Major Surgery

Over Thanksgiving something got into me. Where I had l been looking at the "heap on saw horses" for months wondering what the next step would be, suddenly I knew what I needed to do. With a little time off work I fired up the compressor and broke out the air chisel again. I was able to get the spare tire well out which was something I had started drilling out months ago. It went so well I just kept going. Before long both heater channels were out. I couldn't stop there. I examined the rear shelf panel and decided it could come out without the entire car caving in. If taking the rocker/heater channel out didn't cause the car to implode nothing could (actually I've mounted some temporary bracing into the door openings to maintain integrity).

In the photos you'll see the new and old rear shelf side-by-side. What a difference. I've also included before-and-after pics of the old shelf area from inside the car. The shelf also forms the firewall seperating the engine compartment from the rear of the passenger compartment. By lifting the engine hood up you can now look through the entire car, front to back, from the outside. What a sight!



In preparation for the Christmas holidays, when I hope to get lots of work done, I kept getting things ready. I removed all of the front brake parts (shoes, springs, cylinders, adjusters, lines.... the whole works). All there is now is an empty drum, bare backing plate, and axle bearings and seals. I spent days trying to do the same on the rear but could not get the rear axle nuts off. If you know V-dubs, you know these can be hard to get off under good conditions. What I have here is far from good conditions. I tried an impact wrench and broke three breaker bars (my old one, it's replacement, and Pat's ... I have another replacement now as does Pat) after soaking them in penetrating oil. I tried heat and beat the stew out of them hoping to knock something loose - No luck. After church today I went back to compressed air and a cut off tool. Once I got sections of the nut cut out and a few slices into it as well, I was able to get a chisel and hammer to turn it. Much to my surprise, once the nut was off I found that the threads on the axle looked great. I had half expected the nut and axle to be "welded" together with rust. I ran out of daylight (thanks to a washing machine that decided to drain it's wash water all over the house ... the drain hose popped off causing a minor flood and a major sanctification test for all of us) so I didn't get started on the other side. I did get the brakes pulled off this one side so it's ready for bearings and brakes when the time comes.



Check out the rt. rear brakes when I pulled off the drum. The fronts looked similar. This is another indication of how long this car has sat. With each new thing I uncover the funnier it gets.



Well, Lord willing, I'll have good weather the next couple of weeks and be able to accomplish tons. I have a garage and attic full of parts and time off work. The only thing to slow me down now is the weather and my own ignorance. I watched a lot of this kind of stoff get done years ago but have never done it myself. As Tammy's cousin Matt said this weekend (keep in mind he's a bodyman and makes a living doing this) "you may have never welded before but you'll know how when this is done." Matt's also given me some tips on body filler and sanding. He approved of the paint colors we're considering only because they are light colors and light colors hide imperfections well.... that was encouraging. Hope to keep you updated over the next couple weeks. Pray!

A New Addition To The Family

No Tammy's not pregnant and we haven't been back to China. We have been visited by the VW stork however. He delivered this sharp looking 1975 Super Beetle a couple of months ago. The real story is that this purdy little bug was out on a corner for sale just a few blocks from the house. We watched it for a few weeks (actually thought it had sold at one point when it didn't show up for a while) but I guess it was meant to be. Thank you Eddie for test driving with me (between the two of us you know that car didn't stand a chance). The car looks great, especially from a distance. Up close it's got some rust popping up and even a little hole in the roof. This will get cleaned up some time in the future. For now there's no rush (the roof may get taken care of sooner rather than later to prevent bigger problems). You can see in the photos there's also a dent in the left front fender (it came that way). I'll do what I can to hammer that out after I've gained some experience on fraulein. It's obvious someone went through this car at one time and did what I'm doing to the other. The inside is very clean (new dash, headliner, stereo & speakers). The carpet and upholstery appear to be original or older replacement that lare in good shape (the sun has eaten a hole in the top of the rear seat though). The outside sports fresh paint (fresh when the restoration was done), new tires, mouldings and I believe a freshly rebuilt motor. This car drives like a dream. It's fuel injected and pretty peppy. There a sun roof which is real nice (and will be even nicer in the summer when the sun is kicking). Tammy and Jane Ellen are looking forward to driving this one (Emmy has named it "the buzz" since that's how she pronounces "bug"). For Tammy it's only a matter of honing her clutch skills as it's been a while since she drove a stick. Janey on the other hand will be starting from scratch. That should be fun....



