It's been a while... actually, a long time...

[uncle waldo]

... since I've posted up any progress on my car. Mostly because I'm doing it ALL myself and learning the process of metal work and corrosion repair as I go.

Fortunately, the car (a '68 I bought new) was in pretty darn good shape to begin with, parking lot dings and a dent or two being the only real body damage. I have found some rust, but luckily it's not terrible, the only places it rotted through was at the bottom of both front 1/4 panels... and even that was minimal.

I'm taking the body down the metal to ensure there's no corrosion lurking anywhere else, so I've been doing a lot of scraping, removing nearly 44 years of built-up crud on top of the undercoating and paint underneath.

I've also pretty much finished up under the hood, a little more cleaning and sanding around the master cylinder area, then prime and paint. Then I can begin the job of rewiring the front half of the car.

I've read through many of the projects other folks have going and believe me, mine isn't going to be anywhere near as involved or sophisticated as theirs. I'm kinda goin' for a "resto-mod/quasi hot rod" look, stock appearing, but with some subtle mods here and there.

Anyway, here's a few photos of the progress...







Please, if anyone has any suggestions or comments, post 'em up. I can use all the advice I can get...

Thanks for checkin' it out.

[basti-FSI]

lookin good man so you'll be finished until january 2013, huh? what kind of paintjob are you planning?

[LooseNuts]

nice project man.

[uncle waldo]

lookin good man so you'll be finished until january 2013, huh? what kind of paintjob are you planning?

Thanks, I haven't set a goal as far as finishing... though actually, it would be a good idea to do so, something to give me a swift kick in the behind when I'm feelin' lazy.

Paint?... I've been kind of leaning towards a black, with copper wheels... I've been sorta tossin' around the idea of doing any of the "chrome" I leave on the car by plating it in copper, then clear powder coat to maintain the finish.

nice project man.

Thanks, it always nice to get positive feed back. The work I doing on the car is the type that isn't readily visible, it's just the mundane, scut work.

[Schell R32]

wow that thing is solid!

wish we had them out here.

[uncle waldo]

wow that thing is solid!

wish we had them out here.

We're lucky in SoCal... rust isn't usually a major factor.

[uncle waldo]

To most folks my success for the day won't be something to hoot and holler over, but for me, it was an accomplishment.

I was able to remove the windshield without breaking it.. woo hoo!!! This car has all the original glass in it... along with all the original sheet metal. So far, I've been able to retain evrything, so when it's done, it'll still have all it's right off the assembly line bits and pieces, larg and small (with the exception of some trim and rubber).

Other than continuing to clean and sand the trunk for paint, not much else got done... but each little step gets me closer. I gotta say though, I had no idea how many little nooks and crannies a VW trunk has in it... and where "little rust babies" can be found. Nothing major, but gotta sand and treat every one...

[cam's68]

DUDE! You nd me, "in so-cal, 1968, minimal rust, It's all there, taking my time, not exactly stock," haha, It sounds like how mine was when i got it! well, Im sure yours will turn out great too!

P.S: you have 5 lug wheels? did they change that to 4 lug about half way through 68', cause mine is 4 lug... but hey... lol

[uncle waldo]

DUDE! You nd me, "in so-cal, 1968, minimal rust, It's all there, taking my time, not exactly stock," haha, It sounds like how mine was when i got it! well, Im sure yours will turn out great too!

P.S: you have 5 lug wheels? did they change that to 4 lug about half way through 68', cause mine is 4 lug... but hey... lol

It came from the factory with the wide 5 wheels on it, but there are too many oddities about this particular car that no one, even VW can explain. Best guess is that it was built for a market outside the U.S, possibly S.E. Asia, but never quite made it there.

I bought it new in Hawaii, so maybe it was inadvertantly offloaded from a ship, possibly on it's way to Vietnam, Cambodia or...(they were French colonies and drive on the right side of the road), and sold in the islands.

[wannabaja]

wow that thing is solid!

wish we had them out here.

Exactly what I thought when I saw the first bare metal shot!

[uncle waldo]

Slowly... very slowly, I making headway on my project. The photo here doesn't really show a lot of progress, but I've finally gotten every square inch of the car, from the windshield forward, free of any rust, sanded and/or primed.

I haven't found it neccessary to cutout and replace any sheet metal so far... and my biggest concern was up front. Just used the wire wheel, sandpaper and a lot of elbow grease to get all the old paint and surface rust out.

One little mini-rant... I had the car painted about 8 cyears ago, a full colour change... the guy who did it is/was a friend of mine. As I was cleaning up the trunk, I found he hadn't done any prep work at all, he just painted right over the dirt!!! It's my bad that I didn't lift up the carpets to inspect the work, but still... painting over dirt!

