1970 Squareback Project

[jmarkha1]

After a few years searching for a 'good' Automatic Squareback I found one by chance advertised in LOOT! - I made a call and arranged to see it the following day in North London - got the train and drove it home in 2007.
The car was made in 1969 and sold to someone in New Hampshire in the US in left hand drive with automatic gearbox, high-back seats and popouts. It sat in the owners garage for 30 years only accumulating 1200 miles. In 2000 it was bought by Type 3 Detectives and then sold to the family I bought it from in North London.
They used it as their family car for 7 years having it serviced every year.
When I bought it the car was in overall good condition but needed a good tune up and some attention to the front wings - no surprises there then. When I bought the car it had 34,000 miles on it.





I really enjoyed driving the car standard - everything worked, the comfort was great and it had heating that worked! BUT - I wanted to make some changes to the car. I added a set of fuchs 16x6 all round, a roof rack, a spotlight and lowered the front a little.



I did not like the way the 16s sat on the car and found it hard to find decent narrow tyres for the front so they went and were replaced by some FLAT4 15s in 4.5 and 5.5 x 15s with red band tyres.



After a good look around the car - there were issues with the front inner arches and the wings which were the originals. At the time I was busy rebuilding my house so farmed the work out to a good friend Neil Brown who did a great job preparing the inner front arches, welding a couple of small holes behind the bumper mounts and replaced the whole lot, rust protected, stone chipped and put the car back together with some new shocks and my old discs and calipers from the bug.



Paint the inside of the inner arch and wing with stone chip after the etch primer:



So I put the car back together but knew the rear inner arches really needed some attention. I finally finished the house, the garage and now the car port do things can continue with the squareback - may even get the old bird to one of the events you guys arrange early next year...

So - wings, bumpers, lights, wheels off so I can see what is going on...

Things not too bad - could have been a lot worse - a few areas of surface rust, some small areas to weld but generally good.

Lots of old stone chip, seam sealant and road grime to remove so I went to A1 Abrasives and stocked up on some fibre discs and removed everything back to bare metal.


After a good treatment with 'hydrate 80' - things were all sealed up and ready for some seam sealant, etch primer and stone chip.

Then I removed the drive shafts, torsion caps and spring plates to get at the hidden areas of the body

All treated on the offside:

Then moved on to the rear valance - which seemed to be original:

All done for today - hopefully back on it tomorrow for some more prep -

found a small VW stamping on the inner arch reinforcement panel - I wander how many of these are on the car when it leaves the factory - first one I have seen...cannot really see it in the photo - not much bigger than a spot weld!


Really enjoying working on this project - will post more pics up as the work continues. Currently looking for a complete set of window rubbers (deluxe) and front and rear indicator seals...

[kyle]

where did u get those red line tyres from or r they jus wall trims like the white ones

[jmarkha1]

Kyle - I got the red bands from a place in Addlestone Surrey - they advertise in Volksworld. A set costs 35. They can be fitted by deflating the tyres and pushing under the tyre bead. I would not buy again as they sun fade very quickly and are very difficult to get laying flat against tyres. I think you can buy red, blue and white bands from US tyre suppliers like Northhants tyres but sizes end to be limited to wide sizes.

[260KMN]

That is one clean T3, great find and a great project, keep the pix coming.

[MATTT]

im in the process of doing my squareback too
whereabouts are you im surrey too

[jmarkha1]

Based in Walton on Thames - you?

im in the process of doing my squareback too
whereabouts are you im surrey too

[MATTT]

im just up the road,Hampton court,i was wondering if your mate was busy as im also busy at work and not really had time to do the next part of the body that needs sorting,the rear inner wing , and repair the damaged door shut,bought like this about 3 mths after an accident, 20 yrs ago
does he rn a agarage or just work as a hobby from home like me?

mines a early shape square 68,but ive also got a 73 fastback thats been sitting on the parents drive for abo0ut 18 yrs !

[jmarkha1]

He does not have a garage - but should - he works as a fabricator.
I will PM you another contact name - Chris who does own a VW resto and parts company - local to you.

[MATTT]

ok thanks
i will give him a call
now u mention it ive been past there,ive seen the vans parked up,as im always out and about on calls down most side roads

[jmarkha1]

Round 2 - managed to get a few hours in today - more dismantling, sanding back to metal and treatment ready for primer.


A few bits of surface rust around the gutters at the rear. I was going to cure with hydrate 80, etch and paint. Also put some waxoil behind the seam in the roof under the headliner once it is all painted. Anyone else had issues with rust appearing on gutters after paint - someone suggested I media blast the gutters prior to etch to make sure it is all gone -maybe overkill ?

Finally got the inner arches treated and etch primed - ready now for seam sealer and then stonechip. Lots of work to get all the old stuff off but should last a few years now.

Got the rear valance stripped, treated and ready for primer.

Picture of rear treated.

