Just bought a VW 1974 Bug from ebay, don't know anything about mechanics, never even changed the oil in my car before, so this is going to be fun. However I can MIG and TIG weld, very good with my hands. Any advice guys?

If you could do your restoration over again, what would you do differently and what advice would you have for someone in my position? The only advice from a work mate of mine who has done this before is drink allot of scotch. Can anyone build on that?

A good tip is to get the best replacement parts money can buy or in a year you will be replacing them again. No joke.

Go through every system on the car. It sucks having to pull off parts time and time again to reach parts you did not replace the first time round.

Form a plan and stick to it or the car will never get back on the road if you keep changing your mind.

Read a lot of manuals. Read them like a novel. Put a few in the dunny. Ask question, does not matter how stupid as it probably has been asked before.
Have fun and good luck!

the first thing you need to do is work out what you want out of the car and some sorta budget

do u want 1st class restoration down to every detail

do u want to modify slightly

do u want to mod fully


where are you located will be a factor as well fill in yr details

depending on that will depend on what you do first order

if you plan on keeping it then do it right the first time, sometimes you are better off buying a 10000.00 finished car that someone has spent 20000.00 on than you spending that sort of money but if you can do it yourself then its a lot cheaper

agreed with the buy one already done, usually only something you understand when you make the mistake of adding up how much u have spent, find something thats close to what you want change a few MINOR things, then enjoy, unless you like playing of course, then just dont tell the woman how much it costs

if you like germanlook, find the 3k L bug on ebay from last week, its a perfect looking start, pending rust though that wouldnt be an issue for you it seems.

Each time that I've restored a car, I think of all the things that could have been done 'better'. Just remember - the person that has never made a mistake, probably has never done anything! Some people's idea of restoring a car is to take it out of the shed, and re-store it in another shed Do the job that YOU are happy with, and have fun.

Cheers, Greg

try not to let yourself keep to many of the old parts and clog up your working space especially with a fatty, you will find yourself constantly moving parts around... i havnt restored a car yet but we are getting dragged back by clutter

depends on how much you can do yourself and also how much time you really do have to dedicate to the project.
Be realistic with yourself as well as your pocket..........

Decide what you want to get out of your project from the outset as this will help give you direction, resto, callook, custom, germanlook etc.

do the maths on paper, as this will help you budget each part of the project.
Plan the process on how you are going to tackle each part of the project

Get ready for some injuries and have fun transforming it from just a car to your pride and joy!!
Cheers
D

Never let the restoration stop. Chip away at it piece by piece. Break the work down in to little blocks so that that you see results along the way. I hope you like grease dust lol.

If you're going to do a full-on nuts and bolts restoration, make sure that you start with your dream car. The cost of a full restoration on an oval window beetle will be nearly the same as the cost of restoring a later model, but the finished value of the oval window will be more. However, the finished price will almost always be much less than your restoration costs, unless you're doing an exotic supercar.

If you don't want a full restoration (I don't recommend it) then just find out what's wrong with the car, if anything, and get it back on the road. Once you've been driving it for a little while, you'll notice any areas that you might want to improve, like worn suspension or whatever, so then you can fix that. This becomes a never-ending process, but it's fun!

I agree with your tip, waveman1500, on avoiding the full restoration. Too many people sink too much cash into cars that maybe they shouldn't.
My '74 Lbug spends about the same time off the road as on it and I enjoy working on it as much as I do driving it. It's easy to lose interest in a project when all you do is spend,spend & fiddle.
I am currently sourcing a Karmann Ghia for a full rebuild and the effort of the resto is about the same as if I were to resto the Lbug.
In the end the KG is a nicer car and will have a better resale value.
It is far easier to start a project than it is to finish it.
The quickest and easiest way to finish a good car is to start with a good car.

The best advise I can offer is find yourself the best shell, as that is the foundation on which to build. Every thing else bolts on/off.
Secondly, if you intend to use it and put miles on it then it's an good investment. If you spend all your hard earned cash on it and it sits in the garage because you don't want to scratch it, poor investment! Then again it's not all about money, but doing something you enjoy!
The better the car you start with, the easier,cheaper, faster and more likely you are to finish it!
The world is full of unfinished projects...

Cheers Dave

Ps I just realised that lukel has only 2 posts that both are over 6 months old. I think he might have bought a Holden?

well i would never take my bus to indian again... i know that! other than that i would do more myself, and certainly use the knowledge of mike from CBB. mike is the man for vw.

my best was the beach buggy. between me and the saint it was a great learn and fun.

If you have little or no experience the best way to start is by sourcing another car really cheap and wrecking it.
One of the best ways of finding out how something is put together is by pulling it apart.
You will end up with a pile of usable bits and lots of learning. If you stuff something up it won't matter.
And if you cannot successfully completely dissassemble a car then you don't stand much chance of completing a resto.
After all, you're not really a veedubber until you have spent a couple of hours trawling your stuff in the shed muttering "I know Iv'e got one of these somewhere!

Lucky Phil, I think Dogo has got the right idea here. The original poster who asked the question hasn't logged in to this forum in over 8 months! I don't think he's listening. All the advice is definitely valid though.

I bought my current bug as an unfinished project, with the rust all welded up and the shell already painted very nicely. I started with a car with no engine, brakes or interior but the build was relatively easy because I had a donor car. I don't think that I would ever want to start from an incomplete car again. In future I'm planning to buy nice cars, rather than rough projects, as it just isn't worth the money invested to bring a tired car up to scratch. As it is my car drives really nicely, but the interior trim all needs complete replacement. I'm kind of reluctant to spend any more money on it, simply because I feel that I've reached the point of diminishing returns. I've gotten the car to a drivable state for about $2000, but to get it to how I really want would be another $1200+ in the engine bay and maybe $500 in the interior. But then once those aspects were finished then I'd become unhappy with the scratched windows, then the bumpers would start to look shabby, and the suspension could do with replacing... it never stops! If you aim to get the car to some particular level of finish, then it gives you something to aim at, and I think I'm just as happy with a usable street car which is slightly scruffy around the edges as I would be with a perfect restoration.

Right on waveman. Still a good topic for a thread, though.

The best way to finish a good car is to start with a good car!

Resurrecting basket cases is for tragic's with deep pockets and lots of skills.

You're dead right, except it's starting to get to the point where you can't be fussy.

Sadly people are cashing in these days especially when it comes to Kombis.
Look at the utter shit heaps that most people would have sent to the wreckers in years gone by that is fetching $4k on ebay

Alot of people cant afford to pay top dollar for a solid car then restore it as well.