hey guys, new member here on here, showing of my pile of poo sixty two.

as i picked it up - looks horrid but it is all there ( in several colours, some bare metal)







the only rust in the body is the bottom of both A-pillars (where they meet the heater channels), bottom of drivers door, rear guard to body joint and a 10c piece at the bottom of front window. pretty good i think....







previous owner has filled just about every cavity in the body with expanding foam. including the heater channels, filled in from the floor vents. i think the only way to get it out is to cut the heater channels open then reweld. I need to repair the a pillars down here anyway.

I do have the full interior, already been stripped out here.





anyway within a couple of days of getting back to its workspace, i dropped the back 2 outer splines and removed the bumpstops. it will likely go back up a spline when it comes time for the road.





she is currently sitting on 14" bus wheels but I am trying to secure a set of 15" steels.

another thing, the front apron is beat to hell and I can't close the boot. I am not planning to replace the apron, i'm confident i can get it to a reasonable shape, other wise i'm holdin my boot down with an octopus strap!!!

currently i am prepping the body for paint and trying to beat all the dents out, not 100% sure on paint colour yet but I am thinking of a light Mint green with white side panels.

Call me silly but once the body is looking good, I will then turn to the engine (hey, its a beetle... cant be that hard)

other plans include:

beam adjusters (or a well planned cut'n'turn)
15" steels 135s on front and wide rears
new rubber seals throughout
new carpet
obtain some bumpers
my own seat mounts for standard seats (lower + further back)

looking forward to making some real progress, i am doing this on a shoestring budget but am able to do all work in-house so that saves a fortune. still, parts gotta come from somewhere.


right now my question is..... anything that will dissolve/eat away expanding foam without destroying the heater channels, otherwise they are getting vented behind the seat.... and i'll cover the front disaster with carpet

regards, glenn

Looks like you have a few chunks of the foam inside the car... I would try acetone or paint thinners - any solvent really. It depends a lot on the type of foam.

Nice solid bug there, apart from the a pillars... Nasty but not the worst job in he world - plenty of dudes on here that have done this before.

thanks doug, the a pillars shoild be too tough, i hope. all the foam thats on the floor is the excess lumps i broke offf from the heater vents.

the drivers door is full of foam about 12" up from the bottom....

realized i forgot to put the pic of the front apron

mate seriously, if you can find a a good solid front clip get it, and cut yours out.
the amount of work ahead of you in trying to straighten yours out will be ten fold, save yourself the grief.

should be a nice colour combo.

interesting blinker arm that's been fitted.

Cheers
D

Yeah, what he said.... Cut a new front apron in, it won't be any more difficult that the a pillars I reckon.

You gotta ask why with the foam don't ya ? Can't see the point of putting it in the doors....

You could probably unpick your apron, beat everything back into shape, then weld it back on. It'd make things easier to straighten.

hey guys, some updated pics for ya'll

did some bodywork around the car, beat out the big dents on the fenders, and welded up some rust around the window sills.

hit it with some paint, let me make it clear that i didnt wan't a perfect paint job and i didn't want a perfectly straight body.

i have the intention of using this bug for everything, and with the way i go means its gonna get beat up pretty quick.

2 coats of paint which i think will weather nicely and come up to a perfect rat-looker.

i messed up the first hit of paint and got alot of runs, dont bother me none - just adds character

also, avis adjusters welded in, 165/60R14 on the front and and painted wheels white. Still need to do the rear wheels white, but i'm going to get a larger tyre size for the rear yet.

very tempting to leave it and drive with no glass!!

hope you enjoy, i got a new battery coming in next week and we'll try to get this heap running. the engine turns over partly by hand but then locks up, who knows whats going on but worst case pull the barrels of and re-ring i guess.

I also gave the interior a thorough clean and put the seats back in which gave me a good motivation boost.

Wheels look good! Colour looks pretty cool too, I'd leave it
I think the rear sits nice as it is, too, just bring the front down a little.