Don's VW Page
 
This page is dedicated to my 1963 VW Bug.I will be selling it soon as I have too many cars and have had this one long enough. I almost hate to see it go, but i'm not really into driving it anymore and don't have a good place to do what work it could use. I origionally did this car in 1981. It was pretty much a frame off restore / upgrade. When I bought it it was red and the sunroof was missing. Someone had screwed a piece of vinyl over the hole the old sunroof left. I welded up the holes from the screws and had some friends do all the body work. It has been painted twice in the last 24 years. It was painted in 1981 and in about 1990.
  This is a picture of the drivers side of the VW with the sunroof open. You can see the color scheme of tan body and dark brown fenders. The chrome wheels and Porshe 356 style hub caps really add to the look. The tires are new. I had to go down one size in the front because, after installing the 1 1/2' drop spindles in the front, the tires rub the fenders (they still do slightly, but not as bas as with the stock tires). I used drop spindles because the ride is much better than playing around with adjustable spring beams or leaving springs out.
 
This is a passenger side view. You can see the exhaust muffler. I use a regular header setup. Now that the front is lower (not slammed too far) I get plenty of clearance in the rear so the muffler doesn't get snagged coming out of driveways.  
 
  I got a little artsy with photoshop in this picture. I blurred the ugly background so the car would stand out. You can see the car from a right corner aspect. I did not touch up the car at all in the photo.
 
This picture shows the dash and steering wheel. This car was a daily driver for many years so there is some wear and tear on things like the steering wheel cover and the passenger grab handle. You might notice that the trim for the dash was not painted, it was chromed. The steering wheel has the chrome horn ring which were hard to come by for a while. The only ones you could find were that ugly dull aluminum ones that didn't reflect the sun (which was the theory of why the chrome units weren't available). The radio has recently been replaced with an "El Cheapo", but at least it has an input jack on the front so you can plug in an iPod or MP3 player. It is not the radio shown. The wipers (and of course the rest of the car) are 12 volt units.  
 
  Here is another view of the dash and the inside. The carpets are worn and will need replacement. Pardon the junk on the passenger seat.
 
There is some minor touch up done very poorly by one of my ex-friends on the upper rear hood and engine air intake vent. The stay spring mount for the hood broke and had to be welded. The guy that did the touch up ws not the person that painted the car. Unfortunately this "friend" kept the car for so long I told him I had decided to take it elsewhere, then he did this less than desireable job for "free". I got what I paid for.  
 
  The engine has somewhere around 80,000 to 100,000 miles on it. I built it from a type 3 case I had (I used to own a VW shop). It has 88mm pistons and the stock 69m crank. I did case inserts, line bore, bearings and all the usual items to it. The heads were cc'd and other than a mild cam, Holley/Weber progressive two barrel carb and a genuine 050 (not 009) distributor its fairly stock. I think it puts out about 75hp or so. It runs well but never got the mileage the old 40hp did. It is 12 volt and has a stock 12 volt flywheel and starter.. The clutch is new, it has been tuned within the last 1,000 miles and has a new exhaust system. The tin was cleaned and a fresher coat of paint applied while the engine was out for the new clutch. I also put new manifold boots on at that time, 2003. The heater cables need to be extended and hooked back up. I have gotten lazy. The transaxle was built by a friend of mine in 1981 and has a tall 3rd and 4th gear. 1st and 2nd are stock.
 
One of the ugliest parts of the VW is the Headliner. It has fallen into a pretty shabby state due to years and wear. This picture shows the headliner just at the visors. You can see the handle for the sunroof is missing. I keep a handle in the drivers door pocket. The reason is that it isn't the origional handle (its from a later model steel sliding sunroof) and it has no way of fastening it. I can not locatte the origional handle. I talked to one place that does headliners and was quoted $500 to take out the windows and put in a real nice headliner with comparable material. The origional perferated vinyl wouldn't look as nice as this "mohair" material.  
 
  The head liner in the rear is in pretty much the same shape as the front. It will need to be redone.
 

Well thats the good and the bad of it. There are a few other things to know.

In 2003 I freshened it up as money would allow. It got

1. New brake shoes, wheel cylinders, master cylinder, the main brake line from the master to the rear brakes.

2. King and link pins (though the bushings on the drivers side were reamed too large and may need to be redone)

3. New clutch including plate, disc, t/o bearing, gland nut and flywheel seal.

4. Tune up (points plugs fuel filter valve adjust) and intake manifold boots.

5. Axle boots replaced and fluid changed

6. Wheel bearings both front and rear.

7. Tires (have an extra pair of 165 15)

8. Rebuilt speedometer

 

That is about all I can say for it Good Bad or indifferent. Hope it was informative.