My Beetle Restoration

Archive for September, 2010

Getting Started!

by on Sep.06, 2010, under Disassembly

Labor Day 2010. First day to do any work on the car. I decided to remove the front bumper first (should be simple, right?). Well, the bolt that attaches the over-rider bracket and bumper bracket on the passenger side was frozen and will either need to be cut, or soaked with penetrating oil some more. This particular bolt went through from the wheelhouse, through the bumper mount, and then through the two brackets. Someone at some point drilled out the threads in the bumper mount and then through the wheelhouse. I'm guessing the threads on the bumper mount were stripped and this was their solution. So I decided to go ahead and remove the bumper by removing the brackets from the bumper. Even after soaking all the bolts with penetrating oil, there was a lot of creaking and resistance by most of the bolts holding the brackets to the bumper guards. It came apart, though, and now I just have to deal with the one frozen bolt. The other bumper bolt on that same side was missing. The back bumper was already removed when I got the car. I don’t think either bumper is worth trying to save and I will probably just replace the bumpers, brackets, and all other related parts. I will have to decide just what to do with the bumper mount on the passenger side that had been drilled out. I will not mount a bolt through to the wheel well as done previously. I'm thinking about removing the mount and welding on a replacement mount. One more issue in a long and yet undetermined list of issues on this project. Maybe there is something wrong with me, but I actually like these types of little surprises. Let’s see if I still feel this way down the road with dozens more of these unexpected challenges…

 

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Success with Front Bumper

by on Sep.14, 2010, under Disassembly

Finally got around to removing the badly rusted bumper bracket bolt. I decided to just cut off the last 3/8″ or so of the bolt that was rusted and giving me so much trouble. I purchased a Gator Grit 3″ cut-off wheel and arbor from Lowe’s to do this. I figured I could use this later as well. So I tightened the nut back all the way and cut off most of the remaining threaded end of the bolt. After doing that, the nut came off easily. My first success!

 

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Removing Headlights, Taillights, Antenna, and Wiper Arms

by on Sep.18, 2010, under Disassembly

I removed the headlights assemblies, the front turn signal assemblies, the antenna posts, and the windshield wipers arms today.

The chrome headlight ring on the passenger side will likely need to be replaced as it has a crimp in it. Depending on the pitting of the chrome, I may have to replace both of them. Both of the headlight mounting screws and spacers will be replaced as well as the all of the seals. I will have to take the assemblies apart and see if anything else needs to be replaced. The visible parts of the headlight housings will need to be primed and repainted.

 

The front turn signal lenses are fractured and will be replaced. The chrome housings are moderately pitted and I’m not yet sure if it’s worth having them re-chromed. I’ll have to wait and see just how many other parts are candidates for re-chroming rather than replacing and see if it will be worth the time to prep them. If any of the chromed parts are too pitted, they require too much work to fill in the pits and smooth out the surfaces. Then even after they are chromed, they many times just don’t look as good as the reproductions. The seals, of course, will be replaced.

 

Both taillight housings were removed before I received the car, but were included. The passenger side rear fender was replaced by the previous owner and the bracket was never installed on it. He did give me the old fender which still had the bracket installed on it. The housings are in excellent shape (and not missing!) and the mounting brackets seem fine. The only issue I can see now is with the lenses. The original snowflake lenses have a few cracks in them and I don’t know how much the cracks will show. Original replacements will be very costly and difficult to find and the reproductions I have seen don’t quite look like the originals. The seals will be replaced.

 

I will need to purchase a double-post antenna. The antenna that came with it is in bad shape and is a single post anyway. The other mounting post from an earlier double-post antenna was still occupying the bottom hole.

 

The windshield wiper arms may be in good enough condition to clean up and polish. At $20-$25 each for acceptable reproductions, I will try to polish them first.

 

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Removing License Plate Light Housing, License Plate, and Passenger Rear Fender

by on Sep.27, 2010, under Disassembly

Today I removed the license plate light housing, the rear license plate bracket & plate, running board bolts connecting fenders on the driver side, and started removing the rear fender on driver side side.

The license plate light housing had no wires connected to it and I didn’t see any wires laying around in the engine compartment for it. It may have been some time since the light was used. There is black paint on the lens from the last paint job in the early 80’s. It is cracked under the mounting screw, so it will be replaced.

 

The license plate and bracket were a little difficult to remove. Extra-log bolts were used to fasten the bracket to the engine lid and to fasten the license plate to the bracket and three of the four bolts were heavily rusted. I managed to remove one of the bolts holding the plate to the bracket so that I could swivel it out of the way to get to the head of the bolts holding the bracket to the engine lid. One came out easily, but the other would turn a few times and completely lock up. I cut the excess threads off with a cut-off disk and was then able to remove it. The home-made bracket, by the way, was constructed from a 1971 Minnesota license plate.

 

At some point, someone hand-painted “Putt-Putt” on the right side of the engine lid. Maybe the same person who painted “Tonka” on the driver side door?

 

On the rear fender on the driver side side, I was able to remove five bolts, snapped the head off on one bolt (at bottom of fender & rear apron), and was unable to turn 3 of the bolts (the two bottom bolts on the front side and the 3rd one from the bottom on the rear side). Well, technically, I could turn the bottom bolt on the front side, but there is so little metal left in that area I didn’t want to tear it all out to get the bolt removed. I may just grind the head off. I spayed the remaining bolts with penetrating oil and I’ll come back to this fender later.

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Removing Driver Side Front Fender

by on Sep.29, 2010, under Disassembly

Removed the front driver side fender today. All the bolts were stubborn, but broke free. Of all the wheelhouses, this wheelhouse is in the best shape and will need the least sheet metal replaced.

Driver side front fender.
Front left Wheelhouse, full view.
Front left Wheelhouse, front view.
Front left Wheelhouse, center view.
Front left Wheelhouse, rear view.

 

I attempted to remove the horn, but the horn adjusting bracket snapped in two. The bolt and nut securing the horn to the adjusting bracket is severely rusted as well. It doesn’t really matter as I doubt the horn is restorable and will more than likely will be replaced. I will, however, clean it up and see if it is salvageable. Also when I was trying to remove the rusted adjusting bracket bolt, I felt and heard a spot weld break on the horn mounting bracket attached to the wheelhouse. This will need to be tacked back to the wheelhouse.

Broken horn bracket.
Horn, back view.
Horn, front view.

 

Once I had the front driver side fender off I decided to remove the running board on that side as well. All of the bolts attaching it to the heater channel looked really rusted and since the heater channels the running boards are going to be replaced, I didn’t bother with trying to remove them. I just wiggled it up and down until it broke off, which didn’t take much effort.

Driver side running board.
Heater channel under driver side running board.
Heater channel under driver side running board.
Heater channel under driver side running board.
Heater channel under driver side running board.
Heater channel in driver side front wheelhouse.

 

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