My 1970 Standard Beetle Diary

The 2009 VW Car Show in Tulsa, Oklahoma

2010-03-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

Here I am, sitting in a 1970 Yukon Yellow Beetle like mine, except mine doesn't have a sunroof and this one isn't dismantled. :-(

One fine day
You'll look at me
And you will know
Our love was meant to be...

And the Trophy for "Most Optimistic" goes to.....

2007-09-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

Well, if the Tulsa VW Club Car Show had presented a "Most Optimistic" award, I'm sure I would've won it. As it turned out, of the four cars that were entered in the "Under Construction" classification...My Precious came in fourth.

Heh heh! That's ok.

I was at the show from about 8am to around 5pm. While I was there, I won a couple of door prizes! Then Steve and I went with a bunch of other VW enthusiasts to a local "Deutschfest". I enjoyed a plate of schnitzel with potatoe salad and sauerkraut.

I realized that I had gotten a bit too much sun on my face that evening. Ouch!!

Here's some pictures of the show.

This is the evening before the show...my car was almost all alone in the parking lot.

Here's some folks looking at the car...Steve is showing them some of the things we'd accomplished.

Now this was sometime during the judging of the show...I had to have both doors open, the hood open and the rear deck lid up. Well, mine doesn't go up...it comes off.

It was so hot that some kind folks next to me let me share the shade of their umbrella. While I was sitting there, Robert sat down with me and told me some pretty woeful stories about trying to get to the show last year! (He finally did make it.) Also, he told me he had a screw loose. Literally. He let me feel it. Sure enough, there it was...a loose screw in his forehead! It was from a prior surgery.

Steve judged some parts of the show (not the classification we were entered in, naturally...that wouldn't have been fair.) Anyway, here he is judging...

My friend Pete returned the car to our shop after church this afternoon. And so it sits, none the worse for it's adventure.

There Goes My Baby with Someone New...

2007-09-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

Bright and early this morning, I got up and pushed the car out into the shop driveway and did some last minute bolt tightening. Here it is, waiting for Pete to come and pick it up. I wish I coulda got that rear deck lid put back on but it was just too hard.

Then Pete came and got it. I was able to steer the car out onto the street while he pushed it and then steer it into position behind the hauler.

Then off they went to the Tulsa VW Car Show!!! Woohoo! The day has finally arrived!

What a wild feeling that was, seeing My Precious scooting off down the street behind Pete! Even that couldn't have been done when we got it. Remember? The wheels were fused and the rims were bent.

All the King's Horses and All the King's Men

2007-09-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

Putting My Precious back together again.

Well, at least to some extent. We're getting it ready for the Tulsa VW Car Show. My friend Pete is coming to pick it up tomorrow morning and we register for the show tomorrow afternoon. It will be registered in the "Under Construction" catagory.

Floor Pan Done! On to Heater Channel!

2007-09-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

Well, Steve finally got the front cross member and the floor pan welded into place. Here he is, putting automotive seam sealer on the welded areas...

Doesn't it look good??!! I really think he's done a great job on it.

The next thing Steve did was start removing the old rotten driver's side heater channel. Here he is, drilling out the spot welds in the back near the rear wheel well, just like Rick Higgins says to do.

Now, we tried to get the heater channel into place but it was really hard. Probably the hardest thing we've done yet. Part of the problem was the back where the area had been rebuilt wasn't just the way it should be and some of it needed to be trimmed back. So I took a dremel and cut away just a little lip that was getting in the way.

Then I took the grinder and smoothed it out...

After a bit of finagling (and one really good swift kick from me) the heater channel finally slid into approximate position.

Here you can see Steve doing the finagling...you can get an idea of what it is supposed to look like from the outside.

Here is what it looks like on the inside. Bear in mind that the front end is slighly jacked up off the floor pan. The t-post welded into the doorway held it pretty secure...the door shuts pretty good even without the channel welded in!

Here is an old picture for comparison...

Of course we still have the hole there in the wheel well, but once that's fixed it should look pretty good, don't you think?

The Tulsa VW Show is this weekend. We have got to get it ready to be hauled down there by Friday. We've got a LOT of work ahead of us but I think we can do it!!

Picking up the Pace!

2007-08-21T07:20:00.000-07:00

We're getting ready for the Tulsa VW Car Show...only a month away! We work on the car almost every evening now.

After we got the body back down onto the chassis, Steve fine-tuned the areas that had been repaired so that they fit perfectly. Finally, when everything fit back together just right, he held it all securely in place using self-tapping screws. This is just a temporary step, till he can get everything welded into place.

Then we rolled the car out into the driveway for the first time in months!

Steve took the driveway blower and blew out all the dust and debris that had accumulated over time inside.

I took a couple of jugs of water and very carefully washed the car and then waxed it.

Steve got a sliver of metal in his thumb.

Once we got the car spiffed up, we lifted the body back up onto the sawhorses and rolled the chassis back out.

It will be easier for Steve to weld the chassis support beam into place and the floor pans as well, with the body off.

Ok, Steve got the chassis support beam welded into place. If you recall, the beam was only spot welded to the bottom but was solidly welded across the top of the tunnel. Remember how much trouble we had getting it apart? Well, Steve just has it spot welded at this time. He's going to lower the body back down, re-check the alignment, put the floor pans back into proper position, then lift the body back up and weld the chassis support solidly in across the tunnel.

Here is the lip where the floor pans will be welded. The steady march of time had begun to show where we had removed the other pans...it had a fine sheen of rust forming on the metal. Tom Imes from the VW Club told us about a zinc product that you can spray on and weld through that will keep this from occuring, so Steve cleaned up the area again with the brush on his drill, then I sprayed the zinc spray on. It's all ready now for the floor pans to be welded into place.

We also worked on cleaning up the seat tracks. The ones that came with the new pans are just awful. A real hassle to deal with, so Steve is going to remove them and weld the old ones into place. Here he is, cleaning up those old rusty seat tracks. See how a little wire brush can work wonders??!!

I sprayed them with the zinc spray on the surfaces that will be welded and then rust converter into the crevices and then with just plain Rustoleum on the rest. They look great now. Like new.

Off the Sawhorses!

2007-08-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

For the first time in months, my old car is back together and off the sawhorses!

First, Steve had to drills some holes where he patched over the existing bolt holes in the passenger side firewall...

Then he bolted the car back together and very carefully we lowered the car down. We did it a bit differently than Rick Higgins showed in the Bug Me video, mostly because we didn't have the big jack our neighbor let us borrow. But we managed, even with our small jacks.

Down!

Here it what it looks like on the inside...doesn't it look GREAT??

We kept the boys out of the shop because I was worried the car might slip, but after it was safe on the ground, they came in and looked.

Here's Joshua checking it out with me...Matthew took this picture.

Steve is planning on getting the front chassis support and the floor pans securely welded into place, then we move on to the next big thing...the actual replacement of the driver's side heater channel.

That was it for the day...we were hot and tired. The temperature had gotten up to 98 degrees F (that's 37 degrees C for my European friends) so we came in and got cleaned up then sat down and watched Mr. Higgins change his heater channel again.

I bet we've watched him do this fifty times.

