Hi Guys and Gals. My name is Tom. I'm from SoCal and I heard about this forum on socalbajas.com which is another forum I subscribe to.

Well here's the skinny on me. I'm in the process of restoring a classic '66 Baja Bug. The car was converted to a Baja Bug in the early 70's and has remained unchanged since then. The car belonged to a relative who passed away, consequently the car sat outside for over 20 years without being driven. Now the car belongs to me and I'm in the process of returning the Baja back to it's former glory days.

Very cool, I'm sure they'll be proud of what it becomes. Keep us posted.

Conundrum wrote:

Very cool, I'm sure they'll be proud of what it becomes. Keep us posted.

Thanks! At the moment I'm in the process of assessing the extent of deterioration and rot from sitting so many years. I believe the motor is a 1776cc with dual Zenith carbs. The car certainly showed pride of ownership prior to it being stored outside. The interior is totally shot and because it has a sunroof, water penetrated the floor pans when the sunroof began to leak. It's a shame to see the car in such condition, but it will be back on the road.....someday. For now, I'm taking it slowly and planning carefully each step along the way.

Unless you're right on the ocean, rust will hopefully be minimal. Good luck.

Conundrum wrote:

Unless you're right on the ocean, rust will hopefully be minimal. Good luck.

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Last night I got started on tearing out what was left of the interior. I started with cleaning out the trunk, then moved to the interior. Whew! What a mess! Much of the carpeting that I removed just fell apart, some pieces just dissintegrating in my hands. Eventually I was able to expose the (interior side) floorpans. You may recall me mentioning that the car has a sunroof, which after having been stored outside for 20+ years began to develop a leak. The water which had began to collect in the headliner after it rained, eventually burst, saturating the interior of the car. Of course nothing was ever done about this, so whever it rained, the interior got a bath. This of course leads me to the condition of the floor pans. Much to my surprise, the floorpans are in much better condition than I orginally thought. The thick black protective floorpan insulation did an excellent job of protecting the portion of the pans that it covered. All of that was completely intact and well preserved, as if the car had just come off the assembly line. Unfortunately as far as floorpans go, they do an excellent job of collecting and holding pools of water at their lowest point. In my case that would be the rear passenger area (driver's side) where the pan has become compromised and is in the advanced stages of deterioration. The material is so soft and crunchy, I could poke my finger through the pan in this area if I wanted to. For this reason and that fact that the car is nearly 50 years old, I'm not going to bother with repairing that section. Instead I will remove the body off the car, remove both (driver and passenger) floorpans and weld in good quality replacements.

Besides the floorpans, I went over the body carefully and noted how well preserved the car is. Aside from a couple minor rust spots which can easily be repaired, the only area of major concern to me is on the lower section of the body where the running boards would normally attach, just below the left rear passenger quarter panel. In this area there is some body rot (roughly in the same area) where it meets the floorpan. The quarter panel is fine, but the small area below it is what has me very worried. It's soft and crunchy (like the floorpan), so it sounds like some major repair in this area will be needed. Arrrgh!

I'll be starting a new thread which will chronicle my Baja Bug restoration project, but
in the meantime, I'd like to ask you the following:

1) How do I remove the body from a Baja Bug which has no front/rear aprons?

2) Any recommendations on which replacement pans and undercoating to go with?

Great progress!

Might I suggest you ask yourself a couple questions first?

What do I want to end up with, a streetbug that never sees offroad and just plays the part or a Baja that you can go play in the desert and get it pinstriped and bruised?

If you go the latter, and because there's already minor rust as you've described, why would you take the body off? Over the years I've seen many people start these projects and that's where is stays.

IMHO, get it running and cleaned up. Make sure it's reliable, then worry more about making it look pretty if you don't go where the asphalt ends. At least in the mean time you'll actually get to enjoy it and be able to decide if a Beautiful Streetbug is what you're after....

I had considered removing my body to replace the Gasket. The hole in the pan by the battery I just siliconed and pop-riveted a plate over it to keep the water and sand out. I beat the crap, respectfully, out of mine. I've almost got it to where I can say that I can clean it up and paint it. That just might get done this Fall when it gets cooler out and if I can finally clean up my Garage enough.