A funny story (that wasn't so funny at the time) which reminded me that with old cars like these there's always going to be something that comes up - no matter how nice the car is. Katie had a race in Marianna (an hour-and-a-half away) a week or two after we bought the car. I was leary about taking it this far, and on the interstate none-the-less, before doing more locally to test it out. On Friday night Tammy and I drove to Crestview (half an hour) and the car did great. Come Saturday morning, the day of the race, I talked myself into driving "the buzz". Katie was game too and understood that if something went wrong on the way there she would not make it to her race. We arrived in Marriana and all was fine. Once again the car drove wonderfully. After the race I walked out to the parking lot to warm-up the car (it was cold this day) and saw the pavement was wet underneath the engine. My first thought was that something had gone terribly wrong with my oil change from the day before. Upon closer inspection I saw there was "water" dripping out from behind the engine compartment (this is actually in front of the engine compartment and behind the passenger compartment). It had been raining alot the days leading up to this so I thought maybe the car had stored some water in the body and it was just draining out (no such luck). Katie and I proceeded to drive to the Whataburger in Marriana to meet the team for a post race meal. On the way I kept smelling gas and began to notice my fuel gauge was dropping much faster than expected. At the time we were in stop-and-go traffic. I peered into the rear view mirror only to see a trail leading up to the rear of the car. When we pulled forward, the trail revealed a puddle with another trail following me. This is when I realized we had a gas leak. Did the prayers start then! "Lord just get us to the Whataburger without exploding" was repeated over and over. By the time we got to Whataburger, the dripping water had turned into a steady flow a gasoline (of course I had filled up shortly before we got to the race). I couldn't get near enough to see what was causing the leak for all the gas that was coming down. I called Pat back in Niceville, who immediately stopped what he was doing, jumped into Richard's truck, borrowed a trailer from a friend, and came up to get me (thanks brother). Together we loaded "the buzz" on the trailer (ask me later and I'll share that experience with you) and toted it home. Turns out the fuel line, which is metal from the gas tank (in the front of the car) switches to hose in order to go from the driver side of the car, over the transmission, to the passenger side of the car, and clamp to the fuel pump (the pump is in the engine compartment but has a tip sticking through the firewall for the fuel hose). This hose was a little too long and was thus laying down on the transaxle and a sharp edge there had worn through the hose. It was an easy fix and we've been back on the road without a problem ever since.

A Little Progress, Several Parts and Misc Other

You probably forgot about this project - chalked it up to another one that got started but ran out of steam. Well, not yet! Since the last post there's been a little progress, more parts delivered to the house, and little back surgery. I'd like to blame the hold-up on parts delays or the back surgery. The back contributed and I did wait for a couple of parts, but the real hold-up has been projects around the house. I've committed to Tammy that I'll be getting projects in the home completed. So, when I don't get them done, Frauline sits too. Well the bookcase is built, the wall paper is down, the walls are close to being textured, and some trim work is in (Pat, thanks for the tools). Still more to go but a whole lot closer. Now that we've all gotten focused on getting the house done, things are going much faster.



On the car front, Jerry came over after church and FPU one day to help get the frame head assy replaced. I was very blessed to have this brother who was happy to give of his time and teach me a few things about welding. Together we removed the front reinforecement and frame head (air chisel and 4" grinder w/ a cutting wheel).



Then Jerry really went to work - cleaning up the tunnel, fitting the new frame head, and welding it together.



