| [ Total Views: 3069 | Total Replies: 27 | Thread Id: 105405 ] |
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 lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on March 12th, 2014 at 08:26 PM |
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1972 Super Beetle restoration
Hi all,
I've been a lurker for a long time so I thought I'd finally make a post in members rides for my super bug.
My wife and I have always loved beetles and decided to grab one when we needed a second car late last year. I decided an early super beetle would be
just the thing for me as I'm not new to working on cars but am certainly new to aircooled VW's so the macpherson struts, irs and disc brakes were a
bit more familiar to me, but the early super's still feel a bit like an earlier beetle with the smaller windscreen and metal dashboard.
We missed out on a few cars but finally grabbed a rough but reasonably solid 1972 super late last year.
Much like the restraunt at the end of the universe in the hitch hikers guide to the galaxy as little as possible had been spent to make it look as if
no expense has been spared in a sort of bumperless quasi-Cal look with two tone rattle can paint job, vinyl paint over the original door cards/side
boards etc and overspray everywhere!
But it drove well besides the scrubbing tyres and felt pretty strong and looked solid underneath.
Sadly as I'm a VW beginner I didn't realise some of the tins were missing. It started misfiring after it was sitting for a while, so I did the usual
things and went over the carb and ignition systems but couldn't get it quite right so I decided to pull the motor and investigate further (air leaks
etc) as I had to do the oil cooler seals anyway. You can see the gaping holes where the heat exchangers were which wasn't helping.
I couldn't find anything obvious so I thought a tear down and freshen up was prudent anyway as it leaked oil like a sieve, and found the motor was
full of sludge and was leaking from the right cylinder head. Probably overheating a bit too from the look of the heads.
Wow.. These things really do come out with three bolts and taking the exhaust and carb off!
Pulled it down with the help of a friend (experienced aircooled dub mechanic) and it had blown out and started leaking from the right cylinder head
and was probably running badly because of that, in general it needed going over.
So we hatched a plan, keep it as a 1600 for simplicity and reliability's sake, got the block machined, case savers, align bored, crank reground, rods
resized, new pistons, cylinders and oil pump and cooler, new heads with opened up ports, new valves, springs and retainers and a mild street cam.
To this I'm adding an empi 34mm epc twin carb kit (I've heard mixed reports but I got it new for $250 as my brother was in the US) and an empi
merged header exhaust with single quiet pack muffler.
Have repaired my tins and replaced the missing front tin, will make up some cooling vanes as per the excellent advice I've received from Matt and
modnrod on this forum and re paint all my tins. New deck lid and engine bay seals are also going in.
Hope to have it back on the road late next week.. More pics to come..
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on March 15th, 2014 at 07:51 PM |
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Update on engine rebuild
Oh yeah! Today I went round to see my friend and my engine parts. Freshly align bored and acid dipped as41 cases with case savers, new pistons and
cylinders, cylinder heads and valves, a mild cam equivalent to an engle w100, reground and balanced crank, new oil pump and rocker gear, lifters,
stainless steel pushrod tubes, etc.
I love neatly arranged parts ready to go back together. I also have a new clutch and my flywheel has been machined.
So I've been hurriedly cleaning, sanding, repairing and repainting my tins. I'm not quite halfway through the process yet - it's exhausting
cleaning 20+ years of oil and dirt from every surface that's been flung around by the leaking oil cooler.
Here's some of the repainted parts.. I also restore racing bicycles so a wheel hanging from the roof makes a great hanger for painted parts while
they dry.
More updates soon..
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on March 17th, 2014 at 09:13 PM |
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Got the last of the tins prepped and painted today - never again!
Went around to see my mate and we got the crank and cam in and called it a day as he had to go.
Morw pics tomorrow .. Hopefully my carbs come tomorrow!
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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Doug Sweetman
Veteran Volks Folk
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| posted on March 18th, 2014 at 12:11 AM |
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Nice love it when you get to put stuff back together....
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lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on March 18th, 2014 at 05:34 PM |
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Here's an update.