Front wing back from the media blasters - nice big hole in the bottom and a couple of small holes in the top part but definitely salvagable and it came off the car so I know it fits. I am going to remove the fuel filler flap and use an early tank I have to clean up the lines of the car.

Hydrate80 is a great metal rust treatment and general surface prep - it goes on with a brush as a milky fluid that turns light blue, then dark blue and finally black drying flat. It does not need to be washed off and can be sanded, over painted. About 15.00 for a 500ml pot but very good if you want to be sure...

Hole Appeared! - I thought this side was good. The other side had a similar hole that got bigger when stripped and cut to weldable steel. Inner panel also needed some patching so what appears a small job will probably take some time...Not a big issue in the grand scheme of things. Was thinking about dropping the engine and box out of the car to make it easier prepping for paint and making good under the rear but I think the motor and box need to come out in one go with IRS - anyone done it?

[Editor]

No need to remove the engine and gearbox together on IRS, but you need to support the gearbox. The official VW way is to pull them together, but they have better equipment than most of us to handle the extra weight.

You get used to holes appearing in these cars (or any other makes half their age!).

[jmarkha1]

thanks re engine & box. Agree about the holes - very happy with the car - I am used to a lot more rot

[jmarkha1]

Cannot believe I have not touched the squareback for a year now! - Too many other projects.
Decided to crack on with the car - decided on painting it vw mango green L346.
I am building a 76x90.5 motor for it (1955cc) with carburetors and removing all the fuel injection stuff.

I have a couple of small patches to repair in the body still - offside sill on the A pillar and a couple of bits in the rear arches.
Paintwork is the next big job - stripping the car ready for paint prep - bulkhead and under the rear luggage space - gearbox, motor and suspension now all off the car.

Very close to taking the body of the pan but the pan is tidy and I know if the pan is separated I will spend too much time restoring the pan which takes the car away from daily status!

A couple of pictures of recent activity - hopefully there will be some progress soon...

[jmarkha1]

Bit of an update - finally.
All welding done and bodywork prepped.
Welded up trim holes, fuel filler flap and bumper tube holes and removed large front indicators to be replaced with front bullets.
Car is now away being painted in Porsche Meissen Blue - a 356 color - mid grey / blue.
Will upload pics when it is in paint...

When the car is away being painted, decided to build a 1955 motor and rebuild the autobox - not something I was looking forward to but with a full rebuild kit from bulkparts in US it was straightforward - a few pics:

[volkswalker]

nice.so are you going for the early look re the indicators

[jmarkha1]

More due to not liking the late indicators which look too big IMO.
I am keeping the big bumpers but painting them silver and adding rubber strips.
A lot of people prefer early cars and try to make lates look early - I actually prefer late cars but the main reason for me buying this car was the automatic gearbox - makes a really nice cruiser...

nice.so are you going for the early look re the indicators

[jmarkha1]

A few more pics of the bodywork prep:
The headlight rims and bullet indicator bezels have been de-chromed ready fro paint.
The ashtray, ventilation and brake light test have been filled and gauge pods installed instead (I do not smoke).
Have replaced the entire type3 steering column with early type 1 with a simple indicator, floor mounted hi-beam switch and a dash-mounted key ignition.
Hope to get the car back before August for re-fit.

[jmarkha1]

Finally it's in paint.
Ended up with a 1959 color - Meissen Blue which is similar to Zenith Blue.
Now I have about 500 jobs rebuilding the car - will update with pics along the way.

[Editor]

Nice-looking job. Look after that rear load rubber mat - they are hard to find in good condition.

[jmarkha1]

Thanks Dave.
I did try to take it out prior to paint to stop it turning blue but could not figure out how to remove without damaging the molding that retains it.
Should look good with a bit of rubber conditioner on it when the interior is done.
Just preparing for the headliner job that I have been dreading...another critical part for a squareback.

[volkswalker]

looking great...the awful jigsaw awaits tho! hate rebuilding all the bits!
that rear load rubber mat...mines mint and so are the rest of the rubber mats that are
in my 71...
the fronts even clip on them bullet points yea!

[Editor]

I keep complaining to my wife - she keeps managing to kick off one of those 'bullets', and I find it rolling around on the floor (the bullet, not me, and definitely NOT me and the wife!).

The clamping strip can be carefully levered up and tapped down again later with a hammer and block of wood.

[jmarkha1]

The job I was dreading! - HEADLINER time.
Stripped all old roof and pillar insulation and installed 10mm cotton jute.
Used a TMI white headliner kit.
Hung the headliner and then started at the front gluing the centre 12 inches.
Then used a fan heater to get the vinyl soft and glued the rear centre.
Bought lots of bulldog clips to hold the glue until it had gone off.
I used a great vinyl cement - HH-66 which has a working time of 2-5 mins so perfect for headlining.
A couple of pics - should get the pillars and corners done over the next week and can then make progress with interior...






body tags and front seal fitted.

[rustydubs]

wow, sweet!!!!!

[Dave G]

Looks superb, can't wait for the updates!

Dave