My 1:1 '59 Beetle, New pics : BACK IN BLACK !!

hehehe thanks, Steve, and thanks for the nice email =)<br><br>I drove VWs for about 13 years. Learning how to wrench was a big plus in my life. My dad tried to teach my sister and I how to maintain our own cars. I wasn't interested because I was only eight years old and at that age I knew it would be nearly twice my age before I'd be able to drive a car, so why bother knowing how to fix one?<br><br>When I turned 15, I got my motorcycle license. The next year, I got my auto license and access to an old GMC stepside. Time to learn a bit about how to maintain one. I popped the hood and analysed what was underneath for about an hour. I could tell a little about what did what, but then the questions came. My father and a few friends answered a lot of that and books at the library did the rest. Within two weeks I could do a full tuneup.<br><br>Flash forward a few years to when I bought my first VW. It was a 69 Beetle and within the first two weeks of buying it, the engine blew. Within two weeks of that, I had the parts, a VW engine rebuilding book and my best friend to help me rebuild the engine. I'd done plenty of engine work before, but never a full rebuild. In this case, it actually was a new build, as most of the parts I had were new.<br><br>That same Beetle eventually morphed into a Baja Bug that I built myself. I did all the body cutting/grinding and fitting of the fibreglass parts. Along the way, I also completely rewired the car from headlamp to tail lamp, changing the type of fuses used and increased the number and added relays. The area under the hood, in front of the dash, was custom built to house all the electronics switching duties. The battery no longer had the regulator next to it, as I changed the generator out for an alternator.<br><br>Inside the car, I removed the entire back seat compartment and rebuilt the area with lots of loud speakers and the amps were hidden underneath the panel where the back seat used to be. There was a flat area so my dogs could stand up while I was driving and when they weren't in the car, I could crank up the tunes.<br><br>Sadly, two days before the car went to paint, some jerkwad rear-ended me in traffic. I was stopped in traffic, but he was late for work, impatient, and stupid. I saw him veer into my lane just long enough for me to think "OH S***!"<br><br>The car was totalled. My seat back broke and speaker components were all over the front seat area. I ended up with a damaged back, left knee (hit the solid steel underneath the dash) and neck that left me unable to move for a week. Hell, I was more upset over losing my car than nearly losing my life. heh<br><br>I DO love wrenching. I love cars, period, and I love to customise them. As odd as this may sound, I hate getting my hands all greasy and ooky, but once they're already dirty, I'm okay and will wrench on an engine for hours at that point. I'm not big on body work, though I really want to learn to weld so when I do get another car, I can really customise it (fibreglass only goes so far) and also do metal artwork. The one thing I hate the most is having to sand stuff down. Plastic filler is my enemy, but thankfully I learned how to work with lead.<br><br>Dang. Now I'm really itching to wrench on a VW hehehe

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I understand the gloves thing. In the early 90s, I had to start wearing them because my hands finally had too much exposure to hair chemicals (I was a cosmetologist in another life). I avoid latex gloves because I know way too many people who get reactions from the latex or even the powder used on some. Thankfully, I have a Harbor Freight nearby and they almost always have sales on their cheapo nitrile gloves. Those things rock! I went through a bunch of them when I was doing the radio control thing (I cleaned my trucks thoroughly and fairly often). <br><br>It seems I often have my hands on or in dangerous chemicals. My other hobby (electronics tinkering) will soon have me wearing nitrile gloves, as I recently bought a laser printer, which makes it easier for me to print my own circuits and transfer them to printed circuit boards and then etch them myself, which is where the chemicals come in. Nasty, nasty stuff.<br><br>I digress. Man, I really wish we lived closer. How I'd love to pitch in with the work on your Bug (I'm dynamite with a soldering iron for really good electrical connections and wiring) and I miss media blasting. I'm probably gonna do some artwork this season with sandblasted glass bottles and LEDs so that'll scratch my itch for blasting.<br><br>I do hope you use a respirator when you work with a lot of those chemicals, as well as sanding. I got lazy once and did the "hold my breath while sanding" thing after doing a bit of fibreglass work and my sinuses and lungs didn't like me for a few days.<br><br>ps - I just realised how good your pics are. The lighting makes it look more like 35mm than digital. Is your camera SLR?

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Dang, I wish I could remember the name of the VW wrecking yard south of town. I used to have a set of those from a later model (dunno if they ever changed the design of them but it's moot now anyway) and I ended up having to toss them because no one wanted them. I think the only parts I still have in storage are a set of Porsche 356 CV axles and a mid-budget carpet set for the rear half of the car. Oh, and a big boxful of old VW mags that I need to toss, as they got water damaged (right before storage fees went up, no less) and the last time I had to pick up something from my storage unit, I spotted silverfish by the box. Bleah. I saved some cool issues of Hot VWs and VW Trends, most of which were from before they had skanks n' tarts on every page.<br><br>Sheesh, I'm whining without realising it! About the other parts, you're right - the steering box does indeed look pretty new and you did a great job on the arms. I'd forgotten what the earlier arms looked like because all the air-cooled VWs I ever owned were 67 and later models. I <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>did,</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> however, get a chance to pilot a right-hand-drive down the 1/4 mile twice. That was the first time I'd ever driven from that side of the car, so my shifting wasn't the best, but I did win the first round.

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Hey Kitty, that wrecking yard is Austin Vee-Dub. My first car was a 68, and I went to school in Del Valle down the road from there.<br><br>Robert

They even have a web site.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.austinveedub.com/main.html">www.austinveedub.com/main.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END-->

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Tim, if I could reach you, I would hurt you! Yeah, I stole that one from an episode of Pinky &amp; The Brain.<br><br>Robert: Thanks! That's the place. I spent a few hours here and there out in their wrecking yard. Seems like every time I went there, it was either raining or had just rained, so I had to slosh my way down a muddy hillside to get to the good stuff. They ought to have those rear axle tube covers (or whatever the heck they're called) that Steve needs.<br><br>Steve, again, great job on the blasting! Sorry to hear you had a bugger of a time with that bolt. I gather it was too small or fubar'd to use an easy-out on, eh? Did you try hitting it with a propane or butane torch first? Meh. It was probably even too rusted for that, I bet.<br><br>This thread has been exciting for me, both because I love VWs and because I also am enjoying the bit by bit restoration updates. Thank you for keeping it up to date so often, Steve!