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1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread
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Dustman985
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2016 12:20 am    Post subject: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

Hello Samba! I've finally decided to do it. I've had my 1971 Beetle for two years now, and I've finally decided to start into a full restoration. Now, I'm not new to the Samba. I spent the last two years and nearly $700 getting it running and driving well, and this site has been a huge help.

I'll start with a proper introduction. My name's Aaron, I'm 17 years old, and I'm going to be a senior at Iola High School in Iola, Kansas. I work at my local Sonic Drive-In as one of the head cooks on night crew (making $8.00 and hour). At least half of every paycheck goes to my car, a tenth goes into savings, and the rest is spare cash (that usually gets spent on music or parts for instruments, computer parts, food, or tools).

I've got a 1971 Standard Beetle (which I was told was a 1972 upon receiving, I found it was a 1970 on the VIN, and finally confirmed as a 1971 after a long time disputing parts) with a 1600cc Dual Port engine, 009 Distributor, and came with a Weber 32/36 DFAV Carburetor installed (but unjetted, so it ran like crap).

I remember getting the car on November 1st, 2015, after a friend and I discussed going to pick it up the next day while we were playing in the marching band for a Halloween football game the night before. We drove about half an hour to Yates Center to get it. It had four flats, no air cleaner on the unjetted Weber 32/36 DFAV, the engine didn't run (and made shitty compression), the muffler was rusted out, a rat's nest of wiring, shot brakes, no carpet, barely any of the wiring worked because of all of the rigging, the shocks were shot, the doors didn't close right, and it was full of rust (as you could clearly see daylight through the floorboards). The lady I was getting it from was an old friend, who bought the car for college and then lost the keys at a party (responsible, eh?). She was moving, and needed the car gone. She gave me the car (which she dubbed "The Bombshell" due to it's disgusting gray exterior) in exchange for a summer of yard work that she ended up not needing done (so free car, which is good). Her only requests were that I didn't change the color, and that I didn't change the name. We put it on the trailer, towed it home, and it sat in my garage for months while I did stupid little things like cleaning the seatbelts and replacing sparkplugs while I (who knew nothing about engines at the time) tried to get it running. I fell in love with it immediately.

Luckily I had John Muir's "Idiot Book", which made learning about nearly every aspect of the car a piece of cake.

While I was doing the brake lines, I made the rookie mistake of jacking up the car by the rear left fender while separating the body from the frame, and it slipped off the jack, ripped the fender and the left running board off the car, and nearly broke my neck in the process.

I had a friend who let me rebuild the engine in his garage. After replacing the pistons and cylinders as well as the preheater pipes and gaskets, it ran pretty great despite the carburetor.

After I got the car running, I took my little brother out for a driving lesson. Not knowing how to work the clutch, he put the car through a fence ($830.12 worth of fence) and rammed the front end into a fence post. The bumper was trashed, the hood has a huge dent, and the front clip is in bad shape, but she still rolled straight and drove fine.

After reverting to a Solex 34 PICT 3 carburetor that must have had a plugged passage and starting it up, the bowl leaked everywhere, the engine backfired, and it went up in flames. I put it out before it spread anywhere else, but things under the decklid were in bad shape. So I stripped the engine to the heads, and there it sat for a month. Today, after due consideration, I decided it was time. I gutted the interior and dropped the motor, and am finally starting into my full restoration of the car.

I'm planning it to be a near factory restoration, with the exception of the rims, engine, and a few little personal touches. When I'm done, it's going to be 1957 Porsche 356 Silver with black interior and chrome/white highlights. It's currently painted "Walmart Spraycan Gray", with the factory Diamond Blue showing through in places. I'll post some pictures tomorrow, as the only camera I've got at the moment is on my phone, which doesn't take great pictures at night.

I'll keep you all updated on the rebuild. I look forward to sharing it with you all!
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VERTED71
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2016 2:05 am    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

Welcome and good luck. Write down everything as it may change from time to time...my 2nd bug, 1969 went through 3 color changes, 4 engines, 3 carbs, 4 sets of rims and tires, 2 interiors and 2 steering wheels before I traded it for my el camino.

Take lots of pictures and be sure to ask even more questions. Aloha and enjoy the ride!
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71 Super Beetle Vert
15x4.5 Front
15x6.5 Rear
155/60R15 74T tires FRONT
205/65/15 tires REAR
1600 Dual Port
Progessive Carb
Electronic Ignition
Tri Mil "hotdog" exhaust
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TX-73
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2016 4:16 am    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

Just a bit of advice, be sure that starting right now, you bag and tag and take lots of pics, you will be amazed at what you will want to reference later on. Also, don't throw anything away, even what you think now is junk. Label everything.

