'64 Sunroof "Geek"

Thanks to Mr. Conner aka Slim Jim I'm a proud owner of this '64 sliding Sunroof car. Mr. Conner I can't believe it but its in my drive way thanks so much for parting with her. I'll take good care of her.











The first thing my wife asked me was, "Was it a German Police Car?" So with that I think we'll call it PoPo for now.

Welcome to the small window club! You will have it driving by the next Brusters meet right?

Thanks man, I'm a member of the "Hole in the roof club!" as well.

And no I will not have it ready by Tuesday. I wish but it would take me a while to get the engine together. I may ask you guys to come over one Tuesday night and help me lift the body off so I can start on the pan.

looks like a nice solid base to start from!
Any special plans yet?

hellz yeah. party at bobs house, hahaha. what are your plans for it (stock resto, baja , custom)? what motor u plan for it?

Prolly leave the paint like it is, few things need fixin with paint but yes very solid, Rust repair not needed! Has zero rust, door bottoms look brand new, incredible body. It was Sea Blue from factory, one day it may be that color again. For now it will be as you see it, lower it a bit and add either Sprint Stars or Raders.





Interior I like TMI Brick/Off white.

Baja never, Not something this nice that would be an injustice!

Prolly Custom-Resto, kind of like Oh Bugga, well not so Cal-Lookin.

I really want these wheels on it but they are OG and are not cheap at all. Deep offset rear and shallow up front. Sears Raders

Bugman114 wrote:hellz yeah. party at bobs house, hahaha. what are your plans for it (stock resto, baja , custom)? what motor u plan for it?

Nice ride so party at bobs on tue? This week or next sounds like a
VW bash on a work nite. Need directions and time LOL

This add on The Samba is for a pair and they are asking $850!

Very nice! Can't wait to see it on the road!

sweet ride!

The Sliding top wouldn't go back very far.....

That was about it.

So today I took some time to look into why it wouldn't open. In the process I learned how the mechanism works.

The top slides back into a pocket like frame....


Remove the two screws you see, there's two more on the other side....


The Pin slides out and the spring keeps it in place nice and tight....

This pin system pivots so when the top is almost closed it rides up on a cam that raises the back of the top, bringing it level with the roof. Simple!

With those simple steps the sunroof is out. The cover that the headliner is glued to slides under the top. By removing the philips screws around the trim pieces you see the cables will come out and you can remove the head liner tray. This is what was keeping the top from opening all the way. The top was hitting the tray.


The tray out of the car....


Now it's just removing and cleaning everything so I can put it back together.
Here's what all the parts look like taken apart....

Thats the crank, all it does is moves the cables in opposite directions. One tooth off and the top will bind when opened. All the guides are plastic and mine will be replaced at some point. I was very careful removing them as not to damage them. I cleaned all the rust off and greased the plastic channels so it would slide nice and free.


The guides on the sides are aluminum.


So now the top opens all the way.....



So that is it, very simple. All the parts need to be greased a bit to help against rusting as you saw. Right now I plan on piecing this car together and get it on the road. I plan on painting the inside black to match the car now but later I'm thinking of a Creamy Beige color with the Brick/Off white interior. Oh yeah lower it, add wheels/tires and make it go and stop!

Bug Jam.... Maybe...

Nice work I always wondered how those worked!

Hope to see it soon!

NICE BUG, I would have some Raders on but the price is too high for me, im satisfied with my mangle chromies for now. I think I have a hole in my roof to but I only notice it when it rains

Amazing what you can do with a computer, who needs to throw real wheels on to see what it will look like!

Too light for a black car... At least that is my first thought

Attorney Isaiah Loophole wrote:

Isn't that Eric's aka Kromeboy's car? He was running with the BK at one time I think?

RPM, nice job on the slider, good pics too!

DiggerD wrote:
Isn't that Eric's aka Kromeboy's car? He was running with the BK at one time I think?

Yup

Ok, I'm new to the Link Pin front suspension. I'm wanting to lower the '64. Plan is 185/60R15 on Sprint Star aluminum wheel. I'd like to use drop spindles but I'm not sure how narrow I'll have to go to fit the tire under the fender and keep the shocks. Yeah I want to keep the shocks.



I guess one solution would be go as narrow as possible with shock towers and that should be enough to clear the fenders but I'd like to know for sure!

One other thing how do you set the Camber on a Link Pin beam?

front shocks are more work than it is worth.....

Car looks good with those wheels but while you were shopping you should have painted the hood to match

Hope to have it painted in a few weeks for real.....

Attorney Isaiah Loophole wrote:front shocks are more work than it is worth.....

Car looks good with those wheels but while you were shopping you should have painted the hood to match

this is true... when you narrow the beam the ride will become stiffer anyways, and adding shocks will make it more stiff. alot of time the body has to be bent in order for a narrowed shocked beam to be installed, im not sure of the measurements but at some point you have to fab shock mounts, i think its 3 or 4 inches, someone one on thesamba can tell you for sure, i know i have read it b4.

I narrowed my beam for my'66 but I cut it out in the middle, then welded in the adjusters. Where do I cut the Link Pin, Middle, Ends and if I cut it on the ends(cut the shock towers off) I'll have to put new needle bearings in? This does sound easier because I wont have to move all the brackets and steer stop.

rpm750 wrote:I narrowed my beam for my'66 but I cut it out in the middle, then welded in the adjusters. Where do I cut the Link Pin, Middle, Ends and if I cut it on the ends(cut the shock towers off) I'll have to put new needle bearings in? This does sound easier because I wont have to move all the brackets and steer stop.

You really don't have much room at all to narrow it from the center and keep the stock towers on a l/p beam. See this link:
http://www.btinternet.com/~aircooled/wolfsburgeast/beamnarrow.html
This guy narrowed his only 20mm each side and had to remove the "inner" portion of the towers. Looks like a pain in the butt and a good bit of extra work for only 20mm.

I did 30mm each side and I think you saw the custom towers I got at bug-a-paluza. I actually didn't place the towers right at the edge of the beam, so I probably could have gone another 10mm each side, which would be a total of 80mm or just over 3 inches. The custom shock towers I used were straight up/down, but you could probably fab up some that arch like those on a b/j beam to go even narrower.

I wanted to keep shocks and needle bearings, so I opted to narrow from the middle. If you cut the ends off, I don't think you can put new needle bearings in. The stock ends have a little "niche" the bearings fit in (the very end of the beam has a slightly bigger inner diameter).
Once you cut the ends off, the tube will have a smaller inner diameter and the bearings won't fit. Also, the "niche" keeps the bearing in place. The pic below shows the area the bearing sits in.


I really don't know what to tell you. If I did it again, I would just cut the ends off and throw bushings in there. It was just too much of a hassle moving all the supports, and welding the shock towers on. The welding heat sligtly warped the ends of the tubes which then made it a pain to get the needle bearings back in and the trailing arms were tight. If you plan on running 2.5 spindles and think that will be enough drop for you, then I'd definitely cut from the ends, but, if you want to add adjusters, you're still going to have to cut the middle.

Thanks Eric, I guess I'll cut off the shock towers and throw bushings in and weld a support for the ends. Now to find the parts.