Guest Jacob Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 After a few months of saving money and waiting, I've gotten my first car. (Yeah, I'm pretty young.) I'm not completely sure if this is the correct section, but I looked around for a little bit and I think it is the right section for a build log. Correct me if I'm wrong!Anywho, recently acquired a 1971 Standard VW Beetle for $500. It has pretty much almost no rust, thought there's some small surface rust in some areas (Mainly the pan, but the pan's solid. Just got to get that thing cleaned up.) The guy I bought it from actually gave me most of the parts I need to put it back together as he had been the one to do most of the body work on it previously. The rear had been redone by someone as it had been rear ended. The previous owner had been currently sanding it down to get it cleaned up when he sold it to me. All of the fenders, lights, and the such are in a box tucked away for safety while we get the body and pan ready. It did not come with an engine, but it seems my grandpa is giving me his old racing beetle engine to put in this. Though it's going to need quite a bit of work, it'll be fun . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jacob Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 Yesterday, (Picked it up on Saturday.) we were able to get the body off the pan. It's currently tied to trailer while the pan is ready to be cleaned. While cleaning it up we found a couple small spots with fiberglass around the heater channels and where it got rear ended, but they're pretty minor. Definitely will have to get them replaced with some steel. Meanwhile we're focusing on the pan as of right now. A little surface rust so we'll clean it up well. Kind of funny because as we looked at it and studied it, it honestly looks like an original pan. Someone did a dang good job if they replaced it..Hoping to try and tackle some of the cleaning later today. We did find some rust on the beam that definitely needs some attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jacob Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 (edited) I'll try and get some more pictures for everyone when I work on it tonight! Edited October 12, 2015 by Jacob (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
28 Chrysler Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 Bugs are a good car to start with, lots of parts and info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jacob Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 Bugs are a good car to start with, lots of parts and info. Yep! That's why I like them! They never seem to grow old . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 We showed a '49 VW at Hershey Saturday. Parts for any VW post '52 are cheap and easy to find. Pre '52 is another story all together. I've bought Classic Packard parts that cost less and were easier to find than '49 VW parts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 I used my brother's '70 beetle for a while. I adjusted the timing in both directions quite a bit with no apparent affect! It was not good for a tall person to drive very far but otherwise fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jacob Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 (edited) More pictures as I promised! Currently working on cleaning off the pan now that school is done for the day. Edited October 12, 2015 by Jacob (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jacob Posted December 6, 2015 Share Posted December 6, 2015 Alright. It's been a while due to me being too busy to get a chance to work on Layla; however, I recently took a trip to my Grandpa's for Thanksgiving and picked up his old racing Beetle engine! It's actually a 1965 VW Bus engine he pulled it out (orginally a dual-port) and put 300ML single-port heads on. He souped it up quite nicely and used it in his racing Beetle. It's sat for at least 30-40 years or so, at a wild guess, in his shop. Surprisingly, it still turns until it stops at a certain point both ways. Definitely exciting. I have been finally starting to work on Layla again more lately. Due to a big wind/rain storm starting up while we were in North Carolina in early November, we bought a tarp quick so that the Beetle is now covered! The pan is in the garage now (cleared out some space.) being cleaned up. So far, we've gotten most of the surface rust taken care of as well as cleaned it, and we're going to take off the beam and the transaxle so that we can prepare it for rusty metal primer! The beam also has a small hole we'll probably replace with a steel sheet once we get it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 Good on you for saving a 'standard' '71 Beetle. The standards seem to be eclipsed by the Super Beetle which was new for that year; with McPherson strut front suspension being the most obvious difference between the two. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jacob Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 Good on you for saving a 'standard' '71 Beetle. The standards seem to be eclipsed by the Super Beetle which was new for that year; with McPherson strut front suspension being the most obvious difference between the two. Craig Thanks! Honestly, I like the standards better than the Super Beetles, mostly for looks haha. Currently still halting on the restoration just a little. We're trying to clean and organize our garage so that we actually have room to work on it. At least it's sheltered until we're done . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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