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~Ed <br><br>Don't forget to check out www.theredlineworld.com for more redline fun!<br><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v36/fairy***mother/Nothing%20Important/Edward.jpg"><!--EZCODE IMAGE END-->
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Steve,<br><br>As always, thanks for the updates. I don't think Volkswagen ever sent a bug out of the factory that looked as good as yours will!<br><br>Bob Jordan
Hey Steve,<br><br>This post slipped all the way to the third page!<br><br>Anything new for us?<br><br>Bob
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Steve,<br><br>I know you said you were going to the convention, but I was curious if there was any more progress?<br><br>Bob Jordan
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Thanks for the updates Steve!<br><br>Bob Jordan
Really gotta give you major props on your hard work, Steve. Many people would have recycled that one. I've known some hard-core VW fans in my time (I was an original member of the Austin VW club) and I can see you put some serious elbow grease and love into your '59. Sadly, I passed up a chance to snap up a '57 about 10 years ago that someone had made into a Baja (the ovals have always been my favourite Bug). I could have rebuilt it into a sedan again.<br><br>I love seeing the progress of your project =)
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The dark area doesn't look bad in the picture, but those gouges in the bare metal on the right made me cringe. It reminded me of the time I let a roommate help me sanding on my 69 Baja.<br><br>Dang, it's been too long and now I can't remember - which year did they stop putting semaphores on them?
Go HW Race Team!<br><br>--John
I did my own sandblasting when I rebuilt a '69 Beetle into a Baja Bug and it left no harmful effects. I reckon if you use 300psi with a wide nozzle it could dent (or warp from the heat) thin sheet metal but I kept the PSI at 90.<br><br>Steve, are you sure that's a 1935? 1835 is a more common size build, with a standard crank and 92mm slippers and machined case openings and headwork to fit the new liners. At least that's how it goes for a T1 engine. I love the dual Dellortos on the one you bought. They're picky when it comes to synchronising them, but I like the power curve of them better than Webers.<br><br>1915cc would be the next highest size (94mm cylinders by 69mm crank), but to me, that leaves the cylinder walls too thin. Whichever size it is, I'd run an additional external oil cooler on it. But then, I live in Texas. You shoulda seen the honkin' cooler I ran in my Baja, with 12v squirrel cage fan to help cool it while sitting in traffic and a high-volume oil pump. It did the job in 100°F weather with a 1835cc engine.<br><br>Now I'm <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>really</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> missing my old Baja. Dangit!<br>
Beetle is look good Steve <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :thup --><img src="http://www.ezboard.com/image/posticons/pi_thumbsup.gif" alt=":thup"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--><br><br>Randy
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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 & 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!
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Cool! Doesn't look like there was any pitting on the wheels and they blasted up nice. That hood (bonnet) is deffo the smoothest. Serious kudos! That's one thing I don't have the patience for. I can solder electronics or wrench on an engine for that long without noticing, but with body work I lose focus in minutes. Heck, last night I did six hours of graphics editing before I even noticed the time had passed. Go fig.<br><br>BIG congrats on the milestone of reaching and passing that "last bolt removed" in the process!!
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Goosebumps,Goosebumps,Goosebumps. SAAAWEEET!<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :thup --><img src="http://www.ezboard.com/image/posticons/pi_thumbsup.gif" alt=":thup"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END-->
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!<br><br>I had to scroll back to double check that pan. At first I was thinking it was in really good shape to begin with, then I remembered the familiar rusty-red coloured primer put on the replacement panels. Yeah, that pan must have really needed some help after all. Wow.<br><br>If I could get over to my storage place, I'd check on the pan gasket I have somewhere. I had bought it for when I was about to paint my Baja and I told you the story about what happened to it (I think), so I probably still have it in storage. If I recall correctly, it is one of the good ones, too.<br><br>On the other hand, I'm not sure if a 69-72 (I know at least those years go together) pan gasket is the same as the 59.<br><br>Oops. I was about to mention that I'm sure I still have a few other VW parts in storage, including a pair of rear axles with Porsche CVAs mounted on them, but then I had a moment of clarity (hey, two in one night!) and realised that your 59 is a swing axle, not IRS.<br><br>I think I'd better go to bed now.<br>
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I thought I would share this with ya Steve. It's a 65 we had in the 80s. Perhaps Kitty has seen it around Austin as we sold it in 87. Sorry for the partial pic. It's the only one I could find.<br><br>Robert<br><br>PS. We "dubbed" it the Big Bananna. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :99o --><img src="http://www.dodgetalk.com/forums/images/smilies/banana.gif" alt=":99o"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--><br><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r12/rioredgt/yellovoltz.jpg"><!--EZCODE IMAGE END-->
Steve,<br><br>I haven't posted lattely, but I have been following the thread with great interest. I assume those were replacement doors? What was wrong with the originals? Are you going for the Cal Custom look on the doors by eliminating the vent windows?<br><br>Everything looks great!<br><br>Bob Jordan