'73 Beetle project - Correction...'75

So I'm currently working on a '73 beetle that I've just purchased. The guy I bought it from fed me a few lines (I knew this as he was talking, by the way) about the engine, what it had and what it was...etc. However, I wanted the car, so I didn't really mind. He wrote on the bill of sale that the car is a '73 project vw. The VIN number wasn't found on the door panel, nor near the windshield. I had to use a wire brush and some goof off to read the numbers engraved into the chasis and from what I've found, the car was originally a '75 model. The engine is however a '73 or before. It had: an electric fuel pump in it that had to be removed, a clogged filter with water in it, gas in the oil (from the electric pump), crushed push rods, a chopped top, the list goes on. Here are some pics of what has been done so far. I've only owned the car for about 2 weeks now...so the updates will be slow, I'm sure!

This is the pic I saw on CL before going to look at the car. The guy text'd me a pic of the car WITH the top so I assumed he still had it. He didn't.


Front view:


The engine:


The clogged fuel filter:


side view:


Gas tank:


Interior before a little paint:






No VR, although it had a gen:


Installed VR:


Took the gas tank out, replaced all fuel lines, etc:


Paint on the gas tank:


A little paint on the interior:





That's all for now...more to come!

what are your plans? roadster?

60andslow wrote:what are your plans? roadster?

I initially thought I'd keep it with the rat rod look, but actually I'm leaning towards a mix between rat rod and the Cali bug look. I'm going to put a roll bar in it to replace that metal bar welded in the center, and I'd like to lower it and do it a two toned flat black with cream/off-white. My MAIN plan is to make sure it's running right, though. I'd drive it as it sits right now when I get the engine purring. Even without the hood and deck lid and missing headlight ring and jagged edges lol

Convertibles have special support rails across the side of the body- since the roof's been cut off, you might want to add some convertible support rails- Looks like someone's already adding some steel support back in to the car

Grifspop wrote:Convertibles have special support rails across the side of the body- since the roof's been cut off, you might want to add some convertible support rails- Looks like someone's already adding some steel support back in to the car

Yeah, I'm curious to see how challenging that part of the rebuild is going to be. Where do you notice someone adding more steel support?

on the Samba, I did a search on "support rails" on the "Bug convertible" section and came up with this picture

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=958087

Here's a whole bunch of stuff

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php?search_keywords=support+rails&search_terms=all&search_author=&search_forum%5B%5D=24&search_time=0&search_fields=all&show_results=posts&sort_by=0&sort_dir=DESC

Awesome. Appreciate the find, man! I need to venture over to the Samba more often. I keep hearing a lot about it lol