412 headlight surrounds- metal vs. plastic

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 11:46 am

I'm parting out an extremely rusty '74 412 I bought a few months back, and as I removed the headlight surround pieces, I found one was plastic and the other metal. My other 412 I have here has plastic, but I'm not near my '73, or other cars, so I can't look at them. Which cars had plastic vs. metal? The metal one has no VW part number, at least from my casual glance.

Edited for spelling/grammar.

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 1:54 pm

I have them both in 412. I only have seen metal on the 411.

They both are nice, but as the metal ones age, the ywarp at the top. This can be straightened with a clamo, two blocks of wood and an hour in the oven at 250F...and then cool it while clamped.
My metal ones had NSU part # stickers

Ray

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 2:17 pm

NSU stickers only?

My Texas yellow '73 had a little bottle of factory touch up paint still in the box, which said VW/Audi/NSU on it. I don't remember if we discussed it here or not, but VW slapped their badges on an NSU that was almost ready for production when they bought the company- see VW K70. There was one unearthed in the U.S. a few years ago (probably the only one) for sale through somebody on vwvortex for $500- very complete and decent shape, but had been sitting for decades. I can only imagine parts are even more difficult to find than for virtually any other VW.

vwbill · Post by **vwbill** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 8:28 pm

Wow, that's a cool vw! I like the 411/412 look but the k70 has a nice interior and gauge looks! Looks alot like the 412 seats... Did you see the suspension on the k70 that rear arms are crazy!
http://www.buttongeneration.com/vwk70/f ... .jpg&idx=0
That k70 has a little of the fox look too...
Uber- which car are you parting? 2dr/4dr/5dr? Bill

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:00 am

The car I'm parting is a '74 2dr. sedan. When I say it is extremely rusty, I'm not kidding. The driver side floor is basically gone, among other things. It was vandalized what looks like many years ago (last registered 93/94), and some of the windows were broken out. I would wager somebody in more recent years had put a different motor in it or did some work on the original motor, and put a carb on it to get it going. I imagine then they discovered that they couldn't find the glass or maybe that the floor was too far gone to be safe. Anyway, if anyone needs any parts, let me know, and I'll tell you if it has it and if I'm willing to part with.

vwbill · Post by **vwbill** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:59 pm

Hey Uber, do you have any pics? Does it have a roof rack? What is the steering wheel condition like? I think they all have cracks! I will probably just repair mine.. Was she a 4 speed or auto? Is water still able to get in her? I would pull the ecu and some of the electronics to keep them from the elements! Is the rust in the doors? What is the condition of the interior peices? Sorry for all the question! Sometimes the rust can be just at the area where water would sit... What is the engine lid like?? thanks bill

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 7:36 pm

The car is indoors. It is (was) a 4 speed. It doesn't have a roof rack, but I think you were reading my mind, as I was just thinking a few days ago one would look very cool on a 412 2dr. sedan. I'll be looking for one to fit (OK, in the future if I have any money)! Yes, the steering wheel is cracked. Aren't they the same as the beetle? The doors are in decent shape, as is the front hood and rear quarters. The rear engine lid is dented and terribly rusty. The ECU is still in its compartment with cover intact. The MPS is there but doesn't hold vacuum. Most of the interior is a mess. The interior panels have been spray painted white, including the rear seat. The front seats are from a Beetle and very, very poorly welded to the Type 4 brackets (seats are crooked). The dash is cracked. The bumpers are decent. Some of the side molding was decent and will go on my other sedan to replace some nasty, bent stuff that was on it. The cooling boot and parts were missing, as was the rear tin. The original upper plastic screen was in the car, and nice-will go on my other sedan. It has what I believe is a bus screen covering the air intake. I don't think it was run like this very long, hopefully, if at all, given that the carb setup and fuel pump were much newer, cleaner looking than everything else and there were some non-original bolts on the rear hanger and the lower engine-to-trans studs had no nuts on them! The windshield is cloudy on the edges, but uncracked, so will be useful to me still I think. Hopefully this car will yield the metal to fix the gold wrecked car. The front panel is dented between the headlights with rust holes in the panel with the hood latch, so probably not suitable as a donor to fix the yellow '73, but maybe. I'll try to get some pics up, but it will be an in progress as teardown has begun.

Whew!

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 8:11 am

So the 4-speed is gone? Whatever you do...save the lines and pedal cluster and shifter and shift rod from this thing. Ray

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 1:25 pm

Trans. was still there, I already pulled it out!

I will be pulling everything necessary to do a conversion on an automatic car if desired.

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 2:50 pm

If you havn't already done it...you will be stunned at how easy it is. All the holes and drillings are there.
You need the reservoir with its three outlet nipples (one for clutch two for brake). The pedal cluster which means dropping teh column down a couple inches and removing the steering wheel and blinker assembly..but it slides right over and bolts up. Then the in-body steel lines....there are hold down tabs and holes already in place...the the shifter and the metal surround....the shift rod and the plastic tunnle spacer...and the odd ball and socket coupling...and the rest is cake. Much better than the auto. Ray