My 1969 VW beetle 1300

[vincentdci]

As some of you might know, i'm a bit of a Renault fan, but I'm also the proud owner of a 1969 VW1300.
Well proud owner may be a bit of a euphemism, its not that shabby but mint is something else



My uncle bought it new and drove it round untill 1991 when it failed on the MOT for obvious rust reasons (all beetles rust) and a leaky master cylinder.
It never received any threatment for the rust nor brakes, they just stored it away in the garage untill 2004 when i got it, because it had to be moved for a new central heating system Good thing they put it next to the old central heating though, that way it didn't rust.

Because of it standing so long, and as it was never started any more the engine seized, and i had to tow it home.
And that was it for about a year or so, i couldn't do anything to it as my "shed" was too small (read; too packed with stuff), so after i had build an extention to it and got the needed space time had come to get my hand dirty on the car.

First of all i sourced an engine, whipped the old one out and  put a freshly revised and bigger bore 1300?? double ported (instead of single port) AB block in.
The old clutch was also replaced with a new sachs item and diaphragma spring.

old item out


reconditioned item ready to receive cooling manifolds etc


While i was still reassembling the engine i decided Webers were needed , so i found myself a single weber IDF40 kit ready to go on the engine when it was finally in.
A few days later the beetles bay looked like this

and that's how it still looks up untill now

I've fitted a spaghetti manifold and some muffler i had lying around not so long ago, but that sits waay to low so it constantly bangs against whatever crosses its path, which gets a little annoying after some time.

Now you could ask, where the hell do you drive a beetle without brakes, insurance, mot etc, well i say; i use it to rag around in the fields around my house.
And thats what i've been doing to/with it untill last thursday when it broke down
Firstly i thought it was just out of gas but upon closer inspection the fuel pump proved to be shot.
I figured, if i have to drive to Brussels anyway to get a new fuel pump membrane, i may aswell order all the stuf i need to get it road legal again.
So it was said and so it was done, today i drove to Scara-B (aircooled VW specialists) and got all the parts i needed sofar, a whole BMW 5-series touring packed full of stuff for the beetle (exhaust, brakes, shocks, replacement body panels, electrical stuff... the lot

So here will my "restauration" thread commence,  it wont be a body off restauration as the chassis is still hard as rock, but whatever needs mending will be taken care off.
Plan is to do something Porsche/rat style, prolly with some matt black, white and primer, but not a rust bucket.
I hope to keep you guys updated as i advance or maybe i'll post nothing at all untill it's "finished", you decide

Anyways sorry for the longish post, i know very well a beatle isn't the most exotic machine, but over the years i've grown quite fond of it, and i couldn't help it, i had to put in on TAU

Greetz

[TT]

Very nice, and it's white!!! I almost bought a Beetle myself last year!

[Stoffie]

Cool project! Will be interesting to see the final result

[danidmas]

As some of you might know, i'm a bit of a Renault fan, but I'm also the proud owner of a 1969 VW1300.
Well proud owner may be a bit of a euphemism, its not that shabby but mint is something else

You're not the only Renault-VW fan out there. The guy who sold me the GT Turbo currently owns: Renault Clio Williams, a rare GT Turbo Phase III, another Phase II like mine... and a Volkswagen Transporter T1 and a Beetle!

It's a funny car... but the absolute lack of performance doesn't do it for me

[vincentdci]

Dani go wash your mouth out, saying i'm a WV fan, the nerve                    

I HATE VW's, but i'm an aircooled boxer engine fan

[danidmas]

  Ok ok... so when are you planning a 993 Turbo engine swap then?

[vincentdci]

Okaay, it been a while since i last updated this thread, and for good reason, i've just been WAAAY to busy working, and more working.
Working for money gaining reasons, but also on money spending reasons , being the beetle.

I may have said the beetle wasn't going body off, well it seems i kinda lied, as i've got 4 big chunks of beetle in my garage now, chassis, body, engine and gearbox all separated from each other.
Reason for all of this is that i found some rust thats easily accessible when body off, but unaccessible when de body's on, it's also easier to sand and repaint the underside of the chassis.

So far all the unbolting and trearing apart is done, so now i'm sanding down the chassis aswell as the gurthers that hold the gearbox and engine in place, then coating it all in red oxide primer and putting over a final coat of hammerite gloss black.
Plan is to get the chassis perfect, awell as the engine, gearbox and front axle, get that totally finished and then start welding on the body.
Chassis first because when it's finished it can be moved around, on it's own strength, a body isn't exactly needed on a beetle.

Anyways i'll let the pics do some of the talking




pulling engine


RUST




Removing some Patchwork that's been done to the chassis medio 80's or so, why? i dunno because everything was perfect under it.


Engine has a leaky crankshaft seal


That's about it for today, i'll post up more when i've uploaded the pics

Greetz

[vincentdci]

Ohh well i might aswell get the hassle over with, so you're all up to speed

Up close engine pic of leaky cranckshaft seal with flywheel removed.


Chassis with gearbox, just after i had pulled off the drum brakes


gearbox out


I discovered one bad patch in the chassis so welded a new piece of plate in

finished article


that is all, could post some pics up of me sanding, but there's nothing exiting about that ain't it

greetz, i'm off sanding some more

[yeckmohr]

respect to rebuild this classy german car, look at the history at this old german "Wunder", it starts in the last century, good luck for the old restauration of this beauty. 