I would most likely try to use my Engine Hoist to lift the body off. It wouldn't be hard to run something ie 2x4 through the door openings to get it off the pan, then use a floor jack to maneuver the pan around to clear the legs of the hoist.

I hear POR-15 bantered about quite a bit, so searching for that might be what you're looking for as an undercoat/protectant. Really though, you're in CA, it's like here in AZ, Rust is not usually a problem.

Good luck with it and show some pics, so the guys can tell what you're working with.

Thanks for the encouragement, I appreciate it very much.

You asked an excellent and straightforward question. Unfortunately, the answer is somewhat less straightforward. My goal for the car is to have a safe, reliable old school Baja Bug that I can tow behind my truck for when we go on family camping trips and drive occasionally. Aside from necessary repairs and a new interior, I don't have any plans for building an "extreme Baja Bug" with coil over suspension, built motor, etc. I want to keep things fairly basic, although I am willing to make a few upgrades along the way such as front disc brakes and possibly a roll cage for extra protection. I will reuse the existing fiberglass baja kit and as many of the parts that I can reuse.

That said, the car belonged to my Father In-Law who passed away and left it to his daughter, who I am married to. You could say that I'm restoring this car for my wife who still remembers her father driving her around in it when she was a child. It's also a loving tribute for her father. Then there's my family, my wife and kids who will be riding along and enjoying it for years to come. So with all of that in mind and given the floorpan situation, I just resigned myself to the notion that this project will take longer...much longer than I anticipated, not to mention more expensive. I will do most of the work myself, such as cutting off the floor pans with a plasma cutter, fitting and welding in new pans. The body rot is a different issue altogether. I could care less about the aesthetic appeal, such an expensive paint job, fancy rims, etc. I'd be happy to drive the car around with nothing more than black primer, but I do want to address the body rot and the two other rusty areas.

Aside from that, I'm keeping the suspension as is, except for replacing shocks and components as needed. Since this car will be used mainly for trails, and mild-medium off road duty, I don't see the need to invest a lot of money on improvements in those areas.

As you stated earlier, body-off projects like these sometimes get started and never finish. I am very aware of that and you can bet, it's a HUGE concern for me. If the floor pans and lower body weren't rotted out in those places that I mentioned, I definitely wouldn't be going this route as it's not my preference.
I'm just too afraid of going on an off-roading adventure with my family and run the risk of the floorpans collapsing while we're out and about bumping along a trail somewhere. It's just not worth the risk.

I'm going to head out to my garage in few minutes and brave the heat to try and get some work done on the car. Right now it's like 95 degrees outside. Ridiculous! I'll be drinking a beer or two for sure and needing a good shower when I'm through.

More details and pictures to follow.

Conundrum wrote:

Great progress! Might I suggest you ask yourself a couple questions first? What do I want to end up with, a streetbug that never sees offroad and just plays the part or a Baja that you can go play in the desert and get it pinstriped and bruised? If you go the latter, and because there's already minor rust as you've described, why would you take the body off? Over the years I've seen many people start these projects and that's where is stays. IMHO, get it running and cleaned up. Make sure it's reliable, then worry more about making it look pretty if you don't go where the asphalt ends. At least in the mean time you'll actually get to enjoy it and be able to decide if a Beautiful Streetbug is what you're after.... I had considered removing my body to replace the Gasket. The hole in the pan by the battery I just siliconed and pop-riveted a plate over it to keep the water and sand out. I beat the crap, respectfully, out of mine. I've almost got it to where I can say that I can clean it up and paint it. That just might get done this Fall when it gets cooler out and if I can finally clean up my Garage enough. I would most likely try to use my Engine Hoist to lift the body off. It wouldn't be hard to run something ie 2x4 through the door openings to get it off the pan, then use a floor jack to maneuver the pan around to clear the legs of the hoist. I hear POR-15 bantered about quite a bit, so searching for that might be what you're looking for as an undercoat/protectant. Really though, you're in CA, it's like here in AZ, Rust is not usually a problem. Good luck with it and show some pics, so the guys can tell what you're working with.

