Painting the wheels

After successfully keeping the rust at bay, I then began layering on very thin layers of primer. I used Rustoleum high performance primer and Rustoleum high performance enamel paint that is said to be tough enough to resist dings and damage. This is quick drying as well.

Painting was a challenge as you are a slave to your conditions. My conditions were sunny and windy. Lots of pollen, tree flowers and flying insects to make the smooth paint challenging.

After cleaning, prepping and applying the layers of primer, I painted the inside of the rims with the Rustoleum black enamel paint. I chose black for the inside because it would show less dirt and it would be harder to clean. I applied layer after layer until I was satisfied and let the paint dry overnight.

The next day I painted the outside facing wheels a nice ivory using the layer method. Now it's back to the garage to have the tires mounted and wheels balanced.

Prepping the wheels for painting

Cleaning wheels is difficult and a process more than a one and done deal. You can't just clean the wheels and be done with it, not these wheels anyway. I spent some time spreading on the Citristrip paint remover and scrubbing it off. The directions recommended leaving it on from at least 20 minutes and up to 24 hours. These five beauties needed at least 24 hours to strip off 50 years of paint.

I know I covered this paint remover in a previous post, but I wanted to begin with the paint removing as part of the process. In other words, once you remove the paint, take a break until you are ready to begin a process of rust removal and paint prep.

The next process is to remove the rust. After significant amounts of research on the internet and interviewing painters, I picked out the rust removal process that best fit my needs. I decided to use vinegar. So, I bought gallons of it, filled a container and dipped my wheels in them. This process took a couple of weeks as I cleaned two wheels at a time with a few days each for soaking.

The vinegar soak

I recommend soaking and scrubbing with a course sponge or tough steel wool. If you have chrome wheels, uses something gentle as you'll mess up the chrome. However, if these are steel rims, you won't gouge them too badly, they are tough. Also, my wheels had deep rust. I discovered deep damage that I will live with.

The reason that I am spending so much time rehabbing these wheels is that the newer versions won't fit well with the old VW hubcaps.

If you are able to clean the wheels with this process, then prep them immediately for painting.

My wheels required more work with a drill and wire brush. This stuff was just too much.

Nice and clean

Now, once all the rust is removed, don't do what I did. I cleaned them with water, expecting to paint the next day. To my horror, the wheels rusted overnight. Ugh!



Of course I didn't learn my lesson and repeated the rust 

The rust came back

removal, cleaning and re-rusting process a few more times before figuring out that I needed to put primer on the wheels.





Finally, after removing all the rust, I washed the rims with a pressure washer and wiped them down with mineral spirits. Once dry, I applied a very light coating of primer. I applied the primer with the rims standing up because I didn't care about the single color of primer spraying on all areas. For the actual paint, I'll lay the rims down and do each side in its individual cover.

Finally prepped for paint

The next morning, great news, the primer kept the rust at bay.

Finishing Some Chasis Work

I cleaned all the rotors on the outside to make them look nice and hold off on future rust until I can buy new rotors. Since the work is pretty easy, I'll save the new brakes and rotors until the project is done. I used a drill with a wire brush attachment to clean the rotors. I ground all the surface rust off, cleaned and painted with high temperature black caliper paint. They really look good.


The chassis is pretty much done where rust has been ground out and small holes repaired with POR-15 paint and fiberglass matting. A strong, waterproof bond on the floor pan is what's left. I've removed  most of the bolts, cleaned an repainted them as well. The only thing I couldn't get done was the removal and installation of the CV boots. Those bolts are just too tight and I keep stripping the star fittings.

My last chassis project is the wheels. I went to the local tire changing shop (Top-Line Tires) and paid $5.00 each to remove five tires. My plan is to clean the paint and rust off the rims and repaint in ivory powder coating. I read there is a company htat will do that for me, but online prices were $200 to $1000 per wheel. I'll take this project on myself.
I brought the wheels home and applied an environmental

citrus paint remover product called Citristrip. After the first application, I waited 24 hours and scrubbed with a wire sponge. I applied a second and third application before I was satisfied. The process worked great and now all I have to do is get some deep rust of a few of the rims.

Vintage VW Beetle-Reinstalling the Anti-Sway Bar

Reassembling the front end assembly takes a lot of guts. Just like the rest of the project, breaking systems in to subsystems and subsystems into components isn't that difficult. Determination, limited know how, de-greaser, scrubbers and grinders work well.

Putting it back together is another story.

I mean, I have the basics, turn the bolts in the opposite direction as when you took it off. However, touch, feel and experience play a big part. Removing a heavy object is easier than putting it back on. However, the same gravity that eased removal now fights against an install. You need more engineering and help to put parts back on.

This latest project had me pretty intimidated. The repair manual shows how to remove the sway bar, bushings and metal sleeve. A little reading and you realize that's just brute force. Unbend a fastener and pound it off. But the book also states to throw away the old sleeve.

Why throw something away that is perfectly good?

Here is what the original sleeve looks like:

Metal Sleeve Before Cleaning

Sleeve fastener connected to one side of sleeve.
You can see the tab that will later need to bend down.

  

To save money, I ground the rust off, prepped to surface and repainted it. Now, I'm ready to face the really intimidating part; putting that sleeve back on.