[vincentdci]

Hello all, update time again
Made quite a lot of progress tbh, finished the engine, sanded down the whole chassis, welded a rotten patch in the chassis head and fixed the gearbox niggles.

95% finished engine (cranckshaft seal fixed, plating repainted, manifolds polished,...)



Bad patch welded up, still a bit hot


This is what i see thru my welding goggles



Next up, painting the chassis and cleaning the gearbox

grtz

[TNT]

a lot of work is being done. keep it up!

[spanky]

Thats a lot of work.. Keep the updates happening!!! Looks nice all painted

[vincentdci]

It's been a few months since i last updated this, so i thought it was about time i'd brought you guys up to speed.
Havent made that much progress tbh, but thats all got to do with both my parents having had backsurgery, so i have to run the business all by myselve, leaving not much time for the beetle.

But anyways, whats been done is done, and i'm pretty pleased with it as it is so far.

This is whats been done;

-sanded the chassis, painted it in red oxide primer, and then fat coat of hammerite gloss black.
-sanded the gearbox, and painted it graphite grey, also fitted new seals and bearings in the axles, and provided it with new rubber mounts
-sanded and renewed all brake components and fitted different drum brakes with 5x205 bolt spacing (porsche 356 items)
-fitted all new brake lines and master brake cylinder
-fitted new front axle along with new track rods and steering box
-fitted new gaz shocks all round

That about sorted the chassis to a brand spanking new state, all it needed were some porsche 356 wheels, which i found pretty cheap so i was a happy camper.

Then work began on the body, a new rear bumper mount was fitted and thats where i got cramped for time.
So the last things i did were, cutting out the rear body to chassis mount, and removing the corner plates at the back wheels.

Because of not being able to make any progress to the beetle and getting a bit frustrated i resorted to searching more parts for when i eventually get the time to make progress again.
Thus i bought about half a beetle to serve as donator for body work a bosch OO9 distributor , and wednesday i took a trip up to holland to get a super rare carburettor kit.
Came back with a vintage 70's Riechert Motorentechnik porsche carb setup, with double Zenith NDIX32 carbs (as found on porsche 356 carrera B/C), designated inlet manifolds, correct throttle linkage, and knecht/okrasa filters. Really guys for beetle enthousiasts this is the stuff dreams are made off, sometimes these kits fetch more than a complete beetle, yesterday i saw a set of filters, going for 250euros
OOH and i also found a porsche tacho, it had to be a early 914 2.0litre item as these are identical to the 911 items, but as 911's are 6cylinders those don't work in a beetle, no pics of it though.

Picz

sanded and primered chassis


bottom coat of hammerite on


top coat


box before

Box after


Original 41year old exhaust after sprucing up


start motor


pedal assembly


Back axle assembled


Drum brakes


Bumper mount

pretty proud of my welding


Brake lines, its all in the details



Complete chassis (incorrect wheels fitted)


Got RAKE  (front axle -13cm  )


And finally my carb setup, being the impatient boy that i am i had to test fit them, just to see how it was going to look




Thats it for now, i hope it doesn't take as long as it did now to update this again
Grtz

[Stoffie]

Pretty awesome project!

Will be interesting to see the whole thing finished 

[spanky]

Awesome project vincent!!!! Great to see an update... You've done a heap of work since the last update...

Everything is just about new on the old girl. Cant wait to see her all together again!!!

[danidmas]

That is awesome! Such a cool project to restore a Beetle from scratch! It's not that I'm a fan of the bug anyway, but I always admire this kind of work! And adding bits of the 356 here and there just makes it even better! Keep us posted Vincent!

[Phobo]

Wow nice progress. Love those buildtopics.

Just a little advise: hammerite is definatly the wrong product for rustprotection on a car. Especially on the underside I would use a different product (forgot the correct name but I can look it up for you when you are interested). I know alot of people put that stuff on their cars even on high value older cars. Spoke to a guy
who runs a business specialised in "rustavoiding products" and restoring products and he said that hammerite
is good for painting your metal fence but nothing for your car. (if I remember correctly he mentioned that it
will crack due to the flexing chassis).

[vincentdci]

^^you don't expect me to get it back off do you 
Anyways, most big dollar restaurations start off with a powdercoated chassis, why? Well because ist hard as rock, and is easy to work with, the same goes for hammerite, if it has a decently prepped base to stick on, its never going to give way.

That special undercoat you're talking about, is it Rutex (a product of Valvoline)?




Got some more work done, so it's time for a little update
Today i finished the p/s rear corner and shock plate

So from this;


Over this;



To this;





Next up, the same stuff, but on the other side

[spanky]

keep the updates coming vincent...

how are your welding skills changing as you do more work on the car? easier? faster?

[Phobo]

^^you don't expect me to get it back off do you 
Anyways, most big dollar restaurations start off with a powdercoated chassis, why? Well because ist hard as rock, and is easy to work with, the same goes for hammerite, if it has a decently prepped base to stick on, its never going to give way.

That special undercoat you're talking about, is it Rutex (a product of Valvoline)?

Get out the sandblaster and away with it Well it might be better with hammerite compared to how it came out of the factory but the flexing beetle chassis will put tiny cracks into the hammerite. Maybe you can find a hammerite datasheet somewhere but hey If I were you I also would leave the hammerite on there.

The product is not called Rutex it is a german brand if I remember correctly. Sadly I did not find the catalogue about all the anti corrosion products that I have in my garage (total chaos there atm).