I got the tins finished yesterday afternoon after working from sun up to early evening. I've used rust kill epoxy enamel, which I've had good
success with in the past.
I had decent results though a fair portion of my tins were dinged and pitted, I managed to get a reasonable result. The epoxy enamel seems to adhere
well and have a tough finish. I let it air dry overnight then let it bake in the sun the next day, seems to toughen the finish.
Here's Mingus inspecting the dog house..
New oil cooler came in the mail from volks..
Unfortunately I only have one pic of assembling the bottom end.. Here's the cam going in.
Bottom end is all buttoned up now, and my mate was getting ready to put the cylinders on when I spoke to him today.
I've cleaned up my alternator and pulleys, checked the bearings, and replaced the bushes ready for the fan to be reassembled this evening.
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on March 19th, 2014 at 05:59 PM |
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Got the long block back from my mate today and it's schmick! Couldn't be happier.
And got my fan shroud assembly and rebuilt alternator back together..
Just waiting on carbs and exhaust and rear tins to put this bad boy back together!
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on March 20th, 2014 at 10:11 AM |
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Just gave classic vee dub a call to see where my parts were, and the exhaust I wanted was out of stock so I changed my order to a stainless Eurosport
GT style with the two rounded tips exiting from the stock apron reliefs.
Not exactly what I wanted but he gave me a good price and at least it won't rust...
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on March 22nd, 2014 at 05:38 PM |
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My twin carbs finally arrived today and I've been fiddling with my tins and getting the best possible fit. I made a little piece to replace the
broken off piece of my "Hoover" bit to ensure my oil cooler gets lots of air.
I have days off next Monday-tues so I'm going to fabricate some industrial shields to cover the holes where the heater boxes were and the fixed
cooling vanes.
Just as an aside I'm fabricating them from an old BBQ lid I got from bulk rubbish - good quality 1.2mm thick flat sheet for free, and I'm recycling
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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Paulc1964au
Custom Title Time!
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| posted on March 22nd, 2014 at 06:30 PM |
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awesome look forward to seeing more progress
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lunar_c
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| posted on March 22nd, 2014 at 08:31 PM |
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Cheers dude.
Hoping to get the engine back in on Monday/Tuesday and them I'll just be waiting for my exhaust.
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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Marco_VESS
Casual Dubber
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| posted on March 24th, 2014 at 11:18 AM |
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Looking good.
1971 Super Beetle "Olivia" - Moss Green
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lunar_c
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| posted on March 24th, 2014 at 11:02 PM |
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Put in about 10 hours on the tins and motor today. Got all my tins fitted. You'll notice in the first pics of the rebuilt motor my mate had put the
tins around the wrong way .. It's confusing which ends which with these motors :P figured that out today when I tried to fit the sleds.
Got the cooling vanes fabricated to blow more air over the heads, and made a little plate to block off the old vent tube hole in the front tins.
Also got my 34 epc twin carb kit fitted and it looks sweet!
Tomorrow I'll fab the industrial shields and then clean up the engine bay in preparation to put the motor back in. Pics soon!
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on May 1st, 2014 at 08:20 PM |
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Been a while between updates.. Got the engine finished a few weeks ago and back in the car but had oil pressure problems (turned out the pump was
sucking in air somewhere and cavitation was occurring .. My engine builder mate was as flummoxed as I am) but is now all sorted, and the carbs are
dialled in.
Runs well now and has a significant increase in power and rorty noises! But my brake lights aren't working so that's this afternoons job to fix.
Here's some more of the build pics (a belated update) ..
With some help from the guys on the forum I made up some cooling vanes to direct more air to the heads. These bolt to some unused holes on the fan
shroud. Time will tell but so far after a decent drive the dipstick is cool to touch.
These are the industrial tin blanking plates I made up as I am using j pipes.. I used an old BBQ lid and cut and folded them up.
Borrowed a proper hi lift jack to get the car right up in the air. I'd love a removable rear balance.. Considering it at repainting time.
