Ian's Oval

I hope that Ian will post some pictures of his Oval,
that is a very clean and original car.

It will be getting some mechanical upgrades (possibly 2275cc),
and a strong transaxle that will still allow low rpm cruising on the highway if need be.

With original intentions of a five speed,
I suggested perhaps keeping a four speed,
and select a spread of ratios that will work well with the extra engine torque,
but also improve the rev drops between the gears.

Also, strength upgrades were chosen
so that drive train failure will be the last thing on Ian's mind
if he should choose to "check the throttle reponse".

Ian was able to track down a NOS Bugpack super diff.
This was a good quality unit.
Most of the ones getting shipped here fom the USA lately
have excessive run-out of the crownwheel in relation to the bearings....so even buying a brand new one is a big gamble.

First step, after checking the item was machined true from the factory,
was to drill the oil holes in the body for better lubrication.



Here you can see the four spider gears.(stock only has two) :



It is not just the extra spider gears that make these stronger.
They also have a much beefier body,
and dual circlips (instead of one per side),
to retain the side gears.

Also a billet side cover was chosen to retain the super diff.
These billet ones are about twice the price of the cast versions,
but far better material and finished quality.



Another one of the strength upgrades was also an excuse to get better ratios.

An ALBINS custom order mainshaft set was orered with a taller first and second gear ratio.

Stock is 3.778 and 2.0588 for second.

This one is 3.444 and 2.000 for second.

The larger engine torque will easilly use the taller gearing,
and subsequently,
they will be closer to third gear, for much more driving pleasure.



Third gear will be a 40hp third of 1.3182 ratio (stock 1500 beetle is 1.26),
and an L Bug 4th with ratio of 0.931.

With Ian's proposed 205-70-15 tyre, rpm on the high way will be around 3000.

All the ratios are now spaced better than VW ever had in their 1500 beetles.

As you may guess,
all these parts do not simply bolt into place.
Because Ian wanted a swingaxle trans for his Oval,
we needed parts from various different VW models.

The basic case was an AH code beetle from the early seventies,
and parts from late DC code '73 type3,
1973 AT code L-bug,
2litre Bus,
and very early sixties bug trans were all selected,
as being the best features of all models.

A 4.125 gleason crownwheel and pinion was set up in the case,
until the correct pinion depth,
and crownwheel backlash and preload were found.



Then the gears were set up on the pinion shaft for the correct end clearance.
Here is 1st gear:

Looks very sweet. Someone is a pro at gear boxes!! 🙂

The gears on the mainshaft are not a simple process.



First, the synchro cones were welded onto the gears of third and 4th is factory furnace brazed.



An 091 circlip (091 is VW-speak for the trans from 2lt bus),
was used because it is very strong,
and will allow the end clearances to be set
by machining the 3/4 gear selector hub.



Both the gear and hub are machined to fit correctly together,
and control the correct end float for third gear.
This takes careful measurement and some trial assemby.





As you can see in the picture above, the hub also gets extra oil holes.

Then the other side of the hub is machined
...just enough...
to get the other circlip on nice and tight.



If you use these ALBINS mainshafts with stock thin circlips,
the hub can float back and forth, removing any clearance that the gears had,
thus burning the faces, and usually the cages in the bearings too.

This is a 40 hp needle bearing for 4th, which has a metal cage and more/longer rollers.



Then finally the end float of 4th gear was set,
and some oil grooves added to the face to bear against the 091 mainshaft bearing.

love you work.
another box is getting the royal treatment.
sounds like a cool car were's the pic's.

Do you mind me asking how much this sorta work is going to cost Ian? I may be talking to you in the future about a box.

This late model case uses the long clutch arm:



...and 20mm fat shaft clutch fork for the later style throw out bearing.
The arms were fully welded.(stock is spot welded).



The coupling to join the ALBINS mainshaft,
and the input shaft,
had to have the inside spline removed for a short section to clear the splines on the albins shaft.



And the reverse idler gear has extra body clearace to clear the taller 2.000 second gear.
Because the 2nd gear is also wider, and equal amount needed to be removed from the reverse gear.
Here is a comparison with a stock used one and the new on the left.

How long roughly does it take for you to do one of these boxes Dave?

The intermediate housing gets its rail holes re-bushe with 6 series aluminium.
Better than new.



Then the assembly is pressed together with new German mainshaft bearing,
and gear selection adjusted.

Here it is in the jig that simulates the case depth:



This steel plate sandwiches under the nose cone,
and helps to retain the mainshaft and bearing position.
Otherwise thrust loads will damage the nos cone.

Ian's car (being pre 1960) will most likely need a swingaxle bus nose cone.
Normally I will machine the face of a used nose cone(and some new ones!!),
to account for the above plate thicness,
but also because most are just not flat at all.
Most used ones need new bushes too,(and some new ones that I hae seen..made in china?).

Until then, just a stock old nose cone is fitted to keep the dirt out.
Turned out pretty spiffy:



Now, where's those car pictures Ian?!!!!

colonel mustard wrote:How long roughly does it take for you to do one of these boxes Dave?

Most boxes like this take around 25 hours.

This varies greatly depending on mods,
and wether or not I fit the axles and tubes.

Reduction hub Bus or C'Buggy trans can add a many hours and dollars to assemble all those extra bearings and gears.

Basic IRS trans is usually less hours,
but a modified one can be the same.

Just for a reality check,
a box like Westi's took over 40 hours,
and my own IRS bus trans took me 60 hours.
Lucky I don't have to pay wages.

So... Bug IRS about 25 hours??

But obviously varies on what sort of power will be on the end of it.

estimate for a Irs box with mediumish 1916 power running through there. Guessing 120hp at the most... (you dont have to say if its so varied its insane...haha)

Sweet work man. 🙂

There are many variables depending in the condition of what you have to begin with.

If you have 125hp, possibly a stock rebuilt L-model box, (or equivalent year type 3).

Then upgrade ratios and strength to suit how you use that power.

Dave , you never cease to amaze us all with your attention to detail , well done

Great looking work Dave!!

Might as well show it off before it disappears under the car never to be seen 🥷

Stout gearbox for a street car ...

Thanks for starting the post off Dave – I have been meaning to do this for a week now but being busy at work and also sick at the moment has delayed things.