Before I go, I have to tell you this...you know how I'm always going on and on about how the people in Oklahoma are so nice? They drive by and wave and smile, sometimes they stop and visit, many times reminiscing fondly about a Bug in their past. They've helped us by lending us tools and sometimes giving us helpful items, like the manual my Sunday school teacher's wife gave us that belonged to her father who has passed away...and the man down the street that gave us some old authentic VW tools.

Well, late Saturday evening a man walked up to our shop. He walked up behind me and nearly startled me out of my skin! He had a couple of hubcaps from a Beetle he once owned...a couple that matched our two good ones perfectly. He introduced himself, told us where he lived in the neighborhood and then just gave us the hubcaps! He said he'd been watching us work on the Bug for a long time and thought we might could use them. What a nice thing for him to do! He said he had other stuff too, and would keep an eye out for anything we might could use.

Once again, I was just astounded by the generosity of the people of this state.

Body On!

2007-07-30T07:39:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a pretty busy weekend!!

On Friday evening, after Steve got in from work, we went out to start prepping the floor pans. Steve wanted to take the back brace off of them, since the ones we had were in good shape. We did it just like Mr. Higgins in the Bug Me video said.

Then we set the pans into place. I got such a thrill out of how it looked!

That was it for that evening...we pushed the chassis back into the shop and went in and watched the "Body Off" Bug Me video again to refresh our memory on how to get the car back onto the chassis.

On Saturday, we participated with our VW club in a car show at a local library. Afterward, while we were eating, Steve and I mentioned that we were only a little ways from our house and if anyone wanted to come over they could come see our car. (I sometimes worry that the club might not think I even "own" a VW, since unless they've checked out the blog, no one has ever actually seen it!)

So pretty soon a whole bunch of folks from the club came over and checked out the Beetle and visited. The VWs parked out in my side lawn caused quite a stir in my neighborhood, people were driving by really slowly!

The rest of the weekend was filled with getting ready to attach the chassis back on to the body. Steve drilled holes on in the edge of the floor pan to make it easier to weld them into place.

He also removed the paint from the front cross support.

Matthew worked on removing some tacks that had formally held the pan seal in place.

Finally everything was ready. Just as we were getting ready to push the chassis into the shop and begin the process of reconnecting the two, company came! Our friends from church showed up.

They have experience working with Beetles and they just pitched right in and started helping!

In no time at all, we had lifted the chassis up and bolted it back on. Here I am, bolting in one of the 17mm bolts in the rear tire well.

The car remains supported by jacks and up on the sawhorses at this time...Steve needs to grind a couple of spots down where he repaired it and it doesn't fit just right. Shouldn't be too difficult. After that, we'll lower it completely down and commence welding everything back together!

Getting Closer!

2007-07-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

Opening up the shop!

We're a lot closer to getting the body put back down onto the chassis. Steve finished welding repairs into place in two key locations. These were two locations that had rusted away that actually sit down on the support on the chassis. These spots had to be repaired, before we could set it down.

So Steve set to work, using some of the steel from the old floor pans. Although most of the floor pan was completely shot, some parts of it were in good shape...namely the part that bolted on to the car, where it was protected by rubber and the body of the car!

Here's the old floor pan.

Steve cutting a section off.

Looks pretty good for almost 40 year old steel, huh?

Then he shaped it and got it ready to weld into place.

Here he is grinding the welded area smooth.

He went around and did another spot the exact same way on the front. That was it for the actual body work that needed to be done. We still have to put the heater channel on, but the next big item of business is the front chassis support...the Napoleon's Cap as I've heard it called. We want to get that in the right place before we progress on to the heater channel.

The Tulsa VW Car Show is coming up on September 22nd! My friend Pete from the VW Club is going to bring his car hauler and haul my car there...so we have to get it where it can move!!

Contemplating the front cross member...

Tulsarama!

2007-06-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

We're still working on the Beetle, but also taking time out to experience all the fun things that go on in our area. One of our local events that made national news and apparently of international interest was our Tulsarama.

Fifty years ago, Tulsa had a Tulsarama where the people buried a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere. This past weekend was the unearthing and unveiling.

With much excitement the car was dug up, only to find that it had been immersed in water repeatedly over the past 50 years.

Sadly the car was simply ruined.

So many people were disappointed...but then the people of Oklahoma did what they do best. They lifted their chins and dusted off their hands and made the very best of the situation. Every salvageable item in the car was celebrated! Then they threw a great party!

We attended the party and once again I was reminded why I love living here so much.

There was a car show at Tulsarama and as always, we were inspired and encouraged by the folks that had restored old cars themselves. So finally, Sunday afternoon we went out and started working on the Beetle. Still patching rust holes. Here's another one fixed and the one up above it is just about ready to patch.

Steve wants to get all these little holes fixed before putting the heater channels and the floor pans into place...they're just easier to reach. The holes that were in the bottom corners of the luggage compartment behind the back seat were especially hard, because they were several layers thick. But layer by layer, Steve is rebuilding them.

Still Patching Holes

2007-04-30T12:06:00.000-07:00

I know, I know...it's been almost a month since I last posted. I'm sorry. It's not that we haven't been working on the Bug...it's just that we're still doing just the same thing as always...patching holes. I find it very exciting, thrilling to watch Steve transform a really awful-looking spot on the car into a shiny new patch.

But I gotta admit...likely no one else cares to hear the play by play of the repair of the common rust hole.

Still, occasionally someone stops by and takes an interest in what we're doing. A man down the street from us (he has a restored Corsair) stopped by to chat with us. He had some old VW tools he had from when he had a Beetle years ago...he gave them to us! Just blew us away, we were so surprised by his generosity.

But we lost some things too. The guy that used to live across the street from the shop stopped by and picked up his big jack. The one we used to put the car up on the saw horses. He let us use the tools while he was building his house and he finally got it built so he came and got them. We sure hated to see them go...he was the guy that helped us finally get that nut off that gave us so much grief and he often had good advice.

Also, a guy from our church stopped by and visited with us for a long time. He just got his son a '74 Super Beetle and he and Steve had a good time visiting. Here they are checking out how the chassis is gonna look with a floor pan in place...

So don't give up on us...we're still working and I'll report when something exciting happens. We're close! Just a few more rusty spots!

One more picture...I think this is a great snapshot! I am sitting under the front of the car...right under where it would sit down onto the front crossmember. It's out of the picture, but the steering wheel is just up there to the right...

Happy Birthday!

2007-04-02T16:50:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was the Bug's 37th birthday. We celebrated by patching a few more rust holes. We are well on our way to finishing the areas that need to be repaired on the driver's side. Once we get these parts finished, we'll be able to replace the heater channel.

See this rusty area?

This is the firewall area in the front of the car, near where the driver's left foot would be. It is completely gone.

This is sort of what it should look like.

I took a piece of aluminum foil and made a template of the passenger side. Steve flipped the template and cut out a patch for the driver's side. Here is the patch, held in place with a C clamp.

Here it is, welded into place. Doesn't that look much better??!!

Now, we went around to the same area, just on the other side of the firewall. This will need a nice patch too.

