Yoseph Brosephs!  I wanted to display this beetle i've been working on since June of 2008.  There's big plans for this guy, and a little help during the rough times would be sweet as I am new to the beetle world.  I'm going to paint it white (original color dark green). I'm keeping the big fiberglass fenders that were on it when I bought it; I might even keep the same size wheels for that fat fender on a little wheel look. I want red interior with no back seat (weight  reduction), completely new wiring, and for it to do wheelies when it's all said and done.  I'm also turning over the thought of replacing the leaky 1600cc with a mazda rotary.  I've done the research and the advantages seem to outweigh the disadvantages. 

I don't plan to take the body off the frame; the frame and floors are in good shape.  Anybody know of an inexpensive way to trick out the suspension for handling?  I know about lowering and drop spindles which i plan to do-- not too much though.  What about strengthening the frame?  Any weight reduction tips?

No, it's too small to sleep in.

If we're not all swept away by this tropical storm this weekend, I'm going to take it to my friend Carl's shop to sandblast all the paint off and primer it up.  Check back for more progress.  Thanks. 

9-14-08

I found the engine for the beetle.  It's a Mazda 13b 6 port rotary motor and yes, it's looking a little sad.  Well, at least I only paid $200 for it.  Now I just have to tear it down and see what the damage is inside.  Did you know that not having an engine hoist is lame?  I guess it's a good thing my biceps are as big as watermelons. Also, did you know that sandblasting a car is a lot of work?  It's rewarding though.

10/6/08

Well, progress is slow but it's coming along.  I only get one day per week to work on it, so sandblasting has taken a lot of that time.  Here are some new pictures:

putting the woman to work.  don't worry, she has a mask!

11-6-08

There's not much to report though I have finally gotten the motor apart and have started cleaning it up.  I've missed my window for this year to paint the car unless i do it in a climate controled area (I don't think that will happen). Plus, Carl's shop is being shut down due to complicated reasons, but before that happens, i'm going to get the rest of the car sandblasted, and weld in a new left hand front quarter. It's tough to see in the above pictures, but there is an inch and a half thick bondo clod from a fender bender sometime in the beetle's life. 

This is what a rotor housing looks like when you first extract it from the motor.  This one (of two) has just a little bit of chrome flaking, but not enough to throw it into the woods. 

...And this is one that has been cleaned up.  If you click on the picture you can see close up of where I've modified the water jackets to transfer heat more efficiently where it needs it most-- around the spark plug area.

This is what it's all about.  The rotor is what does all the work in the engine.  This one has been cleaned up and put in a bag so that it doesn't rust.  The housings on the other hand won't rust because they are made of aluminum. 

11-08-08

I pulled the old flat four.  For the purists, I'm going to rebuild it and store it for the future.

I pulled the back panel off before i pulled the motor to make it easier.  This will also be helpful when I install the mazda motor.

sand everywhere!

This is how I left it last night.  My sandblasting unit kept clogging and breaking down on me, so I moved to chemical stripping.

Do you like my art? I call it "Frustration."  Here's a better picture of the front quarter with all the bondo.  It had been in a collision that messed up the whole front end. I'll be able to bend out most of the front, but this quarter panel has to come off.

11-23-08

Thought I'd update.  Check out these pictures of the engine. I'm finally through the nasty stages of the rebuild-- done with piles of blackened rags, the bucket of 50/50 purple power/oil grime, and tracking carbon dust all over the basement!  I feel like I'm getting some where.

Aluminum Sandwich: The cleaning of an engine, I swear, is the longest most arduous part of a rebuild.  This was taken right after I was through painting the irons.

This is a huge difference from the first day (check top of page). The next step is to port the intake and exhaust.  I'm just waiting on the templates to come in from Mazdatrix. After that, the engine will be halfway done.

As for the rest of the car, I've finished getting the paint off the roof and the engine area, and I'll work on removing that front quarter this week.

12-18-08

I was messing around with the windows live photo gallery panoramic picture maker and did this:

I had to move it back to my house today. Hopefully a little more will get done now that it's in the basement.  I wasn't able to weld the quarter as my welding buddy went m.i.a., so now i'll try to take the body off the frame to tackle some more rust i discovered in the heater channels. Yeah, i lied about not removing the body. Nobody's perfect.

1-06-08

I've removed the body and have begun stripping the pan. My goal is to find a place that will acid dip the frame so I can then coat it in bedliner paint. That way I won't have to ever worry about rust-- that'll be the day!  My funds have dropped to near zero levels not having a job, so I'm having to do those things that don't really take money, just elbow grease.  Wish me luck on finding a job.

Can you believe it all fits in there?

Here's another one of those crazy panoramic photos.

I've removed the brake master cylinder, the pedal assembly, the front suspension, as well as the shifter.  In addition, I removed all of the seam seal around the floors because I don't know if acid dip will remove it. Another reason for this is since the floors were replaced at some point, the installer failed to fill in his holes drilled to remove the original weld. I'll have to fill those in with a welder. Removing the seal will make it easier.

1/19/09

Here is some history of the 1971 Beetle that may influence my direction toward completion.  To start out, my particular model was produced in August of 1970 which was the first month the 1971 model was produced.  By the end of July 1971, Volkswagen had produced 1,291,612, the highest production number of any year in the Beetle's history http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/beetle_productionfigures.php .  Mine was produced near the 33,000 mark.  So, early in the production year, you could buy a standard model with a choice of four colors: Shantung Yellow, Elm Green, Clementine, and Marina Blue http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/lit/71colors/2.jpg . If you bought the Super Beetle, you had a choice of a bunch of other colors in addition.  So, originally I had planned to paint it white and do a red interior, which I believe was available for the 1970 Beetle, but now I've been debating whether or not to paint it the original color, Elm Green, in the spirit of the car's history.  If I stuck to the original look I would have to install a Cork (tan) interior which I don't know if I could handle. Available for the 1971 Super Beetle was Elm Green paint with an Alabaster (white) interior.  So, if I go green, maybe I'll go with the white interior.  This is not to say that I have recently turned purist. There are about a bazillion Beetles out there.  It's not like I found a hemi Charger where it would be criminal not to restore it to concourse specs.  I just really dig the paint and color options from the olden days.  Many times I've seen old cars in the original milk choclate brown with brown interior and thought, "sweet!."

This week, my friend Ryan came over and helped me to finally crack the rusted lug nuts off the wheels.  Those suckers didn't come off without a fight.  I took the wheels to a garage to get the tires dismounted.  I want to reuse them even though they weren't offered until 1972 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/lit/72gtbeetle.php .  They're a cheap alternative to buying the original steel wheels and the dog dish center caps.