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'66 bug resto

29K views 145 replies 21 participants last post by  Johnser 
#1 · (Edited)
best start at the beginning;

a couple years ago, was looking for a vw project, caddy, beetle, camper e.t.c, so put an wanted ad in adtrader.

chap wanted to sell a project not far from me so went to look, it was completely stripped, just a shell resting on a pan with the doors wedged in the holes, matey said he had all the bits he took off in the garage at home and only wanted £50..... with my optimism at record levels, I wrote this:

(16/05/2006)
ok, been to look today, the doors are square button so i'm guessing it is a 1300, or at least has them doors. the bug is in bits, shell off of pan. solid pan, channels, wheel well. bit of welding needed on inner wings. other bits include glass, front beam, brakes, wheels....well most of the running gear, at least 1 gearbox, an engine that is probably broke. no wings or long bonet, seems reasonable for £50.

Oh and when I got chatting, he said I could have another complete '66 that's pretty rotten but not irrepairable with a 1/2 decent 1300 engine if I take this one away......... given me the night to think about it, got someone else looking tomorrow, its a big project but its the right price and location so i think I'd better go for it!

oh and the v5 is lost but it aint gonna be on the road anytime soon!
oh how wrong I was, I have ended up having to replace the heater channel inner tubes, bottom plates, repair the front and rear inner wings, 1 door post, front clip and probably the rear valance as well as some holes in the floorpan. but to be honest, i still think it was still a good buy at £50 so it could be worse.

brought the original '66 home with tractor and trailer, picked the bits up in the caddy (deceased) and he dropped the other '66 (which was actually a '65) up to me
 
#2 · (Edited)
history

decided to find out a bit of history as I started work, DVLA site tells me has been off the road since 1986, sent off for the former keeper details (7 in total) posted a nice letter off and got a few replies and a couple photos, (will stick them up if I find a scanner)

edit: here they are!

only digital pics of scans of photos tho, so the quality is as you might expect:





and after the painting :rolleyes:



(note: that is most definitly not me)

be interested if anyone recognises anything!

spent most of her life in the plymouth area and gradually migrated west into cornwall
 
#3 · (Edited)
the festering issue of rust...

I took a few photos of the worst bits when I got it home


bonnet edge








rear arches




some qwality repairs there :rolleyes:

and the '65 , designated donor:


of course, before I started anything, I had to try the engine, been under a tarp' for 10 years, contrary to any advice, stuck some petrol in a little header (brake fluid reservoir) above the carb and....

she lives!!

drove it around the yard in first with with just the stiff bearings and dragging bits of rust to stop me till the seat fell through the "floor".
 
#4 · (Edited)
the floorpan

first summer I attacked the floorpan, started by cutting off the jacking points and repairing these areas. retrospectivly, I perhaps should have bought complete new pans, but its done now, they should be ok for a fair while.

some photos;






I should say, before I did this, I made a pan roller, I thought I'd took photos of it but cant find any.

then set about sandblasting the pan, front beam and various other bits; drums, backing plates, pedals e.t.c in my newly constructed hell - a large trailer with plastic sheeting over the roof and me, a hobby sandblasting gun and a lot of dust and rust. spent the best part of 2 weeks in there. I'm not doing that again.

then I por15'd the lot;
a couple pics:












 
#6 ·
The channels

originally, I thought I'd get away with just replacing the bottom plates, but further investigation revealed, the heater tubes and channel outer edges were poor.





so I made some more!

bottom plates:

2mm should do the trick, SS nuts welded on.

heater tubes:





stainless steel, 50mm, tube. those double bends at the back are a bit tricky to make.

all por'd and welded up






I have since, seam welded the entire outside and inside for those of you worried there aren't enough spot welds there.
 
#9 · (Edited)
haha, cheers, well all the talk here about the crapness of repo stuff and the price of genuine/NOS bits spurred me on really, if you have the time, there is no excuse not to make simple areas yourself.

this was the bender I used for most of the straight bends,


yep, a bit of wood with some angle screwed to it. I have now borrowed a small proper unit tho which is a lot easier

this weekend, I think I am going to have to resort to buying my first repo pannel (excluding hooky's windscreen corners) a front clip. cant find a decent original one of these. oh well

as for plans with the car, I intend to strip back the nasty metallic blue brushed on paint revealing the original (I think fontana grey or seasand) lower it, I have an adjustable beam but may treat myself to dropped spindles if and when I finish and run it like that for a while. I have taken the paint off of the doors revelaing a little more undercoat than I would have liked. I may have to wayoyl/ankorwax/paint with oil, the outside.

running gear wise, I have that engine I know works, I think its only a 1200. I will probably stick that in and try to mot it once the body, electrics and interior e.t.c are done. one day I might do something more adventurous
 
#10 · (Edited)
rear quarters

I bought the best part of a whole shell imported from aus, pre65 small window to get some decent rear quarters (my sheet metal bender wasn't quite up to the curves required in this area)

the before pics are in a previous post,

cut out the rot:




the new pannel




After much jigging, trigging and trimming






then finished off the HC closing plate area




I have only recently finished the other side, so the pics are still on my camera. it's much the same as this side.

edit: but here's some now ive got them:



cont... next post
 
#11 · (Edited)
more photos

cont. from previous:





found a couple better pics of the heater tubes:



Its hard to see but at the front, I made a shape similar to the original by attaching a smaller stainless tube going up to the windscreen and making a "cup" out of the smaller gauge tube cut in half over the rear of the fish gills all sort of cut and spliced together.



