Getting Motivated...

Well it's been 7 months and all I managed to do was weld the floor pans in and get the shop cleaned/sorted so I can attack the next phases.

Work has been extremely busy but I may squeeze a couple of hours in at night to pull the rear torsion bars, gut the linkage and get this chassis out to blasting and powder coating.

The engine parts have been cataloged, however I'm sure I'll need many replacements. I'm searching for an engine shop to turn my bucket of metal into a 40hp screamer. Plenty out there but need one local.

Pics soon - the body has been hog tied which is quite a site seeing it hang from an iron beam in the shop!

The Good, The Bad and The Body...

The Good: The chassis is looking like it's in good order and the new floors are fitted and ready for welding.

The Bad: The fenders, deck lid and engine lid all need replacing - way too many dents.

The Body: Well - as ugly as it gets with rot on almost every panel. Still going to tough it out and begin restoring this body, although I'll need to source some new doors and a A-Pillar. The rest of the metal is relatively easy to come by.

Here are some photos - stay tuned!....

After a long pause....

Work has been hectic which is actually an excellent thing. That said, the progress on the VW has been a bit slow. The good news is that body has been media blasted and primed and is ready for me to pick it back up. Can't wait to see how much welding I'll need to do in the coming months. The front beam should be blasted and powder coated and ready for reassembly.

Next step is welding the floor pans in and removing the rear torsion bars so that the entire chassis can be blasted and powder coated. Stay tuned....

Progress?

Well Andrew and I have taken some time off from the VW Bug. Work is very busy and keeping us away from shop time. We did, however, strip the entire vehicle to its last bolt/nut and have sorted out the parts we need, most of which have arrived.

The body has been dropped off to be media blasted so we can see how much metal needs to be replaced. That will take about a month to turn around so our focus will be on the chassis. Since welding is not a thing I can do with Andrew I'll have to find some late nights to get the floor pans in and then he can help me with the reassembly.

Stay tuned....

Stuff is Arriving!

Well no pics or anything interesting but parts are now starting to arrive. Looks like a full week of waiting to begin some reassembly as Sunday is Mother's Day and we won't be working on Herbie.

Stay Tuned...

Day 15 - Transaxle Removal

Well I did sneak in a little time to scrub down the center tube of the frame that had all the tar built up on it. Made short work of it with the wire wheel on the grinder, but what a mess.





Sunday (today) Andrew and I went to tackle the transaxle which is the only major component left on the frame. We had to go buy a properly sized socket (27mm) and then headed to the shop. What a mess this has become thanks to the grinding but within 15 minutes we had the mounts out and the transmission in the back of the truck. I thought we'd pressure wash the gunk off of it at the local DIY carwash. That was a disaster with the gunk flying every which way. Think we'll just go get a parts washer and clean it up as we dissasemble the gears.

Well, as you can see the frame is about down to it's core at this point. I'll have to order some floor pans to weld in but that will be a week or so off in the distance. In the meantime I'll be getting some of the front suspension back from powder coating and will begin putting that together.





Stay tuned...

Day 13 - Front Beam Removal

Not much time to work on Herbie this week but found an hour last Thursday night to remove the front beam. This is basically the front suspension and steering linkage that bolts to the front of the frame.

Trying to get the car in position so that Andrew and I can do something noticeable on Sunday - no kid wants to sit around and watch their father use a grinder for a couple of hours. That said we're going to try to remove the transaxle on Sunday afternoon which, as you can see, is covered with 46 years of muck.