Steve, preparing the patch...waving at a neighbor.

Here's the rusty part, being cut away...

And now the patch is welded into place.

Here it is, all finished. Nice!

Steve welded another piece into place in the back near where the heater channel attaches to the luggage shelf at the bottom. I didn't get any good pictures of that.

Now he just needs to seal the welded areas with seam sealer.

We only have one more place to repair...in the driver's side front wheel well, before we can replace that heater channel and lower it back down onto the chassis.

I cleaned up.

I also had to place duct tape over the fender bolt holes. Apparently some kind of bee, I think a miner bee was trying to make a home in my car's insulation!

Disaster!

2007-01-24T14:10:00.000-08:00

If you've watched the national news, you may have heard that Oklahoma got hit by a terrible ice storm. When the ice on my shop started to melt, it flooded about a fourth of the inside. My Beetle was not in the flooded area. The shop is a mess, but only that.

It's nothing compared to what some of the people just south of me have suffered. The people in Muskogee, McAlester and surrounding areas are still without power and some parts don't have running water. It truly is a disaster for those poor folks down there. Homes are damaged due to falling trees and flooding of burst pipes.

There are disaster relief teams working in the area and if you would like to support them, you can donate to Southern Baptist Disaster Relief by clicking here:

Also, Bank of Oklahoma and the News on 6 partnered together to accept donations for disaster relief...if you're in Oklahoma, click here for more information:

I look forward to getting the shop cleaned up and dried out so we can get back to work on our Beetle! I'll post some pictures of the mess in my shop when I can.

Pedal Assembly

2007-01-05T10:16:00.000-08:00

I've got a problem. It concerns my brake/clutch pedal assembly. The reference books I've got seem to have a slightly different variation and I'm not sure how mine should even look because mine was absolute toast. The part that the clutch cable beam goes through is so corroded it looks like stone.

See?

I'd like to salvage as much of the assembly as I can. I know it's pretty rusty, but I'm pretty sure I can clean it up. I'm thinking of seeing if I can find the ruined parts at a salvage yard.

I've got the gas pedal packed away.

Happy New Year from our Shop to Yours!

2007-01-02T10:17:00.000-08:00

Well, we saw the end of 2006 while working in the shop on the Beetle. At least in New York...we were back in the house by midnight here.

Here we are, having our New Year's Eve party. The fare consisted of several different noshes that my brother-in-law sent us for Christmas. He does this every year...sends us a great box of goodies, which we save (for the most part) for our New Year's Eve party. He lives in California, so it's always a bit of adventure opening his gift...you never know what goodies are packed inside!

It's fancier stuff than we normally snack on, so I haul out my fine wedding crystal (which likely came from K-Mart...but that's ok) and we all drink ginger-ale out of champagne flutes.

It's the only time they boys are allowed to drink out of the nice glasses...so it really makes the evening special for them.

We also watched the movie "Cars"...Joshua got it for a Christmas present and now everything is "Cars" related. He loves that movie!

Matthew most enjoyed the basil-infused oil...he likes dipping french bread in it and eating it that way...

I think any minute Steve is gonna attack him for that bread...heh heh!

It was a great party. I know Steve and I look terrible, but we had been working on the Beetle all day. Having my family out in the shop, celebrating the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007 right next to my Beetle was just the best. Although Time's Square looks fun, there's no place I'd rather celebrate than in my shop with my family.

Now...back to the topic...

Steve got that major hole fixed. He welded the patch into place, then went under the car and welded a reinforcement into place as well. Right there where the body sits down on the rear chassis support beam was a bit weak. So the reinforcement will help stabilize it.

Here's the patch...clamped into place and also held into place with some powerful magnets I got out of our broken microwave's magnetron.

After he welded it into place, he took the grinder to it...

Finally, he put a layer of seam sealer on the welded part and this is what it looks like now! No more big hole back there! It's solid!

Watching that Cars movie got me to thinking about how nice it would be to get this old Beetle fixed up and get on Route 66 and drive west...all the way from Tulsa to California. Take the Mother Road to Bakersfield. We could go visit Steve's brother and sit around eating noshes with him!

Might be just a pipe dream...but I've had pipe dreams come true before. It could happen!

Another Rust Hole

2006-12-27T11:47:00.000-08:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted...we've been been busy preparing to celebrate The Savior's birth. It's been a hectic but fun time.

Here's the bad rust hole that is right exactly where the heater channel needs to be welded on in the back. That hole is two layers thick and will need to be repaired and reinforced on the bottom.

Steve starts by making a template out of cardboard.

Then he cuts the sheet metal...

Then shapes it...

(Gotta keep them pant legs out of the way, you know...)

Getting close!

It'll take a bit more work to shape it just right, then he'll weld it into place. That much closer to putting in the heater channel!

So, here's the plan. We can't drive this car or really even tow it till the rusted-out heater channel gets replaced, since it is the main side support. So that's what we hope to get accomplished by the spring. Then, the floor pans and front cross beam can be fixed, also some various other things...like the brake lines and such. We hope to have the body back down onto the chassis by the end of summer, and maybe we'll be able to enter the car in the Tulsa VW show, even if we just tow it there! My ultimate goal for 2007 is to have it "running", certainly not completely restored perhaps, but running by October. I want to drive it in the Boo Ha Ha Parade in Tulsa.

Christmas Came Early!

2006-12-11T06:38:00.000-08:00

At least for me it did! My new parts came in, we picked them up on Saturday and it was very exciting!

See, here are the two new floor pans, the front cross member and the new driver's side heater channel...all set up in my living room (along with the Christmas tree and some laundry!)

Sunday, after church, I moved the stuff out to the shop. This is kinda the way it will look in the car.

See this hole in the front driver's side wheel well?

That will have to be repaired before we put the new heater channel on, because the heater channel attaches on right there, on the inside. Here's the repair panel. We don't need all of it, we'll just cut what we need to fit.

Here's the new heater channel.

Remember that patch Steve was working on? He got it finished. He sprayed some rust converter up in between the layers of sheet metal, used our neighbor's air compressor to really blow it up in between, then welded the patches into place. Here's the end result. Very nice! It will just need some seam sealer

Then Steve started getting the area where the front cross member attaches ready. It will need to be smooth and positioned just perfectly before he welds it into place. Matthew sat by and watched.

Here he is, giving it a test fit. See the notes, measurements and illustrations I made before removing the old one?

We've Got Ourselves a Rust Hole!

2006-12-04T11:28:00.000-08:00

Actually, we have a lot of rust holes. But since we're eating this elephant one bite at a time, Steve has started to work on this particular hole that should be repaired before we put the new heater channel in.

This rust hole goes through three thicknesses of the car.

Here Steve is cutting out the rusty part...only cutting out that part of the layer that needed to be replaced.

Then he made templates out of cardboard, just like Chad suggested in the Bug Me Video. He made three templates, one for each layer of repair. This is the top template.

Then he cut and trimmed each piece, till it fit snuggly into place. The sheet metal he used is part of what used to be the old floor pan, I believe...some of it was still in pretty good condition. Waste not, want not.

Here's what it looks like...

This is what it looks like from underneath the car...nice, huh??

