My Sea Sand '66 - pictures of phase 1 - the assult

[scott66bug]

I am the third owner of this car. Unfortunately the woman that owned it first had it converted to 12 volts becasue she used it as a daily driver through 1995 and she put a new 1600cc engine in it. I couldn't resist this car though. I bought it from owner number 2, a young man who didn't really know what he bought when he bought it. Said another way, the car sat in a garage from 1995-2002 before he bought it. Everything mecahnical needed attention and he paid a great VW man, Bob Hicks in NC, to do it all. So I have a very very solid car mechanically that needed an interior and paint. And I bought it from a kid who had to leave town quickly...so I didn't have to pay much.

I dragged my feet to a large extent in getting it ready for paint becasue I have done that job before and taking it all apart was a nightmare due to rust. Not the case here at all. I took the entire car apart in a few hours. Significantly less than a day.

The pictures were taken early in the day...I will post more when I take the rest of the stuff off the car

So the plan is
1) remove the doors
2) remove the engine
3) remove the balance of the items in the dash
4) tow to the paint shop
5) detail the engine
6) Tow to Professional for headlinner - this one scares me
7) Put it all back together

The biggest dilema was body off or not. I am choosing not becasue I don't want to show it, and there is no rot to fix - any thoughts here??

Pictures






Under the battery was so solid I couldn't believe it



And when do you pull running boards and find metal!!

[couion]

Looks like a very sweet car. A nice candidate for resto. Keep us posted on the progress.

[scott66bug]

GIven what I have and where I am, is the extra cost and time of taking the body off and stripping out all the wiring worth it?

[jmartini]

Given how solid it looks I'm not sure I would go that route, but I would probably coat the floor panels with POR15.

[scott66bug]

Thanks for the advice on the POR15. After reading their site I can imagine all kinds of uses for that stuff.

I am curious if you have learned any tricks for removing the "pan-pads." Those very stubborn sound proofing pads that I had to chisle out of my last bug.

I am also interested in getting advice for firewall (engine side and cockpit side), body, under headliner, and pan insulation for when I put it all back together

Thanks for the help

Scott

[couion]

Try using a heat gun to remove the insulation. It is a tar based insulation if you soften it with heat it should come right off.

[rokemester]

I'm coming into the possession of a 66 in a few weeks. I will have the same decision ahead of me. Did your car function right out of the blocks. My future car has been sitting for quite a while and I don't want to cause any unnecessary damage. It looks pretty solid from a quick review.

[scott66bug]

I lucked into a sweet deal. The second owner was in your position. He bought it from the original woman that bought it new. She was rather advanced in age and the car sat for 10 years before he bought it. He didn't know anything about anything and ended up at Hicks VW in NC for some pretty major work. Breaks, seals, engine...etc. I bought the car about a year later and paid less then he paid to have a bunch of new parts put in...so in short...it ran great, it stopped great, the heat even works!! So my focus has been body and interior. I had no rot to deal with like under the battery or at the running boards so it was worth it to me to take it apart and have it painted well.

Good luck and I would love to see pictures!