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Getting the ‘57 beetle back on the road in 2024
- Thread starter bosco659
- Start date
The Germans install the bolts then drill the holes.
Is it April 1st
That is a good question! I find it questionable that any random group of three bolts if all tightened to the same torque they would end up in a nice neat alignment like those.
Thought I'd sneak this in here...
Flaking chrome, some brake asbestos, moly grease, heat til it smokes, breakfast of champions!
Flaking chrome, some brake asbestos, moly grease, heat til it smokes, breakfast of champions!
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Pancakes and sauerkraut?
Dangerous the cap can be plated with poisonous stuff
Illegal have the wrong metal here even i the fan hood above the stove -- galvanized
Trust me. I wouldn’t eat anything cooked in that wheel cover.
I think it was just posted as a joke.
Wire wheel it, run it through a couple heat, bacon grease, boiling water cycles and eating from that won't be what kills you.
Now back to Vic's steady and impressive progress on the sympathetic bug restoration.
Now back to Vic's steady and impressive progress on the sympathetic bug restoration.
We mechanics are indeed a hardy breed...
With @gggGary ‘s suggestion I made my own hub cap fry pan - a pair of vise grips worked well for the handle. Eggs were a bugger to remove as they stuck to the rust. Lots of bacon fat and I was able to deep fry the eggs. Polished and first hub cap and is back on the car. Brake fluid reservoir is back to the car, coated with POR15 which should be brake fluid resistant. First backing plate ready to go back on. Issues encountered on the install with clearance problems between the back of the drum and mounting bolt heads. Safety wire may be an issue too. Stay tuned.
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Front brake drum cleaning day. On the rears I used wire brushing, electrolysis and Evaporust. The fronts still had the bearing races in them so I needed to be careful I didn’t mess them up with one or more of my processes. I got my angle grinder and a couple of twisted wire, wire wheels and removed rust that way. They came out pretty good. The rust inside the drum will have to stay. I’ll visit my friend this week to get the drum friction surfaces cleaned up.
Both drums appear to be OEM VW parts but I was surprised how “rough” the surfaces were. It looks like they were cast and roughly ground to shape.
I attempted to safety wire the one side too. Doesn’t look real nice but should do the job. There’s red Loctite on them too.
Both drums appear to be OEM VW parts but I was surprised how “rough” the surfaces were. It looks like they were cast and roughly ground to shape.
I attempted to safety wire the one side too. Doesn’t look real nice but should do the job. There’s red Loctite on them too.
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More beetle porn.
- brake drums painted with POR15
- repacked bearings and new grease seal
- removed RF fender to install new beading (rubber trim gasket between body and fender)
- removed 4 broken (rusted in) 6mm running board mounting screws (welded nuts to broken bolts)
- “painted” bare metal fasteners with ACF50
- torqued all fasteners on RF suspension
- brake drums painted with POR15
- repacked bearings and new grease seal
- removed RF fender to install new beading (rubber trim gasket between body and fender)
- removed 4 broken (rusted in) 6mm running board mounting screws (welded nuts to broken bolts)
- “painted” bare metal fasteners with ACF50
- torqued all fasteners on RF suspension
Nice!!
What seemed like a simple task, turned out to be hours of work. The factory jack for the car was rusted to the point that it was inoperative. I thought s simple disassembly and cleaning was in order. Although thr mechanism looks quite simple, it wad s real pita to take apart and getting it back together again. Here’s the finished product.
It’s nice you saved that original equipment, and those new emblems you got from @kshansen are the icing on the cake!
Glad to see it where it belongs instead on the shelf in my basement!