Now he just wants to treat the area with a rust reformer, then he'll weld it into place and cover it with seam sealer.

Here's what he plans on tackling next!

It's good that we have lots to do indoors...this is what it looks like outside our shop!

Body off!

2006-11-27T07:27:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we had a four-day holiday because of Thanksgiving. The weather was just great all weekend and we took the opportunity to get a lot done!

We got the sawhorses finished and were just about ready to put the body up on them when Steve decided that the brace that he'd put in the driver's side door was inadequate. So he cut a piece of t-post (that was used to fence in our chicken run, before the dog killed all our chickens) and shaped it just right to fit inside the driver's side door.

Here he is, cutting the t-post...

And welding it into place...

After making sure we got everything unbolted, we proceeded to lift the body up in the back, just like Rick Higgins and his boys showed in the Bug Me videos...thanks to Tom, a fellow member of the Tulsa VW Club, for letting us borrow the Bug Me videos! They are fantastic, extremely helpful and I highly recommend them.

Here I am, slowly jacking up the back end of the car...first we jacked the entire car up...

Once we got the back of the car on the sawhorse, we slowly lowered the chassis down...

Down!

The back down, from the back...

As we were lowering down the back of the chassis, we heard the car make the loudest noises it's ever made since we got it. It really creaked! Heh!

Ok, here's the front being lifted up. The goal was to set it up on the bumper brackets, just like Mr. Higgins did.

Then the chassis was lowered down in the front. As we were lowering it, we realized we forgot to undo the brake lights from the master cylinder. We caught it before any harm was done, because we were watching it very closely. It wasn't Mr. Higgins' fault! His son *told* us to disconnect those brake lights! Heh!

Then, we just rolled that chassis out!

The next day, we set to cleaning up the chassis, getting it ready for a new front support beam (Napoleon's Cap) and new floor pans. Steve had already removed the driver's side floor pan, so he started on the passenger side pan, using a Sawzall that my friend Lisa let us borrow.

It's off!

Our neighbor came over and lent us his little air compressor to help keep things clean.

As we were winding down for the day, a neighbor named Ron drove up in his newly purchased 1963 Type 1.

It was nice to meet a fellow enthusiast and he was kind enough to let me beep the horn. I loved the beep-beep it made! Then! He actually let me drive the car around in the neighborhood!!! I'd only ever just ridden briefly in a Beetle twice in my life, and this kind fellow let me drive his! I drove it around my neighborhood and beep-beeped the horn at everyone I saw. I even saw the lady in the maroon Passat that always smiles and waves at me when I'm working in the shop driveway...she got a great big smile on her face when she saw me and I beep-beeped at her! Ha!

The next day, the boys really got to work helping us clean up the chassis. I think they were both pretty impressed with seeing that body come off the chassis. It was filthy, just like the rest of the car...had an inch or so of mud and oil caked on it in some spots.

Here is Joshua, my eight-year-old, removing a dirtdobber nest.

Got it!

Here, Steve is showing Matthew, my eleven-year-old, how to apply vice grips to a part he wants cleaned with the wire-brush attachment on the drill.

Steve worked on getting that Napoleon's Hat off. He used a special drill bit to drill out the spot welds without damaging the front frame plate underneath the support beam.

Here's Joshua, helping keep the metal shavings cleaned up...

See the drilled-out spot welds?

The spot welds were the easy part...removing the beam where it attached to chassis tunnel took an act of Congress. It was solidly welded.

I thought maybe if I banged on it...

That was fun, but didn't help much...

Steve finally got it though...here it is, almost out.

Sawhorses

2006-11-21T06:25:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, we worked on the sawhorses that will be holding the Beetle body up in the air while we work on that rotten heater channel. The chassis will be stored underneath and we can roll it out into the shop driveway to work on it when the weather is good.

The sawhorses are massive. So heavy-duty that they don't even wiggle. They're 8 feet long and will likely last forever. When we get the body up on them, we'll chain the body into place so it doesn't fall on anyone.

Here I am securing a strap into place on one end.

Here are the (almost) finished sawhorses...

The car is so easy to roll now that it's got the Hobbit Hole tires on it that Matthew and I frequently roll it out into the shop driveway to clean it and also to clean the shop. Here's Matthew...I think he believes that by the time we finish restoring this old Bug, I'll be driving it like this...like an elderly driver! Ha!

Thanksgiving holidays are coming up and the weather is going to be beautiful! I imagine we'll get a lot done! See, even our local weather is telling us to get out and work in the Shop!

I usually get pretty grumpy if Steve turns the TV on in the shop while I'm out there. But I probably won't gripe during Bedlam on Saturday.

New Bumper and Radio Cleaning

2006-11-15T07:27:00.000-08:00

Here's a mid-week post...

You know I went to the salvage yard this past week and got a bumper...probably paid too much for it, but it is original stock for a 1970 and it's in pretty good shape and the guy did throw in a couple of other things for free...so I figure I did ok.

Well, I decided to try to clean it up with that chrome polish that Steve used on the ashtray. It was pretty warm out, so I sat out behind the shop and worked on it.

It worked great! This is the underneath side of the bumper, where water had dripped and caused shallow rusty spots...I've cleaned half of it and you can see where I haven't cleaned yet!

Amazing results.

Then, I went in the shop and took out the radio. It's a Sapphire XIV AM/FM Town and Country. It was just absolutely filthy, just like everything in the car. I got some Q-tips and some water and an old sock and started cleaning the pull-out buttons. Carefully carefully, I'd dip the Q-tip in some water, dab it on the sock, then scrub the button. Then I took the damp sock and cleaned in between the buttons.

Eventually I got everything on the front cleaned off and put it back together.

See, it appears to be missing some things...it should have a bar that goes across the front, I think that switches it from AM to FM. And a control that goes behind the volume button? I don't know what that control would be for though...I just saw it in some other pictures of T and C radios and mine doesn't have one. Would it be for balance? That doesn't make sense, though...since there's only one speaker...hmmm. Well, it's all cleaned up, and put away in a box with instructions on how to re-install it back into the car. I sure hope it works!

Anyhow, here's Steve drilling out some bumper bolts that broke off.

Three-Day Weekend

2006-11-13T05:49:00.000-08:00

My husband had the day off on Friday for Veteran's Day...so we were able to go to the salvage yard and pick up some things. I got a pretty nice front bumper off a 03/70 (March of 1970) Beetle, a nice driver's-side mirror off a 1969 Beetle and one of those passenger-side floor plates that goes under the carpeting for a friend on The Samba. We went to S & S Foreign Cars and it was so much fun! We scrounged around all out in there, looking for just the right stuff off just the right cars.

So now, except for things that have to be bought new, like the floor pans and upholstery, and various items needed for the mechanical part of the car that will have to be bought new...I believe we have replaced everything that was missing off this car. Everything has been replaced with original 1970 or comparable items.

So then, on Saturday, we got to really working on the car again. Found something very unusual...

Steve and I have been watching the Bug Me video...volume 7...that talks about removing the heater channel. The Higgins's talk about drilling out spot welds all along the side of the heater channel. Well, Steve couldn't find any on our car. Upon closer inspection, he found that a plate had been pop riveted into place along the outside of our heater channel. Just an occasional pop rivet held the plate in place. He peeled a bit of the plate back and found this!

