Whitebrow's 65 Bug Full Restoration

Here's some photos I took while removing the carbs.

I also removed most of the rubber seal thread that revealed loads of surface rust.

Question: Those popout rear window screw holes look too big. Would it be worth welding a repair and adding new holes?

Got one of these today for £7 off eBay.

griff wrote:

have a look through nomates project, there was a mammoth amount of welding to do.

https://blitzen.editboard.com/t6312-the-nomates-rustoration

don't cut anything off/out until you know what you need, and then make sure the shell is braced so it doesn't twist out shape.

good luck an keep the pictures coming:thumbs: 

Just read the thread and blimey! A lot of welding and panel work. I can see this is going to be along journey.

Does make me want to get home and work on it.

Might leave work early.

Emptied the full tank just now, tomorrow I'll remove it and check to see what condition it's in inside. Outside has slight surface rust. Aiming to have is black gloss.

Anyone have links to good fuel tank cleaner and treatment?

Also what's the best way to remove the paint that's on there at the moment? Paint stripper or sand blast?

Nomates recommended me a good fuel tank treatment when I had my 64 Notch.
Can't remember the stuff of the top of my head.

Glad you pulled your finger out and finally got on here by the way!

Look on the www.frost.co.uk website matey

Paint stripper can be hard to remove and lead to lifting paint long term.

Make sure any sealant you use is compatible with modern ethanol added fuel - I've seen the damage pet seal flaking off and into fuel pumps and carbs on a mates escort. Also use R9 fuel hose, and check the fuel filters you are using.

Nothing wrong with those holes for the pop outs, they are correct.

You need to sit down, plan your project, decide how you are going to build it and what style.

List what parts you need, and price them up.

Materials and paint will be at least £1000.00 by the time you have finished.
Parts will be a fair amount, and all those £5.00 and £10.00 here and there soon mount up.

I only paid £600.00 for my bug, but I gave up counting at 12k, and I know it cost a lot more than that.

If the car is that rotten I would possibly be looking for a good shell, as will be cheaper in the long run.

doors are 2 year only 65/66 and are at least £150.00 each for some good doors rust free.

Air ride will be around £2000.00
beam £500 ish
Wheels and tyres £1000.00
Bumpers irons and over riders £300.00
Seals £500.00
Brakes /hubs / floor pan parts £1000.00 plus
Trim £1000.00


You are probably looking £8000 to £10000 in parts for how you want to build it,

Plus labour, paint etc

I reckon I put more than 300 hrs in my car, if not more.

You should really consider what you want at the end.

Or put the car back together and as good as you can make it and buy a really good rust free car to start with.

my bug cost me ALOT more than £600.

The time isn't really an issue, it's just I'm not ver patient and want things done and finished yesterday. I've come to realise I need to change with this bug and I'm going to learn a lot on the way.

To be honest stuff like wheels and air ride isn't an option at this stage I just want to aim getting the shell and chassis rust free and sealed for another 10+ years if not more.

All my trim and interior are shaweeet as so I'm hopefully good there but agree with you it's all the little things that add up.

Even though this is going to be a mahoosiv wallet abuser I'm really looking for a way to learn stuff and just take it slow and spend my time on it.

Reading through Jokers build thread yesterday made me realise there's lots to do and to be honest it just made me want to leave work early and go work on it.

So that must be positive, right!? Lol

I'm not giving up on her yet!

Plus money isn't really an issues as I have no intention to sell it. I want to use it and keep it until it needs a resto again (in two years lol)

All this advice is valuable though guys, keep it coming.

The trouble is you start off just going to get it solid and sorted, then the build takes over and you go back and do the work you did at the start again, as you want the quality better. It really does take over.

Then things you thought were ok when putting back together decide it's not good enough, so you then replace that.

Sounds like you're as anal about detail than me!

Ha ha I managed to say anal in my thread.

joker 67 wrote:

The trouble is you start off just going to get it solid and sorted, then the build takes over and you go back and do the work you did at the start again, as you want the quality better. It really does take over.

Then things you thought were ok when putting back together decide it's not good enough, so you then replace that.

This ^

A lot of the jobs I've been doing on my car are jobs that I've done previously, and as my skill set with the welder/grinder improves, the less happy I was with my previous work, I know I could do a better and more thorough job, so I spend time and money redoing a Meh job into a good solid job.

In hindsight, I should have learned to weld years ago, it would have saved a lot of time, money and hassle.

Thats why im going down the skip tomorrow to get panels from washing machines, cut them up, rent a welder and practice.

I dont really have time to get it done buy and the skills I learn in this resto will stick with me for years.

I found my sisters fiancee is a deep sea welder and he has some epic equipment. He said hed show me some techniques and help me with the panels on the car.  

Ive got a whole day on it tomorrow and bought feck loads of stuff and tools.

im going to cut the pan from the channel as its welded on a few places, pin the body and store it in a friends garage while I work on chizelling the crap from the chassis.

The more I work on it the more perfect I want it.

This is the blue im going for EVENTUALLY!  

You need to leave shell on pan if doing pans and heater channels, as you need the old one to help line up the new one, you then get it semi welded until you split them apart to finish it all off. Also allows you to make sure doors fit right. If you brace appatures and the shell twists during welding you will not have a clue it's happened.

You're right! The only thing thats stopped me just getting on with it is being fussy about stuff lining up.

So my question is, the drivers side heater channel is welded to the pan on inside and on the outside, do I cut the weld and then replace the pans first or cut the weld and replace the channel first?

Ive just watched 3 hours of restoration videos  

Going to take on the fuel tank tomorrow.

Im going to sand it down, wire brush the rust on the outside buttom and then primer it and hopefully spray it black, laquer it and buff it to get rid of the orange peel.

I need to think about the pan and channel more but might as well order the heater channels.

If you can line the pan bolt holes up with the channel, I would fit channel first, then floor panel.

I spent last night removing the tank and having a good look underneath. All seems ok at the moment (fingers crossed).

Then spent today removing all the original paint from the tank to hopefully get it to a point where I can fill any dents and get it looking like the show one below.







Oooooo shiny!

Whats a good filler to use on metal work?

Found that the rear passenger corner is really bad.



And then started cutting out the drivers side heater channel. Im only cutting along the bottom to release it from the pan. I also noticed that there's no seal between the body and the chassis along both sides.



This bug needs some serious love.

My next step is to secure the door frame by welding some struts. I was going to weld a bar not just across the door frame but also from door to door just to keep the structure as there will be alot of panels that need repairing and replacing.

Was also looking at getting one of these for when the chassis is off and all ready dismantle.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-10-Gallon-Pot-Bead-Shot-Sand-Blast-Blaster-Blasting-/130427874115?pt=UK_Air_Tools_and_Compressors&hash=item1e5e1b6b43

Any advise on it? does it have enough pressure?

Not really been working on the bug other than deciding my plan of action due to there being so many panels to replace/repair.

Although ive been buying tools to make sure im prepared

Got a mig welder today so going to practice when i get my mask and gloves on some spare metal.

whitebrow83 wrote:

my bug cost me ALOT more than £600.

 

How much more dude?!? looks like you have an epic restoration on your hands!!

Best of luck fella  

indeed he has , far play though Craig for tackling a lot of this on your own !
Let me know when you wanna drop the engine out one eve.