After searching the web, I saw there was no real advice here other than to buy a vice-grip sheet metal clamp (looks like pliers, but with wide pinching surfaces) squeeze the ends together and slide on the tabbed fastener:

I couldn't find any locally and decided to use regular old adjustable "C" clamps. They worked like a champ. So, here's what I did (Use this method if your front end assembly and control arms are remounted onto the chassis:

1. Clean all parts

2. Paint all parts

3. Slide bushings onto sway bar. Largest bushings go first on both ends of sway bar. Bushings are made with uneven ends. Just ensure that the narrowest areas of each bushing (just look and you'll see) point toward the end of the sway bar. If not, physics and angle will prevent easy application of the sleeve.

4. Hold up sway bar onto each lower control bar so that the ends point down. The top of the sway bar should be just in front of the lower two bolts that hold the front end assembly onto the frame.

5. Pick a side, any side. Slide the largest metal sleeve onto the largest bushing. The open end of the sleeve faces down at the front end of the car.

6. Apply and tighten a "C" clamp to bring the open ends together. Slide the sleeve fastener with tab end up from the bottom of the sleeve. You might need a hammer and chisel here.

7. Hammer the tab so that it closes around the bushing.

8. Use same process for all remaining bushings and sleeves

9. Repaint any damage from the install.

Cleaning the Chassis

Clean the chassis:

1. Pressure wash if possible use degreaser to clean off caked on dirt, mud and grease. Mine had 43 years' worth. I actually found a steering gear box under some of that stuff 

2. Use a power drill, stone, wire or other grinding attachment.

3. Grind away.

4. Turn chassis on its side and continue grinding on the bottom 5. Once free of grime, repair any rust holes with miracle paint, POR-15 or other similar product with fiberglass material.

6. Repaint to taste engine, chassis, transmission, etc, with enamel or other resistant and tough paint.

7. Clean and restore old bolts and washer when possible.

8. Remove and replace ball joints, tie rod ends, shocks, CV joint boots, etc.

9. Restore hardware, pedal assembly, brake lines, master cylinder etc.  and other components.

Ball Joints are the Show Stoppers So Far

Prioritizing work is the key. You won't be able to work on everything at once. You also won't be able to work some components until others are first addressed. Take for example the chassis. My pivot point to finishing the chassis is removing and installing the ball joints. Once they are installed, the rest of the chassis can be re-assembled. If not installed, the rest of the chassis has to wait. To the point, I can't re-install the tie rods until then, because the ball joints are critical to the process.

I attempted to change out the ball joints myself. This proved nearly impossible. I tried the pickle fork method, I tried small pressing tools, I tried heating up the elements, but nothing worked. 

After shopping around, I found a local shop, D&K who would do it for $20 per ball joint (labor only). I provided the ball joints ordered from EBay. If your VW beetle is in many pieces, as mine is, the best course of action may be breaking it down to the smallest components. For me, that meant removing the control arms from the front end assembly. This proved a unique opportunity to clean and remove rust from new areas.

If chassis is separate from the body, try this:

1.  Unfasten brake lines to the wheels

2. Remove the tie rods

3. Remove the wheels

4. Remove sway bar

      a.  Use a screw driver to pry grommet up from metal sleeve fastened to the rubber bushings (total of four; two large and two small)

     

 b. Use hammer to tap off metal sleeve fastener

      c. Slide off metal sleeve

      d. Remove sway bar

      e. Clean and repaint sway bar, metal sleeve and fasteners 

4. Loosen bolt at each control arm.

 

5. Use hex wrench to remove bolt completely. A box wrench helps provide extra power for stubborn bolts.

6. Pull out control arm. Careful, if maintained properly, it is greasy. You might also have to tap it gently with a hammer.

Remove entire front end assembly for cleaning.

1.  Jack up the car and put a jack stand under the chassis.

2.  Remove the tires

3.  Four bolts hold the front suspension assembly to the chassis. Remove bolts and the assembly separates. Careful, it's heavy.

Looking for Dirt-Cleaning up the 1969 VW Chassis

I am undertaking tremendous work (at least for a beginner). Although I feel that I am diving in deep, I could probably go deeper, but not sure how. So, for now, I'll stick to the stuff I can see. 

I've got the chassis separated from the body, making it so much easier to focus on getting to parts I need to either replace or clean. So, my focus for the next few weeks is with the chassis. 

40 years of grime have built up. There is at least a 1/4 inch of grease, grime and dirt built up on the floor pan, suspension and steering. Everything in the front end and bottom side is normally not visible, but when the body is off; oh man:

Font steering and suspension before cleaning (view from
trunk) lots of grime here

Driver side front. Super clean now, but rusted. 

For the past few weeks, I've been de-greasing, pressure washing and wire brushing everything. The results of hacking away at 40 years of grime are clean parts. It's nice to see them somewhat restored.

I have removed the tie rods and shocks, steering and heater components. I am currently replacing them with replacement parts and cleaning up what I can salvage.

Many parts are being thoroughly cleaned and painted with high gloss black. The more rusted areas are cleaned and painted with POR 15 paint with makes a strong compound with rust.  Here's what I have so far. Doesn't it look better?

Front suspension and steering components

Rear floor plan and torsion bar

Front passenger wheel assembly

Driver side front floor pan and suspension