An open heater channel with a small bead of sealant. It was full of acorns and mouse-nest stuff! ACK!

See, here's the other side. See the pop rivets at the bottom of the black plate?

The top of the plate was just tucked in up under the carpet retaining strip.

So, we are getting ready to lift the body off the chassis. We took some measurements and realized that the car wouldn't go up high enough to get the chassis out from under it due to the angle of the shop ceiling. We'd need to turn it around. So for the first time in a long time, we put the wheels on the car and lowered it down off the blocks.

The last time we rolled this car, it had four flat tires. It rolled, but mostly we had to drag it! It was quite a thrill to lower this car down and roll it out into the driveway of the shop. The boys and I got up in the car...the boys sat in the luggage compartment area and I balanced on the chassis support down the middle. Then Steve pushed us all out into the driveway with no effort at all...woohooo! Then we got out and he pushed it out into the street...I stood by to direct traffic if needed. He turned the car around and pushed it back into the shop. Now, once we get the car up on sawhorses...it'll fit!

We started making the sawhorses. Part of the support will be using these pieces of scrap metal strips. At first we used a grinder to cut them, but realized the big Skil saw a friend of mine let me borrow worked much better.

That saw cut the metal like butter!

Labeling, Boxing, and Bagging

2006-10-16T11:26:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we did a lot of cleaning and organizing of the items we'd been taking apart over the past year. My method is to clean and then bag and label the items and then pack them away in a box for later use.

Our goal with this car is to salvage as much as we can of the original car, if we can't salvage what we need from our car, we will try to find original used parts from the same approximate years from other cars. Only after everything else fails and we absolutely have to have a particular part or piece, then we'll go to new replacements.

So maintaining and cataloging the various pieces that came with the car is important to us. So, that's what we did this weekend. It was rainy and cold and it was a good thing to do inside the shop.

Here I am documenting how a front blinker assembly is put together. I then cleaned it and bagged it...put it in a box. (I should point out that the PO of this car must have lived on a dirt road because the car is coated with a layer of kaleechie dust..all the underneath and such.)

Here's the horn...front and back, before cleaning...see the kaleechie?

And here it is, after cleaning. I sure hope it works!

Here is one of the straps that hang down. Gross!

Here it is, after cleaning. That little piece is supposed to have a hook on it for you to hang your seat-belt up on, since the belts don't retract...the hook is broken off and will need to be replaced...I'll check at the salvage yards for that little piece.

Here's the passenger side rear taillight. It's not boxed up, because it hasn't been cleaned yet, but the hardware is bagged along with instructions on how to re-assemble it.

Here is the back kick panels...this goes down behind your heals under the back seat. Heat is supposed to come through those little round holes. We're considering sealing up that heater vent when we go to put everything back together, so more heat will flow to the front of the car.

Bagged.

Here is Steve, cleaning the little chrome ashtray that goes in the back seat area. He got this chrome cleaning stuff from a pollution collection event and it worked great! Made that little 36 year old ashtray look brand new!

Bagged and labeled.

Here is a box of stuff, labeled with it's contents.

Much of what we've worked on is just preparing for the Big Event.

We have got to remove and replace the heater channel on the driver's side.

See, if you look at this picture, you will see that the heater channel is rusted completely through where it attaches to the cross support in the back and also where it attaches to the front cross support. (See blue arrows.) That basically means that the heater channel, the main structural part of the car along the side, is only attached at the points where the two pink bars are. Not good. The car sags on that side and the door doesn't shut well.

Note that bolt that runs clear across the door opening? Steve jacked the car up where it was sagging until the door shut properly and then bolted the door in that position. We hope that when we cut that channel off (the entire channel must be removed), the door will maintain it's position. We'll be able to tweak it as we go along, hopefully.

Also, a fun thing...when we first got the car, I found the original horn ring and button in the back. I put it aside and when we were cleaning up, I went ahead and re-attached it, just to see what it looks like. You can see it in the picture above. I think it looks pretty good!

Company!

2006-10-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend, we had company! Tom and Joan, some fellow members of the VW Club, drove up in their red New Beetle "Chigger" and checked out my Bug. Tom gave Steve lots of information about how we're to proceed from here.

It comes down to this...to get to the areas that need repair on the body, we're going to need to remove the body from the chassis. Also, the front end on the car is almost worthless and we'll need to replace it.

So, the next few weeks are going to be focusing on removing the body from the chassis. I started by removing all the fenders. Ugh! It doesn't look all that great with all it's fenders on, but without them, it looks just awful!

So we're planning on eventually maybe having a party...a "Body Lifting" party...and inviting the club over for hotdogs or something and getting help putting the body up on heavy duty sawhorses.

But first, the plan to get the new tires on remains the priority, at least for me. Steve finished grinding the rust off the other two rims, I got them coated with rust encapsulator and then primed and painted. Here's one that's primed, one that's painted.

After I get the new tires on these rims, we'll be able to roll the chassis out and back in to another section of the shop. We did a lot of cleaning and rearranging of the shop to prepare for that eventuality. Here's a bunch of stuff removed from the shop while we were rearranging. I bet my neighbors were worried we would leave it like this! Ha ha! No, it was all put away by the time we shut the shop up for the day.

Speaking of cleaning...I do that a lot. Steve likes it kept pretty clean in the shop, so I do a lot of sweeping and vacuuming with my little Dirt Devil handheld vac. We really need a shop vac but that will have to come at another time.

Steve was giving me a bit of good-natured ribbing when I got behind on the sweeping. See, cleanliness is very important to Steve.

Heh heh!!

I also tried to really clean the interior of the car...cleaned it with some Armor-all. It did a good job and Joan even asked if we'd replaced the door panels! As far as I know the interior of the car is original, except for one window knob.

New Tires, Irish Music and Hobbits!

2006-10-02T07:20:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a weekend.

A friend of mine planned to come to Tulsa to hear the traditional Irish music group, Lúnasa. Since I was expecting her visit and because I was also expecting to get new tires on my two prepared rims...I waited till she got here to get them put on. I figured she wouldn't want to miss out on the fun!

So, after she managed to shovel down a turkey sandwich, we hit the road with my rims and got the tires put on. I was so excited that I immediately got to work and put them on. Here, you can see that I put them on my car's "good" side. Don't they look nice?

That's Diane. She's a member of The Hobbit Hole.

I should take a moment to tell you about these guys...they're great.

These are friends of mine that have a great cause...getting much needed knives and other useful items to our troops. If you could make a donation to them, it would be much appreciated.

They also gave my husband a graduation gift that enabled us to purchase the tires, the keys, the tax and title and the floor pan for our Bug. So when I say "Let's Roll!" I can say so because of the Hobbit Hole's generous graduation gift.

So click on this to check out the website...

Time to get to work!

I Finally Got a Key!!

2006-09-27T14:30:00.000-07:00

After all this time, I finally got a key. A friend from the Volkswagen Club of Tulsa told me about a locksmith and I took the passenger side handle by and they were able to find a code inside it that they simply typed into a computer and within a few seconds it cut me a brand new key.