I can tell you from 30+ years of this, the first part of disassembly is great, you feel like its a lot of progress, but as you get into the cleaning/repairs it may tend to bog you down, so take it a step at a time. Think of sections and systems to work on rather and complete rather than a mindset of taking on the whole project every day.

Re-assembly can also get tedious, most times everything doesn't quite go back as fast as you may think. Buy the best quality parts you can. And pause to look at and enjoy your accomplishments along the way.

Enjoy the process, it's just a hobby at the end of the day.
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Dustman985
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2016 8:01 am    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

I definitely hear that. I've been carefully bagging, labeling, and dating every individual piece with great detail (with the exception of the engine, which I can just about tear down and reassemble with my eyes closed). I know from previous work on the car that if I misplace a single piece or put it together wrong, it could be catastrophic to the car.

I'm going out to take pictures in a few.
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Dustman985
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2016 9:12 am    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

I've got plenty of pictures taken from my work Tuesday and yesterday, but I can't seem to get them to upload to the gallery. Any alternatives?
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Dustman985
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2016 10:10 am    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

Finally got it! I was just trying to upload too many pictures.

Alright, here's a few before I got really started into it:
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Here's after I got the engine pulled:

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And the Interior. It was easier that usual because there was no carpet.:

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I found some new rust holes, cracked welds, and general work.

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Dustman985
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2016 12:13 pm    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

Here's the stuff I did yesterday. I only had two hours to work on it, so I started tearing down the dashboard and steering column.
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I plan on ditching this steering wheel and finding a factory one. I pulled it out of a scrapyard for ten bucks, and I only kept it because the one I got with it was kinda ratty. I might go back to it, but I really, really like the look of the factory wheel.
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1971 Standard Beetle "The Bombshell"
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Dustman985
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2016 12:26 pm    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

Hey all! Sorry it's been so long. Work got a little built up, and my lawn mower exploded so I had to get one running (I also learned that I HATE working on Grasshopper Zero Turn Mowers Very Happy ). Anyways, I was out for a couple of hours around 1 AM to 3 AM. I finished pulling the dash and the glovebox.
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67rustavenger Premium Member
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 23, 2016 12:46 pm    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

Looks like your off to a good start.
I have a suggestion. Turn the flash off on your cam/phone. It will help take better pictures. Most cam/phones these days are 16mp and don't require flash to take pics in low light situations.
I'm curious about your positive clamp for your battery. Did you install it or did it come with the car? Can you please post a pic of both sides of it?
Good Luck.
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I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!
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ToughBug
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2016 10:47 am    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

This may be the true-est thing ever said! photos. labels. don't throw anything away, no matter how rusty.

TX-73 wrote:
Just a bit of advice, be sure that starting right now, you bag and tag and take lots of pics, you will be amazed at what you will want to reference later on. Also, don't throw anything away, even what you think now is junk. Label everything.

I can tell you from 30+ years of this, the first part of disassembly is great, you feel like its a lot of progress, but as you get into the cleaning/repairs it may tend to bog you down, so take it a step at a time. Think of sections and systems to work on rather and complete rather than a mindset of taking on the whole project every day.

Re-assembly can also get tedious, most times everything doesn't quite go back as fast as you may think. Buy the best quality parts you can. And pause to look at and enjoy your accomplishments along the way.

Enjoy the process, it's just a hobby at the end of the day.

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Dustman985
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2016 11:08 am    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

Quote:
I'm curious about your positive clamp for your battery. Did you install it or did it come with the car? Can you please post a pic of both sides of it?


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Here's what I got. I only took the one side. The PO installed the battery clamps, but I put the terminal covers on to avoid bridging the contacts. They're a little janky, so I'll definitely go with new ones, probably a new ground strap and positive wire, too (these came on the car, so it's probably overdue).

I plan on getting more work done later. Most of my best work happens between 1AM and 4AM after I've gotten off work, where I'm alone with the car and my thoughts. Next is pulling the super sketchy wiring. Anyone got recommendations on a good harness manufacturer? I'm pretty good with electrics, so I can add in whatever else I need later, but I'm looking for a near factory-perfect harness for ease of installation.
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JCS
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 7:50 am    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