I have been back in Australia for around 18 months now after a long stint living over in the UK. It was in the UK that I first became involved in all things VW and have built a couple of beetles over the last 10 years while teaching myself to weld, paint and so on. I have been planning my next build (this Oval) for quite some time now and hope that once it is finished it will be something that I can get in and enjoy and keep for a very long time.

I had looked at a fair few cars for sale until eventually I stumbled onto this ’56.












Very original and straight with all the original panels. The paint is mostly original except for a blow over on the wings and a bit on the decklid. From what I have seen so far I shouldn’t have any welding to do at all. The guy who had it before me used to regularly give good coatings of fish oil to all the usual rust traps which seems to have preserved things well. He owned it for over 30 years and only put about 30,000 miles on the clock.

I don’t plan to do anything to upset the cars current character but will be making some changes as time goes on.

I am in the process of collecting together lots of the parts I need before taking the car off the road. This included a gearbox which I have been lucky enough to have Dave build up for me. Not looking for a close ratio drag box, Dave came up with a nice spread of ratios and we put together a good parts list to build a sound street box.

I am busy at the moment building a couple of frames to help lift the body off and will be updating the thread as things progress.

A big thanks to Dave and also Alan (Dasdubber) who have been very helpful so far in getting the project off the ground.

Cheers, Ian

Couple of extra pics:







Parts stash mmmmmm shiny stuff:




My last bug:

The oval looks very cool Aussie ❗

From the sounds of it you will easily embarrass that XA coupe you are driving next to in the cool photo.
Looking forward to seeing it progress.

cheers
Marcus

wow that is a a nice stash of shiny bits u got there man

Aussie wrote:Parts stash mmmmmm shiny stuff:

You got some doubles there... not building 2 are ya???

are they wide 5 discs? just wondering where you got them from/what brand cheers

Very nice, mmmmm IDA's

izac wrote:are they wide 5 discs? just wondering where you got them from/what brand cheers

Discs are CSP - Bought them directly from Germany when I was in the UK, the quality of these kits is real good! Porsche PCD but you can get wide 5. Expensive to buy from Australia (postage) which is why I got them before I came over.

Havent posted for a while so doing a quick update. Still waiting for my beam to turn up but have the wheels and a couple of extra bits I have been waiting for. Once the beam turns up I can make sure it fits and then get the body off and get going on the pan.

Decided today to start getting the ball rolling and get some stuff done. Pulled off the running boards and rear wings and then spent the best part of the afternoon getting the old crusty underseal off the arches. Only a couple of small bits of surface rust and on the whole pretty damn solid. 🙅

nice clean body👍

What is being bolted onto that trans?? anything taken shape yet??

colonel mustard wrote:What is being bolted onto that trans?? anything taken shape yet??

Not much as yet. Will probably run with the stocker for a while to get everything set up right. Then it will be time to sort the new motor!

Bit more progress.... Took the front wings off and carefully got rid of the last remaining bits of old underseal. Turned up nice again with no rust issues at all. 😎

Finally the beam turned up. Been waiting for about 4 months but very happy with whats turned up. Airkewld 3 inch narrow with shock towers and no body mods required. If it fits as good as it looks then I will be happy.





Jumped into the front end today and killed my ball joint tool......those things are tight!

love the oval mate, super clean.. screw the ball joint tool, try using two hammers 👍

Very envious of your oval!
I look forward to seeing the progression of the build.

Trial fitted the beam up to make sure there were no issues. All went in easily and there is actually more clearance to the inner wings than on a stock beam.





Dropped out the engine also so another step done before splitting the body.

Car's coming along great Ian

Body off time. Made some lifting frames to help the process. Forks get bolted on to the bumper mounts.



Trolley jack goes under, lift to desired height and lock off with a bolt. Made some wheel trolleys too so that the chassis could be pulled out the way.





Rolls around easily and ideal to work on the shell.

holy shit, that is the best lifting jig I have ever seen....Nice work

Nice work Ian, nice setup mate!
Al

Wow, cool jig and trolleys,
almost looks like some kind of engineer designed it!

How stable is that Jig? Looks like the legs might fold in a bit. I'd be super keen on plans if available. Space saving when you aren't using them for sure.

type_one wrote:How stable is that Jig? Looks like the legs might fold in a bit. I'd be super keen on plans if available. Space saving when you aren't using them for sure.

Yeah pretty stable. I was a bit worried about this when I built them so I kept the upright outer sleeves long to help stop the legs from flexing. The legs are quite thick gauge box tube and are a snug fit to the outer sleeves so no movement there.

Really happy with how they turned out - definitely makes this an easy one man job!

Time to get dirty! Spent the last 2 days up to my neck in grease and oil getting the chassis cleaned up - easily the worst job so far. Still can't complain - all this crud has kept the rust at bay for a long time. I am still amazed at the condition of this car after the last 2 tea strainers I restored in the UK 🥲

Here is a pick of the front end after a grease down:



Check out the original chassis paint - not bad for 50+ years.

Next the rear end got the same treatment. Dropped out the old split case + axles & tubes.



Cleaned up nice. The whole assembly will be stored and can be bolted back in if the car ever goes back to stock. Another handy use for one of the wheel trolleys has been found.😂



Next job will be a trial fit of the new gearbox. The jury is still out on what front nose cone will be needed to get it fitted.

Well, I managed to bugger my back over xmas while moving the floorpan around in the garage🥲 That will teach me for not bending the knees😂

Anyway, to help me out going forward (Doc says I have to take it easy) I decided to modify my lifting frames to work with the floorpan. Using a few bits of scrap I made some additions to the original frames and now I can raise or lower the pan to whatever height and also spin it 360degrees. The pan can be mounted with or without the gearbox in place to help me weld in mid mount tabs etc.







Next job........

Looks awesome Ian.
Hope your back gets better soon,
I cant wait to see you driving this thing around again, even if it is only with a 36hp engine.
Alan drove his oval with 36er,(and now with 40hp) and a tall first gear,(3.33 with 3.88 diff) and it drove fine.
So your 3.444 with 4.125 will be no wuckers.

