Oklahoma Vw Cruisers

I decided it is finally time to make a build post. I just recently (Thursday) moved my Super into my garage to continue work throughout the winter.

Progress has gone slow this past year, but with the new year upon us, I plan to keep busy on this build. I have no prior VW builds under my belt, but am definitely intelligent, as well as mechanically inclined enough to complete this build.

Today, I separated the chassis from the body. I plan to replace both the passenger (which I already have) and driver side floor pans. I would also like to get it media blasted and completely coated in POR-15.

Tomorrow, I work and have two soccer games. So it is likely I won't get too much done. But my next step is to roll the chassis out from under and clean it up to tear off the old passenger floor pan. I will take a few photos tomorrow, as the lighting in my garage is very minimal. To say the least. I plan to address that situation as well.

That is all I have for now. Hopefully, I will continue to make enough progress to regularly keep up with this post. Have a good night!

Progress being made is good ---- Light to see the progress is even better!!!!! I hope your garage is heated!!

Sounds like a great start!

Thank you, Gimpy. I had a brain fart for a second there. As you can see, I have a small space to work with, but I will work with it just fine.

Going to tear down the chassis and get it built back up. One step at a time!

Here is another shot of the chassis. Pulled out from under. Going to tear at 'er today, try to get the old starboard side pans off and prepped for the new one to go in. Have a good day!

How many died in that crash????? jk jfk. Looks like some progress, keep at it & keep the pix comin. JP

You're not telling me anything new, Gimpy. I am new to this and not trying to have to redo anything. Here are a few pictures of the starboard side being prepped for a new pan.



That's when I first got the entire starboard pan off.



Test fitting the new pan.



Another shot of the new pan, mocked in place.



The old pan, or lack thereof.



I also have a question on this last pic. That piece of metal seems to be snagging with the new pan and giving me a gap between the new pan and the tunnel. Would it affect the structural integrity in the rear of the pan if I were to cut a little off? Simply to eliminate the gap between the pan and the tunnel. Or would there be other methods that could possibly be better? Thank you!

You really need that part on there. YOu can grind away any parts of the old pan just fine. Odds are that the new pan is not pressed exactly like the factory originals. You'll have to do some creative hammering and tweaking to get it to sit just right. I had that problem with my last pan replacement.

How'd you get all that space in your garage suddenly?!?!

Those were my thoughts on it. I guess I could've not cut that piece of the pan, but the new pan came with it on, so I cut the old one out. I will get it to fit, then will work on the drivers side!

I put the chassis on a trailer and took it to my buddies shop. Much more room, many more tools! I wish I had that much space at home!

Im confused.

Do you mean the cast part that is also the shockmount that little hookon the bottom to the pan, or that piece of the pan in the pic?

that little 2x4" part gets taken off right?

Sorry, Jim. I thought before posting the picture, that I should circle the part that I was talking about. But, here is an updated picture with the piece in question circled. I am not sure if it was to come off or not. But seems like it would hold a lot of the weight in the rear of the pan. Thank you!

DO NOT cut that off.

Lol.
On early cars you do.



Accoarding to the interwebs make sure to remove the new one on the new pan so it fits, im guesssing stacked supports is not good.
http://www.superbeetles.com/Tech_talk/jul.htm

I never really planned to cut that piece off. One of my buddies kept suggestion it, so I figured I would at least put it out there.

I guess, for the drivers side pan, I should just cut that entire piece off the new pan, the one Jim posted, and cut right before that piece on the old pan. Weld from there. I am sure the other side will be much more fluid.

I appreciate all the input, fellas. Have a good day!!

So, I figured I would update, the little that has been made. I brought the chassis to a buddies shop, thinking it would be nice to have a lot of space and a significantly larger selection of tools to work with. Unfortunately, it didn't work out as well as I hoped it would. Our schedules conflicted, therefore I wasn't able to get over there as much I would have liked to. Nonetheless, I went and stripped it down a little further, cleaned it up a little more and brought it back to my house on a trailer.


I stripped the entire front end, which I plan to completely replace anyways.

The drivers pan has rust, but otherwise seems to be pretty solid. I am deciding whether to go ahead and replace to or not. I was thinking about just getting it media blasted and then seeing how the pan looks afterwards.









I figure, I will strip the rear end down and have the chassis media blasted, weld in new passengers, decide on the drivers/replace drivers pan, coat it with rust preventative and begin to build the chassis back up.

Looking good.

I appreciate it. Work on it will definitely start picking up, especially with warmer weather upon us. I am pretty much at the point, where I need to find somewhere to media blast the chassis. Going to strip it the rest of the way and have that done, then weld on the new passenger pan and drivers pan if needed. Any thoughts, suggestions or advice is appreciated!

Cheaper to use sand, rent the stuff and do it yourself.

Sand and rental. Where could I rent a sandblaster from?

In okc, crosslands rents a big pot, and I wanted to be done quick, so I rented the diesel generator too.

I think my best option would be to pay someone else. As I would have to rent a compressor, generator, sand blasting equipment and also purchase the sand to use. I do like the idea of doing it myself, just may be quicker and easier to have someone else do it.

And you won't have to clean up when your finished!

you would be surprised, i blasted mine used 10 bags of sand, and could barely see where the sand went in the yard.
I think it cost me around 250.00.

Going rate is 600 here, and your lucky if they dont warp everything.

So, I may be back to doing it myself. One of my buddies mentioned contacting a vo tech and seeing if they would do it as a class project. I may check into that as well.

just be careful with students doing it.

Topline Front End Rebuild should be here the end of next week. Will document that install. Also plan to order several other parts from Topline in the very near future.

Like a kid on Christmas!

I also have received Topline's Super Low kit, with shortened bump stops. Comes with versa adjustable struts, lowered sway bar, shocks and all mounting hardware. I should receive Topline's front disc conversion kit sometime this week. Still need to sand blast the chassis, install new pans, then coat and paint the chassis with rust preventative. She is slowly coming along!

Thats a nice list of parts!

Any recommendations on what brand to go with and where to buy strut bearing mounts for the front? I was going to use the old ones, but I can't seem to do it, beings everything else is new.

i would say wherever you get the rest. rockauto or AZautohaus usually has deals.

Pulled the drivers side pan today.. Found this..... ... Any recommendations on how to deal with it?

rebuild with scrap and weld?

That was my thought. I just wasn't sure if it would effect the "structural integrity" !?

if you weld er up I would think it would be stronger.

You can't get a good weld to rust. Looks like you would have to rebuild the whole area. I think it would be easier to replace the whole strut with a good one. I been welding for almost 50 yrs. & just giving you an opinion, option..........JP hmfic ,Stella Skunkwerks

The pan doesn't actually contact the rusted out spot. So I'd cut out the rust and weld in some 1/8" flat stock to beef it up. Then the pan will cover the ugliness.