My 63 Bug

[sethbilodeau]

Bought her last spring from a Guy in southern NH who claims he bought it from California. I have the original title from the original owner who registered it in Glendale California So it was a west coast car for atleast part of its life. Very little rust, a crappy battery pan repair and a bad respray is all I can really complain about. Its time to start making her mine!
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[zzzdanz]

Looks like a good find for the N.E. area..looks clean.....What's that truck way back in the driveway?

[sethbilodeau]

an old dodge that my neighbors son in law picked up. Could be really cool if he does it right

[Popo Mack]

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-My new desktop backround. Great shot

[crestfallen]

Nice! enjoy it!

[pkelly944]

[Super Beetle]

Beautiful car with nii!!iice cOLoR
hope it will be joyful riding

[EddieVanHagar]

Awesome ride... What tires and what size are you running ?

[sethbilodeau]

They are Kumho 165/80/R15 right now. I'm trying to put together a decent set of stock smoothies to sand blast and paint if any one has a local hook up?

[sethbilodeau]

a couple more-
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New Beam coming soon from Franklins vw! pics to come!

[LooseNuts]

nice car mang.

[sethbilodeau]

After 48 plus years of service pretty much everything in the front end needed some attention so I purchased a 4" narrowed adjustable beam from Franklins VW the guys were great to deal with and I received it in about 3 weeks from my order.
First I pulled the fuel tank and unbolted everything up top
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Then I unbolted the brakes from the spindles. The brake lines were long enough that they had no weight on them so I dont have to remove the brake lines.
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Next I unbolted the bottom bolts on the beam and lowered it to the ground with a jack, then rolled the beam forward and slid it out
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The new Beam
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I cleaned up and painted some things and now I'm just waiting on some caster shims and bolts and some other misc hardware
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[LooseNuts]

looking good. man.

keep the pics coming.

[Schell R32]

wow what a find out here in s--t country!!!!

gonna be a sweet ride dude...

hurry up and get thatf thing together and you can cruise on out to anderson show and maybe even the foliage cruise from ctvwa

[sethbilodeau]

Horrible two days-Yesterday I got the Beam in place only to snap off one of the top bolts
So out it came. I should have chased the threads in the new beam but its a little late now.Then today I drilled the bolt and set the easy out in place then snap! Nightmare. Hardened easy out broken off flush and stuck in the center of the bolt. Any Ideas? I went and bought a new welder and am planning on cutting off the stub and welding on another one unless someone has a better idea.

[notafancypants]

Heat the area around the hole. Get the metal around the area to get red hot and expand. That makes. The hole a little more loose and should pop the stud out once you weld a nut onto the end.

[LooseNuts]

^^^^ yeah what he said

[GEETi]

Watching.
Good luck with that #^€£\=*! broken bolt.

[Schell R32]

problem is he stated he broke the easy out in it's place...if this is jambed in there your gonna have to dig it out first..also if you don't have a existing stud hanging out the "weld to" method ain't gonna work...your gonna need to dig all the chaser peices out,..the redrill the old bolt shank out and retap...one bit size at a time.



...at worse case deal ,you can hole saw out the old nut insert and re weld a new grade 8 nut in it's place...

[sethbilodeau]

I drilled and chiseled for over an hour with no luck. I went through about ten drill bits so it was getting expensive. I really set the Easy-out in there so I will be cutting and rebuilding. Luckily its a top mounting point so I would assume not as important as the lowers? Either way I will try to do it right. Updates and pictures to come

[LooseNuts]

problem is he stated he broke the easy out in it's place...if this is jambed in there your gonna have to dig it out first..also if you don't have a existing stud hanging out the "weld to" method ain't gonna work...your gonna need to dig all the chaser peices out,..the redrill the old bolt shank out and retap...one bit size at a time.



...at worse case deal ,you can hole saw out the old nut insert and re weld a new grade 8 nut in it's place...

He can us a nut and weld the broken stud on the inside of the thread area of the nut. Then just use wrench to back it out.

[sethbilodeau]

you mean positioning the nut over the hole and welding down through onto the stud? Its worth a try. I'll see if it works but this thing is really stuck in there to break off and break the easy out.

[LooseNuts]

Yeah that's what I mean. Then heat the area with a torch if you have one. Get it good and hot then back it out.

[zzzdanz]

That's a good idea NumbNuts.

[sethbilodeau]

no luck with the welding the nut method so I cut off the old bung and welded a new one in its place. The Beam is in the car and I'm waiting on some brake parts. No more Stressing over this little problem on to the next one

[JDII]

need pics mang!!!

[sethbilodeau]

All right so The Beam is in the car and everything in the area has been cleaned up and replaced New Master cylinder new brake lines hard and soft new fuel line.


The problem is shes now too low for my balloon 165 tires so I still cant go any where. No turning radius at all!




I ordered some 135's today so hopefully I'll be rollin soon
Oh yeah I had bad luck with J bugs they sent me the wrong brake lines and a bum master cylinder any one else had any problems with them?

Next on the list...

[GEETi]

Notch them for more low ( / suspension travel)?
I did mine...
I actually used a longer 'jack' screw incase I ever wanted to adjust it up higher (I haven't, but...... )

& 165 = 'balloon tire drop'... been there!

[sethbilodeau]

yeah I'm going to notch them and probably drop it one click as well. Is that what you are at with your set up?

[GEETi]

yeah I'm going to notch them and probably drop it one click as well. Is that what you are at with your set up?

'Clicks' are relative (depends on what you start?) I guess it was 'stock' height when I started:




On the first install, "One click" wasn't low enough, even with the adjuster screw adjusted all the way down, my screw adjustment preset could have been off on this first try, too...:



"Two clicks" & some screw adjusting got me in this range:



I used a longer adjuster screw (about 1" longer than the one that comes with them....that way I could set them lower than I thought was "practical", and have enough to adjust UP from there. ) w/ subtle tweaks over the years:





(yeah, needs to go in the "Before & After" thread!!!

[4supreme2gambino0]

^^^You nailed it Geeti, perfect setup...

[sethbilodeau]

Nice, that is the stance I'm shooting for. I love the look of stock smoothies on a properly lowered car I just need to find 2 more decent ones. I got some Ranger tire paint but am reluctant to use it for rear of it not looking right. Is that what you used or are those porta walls?

[bavarianx]

I miss my '61

[JDII]

nice, that is the stance i'm shooting for. I love the look of stock smoothies on a properly lowered car i just need to find 2 more decent ones. I got some ranger tire paint but am reluctant to use it for rear of it not looking right. Is that what you used or are those porta walls?

deem is porta walls .

[GEETi]

deem is porta walls .

Yup ( check my thread in the (o\!/o) link in my sig )
15x2" wide