Shoved the motor on a jack and shuffled it forward and after 20mins of swearing and stripping various bits off that didn't want to share space with
the engine bay it was in ..
Classic veedub sent me the wrong rear tin so it's in as a stop gap for now .. Chrome tin ugh. The right one is on order.
Then the exhaust.. They were out of stock of the phatboy system I wanted so I had to settle for a euro look twin tip gt style in stainless. Sounds
nice but no merged collector. Oh well it'll do for now.
Got a friend to help tune and sync the carbs when I couldn't get sense out of the right one and it's pulling better and sounding better the more
miles I put on it.
Next October it's being stripped for a re spray and re wiring and will go through the interior and suspension at the same time (doing some work on
the brakes and so on in the meantime while keeping the car running) so that will be good.
The empi carbs are temporary .. Ideally I'd like to put fuel injection on the car in the future.
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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snitz
Wolfsburg Wizard
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| posted on May 1st, 2014 at 08:42 PM |
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The tinware to engine bay seal should be fitted..Ideally before the motor is put in.Without is you'll have a cooked motor again.
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lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on May 1st, 2014 at 09:15 PM |
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Yep I got it in after I put the engine in with much effort .. Lesson learned. Didn't realise it wasn't in those pics. It has a deck lid seal, bell
housing seal and the proper rear tin should be here any day now. This is my first aircooled vw so go easy on me!
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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snitz
Wolfsburg Wizard
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| posted on May 1st, 2014 at 11:00 PM |
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No worries bud...would just hate to see the little beast cook again!.Love the pics etc..thanks for sharing.
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lunar_c
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| posted on May 1st, 2014 at 11:40 PM |
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Thanks mate.
Hoping to cover the whole restoration in a similar fashion .. And the efi conversion when it happens.
Just happy to have it back on the road with an engine that should last another 10 years..
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on May 4th, 2014 at 01:59 PM |
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I am beginning to collect parts for when the restoration starts in earnest next October .. I'd really like some standard super beetle seats to
refurbish, and a new speedo to suit a 72' super also. I'd like to put bumpers back on if anyone has a reasonable set in WA let me know. If anyone
can help with any items let me know.
The long term goals for the car are :
Re paint and re wire it next October..
A neat standard restoration (light blue or a white like Joel's bug) with standard wheels/trim (considering having a set widened to take more modern
sized tyres), and interior (cream vinyl, adding sound deadener to the pan and doors and having a small but decent stereo) with attention to returning
the standard heating and ventilation system to working order (and/or improving it).
Improved suspension to get it to handle better (maybe kafer bars too, the rear end seems to move around a lot and surely that results in odd camber
changes etc?) recondition the brakes, which already work quite well but can always use improvement.
Now that I have a well built mostly standard but improved 1600 dual port with a small cam and better heads etc I'd just like to improve the set up
and reduce maintenance (ie lose the carbies and points) for convenience and driveability (it's shared between my wife and I).
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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Craig Torrens
A.k.a.: Craig Torrens
Scirocco Rare
6 times Australian, 7 times State Hillclimb Class Champion
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| posted on May 4th, 2014 at 02:39 PM |
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| Quote: | Originally
posted by lunar_c
Improved suspension to get it to handle better (maybe kafer bars too, the rear end seems to move around a lot and surely that results in odd camber
changes etc?) recondition the brakes, which already work quite well but can always use improvement.
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you need one of these........
http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=68032&page=1
I've sent plenty over to WA now !
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lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on May 5th, 2014 at 08:14 AM |
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That's a beautiful kit. Definitely considering it when the car gets painted. Any tips on general suspension set up for street driving and occasional
fun (ie not looking to chase down porsche 911's) track use?
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on May 8th, 2014 at 07:38 PM |
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Well I've got a few miles on the new motor now and it sounds great and goes alright but after putting a bit of effort into tuning the empi epc carbs
I still don't have them set up to my satisfaction. I think I'll get rid of them and put a rebuilt German solex 34 pict 3 back on a new manifold.
