My 1959 Euro Bug

I have finally started working on my bug after 2 years of ownership. I got the '59 in a trade and from what I found out, it was sold new in Germany to a US soldier (Howard Weeks). He brought it home to Dallas, Texas in May of '69. I have the original 1969 Texas title that came with the car and it shows that he sold it in May of 1997 to someone in Kentucky, then made it to Tennessee and finally Georgia. It had been hit in the right front sometime after 1997 and was cut down into a Baja with the 36 hp running a 2 barrel adapter.

I have been collecting parts since I got it and rebuilt a few things. The 1600 DP was rebuilt and the tin has been sand blasted and repainted, installed an alternator and used a 1967 dual snorkel aircleaner. Rebuilt the kingpins and installed dropped spindles, built a new from scratch 3 1/4" narrowed beam.

I fixed 1 of the semaphores last night and tested it at work today, works fine. The other has a broken link and hope to have that working by Tomorrow night. I have installed the engine with the '68 transaxle, but my change to the narrower axles. The car has been converted to 12 volt, except for the semaphores. These must stay at 6 volts and I used a voltage reducer just for them. The wipers are being converted to single speed using the WW kit.

Some of the bad things that need repairing are the front and rear clips. I picked up a 1960 front clip to replace the 1964 front clip and its now ready for me to give the car a nose job. On the rear its a different story. Some rocket scientist welded a 1974 rear clip on, complete with the emission canister and vac lines. I have found a perfect rear clip, just don't have the money yet.

Ready to begin the rebuild

'60 front clip

Good deck lid, has 1 small dent

Clean front fender wells and heater channels

My rebuilt 1600 dualport

3 1/4" beam that I built

The original 51 year old wiring

New harness I made, front, semaphores & tail lights

Long block finally in

Starting to install the new wiring

Fine quality front clip

Semaphore pocket

Some of the new tail light wiring

'74 Super Beetle rear clip

i have a set of short axles and tubes ill sell ya - $50

Danny, I still have that oval rear clip at my house. Let me know if you want to come look at it.

Been very busy these last 2 weeks. I have been working from the back of the car to the front. The semaphores are working, but needs new cloth covered wires and gaffers tape. The turn signal switch is installed and works.
I did finished up the rest of the electrical system, but haven't installed the front harness install yet. I have tested the electrical, dash lights work and the head light switch dimmer works too, tail and brake lights are working and even the dome light works when the doors open.

I installed the fuel tank for testing purposes, replaced all the rubber lines, bent a new 6 mm line for the engine bay and installed a fuel filter under the back of the car. Got the engine shroud, carb and alternator bolted on, touched up the chips from the installation and hooked up the electrical. Ran the engine for 15 minutes and checked the charging voltage which is at 13.4 volts idle through 4,000 rpm's.

I replaced the parking brake cables, but ran into a snag with the '68 long axle setup. The cables are too short to attach to the parking brake handle. I hope to fix problem when I change back to the narrow axles.

Now I have to decide on what to do with the front clip. I really want to drive it this summer, but the front fenders don't line up do to the really bad nose job. I will make a decision tomorrow if I will cut the clip off or wait until winter.

I will up date later in the week.

Danny

I finally brought the car out of the garage. First time in 2 years that the car has seen direct daylight. The PO lowered the rear, but did not get it even so now its lower on the drivers side. Now I am moving to the front suspension. I am putting in the 3 1/2" narrowed beam today and hopefully the control arms, but I forgot to pick up the rag joint for the steering box. Here are a few shots of the car in the driveway. Please excuse the block of wood with casters.

Looks like you are making good progress!!

Thank you DiggerD.

I was able to get the beam in and the control arms. I took a short break and fired up the car. As it was warming it up, it died after 3 minutes. It wouldn't start, it would try and just pop. I checked the carb, opened the throttle and it was dry and also have a fuel filter next to the transmission and its 1/2 full. At first, I was thinking the float/needle must have gotten stuck or the fuel pump died from sitting for 18 months. The car ran for 15 minutes last week, I know the fuel bowl can not hold that much gas. Filled the carb fuel bowl and tapped on top of the carb and it fired right up and ran great for another 2 1/2 minutes until it ran out of fuel again.

I pulled the fuel line off the pump and gas pours out and the filter is filled back up again. I pulled the fuel line to the carb and crank it over, but the pump didn't pull any gas. It does have a Brosal re-buildable style pump, but I was reading that some of these aftermarket pumps have the inlet and outlets reversed from the original VW design. Tried it both ways and still no fuel flow.