Still amazed how rust free this car is.
Your not planning to paint it at all? (hope not).

dangerous wrote:Looks awesome Ian.
Hope your back gets better soon,
I cant wait to see you driving this thing around again, even if it is only with a 36hp engine.
Alan drove his oval with 36er,(and now with 40hp) and a tall first gear,(3.33 with 3.88 diff) and it drove fine.
So your 3.444 with 4.125 will be no wuckers.

Still amazed how rust free this car is.
Your not planning to paint it at all? (hope not).

Thanks Dave. Don't worry - not planning to paint anything that will be visible. Will paint the underside of the floorpan + framehead etc, inner arches body colour, bottom of heater channels for protection and thats probably about it. 🙅

Dave,
What is the lowest rpm you would expect at 110km/h in a 'box setup with the tallest 4th gear possible, assuming 195/660/15 tires.

195/60/15 tyre measures 24.21" in height according to google.

If Ian was using such a short tyre his rpm would be 3636rpm at 110km/hr.(4.125 diff with 0.931 fourth).
With Ian's proposed 205/70/15 tyre this would be 3346rpm.

The tallest gears VW make are the 3.875 diff and a 0.821 from an early bus.
This would be 3012rpm with the same speed and 195/60/15 tyre.

Albins DO make a 0.696 fourth gear and this would be 2554rpm, but these are very impractical,
an the huge gap from 3rd to 4th would be bogus.

Thanks for the info.
I imagine higher load and lower rpms may also have a negative effect on engine cooling with the fan also dropping rpm.

Cant wait to see more progress on this one😎

Nice progress on this project. Hope your back gets better soon so you can really get stuck in again. And very envious of those jigs, man they are the sh*t.

K & L time....... Stripped all the grease and crap off the K&L assembly ready to have new stuff fitted throughout.



Labelled it all up and packed it ready to have the new pins and bushings put in. So paranoid about mixing up all the bits......its like a chinese puzzle!



Came back all shiny and nice and ready for a bit of paint. Didnt paint the carriers first as they would likely have got chipped during putting in the King's. I had painted the CB spindles back over in the UK to protect them from rusting during the boat ride over.





I taped it all up ready for a splash of gloss black. How good are the WD40 lids for masking off the Link pin holes?? 😂

nice work!! love your painting trolley!! 😂

Scarab (aka: Paul)

Ah shit,I just threw one of those 'painting trolleys' out! Coulda used that this week painting my wheels
Damn it

Never throw those painting trolleys away, I've got one withthe seat still intact but without the backrest, great for sitting on while tinkering under the bonnet of the buggy.👍

Had a few issues getting the new box to mount into the correct position and finally chased it back to the front mount. I have two brand new front mounts and both of them are wider than a stock mount which does not allow the box to sit as far into the chassis as it needs to to retain the stock geometry. 😠 Bloody repro crap 😬
The front mount on the old split box was in pretty good shape so was decided to reuse. Only issue is the new ERCO nosecone has 10mm stud holes and the old mount has 8mm studs.
To sort this I "machined" up some sleeve's and installed them as a snug fit into the mount holes.





Job done!! 🙅

Really wanted some detailed fuch rims to go on this car so ordered some Flat 4 wheels in 4.5 and 5.5 inch widths. Went over to Das Resto Haus for some detailing action over the weekend to get things moving along. 🙅

Al was good enough to let me do some of the labour to offset the cost and also see what the process was. Started out masking things up and then working out where we wanted the paint to cover vs what remains polished.



Infill taped all the remaining areas we didnt want the paint. 400 grit wet and dry then keyed in the surface.



Masked up the rest of the wheels and then lined up ready in the spray booth.



Primer applied then 2 coats of direct gloss black (no clear coat needed).





Take off the masking and we're done!!! Look awesome and can't wait to get them fitted up. Will leave for a few weeks now though to fully cure and harden up. 😂

Mmmmm fuchs 😵

They are SEXY AS!!!! I dont know many beetles that wouldnt look good sitting on those!
Cheers Todd 😀

Got back to the Gearbox again and lined things up for a final fit. Didnt like the fit of the rear cradle as when bolted up it did not sit fully under the rear mounts. To fix this I welded a plate onto the back of the cradle which pushed it out to sit squarely under the bell housing.



Now bolted up it all seems to line up properly again. Probably not 100% necessary but I just like things to look right.

Next up was the mid mount which needed brackets welded onto the frame horns.

Here is the kit as supplied:



You need to replace the 4 stock length studs under the box with longer versions to allow for the thickness of the mount plate.



Next a trial fit to make sure there is good clearence to everything. Not sure how much these things flex under load but the design is good with plenty of room for a bit of movement.



The only thing I didnt like about the kit was the profile of the mounting face where it is welded to the frame horn.



So I grabbed the grinder and file and shaped things a bit for a more snug fit. Should help to make the welds a bit neater at least!

Clean the area up for a blob of weld. How good are the air files - make a neat job so I didnt need to take off any more paint than I had to.



Get some weld around the top...



Spin the pan around and then finish weld around the whole thing for good strength.





Mask things off for a quick coat of primer and we are done....😎

Those mounts should still be fine upside down like they are, just means the tabs will be under compression instead of tension.

71-BEETLE-SEDAN wrote:Those mounts should still be fine upside down like they are, just means the tabs will be under compression instead of tension.

other way around miss jane ! 😂

Craig Torrens wrote:

71-BEETLE-SEDAN wrote:Those mounts should still be fine upside down like they are, just means the tabs will be under compression instead of tension.

other way around miss jane ! 😂

😂 Geez guys you made me look! The tabs actually dont fit the other way round as you would have to notch the frame horn seam and do a whole lot more re-profiling then I did to make them fit!!!!!! Was following fitting guide so confident they are correct.....I hope 😂

They support the gearbox under torque so would not one side be in tension and the other under compression anyway???

I mean the tabs on the sides of the tabs, the verticle bits.

Got some 3/8 inch stainless tube for a new fuel line for the car. Wanted to leave the stock line for use until I get the new motor sorted - and can then be used for a return line if I ever need one. Grabbed the last VMA mag and followed the tech guide for the install.

Needed to make a slot in the framehorn to allow the bigger diameter tube to be fed through. Wanted to fit the new line so that it comes out and mirrors the stock line.





Got it fed through the tunnel without too much hassle and under the pedal cluster.



