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Any VW fans on here? I need to know what you think.

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Discussion starter · #21 ·
Well, good news. I committed to buy and will pick it up Monday (tommorow) Its been driving me nuts and I know if I pass on it I will regret it down the road as VW's are becoming sparce around here.

I'm still unsure of the year but after a more detailed look at the car I do know its a standard not a super (whew!!) I'm happy about that. The pan has rust through under the passenger right (battery area) but has been patched with some sheet metal. It will be fine for now but a couple new panels will be in order eventually. The channels felt good and suspension was fair except one spot that I'll have to elaborate on later.

One question I have is.....Will it look cheezy with the standard rims back on with the rear flared fenders? I'm having trouble visualizing that.
I definately will want to ditch the z28 rims but will use them till I get her up and going to my standard.

P.S...Thanks for all the great response here!! If anyone has some great VW links they would share, shoot them to me. I'd appreciate that!! I'm gonna need some stuff down the road because my ultimate goal is to get myself a type 3 squareback (stationwagon) because the past fifteen years I've lived with the regret of passing on one for a couple hundred bucks when I was a poor student. I located a complete one but I'm not ready for that big of a project yet....:ROF

Thanks again.

Neal
 
#22 ·
Neal,

Glad to hear you bought the Beetle. It was a good deal and will be an easy project. VW's are fun cars to work on....and drive

Google VW forum and follow the leads. Search evilbay for a manual; the best is a large spiral bound. Having a senior moment this morning and cant remember the author; Meers or something close. Title is Keep your Volkswagon Alive. I have a couple of copies, but they must be packed away.

As to year, pull up the back seat and read the number on the tunnel of pan where it starts to form a Y. Cross ref that number for year etc; vin number.

Rear wheels: if the stock rims are too small with the flares, use a pair of standard Chevy wheels rather than the current rims. Wont be noticed as much.

Good luck and keep us posted on progress.
 
#25 ·
I would retain the wheel adapters ,switch to "regular" steel GM rims if desired..when I put those on my '63 Beetle,it greatly improved handling, and stability in crosswinds especially!..

I remember many guys used to put the original VW rims on backwards after busting off the hub cap clips ,to increase the width of the wheels track !..I always wondered how the lug BOLTS (not nuts!) stayed tight ,having the taper on the rim on the "wrong" side that way!..

I had the steel wheel adapters on mine,being the "huge" old style bolt circle--the later '68 and up 4 bolt adapters were usually cast aluminum,and I saw some made of that for the old VW's ,but I refused to use them after having one split on my Bug once..steel ones or nothing for me,thanks!..

I remember sawing up a stock steering wheel to make a adapter out if its center hub so i could bolt on my "Cal-Custom" 10" blue metalflake steering wheel on my '63!..I soon learned why VW's had such BIG steering wheels--without them they get REAL hard to steer ,and kick back like a mule if your steering damper wasn't in good working order!..my VW "bus" had a steering wheel that was very big in comparison to the rest of the vehicle,but it was needed!..
I used to let a girl I liked drive my "Bus" often,she thought it was the neatest vehicle ever...she was very "well endowed" you might say!--the steering wheel on the Bus is almost vertical,compared to most vehicles--I used to laugh when we'd go off roading in it,and her boobs would bounce up and down and slap against the steering wheel, and get caught in the spokes during fast manuvers!..:D ahhhh,I miss those days...
 
#26 ·
I'm glad you're getting it Neal. They are a lot of fun. :fing32:
You can reduce it to parts, repair the pan and reassemble.
You can find rear fenders and sell the flared ones.
I bought a basket-case Manx in the early 70s and ended
up with 17 bugs and vans to build, sell, part out and play with.
Best book I bought was "Volkswagens for compleat idiots". :1221:
 
#27 ·
One other place on the net I hang out is www.shoptalkforums.com - it is an VW aircooled site ( I am mostly on the forced induction section). Good forum and good guys.
You guys are giving away your age with all this VW talk! And great observations on the pics.
I have a buggy and "lent" my 350 chev bug to my son.
the buggy last yr- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17yVbCmUTTg&feature=channel_page

A pic of the sedan with 2 top mechanics-
Image
 
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#28 ·
As for reversing the wheels to gain a wider stance, the old wheels actually have a slight taper that held the wheel bolts securely. I tried this on my '64 for a short time and never had a problem. Another trick was to find 14" rims from a bus and put them on the Bug; they gave availability to 14" tires and they were a wider rim.

Paul
 
Discussion starter · #29 ·
I'm gonna tow her home this afternoon after work. I'll get some better pictures up as soon as I get her cleaned up a bit. Lots of work in store for me I think. But thats O.K, my twins are going to help me with this all along the way. They are pumped even more than I am.

The only issue is space out of the burning sun to park this thing while we "tinker".

I'll keep this thread updated..
 
#31 ·
One place to check for parts, cars, or anything related to VW's and Porsche's is www.thesamba.com People from around the world post on there. Have fun building it up. If I had the money and room to work on one, I would have one as well. But I'm still looking for the deal of a lifetime.

Pete
 
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#32 ·
Glad your picking it up Neal! Those things are rare up here
 
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Discussion starter · #33 ·
Ingersoll444 said:
As for your wheels... you know what looks nice on them.. Get a set of Chrome reversed, with baby moons.
Click to expand...
My thoughts exactly! I was lucky enough to have owned a wunderbug when was in my twentys and I had baby moons on that. Dang I regret selling that one! It had a 37 Ford front end on it, otherwise it was the same as a standard type 1 beetle.
I sold it for $400 when I moved.:banghead3

As for my new one its a 1969 standard type 1. Nice little project thats actually fairly clean. It has a couple of issues I'll need to discuss with an expert but till then...:trink40:

I promised pics tonight but my son and I were so involved with cleaning and prepping the fuel system I blew off the pics...I'll get new one from my driveway tommorow PM....promise.

Neal
 
Discussion starter · #34 ·
A few pics of my "problem" areas.

I'm about 99% sure I'm going to have to replace the front axle beam. How difficult is this? Never done it before so what else is involved? Or should I ask what else should I replace while I have it dissasembled?

Check out the front left shock!! Better yet the mounting point!!

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Indy452
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