Aaron; I admire you for several things.
FIRST and foremost......that you are putting 10% of your after tax wages in savings. A man can never get ahead in life unless he first builds capital. Then someday you will se where you can invest some of that money so it will make you more money. Never stop the habit of putting back the savings first. Get the book , A Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and read it for then you will be happy and secure all your life.
Secondly, you have a job. So many young people want to blame their condition on someone else. You will not have to worry about that if you keep working and saving and not just waiting for something good to happen to you.
Thirdly, you have the ambition to do this project. It is a pretty big undertaking so I have a little advice for you (from a 70 year old who has worked on bugs since 1962); Do a little work on the bug every day even if it does not seem like much. But do not work on it all the time. Go out with friends and get away from the project now and then. This is going to take some time and money so do not burn yourself out on the project. Stay confident and determined that you will see it through to the end. Have a ton of patience. Never get in hurry to finish it. Remember, "haste makes waste". Use every day as an experience to learn something and therefore you feel a sense of accomplishment every day...... a step towards your long term goal. And of course, keep in touch with the great people on thesamba.com for help and advice (thanks to Everrett Barnes for the samba).
Keep up the good work young man......you sound like a young person I would have hired in a moment.
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Dustman985
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 2:54 pm    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

Quote:
I admire you for several things.


Thank you for that post! It really brightened up my day. It's things like that that really keep me going.

Anyways, I got out for an hour and started gutting wiring today.
I started with pulling my hood (because I hit my head on it nearly a dozen times today Laughing )

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I'd normally try to fix that busted out hole, but the hood's pretty dinged up anyways, so I'll just replace it.
Then, I started in looking at this mess

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I pulled the evaporation tank to remove my hood release cable, so I got pictures of it and how the emissions tubes were hooked into it for good measure.

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Here's what I ended with an hour later, saving every scrap of that mess of wires.

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I'll get back at it either tonight or tomorrow and start removing the headlights, turn signals, and any other electrics that are still installed.
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Dustman985
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 2:21 pm    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

I only had half an hour today, so this is all I got done.

I started with pulling the fuel sock and some of the emissions hoses. Made sure to take extra pictures to be sure of how they were put together.
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Is this the factory correct ground for the headlights and turn signals?
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I pulled the right headlight. Looks like this thing was being held in place by prayer Laughing . The ceramic thread-ins for the headlight adjustment screws were all broken, and the tensioning spring was gone from the back. I have literally no idea what could have been holding it in!
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Lastly I pulled out the domelight wires, and made sure to chase them with a piece of rainbow paracord to save me some headache later.

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Bit by bit, it goes. I'll try to get out tonight after work to get some more work done on it.
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miller0358
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2016 12:56 pm    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

I restored a 71 super and a 73 standard in about the same shape of your car. Good advice not to overwhelm your self. Take your time and do it right. Also try to use as much original metal as you can for patching the rust. The classifieds are great for finding what you need. Good luck. Jeff Here's my 2 cars
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Dustman985
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2016 7:35 pm    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

Quote:
Good luck

Thanks, miller0358!

I went at it for a couple more hours today, and I finally got everything under the hood totally stripped.

I started with pulling the left headlight and the turn signals.

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Kinda gross, huh?
Then I got the turn signals out.

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This one's the right side. Looks like this one's seen some better days, the lens is cracked and the chrome is pretty scratched up, plus one of the holding mounts is mesed up.
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Look how pretty that diamond blue is under there!

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Here's the left side. The chrome is a little aged, and a little bent at the tops from over-tightening.
Next I pulled the gas tank. It looks like a PO put it in.
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The fuel sending unit is bad, so I'll be on the lookout for a new VDO one.
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Next I pulled the steering column. I'll end up ditching this urethane coupler.
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I pulled this group of fresh-air hoses out of the right A-Pillar. How exactly does one go about connecting that fat hose to the heater channel?
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Anyways, next I pulled the brake fluid reservoir and the lines. The reservoir looks factory, and it's in pretty good shape.

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Next I pulled the hood hinges. It was way easier than I thought.
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Then i pulled all of the hardware affiliated with the fuel fill.
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What was this plug here for? The little one under the fuel fill hole?
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Is this the factory gas cap? If not, I'd like to find something either more correct or better looking.
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Next I pulled the door buzzer switches. One's different from the other? Which one's right??

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Also, this little piece was to the left of the glovebox. What's it there for?
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Anyways, at the end of the day, here's what I ended with!

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Tomorrow I'll pull the main loom and the rear-end wiring.
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1971 Standard Beetle "The Bombshell"
1995 Ford Aspire (Kia Avella)
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Dustman985
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 29, 2016 9:52 pm    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

I went at it for two hours tonight, and made a little more progress. I started with getting ready to pull the main wiring loom. I began with removing the regulator.
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A little old, but it was still working fine.
Then, I pulled the engine bay firewalling to get at the wiring underneath.
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Then I pulled the loom and chased it with a long piece of rope for easy reinstallation.
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Next I got at the taillights. First the right
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Then the left (or rather my "high-tech" replacement for the left Laughing )
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While I was out there, I also noticed something: the right door sags (a lot).
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I literally had to pull it up two inches to close the door!
Anyways, here's the end result.
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That's all for tonight, I'll get at it more tomorrow. Probably getting it prepped to pull from the floor pan. Wish me luck!
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1971 Standard Beetle "The Bombshell"
1995 Ford Aspire (Kia Avella)
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Dustman985
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 05, 2016 11:52 pm    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, our internet was out for a while. Anyways, back with more progress made!

