Removing Doors From Vintage VW Beetle

Got the doors off, now I can clean up rust.

Removing the rusted door hinges from a vintage Beetle is a chore, but well worth it. Whether done all at once or over time, removing the doors will provide a lighter weight body, easier access to hard to get areas, and great opportunities for a better restoration.

I tried to remove the doors a few months back, but it was just too hard. I tried oil, rust remover, impact screw drivers, and brute strength, but nothing worked. I got a few screws out, drilled out a few more, but still was not able to get a single door off.What a chore, but I put it off until I gained more experience. Besides, there was enough other work to do like learning to weld.

So, now after conducting more research, learning patience, and getting some better tools, I started again. This time I conquered the rusted bolts like a champion. I used oil, a blow torch and the impact screwdriver with a determined rhythm. I heated with the torch, banked with the impact driver, applied oil, hit with the impact drive, burned it again...over and over until the screws let loose. There's probably a better way, but I got those doors off.

The Daily Grind-Stripping Paint and Rust From Classic VW

VW Beetle is 3/4 stripped down to metal.

I've been spending a lot of time trying to get the paint off the car. I've tried a few tricks including sanding and chemical stripping. I've even tried getting someone to media blast it, but that also proved daunting. A side job like my Volkswagon is not a major money maker and therefore pretty tough to find commitment. So, that leaves me.

I spoke with a fellow tinkerer, albeit one with a lot of experience. He recommended an industrial grinder and wire brushes. So, that's what I've been working on. It's a lot of work and requires lots of endurance and strength. I've also had to develop a few techniques to both reduce fatigue and keep the work going along. The results are immediate and satisfaction guaranteed.

I've opted for a Chicago Electric angle grinder with wire brushes, both from Harbor Freight. Originally I could only grind for a half hour at a time, but now I can go for an hour or so. I wear safety goggles, gloves, hearing protection and a good respirator.

Happy grinding.

Preparing for Paint Front End VW Beetle

I spent the day today applying bondo to smooth out the remaining wrinkles. I still have a long way to go to get everything tidy and ready to paint, but the dimples and pin holes are disappearing between the welding and putty application.

I  finished welding the bolt retainer inserts for the front left quarter panel. The hood seal channel was completely rusted so I welded a new one in place. The old one came off easily as it was tack welded and flimsy. The new weld went on easy. I welded it on, ground the rough edges and primered it. I'm not a good welder and you can see where the channel melted a bit. It will hold though.

Also sanded off the remaining glue and tar paper from the interior. Should be finished with this part soon.

Where does all the
rust come from. This is the interior
where the headline fits down the door post

Scrubbing off the old glue and rust from the roof.

Just cleaning up the dash for paint later.

I can't wait to get this bug painted. I'll miss the work though.


I'm going down to metal on my project, but here's a great place to get a new padded dash.

Remove and Replace VW Beetle Headliner

 I removed the headliner and saved the bows. I'll use them again, but since the seals, windows and all hardware has been removed, I can get a good coat of paint applied and have a new headliner installed with professional results. I do plan on installing a folding, slide back roof. How fun. 

Currently, my efforts will involve sanding down the old adhesive so that only bare metal is exposed. Then I'll primer it and prep for painting.

New Interior Color for 1969 VW Beetle

I am sanding and repainting some interior parts to make them off white. This will look great with the green exterior and give it a more retro feel. My father is skilled at painting small components and did a great job with the stick shift and parking brake knobs.

Welding fender bolt inserts onto the wheel wells

New front apron after weld

Welding is something that I haven't mastered. It's hard to find training and while it looks easy on Youtube, welding is fundamentally hard for me. But, it is something that I'm glad to have partial grasp of.

New front apron clip before weld

I tried to tackle welding 

in the new front apron. I successfully sliced off the old piece, but had no idea how to weld in the new piece. My lack of knowledge of geometry, welding and body work became overwhelmingly evident. That's why I'm glad to have had a referral to a skilled and affordable welder.

Since then I have aggressively tackled welding in bolt receiver inserts into the 

New bolt inserts

fender wells. The prior owners used various bolt, washer and nut combinations to secure fenders where the old bolt receivers have rusted or otherwise popped out. Now I have barbarically welded them in. My challenge is the smaller holes left as the new inserts were not as large as the vacant holes. I may fill these in with putty or attempt to weld in small pieces of sheet metal or spot weld with a copper spoon. Either way I am closer to being finished.

I've sanded down the trunk are and just need to smooth out dents, dings and wrinkles that the apron replacement did not cover. My plan is to do a coat of black primer followed by grey. After sanding, the entire area should be black. Any grey areas will indicate low areas that need to be brought out.

New VW Beetle Pedal Assembly

I've got a "new" used VW Beetle pedal assembly. This is great since I wanted to convert the roller to an accelerator pedal.

I bought this jewel for $10.00 at a VW show and went to work. At first, I soaked it in white vinegar for a couple of weeks, wiped off the rust and dust, broke down the old accelerator pedal and began sanding and painting. 

Here's what I have so far:

Old rusty pedal assembly

Halfway through pedal assembly rehab.

Complete refurbished pedal
assembly installed

I've just ordered a new accelerator pedal rebuild kit for $5.00 on Ebay. 

The Front Apron

Lots of Bondo and dents in the front apron

I worked for 5 to 8 hours with hammers and chisels to straighten out my bent and rusty front apron. My plan was to have a new one welded in, but I thought I might be able to fix it the old fashioned way.

However, once complete, it looked like Swiss cheese as fatigued metal snapped, rust broke through and Bondo popped out.

Torn metal found under old bondo and fiberglass.

I had the same experience with the rear apron. I was able to pound out a lot of damage and make it look halfway descent, but the amount of work yet to do was daunting.

Hours of relentless banging and pounding produced nothing but headaches. Time for a change in plan.

I decided to buy a welder and attempt to make the repairs myself. My next logical step is to review welders on line, determine what I needed, take some lessons and make it happen.

Still have about an inch more to remove before I weld.

Removing the front and rear apron required drilling out the old spot welds. Some are harder to see than others, so you might not know that old welds remain until you try to remove the skin. I used a hammer and chisel to remove the skin and chiseled out the remaining welds. Be very careful to not damage the skin on the main car. It's easy to gouge the metal, so if you err, make sure you damage the sheet metal that you are removing.

Just dreaming of what it will look like once I get it welded on.

For the front apron I used an electric saw with a blade meant to cut sheet metal. It went fast. There's a danger to fast as mistakes can happen faster than you can react. 

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.