bugdust

[bugdust]

I went to the Jax Beach show this past weekend and picked up a few little things for the bugs. I drove a buddy's 64 bus there & back, what a trip!!
For the 69:
clutch cable
vanagon? lug bolts (longer than stock)
sand seal pulley & longer bolt for the engine that came with the car

For the baja:
matched set of door handles and ignition with key

...seems like I bought more but I'm drawing a blank right now??

I bought a can of high-temp (1200) paint with ceramic to paint the header on the baja. I also bought a can of 1500 degree stuff but it has to be cured and I don't have the header on yet. Anyway, I painted the header black. I pulled the street header off the bug and decided to pull the j-tubes off so I could clean them off and paint them too. Well, I couldn't get one of the nuts off of #3 so I pulled the engine. I got the nut off but noticed a bunch of oil every where, on top of the case, all over the trans, etc. The pushrod tubes were also crusty and a couple were bent. Since I had new pushrod tubes and a gasket set I decided to go ahead and clean up the engine and fix a few things. Of course, that snowballed

Now, I have stripped most of the tin and painted the head tin, valve covers, cool tin, and soon the fan shroud all in black hammertone paint. The alt. backing plate and alt pulley are white. The alt strap and coil bracket are metallic silver and the intake will be too. I painted the coil white but I'm not sure if I like it. I may put a soda can on it or I have a chrome cover around here somewhere. I ditched the tin that goes behind the crank pulley but I may put it back since the head tin screws to it.

I put new oil cooler seals in and new pushrod tubes/seals, rocker shaft seals and I have new valve cover gaskets. I have to get an oil change kit tomorrow. I found a new exhaust clamp kit in the parts stash so that will go on too. I'm going to change the main seal while the engine is out and change the shims behind the flywheel since it does have a little play. The clutch looks fine so I will just put it back in and save the new one (in the parts stash) for another time.

I'm hoping to get the engine back together and in, the rear bumper painted and installed, the door handles & ignition changed, the pop-outs put in, and the front-to-back brake line changed by this weekend. I'll pick up a bottle of argon this week and start welding up the tilt bumper this weekend. That's the plan anyway. Then I can put the hood pins on and wire up the lights. I may get a pair of buggy lights and mount them to the beam instead of the stock lights mounted in the 1-pc front end.

I'm still collecting parts for the 69 and I'll start on it after I finish the baja.

I'll post before & after pics of the baja engine in a couple of days when I get it done.

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I'm still piddleing with the baja and the 69 but I keep forgetting to take pics.

Baja- haven't done much to it this week. I did remove the tie-down strap that held the 1-pc front end on and the half bumper too. I bolted up a regular baja bumper and mounted the hood pins. I still have to adapt the bumper to a tilt bumper which means I have to make a couple spacers to bring it forward a couple inches so the 1-pc will clear it when tilted. Got that?

69- I cleaned all the junk out of it, even vacuumed all the sand out of it. I live in Florida, it's either wetlands, clay or sugar sand here I changed most of the rear lugs to vanagon lugbolts that are a little longer than stock type 1s since I have to go through the 914 rotor into the type 3 hub. It wouldn't be an issue with stock steel wheels but I have 8-spoke clones on it right now. I finally got the passenger (left) seat in it. I put a small hole in my shift boot and had to end up removing the shifter to get the seat in but it's all good now.

I towed the 69 to a friend's house (he has a concrete driveway, wish I knew someone in the concrete business that could lay me a slab for next to nothing ) so we can remove the beam and chop 4" out of it, put in the adjusters and drop spindles I'll definately post pics when it's done. It may be a couple weeks though because of our schedules.

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It's been a month since my last update.

The narrowed beam never got done before my buddy shipped out to the big sandbox, so I pulled the 69 back here. I decided to just narrow a spare beam that I have and swap it out instead of ripping the 69 apart and leaving it until who knows when. I disassembled the beam and cleaned it up and let it sit for a couple weeks. Then I cut off one shock tower the other day and started grinding the welds down but didn't have much time. I have the dropped disc brake spindles from Mike(Schramm), the 135s from Nick(ster), new adjusters, and new lowered ball-joints. I still have to get the castor shims and a new steering stabilizer. But this beam may not end up on the 69, we'll see.

