Here are some pics of my Beetle I bought about a month ago.
I had to do a rust repair on the lower drivers side pillar section and in the wheel arch and a piece in the floorpan where the battery sits. I intend to fit BRM wheels, fit front disk brakes, narrowed beam and lower it. Sorry about the bad quality pics.
oldturtle22 ·
Pillar repair
oldturtle22 ·
pillar repair, engine, wheels
oldturtle22 ·
Interior and parts ready for paint.
Craig Torrens ·
wet&dry rub down and a buff for the paint ?
oldturtle22 ·
Yes Ill do that, not going to go to crazy with the paint. It'll be good enough for the time being.
oldturtle22 ·
Ive got a bit done before the long weekend. Ive polished up a heap of chrome parts, painted the horn and the horn bracket, cleaned up under the guards and now Im starting to reassemble the seats to have new covers put back on. Ive also put a new door rubber kit in the drivers side. I had a few broken bolts to remove in the wheel arches and bumper mounts, Then sprayed stone guard under the guards to give it a bit of a clean up. I also fitted a radio from 64 beetle which I got on ebay.
oldturtle22 ·
Just getting the seats assembled as much as I can as its getting upholstery done in Feb.
sgetty ·
Looks good! great buy👍
Boozo ·
looks good. '59 love 🙂
oldturtle22 ·
Well I've got some updates as the Beetle is nearly on the road. The interior has been completed by Micheal Holman of Performance Upholstery and Im really happy with how it turned out. Pics to follow. I've also followed NUG637's lead and built my own Okrasa style exhaust. I've removed the engine to replace the rubber engine seals, the transmission main/input seal and mounts and inspect the clutch. The kingpin/spindle assemblies have been removed and sent away for rebuild along with dropped spindles, and the brakes have been replaced along with new master cylinder. So hopefully it'll be cruising soon. Here's some pics of my progress, cheers Chris
oldturtle22 ·
These are the holes I cut into the exhaust, I removed the original baffles and cut off the crimped pipes inside so they're not restricted.
I made new baffles and refitted them.
This is the dual pipe to fit in the big holes I made in the muffler.
oldturtle22 ·
This is what it should look like when completed.......
57oval ·
The pipes are going to be to low for the cut outs in the rear valance
/AbarthDrg.jpg
Turbo54 ·
very cool, keep it up.
T54
oldturtle22 ·
Cool thanx for the info mate. I was going to check them after the engine was reinstalled.
haldz ·
Great workk love the carpet
oldturtle22 ·
The carpet does look great, today I set about fixing the exhaust and I've worked out a plan there, and the engine is re-installed and runs. so that's a plus. I also installed drivers side seat belt. Small bites will get me there.
beetle_nut ·
Doing a good job mate.nice looking bug.
oldturtle22 ·
I finished and fitted my exhaust today. I also painted and fitted up another inlet manifold.
Has anyone got any tips for removing springplates from the beetle? I have 2 inch dropped spindles coming for the front and was going to lower it a couple of splines at the springplates? Ideas? Is this too much? I'm having a bit of a time removing them from the splines?
Here's some pics.
oldturtle22 ·
So I fitted the exhaust and intake for good now, the engine has new tinware seals and transmission main/pilot shaft seal, so its all up and running again.
Just waiting on the dropped spindles and Ill move the rear springplates a spline or two and it should be rolling soon!
vw40hp ·
Nice job. looks very cool
Moosey ·
Looks Great carpet and trim go well with the paint work. Gives me inspiration for me to get started on my 60. a time line would be interesting
oldturtle22 ·
Get on to the 60 Moose. Yeah it does look good Michael did a great job.
Ive received my dropped spindles and the assemblies are back togeather so now I can get the front back togeather then the rear, get the tyres put on the wheels and rego!!
Boozo ·
love the exhaust 🙂
oldturtle22 ·
Thanks Boozo, Hopefully its not to loud.
