Happy Birthday Greg!
T54
C'mon kids gather round,
there's a new sensation hitting town,
It's moving straight, low to the ground,
it'll pick you up when your feeling down.
Well back in May I said 2 weeks......
Had the car picked up the other day by the DeBiasi's so they could finish all the niggly bits that I can't/don't get around to. Just got to the school in time to pick the boys up, they loved it.
Brakes needed a refurb (had seized up in the amount of time it was lying around), tie rods had to be shortened & front aligned, drop the rear end, get the motor to fire etc etc.
Couldn't believe how good it looked when I got to the workshop, really happy with the result Its got a bit of rake (just like I asked for) and I reckon it looks just right. Just a few niggly things to sort out like getting the indicators working (the kids thought the hand signals were hilarious) and get the rear seatbelts installed, and it should be good.
The front has had to be RAISED twice to get it to where it is now, and its still pretty low. Still getting used to falling into the seat its that far down! The number plate is only about 2 or 3 inches off the ground, might need to move it up so it doesn't attract the boys in blue.
1954 Oval long term project going nowhere
1958 Beetle drag car project
1959 Beetle project I need to sell one day
1969 Squareback
couple more
1954 Oval long term project going nowhere
1958 Beetle drag car project
1959 Beetle project I need to sell one day
1969 Squareback
Not really into the rat look and its not what I'm trying to achieve, just get it driving cheaply. Never know I might even give it a wash & polish in the next couple of days, comes up pretty nice when its done.
NOTE TO SELF - when hanging up suspension bits to paint, check what's a couple of metres away before you get too carried away.......oops
1954 Oval long term project going nowhere
1958 Beetle drag car project
1959 Beetle project I need to sell one day
1969 Squareback
👍
Well done Greg.
Go for a cruize!
Futue te ipsum!!!
very cool
Bizarre wrote:👍
Well done Greg.
Go for a cruize!
I'm trying to, I need to "cruize" to a job interview but the bloody thing won't run now. Ran fine the other day aside from a major flat spot from start when going thru an intersection. Was really low on fuel which I thought may be the problem given the rake of the suspension (and the slope of my driveway) but there's heaps of fuel in it now and after a minute or two it stalled and the bastard won't run now.
AAARRRRGH!!!!!!!!
Hopefully my wife gets back from lunch with a friend in time so I can pinch the Forester:o
Its always the way!
1954 Oval long term project going nowhere
1958 Beetle drag car project
1959 Beetle project I need to sell one day
1969 Squareback
Sorry to hear about your misfortune, sounds like Boris, runs OK for a while, but just when you want it or need it, it causes problems.
Good luck with the job interview.
Will have to bring out the red beauty for a cruise with Boris or the Ratzenmore gang one day.
1959 Mercedes Benz 190
1963 Chevrolet Corvair
1969 BMW 2002 Auto
1973 Mercedes Benz 230.6
have those wheels been sprayed with some supacheap "wheel silver"...? ? ? ?
looks the bizz mate. keep it up and goodluck sorting your donk issues. might be an idea to replace the fuel filters too.
looks tops though!
nick
Yeah bond its just a rattle can I think I got from Repco, just a silver polyurethane wheel coat.
Well its now running good, took it for a drive today with no problems and it now has a fuel filter on it, so touch wood it should be OK. Going on a club run to Victor Harbour tomorrow in it which is about 100km each way so it had better be alright. My wife will be following in her car just in case LOL:thumb
A friend offered to lend me some wheels he had kicking around in the shed, they're VW option wheels, rears have had the centres cut out and welded into wider rims. 15x4 fronts with 135 Michies, and believe it or not 15x7 rears with 235/60's. They fit but only just!! Its just the look I was wanting, fat out back with tucked in pizza cutters in front. Also polished the turd a few times to get rid of the oxidation, so its looking alright I reckon. Check it out
Had to drive it up on some timbers so I could get the jack under the car. That's how you know its low enough:thumb Check the angle the number plate is on, can you tell I've dragged it on the odd spoon drain or two!
The 235/60's just fit..
Thanks for all the comments guys/gals
1954 Oval long term project going nowhere
1958 Beetle drag car project
1959 Beetle project I need to sell one day
1969 Squareback
Wow!! Lookin' good Greg.
love it.
Took it out for the club run down to Victor Harbour. About 140 mile round trip, no real problems apart from it not really idling well on the way down there. Trip back was trouble free.
On the way down there we were running late and I rang someone to tell him we were still coming. When he rang back I picked up the phone and just after I started talking I heard beeping and sirens behind me and what do you know I had a police bike right behind me. Didn't see him as my rear view mirror was busted and all I could see was the back seat.