I went ahead with doing some final things to get the body ready to come off the car. I started by removing the rest of the body mounts.
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These were some improvised hold-downs I put in to keep the heater channels from shaking so much.
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The i pulled the mounts from under the gas tank.
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Finally, the rear two mounts inside the fenders. First the left:
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And then the right.
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Is that a folded up piece of the main body seal? Seems safe enough Rolling Eyes .
After that the body was ready to go, so I rolled the car out of the way and cleaned up (raked and mowed) my work area.

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Pretty high-tech, huh? That little shed houses all of my parts, tools, and various household belongings. I hate it.
Then I cleaned out the shed, and with some digging, found a few of the old parts off of the car! Here's the rear left fender, running boards, and the crunched up front bumper from when it was put through a fence.
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That's all for the 30th!
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1971 Standard Beetle "The Bombshell"
1995 Ford Aspire (Kia Avella)
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Dustman985
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 05, 2016 11:59 pm    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

On the 31st, after getting together a few friends, we pulled the body off the pan.

]
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The right heater channel literally fell off of the body when we picked it up. Just fell off. Seems safe enough, eh?

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Then, we set down the body a few feet away. With all of the interior gone, I think we may have even been able to lift the body with just a couple of people! Talk about light!

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We just set it on the ground for now. I'll pick up some lumber to make sawhorses next paycheck. What's gonna happen to it in the meantime? Is it gonna rust? Laughing

Had a little helper come along and silently judge as we lifted the body.

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Anyways, now we enter the "how deep do my pockets go" portion of the project. The next couple of months are going to first be dedicated to getting another car to get to and from school and work in, and then saving for floorpans, primer, POR15, and lumber to make a stand to paint the frame on. I'll post updates as I get more parts!
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1995 Ford Aspire (Kia Avella)
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 12:53 am    Post subject: Re: 1971 Beetle "The Bombshell" Restoration Thread Reply with quote

Man, how time flies! After being away from it for quite a while (of course doing little nickel-and-dime bits along the way), I managed to get a lot of work done on it tonight, so I snapped some pictures of the current state of things, as well as of tonight's progress.

I'll also add that in the last couple of months, I managed to get a new daily driver for while the Bombshell is out of commission: A 1995 Ford Aspire. I paid $600 and a useless riding mower, and it hasn't given me any flack for the 1600 miles I must've already put on it.

To start, here's where the body sits now.
I need to move it a bit to give the jackstands a chance to seat on some new ground.
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Looks like a PO tried to do a little repair in the front right fender well.
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What do you suppose they tried to use to patch this? With rivets and generic POR-15 no less?
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Looks like there's a little deeper damage than I thought from the wreck. I'll definitely need to replace at least the front end of the front clip, if not all the way back to the A-pillar.
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Found plenty more rust holes in the body section under the seat. Not positive of how to go about repairing this. Any suggestions?
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Man, you can just see the filler chunks and fiberglass mesh under the cheap bedliner. Gross to say the least.

Next, I moved to the engine. I got it up on a bench (after I took time to reinforce it with a subframe made of two-by-fours), and started with the spark plugs.
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Gnarly, aren't they? To be fair, I was having tremendous carburetor trouble when I finally decided to start tearing down the motor.

Then, I pulled exhaust. I forgot to take pictures of the "before", as well as pictures of the muffler, but I put a new Bosal muffler with ceramic finish on about two months before I parked her. Stock VW tips, too, so it sounded awesome.
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I also felt like a massive egghead because I was wondering why I couldn't ever get a nut onto one of the muffler studs, and then I realized when I put in the new muffler, I forgot to take out the old gaskets. Brick wall .
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Then I went ahead and spun the engine around and pulled off the clutch plate.
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It was a little glazed to say the least, but I had planned on moving to a different clutch for my new motor anyways, so this one will probably be scrapped.

Lastly, I pulled the crankshaft pulley bolt. I forgot to snag a picture of the bolt out of the motor, but two questions:
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Anyone know what that spot on the bolt is? Is it supposed to be there? Is it common?
Secondly:
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I got the bolt out, but now I have no clue whatsoever on how to go about removing the pulley. I'll look in the Idiot Book, but can anyone give me any advice there? Thanks.

Glad to be back at it again!
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1971 Standard Beetle "The Bombshell"
1995 Ford Aspire (Kia Avella)
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