The Up-Fixing a '65 VW thread

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

That looks outstanding. The seat looks brand new, and the factory rivet is the only way to go. So much better than a pop rivet.

That's going to be such a nice car when you're done.

Thanks Mike. You have commented on every installment of this project's progress, and it means a lot to me that you are interested enough to follow along.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by cantdrv55

What a wonderful project. Congrats on the progress. Can’t wait to see the finished car!

Thank you! I can't wait either!

[Zeke]

Mine:
55 vert
65 vert
67vert
64 sedan
63 transporter
67 split seat bus
68 sedan auto
+2 914's

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Zeke

For future reference, I would have used the toothpick method (genius) with small dabs well below the edge. Once cured and secure, you have access to the entire length of glass to channel and should be able to tool it perfectly.

Genius! High praise coming from the Zeke!!

What you describe is essentially what I did. I guess I didn't describe it well.
I put RTV in places on the edges to anchor the edges to the frame, then inserted the glass and centered it with toothpicks, putting small dabs of RTV in spots around the perimeter to hold it in the center. When the RTV set up I took the toothpicks out and finished sealing the crack all the way around with RTV.
On the second vent I was more careful about wiping off ALL the RTV from the glass and the chrome while it was still paste-like.

[thingmon]

Nice work! I have a '63 Ragtop and a '72 Super that I've been ignoring for too long. I need to get back into the garage!

[GH85Carrera]

Back in 1970 when old bugs were just throw away cheap, my brother bought a 65 bug that had rolled over for $100. The body was trashed. We unbolted the body, and only kept the instruments and the seats. We cut it in half, shortened the wheel base to what was supposed to be 6' but it ended up at 5'11" and certainly close enough to weld old salvaged handrail and fence pipe from a prison that was torn down. Tack welded sheet metal to the fenders to keep some of the mud off of us. Dual rear tires, and engage fun level 10. I learned to drive in that thing. It was street legal in Alabama as there was no such thing as safety inspections. It was a safer road vehicle than many piles of junk driving around.

It was ugly, but indestructible, and we tested that regularly. One road through a wooded area was tree lined. We would ricochet it off of the trees when we got going too fast. My brother managed to roll it on it's side and it did truly zero damage except get some mud on the roof roll bar.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

....interested enough to follow along.

I like seeing good craftsmanship, old things brought back to life, and I also had a 65 Bug in off white. Best "slow car fast" driver I ever had.

[DonDavis]

Looking really great.

Your pictures are also important to the documentation. Such goodness.

[Chocaholic]

Wow...very nice. Wish I had your ability...and your car collection!

[wdfifteen]

For the past few weeks I’ve been working on finishing the installation of the headliner and assembling the doors and ¼ windows.



Original insulation was applied over Dynamat before I started gluing the vinyl panels into place.





The vinyl is glued into place with special glue that takes forever to dry, it has to be held tight while the glue sets up. The glue holds well even when it is soft, to give you time to re-tighten and reposition the vinyl.

I’ve never installed a headliner before, so I supposed I shouldn’t be surprised that I completely FUBARed the first one and had to order another one. The side panels went in OK, but the roof panel seemed to be an inch too short. I ripped seams on the first one trying to stretch it cold. After that learning experience, I ordered a new roof panel and a heat gun. The heat gun is fantastic. With Vicki using it to gently heat the vinyl and me pulling with all my might we stretched the center panel into place and it doesn’t look too bad.


Next came assembling the doors. I had already assembled the vent window assemblies and they were ready to go. All I had to do was the “easy part.” My first attempt at the easy part ended in $125 worth of trashed trim and seals. I’m a quick study though and while the new parts were on their way, I figured out that you have to install the subassemblies in a specific sequence. Once I got the sequence right and everything was installed, the glass wouldn’t slide up or down. The inner and outer rubber glass wipers held the glass in death grip. I tried silicone and dry Teflon lubricant without any luck. Someone suggested baby powder. Baby powder these days is just corn starch with perfume int it. I didn’t want my car smelling like a baby’s ass so I went with straight corn starch and windows began working like magic.





My first attempt at assembling the door resulted in $125 worth of trashed parts.


The quarter windows came next. Again, more pushing rubber seals into the grooves in the windows. The old window latches were rusted beyond use and I went with some reproduction parts. I only use repro parts if originals aren’t available. I tried buying some decent latches, but the seller and I couldn’t agree on how I was going to pay for them. I gave up and bought the rather sketchy repros. I had to do some work on them to get them installed and they will be adequate for my use.



After the engine seals, hood seals, and vent window seals, the quarter windows presented me with yet more rubber seals that had to be pushed into slots. I haven't pushed so much rubber into tight places since I was a teenager.

[wdfifteen]

The headliner seems to be constantly creating more wrinkles. This side was looking good until I cut the hole to install the interior light. The glue used on the headliner stays soft for weeks, so when a new wrinkle appears you have to pull the vinyl loose and re-tighten it.





With the doors assembled and the 1/4 windows in it was finally time to give my hands a rest and reward myself for all the hard work with some bling. So I put some of the stainless steel trim on.




Shaun (Tru6) had his service replate the radio faceplate over the winter and it arrived home just in time. I installed the radio and sat back listening to some 60’s rock and roll while I admired the finished dashboard. The speaker actually sounded pretty awful on the bench but in the car it's not bad at all. The turn signal switch and steering wheel will be some of the last parts installed. I don't need them in the way when I'm installing the carpet.

[Rot 911]

That is turning into one good looking VW! Nice work!

[Rodsrsr]

Very nice. I love old bugs.

[porsche tech]

Headliner looks great!

[rcooled]

Great work so far! That Bug is lookin' mighty fine

[herr_oberst]

Now that the headliner and windows are in (and looking fab-you-luss, BTW) it's all downhill from here! Very cool car, and thanks for keeping us along for the ride.

[wdfifteen]

I'm working on the VW using the Dave Ramsey plan - Baby Steps. Slow as it is, I am making progress.

I am amazed at how some little sub-assembly can take so much time to restore.



I had to drill out the screws that hold the striker plates so I could get them off and rebuild them. Took nearly a week.



I repaired the frame and recovered the rear seat back. It doubles as a package shelf so I had to cut a sheet of plywood down to go under the carpet.



The rear area is ready to have the rear seat installed.



The pros who know what they're doing put contact cement is a spray gun to glue the carpet down. But I'm not a pro and I don't know what I'm doing, so I bought a dozen chip brushes to apply the glue with and installed the insulation and the carpet one piece at a time.



A huge step forward was finishing the wiring! Not long after I started this project I got a couple of old sofa cushions to lay on while I worked.



After sorting the rat's nest of wires that I started with I wasn't totally confident I had made all the connections right. I also converted all the lights to all LEDs and I wasn't sure about how that would work out. When I first powered the car up to test it I put a fuse in the main line from the battery so as to avoid a classic "smoke test." I wasn't able to test the starter or generator yet, but everything else works!

[herr_oberst]

Waxing melancholy here; everything about that bug makes me feel nostalgic.

It was made to be worked on by the owner using simple tools provided with the car (or no tools at all) and the design and placement of all the components was just ultimately logical, but aesthetic design still counted for a good deal of the whole package.

[billybek]

Awesome thread! I have been enjoying your progress.

[911 Rod]

Looks like a fun project!!
What is the standard wheels size?
My friend has one with 15" and it looks ridiculous.