Feed it up through the new hole and give it a final bend. Fit the new bung and we're done at the front.



Weld up the slots and grind back for paint.






Just need to trim the excess length and fit another bung. 🙅

Nice work👍

Dropped the body back on so that I could check a few clearences etc before things start getting painted.

Fitted up the new gearbox to check nose cone to boot floor space. Needed to put a couple of very small dishes in the body to clear the top two bolts on the box. Quite pleased as I thought it would need a lot more to get it to fit. With a clean up and underseal you will never see anything.



Next up was to trial fit the torque bar between the shock towers. I wont fit the down tubes until the engine/exhaust is fitted to make sure I have clearence to everything.

Had to modify the the bar and the bracket to get it to fit properly.



This was so that I could fit some spacers to get through the body without cutting it. Tacked up the first bracket.



Tacked up the other bracket and all done. Probably will take it all out and not use the bracing until the bigger engine is ready to go - was great to get in and make a start though while I had easy access to everything..🙅

Hey Ian
Any progress here mate?
Cheers Tom

oldskl60 wrote:Hey Ian
Any progress here mate?
Cheers Tom

Hi Tom - progress on the old boy is going well, albeit a bit slow. Still working on the pan - grinding, smoothing, metal finishing and getting into paint. Taking lots of pics as I go along and planning to have a decent thread update when I have something to show for it all.....🤪

Cheers, Ian

Finally I have an update. 😂 I have been busy working on the floor pan for what seems like months. I have had to do things in stages rather than the whole thing at once which is not ideal but it seems to have worked out OK. Still have more to do but thought I would get some pics up of where I am.

Started out by removing every ding, dent, crease that I could see. I wont show them all but here are a few!

Next I stripped the top side of the pans. Good to see no rust lurking under the tar board!





Check out the dustpan full of crud. Most of it is glue from where the sound proof mats where stuck down. What a bi@tch to get off 😬

Next up - strip things back to bare metal.





Put seam sealer wherever there were any gaps.

Primer applied. Used some PPG DP40 primer as this was recommended to be good for both existing paint and bare metal (which I have bits of both).

There were some small pitting in the cleaned up surface which I treated with rust remover before painting. I decided not to dress the surface with filler as the DP40 has a rust preventative in it so will hopefully be better than a layer of filler to keep the rust off. Obvioulsy you can see the pitting in the final finish but as its going under carpert anyway I would rather that it just had the best protection.

The best bit about the primer is that you dont have to sand or wait till dry before spraying topcoat. Leave for 15mins and then you are good to go with the colour. How much time does this save! 🙅

Good stuff Ian - great to see some primer go on. you certainly are spending some time on prepping that pan - will look great once done.
Al

So finally the top coat can go on. Used PPG direct gloss black and put on 4 coats. No buffing or clear coat needed. Came up nice! Next job is flip it over and do the underside.

Dasdubber wrote:Good stuff Ian - great to see some primer go on. you certainly are spending some time on prepping that pan - will look great once done.
Al

Thanks Al. Think I am getting a bit carried away on the prep but its easy to get a bit obsessed with these things 🤪

Thanks for your advice on the paint - top stuff.

Man, what a great pan that is, great job too 👍👍

nice work!!!! that pan looks AWESOME!! 👍👍👍

Scarab (aka: Paul)

Hey nice work. 😎

Thanks for the comments guys...

More progress, Pan = Done 🙅

I must have about 40hrs on the underside of the pan. I shudder to think about how many hours overall are in the car already (and how many more to come)!! Maybe I just work too slow 😂

Anyway, followed the same process as the top of the pan - got things back to bare metal, straightened + sanded everything I could. The only bugger was wire brushing a bit too hard in a couple of places which then heated the metal and bubbled the paint on the other side of the pan. Luckily only a couple of very small bits which I will have to do a bit of touch up at a later stage. It will be under carpet so not visible anyway. I guess this was a downside for doing things in stages rather than all at once. Came up good with no rust whatsoever.









On goes the seam sealer..

Next up 2 coats of primer and then 4 coats of black. Came up nice. Also glad I can finally move on to something else!!

Sweet write up man,
Nice job, how did you go stripping that metal so nicely. Did you use pints srtipper, or all scratch and grind?
Keep up the thread. Looks very worthwhile.

Aussie wrote:

that is gorgeous... just clearcoat it..... no, waxoil it... 👍

Aussie Dubbin wrote:Sweet write up man,
Nice job, how did you go stripping that metal so nicely. Did you use pints srtipper, or all scratch and grind?
Keep up the thread. Looks very worthwhile.

Started out with a twisted knot wire wheel on the grinder, follow up with standard wire brush wheel on the grinder, then finally go over everything with 240 grit hand sanding. The results are great but it is a dirty, noisy and long winded process!!! My neighbours must hate me 😂

Floor pan looks awesome. Can't wait to see what the rest of the car will look like!

Great inspiration, thanks!

keep up the good job👍

Wow you are doing an amazing job! It must make a huge difference starting with such a solid car! I can't wait to see some more progress for some inspiration!
AJ

AJPerkins wrote:Wow you are doing an amazing job! It must make a huge difference starting with such a solid car! I can't wait to see some more progress for some inspiration!
AJ

Thanks guys. Progress is a bit stop/start at the moment - I just try and fit in a bit here and there. Painted a few ancilliaries like axle tubes, trailing arms, gearbox cradle, spring plate covers etc - took some pics but a bit boring to post.

Will carry out the touch up work needed to the top of the pan next and then finally will have it finished....😂 Will be trying to get some hours in over xmas. In the process of getting a paint match so that I can move on to the body and start painting inner arches, bottom of heater channels, under boot floor etc. Basically all the bits you won't see....😠

It has been a LONG time since my last update....... I have gone through the process of buying a house and moving which has slowed things down for a while, however now a few things on the build have started to progress once again.

Left off things at the old house with a load of ancillaries painted up.

Lifting frames came in very handy when moving things into the new place. Replaced the jack with a crane to make things quicker + easier when adjusting the height.





With the chassis now complete, I decided to start things off on the body at the back by cleaning up under the boot floor area and inner rear arches etc.




