I'm Buggin' Out Man.

[TeckniX]

talk about rustoration. Good luck with the project and I'm with you on the no heat/ac to do work. Such comfort, when you can close the door and still work comfortably

[milano_red]

Looks like a hell of a project!

[Dwob]

picking up a 67 for myself soon, good progress sir!

[Nick475]

lookin good

[Leftouch]

Aaaannnd we're airborn. Only took three people to do this, two people lifting and somebody to place the horses. At this point, I've gutted the right heater channel and I can begin repairing the rear channel seats and wheel house. Got plenty of rust repair ahead of me so I should be able to provide a substantial update every few days.


Right heater channel sectioned out

Rusty channel out!


That's where I'm at after about 2ish weeks. Most of the time has been waiting for parts or supplies. Let me know what you think guys.

[Leftouch]

Started pulling the fenders and pan bolts, no shortage of snapped bolts here. Luckily, I had no major issues and everything went pretty smooth.


If you're not familiar with aircooled beetles, the earlier gen cooling systems had a weak point, the oil cooler capacity was a bit sad, and the #3 cylinder could overheat given the right conditions. The doghouse conversion basically is a swap to a larger shroud and oil cooler. Larger oil cooler vs stock.



More tasty rust damage that has to be addressed at a later point, the pan is in rough shape and the rear shell needs to be touched up in a few places.

Bracing to start the heater channel replacement. The right heater channel is complete toast, the left one was fairly intact, going to replace both either way.



More soon...

[Leftouch]

Stripped interior, and the beetle starts to show it's rusty teeth. Maryland/ east coast weather can really take a toll on a car.


Halfway into stripping the interior, my father dropped some awesome news, I'll be able to carry on the restoration in the garage. Nearly shit myself with excitement, as I've been spinning wrenches in the elements for a good while. Heat and AC, oh my! A few friends helped me clean out the shop and rearrange a few things. We pushed the beetle in, and the progress has started to ramp up.

Pulled the running boards, and the rust becomes more and more evident.


The beetle sleeping at night


My favorite part of building/restoring: THE PARTS PILE!


Did some research and found out the motor currently had an old style clutch on it (swingaxle trans), so I swapped that out the pressure plate and disk.


More soon...

[Leftouch]

Welp, Got bored of this.


Between the constant 'tards trying to race and shit from cops, I've decided I'd had enough of the honda scene. In vain, I tried to sell it on cl at a very low price (with the stuff to turbo: intercooler, manifold, and two turbos), in response I received lowballs and shit trade offers.

Slightly annoyed, I began to browse Cl and instantly found my next project, a '73 standard beetle. Car had rust issues and needed a small resto to get it streetable, so I figured what the hell, why not? Got a great deal, included was 95% of the sheet metal to complete the resto. As far as stance is concerned, I'm going with enough of a drop to tuck tire slightly. Trying to shoot for a flush stance, I love slammed beetles, BUT, not really a fan of the narrowing the beam(s) massively.

The first few updates will be strip down/rust care, then it's sheet metal fabbin' time.
Without further a due:


There is no shortage of cancerous rust on this beetle, but the great thing about restoring beetles is that your could buy all of the sheet metal on this car for about $50.42 . Parts are incredibly cheap!





Good ole' single port 1.6, eventually the motor will see some major loving perhaps bore and boost, (or a dual port motor) but for now I'm doing a doghouse conversion and a few small cosmetic upgrades to get it shape.


Pulled the bumpers and started stripping the interior, this process took literally: tens of minutes. Working on a beetle is very humbling, the level of simplicity at which this car was designed is stunning.


To be continued...