Anyway... the trunk and wheel wells have been stripped to clean metal, prepped and finished using a "Rhino-Liner" type paint, so they should be virtually indestructable.

Just for the heck of it, I shot the metal etch primer on a panel in the trunk, then shot a clear over it. The etching primer is kind of an olive green colour that I like and I wanted to see it in a high gloss. I'm kinda leaning towards that colour for the final paint job.

Tomorrow, I'm installing the hood... it too was stripped to the metal and has been metal etch primed

While it's been up on the stands, I inspected the pan, front to rear, inside and out and found no signs of rust... even in the battery tray area. Just a couple of spots the wire wheel will take care of, before shooting it with the "Rhino-Liner".

I've also stripped the Empi 5 spokes down to bare metal... wadda pain that was. For such a simple wheel, they sure do have a lot of places paint can hide.

Please, excuse to disaster in my garage... everything just got shoved around for some electrical work I was doing...

[LooseNuts]

Anyway... the trunk and wheel wells have been stripped to clean metal, prepped and finished using a "Rhino-Liner" type paint, so they should be virtually indestructable.

this part really hurt me when i read it, considering the current condition of your inner wheel wells and the fact that you are in SOCal where you shouldn't have a need of it.

sorry to hear you friend did you like that as well and the progress is looking good

other than the aforementioned.

[uncle waldo]

this part really hurt me when i read it, considering the current condition of your inner wheel wells and the fact that you are in SOCal where you shouldn't have a need of it.



sorry to hear you friend did you like that as well and the progress is looking good

other than the aforementioned.

The Rhino-liner wasn't my first choice of finishes, would've really rather shot them body colour... but the only thing that saved them from a rusty condition was about 100 pounds, or so it seemed, of undercoating the dealer slathered in there. Actually, that was a good move. The car is originally from Hawaii and cars there can rust out in about 20 minutes

Even though I live in SoCal now, I'm close to the beach, so salt air is still a concern... any little chip would rust pretty quickly.

After all the time I had to spend stripping the undercoating and paint off, then cleaning up the little bit of surface rust and slight pitting, I REALLY don't wanna have to do that messy job again... ever!

What I'm going to do is shoot the wells with the body colour, over the Rhino-liner, hopefully that will make them look less like a truck bed.

[uncle waldo]

A milestone this afternoon... my project sits, once again, on it's own wheels. It's been a little over 2 years sittin' on stands.



But... as with every project, something goes wrong! Seems as if the rebuilt front end has siezed up, it won't move at all. It did when I put it in, but that was then... It's supposed to be at least 6"
lower than it currently sits... Aaaarrrgh

I'm hoping it's something simple... like the shocks. They were sitting there, fully extended for those 2 years and I noticed the shafts had rusted. My "theory" is that the seals dried up and failed, causing the pistons to sieze in the bores... keeping my fingers crossed it's something simple.

Oh well, back in the air tomorrow... gonna rip the shocks out

[uncle waldo]

The shocks were the culprits... seized up like a steel bar. Took 'em out and the car settled right to the rake I set it up for.

[basti-FSI]

Thanks, I haven't set a goal as far as finishing... though actually, it would be a good idea to do so, something to give me a swift kick in the behind when I'm feelin' lazy.

Paint?... I've been kind of leaning towards a black, with copper wheels... I've been sorta tossin' around the idea of doing any of the "chrome" I leave on the car by plating it in copper, then clear powder coat to maintain the finish.

yes i'm with you. having a time schedule makes me go forward at any time... i need that too!

okay, copper would be amazing. there's a grey bug with copper colored wheels in Deutschland over here. that's so "new" and awesome looking imho.

check this out

[uncle waldo]

yes i'm with you. having a time schedule makes me go forward at any time... i need that too!

okay, copper would be amazing. there's a grey bug with copper colored wheels in Deutschland over here. that's so "new" and awesome looking imho.

check this out

Very nice... do you know if they're coated? If not, they'll weather and tarnish, but that's a cool look too... a natural patina.

Right now, I'm continuing to block the body... when I pulled it out, into the sun, I saw all sorts of little uneven areas that needed work to make them perfectly smooth. For the last several days it's been, block and prime... block and prime, but I'm gettin' there. Slowly.

Can't wait to get the body work all finished, I really wanna get the motor/trans and carburation sorted out... then take it for a little spin, even if there's no windshield in it!!!.

[uncle waldo]

Not a whole lotta progress you can see, just continuing to block out the body... the roof is a pain in the okole. I was using a sanding "stick" for almost everything, but the roof has too many compound curves... I ended up with tons of little flat spots.

I looked around for something a little more flexible and found one of those "pool noodles" worked great. I just wrapped the sandpaper around it and started sanding away. It followed the contours of the roof perfectly.