Anyway I will get to this new problem later in the week. My goal was to be on all 4 wheels and have brakes by next Saturday.

that thing gonna be rolling this weekend?
lights and registration is for squares i want to see it at fudds lol

I wish it would be ready. I just called it quits for the night. Got both dropped spindles and backing plates on and the right front brakes are ready to go on. I should be done with the brakes in the morning. Steering box and tie-rod assemblies are next. I will pick up a rag joint for the column and a new fuel pump on Tuesday. I have the headlights assemblies sitting on the work bench ready to go on and putting it on the Insurance policy this week. Who knows, it may make it to the meeting??

you can get it done!
i don't want to be the only car there lol
kyle and drew have graduation so they probably won't be there

I picked up my parts today and the brakes are on. I almost forgot that my Mom and Step Dad were passing through on their way to DC. So nothing was got done this evening. I hope to have the steering done tomorrow night. I ran into another snag with the front drums. I installed the dropped spindles, but forgot to remove the bearing spacers off the old stock spindles before I dumped them. I slipped the drums on and they are rubbing on the backing retainer bolts. I checked with Billy at Stockornauts, he said they don't need the spacers. I hope that its something simple to fix.

Danny

looking real nice! but why the super rear clip?

Thanks Zabo, I guess that's what BobbyVW up in Cleveland, GA (The owner who converted the car back to stock from a Baja) had laying around at the time? The front clip and hood he used was off an early '62, but I do have the correct front clip waiting to be installed over this winter. I found a perfect rust free '59 rear clip, but just don't have the $300 right now to get it.

Managed to get the front-end and the brakes are done. Steering box and tie rod ends are in and the steering box is center. I didn't have to narrow the right side tie-rod assembly, I installed another left outer tie rod end and eliminated the steering stabilizer. I never had one to start with and this narrowed the right side by 2". I cut 1" off the left side and re-tapped the left inner with a 14 x 1.5 mm tap. Everything still looks stock.

My fuel problem was not bad fuel pump, but after rechecking before buying anything, I checked the fuel tap and it was clogged and leaking. I pulled the tank and removed the tap. The screen was blocked 1/3 of the way, cleaned it out and now fuel flows nicely. I need to order a screen and gasket for fuel tap. From the tire shots, you can see that there isn't any tire rub on the body, only where the Previous Owners 6" narrowed beam did. I will know if the fenders rub tomorrow.

looking good -

It's looking sweet. Glad to see some progress on it.

I was hoping to get the front fenders on this morning, but got frustrated that I could not find the bolts and washers to install them. So I spent a few hours cleaning up the garage again and I found the bolts. Maybe tonight they be on.

Heinz57 wrote:I was hoping to get the front fenders on this morning, but got frustrated that I could not find the bolts and washers to install them. So I spent a few hours cleaning up the garage again and I found the bolts. Maybe tonight they be on.

if u need any hardware we have alot of the stainless steel kits still
just let me know

Coming along nicely. Keep up the work!

Well, I got the front fenders on last night. The tires don't rub on the headlight buckets, but the fenders stick past the front apron about an 1 1/2" on the left and 2 1/2" on the right. The bumper ends are actual touching the fenders. The idiot that welded the wrong clip on the front clip also either couldn't read a tape measure correctly or even know how to use one. This frontal abortion makes the back clip look good, it will be fixed over the winter and look right again. I'll post some photos this evening.

AHH -tht sucks- sorry to hear tht man

Here are some photos of the front end I am dealing with. You can see the huge gaps I'm fighting. The right front was hit and was straightened out. If you try to pull the fenders in, then they start to flare out over the wheel openings and look really strange.

I managed to rebuild/Replace most of the fuel system this weekend. Rebuilt the fuel tap, replaced the tank filter screen, replaced the rubber/cloth fuel lines and the fuel pump. Still will not run, without putting fuel in the carb. I checked fuel flow out of the fuel tap, both run and reserve, pours out 8 oz in about 15 - 20 seconds. Had my son crank it over and fuel pump is pumping out the fuel. I think the problem lies in the carb from sitting. My guess the needle and float is stuck and will not let fuel flow. Pulling the carb off after dinner to see what its problem is. I steered and rolled it out of the garage on all 4 wheels today.

If you were interested in sizes of the tires are: Fronts 145SR15 Firestone F560 and rears are 185/65/15 Kumho

Pulled the top of the carb and all looks good. Cleaned the top section and then unscrewed the needle and seat. It was full of junk. Cleaned everything out and put it back on. Put a little gas in the bowl and it fired right up and I let it run about 5 minutes, so far so good.

Heinz57 wrote:Pulled the top of the carb and all looks good. Cleaned the top section and then unscrewed the needle and seat. It was full of junk. Cleaned everything out and put it back on. Put a little gas in the bowl and it fired right up and I let it run about 5 minutes, so far so good.

sweeet! cant wait to see this thing cruising with us!