This car gets driven to work and I don't always have time to keep re balancing the carbs. I think with a better linkage they'd be more reliable but
given I want to put efi on this thing I don't want to sink more into a carb setup.
Finding a good set of standard wheels and hub caps this week.
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on May 20th, 2014 at 09:02 PM |
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Hi guys,
This is my daily driven 1972 super beetle. I just put a new engine in and was doing a rolling restoration of the mechanicals before planning to pull
the body off the pan and do a proper paint job later this year.
While looking at my brakes today I noticed some odd lumps under the stone guard in the wheel wells and to my horror found some pretty horrible cover
ups .. On the passengers front wheel well below the A pillar there's a gaping hole through to the foot well and into the heater channel the previous
own had stuck some tin over and bogged over.
On the drivers side it is similar and has eaten into a bit if the base of the A pillar..
So I kept digging. The trunk floor is gone - a piece of tin has been spot welded in and bogged over.
One rear floor plan needs replacing .. The bonnet is toast, as is the front apron and guards. The seal clip around the bonnet is also gone - can this
be replaced?
Here's some pics ..
The passengers side foot well.
The drivers side .. Rust is into the base of the a pillar.
Front apron .. Like this in both sides.
From the inside..
And the carnage on the other side of the spare wheel well..
I'm wondering whether it's going to be easier to replace the body or start again.. My feeling is that it's not safe to drive like this and the
repairs necessary will be expensive. I'm happy to fix the floor plan and simpler jobs like that but I know my boundaries. I'm pretty ticked off with
the previous owner now. I knew about the body needing work but he swore to me there were no structural problems, just the parts of big I could see in
the panels.
It has good doors and deck lid, rear quarter panels and valance are straight as is the roof. Our estimated budget for painting and panel work was
about 5k not including things like seals etc. I can see this going out of control now.
Can I have your opinions please? Thanks guys..
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on May 20th, 2014 at 09:19 PM |
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The other thing I wanted to ask you guys is if the seat rails look right to you..
The previous owner cut up the seat bases to the old super high backs and welded some late model seats on .. I'm not happy with the job at all and
want to put some standard seats back in and I'm not sure if the floor / rails have been modified as well.
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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vduboy
Insano Dub Head
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| posted on May 21st, 2014 at 06:51 PM |
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Shit mate, I hate seeing things like that.. People that have no right fixing cars doing dodgy 'repairs' like that! That's what my old bug was like
too.. but has since been written off by the young dick that bought it off me.. You can buy the seal clip for the bonnet separately but its cleaner to
go with the brazilian one that clips to the bonnet/boot instead. Do as much digging as you can if you do restore that body as there will be more
lurking. I hate rust so much I'm building a fiber glass car! Good luck with it.
It will all be OK in the end, if it's not OK it's not the end!
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vduboy
Insano Dub Head
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| posted on May 21st, 2014 at 06:51 PM |
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Those seat rails do look original too..
It will all be OK in the end, if it's not OK it's not the end!
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lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on May 21st, 2014 at 09:23 PM |
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Thanks mate..
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on May 31st, 2014 at 04:58 PM |
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Been doing a bit of research and as soon as I have a workshop space to use my wife and I will take the bug off of the road, strip it and take the body
off of the pan and see what the gutters and pillars look like once the paint is off.
It definitely needs a new bonnet, front apron, patch panels in the trunk, lower a pillars, lower rear quarters, c pillars near the half moon vents
from foam rot, new heater channels, left rear floor plan, possibly new front guards, and new running boards.
Need some high back front seats, a dashboard, and basically a new interior, and a few bits of the heater system like the control levers, cables, and
some of the front hoses etc.
If anyone has spare seats / heating parts let me know!
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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lunar_c
Seriously Crusin Dubber
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| posted on July 30th, 2014 at 12:06 AM |
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Update.. Sold the rusty shell with the nicely rebuilt motor to a bunch of really nice kids who had a better shell to put it into..
And bought myself a solid, absolutely complete and original 1967 deluxe with towel rail bumpers!
6 Dubs in and counting..
1966 1300 Deluxe Beetle in polar white.
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