So not sure how many of you will care about this, but figured I'd share regardless. Isn't that what a forum is for? So that anyone care share their drivel about whatever?

Anyway, recently spent the majority of a week working on my girlfriends 1973 Super Beetle Sport, trying to get it ready to drive for the summer. We had attempted to install the new dash and suspension last fall, but her garage just didn't have the right stuff to be able to get this done. Apparently 40 years of rust is a bigger pain then I thought. Hence, why it waited until now, when I could get it out to my Dad's garage.

Here's the pictures of what we got done. Summary is that we re-did the front suspension, painted the wheels, installed a "new" dashboard (i.e. one that was in much better shape then the original that we picked up at a swap meet for $50), and tracked down some Electrical issues.

Let me know what you think.

Here's where it sat at the start of the week.


As you can see the Dash was already removed. The stereo wiring was absolutely hacked together. Gotta re-do that soon.


Wheels ripped off to be painted.


Wheels layed out, ready to begin the process.


Wheels cleaned and degreased.


Painting Supplies.


Left has been scotchbrited. Right has not. It was at this point, I realized a simple scotchbrite wasn't going to cut it and busted out the drill with paint stripper pad.


Taped after stripping them them down.


3 Coats of primer.


Lug Bolts painted. Still think these are goofy.


Wheels fully painted. 3 coats of primer. 6 coats of Black Semi Gloss on the front, 4 coats on the back, 2 coats of Clear. For a $30 paint job, I'm pretty happy with how these turned out.


Put the back tire back on to see how they looked.


Straight on shot. Those goofy "lighter" spots don't really appear when looking at the wheel. I'm wondering if it's just the camera.


VW Symbol. Just decided to take this photo.


Armorall-ed up the new Dash before installing it.


New Dash Installed.


As you can see the wiring is still a mess though. I've got basically everything in the standard harness up and running. The radio I'm going to re-do soon since the previous owner hacked together the wiring for an aftermarket deck.


Got the Hood Open. This wouldn't be a big deal, except if you have ever had a Bug you know you have to pop the latch in the glove box. When you have no dash, this becomes quite difficult.


So, to get the hood open, we had to do this.


Tore apart the McPherson Struts. These were a pain to get apart. The one shock was completely rusted into the Strut. Took a slide hammer and a good 10 minutes of beating on it to get it out. The knuckles were a whole other pain. Had to heat the hell out of them and just smash them with a mallet. Took a good solid 3-4 hours to finally get everything apart.


Also, had to cut apart a ball joint to get one of the struts out. After thinking about it, new Ball Joints were probably a good idea anyway.


Struts cleaned up.


Painted up the struts.


Painting complete.


Front all back together.


Since it's the girlfriends car... she even helped out.


All 4 wheels back on with the front suspension done.


At this point, it's driveable, but the brakes aren't where the should be. Next project will be finish up the electrical (i.e. stereo), get a new hood latch, and get the brakes fully operational. Then it should be good to go for the summer.

 

niceeeeee!!!! moar pics!

 

That's pretty cool. You need to hit those inner fenders with some rock gaurd or black paint

 

nice man! and in that upclose shot of the vdub symbol it almost looks like you weren't generous enough with the paint but it just might be the way the light is hitting it

either way, thats pretty sweet!

 

I think it might be that I was too liberal with the Clear. I might try sanding it down a bit with some 2000 Grit or something and see if they look better. I'm also curious to see how it holds up over time.

Problem is the whole underside of the car already got some sort of black crap coating on it. But they didn't clean it up when they did it. So they just put the coating right over a bunch of rusted out holes and stuff in the fenders. I hope to someday strip the whole car down and get all the rust cleaned up, but that's long term.

 

vdubs are the ****!!!!!!!!! i dont know if there's a proper name..but those fluted out exhaust pipes that come out the middle of the rear bumper..shot up to the sky...those ones...they're sick! get one!

 

Re-Fab me one!!

I would totally trade my ranger for a super bug!