Big Sky Euro

Repost from FB, but the story in is the same!

Here's a good story - it's all happened quickly and within the last week or so. So far, it's just in the first few chapters, most of which involve Wade and without him none of this would be possible right now, and we (myself and Beth) are very grateful to have him as a friend and accomplice in this adventure, plus all the other VW adventures over the years.

So, it all starts like this...my in-laws live in Boyd and there was an auction where my MIL spotted a '62 Bus (we saw a post earlier about it) and she mentioned it one night when they we chatting. Of course, I had to go find the auction, and we decided we had a decent chance of getting it, so we would bid on it, but figured it would quickly spiral into way too much $$ for us, which it ultimately did. But there was also a '65 Beetle (listed as a '66), and we held firm on the high bid, and eventually won. All of that took place last Monday.

From there, I had to figure out how the heck to get it from GF where the estate auction took place to one of our family members houses. I was really hoping Wade could help, and graciously, he was able to pick it up this weekend, so he headed up there and snagged it yesterday.

I couldn’t make it out to help Wade pick it up, but I am coming home this next weekend to visit and work on it a bit. I have a few boxes of parts coming in to get it running (hopefully) and get it to a state that we can at least trailer it home or ship it to our house in SATX.

I left out the condition of the engine and body, which I can speak to later. That’s it so far, here’s a few pictures so y'all can see for yourselves.

Parts have been shipped, and will arrive for the fun on October 7-8.

Goals:

• Get it to roll
• Get it to stop
• Get it to run!

Eventually we'll get it to a point where we can either ship it or come home with the truck and tow it back on a trailer.

Pictures:

Time to update this thread.

Yeah the seat covers don't match, but who cares, they sat for 30 years and are junk and they are in the landfill now!

Lots of work since the last post. I've got it in the garage now and I've stripped the moldy interior out.



It's been getting some attention. So far I've stripped most of the interior out, repaced and replaced the front bearings and wheel seals, adjusted the brakes, replaced the front a rear bonnet/boot seals, and worked freeing up the clutch and gas pedal linkages. All lights and bulbs are now functional too.

Cleaned up and greased the front beam.

Yesterday I replaced both front shocks and pulled apart the front light housings to replace the sealed bulbs and parking lights.

Front passengers floor pan needs to be replaced, or at least the back half for the battery tray and to make to seat sliders solid enough to sit in and drive.

Sill working on getting a title, since it was an estate sale I have a bill of sale but no title. Easy enough to do in TX, just need to file paperwork.

Ran into an issue with the carb - the accelerator nozzle came out of the casting and ended up almost getting into the #1 intake valve...so I saved that little gem and ended up pressing it into the carb top plate...it ain't going nowhere now.



Cleaned up the engine and its running really well now!

Here's a photo dump of the last month or so:

A love of labor
Nice Mike!

Changed out some fresh air hoses and added some seals. Working on all the other things, but mainly getting a title so I can get it licensed and ready for the road

Been a minute but wanted to update this thread...

I'm still in the works of getting a TX title, but in the meantime I've still been working a little bit on the Beetle.

Replaced the old heater hoses and preheat hose with new, added boot and bonnet seals:








Changed the oil, cleaned the strainer, new gaskets and all new copper crush washers




Running pretty well, but I noticed the rear right wheel cylinder was leaking, so it was time to dig into the rear brakes. also added the seal on the boot lid...it was listed on WCM, but I'm pretty certain it's not a stock item (?)...










No pictures of the work, but new ATE wheel cylinders...no new shoes or anything else, they were still in decent shape




Interior cleaned up, just need to replace the pan and heater channel, which will be done later on next year




Wanted to see how the paint would shine up, so I got my polisher and some compound to see how it buffs out, and it turned out pretty well - there's some of the "natural" patina there from sitting for like 30 years, and I think it looks really unique, and the rest should shine up nicely. It's not perfect by any definition but I would consider it a survivor for sure!