Transmission out

I decided to finish removing the rear brakes and the transmission. I found out that I made a big mistake here. A week or so ago, I removed the rear drums. On the passenger side, I removed the springs and clips that held on the brake shoes. A bit later I needed to move the car, so I put the drums back on and reattached the wheels. I moved the car and put it back on the jack stands. Well, today I tried to pull the passenger side drum off again and was I in for a project. It is very difficult to get the drums off when the brake shoes are not clipped in! It took me an hour to get the one side back off. I ended up drilling holes in the brake shoe and prying it loose from the inner edge. Nasty! Lesson learned.
Here are a couple of pics now that the transmission out.
(Remember, you can click on the pics to see them larger.)

Pan replacement.

The pans in the Beetle were pretty much shot.  They really needed to be replaced.  I found a pair of pans from one of the guys in our local club and picked them up pretty reasonable.  I started out by cutting out the old pans.  I left about a half inch lip all around the inside of the tunnel and front and rear support areas.  This will allow me to set the new pans on top of this lip and weld them in for a nice professional job.

The next thing was to get the new pans trimmed to fit onto the chassis.   I measured and trimmed and got the pans fitting really well.  These must have been really nice pans.  They are well shaped and the holes are all in the right places.  Great to work with nice panels.

Dis-Assembly Day

We were headed for a nice stretch of Michigan fall weather, the forecast was for mid 60’s and sunny. I still had a few vacation days left for the year, so I decided I was going to take a day off and work on the bug. I had called my brother in law Steve and he was able to come over and help for the day. We got started about 8:30 in the morning. 

This is where we started:  In the garage, up on jack stands, wheels off, rear bumper removed and as you remember, the interior was stripped out the weekend before.

The first thing we did was remove the front bumper, then the running boards. From there, the trunk lid, and then the fenders.

Steve got inside and started cutting out the glass. The best way to do this is to cut the rubber seals form the inside. The rubber is still soft in there and it is a lot easier to get the glass out like that. Within the hour, he had all the glass out.

Next was the doors. I got lucky, and all the bolts came loose except one. I had to drill that one out. At the last second, the bolt snapped loose from the threads in the mounting plate and I was able to save them! Lunch time.

 

We ate a bit of lunch and headed to Steve's Dads house (my Father-in-law) for a visit. Dad had back surgery the day before and we wanted to stop by and see how he was doing. An hour and a half later, we were back at it. Next was the engine. The only problem we had here was with the rear apron. Apparently the rear apron had abruptly met with what appeared to be a trailer hitch ball at some point in it’s previous life. This pushed the apron about 2” forward in the car. That’s just enough to keep us from removing the engine without removing the header first. So, 45 minutes later, the engine was resting on the floor. 

We cleaned up and stored the parts and were patting each other on the backs for a nice days work and Steve pulls out his phone. He looks at it and looks at me with that look; you know the look, it’s the “lets pull the body off” look. Why not. He called his wife and found out he had time, so we dug back in. All the pan bolts came loose but one, and all the body bolts came loose but one. These two were quickly snapped off and we were ready. A quick check to remove the last couple of wires, and the steering wheel coupling. I pulled my little utility trailer into the garage next to the car and we lifted the body off and set it onto the trailer. 

We then put buckets under it so it wouldn’t sit on the trailer fenders. We wheeled it outside, picked up tools and swept up the garage, hauled out the camera and quickly took a couple of pics and the clock said 5:20 in the evening! 

That was a great days work. I am very happy with the progress. Thanks Steve, I could not have done it without you.

Stripping

Out with the seats first.

Once the seats were out, I could get to all the stuff that was abandoned in the car.  This made for a pretty good pile of goodies!

Then I hit the jackpot!  I found the pot of gold under the rainbow.  It was a canvas bag with change, mostly quarters, My guess was it was someones laundry money.  They were in pretty nasty shape.  My wife soaked them in a solution of vinegar and water for a bit and they cleaned up enough to spend them.  There was $26.59 cents in there.

Lots of cleaning and scrubbing and it was looking much better inside.  Then I found it.  Hidden behind the access flap someone had cut into the center tunnel, a giant mouse nest!.  You have to remember, At this point I had already trapped three of the little buggers inside the car.  There is no way this car is coming into the garage with livestock living inside.

I dug it out and sucked it clean with the shop vac.  The "fluf" filled my 15 gallon shop vac completely.  After cleaning and vacuuming, I set the traps again.  Over the next week, I trapped four more.   I think they had a little mouse association going on in the car.  That certainly explains the stink.
After several days of being mouse free, it was decided that the Beetle was to be moved into the garage.  Home for the winter.

New Home

Well, Saturday October 30 was the "tow it home" day.  Remember, the happiest day in any restoration is the day you tow it home!

Well, from the happiest to the most difficult is about three days.  Thats how long it takes you to get a chance to really start digging in to see what you have and what you will need to do to bring it back to life.  Thats the day you say "What the crap did I get into here! 

I started out by simply giving it a bath.  That went a long way toward making it presentable.

Amazing how nice it looks when it's wet!

It's that time of the year again!

My original thought was to find a ratty looking bug and cut it up.  I was going to make a Rat-Rod out of it.  I made sketches, joined V-rod forums and searched the web for just the right look and how to get it.  However, several weeks passed and nothing.
My brother in law called me last week and said he stopped and talked with this guy down the road that had a pair of 66's  I called him up and he proceeded to talk my ear off for 45 minutes.  He repeatedly told me how great the 66 and 67 cars were.  They were the best, they had the best of this, and the most efficient of that, etc.  Then he told me how much he wanted for the two cars.  Oh boy, I am pretty sure his Mom had dropped him on his head at one time or another.  I dont think he really wanted to sell the cars, or else people like me would stop calling him and he wouldn't have anyone to talk to.

The very next day I was looking at for sale adds and I ran across one for a 67 in the Jackson, MI area.  There was no picture in the add.  As a general rule, I dont click on adds without pictures, however, I was recalling the conversation the day before about how great 67's were and I clicked it.  I sent the guy an E:Mail and he replied right away.  I thought about it for a while and I called him.  The more we talked, the better it sounded.  Well, two hours later my brother in law and I were on the road headed for Jackson!
It turned out to be quite a find.  The car had been sitting since 2002, was covered with dust, had a terrible smell (mildew and mouse, nasty!) and was generally what you would call a barn find..

The only problem I have now is to figure out what to do with it.  This car is just too nice to cut up.  It will probably be worth more to leave it a lot closer to stock than a major chop and lower. I will need to think about this a lot more before I decide.