Many thanks to Jerry McNickle The Locksmith on Admiral in Tulsa.

Here it is, in the unlock position of the ignition...smooth as silk.

~~~~~

Yesterday I got the other rim primed and painted...Matthew saw me working on it and took the initiative to come and take a picture...he's getting the idea!

Here they are...all ready for tires. I take them to get tires put on day after tomorrow. Will post an update then!

We're back at it!

2006-09-25T09:08:00.000-07:00

This weekend was absolutely gorgeous. The family and I went to the Tulsa VW Club auto show and I enjoyed that thoroughly as usual. We were so inspired that we came home and got to work on the Bug. Steve graduated and we took some time off to just rest and regroup after that. But now it's time to get back to work on this car!

~~~~~

I convinced Steve that after he gets the new driver's side floor pan in place, he'll want to move the car out onto the driveway to clean it out and start taking out the rusty parts of the interior. But before we can roll the car out, we really need to replace the tires. So Steve removed one of the tires off the rim and no kiddin', water poured out of that tire! That water had to have been in that tire since we pulled the car from the field, because the car's been inside our shop ever since.

Here's Steve with a round wire brush thing on his drill removing rust from the rim.

Here I am painting the rim with rust encapsulator.

~~~~~

Steve really wanted to finish up getting the driver's side floor pan out...there was one little strip left in place. But he couldn't stand it, he felt like the car was just too dirty to work in...so he got that little brush thing again and really cleaned up the interior.

~~~~~

Here I am, sitting in my Beetle! I got a bar stool and put it in there just so I could get the idea of what it's like to sit in it!

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Upcoming plans!

1. Replace the floor pan on the driver's side.
2. Get new tires.
3. Get a key!

Floor Pan Removal

2006-04-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

Here's the Beetle...still sitting in our shop. Just waiting for Steve to get done with his thesis and start to work on it. Well, he goes to Stillwater 04/14/06 to defend it...hopefully he'll be done then.
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Here is all the parts we've removed, a few that we've purchased, all stored on these shelves. The shelves are actually secured to to wall into the studs.
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Steve has actually already started working on the floor pans.

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Here is the passenger side floor pan, it's still in place. Very rusty.
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Here is the driver's side floor pan, almost completely removed.
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Here is the trouble spot that I don't know how we're going to be able to fix. Steve says he can fix it. It's a rusted out hole right where the heater channel attaches on. Yikes!

Rim Number One

2005-05-02T06:53:00.000-07:00

This weekend we focused on the one rim that I had sandblasted. I needed to get it at least primed to prevent rust from forming.

The rim still had it's flat tire on it when I got it, so first I had to figure out how to get the tire off. I couldn't so I called Michelle, tire specialist Hibdon Tires Plus at Memorial and the Creek Turnpike. She's always been so helpful in the past and she didn't fail me this time! She told me to bring to the shop and they'd take it off for free! Thanks Michelle!

~~~~~
Here I am cleaning the sandblasted rim with mineral spirits and a baby diaper. The baby diaper was a mistake, it left fuzz all over the surface that didn't show up until I got the first coat of primer on. Grrr...had to sand it off. Oh well, live and learn.

~~~~~
Now here I am spray painting the rim with Rustoleum Primer. The only problem I had with this was since I was spraying downward, the primer would accumulate around the nozzle and drip down onto my surface. I set the rim upright to spray it in subsequent coats.

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Here it is after 2 coats...I sanded it lightly between coats to get that baby diaper fuzz off it, then let it dry overnight. I put a third coat on the next day.

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The next day I coated the inside edges of the rim with rust encapsulator and then painted the outside with Rustoleum Metallic.

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This is what Steve worked on...another shelving unit that his friend gave him. He got it all put together, then set it up here. He's securing the shelving to the wall of the shop by screwing it into a stud. That way it can't possibly fall over onto the car or a kid.

~~~~~
When we were at the store getting the spray paint, the boys saw this air freshener that depicts the light saber fight between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. Well, they just had to have it for the Bug! Now my car doesn't smell like mouse droppings, it smells like a cinnamon roll!

Houston, we have a Gas Cap!

2005-04-25T07:32:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was very productive! Steve and I were finally able to get down to Allen's VW Salvage near Bristow. It was a paradise of old VWs. I picked up a lot of replacement items from several 1970 Bugs.

~~~~~
Besides the gas cap above, we got a nice horn button, but the best was we were able to pick up a GREAT front fender from another 1970 Bug...my Beetle was made 04/70, this fender was off an 05/70 Beetle.

Here is Steve, getting the fender off the car in the salvage yard...

This is what our car looked like before the fender...

This is what it looks like now!

~~~~~
I also figured out, with help from some people at The Samba, that my steering column was missing a couple of bolts that hold it to the dash! We got the bolts at the salvage yard and I repaired that part of my car very quickly! That's when I found out my steering column locks and I will be needing to get a key fitted eventually to get it unlocked. That's ok.

~~~~~
Also got a couple of windshield wipers...but I don't know how to put them on the arms...anybody know??

~~~~~
We really had a great time. Mr. Allen came out and helped us a lot, even let us borrow some WD-40 to help with the fender bolts. We had a picnic out in front of his shop and got a little sunburned. We were out there about 4 hours, till he closed at around 3pm. He had a front end that would fit our car, which we really wanted but couldn't afford. Someday we'll go back and get it, maybe!

Bugs and Bees

2005-04-17T16:18:00.000-07:00

We didn't get much time to work on the Bug this weekend, Steve had Creek Cleanup to do with Blue Thumb on Saturday, and then on Sunday we got home from church to find a huge clump of bees in one of our trees. A beekeeper came and got them, but it took up almost all afternoon. By the time that was dealt with, it was time to get ready for evening worship.

I did get the brake/clutch/accelerator assembly out. Well, basically...it fell out. Everything holding it in just broke all apart, it was so rusty. I also had access to the shop vac again and I did more cleaning. Steve put together some metal shelves a guy he works with gave him.

I also got a lot of that gunky sludge-like stuff out of the bottom of the car where it had dripped out of the gas tank over time.

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Yabba Dabba Doooo!!!

Salvage Yards and Wheels!

2005-04-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

The Resto has begun!

Steve took off half a day on Friday to take me to some salvage yards. He's got a lot of vacation time.

The first place we went was an import place...very professionally run. A very courteous young man assisted us and I was able to find a pretty decent dome light for a dollar.

Then we went to another salvage yard.

That was a weird weird experience. Very spooky!

We walked in (me, the jedis and Steve) and about 8-10 men were standing there...no one said a word. They just stared at us. Finally, this old guy says "Can I help you?" I said "We want to look at your Beetles. He said "All right, but we close in just a few minutes."

So we went rushing out there and literally, there were half a dozen Bugs there...and it was surrounded by a SWAMP! Steve and I looked around and we found this huge hood...like to a big truck or something! We managed to pick that thing up and make a bridge out to the Beetles!

Found a 1970 just like mine, Yukon Yellow and everything...I need it's left front fender, but we didn't have time to get it.

As we left, all those men were still just standing there staring at us! Like we'd stumbled on their still or something! It was weird.

I told Steve "You're coming back to get that fender...I'm not coming out here alone!"

He said "No, you're not."

Saturday afternoon, we went to the VW Club of Tulsa meeting. This car caught my eye!

This is what my car should look like. This one is the same year and the same color...1970 Yukon Yellow. I was looking at the label inside the car door and pointed out to the owner that his car was 2 months older than mine. He said "How do you know?" I pointed to the label and said "See, it says 02/70..."

He's got fancy wheels on his and has redone the interior to be really nice. My wheels are the "stock" wheels, but only two of them were any good. One of them was bent really badly and the other wasn't even a wheel that came with the car. A guy from The Samba in OKC sold me a pair of 1970 stock wheels. Another guy, from the VW Club, went to OKC yesterday for a show and picked them up for me.

So I'm not just tearing apart anymore...with the purchase of the wheels and a dome light, the restoration of this old Bug has truly begun!

Cleaning Day! Let's Roll!

2005-04-04T11:44:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend. The first thing we were able to accomplish was getting that axle nut off. Steve just could not get that axle nut off, so we consulted our neighbor.

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Here he is working on the passenger side rear axle nut...

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Steve thinks if he puts his foot right here, it'll help...

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They finally got that one off, it was difficult, but not impossible, mainly, I think, because Steve had banged on it with his "Persuader". It's a metal rod with a point on it about 10" long.
~~~~~

