painted it ok and I have never spray painted before this car.

If you need to borrow a spray gun, just ask although it is only a cheap one but seems to have done ok on my car.

Keep up the great work, Kev

Hi Kev,

Your spraying looks impressive
If i can get anywhere near that i'll be happy.
How come you all have such clean garages? Ours is terrible....going to have to have a huge clear out before i start spraying.

Yup, its me. Don't get me wrong, I'm getting A LOT of advice from my other half (not necessarily better half lol!) and he's helped with things....my welding isn't that great but I'm trying. I have noticed not many women give it a go but hey why not - i can always shower to get clean or wear longer skirts when i drop the grinder on my legs

Looks good Kaz, nice work
I wish my chassis was that clean!
Goodluck with the painting, its good fun

Very inspiring

great work,loving this build !

My sheds messy too so you not alone!

I sprayed my car with spray paint cans from super cheap and got a half decent result, though a compressor does work better as it sprays a thicker layer more evenly. If you don't already have a compressor you could look into an electric spray gun ( bout $30), as I have seen some decent results with one of them.

Fantastic job so far! I think you have gone the right way about it as you feel a great sense of pride every time you drive it knowing that you did the work. It also helps when things break as you can quickly figure out what it was and how to fix it. I only wish now that I had done the inside of my car like you have.

Well just thought i'd update you all on Myrtle's progress.

Apparently back in July i thought she'd be sprayed within the month..........bless.......how naive was I!

Myrtle is still in the garage. Yes most of the panels have been smoothed. The drivers door has been sanded back, rust cut out and smoothed.......only to be dropped as i was lifting her off the stands and totally buggered. A new door has been found (thanks for those who found it for me) and sanded back and fixed and NOT dropped. All pannels are sat waiting to be painted. The main body is still having rust repairs done.........i swear she's been finished a couple of times........then i go back to the garage and find that gremlins have put new dents or rust that i did not see before.

My main project is replacing the rain channel and surrounds on the drivers side. She had rusted through, i thought i;d get away with it by small patch jobs but in the end decided the only option was to cut it out and replace it. My weekend was spent trying to tack weld and tweak it into place. Pic below show what i managed to do. Its not been tacked in place......just need to finish the welding this weekend.



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Once this is finished my list is down to minor things - smooth the front guard, seal the inside, weld on strips to hold rubbers, sand roof, fix hood liner strip, wire wheel rims.

I"M GETTING THERE! Then spray putty and paint......i'll be back for advice and help (I mean it - come over and help!)

Then its figuring where all these parts came from lol x

Well done! Looks you're doing a top job! Even I'd be scared of tackling those heater channels though.

Wow, big job and you are doing a great job.

you mentioned that you need to weld on strips to hold rubbers, are you talking about under the bonnet and deck lid. If so and since you are modifying the car why not just go the Mexican type seal. See this below link for explanation.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=821433

Keep up the great work and don't worry, it will eventually be painted. Mine took over a year longer than I first thought that I was ready for paint

Kev

i wouldn't have touched this project with a ten foot pole!


awesome job man, it will all be worth it!

Great job and well done. Kudos to you.

I'm surprised no one else has asked this, but what's the grey ute tucked up in the back of the shed?

such a great effort keep up the good work it's great to see you progressing with Myrtle

Thanks guys, the feedback is great encouragement. Sometimes i think i've bitten off way more than i should have but she will be wonderful when she's done.

Kev - i've heard about those seals for the bonnet......are they any good? I was only putting the strips back on because that was what was there before. Do they work? do they change the look much? Have you got them? Small interrogation sorry x

Paul - the truck in the back is a Dodge Fargo 1936 - we think! I put a post on here in general with more pics asking if anyone knew what the rear looked like. We bought it from a farm in ACT but someone had gas axed the back to make it a flat tray. The plan is to restor it to original ...... eventually.

Thanks again

That's amazing. Trust me, you'll be glad you did all this when you get in back on the road.

Well done. Inspiring.

What JonR356 said.

Old Timer

Really nice!

So, my worst case senario has always been......'she'll be done by Xmas '...... just looked at a calender.....that's not that far away. Keep you fingers crossed for me!

Thanks for all the comments and encouragement it really does help x