Classic Bug rescued from That Guy

That Guy would be me.  I'm that guy who has had an old beetle rotting in the driveway for 20yrs that he swears he'll "fix up one day".

It sat back there since we moved into this house.  The car is my best friend's first car and all those years ago, I said I'd help him get it roadworthy.  All it really needed was floors.  Life, procrastination, and distractions got in the way as they always do.

For whatever reason, a few weeks ago, a switch flipped in my head, and now the car is on the front burner, not the back.

​

h​ang in there little buddy, we'll ​​​​​get you fixed up!

Stay tuned!

I have a 71 bug in my driveway , I "just" need to put the fuel pump and distributor back in and it should run again , we  grabbed those parts years ago to get my buddies 69 double cab running.....

Good luck with your project :)

In!

​​​​

The easy part.

The pO's repairs are almost as ugly as the repairs I'll be making...

​​​

Subscribed. 

I'm throwing up some YT shorts while I'm at it.

Do u like patina?  Cuz we gots patina:

And, do you like horror?  Cuz we also have plenty of horror.  o_0

I know I should run away screaming at this point.  But I think I'm just going to weld some sheet metal back in and run some longer bolts up from the pan through to the top of the "rockers".  It'll be worlds better than the fiberglass and spray foam repairs the PO did.

Besides, I need the welding practice lol

I dunno......unless you think it will just end up on a scrapheap, I would fix it right. I've never regretted doing a proper repair vs a bodge......

New heater channels aren't terribly expensive.  I would go ahead and do it as correctly as you can.

What does the DF Kit Car VW chassis cost?  Anyone heard news on that?  aH ha!  fOUND IT.

https://www.doylemw.com/about-redub

With the above chassis you would need a Mk 7 GTi for the drive train and so forth.

And $12,995

For half that cost......

...you could buy a GTi and drape the VW bod over it.

I cut out so much metal I got overwhelmed and thought about throwing in the towel.  So, I switched gears and spent some time on the mechanicals.  

This Saturday, I got it running, idling, and moving thru first, second, and reverse!

I feel reassured and will start back in on the metal repair after the holidays.

Bravo on  the rescue! Some bastard I know has a cherry '69 Olds Delta 88 crammed in his garage for no reason other than it needs tires and an alignment. Hopefully he sees this thread and finally does something about it. Until then I'm just going to drink his beer and wear his socks.

Always great to get an old motor running after sitting for years :)

VWs seem to be able to sit for a long time and still start with fresh gas and a strong battery !

I don't know if that can be considered 'patina' or 'eco-system' either way, I am in!

slefain said:

Bravo on  the rescue! Some bastard I know has a cherry '69 Olds Delta 88 crammed in his garage for no reason other than it needs tires and an alignment. Hopefully he sees this thread and finally does something about it. Until then I'm just going to drink his beer and wear his socks.

Try sleeping with his wife. That might motivate him!

Wow. This looks like a fun project.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

slefain said:

Bravo on  the rescue! Some bastard I know has a cherry '69 Olds Delta 88 crammed in his garage for no reason other than it needs tires and an alignment. Hopefully he sees this thread and finally does something about it. Until then I'm just going to drink his beer and wear his socks.

Try sleeping with his wife. That might motivate him!

jimbob_racing said:

Wow. This looks like a fun project.

Getting the bug running, or sleeping with his wife? Or both?

Or should I delete this post for bad taste?

I haven't given up on this bug... Yet.

Today I tried to do an oil change, but couldn't find the drain plug under here...

Seriously though, I have made some progress.  Most of the drivers side pan has been, erm, "repaired".  Need a seat mount built.  The seat that was in there was from an early golf or rabbit, mounted on 4x4 fence posts bolted to the floor.  However, upon removal of the seat and dropping it on the ground, a huge pile of mouse poop fell out the bottom of it.  So I've got a plastic racing bucket seat I'll be using for now.  Thinking I might use the golf seat rails somehow, so I can still have sliders.

But, a couple weeks ago I rebuilt the stock fuel pump.  Then, today, I replaced all the mouse-eaten rubber fuel lines from the tank to the carb.  Dumped some gas in the tank and fired up the beast!  It ran for several minutes, so it's safe to say the pump is functional!

The carb needs to be fiddled with.  It won't idle, but will run continuously if you go womp womp womp on the gas pedal.  It's a somewhat complicated carburator, but I've found a few YouTube tutorials to guide me thru setting it up correctly.

Anyway, just thought I'd post an update.

I am sure there are patch panels, or repair pieces, not free or really cheap, but it would make the repair a lot easier.  You might have to add to some of the patch panels, but it would make each repair easier.  Also get lots of weld thru primer, I have used a couple different kinds, the one I like best has some copper, or at least it looks like cooper.  Some of them make welding more difficult.  Might also want some POR-15.

I hope your first name is not "Peter",  because I am so looking forward to seeing this work done by not me.

Pete

NOHOME said:

I hope your first name is not "Peter",  because I am so looking forward to seeing this work done by not me.

 

 

Pete

Nohome-

In the background, I do see a  half covered MGB. Well, it's fully covered- half by a tarp and the remainder with moss.

Problem addict must live on the north side of sumpthin'

The MGB just lives on the north side of the garage.  It's a stalled v8 swap project that I'll be getting back to once this bug is running\driving.

And my name is not Peter, so I think your in the clear, Pete!  lol