I shoved the car out into the sun, it helps me spot the areas that need work better... and besides, this is the first time in about 4 years maybe, that it's been outta the garage.

Anyway, here's a shot as the car looks presently... (please ignore that rat's nest of wiring in the trunk, that's my next project... after getting the body straight)



If anyone has any thoughts, suggestions or comments, please sent 'em my way. I have some experience, but I'm always open to better ways to do things...

Thanks.

[uncle waldo]

Sorry, but I gotta rant a little... no, more like a lot!!!

I've gotten the body itself down to metal and metal etched.

Yesterday, I got started the rear fenders and deck lid. Now, keep in mind, I owned this car since new, it's never been in any collisions, except for a shopping cart or two over the years. Every panel, all fenders, both doors, the hood and deck lid are original to the car. Yet, as I begin stripping the paint with my razor scraper, I start finding bondo everywhere.

Both rear fenders and deck lid look like some azzhat beat 'em to death with a ball peen hammer... big, deep dents!!!!

When I took this car in to have it painted last, there wasn't a single, solitary ounce of bondo ANYWHERE on the car. I do not know who or what happened at that shop, but if I could, I'd be wrappin' the fenders around some one's throat. And to top it off, it's not the original deck lid... this one started out yellow, my car was originally green!!!! I have no idea where mine went... at least it's a real VW deck lid.

Anyway, now I've gotta decision to make... do I spend the money to have these original parts repaired, or replace them with aftermarket parts... ugh? I'd be in over my head, trying to fix them myself.

Geeez, I guess I should be grateful whoever vandalized my car, ONLY f___ed up the fenders and deck lid

Thanks for lettin' me go off...

[uncle waldo]

Actually made some significant progress... I'm starting to "jam" the car, it'll be nice to get some colour on it, it's been sitting in olive green primer for so long, I started to think it'd never bee anything else...

[zzzdanz]

That car is clean as sh!t !...Schell's the guy to go to for body questions...I'ld go to the shop that had it and find out wtf happened to my car...I'ld be f'n pissed man

[basti-FSI]

Very nice... do you know if they're coated? If not, they'll weather and tarnish, but that's a cool look too... a natural patina.

sorry, dunno! i bet they are, but i can't ensure they are

[uncle waldo]

It;s slow goin', but I finally, got all the sheetmetal work pretty much done... also got the fuel system started, nice clean tank installed. Gonna run new hard and braided lines tomorrow...

Looks like gettin' the wiring sorted out (just the front half of the car, back half's done already), get the carbs dialed in and I may, just may, be starting the motor soon. It could actually roll under it's own power, before the end of summer! Woohoo...

Then, of course, I gotta do the paint and reassemble the millions of parts I took off the car...

Anyway, here's how it looks as of 5 P.M. this afternoon..




Thanks for lookin'...

[uncle waldo]

Well, it's been at least a couple of months since I posted anything on the progress of my restoration.

The photos in the prior posts still reflect where I'm at on the body of the car, but the work has been continuing. I removed the front beam, again, and rebuilt it, again... something just wasn't feelin' right with it. After putting it back together, everything now moves much more smoothly... before it just felt stiff, like something was binding, though I didn't find anything "wrong"

As with most projects, they "grow", what started out as a body, interior resto, has become way more involved. It's not gonna be a body off, but it'll be virtually that. I was concerned that even though there wasn't much rust on the body, I was worried that if I didn't do at least the underside of the pan, I'd just be inviting problems down the line. And besides, after 44 years, there was bound to be a couple of spots needing work.

Well, I've been layin' on my back, slowing scraping, stripping, wire brushing and sanding the bottom of the car... and amazingly, have found only a couple of areas with some light surface rust. I wire wheeled and sanded them, then treated them with a chemical that doesn't "convert" the rust, it eats it away... it's gone. The pits it leaves are no bigger than the rust and this stuff leaves the metal just like the day the car started down the assembly line.

Anyway, just thought I'd check in and babble on about my, Oh so slow, ressurection of my '68.

When I make some progress that can actually be seen, I post up some photos to prove the car still really exists.

As always, any comment or suggestions are welcome... and probably needed (lol)

[uncle waldo]

Well, after scraping, wire brushing and treating the surface rust on the frame head and bulkhhead, I prepped and painted it. I think it came out Ok... though I probably overdid the process a bit, after all, no one's ever gonna see it (lol) I shot the bulkhead with a "Rhinoliner" type material, before shooting with the gloss black.



Starting today, I'm installing a new master cylinder, all new brake lines (hard and flex) and re-installing the rebuilt front beam, with all new brake components.

Then it's on to the back for rebuilding the tranny... the motor is fresh, just gonna strip the tin off and repaint it all.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome, thanks for lookin'