I quite like welding stainless with mig mild steel, it has a lower thermal conductivity to steel and holds the heat better and so stays red for longer, not really desirable but a nice change for a bit of diversity. the mig welds were sandblasted and por'd inside and out (where my toothbrush would reach)
 
#15 ·
boot floor

Ahh, nice one, I will do that from now on. side scrolling cracks me up and I'd hate to be hypocritical!

the boot floor.

rear inner wings done, rusty boot floor;


cut away, cut away




in with the new:

you can just about make out the gaps either side of the bit put in, I had to have these as the panels were chopped out of the original car with at least a 3mm disk - more than I'd like to try to fill with the welder. so I widened the gaps to about an inch to let me put a strip in:



 
#16 ·
door hinge

the drivers door had in the past obviously swung open too far, creasing the door hinges, while replacing the lower was an option, I had to have a go at making the upper (no good cutting up the '65 here - rotten)

dont have a before, but this is after I took out the first layer of metal:


welded up the fatigue cracks in the bit I cut off and attached it to a bigger bit of metal:


attached the whole lot back to the pillar:


put a new bit in front:

cut the excess back, folded the seam back down and finished the welding on the front quarter. doesnt look perfect but I'm going for function over form
 
#20 ·
Nice work Johnser, liking your approach.

I just bought a 66 for a resto project but I needed prompting to get started, this thread has given me a bit of - enthu - entu

a kick up the arse to get in the garage.

Nice one
Cheers dude, put some pics up of the project on here if you get time, would be cool to see it. is yours the original colour and if so, do you know what it is?

good luck with the project!
 
#21 ·
Top work!
It's certainly come on a bit since I last looked.
Keep it up!
Cheers fellas! I wish the project had come on as quick as this thread, it is most certainly not realtime, in fact it is the condensed version of about a year's on and off work. I am getting caught up with the photos I've taken tho.

the DIY fabricating is soon to finish, as I've nearly done all the welding now, still got a front valance to find and fit and to sort the "impossible access" under rear window area
 
#22 ·
a bit o sanding

as I mentioned previously, been trying to take off as much nasty metallic blue and reveal the original colour underneath. started with the doors and engine lid.







but I'm not doing a very good job of it, keep removing too much and going down to primer, I am too impatient and should go slower with wet and dry I know, but the brushed on blue is just soooo thick, I think if I did it all by hand it'd be another 40 years before its on the road.... and by then "we don't need roads"

Also sorted the window winder mechanisms - I cant stand stiff windows. syringed in as much white spirit as the mechanism channel would hold, let it soak in for a while, wound the handle a few times, then blasted it all out with compressed air. repeated the procedure then syringed in some new grease (in pic) to make it all smooth



two doors, ready to be refitted with refurb'd internals, new shinny lift channels, just need to finish my waxoyl sprayer so I can give them a coat prior to assembly.

 
#24 · (Edited)
cheers!

well going by the wolfsburgwest website, the only colours that it might be are "sea sand" or "fontana grey"

http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/Colors/bug66.htm

if that site is correct, savana beige was a post '67 colour. I could do with getting a couple colour charts as I need to find out what colour it should be if I ever want to paint it the original colour

edit; but this site:

http://www.clubvw.org.au/colour_identification.htm#1965 - 66

suggests panama beige was a '66 colour?? not sure if some names are confused, who is right, or what the damn colour of my car is!
 
#25 ·
That's it 'sea sand' :D Couldn't think of the name when I said sand beige!

To be honest I'm pretty sure sand beige & savannagh beige are the same thing just from different sides of the atlantic :D

I have paper work with mine listing both colour names!! :hangloose
 
#27 ·
well in your scan, the colour looks closer to pearl white. however, instinct tells me this wouldn't have been called anything "white" and the fact that the upholstery I have that came with it is black leatherette and not pigalle (although that colour does look cool) suggests it is in fact sea sand.

Thanks for that scan, much appreciated!
 
#33 ·
I can beat that! the Doovlaah says my donor '65 was on the road in 1990 and the '66 in 1980!! although it wouldn't surprise me if it was kept out side or used as an illegal runnaround for quite a few years after that, it has been living in the lawless state of cornwall after all.

Loving this thread so far, your work is amazing, Keep it up! :)
thanks for the kind words, I dont think I deserve such high praise
 
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