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 Post subject: Neighbor Dave's 65, errrrr, 66 Beetle project
PostPosted: Sat Jun 13, 2020 6:02 pm 
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Der Luft Doktor
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Location: OC CA
My neighbor Dave negotiated a hell of a deal on this one-family-owned 65 bug. The PO and Dave go way back, they think of each other as family. Sadly, the guy's wife, who had got the car from her uncle, the original owner, passed away from cancer years ago. The car has been sitting since '97, but luckily in the garage. Dave asked him if he'd let him buy the car, and since they are like family, he agreed. He wouldn't have sold the car to anyone else. I won't say what he payed for it, but let's just say its a fraction of what its worth, plus Dave is going to provide labor for getting the guy's Harley back on the road.
The car was located about 20 miles from here. Dave went over this morning and pulled both back wheels and had new/used tires put on. The fronts held air fine. This afternoon we threw my tow bar and magnetic lights into my FJ and went and got it. The PO had rolled it out of his garage and hosed it off. The car had 23 years worth of dust on it!
Towed it home no problem and pushed it into Dave's back yard, which is concrete.
The plan is to get it road-worthy and drive it a bit. Eventually Dave plans to tear the car apart and restore/mild restomod it with a narrow beam, dropped spindles and disks, smoothies and wide whites, and keep the 40 horse and make it a 1385, maybe with some mild performance upgrades. Should be a fun and fairly easy project. The car doesn't appear to have any rust and has never been wrecked. Its like a dream project!

I'm sure I'll be helping out a lot with the car as Dave is new to VWs. He's a good mechanic though and has a full machine shop in his garage, so nothing he can't handle.

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The funny thing is, this car is very close to the same color as mine. I think as soon as he gets a coat of wax on it they'll look even closer. Its like this car is mine's little brother :P

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 Post subject: Re: Neighbor Dave's 65 Beetle project
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:58 pm 
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dLk Redneck
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Sweet project! it has been a long time since anyone has started a build thread. Looking forward to the updates.

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 Post subject: Re: Neighbor Dave's 65 Beetle project
PostPosted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 8:58 am 
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Der Luft Doktor
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Thanks Ethan.

I've been enjoying IG since I got on there (finally), but I still think forums are the best format for builds...

Anyway, Dave charged up the battery, hooked it up, and all the lights worked except the passenger headlight (probably just a bad bulb or loose connection). The PO had done most of a 12V conversion already, including the bulbs. There's even a volt-a-drop under the hood, I'm guessing the wipers and radio are hooked to it.

He also spun it over with the starter and said the oil light pretty much instantly went out! That seems amazing, like a really good sign.

Plans for the immediate future are...

Fuel system: Recondition or replace the fuel tank and replace all rubber fuel hoses and filters. Check fuel pump to see it it works (replace if necessary).

Ignition: The PO apparently hooked the condenser to the + side of the coil when performing the 12V swap and started a fire. The condenser and probably the points are cooked. I'm also pretty sure the diaphragm in the dizzy will be toast due to its age, AND it's got an H30/31 carb which doesn't have the right vacuum signal anyway, so we're going to throw on a German 009 I have that has a Pertronix setup in it that I know to work. I have a working spare Blue coil too if his is cooked.

Engine: Change oil, clean sump screen, and check/adjust the valves. Give it a good overall inspection.

Brakes: He ordered a complete brake rebuild kit that has 4 new wheel cylinders, new master cylinder, 4 new brake hoses, and new shoes and brake hardware for all 4 wheels. So the entire brake system will be new except the hard lines. The kit was only like $240, seemed like a really economical way to do it. Dave is a machinist and used to do brake drums at a shop, and has a full size lathe, so he can turn the drums himself if needed (and assuming there's any meat left).

Couple days ago we degreased (Purple Power) and pressure washed the engine, it cleaned up pretty good. I didn't think of it at the time, but we should have done the underside of the engine too, I'm sure it's pretty gross!