So they went around and tried to get the driver's side axle nut off and it was really a tough one. So the neighbor went and got his "Persuader"!

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It's off!

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The rest of the day, we worked on cleaning stuff up. Here's the case...Steve got it very clean using carborator cleaner. (Another neighbor was walking by, noticed we were working on the car and suggested the cleaner...a great tip, it worked like a charm.) Look back at the old pictures of this case and you'll see just how much cleaner it is...it was a MESS before!

~~~~~
Once we got the axle nuts off, we were able to finally check out why the wheels wouldn't roll. Seems the brakes were fused into an "applied" position, like they were being pushed all the time. So we took off the drums and moved the stars on the inside until there was no brake at all...just so we could roll the car!

I put the wheels back on (that's my job) and for the first time we were able to roll this car! We rolled it outside!

~~~~~
It was so filthy! People are all the time dropping by to check out our progress, I thought it looks in such a state of disrepair, but it doesn't need to look so dirty! So we gave it a bath.

The change was amazing!

~~~~~
I also removed the headliner...something didn't smell good and I suspect it was the headliner. Sure enough, here's a mouse nest with acorns and everything in it...

I wore my mask and glasses...it was pretty dusty and dirty...

~~~~~
Here's what the paint looked like under the headliner...a very pretty yellow! See how it's faded out? We're going to put it all back to the bright color some day!

Happy Birthday! Ouch!

2005-04-01T07:38:00.000-08:00

According to the label on the inside of my driver's side door, our Beetle is (about) 35 years old today. I say about, because I know it was sometime in April of 1970, but don't know the exact day. I chose April Fool's Day because it seems as good a day as any to celebrate what many might consider a foolish thing anyway.

~~~~~
Well, you know the other day I was removing that old rusty running board? I was so careful not to cut myself...kept my kids back and everything. I threw the running board in the trash and scooted the trash up against the big sliding shop door so the boys wouldn't run in to it.

Next day, I was working in the shop, sweeping it up and opened the sliding door. When I did, I hit my knuckle on the running board and sliced it open. Bummer.

Had to get a tetanus shot.

(Many thanks to my physician and his nurse for allowing me to take this picture in his office.)

Removing the Passenger Side Rear Fender

2005-03-31T14:03:00.000-08:00

Ok, Steve is having a dreadful time getting that nut off the end there by the brake drum. He can't get it even a little loose. Any suggestions?

He thought he might be able to work on it a little easier if I took off the fender. It needs to be repaired anyway, so I set about removing it. I got all of the bolts off but one that just pulled right through the car, washer and everything. And I couldn't get the bolts that hold the bumper bracket on under there. Steve ultimately got it loose, but broke half of them in the process. They were fused in place with rust.

~~~~~
Here I am, struggling with the bumper bracket bolts...

~~~~~
Finally, we got the fender off. Now we just need to know how to get that nut off there...

CSI Vee Dubya

2005-03-30T12:42:00.000-08:00

This is my understanding of the car's history...

I have been doing a little CSI on this car. It was originally stolen and ended up in a field...the guy that Steve got it from was driving by and saw it, he asked the owner of the field if he could have it and she said sure, haul it off, that it had been in her field for as long as she lived there! So the guy hauled it home and ran a inquiry on the VIN number. That's when he found it was stolen and he contacted the rightful owner who said he could just have it. She even sent him the title!

So doing CSI on this car, I have found pennies that date back all the way to 1969, the year before the car was built. The pennies end in 1990. There are two oil change stickers on the inside of the door that date to 1992 and the registration sticker on the window is a '92.

I surmise that this car was stolen and was abandoned in a field sometime in 1992 and has been outside in the elements ever since. I find it to be in remarkably good shape considering.

I found a Terminator action figure in it, under the back seat. That would date to the 80s, right? Can you imagine, the young boy, perhaps the age of one of my jedis, played with that figure, lost it, and is now a young man?

Running Board Removal

2005-03-29T18:15:00.000-08:00

The Bug only came with one running board on the passenger side. It was very rusty and had sharp edges that I was afraid someone (namely me) might slice their leg on it. So, with some help from some people at The Samba, I set out to remove this running board.

~~~~~
Here is the running board. See how rusty?? If you so much as barely touched it, it would shower flakes of rust.

~~~~~
Here I am working on it. Don't stick out your tongue! You'll get rust on it!

~~~~~
Here's the bolt hole in the front fender. There wasn't a bolt in the back fender.

~~~~~
Now this is one of the little 10mm bolts that I had to loosen in order to slip the running board up and away. As a matter of fact, it was the only one. And it was covered with a black caulk. Took some searching to find it. I found the access holes for the others...there should be four per side.

~~~~~
It's off! Notice I got smart and put on a pair of gloves! I threw the rusty running board right in the trash can. Big Bird approves.

Front Beam Removal

2005-03-28T07:56:00.000-08:00

This was a busy weekend, what with family visiting and celebrating the Resurrection. We didn’t have much time to work on the car. We managed a bit.

Here we are trying to remove the front beam. I don’t know if it will have to be completely replaced, but it really is shot on the driver’s side where the shock goes in. The arm that holds the top of the shock is completely rusted away.

I disconnected the brake lines from the drums. The passenger side didn’t leak any fluid from the line when I took it apart, which I thought nothing of because I didn’t expect it to. The driver’s side did leak, which pleased me pretty much although I don’t know why and don’t really know if it even makes a difference. I guess it just did “something”. Ha!

Steve worked on this area for a while, the torsion arm...

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I watched at this point.

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Here he is working on “I think” the steering dampener...

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See, this thing...

~~~~~

Here I am, working on a tie rod.

Working on the pistons and cylinders

2005-03-21T14:46:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, Steve took the cylinders off and checked out the pistons. The piston skirts were
broken on the two that we got apart. Bummer.

