Early front on later beetle

G'day,

I was just wondering how difficult it is to replace the front panels and bonnet from a '68 onwards beetle with the earlier type.

Anyone done it?

Different shape why not just fit the same later style.

Oh, I just like the older front ends. I just had a quick look in the members rides section at Dave Beckers '69. That is pretty much the sort of thing I'm thinking of.

Damn you were quick at replying! 🙂

as long as it's a beam front end and not mcpherson strut then yeh, it can be done. been done loads!

i think you just need the earlier front valance and then the wings and bonnet will fit (i could be wrong here, this is knowledge gained from years of reading magazines, not from personal experience 😉 )

kai

Damn you were quick at replying!

It wasnt that quick there were at least 31 minutes between our posts

I'm in Tasmania, here split second timing is the same as 10 minute intervals.

Thanks to both of you for the info.

yes it is an easy job, I bought an NOS early front clip, drilled all the spot welds holding on the old clip, took it off and welded on the replacement, simple.

But then you have to make bumper mounts to hold the early front bumper brackets, they are on the inside of the spare wheel well, unlike the later ones under the front guards.
I cut some front mounts off an early car and grafted them on, the shape of the inner guards is different, so a bit of fabrication is needed but not too hard.

Thanks for the info, Dave.

Thats a damn nice car you put together.

an easier compremize is to just use early bumpers you just need to make an special braket I made mine with a downward slope to make the front look lower.

[Edited on 23-5-2004 by ph billet]