74 beetle ground up restore

dfgdfg · 2003-11-20T00:26:35+00:00

My wife's mechanic says the entire chassis of her beloved 74 beetle isrusted out and unsafe. If I were able to find a chassis, does anyone knowif it's possible to unbolt everything and put it on the new chassis?Yes, I know it's a lot of work, but most of the married men in the groupwill understand a wife's sentimentality (Let's not go beyond that.) andunderstand why it's easier for me to spend months taking parts off an oldcar and rebolting them to a new chassis than trying to explain the death ofsuch a beloved member of the family. (It went cross country in the 70's onan identity search.) It won't be the same car to me or maybe to anyoneelse, but that's not the point.The question remains, given a few winter months and hand tools can it bedone? I can handle an arc welder for short durations of time if neccessaryand I have a 15 year old son who is itching to get his hands on the sawzalland sockets. The mechanics of it won't be a problem nor electrical.The engine was rebuilt about a year ago and brakes, shocks, tires etc. areall relatively new. Body is excellent, repainted twice in the real color.Any alternatives? Welding additional steel to strengthen things up? I'mnot sure how bad it is, haven't seen the underside myself, but I put mytrust in the mechanic who said it, he knows the car for many years. Thefloor pans were replaced a few years ago and are sound. It seems that it'sthe structure that's bad.Onviously, I'm not looking for a 'faithful' restoration, and if I had thetime, I'd go to mexico and drive one back, but I don't think they make theRavenna Green color anymore, so the wife might get suspicious if I came backwith a yellow one. ;-)Especially one with only a couple of thousand miles on the odo. (Bessiepassed 100k many, many miles ago and since they don't make them anymore Idoubt I can find any, except on ebay which has already been nixed since"it's not the same car".)Thanks.

Nov 20, 2003 26 Replies

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Chris Perdue 22 years ago

the heater channels are the equivalent of the american iron's "frame"....very much structural

------------------- Chris Perdue

*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug"

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Tim Rogers 22 years ago

.....................It's great when any bug gets a new life after someone spends a lot of time and money to bring it back. I just think that 'if' a

70's era bug has got a lot major damage from rust involving lets say both the heater channels and the frame head for instance..........well you could spend a lot less time and money on something else that is already solid and maybe save yourself some grief in the end. I have a 66 bug off the pan in my garage right now and it will get those NOS German heater channels welded in, eventually. At least in the meantime, I can still enjoy the hell out that 77 without doing much more than keeping up with regular maintenance and turning the key every time I feel like going out for a spin.

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Chris Perdue 22 years ago

300-400 bucks isn't alot of money, and a couple weekends isn't alot of time...(to replace channels, framehead)....grief? to some maybe, but is it any more "work", "grief" or trouble than rebuilding the engine? not really...and its cheaper...i guess i am just more "hands on"...but i am doing my last bug right now...so the point is moot...

------------------- Chris Perdue

*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug"

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Michael Kelly 22 years ago

Travis... cool...

I myself use ZZ my favorite is this : % ! perl -pe 's####'

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Wolfgang 22 years ago

"frame"....very

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Chris Perdue 22 years ago

wolfgang i can't help but realize that you are misled by the name "heater channel"... the heater channels *secondary* job is to house a tube for transfering heat...a factory heating system in factory *correct* condition is very effective, and more than adequate....

------------------- Chris Perdue

*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug"

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KWW 22 years ago

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