I did manage to pull the gas tank out of the 69 and clean it out and paint it. It's not perfect but it looks a lot better than it did.


I've started making a few long shifters but I'm waiting to get some quick-shift kits for them then I'll redo my ad.


I bought a '68 vert project car. It's rough and missing a lot of parts but the price was right so I couldn't resist. I'm thinking I really need a vert roadster slammed with red stock wheels and either flat white or maybe very light green paint. But that's a ways off still.


Of course, since my place is on the market I may just sell everything and buy a nice finished ragtop

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I just read back a few posts and noticed I never posted my baja engine pics here. HERE'S the link to the thread.

I also mounted the front hood pins but never finished the tilt bumper. I'm going to try to get back to it soon.

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Ok, I took a set of stock 4-lug wheels to work and had them shot-blasted. Then they were painted with red epoxy paint used on forestry saws. It was a rush job but they look okay. They should hold up good though. After the paint cures for about a week I'll get the 135s put on the two 4.5" wheels and the 165s put on the 5.5" wheels. I have some baby moon caps coming that fit 4 lug wheels. These will replace the empi 8-spoke clones that are on the 69 now. PIC


I also worked on the narrowed beam project for a few minutes. I have one shock tower off and the ends cleaned up and I cut off the stabilzer bracket. Hopefully I can work on it more this week.

Today, I replaced the front-to-back brake line on the baja and bled the back brakes. I also put on a new battery terminal. Tomorrow, I plan to adjust the valves and maybe mount the rear bumper cage.

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OK, I'm kind of back and forth between here and the "what did you do yesterday?' thread so some updates may be posted there, some here and some both places??

I traded for another 1-pc baja front end and bumper for the 74 baja. It is partially sanded already and I hope to work on it ore sometime this week. I took the tilt bumper to work today and had it blasted. I also PB Blasted the hinge part for a couple of days to loosen it up. Then I heated it up with the natural gas torch at work to dry out the rust & PB Blaster. Then I blew it out with the air hose and it turns pretty good now. I did all that before it was blasted. I should have it painted tomorrow and installed by Wednesday along with the front end.

I went and had the tires put on the red wheels today I got two brand new 165s taken off the wide-five wheels they were on and mounted on my 5.5" 4-luggers, the 135s from Nickster mounted on the 4.5", all static balanced with the weights on the inside of the wheel, and 4 new valve stems for $22!!! The same place took the old tires off for free so I could get the wheels blasted. Who do you think I'm buying my next set of tires from?? They did put one small scratch on the rim of the front wheel that had the tire taken off twice.

I got home and it was raining but I had to mount the new wheels anyway. So, I changed all four wheels in the rain and put the baby moons on there Car may not be for sale afterall.

More pics in "...Yesterday" thread.

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74 baja: I finally got the bumper painted and mounted. The 1-pc frontend is mounted to the bumper but not to the cowl. I need to figure out if I want to use the hood pins I have or get some dzus fasteners for it.

69: I've been tinkering with it quite a bit lately. I mounted the decklid, put the door panels on, put some carpet in the rear package tray, screwed one of my VolksRods plaques to the rear luggage area under the back window, put a back seat in but haven't bolted the upper part in, installed window cranks, painted the inside of the decklid red, painted an iron cross on the rear window and outlined it with stick-on pinstriping [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/funny.gif[/img] , touched up some of the semi-flat paint, painted some of the interior and the front fenderwells, straightened out the steering wheel and put a horn button on it, pulled some of the old window tint off, cleaned some overspray off the windows and installed the rear engine tin. That's all I can think of right now.

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Pic of my quickie 20 minute iron cross. I know it's off center and wider than it is tall among other things. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/funny.gif[/img]

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I finally welded up the moon vent hole and the mirror hole. There are pics in the "...yesterday?" thread and in the moon vent thread. I still have to weld up the trim holes on the doors.