Gee did I panic, he looks around the car "bit low isn't it?" "yeah I guess"
Then he goes around to the back "not really any clearance between the tyres & guards" "I know, the tyres were loaned to me and I thought they were a bit big too so I'll change 'em"
Then he says "its a bit extreme you know, a bit too radical really"
Well after some fast talking I got through it with no more than a caution and some advice that I might want to raise the front a bit and change the rear boots if I don't want heaps of attention from "guys like me"
Hmm maybe, I like it as it is but I'm not 18 anymore so I'm kind of over being wary of police so maybe I'll take his advice:o
Gets heaps of looks wherever I go though, its fun after driving "normal" cars for a few years.
1954 Oval long term project going nowhere
1958 Beetle drag car project
1959 Beetle project I need to sell one day
1969 Squareback
Well I took the job offer I got the other day, so for the first time in about 8 years I don't have a company car. This POS is now my daily driver, at least I only have to go 10 minutes into town each day!!
Have spent a bit of time on it lately with niggly electrical issues (isn't 6 volt great!!), replacing the busted accelerator pedal, putting rear seatbelts in for the rugrats. Then it was time for the big job as it turned out, I thought it would take a couple of hours tops.
Thank god it was a long weekend. For some reason whenever I go to do something on the Bug it takes forever. After much searching to get some rivets to hold the latches on, it was time to put the popouts in. Took me a bit over a day to get them just right, had to take them out and enlarge the holes in the B pillar etc. Took a bit of paint off the back of the pass side window opening thanks to the latch, but its no show car anyway so it just adds to the rest of the scratches and blemishes on the paint.
Very happy with the result at the end of the day, check it out. If my wife has her way (when doesn't she????) there's more bling to come....:thumb
Oh yeah, pics don't do it justice, the paint isn't that good!!!!
1954 Oval long term project going nowhere
1958 Beetle drag car project
1959 Beetle project I need to sell one day
1969 Squareback
love it even more now.
where did you source the rivets from? i've been hunting the vw places on the net on and off for several years with no luck.
thanks
henry.
The rivets have been a real pain to try and source something vaguely right. I could not find anything on the net either so by trial and error have bought rivets from all sorts of places. More error than anything else.
Basically I have used the only ones I could find that would hold the latches on, a sealed rivet 4mm dia by 12.5mm long. I riveted from the inside and they don't go all the way through but they get enough bite on the frame to hold the latches on. Not really happy with it but it will do functionally for now until I can track down something better. Even a longer rivet the same diameter would have been better, Coventry Fasteners had a 16 or 20mm long one but the store I was at were out of stock. I was sick of such a trivial small piece of crap holding me back so I ran with the best thing I had in the end. As I said not perfect but close enough for now.
1954 Oval long term project going nowhere
1958 Beetle drag car project
1959 Beetle project I need to sell one day
1969 Squareback
Looks great
Love pop outs.
BTW
What job did you get??
Still in "the" industry" ??
Futue te ipsum!!!
fk yeah!
nick
Bizarre wrote:Looks great
Love pop outs.
BTW
What job did you get??
Still in "the" industry" ??
Thanks Barry & Nick, its coming together nicely and a few more things fell into place last night so there's a few upgrades to come. Some of it will take a while though, my progress with actual working on the car is slow at the best of times.
Yea Barry I'm still in the industry, I took a job with one of my previous customers as a site based Project Administrator. I've basically got control over 20 odd floors of fitouts in a new building in the CBD and when this one is done there's 6 more buildings in the same precinct so there's plenty of work to be done. That's without thinking about any other jobs that will be won in the meantime so its about as secure as it gets these days.
I'm only about 8k's or so out of the city so the bug doesn't have to get me too far, and worst case if it $hits itself I lock it up and go catch the bus. Fine.
1954 Oval long term project going nowhere
1958 Beetle drag car project
1959 Beetle project I need to sell one day
1969 Squareback
Hey Greg that looks very cool,
LIke the numberplate too , nice RAC.......sorry
Did you end up selling your oval?
Yeah I know, gotta love a nice RAC... At least I'll be throwing a roof rack on it soon, so the numberplate will accidentally mean something I guess. Yep sold the oval a couple of weeks after you picked up the decklid. How's your project coming along??
My set of repro Alberts arrived today, just had to get em on as soon as I got home. For once nothing went wrong!! Shit they're small mirrors to look through, I'm sure I'll get used to them though. Got dark when I finished so the pics aren't great but I'll get some more another day....
'Ere 'tis
1954 Oval long term project going nowhere
1958 Beetle drag car project
1959 Beetle project I need to sell one day
1969 Squareback
Looks sweet!
Love the look of the fat and skinnies! Top job.👍
They are nice! Never tire of that look.
Like the mirrors,
Yeah , project coming along, body completed and painted,
will post pics when i figure out how to do that
Looks AWESOME!!!!
Would love to see u out for the Ratzenmore cruise this Sunday. U2U me for details.
Unfortunately Boris won't be there due to electrical probs, but would love to see RAC out there.
I will be driving a mates matt black Sunny (boo hoo), but thems the breaks.
Once again, that car is just superb!
1959 Mercedes Benz 190
1963 Chevrolet Corvair
1969 BMW 2002 Auto
1973 Mercedes Benz 230.6