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This may be optimistic, but it's possible we'll get it on the road, or at least started, this weekend. I'm so happy to have another project at an early stage, it's cool to get a car back on the road that's been off for so long, and then start to change its look. Especially when it's not mine or my money lol.

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IG: @mkzero55vw
'55 Outlaw Oval- 231 hp daily driver :shock:
'56 Oval Vert- Okrasa 36 hp
'52 Standard Split Window
1953 Fleetwood Travel Trailer
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 Post subject: Re: Neighbor Dave's 65 Beetle project
PostPosted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 7:01 am 
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That's cool, to find them like that. :dance:

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 Post subject: Re: Neighbor Dave's 65 Beetle project
PostPosted: Sat Jun 20, 2020 12:49 pm 
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Yeah, I'm not really looking personally, but I would have probably bought that car if I had the opportunity. Get it on the road, drive it a while, then flip it.

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-Brian
IG: @mkzero55vw
'55 Outlaw Oval- 231 hp daily driver :shock:
'56 Oval Vert- Okrasa 36 hp
'52 Standard Split Window
1953 Fleetwood Travel Trailer
2010 FJ Cruiser- The Mountain Goat
30 Ford Model A Pickup Hotrod
Conklin Performance & Engineering


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 Post subject: Re: Neighbor Dave's 65 Beetle project
PostPosted: Sun Jun 21, 2020 4:25 pm 
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Nice project. Hope he enjoys it.

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 Post subject: Re: Neighbor Dave's 65 Beetle project
PostPosted: Sat Jun 27, 2020 2:49 pm 
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So... turns out, Neighbor Dave's 65, is a 66 lol. Looking at the motor when we were working on jt today, I noticed the heads didn't look like 40 horse heads. Clue #2 was that it has an H30/31 carb bolted directly to the manifold, IIRC on my 40 horse I had to run an adapter to run one of those. So I looked up the engine number, "F0......," bingo, 1300 cc's! Was thinking, okay, maybe someone replaced the engine at some point. Then I started thinking about the wheels... 66 and 67 only... hmmmm, finally, I seemed to remember there was something unique about 66 bumper over-riders, a curve in the center... check. Finally rubbed the dirt off the chassis number, big bingo, its a 66!
Guess when I was starting wonder I could have just looked at the front beam, should be ball joint.

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IG: @mkzero55vw
'55 Outlaw Oval- 231 hp daily driver :shock:
'56 Oval Vert- Okrasa 36 hp
'52 Standard Split Window
1953 Fleetwood Travel Trailer
2010 FJ Cruiser- The Mountain Goat
30 Ford Model A Pickup Hotrod
Conklin Performance & Engineering


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 Post subject: Re: Neighbor Dave's 65, errrrr, 66 Beetle project
PostPosted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 7:48 am 
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dLk Redneck
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vent in the center of the dash and the emergency light switch is a dead giveaway as well

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 Post subject: Re: Neighbor Dave's 65, errrrr, 66 Beetle project
PostPosted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:44 am 
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Very kool. Nice color too.

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 Post subject: Re: Neighbor Dave's 65, errrrr, 66 Beetle project
PostPosted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 12:39 pm 
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ConcreteAce wrote:
vent in the center of the dash and the emergency light switch is a dead giveaway as well


Ethan, weren't the bumpers in 66 one-year-only, or am I mistaken? I seem to remember when Ben got his 66 had had a tough time finding one of the bumpers. I could be confused though, wouldn't be the first time :lol:

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-Brian
IG: @mkzero55vw
'55 Outlaw Oval- 231 hp daily driver :shock:
'56 Oval Vert- Okrasa 36 hp
'52 Standard Split Window
1953 Fleetwood Travel Trailer
2010 FJ Cruiser- The Mountain Goat
30 Ford Model A Pickup Hotrod
Conklin Performance & Engineering


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