Chassis Serial Number Location

Nope.....That's the only place there is.

IIRC, if you pull the central tunnel carpet forward away from the rear seat area at the top of the tunnel, you only have to pull it back 2" - 3" to find the VIN stamped right on top of the tunnel (a flashlight helps).   There may or may not be any adhesive holding it down (probably not, actually) and once you find the VIN you should be able to push the carpet right back like nothing happened.  It may seem like it is glued down simply because it has been on there a while and taken on the shape of the tunnel, but you will not rip or tear anything - It's pretty rugged carpet.

Also, remember that what you have is a custom car made of disparate parts.  All that really matters is the front end (king pin or ball joint), the transaxle (swing arm or IRS) and whether it has drum brakes, disk front (usually 1971 Karman Ghia) or 4-wheel disks (God knows WHAT you've got, there).  After that, usually if you get parts for a 1970 VW Beetle Sedan you'll be all right.  These are pretty simple little cars.  Just old VW sedans in camoflauge.  

Depending on donor year - the VW body had id plate on left side visible thru windshield and build plate just behind the spare tire under front hood.  I removed those and reapplied those to my CMC.  Suspect others just scrap them with the donor body.  I'd take a hair dryer or heat gun on low and apply it to carpet to soften the contact cement and peel carpet forward.  If your vehicle is registered as a 19xx VW, the VIN (Chassis #) should be on the title and match.

WOLFGANG posted:

If your vehicle is registered as a 19xx VW, the VIN (Chassis #) should be on the title and match.

 

No such luck. It's tiitled as specially constructed, so no stock VIN on the title. Heck, Pennsylvania doesn't even print the year on the title, so I don't have any idea when it was completed. 

Gordon Nichols posted:

Also, remember that what you have is a custom car made of disparate parts.  All that really matters is the front end (king pin or ball joint), the transaxle (swing arm or IRS) and whether it has drum brakes, disk front (usually 1971 Karman Ghia) or 4-wheel disks (God knows WHAT you've got, there).  After that, usually if you get parts for a 1970 VW Beetle Sedan you'll be all right.  These are pretty simple little cars.  Just old VW sedans in camoflauge.  

Only 3 things matter: link-pin or ball-joint, 4-lug or wide-5, and swing or IRS.

You can google these and get images. You'll know immediately what you have.

Disparate Parts!

Yeah, that's the ticket!

That's what we got, disparate parts! Yeah, a whole lotta disparate parts.

To show how, uh, disparate - my VS was built on a '69 pan which came from Wolfsburg with IRS. So if I need rear axles, you might think I'd order IRS rear axles for a '69, no?

Well, no, actually.  VS cuts out the IRS and installs swing axles. And they cut off just about everything else that was original on the car. For example, my wiring harness isn't even close to the one on a '69 Bug. 

What Gordon and Stan are saying (in a lot fewer words) is that you've got to look at what parts ended up on your build and just go from there. It's not that hard, really. If you don't know what you've got, take some photos and post them here, and someone will know.

Yeah, that's the ticket!

Mitch:  Just THINK of what was given up by VS to give your car that much coveted swing-arm suspension.

Not only did they give up that trouble-prone, dual-spring-plate IRS with it's hokey "Diagonal Arm" trailing strut and all of the squeaky rubber bushings that were unserviceable, and those silly, CV joint drive axles, but, on a 1969 only, what they threw out was identical to the 924/944 Porsche (and the 914, too, I think, but not sure about that one).  All of them had those parts stamped with a "VW" and you certainly wouldn't want THAT on your car now, would'ja?  All that stuff just weighs you down and makes it corner flatter and what's the thrill in THAT?

And about that wiring harness?:  "My wiring harness isn't even close to the one on a '69 Bug. "   Actually, you probably want to be thankful of that one.......While my modified '69 harness works well (most of the time) and is relatively easy to service (again, most of the time), the circuit diagram that I had to make is something like three 11" X 17"  pages (thank God for surplus computer paper).  And that's after I deleted a BUNCH of intermediary "Connection Blocks"!  At least VW had finally moved to crimped, fast-on-style terminals instead of those screw-type connector blocks on my '57 Oval...

I think custom offset wheels (at least in rear) for a VS would have been simpler than replacing better handling IRS with swing axle? Goal was narrow stance in rear - or maybe classic swing axle handling at the very edge? (Camber compensator PLEASE!)

I don't really know why anyone would go backwards on the rear suspension...

So I've got it sorted out, many thanks to all. The carpet was glued, but not very well. A brass wire brush made it quite visible. Plugged the S/N into the VW VIN Decoder (Google is your friend) and found out it's a '73 Standard Beetle, which makes sense because it has IRS.

Now I know what to tell the parts dweebs who can't seem to look up anything up without year, make, and model. I also know what to shoot for when digging up wheel alignment specs. I still have many items to go, but I'm one big step closer to reverse engineering a build sheet and parts list. 

Eric

Gordon, Greg, and Ray, I'm sure VS' only thought was to preserve authenticity. They know purists would be scandalized by all those complicated suspension bits under a Speedster!

Likewise, they could have easily put a shiny, new crankshaft in my original engine, but chose instead to find a worn, used one from a previous build, just for its wonderful patina. Everywhere I looked, I found this slavish attention to detail. Even the rocker arms and valve springs wore a beautiful patina of light rust.

I guess their intent could have been to save weight, though. As I've gotten to know the car better, I find that for every trim piece and electrical fitting, they've scoured the globe to find the absolutely lightest piece available.

The "real" Por-sha people are willing to pay a lot of extra Dinero for that Patina !

Period-correctness is our mantra here. As always.