[kludgekevin]

Hi, everyone! Wanted to drop in and create a build thread for anyone who wants to follow along with our '63 VW Beetle project, un-originally named the 'Voltswagen' for obvious reasons.

Some quick backstory:
We've owned this Beetle for about the last ten years. She has served us well, has made us a lot of memories, and never fails to turn heads and strike up conversations around town. As things usually go with our old beloveds, from time-to-time we would have the occasional reliability issue or parts failure. Nothing too out of the ordinary for these old cars, but the list has grown over time. As the list of items that should be addressed in a more in-depth manner grew, so did the interest in converting our old friend to an electric drivetrain. After many phone calls, lots of discussions, and more reading than we care to admit, we decided to pull the trigger and get this jewel some joules!

The rough outline for this falls into two phases:

Phase 1 — Restoration: A "restoration" of sorts to address some structural, cosmetic, and personal preference attributes of the vehicle. This will include the usual things like rust repair, normal maintenance (brakes, fluids, etc.), body work + paint, and an interior refresh, but stopping short of the motor. Here is where Phase 1 will end and Phase 2 will begin...

Phase 2 — Conversion: Once the chassis and body are squared away we will be installing a Netgain Hyper9 electric motor, Tesla Model S battery modules, and supporting infrastructure provided largely by EV West.


I've received quite a few questions on this and how to undertake a project like this, so hoping this documentation is enjoyable and educational for those that choose to follow along! I am sure we will be leaning on the knowledge of the masses to help along the way while we breathe new life into our old friend. :vw:

Tossing in some preliminary pictures for enjoyment!

In her former glory:

Beginning the madness...

Stay tuned for future updates!

 

[kludgekevin]

Some days we reflect on where we are, others where we're going, and finally some on where we've been. Is there a better way to take a peek into the past than separating a fine German body from a pan that was mated together almost 60 years ago? Not that I can think of, so let's do it.

A quick afternoon spent stripping the interior and we were ready to make some waves. By nothing short of a miracle, all bolts matching the body to the pan came out with relative ease and without snapping—except the final two rearmost side runner bolts on the passenger side. By my own admission, this is my fault for undoing the four bolts near the rear suspension and suspending the wheels off the ground, placing tension on these bolts. Ahh well, we live and learn.

Utilizing a motorcycle jack and an engine hoist, we were able to make quick work of separating these two previous life partners and let them know it's okay to breathe every now and then.

With these two separated, getting a look at what we're working with was all that much easier. Aside from some small rust patches here and there, it's safe to say pleasantly surprised is a good descriptor of what we found!

Overall, the body and pan are pretty sound and a good candidate for some minor patch work and love.

Extra surprised at the condition surrounding the hat

Next steps are going to involve some more minor disassembly and getting ready to pull the motor before diving into rust repair and patch work.

The real beginning of a true adventure with our friend here.

 

[kennybobby]

Great set of photos thanks for sharing. i never realized that the rear shock was connected to the torsion tube like that.

How long did it take to outfit and organize your garage--that is a nice looking setup and really clean.

 

[piotrsko]

Any particular logic for using series Dc? I would think a more advanced motor and controller system would be preferred except for the more advanced expense. Everything else uses the same conversion kits and you get regen as an added bonus. If you're near a beach, you should have hills.

 

[kludgekevin]

Great set of photos thanks for sharing. i never realized that the rear shock was connected to the torsion tube like that.

How long did it take to outfit and organize your garage--that is a nice looking setup and really clean.

A combination of several lifetimes accumulations of tools, experience, and trinkets. Very thankful for it.

Any particular logic for using series Dc? I would think a more advanced motor and controller system would be preferred except for the more advanced expense. Everything else uses the same conversion kits and you get regen as an added bonus. If you're near a beach, you should have hills.

The Hyper9 is an AC motor! Despite not having many hills near our beach, one pedal driving is the norm for us these days.

 

[kruisecontrol]

nice looking beetle ,subscribing , these vw builds give me some extra motivation , got some old vws that need some of my love.

 

[kludgekevin]

Busy busy couple of weeks and lots of catching up to do here. Let's dive in.

Initial impression of the frame was pretty good! A couple of spots here and there appeared to need some attention but made the decision to remove all the factory tar board and get a better look at what we had beneath.

Final verdict? Not too shabby! The battery tray was completely rotted through which we knew going into it so no surprises there. The only unpleasant surprise was on the driver's side floorboard there were some small—~0.75cm at their largest—holes and pinholes beginning to form.

After removing the tar board the spirit of disassembly continued—but this time, in a little more bittersweet fashion...the air cooled heart. We all gathered around, swapped our stories, shared a PBR, and hooked up the engine hoist to perform this cardiectomy one final time.

With our old friend here looking less and less like a car and more and more like a skeleton, it was time to hit the pressure washer and clean up a few decades of buildup.

A better look here at some of the pinholes on the driver's side pan:

Coming up next is going to be some more minor disassembly and beginning the favorite VW pastime...rust repair

 

[kludgekevin]

While the chassis is sitting contently awaiting the introduction to its one true companion—a welder—that gives us time to dive into the body and start tearing it down as well.

We got the body up onto the lift and started peeling the fenders, doors, and some more of the interior out.

Work smarter, not harder...

Aside from a few rust spots to address, pretty pleased with the condition under all the makeup! With one exception...the driver's side inner front quarter.

It was pointed out by another user on The Samba that the quarter is not the correct one for a '63 and had been replaced. This was not entirely news as we knew in a past life the Beetle had been in a front-end accident; by our guesses, probably around the 1970s or repaired using some old-school techniques. To our discovery, the '63 factory correct quarters are incredibly difficult to source as no (?) company reproduces them, only previous and later model years. Thankfully, a member on The Samba had a NOS quarter and graciously shipped it our way!

Here you can see the differences in inner quarter metal work

Different bumper mounting points...

Previous repair marks where they blended the factory and repair quarters

Out with the new and in with the....old?

We also got our hands on a nice rolling dolly for the body. This will let us keep the body mobile without confining it to one spot—and—it fits on top of the lift so can still be adjusted to a good working height. Win-win!

Next, time to hop back over to the frame to continue on the rest repair and refinishing!