I look back at pics from when I bought these two bugs. I actually have done quite a bit to them [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img] Most of it has been little stuff but little by little I'm getting them done. It's not easy to build two cars on a very limited budget. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif[/img]

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I guess everything is on hold again. House is sold, all my tools, welder, compressor, etc is going to be stored in my brother's shop temporarily, my VWs are all at my buddy Matt's (mammbush) house. How he got that by his wife I'll never know... " Hey honey, I'm going to store eight VWs in the backyard for this guy, but some are just chopped up bodies and one is a camo'd bay window!!" Actually, only seven of them are mine, he bought the other one from me!! Yeah, that would have went over well with my wife.
All my furniture is stuffed in a 10'x25' climate-controlled storage unit. I still have to move a lot of stuff by next weekend. The atv's and riding mowers will be at my sister's where we're staying for a couple months. My computer access may be limited for a while plus I'll be busy with the whole house thing, I'm sure. I should know tomorrow whether I;m moving to Texas or not.

The future's uncertain and the end is always near...
~Charlie

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Nothing really has changed. I'm not going to Texas. I've sold all my VWs except the black 69 and the 74 baja, and the 61 baja, oh, and the 72 baja parts bug at the inlaws house.

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I suddenly needed some quick cash so I sold the 69 RHD suicide-doored bug and the 74 baja and pretty much all my VW parts. I'll be looking for a replacement soon though, probably after the first of the year, maybe sooner who knows.

On another note, I sold my 89 Toyota ext. cab 4x4 and bought an '05 Ford F-150 XLT SuperCrew I've never had a vehicle payment in my life (I'm only 35) so that part is going to suck.

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I've been busy lately with the house renovations, moving and all that so nothing new on the VW front. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif[/img] I did get the 61 baja I had over here to the house. I'm storing a 66 ghia for Terry (scamper, the guy that bought my 69) that I was thinking about buying but probably not. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/confused.gif[/img] I may piddle around with the 61 baja once I get some 220 power to hook up my welder and compressor, maybe try a chop. I want another driving VW but I have to get the Mrs. a new vehicle first, then maybe a garage and a new atv ( my brother has a 660 Raptor that is bad-ass!!) So, it will be a while unless something just folows me home, it's happened before. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

I've got the [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Sawzallsmiley.gif[/img] and the [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/welderface.gif[/img] part down, I just can't seem to keep one long enough to [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/driving.gif[/img]

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Still no VW, bummer.

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OK, I picked up two fiberglass buggies over the weekend. I'll post some pics soon. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

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I haven't had much time to play with the buggy yet. I did change the starter (didn't help) and put in a new Optima Red Top battery, new terminal ends, changed the steering wheel and put in another turnsignal stalk which I cleaned and painted. I also took the wire wheel to the aluminum adapter so it has a nice brushed finish now. I removed a bunch of stray wires just to get them out of my way. Next is cleaning the gas tank and new filter & tune-up parts as I wait for a new wiring harness that I haven't even ordered yet.

I'll get some pics up asap. My digital camera took a dump on me and my phone is only compatible with xp or better, I'm still running 98se. I should have my new computer in a week or so. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Dancing.gif[/img]

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I took a few pics today. More pics at the LINK

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The yellow buggy doesn't look any different but it is. I have to give a big thanks and a bunch of credit to my buddy Mike (my65vert) on thesamba. He has spent a lot of time on my buggy this week to get it ready for me to roll. It now has new brakes (master cyl., wheel cyl., main line, shoes, hardware), all new tune-up parts, fixed wiring and ignition, fixed pedal cluster...much more little stuff that all adds up. My buddy Matt (mammbush) also worked on it and supllied a bunch of parts.

Hopefully, by this time tomorrow I'll be rolling in the buggy [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Dancing.gif[/img] I've already registered it and got insurance on it.

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OK, the buggy has been running and legal for a week now. I've probably put about 150 miles on it this week. It has a few issues to be worked out but I'll get to everything soon. I also lifted the body off the pan of my purple Spatz buggy and started cleaning up the pan. I'll post a pic or two tomorrow maybe.

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Damn, I've got a lot of pics. I'll post a few sometime this week. I've been running the yellow buggy around town for a while now, drove it to work and back once (~60 miles), took it to the next town for a meet at the Sonic, etc. The only problems I've had is a clogged fuel filter because I never did clean out the tank [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif[/img] and I lost all power and had to tow it home one night because of running just off the battery. It still has a little sputter but I think that will be gone when I clean the fuel system properly. I have a litlle (ok, major) shudder when I take off that I think may be broken trans mounts.