Cleaned up well though will certainly need a lick of paint to keep things protected under here. You can see the primered dimples which were needed to give clearance to the front of the late gearbox.

Moving towards the rear and found some rust holes. Nothing too bad but will still need to be sorted.



Cleaned back the top side of the valance to see how far things might have gone through and found a previous repair which was not the neatest!!!



Time to chop out the crap and see what we have left.



I dont like holes!

Started to mock up the repair piece needed for the outer skin of the valance. Make in card first and then transfer to metal. The sheet metal supplier told me that it would not be possible to mig weld this gauge of steel without blowing holes though everything?? I told him I would try anyway 😂





Next I bend the repair piece into shape with the help of a vice.

Man, your body is in such great nick.

Very neat work too.

Only problem is trying to match the curvature of the rear valance to the straight repair piece that I have so far.



Some pie cuts soon sorted that out.



Test the fit and things are starting to look closer 🙅

Next up the inner repair piece. Started things off with a card template as previously.



Bend in the return lip...





Add the pie cuts for curvature and line up with the other side to test lines prior to welding.



Completed repair section.

Inner section is welded in first.



Outer section tacked in to check fit prior to finish welding.





Everything looks good so in she goes...



Needs a skim of filler to blend the repair out. Also started to sand out the lower portion of the valance. I am hoping this will be the only visible painted area on the outside of the car. Matching the paint was very hard as there are a few different shades ranging from faded original to more recent blow over on the wings and valance. I had to choose a shade of blue which tries to blend with all the different shades that are there.



Finished with a panel mock up again to check gaps/lines.

Nice work!! You make it look all too easy!

BlackBug wrote:Nice work!! You make it look all too easy!

Thanks Mate! No specialist skills here - just time and patience to get things looking right. 🥲

Finally time for some primer to go on. Used the same PPG primer as went onto the floorpan. Great things to say about this stuff - no issues at all on anything that I have painted with it so far. The only thing I have noted is a tiny bit of cracking if you apply too thick - more of a painter error though than an issue with the paint itself.





Got it in and around the boot floor. This underneath section is a pain in the arse to spray - upside down with lots of curves, faces and nooks to get the paint into. Wanted a good even coat for max protection under here. The sanding and prep on this nearly drove me mad!!!😠







Arches came up real nice.

The rear valance repair came up great. Did a couple coats of primer with a bit of sanding and treatment in between to get things to finished standard.





This is the inside of the repair which used the second smaller replacement panel. Bit of smoothing etc prior to paint. Really wanted to have good lines on the return lip and also retain the original pressing line which runs parallel.



This is the untouched other side for comparison. Getting close for some colour now. 😎

Nice work Ian, you're doing great. Takes a lot of time to take photos as you go, upload and describe everything hey 🙂

The DP40 is good - just be aware of the recoat window - normally it should be followed by either high build primer or top coat colour (base coat or direct gloss) within 4 hours maximum. After this you have to sand it so the colour has a mechanical adhesion since the chemical bond (withing the recoat period) has been lost. DP40 sucks to sand sorry to say 😢

Since the top coat is a little less resilient than the epoxy primer, if I have to leave the DP40 for an extended period, I sand it with around 240 grit on the DA then recoat with DP40 and follow that with colour. You can just sand and paint the colour over the hardened primer but there is a slight more chance of delamination.

If you want to borrow my Devilbiss gun which has a collapsible bladder let me know - this enables you to paint upside down as the the gun sucks the bladder down as it goes and forces the paint into the gun rather than relying on gravity feed (until it gets really low on paint).

Cheers
AL

Super-nice work there Ian!

Dasdubber wrote:Nice work Ian, you're doing great. Takes a lot of time to take photos as you go, upload and describe everything hey 🙂

The DP40 is good - just be aware of the recoat window - normally it should be followed by either high build primer or top coat colour (base coat or direct gloss) within 4 hours maximum. After this you have to sand it so the colour has a mechanical adhesion since the chemical bond (withing the recoat period) has been lost. DP40 sucks to sand sorry to say 😢

Since the top coat is a little less resilient than the epoxy primer, if I have to leave the DP40 for an extended period, I sand it with around 240 grit on the DA then recoat with DP40 and follow that with colour. You can just sand and paint the colour over the hardened primer but there is a slight more chance of delamination.

If you want to borrow my Devilbiss gun which has a collapsible bladder let me know - this enables you to paint upside down as the the gun sucks the bladder down as it goes and forces the paint into the gun rather than relying on gravity feed (until it gets really low on paint).

Cheers
AL

Thanks Al. Man I could have done with that Devilbiss. Had to keep my gravity feed filled to the brim to enable the upside down stuff. How does the bladder work - I dont think I have seen one of these?

Your post beat me to my next update..... I hit the recoat window and got colour on about 20 mins after I finished the primer. Where I had to do some coats of primer with finishing work in between I used 240grit where needed and then used a 3M scuff pad before final primer coat (prior to colour).

You are right about the time it takes to do these updates - uploading photo's is such a pain. I remember reading threads like this one back in the day and getting some useful tips and motovation to do my own build. Hopefully someone out there gets the same from what I am now posting ?????? 🤓

dangerous wrote:Super-nice work there Ian!

Thanks Dave - its been great to get back into it 😂 Still dreaming of a motor.....

We have colour...... Very pleased with how this came out. It is a heap of graft to get to the paint stage but this is really when all that prep work comes through.

I am liking how this car is coming together. Super clean underneath with original looks from the outside. Looking forward getting paint finished and getting this thing assembled.

Finished repair came up nice..



Little bit of orange peel on the valance which is annoying. I am guessing that even though it is direct gloss paint I can still colour sand it as you would a normal clearcoat??



Colour match on RHS is good - this corner of the decklid had a blow over in the past.



Not so good colour match on LHS as this is original paint on the decklid.



You can see all the different shades of blue here - this is why it was hard to get a paint match that would blend with everything!!! The rear bumper will help hide the bits that don't match so well 😂

Aussie wrote:

dangerous wrote:Super-nice work there Ian!

Thanks Dave - its been great to get back into it 😂 Still dreaming of a motor.....

You will need something that has high compression and short con rods to fit in that oval engine bay!

dangerous wrote:

Aussie wrote:

dangerous wrote:Super-nice work there Ian!

