Removing the Passenger Side Rear Fender

Ok, Steve is having a dreadful time getting that nut off the end there by the brake drum. He can't get it even a little loose. Any suggestions?

He thought he might be able to work on it a little easier if I took off the fender. It needs to be repaired anyway, so I set about removing it. I got all of the bolts off but one that just pulled right through the car, washer and everything. And I couldn't get the bolts that hold the bumper bracket on under there. Steve ultimately got it loose, but broke half of them in the process. They were fused in place with rust.

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Here I am, struggling with the bumper bracket bolts...



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Finally, we got the fender off. Now we just need to know how to get that nut off there...

CSI Vee Dubya

This is my understanding of the car's history...

I have been doing a little CSI on this car. It was originally stolen and ended up in a field...the guy that Steve got it from was driving by and saw it, he asked the owner of the field if he could have it and she said sure, haul it off, that it had been in her field for as long as she lived there! So the guy hauled it home and ran a inquiry on the VIN number. That's when he found it was stolen and he contacted the rightful owner who said he could just have it. She even sent him the title!

So doing CSI on this car, I have found pennies that date back all the way to 1969, the year before the car was built. The pennies end in 1990. There are two oil change stickers on the inside of the door that date to 1992 and the registration sticker on the window is a '92.

I surmise that this car was stolen and was abandoned in a field sometime in 1992 and has been outside in the elements ever since. I find it to be in remarkably good shape considering.

I found a Terminator action figure in it, under the back seat. That would date to the 80s, right? Can you imagine, the young boy, perhaps the age of one of my jedis, played with that figure, lost it, and is now a young man?

Running Board Removal

The Bug only came with one running board on the passenger side. It was very rusty and had sharp edges that I was afraid someone (namely me) might slice their leg on it. So, with some help from some people at The Samba, I set out to remove this running board.

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Here is the running board. See how rusty?? If you so much as barely touched it, it would shower flakes of rust.



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Here I am working on it. Don't stick out your tongue! You'll get rust on it!



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Here's the bolt hole in the front fender. There wasn't a bolt in the back fender.



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Now this is one of the little 10mm bolts that I had to loosen in order to slip the running board up and away. As a matter of fact, it was the only one. And it was covered with a black caulk. Took some searching to find it. I found the access holes for the others...there should be four per side.



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It's off! Notice I got smart and put on a pair of gloves! I threw the rusty running board right in the trash can. Big Bird approves.

Front Beam Removal

This was a busy weekend, what with family visiting and celebrating the Resurrection. We didn’t have much time to work on the car. We managed a bit.

Here we are trying to remove the front beam. I don’t know if it will have to be completely replaced, but it really is shot on the driver’s side where the shock goes in. The arm that holds the top of the shock is completely rusted away.

I disconnected the brake lines from the drums. The passenger side didn’t leak any fluid from the line when I took it apart, which I thought nothing of because I didn’t expect it to. The driver’s side did leak, which pleased me pretty much although I don’t know why and don’t really know if it even makes a difference. I guess it just did “something”. Ha!

Steve worked on this area for a while, the torsion arm...



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I watched at this point.



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Here he is working on “I think” the steering dampener...



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See, this thing...



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Here I am, working on a tie rod.

Working on the pistons and cylinders

This past weekend, Steve took the cylinders off and checked out the pistons. The piston skirts were
broken on the two that we got apart. Bummer.




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Here's the cylinders...



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Here I am, taking off a circlip on one of the pistons...



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There, now it's off!





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Here's something or other, don't ask me...



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Here's the other side...we'll work on this side next weekend...

Engine Work and Shop Vac

Ok, here is the work we've done over the last couple of weekends. Here we have Steve removing the engine from the car...

Here I am, taking out the passenger side seat belt.

Here I have inverted the carpet where the heat vent is...I would like to remove this carpet but I don't know how. You can see it has this rubber strip that seems to be inserted into the metal at the bottom of the door. Any suggestions on how I get that carpet out of there?

This is what the back looks like now that I have it all vacuumed out. I was able to pull the rubber cover off the wheel area, but the insulation still adhered...probably have to scrape it off. I saved the rubber covers to trace for replacements if I can figure out how to make them myself.

Here's the middle...doesn't it look much nicer without all the trash and mouse debris in it?

Here's the floorboards in the front...see that little metal plate there on the passenger side? It was right at the front of floorboard. When I removed it, there was a huge mouse nest there and a gigantic SPIDER!! ACK! I made short work of them both with the shop vac.

Does anyone know what that metal plate is, exactly? What is it's purpose?

Ok, that was pretty much all we got done on Saturday. Saturday evening we went to the Tulsa Volkswagen Club meeting. Very nice people! How nice to talk to some other people who are as obsessed as we are with the topic of VWs!

A lot of people (besides my entire family) wearing Chuck Taylor sneakers! I liked that!

They let my jedis draw for the door prizes and then gave them a nice "Hotwheel" type New Beetle. My youngest even slept with his! Ha ha!

During the meeting, during the introductions, one guy said he had a 1970 Standard Beetle too. I looked for him after the meeting to see if he had brought his car. He was parked in another parking lot and I took off running to catch him before he left! I was dying to see what a "non-beatup" 1970 ought to look like! He was very nice and even gave me a ride back over to where my family was...the first time I have ever ridden in a Beetle!

Next day, after church, Steve worked on the engine some more. I perused the various catalogs trying to find the best price on floor pans and seat covers...The floor pans we might be able to get, but the seat covers will have to wait till after Steve graduates!

I did finally feel comfortable enough with the interior to get up in it! No mice or spiders jumping out at me!