I totally understand. Only you would be able to assess the state of the rust and make that determination. Replacing good VW steel for cheap chinese steel is a backwards step, however you can use patch panels to fix the battery tray and the same place on the Driver Side under the back seat. Both places are the lowest points on the Car and tend to have rust.

Also I've seen a lot of bugs with rust along the Body in the heater channels and on the lower hinges. Almost always cars rust more on the passenger side than the Drivers Side. That's the side that drives through the most puddles.

I would fix/repair to the best of your ability and pay someone when it is something that is beyond your ability. Fortunately there isn't much on a VW you can't do without some basic tools and books. Now you have the internet that has a lot of knowledge or opinion.

If money is a concern, duh, lol, "restore" wouldn't be the word I would use. Restore in my mind means you're going back to some state of restoration ie. Factory or original with upgrades, or going totally trick. Maybe you're after more of a rebuild. Rebuild and upgrade parts to bring it into the realm of reasonable safety, considering... Face it, it's not the safest vehicle for your kids, but I rode everywhere in my Grandpa's and Moms and mine now. You have to take reasonable precautions and at least my kids get the luxury of a seatbelt!

You have something that basically fell into your lap and most people who ask about a Baja, I would suggest finding something that was someone elses project that they got tired of and wanted to sell. I'd just hate to see another Bug go down that route and instead would like to see you clean it up and make it reliable. Get some use out of it then most of that expense is over and you can decide from there. I'm happy for you and know your kids will love it.

All excellent points and I really appreciate your feedback. Thanks!

Quick question...once the body and floorpans removed, are there any other areas that I need to pay special attention to that tends to be rust prone? I'm only going to remove the body once, so I'd rather address those things before the body is put back on the chassis. Also, I'm considering using POR15 on the underside to protect everything from chassis. Your thoughts?

Here's another thread I started which has a bit more info: www.azbaja.com/ForumsP...=9615.html

Conundrum wrote:

I totally understand. Only you would be able to assess the state of the rust and make that determination. Replacing good VW steel for cheap chinese steel is a backwards step, however you can use patch panels to fix the battery tray and the same place on the Driver Side under the back seat. Both places are the lowest points on the Car and tend to have rust. Also I've seen a lot of bugs with rust along the Body in the heater channels and on the lower hinges. Almost always cars rust more on the passenger side than the Drivers Side. That's the side that drives through the most puddles. I would fix/repair to the best of your ability and pay someone when it is something that is beyond your ability. Fortunately there isn't much on a VW you can't do without some basic tools and books. Now you have the internet that has a lot of knowledge or opinion. If money is a concern, duh, lol, "restore" wouldn't be the word I would use. Restore in my mind means you're going back to some state of restoration ie. Factory or original with upgrades, or going totally trick. Maybe you're after more of a rebuild. Rebuild and upgrade parts to bring it into the realm of reasonable safety, considering... Face it, it's not the safest vehicle for your kids, but I rode everywhere in my Grandpa's and Moms and mine now. You have to take reasonable precautions and at least my kids get the luxury of a seatbelt! You have something that basically fell into your lap and most people who ask about a Baja, I would suggest finding something that was someone elses project that they got tired of and wanted to sell. I'd just hate to see another Bug go down that route and instead would like to see you clean it up and make it reliable. Get some use out of it then most of that expense is over and you can decide from there. I'm happy for you and know your kids will love it.

Check for rust along rain channels and in the window areas or anywhere there may have been debris or leaves sitting on the car for a long time. Hopefully all you're going to find on the body is surface rust.

I've never used por-15, I just know I hear that synonymous with rust and repairs.

I think from your other thread that once is blasted you'll get a much better idea of what you're working with.

Best of luck!

Welcome to the site

Welcome to AzBaja.

I love that old school "baja bug" sticker in the windshield.

Welcome to the site....

VWBOAT(JOHN)