Thanks Dave - its been great to get back into it 😂 Still dreaming of a motor.....

You will need something that has high compression and short con rods to fit in that oval engine bay!

I knew of one too... 😎

Sorry to jump the gun mate - thought you left the primer over night or something but good to hear you got in on in time.

Direct gloss is okay to colour sand as per clearcoat, just a little messier 🙂

Devilbiss gun (and other brands do them too) looks like a standard gun but instead of a rigid pot, it has a casing that houses a thin plastic bladder - so instead of filling it from the top like a normal gun, you remove the housing fill the bladder then connect it to the gun....as the paint runs out the bladder sucks down to the gun so there is never an air pocket regardless of gun position (within reason). Can't find a pic but it makes sense when you see it - a little late now sorry 🙂

AL

Been busy on the car again and made some more progress. Motivated by seeing some of the cars at Warwick even though I only went on the Saturday which ended a bit early with the rain...

Started the prep work on the front end of the shell in a similiar way to how the rear end was done. Cleaned off the remainder of the flaking underseal from the front arches and under the valance/front bulkhead area. No nasty surprises again though I did have to go back to bare metal again in some areas to get things properly clean.











Masked everything for the first coat of primer to show any imperfections/areas which need work.

Ended up also having to paint the bonnet seal trim as the old seal had disintergrated after years of fish-oiling and took off the paint when I tried to remove it. New seals will cover most of the new paint so hopefully wont stand out too much.





After various bits of prep work, primer goes over everything prior to the colour going on.

My favourite part - colour goes on.. 😎

Get rid of all the masking and the shell is now complete. Still need to do a cavity wax treatment and not completely sure what to do with the wiring yet - apart from these things its ready for assembly. Only the inside of the 4 wings left to paint and then I can finally retire my sanding arm for a while..... 🥲

Wow!

This is a great build. Excellent work, excellent quality.
Thanks for sharing.

Old Timer

hellbugged wrote:Wow!

Cheers! How is that 5 speed going? I was going to go for one of these originally but went for the 4 speed in the end. Do you have a stock ratio 5th?

OldTimer wrote:This is a great build. Excellent work, excellent quality.
Thanks for sharing.

Old Timer

Thanks Old Timer. It is moving along nicely now and I am trying to keep the momentum going for a while. More updates to follow shortly.

Cheers, Ian

Hi Ian

luvin the plan here.....clean underneath and original above. few hot rods been to Valla rod run over the years done like that and i love it, dream of the time and patience to do a car the same. great direction choice!

surprised you didn't make the rear apron detachable whilst working around there. was never a fan of this set up, but now i've done it, for sure can see major benefits to it.

yeah 5 speed hasn't turned much in the last 18 months........ 0.82 top gear which the torquey lil 1776cc pulls well. (from memory🙄).......big believer in learning an engines delivery on the road before choosing ratios as this final drive ratio would not suit loads'a other motors. but yeah i would recommend the conversion as it is UNBELIEVABLE to have both the close race ratios AND the ability to run freeway touring.

will be good when Craigy Torrens' 5 finally arrives for some more input and testing of times at the track from him as he has chosen a more even spread of ratios throughout all gears

keep up with the progress 👍

Time to sort out the guards - the last of the body and paint type stuff..

Oh dear - found some rust which will need to be repaired.





Chop Chop..



This is actually not an easy repair because of the pressing in the lip. Could have welded a flat repair piece in but did noy really want to do that . Phoned around to try and get a donor wing to chop out a repair section but no-one had anything at short notice 😠

So..... had a go at making my own. Started out by shaping a piece of hardwood to match the approximate shape of the pressing channel.




More or less matches the profile I need.

Marked up a bit of flat sheet which would form the basis of the repair panel.



Then proceeded to hit the hell out of it and get some shape going.



Things starting to get into basic shape.



Give a trim down and a bit more hammering and shaping.



This is basically what I ended up with...




Get things prepped for welding and in she goes... Doesnt come out too bad.







Add a touch of filler to smooth out and this repair is done 🤓

Another smaller repair on a different wing but much easier as flat sheet rather than with a pressing.

Final prep...





Now some primer

On goes the blue...





Completed repair









Got a couple of runs on the font wings but not too concerned about these - bit more paint for protection...😂

At long last this paint phase is over so the next update should include the beginnings of assembly.....🙅

Nice work Ian - you're going great guns mate. Its always nice how the paint likes to level itself around the curves hey.....unfortunately doesn't flatten out quite as easily on large flat panels like the side of a bus!

Looking forward to seeing the beetle in person some time. Let me know if you need that extra primer (by the looks of it you might be okay?)
Al

Dasdubber wrote:Nice work Ian - you're going great guns mate. Its always nice how the paint likes to level itself around the curves hey.....unfortunately doesn't flatten out quite as easily on large flat panels like the side of a bus!

Looking forward to seeing the beetle in person some time. Let me know if you need that extra primer (by the looks of it you might be okay?)
Al

Thanks Al - agree large flat panels would be a pain to get right. The hardest thing that I have found is getting a consistant finish. Even on small panels it is very easy to have dry spray, orange peel and runs all at the same time...😂

I finished with about 50ml of primer left so hopefully should not need any more for the time being - cant believe it was so close.

Pan is back out, dusted off and ready for some assembly. First up is to get the axles, tubes and gearbox bolted together and then fitted back into the chassis. Everything is cleaned and laid out ready prior to assembly.



Bolt up the rhino mounts and rear cradle first.



Next I pulled out the side gears/circlips etc so that the axles can be fitted.



Polished fulcrums and H/D axles ready to be fitted. The axles are EMPI as SAW axles are still not in production.



Checked all clearences and made sure there was no binding etc going on. All good so on go the daisies.



Axle tube fitted and sideplay set by using different gasket combinations. Took me a few goes to get it right.



Rubber boot fitted and repeat process on other side.



Last thing to do was make new nose cone to chassis seal. Cut one out from a sheet of rubber from Clarke Rubber. Will use this for a few other grommets and things too.