I got a few bits from WW today so Ill fit them up this weekend. The front dropped spindles were fitted last weekend so its back on the ground, sitting a bit lower.
Not to long now
Performance Upholstery ·
Looking forward to seeing it slammed Chris!
oldturtle22 ·
4 inch narrowed beam bought Mick, with BRM's, should look sick as.
oldturtle22 ·
Getting there, narrowed beam to be fitted now!
jjwebb123 ·
What a great build, not too over the top. looks good.
Just a question from the top of the post. When you did rust repairs to pillars,
were they replacement rust repair sections?
Im looking for new pillar rust repair sections ,havnt found anywhere in aus that sells them.
Cheers
oldturtle22 ·
Gday mate, thanks for your reply.
I got the rust repair sections from Steve and Al at Das Resto Haus at Burleigh.
Very reasonable price for what you get and if you've never done one talk to the boys and they'll give you a few tips to get the job done.
Almost got the 4 in beam in. The front end was covered in 50yrs of grease and dirt!! A very messy job. Pics to follow!!
oldturtle22 ·
Just a quick update, beam is in, and its all on the ground. I've got a few bonnet repairs to go install the choke cable and fit the left hand side running board and its all good for rego!!
Here's a few pics.
lohoon ·
Way cool ride👍
wombatventures ·
Looks Great Chris. Liking the exhaust setup, might try similar on our 74. Where did you get your carpets? The fit looks spot on. 😁👍
oldturtle22 ·
G'day wombat,
It's come up nice. Not far now, Michael holm
Man of performance upholstery did it for me, he's on here so you can easily PM him. I would love to get it recode this week fingers crossed
oldturtle22 ·
So I took it for it's first outing to my brothers workshop at Raceview. It went quite well. Here's a pic
Performance Upholstery ·
That looks awesome mate! I love it! It's a different car than I had here!
oldturtle22 ·
It is Mick. I don't know if I would get it up the driveway now 😊😊
oldturtle22 ·
Heres an update on the 59 Beetle.
I took it down to my brothers Dyno and Mechanical shop on Saturday and put it on the dyno prior to starting the build on a 36hp okrasa engine.
I intend to do before and after power runs.
It made a whopping 24.3 hp!!
Not bad for a car made in 1959 with 85000 miles!
I believe the engine is original and has never been rebuilt.
Enjoy.
kuta ·
Ha! Love it. Sometimes you don't need horsepower!
oldturtle22 ·
Yeah kuta I agree. I must admit, it goes fine for me except in the 100 zones, revs a bit high for me above 90kph.
That will be rectified soon though!
NUG637 ·
just found this thread… very cool mate! look forward to the new edition regarding the engine 👍
oldturtle22 ·
Cheers mate, I'll definitely update it as it progresses.
oldturtle22 ·
Heres some more updates.
I got some adjustable lowered springplates from Jerfab in the USA. It sits a bit lower in the rear now.
Next is the 36hp engine rebuild with WW/Okrasa kit and Im currently restoring the steering wheel.
fish26 ·
Looks awesome mate, well done
adlbeetle66 ·
Very Nice! Love it! I always though that steel rims looked best, until i saw this!! Thats mad! 👍
joesbuell ·
Nice!!
KombiMadness ·
Great score, it looks awesome! I love those swan neck mirrors......
Mine has the original 36hp engine also, it goes great. So did you end up putting in the narrowed beam up front? How does it feel, handling wise when your doing 100kph?
I can see that yours has been 'improved' with added on blinkers in the past. I have the same screw holes.....
oldturtle22 ·
Its not too bad at speed. I sit on about 90kph as I don't like to rev the tits off it on the Hway. Yeah the 36 is a good engine right
KombiMadness ·
oldturtle22 wrote:Its not too bad at speed. I sit on about 90kph as I don't like to rev the tits off it on the Hway. Yeah the 36 is a good engine right
Yeah, I guess I should just drive slower. 90kph sounds good.....