I've started sanding down the purple Spatz buggy and collecting parts for it. I also picked up a shortback rail buggy frame but the front of it is fubar. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif[/img]

More later...

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OK, the yellow Sand Shark buggy is all apart right now. I have to fix or repair the gas tank, get some better singleport cylinder tin and the adapter seals for the doghouse oil cooler conversion. Than I should be able to put it back together

The purple Spatz buggy that I've been working on may be traded off this weekend. I think I may have finally found my volksrod project. I really like the Spatz and had big plans for it but oh well.

If I get time tomorrow I'm going to take an hour and a half drive to check on the remote possibility that a VW my brother saw five years ago may still be there. It's worth the drive. I'll let you know as soon as I know.

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OK. I went and bought a pair of EMPI chrome single port cylinder tin from the local foreign car store(Eastern Imports). Man, have they gone crazy with their prices or what!!!! Anyway, I bought the adapter seals for the oil cooler too. I got home and had to drill out the holes for the doghouse cooler studs to fit into the case, no biggie. One of the new tins doesn't fit right but it will work. Then I snapped one of the intake studs in the head I had another head and luckily the stud came out of it easily and out of mine too, so that's fixed. So now the engine is mostly back together. I should have it back in before I go back to work Wednesday. I still have to fix the tank and remount the windshield, hood, etc.

The purple Spatz is loaded on a trailer ready to go to Georgia in the morning.

The VW my brother saw years ago was still where he said it was. He didn't remember exactly where it was but I found it after about an hour of driving in circles. It was supposed to be a double cab but turned out to be a rusty mid-60s single cab. I left my number with the owner's wife but no call yet.

With a little luck I may have another bug this week. It's a real long shot but...

I'll post some pics of my buggy when it's back together and maybe a couple other pics tomorrow.

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I have the engine almost ready to go back in the buggy. I switched out the generator to an alternator and the stock 1500 got doghouse oil-cooling too. I also cleaned and painted a few things along with new seals and a little chrome.
After:


I delivered the Spatz buggy to Hahira, Georgia this morning and brought back my new volksrod project.





More later.

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OK, I got the engine back in the buggy and hooked up except I haven't done the wiring to the alternator and bypassed the external regulator. I sealed up the old gas tank and put it back in, put the hood section back on and hooked up the steering column again. I'm thinking I'll just have to go get the stainless screws to remount the windshield and I'm all set to go.

WRONG!!! I hook the battery back up and turn the engine over a few times but it won't start. So, I stop and go back to check everything over again only to find no fuel in the filter and oil pouring out on the ground. I changed to a doghouse cooler, used the correct 8mm to 10mm seals and everything but I think I know what I did wrong. I didn't have the right size copper washers so I slipped a couple steel ones in there . I don't know what I was thinking.

I put a new main seal in and when I put the pressure plate back on the ring in the center was crooked. It didn't matter how I tightened it I could not get it to sit even close to straight. I'm still running a 180mm flywheel so I didn't think the local AutoZone would have the p/p on hand and I wanted to get this thing back together. So I got a p/p from a buddy of mine. It is new except someone took the ring off of it??? So I put the ring off my old one on it (PITA!!) and put it with the new clutch disc on and everything seems fine. I stepped on the clutch pedal after everything was back in the car and it seems to be binding somewhere. Since I'll have the engine out anyway I'll just order a new p/p.

Then I get to remove the hood (another PITA) to figure out why I'm not getting any gas through the line.

It may get sold after I fix it so I can dump the $$$ into the ragtop.

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Wow, it's been a while since an update. I haven't done much so that's why. I've had the yellow buggy together and apart a few times now. Currently, it needs the windshield put back on a the new shortened (LoCashRacing) clutch cable installed. It still has a small oil leak and I've never rewired it for the alternator.

The ragtop is still sitting, I haven't touched it.

I'm sort of looking for a pre-65 vert. I'm also about to build a small garage so I'll have a place to work on stuff.

The house and job have been keeping me pretty busy but I'm hoping by the end of the year to make some good progress on my ragtop. You'll like it, I promise.