Lift it up and in she goes.... Hooked up the shift rod and made sure all gears can be selected - all good. 🙅

Bolting up the springplates was a nightmare job. How this can be done without scratching or marking fresh paint is something that must take a lot of practise. Lots of swearing and a few scatches later I got it all fitted. Want to thank the guy doing the "Alyce the Baja" thread as I remembered how he used a jack and chain to preload the springplates to get them fitted. I used the same method and it worked well.

Preload first.



Then pull up when you can get the bolts started.



Mid mount bolted up and everything else tightened up and we are done. 😊

Nice work Ian, looking good mate!

Aussie wrote:Want to thank the guy doing the "Alyce the Baja" thread as I remembered how he used a jack and chain to preload the springplates to get them fitted. I used the same method and it worked well.

That'd be me. 😀 Glad to see my ramblings have helped someone else out.

One thing you should do is replace your springplate to axle tube bolts with fine thread ones. This helps prevent them from working loose, I would highly recommend it.

Aside from that what you're doing is amazing. The level of detail and craftsmanship is akin to what you would see on a top show car. Keep up the fantastic work mate 👍



Smiley 🙂

Unwrapped the M/C kit laid it out ready for a trial fit up. Comes with everything again though I did paint a couple of things inc. the M/C itself. I have a line loc which may go on the car at some point. I will not install it before the car gets engineered though - once everything is assembled I will mock up the install to make it easier if/when it goes on.



First up is screw in the blanking plugs on side and bottom - this is a universal M/C that can be used for LHD or RHD.



Split brass fitting feeds the fronts - the brake switch then screws on.





Started on the longest brake pipe first which runs from front to rear.



Kept all the old pipes to help guide the shaping of the new lines.

Up next is the pedal assembly. I did not want to over restore these and make them too shiny - wanting rather to keep the original look in keeping with the rest of the interior. I stripped the assembly apart, degreased everything and then put some satin black on a couple of the bits (pedal stops, floor mount and brake to M/C arm).





Once the assembly was back in I could set the preload for the brake pedal. I also put in a new accel cable and took out, inspected, greased and re-fit the clutch cable. Anyone had a clutch cable snap? It would be a pain to replace this with the body back on - hopefully the original one will last.

Smiley wrote:

Aussie wrote:Want to thank the guy doing the "Alyce the Baja" thread as I remembered how he used a jack and chain to preload the springplates to get them fitted. I used the same method and it worked well.

That'd be me. 😀 Glad to see my ramblings have helped someone else out.

One think you should do is replace your springplate to axle tube bolts with fine thread ones. This helps prevent them from working loose, I would highly recommend it.

Aside from that what you're doing is amazing. The level of detail and craftsmanship is akin to what you would see on a top show car. Keep up the fantastic work mate 👍

Smiley 🙂

Thanks mate! It starts getting exciting when things are being bolted back together!

Look amazing, nice job with the original rear guards and the indents.
Can you please tell how you went about indenting the frame horns for axle clearance?
Keep up the great work,
T54

Turbo54 wrote:Look amazing, nice job with the original rear guards and the indents.
Can you please tell how you went about indenting the frame horns for axle clearance?
Keep up the great work,
T54

As far as I know the framehorns are stock - I have not done any clearencing on these. Hey what is the progress on your Oval? I had your thread saved as a favourite but has been quiet for a while..

Cheers, Ian

Hi Ian,
Progress on oval has been slow as I have been building a house for the last 3-4 years but I am now back on it. Should have it rolling down at the SA DOVW and will update lots of progress on here shortly.
Heath
T54

Time to fit the CSP rears. As usual laid everything out prior to assembly. These kits have everything you will need inc. loctite and allen key. Only things you will need to re-use are the original conduits for the handbrakes that go from the chassis to the calipers.



Wheel bearing and seal fit first followed by the mounting bracket.





Disc is cleaned and degreased and then fitted.



Next up the caliper goes on.





Finished up some of the hard lines at the rear. Tried to keep them nice and neat to the chassis where possible.







Repeat the disc and caliper install on the opposite side and mount all flexible hoses to close up the system.







Last job is to fit up the handbrake. New handbrake cables included with the kit. This pretty much finishes up the install. Initial thoughts are very high quality kit overall, straight forward install. Cant wait to see how they feel. The kit does however reduce the rear track (3mm in this case) so I will certainly need wheel spacers to run the wheel and tyre combo that I want to. This is a bummer as I am told wheel spacers are a no no in terms of getting the car engineered but I will just have to see if they will go through as part of the brake conversion.

Aussie wrote:The kit does however reduce the rear track (3mm in this case) so I will certainly need wheel spacers to run the wheel and tyre combo that I want to.

I don't think you really need to panic about 3mm. That won't even be noticeable let alone cause clearance issues.


Smiley 🙂

I don't think you really need to panic about 3mm. That won't even be noticeable let alone cause clearance issues.


Smiley 🙂 [/quote]

Sorry should have expanded - If you have a short axle pan and you want to run the Flat 4 fuch 5.5 with 205/70 then you will need to run around a 10mm spacer. With this brake conversion I have to take into account the extra 3mm so will need approx 12mm - 15mm spacers to get things to fit.

I had to run around 12mm 5 x 130 pcd spacers on the front of my old ragtop (wtih 17in turbo twists) and from memory close to 30mm in the rear with short axles (albeit CB Performance discs).....had them made in brissy with the exact centre bores required and studs etc.

the CSP stuff is pretty damn nice hey?
Looking good, Cheers
Al

Time to fit up the front beam. Had this thing for a while now so good to finally get it out for fitting. Would like to say that it all fitted up like a charm but unfortunately had some issues with it.



Got my new beam bolts ready, put on one set of caster shims and started to tighten the beam up on the car. Tighening away to a torque well less than the specified requirement and all four bolts started pulling through and mushrooming. 😠 I dont believe that it would have been possible to tighten these to spec without pulling right through.



Took some measurements and they have used a 3.5mm gauge sheet metal for the mounts whereas stock german is 4.5mm. Made up some 4mm spreader plates to get the thing mounted.



When painted and mounted the plates actually look fine so I am happy with this solution. Correct torque now applied to bolts.