Jerry left the welding of the reinforcement to me. It was my first welding project and none too pretty when I got finished. I think it'll stay in place though. Thanks to the sanding disc I was able to make it look presentable.



Among the parts sitting in the garage are new floor pans, heater channels, lower hinge pillar sections, lower inner fender panels, spare tire well, rear package shelf, and front firewall. I started drilling out the old spare tire well but haven't been able to finish the job. It'll be the first thing I go back to as welding in the new one will give me more practice with the welder on a non-structural part. It'll also give me my first experience with body filler, sanding, and painting (new air guns and primer).

No More Floors

Thanks to Don, Todd, and Jerry the compressor is back in action and so am I. Each of these guys told me the problem sounded like a bad capacitor. They were right.

The girls stayed in Tallahassee while we were out of town this week. Tammy went to pick them up and that gave me the day to spend on the car. When I got home from work yesterday I spent time just standing there looking at it. That's how the Warnicks found me when they stopped by on their way to the Berry's. This is how I tend to answer questions and solve problems of this nature. It's slow but so far I haven't broke anything too bad. After pondering, I realized that the floors really needed to be the next step. The floors mount on top of the front frame reinforcement (crossmember). That reinforcement needs to be replaced so the floors had to come out first for access. It still seems the front of the frame (the frame head assy) will need to be replaced as well. That's a bit more structural than I had planned, or wanted, but I just don't see any way to do the job right without this. The frame head and reinforcement will probably be the next things to come off. They'll need to be in place for the floors to be installed. I went ahead and removed the front end as an assembly (suspension, steering, braking, wheel assemblies, etc) in order to make way for removing the frame head. Remarkably the front end assy is held on by just 4 bolts. These bolt the front end assy to the frame head. If you look closely enough at the photos you can see the four bolts stuck in the frame head and thus get an idea of what held the front end of the car's structure together.



As much as I'd like to keep going, there will probably be a little delay. Not only do I need to order parts (frame head and reinforcement) but the welding and cutting of these is a bit more involved. Since these are structural, they're not thin sheetmetal or skimpy spot welds. I'll need to consult some of my more experienced resources (Jerry, Barry, Rick, Conner, etc) for their sage advise.

Honey I Shrunk The Car!

"Broke It ... in half", might be more accurate. Well, it's not really broken. Funny thing about these Bugs is they are meant to do this. Actually they're made to go together this way. I'm not sure there was much intention for them to come apart once they were put together. 41 years and lots of exposure to the elements - it's time to come apart. Enjoy the slide show.


All in all it came apart easier than I could have imagined. Cutting those stubborn bolts (really sawing, with a cut-off tool) turned out to be too slow. Keeping an open mind and knowing that there's frequently a better way, I changed to the air-chisel. I like the air-chisel. Just go around the bolts like opening a can of sardines. That was cool! And fast!

There were a couple of unexpected snags. The videos I am using to guide me (mentioned in an earlier post) used a later model Bug with different suspension (and suspension mounting). When the back half of the chasis was supposed to lower down, it stayed put. It didn't take long to see the hang-up. Once a couple nuts were removed, the sway bar was seperated from the chasis and down came the back end. On the front end, it too didn't come down either when I lowered the jack. This car has had multiple repair jobs done to the floor pan area. One set of these repairs included welding a plate of steel to the floor and the side of the passenger compartment (probably a heater channel patch). Well the floor is designed to "bolt" the the heater channel, not "weld." A little more time on the air-chisel and problem solved. The front end of the chasis lowered out of the car. Since the chasis is sitting on dolleys it rolled out from under the car quite nicely.

