Online School With JBugs

To remove the fenders you will need to:

• 1. Spray every fender bolt with penetrating oil before starting, preferably at least a few hours before you begin.
• 2. Disconnect the battery under the rear seat. Remember to remove the negative side first!
• 3. Chock the tires opposite the side of the car you’re working on. If you’re working on the front fenders, chock the rear wheels and vice versa.
• 4. Remove the wheel using your 19mm socket (this may change depend on the car/wheel you have) and the 3/8” drive impact.
• 5. Use your 8mm socket and ratchet to disconnect the turn signal assembly on the top of the fender. Note the positions of the wires, disconnect them from the assembly, and push the seal and wires through the fender.
• 6. Unscrew the headlight ring holding the headlight assembly to the fender with your #2 Phillips head screwdriver. Once it is removed, disconnect the wires from the back of the headlight and push them through the hole at the bottom of the headlight bucket.
• 7. Disconnect any wiring going to the horn underneath the fender.
• 8. With all the wiring disconnected and the wheel out of the way, you should be able to access the fender bolts. Use the 13mm wrench and ratchet to disconnect the fender from the running board. Then use the 13 wrench or ratchet (whatever works for you) to remove the remaining 10 fender bolts.
• 9. Repeat steps 1-9 for the other remaining fenders. Changes to the headlights, taillights, and turn signals through the years mean you may need to

For later model Beetles, you may have to remove the bumper before you can remove the fender. In that case, just follow the steps listed in the “removing bumpers” section below before starting step 5 above.

Once you’ve removed the fender you may discover that some of the nut inserts in the body are stripped, rusted out, or completely missing. Do not be alarmed – it is very common. If you find that your fender bolts and washers are rusty or damaged we recommend with new hardware if possible.

Each bumper bracket is held in place by two 8x1.25mm bolts, and there are two brackets for each bumper. To disconnect the bumper brackets from the body, you will just need to loosen those bolts with a 13mm wrench and pull the bumper through the apron or fenders, depending on the model year.

The deck lid is attached to the body of the car via two hinges. You will need an 8mm socket, a 10mm socket, a 3/8” drive ratchet, and a set of pliers to disconnect the deck lid from the hinges. The removal steps are as follow:

• 1. Disconnect the license plate light wiring and move it out of the way.
• 2. Loosen the four bolts holding the deck lid to the hinges using the 10mm sock on the 3/8” drive ratchet.
• 3. Before fulling removing the bolts, use a pair of pliers to pinch the two middle deck lid spring wires to pull them out of their holes on the deck lid.
• 4. Fully remove the four deck lid bolts
• 5. Pull off the deck lid and remove the spring from the mount on the body.
• 6. At his point, you can remove the hinges as well if you like. They are held to the body using a 6mm bolt with an 8mm head. If you plan to re-use the lock plate and hardware, you can just thread the four 6mm bolts back into the lock plate and set it aside. If your lock plates are missing or damaged for whatever reason, you can purchase a new lock plate here.

Luckily, removing the hood from the hood from its hinges is a much less involved process than the deck lid. You just need someone standing by to hold up the hood, so you don’t tweak the metal while trying to remove it. All you need to do is use a 13mm wrench or ratchet to remove the bolts holding it to the hinge. If you have an earlier model with a hood prop, you can also use that 13mm to disconnect the prop.

Like the hood, removing the doors is very simple process. It is the assembly and disassembly of the doors that can get a little tricky. The doors are held to the body with four very large screws per door – two on the upper hinge and two on the lower hinge. All you need to do is have a helper support the door while you unscrew the four door screws. The hinge should slide right out of the door jam. If your screws are particularly stubborn and don’t want to come free, you may need to grab an impact driver to break through whatever is holding the threads. Once done, set aside the door and repeat the process on the opposite side.

For more information on disassembling the doors, check out our video covering the process on the JBugs YouTube channel.

Once you’ve pulled everything off, take the time to thoroughly clean and inspect the components, looking for any signs of damage or previous repairs. I would recommend sticking to a mild cleaning solution. Do not jump right in with a heavy degreaser like Purple Power. You will strip the paint in short order.

If you’re not totally ready to strip the paint from your fenders and doors to find out how much body filler there is on those parts, you can use a magnet like we discussed in our last lesson to get a rough idea of how much Bondo there is.

Ultimately, your goal during the inspection process is to determine if the parts you have are worth salvaging. You will have to decide whether fixing what you have or buying brand new parts suit your budget and timeline for the build. That is why it is so important to know what you’re working with before you start formulating any grand plans about the end result.