~~~~~~~~

Here's the cylinders...

~~~~~~~~

Here I am, taking off a circlip on one of the pistons...

~~~~~~~~

There, now it's off!

~~~~~~~~

Here's something or other, don't ask me...

~~~~~~~~

Here's the other side...we'll work on this side next weekend...

Engine Work and Shop Vac

2005-03-14T07:46:00.000-08:00

Ok, here is the work we've done over the last couple of weekends. Here we have Steve removing the engine from the car...

Here I am, taking out the passenger side seat belt.

Here I have inverted the carpet where the heat vent is...I would like to remove this carpet but I don't know how. You can see it has this rubber strip that seems to be inserted into the metal at the bottom of the door. Any suggestions on how I get that carpet out of there?

This is what the back looks like now that I have it all vacuumed out. I was able to pull the rubber cover off the wheel area, but the insulation still adhered...probably have to scrape it off. I saved the rubber covers to trace for replacements if I can figure out how to make them myself.

Here's the middle...doesn't it look much nicer without all the trash and mouse debris in it?

Here's the floorboards in the front...see that little metal plate there on the passenger side? It was right at the front of floorboard. When I removed it, there was a huge mouse nest there and a gigantic SPIDER!! ACK! I made short work of them both with the shop vac.

Does anyone know what that metal plate is, exactly? What is it's purpose?

Ok, that was pretty much all we got done on Saturday. Saturday evening we went to the Tulsa Volkswagen Club meeting. Very nice people! How nice to talk to some other people who are as obsessed as we are with the topic of VWs!

A lot of people (besides my entire family) wearing Chuck Taylor sneakers! I liked that!

They let my jedis draw for the door prizes and then gave them a nice "Hotwheel" type New Beetle. My youngest even slept with his! Ha ha!

During the meeting, during the introductions, one guy said he had a 1970 Standard Beetle too. I looked for him after the meeting to see if he had brought his car. He was parked in another parking lot and I took off running to catch him before he left! I was dying to see what a "non-beatup" 1970 ought to look like! He was very nice and even gave me a ride back over to where my family was...the first time I have ever ridden in a Beetle!

Next day, after church, Steve worked on the engine some more. I perused the various catalogs trying to find the best price on floor pans and seat covers...The floor pans we might be able to get, but the seat covers will have to wait till after Steve graduates!

I did finally feel comfortable enough with the interior to get up in it! No mice or spiders jumping out at me!

Seats and engine

2005-02-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

Well, we got quite a bit done this weekend, since it was so beautiful outside. I finished removing the seats and taking the upholstery off and cleaning up the springs as best I can. It was AWFUL. I kept the kids away and wore a face mask.

Here I am working on one of the seats. All the seats were in perfect condition as far as the springs were concerned except for this seat...one of the springs was busted and had obviously poked through the padding and seat cover at one time. The person who used to drive this car had apparently just coated the broken spring end with some kind of silicone gel and patched the seat. This will require some welding, I suppose.

Here's the back seat...the bottom of it. Yuck-ola! Absolutely full of mouse droppings! After doing this seat, I'm convinced that the person who used to drive this car had the front seats recovered at one time, but not the back seat.

Ok, this is the back seat seat back (Ha ha, I love that!) The seat apparently folds down and makes a big trunk as needed, the back of the seat consists of this particle board covered with rubber.

I removed the seat covers, but didn't know what to do about this rubber-covered particle board. Will the replacement covers supply what I need for this?

This is the seat back with the particle board off of it...there was a nifty little label in there that I think was put there by the person who upholstered the seat originally. It said April 70 on it, which is the month and year the car was built. The padding was in very good condition, but was just FULL of mouse droppings. No way we were keeping it.

Here is the rubber that was in the "storage area" behind the back seat. It was in dreadful condition and the rubber padding under it was completely falling apart. I kept the rubber for future reference, but it will eventually be tossed.

Here's the back seat hardware.

Ok...now...want to see what the inside looks like with no seats? Rosabelle did, so here we are checking it out....

This is what the back part looks like. Whew...it will need a good cleaning and we'll eventually sandblast the whole thing.

After I finally got all the seats hauled back into the shop, I helped Steve for a while as he is still working on getting the engine out...here we are working on getting a piece of tin out that covers the motor...

Here I am with Joshua and a heater channel box!

Matthew took this picture right before we called it a night. My hands were filthy, my hair was falling down and I couldn't fix it! I look a mess!

Hey! I'm working on a CAR, not going to a PROM!

Seats

2005-02-06T10:31:00.000-08:00

This is what I did yesterday...Steve worked on making blocks, I didn't get any pictures of him, he was just sawing.

Matthew took the bolts off that hold the two parts of the seat together...he put the bolts and washers in a labeled baggie.

Here I am working on removing the "hog rings" or brass rings that hold the seat cover onto the frame of the seat...

Here is the underneath of the bottom of the seat. Note the horsehair pad? It's totally falling apart and was full of mouse droppings. You can purchase replacement pads. I really wished I had a face mask while I was taking this apart...I did stay upwind of it.

Here is the upright part of seat. A total mess, I did find big clumps of mouse fur in here. Yuck.

And here it is with the stuffing off. The foam rubber molding up at the top seems salvageable...only slightly deteriorated where it was exposed to the elements. I'm on the lookout for something to seal it with.

After I finish removing all the stuffing, I'll go back with a brush and make sure it's spotless, then I'll likely paint it with Rustoleum or something...

First weekend working on the Beetle...

2005-01-31T10:52:00.000-08:00

The first thing we did was take out the gas tank...it was an absolute mess. Here is the tank before we took it out.

Almost out...

Gas tank is out...

Here is where the gas cap goes...

This is the mess that was slowly leaking from the hose underneath the tank...

The next thing we did was take the wheels off and try to lubricate the brakes so the wheels would turn...the car barely rolls.

Here's a brake drum...

Here is the wheel...hoo boy...

Sprayed this whole area with BP Blaster.

It didn't work. Car still doesn't roll well.

Steve was getting ready to tackle removing the engine, so I took the cover off...

Before we got to the engine, we took the two front seats out and the bottom of the back seat...

This is the underneath side of the back seat bottom. Note the mouse nest...

Fixin' to take out the engine...Steve is putting car up on blocks and I'm reading John Muir's Compleat Guide for Idiots.

Here is Steve, working underneath. He has on his safety glasses...just pushed up to his forehead. Sigh...

Draining the oil

The jedis, hanging out in the shop, watching TV, watching us work... eating snacks...

We never did get the engine out...we just ran out of time. That will have to wait till next weekend!

The Day we got the Beetle

2005-01-24T10:42:00.000-08:00

Ok, here are the pictures from when we picked up the Beetle yesterday...

Here it is in the field, getting ready to be pulled to the trailer...you can just make out Steve in the seat steering...

There it goes!

On the trailer...

Now it's home, in our shop driveway. My ramps were in the "still thinking about it" phase here.

Almost out...note my ramps are in good position and nailed together. Also note, it got DARK in the time it took us to work on getting this thing out of the back of that trailer!

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