This was a measurable accomplishment. The best plan now probably includes a pause. I'll examine the extent of damage and construct a plan once I know more. I already know that some of the major panels on the front of the unibody and chasis need to be replaced. I had not counted on this. I don't think it prevents the job from moving forward; it just causes me to think longer and be more careful. When it's all over, these two halves have to go back together. One wrong measurement or weld something in slightly out-of-line and the bolt holes won't line up. If that happens I may just set it on fire. Just joking! I really do need to be careful at this point and not get in a hurry. The door openings are already wanting to pinch (close in at the bottom) due to the lack of support since the heater channels are so rusted out and can't keep the car "stretched out" at rocker area. What I'm saying is it may be a while before the next post. By the time I make a plan, order parts, etc it could be a little while (couple weeks or so). Keep in touch!

Getting Started

The first big goal of the project is to seperate the body from the chasis. Once this is done it will be much easier to assess the full extent of degradation (fancy word for rust/rot/cancer, etc). It will also make working on the chasis assembly and body assembly much easier. I purchased a set of dvd's last year that walk someone like me through the process of maintenance, repair, replacement, and overhaul of various VW beetle systems - including taking the body and chasis apart. Once all the loose stuff from the inside had been removed (seats, misc. loose parts, a rat's nest, etc) and a vacum ran through it (loose rust mostly), I could already see that the rust damage was more extensive than originally thought. The rear luggage tray is virtually "see through" and rust runs up the inner fender sections from the floor. Fortunately most of the seperation process went smoothly (like removing the gas tank). Unfortunately, the half-a-dozen or so bolts that didn't cooperate are gonna be tough to remove. They'll need to be cut out. Once that is done the body "should" lift off. Right now I need to get the air compressor working that my dad lent me (thanks a ton dad for the pneumatic tools, compressor, welder and other stuff that are gonna be great once I really tear into this thing). Once the compressor is working, I can cut off these few bolts and then we'll really see what's up with this resto ("restoration" - lingo I picked up from old car enthusist circles).

In order to show progress while waiting on the air compressor, I went ahead and removed the left fender. It will be getting replaced anyway. It is dented and rusted and the cost of a new one is very little. Removing the headlight from the fender was a bit of a challenge (had to cut out a bracket with a hacksaw due to, you guessed it, more rust) and pulling the wires out of the rubber bushing wasn't easy either (the connectors are larger than the hole in the bushing - putting them back won't be fun but that's not until the end of the project). Getting the fender off again exposed some of the rust running up the inner fenders from the floor. The left running board was falling off so I removed it as well. You can also see I set the front end on floor jacks which lifted it up just a little to allow more room underneath the car. This will help when cutting out the uncooperative bolts.

Back to the beginning.....

"Vizzini said to go back to the beginning. And so I have. I will not be moved."

In the same way, our 1967 VW beetle was not moving. It sat.


But one day, it will be driven. And YOU will have witnessed a miracle (but not by Miracle Max....but by Miracle Jim). But don't get in a hurry. Everyone knows when you rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles. We only perform miracles for noble causes. And THIS is a noble cause.

The real beginning is a mystery. But our story begins in July 2008. We were in Tallahassee helping Tammy's parents move into their new home. Jim went with Tommy to get some things that were stored at Uncle David's house. Uncle David had roughly 30 semi-whole VW beetles and vans (some stuffed to the gills with various parts) sitting in his yard (for the last 20 or so years). He'd finally had enough, and was selling almost all of them to a scrap metal dealer the next day. Only a few were to be saved from the crusher. Our baby was one of them.


Uncle David said, "If you can haul it out of here, it's yours." The next weekend found me back in Tallahassee, with a flatbed trailer in tow. With the aid of a farm tractor and a bit of rope, our car was moved from underneath the oak tree where it rested more than ten years. I grabbed a few bumpers that happened to be laying around and added them to the heap. Too bad there weren't any engines. We could sure use one of those - and a transmission.


Several months later we had a title to the car. Brand new floor pans were delivered after Christmas. The car even got a name. We are lovingly calling her, "Fraulein" after her German ancestry. But not much else had happened until this past weekend when the restoration began....