Next up was to fit the supplied torsion leaves and my original torsion arms. What a tw@t of a job. After numerous trial fits and much swearing worked out that the leaves had been cut too short. The beam itself is bang on 3 inch narrowed but the poly bushes used to replace the normal bearings at both ends sit outside of the mounting face effectively reducing it to an approx 2.75inch narrowed beam (see white plastic looking end in above photo). So the 3 inch narrrowed torsion leaves were too narrow. I had to cut down all the grease seals to about half their normal width to be able to get the torsion bars in far enough in to get the grub screws in. One set of leaves didnt have the central grub screw hole drilled exactly in the center which caused another big pain in the ass to get it fitted properly. Finally got it all in.



Another thing to note on this beam is that once fitted you cannot adjust or remove the grub screws without first taking everything else off the trailing arm assembly.

Is that an Airkewld beam??

BlackBug wrote:Is that an Airkewld beam??

Yep bought it a couple of years back.

Well at least I know what I'm in for when mine arrives, then. haha.

Lookin good!

Nice work!!!
Love the attention to detail and the fab work.
Dont love that beam though 👎

Fitted up steering rods etc to trailing arms and then did a trial fit of the shocks. Not good. In the pic below you can see the top shock mount has a number of holes for the upper shock bolt. The website instructionals show the hole furthest to the back (far left in picture) being the one to use. Mounted it here and all good unless you want to turn left (who wants to go left anyway) when the small tie rod will hit the shock. Same happens next hole in. The first hole you can clear the tie rod is the third one in. Only problem with using this hole is that the shock body hits the beam tower. Only way to avoid this is to use spacers - see second pic. THis however puts the shock on a diagonal angle. I have two questions:

1. When looking at the first pic, is the shock supposed to be vertical? It leans back away from the front end - this would be even worse if the top bolt was mounted as the fitting guide on the hole furthest to the left.

2. When looking at the second pic is the diagonal angle of the shock (resulting from spacing) ok at a slight angle or unsafe? The third pic gives perspective when you can see the top and bottom of the shock either side of the tower.

Any advice welcome.

AndrewB wrote:Nice work!!!
Love the attention to detail and the fab work.
Dont love that beam though 👎

Thanks dude - I am trying my best to get this beam working!!!

Hi Ian,
I would not have an issue with the shock laying back,
but the spacing washers, and resulting crooked offset is no good.

The best solution is to remove the upper dust cover tube from the shock and use no spacers,
or,
trim the tower to clear the body/tube, if you think that it will not weaken the tower.

If you feel the need to protect the shocker shaft, you can get shorter shocks that use a studed top,
and use a rose joint that screws on the end, thus lowering the dust cover away from the tower.

Do a search on Rod's 48IDA car.
I think Peter did this mod to Rod's car.

dangerous wrote:Hi Ian,
I would not have an issue with the shock laying back,
but the spacing washers, and resulting crooked offset is no good.

The best solution is to remove the upper dust cover tube from the shock and use no spacers,
or,
trim the tower to clear the body/tube, if you think that it will not weaken the tower.

If you feel the need to protect the shocker shaft, you can get shorter shocks that use a studed top,
and use a rose joint that screws on the end, thus lowering the dust cover away from the tower.

Do a search on Rod's 48IDA car.
I think Peter did this mod to Rod's car.

Thanks Dave - I think the tower would need further reinforcement if I clearenced for the shock, but this is what I will do if I cant get a good alternative solution. Rather than remove the whole upper dust cover I may be able to notch a section out to give the clearence I need. Needs to look neat as may look bodged and not impress when I am trying to get engineered. Rose joint should also work if I can source a pair and shocks to match.

Too much to trim, maybe a cut towards the base, and a slight bend then reweld?
Once it has some weight on it the tie rod should clear the shock in the position pictured? Or make it worse? haha

Sorted out the front shocks. Bought a new pair which had a plastic dust cover so was easy to notch for clearance. Started by trimming the metal dust cover so it can bolt flush with the tower. No loss of strength as this metal flange only supports the plastic cover. Upside down in this pic as just painted.



Next I took out a notch from the plastic sleeve.



Bolted up straight and true. It is annoying that I had to go to this length to fit the shocks but glad to now be finished so that I can move on and work on something else. Lets hope that beam doesnt hold any more surprises 😠



Rear spacers turned up in the post. Arrived from europe 5 days after placing the order - also got longer wheel studs to compensate for the spacers. This is the clearence problem with the springplates - could not even tighten the wheel nuts.





Nice - wheels mounted 🙅

Finished up the hard lines at the front in readiness for the brakes to be fitted. Got hold of what I believe is a NOS Mk1 Golf brake fluid reservoir. Looks quite funky I think 😂This sits straight on top of the master cylinder so I dont have to run lines to remote reservior. I will still mount the original reservoir in the spare wheel well though this will not be connected to anything.

Also shortened and fitted tie rods, steering damper and steering box.

Front brakes next on the list of things to do. This is the matching CSP kit for the system in Porsche pattern. Everything included again with the kit and nice quality as the rest of it has been.



Caliper mounting bracket is bolted to the dropped spindles that I have.



Included bearings are packed with grease and fitted to the hub.



A thread converter is screwed into the back of the caliper which then allows VW hoses and fittings to bolt straight up. Pads then fitted ready for assembly.





Calipers bolted to the mounts and then repeat process on the other side. My hard lines were already done so all flexible hoses can also be fitted up to seal the system.

The only things that I had to modify to get things to fit were the dust covers. In standard form when running the Fuchs there is not enough clearence to allow you to run centre caps. I was told this at the time of purchase so luckily this was not a surprise for me. The solution was to re-profile the stock dust caps to give more room. See modified and stock in the pic below.





You need a fraction more clearence on the passenger side to allow for the speedo hook up.



Test fit to make sure everything was good before clean up for paint.





Next I bled the system to get the brakes finished off. The only issue that I had was slight weeping from the M/C blanking screws. I was nervous of tightening too much and stripping anything so instead I took the M/C off and replaced all the screws with a bolt and copper washer. Bled things through again and all good. Pedal feels nice and firm. I am looking forward to getting the car on the road to see how these things feel. 🙅

Wow havent posted for a while so probably time for a few updates. Have been making steady progress over the last couple of months and luckily everything seems to be going smoothly without any issues really.

Last time I posted the pan was getting close to being reunited with the body. Couple of little bits to do to get finished off ready.

I looked at a number of aftermarket body seals but thought that I would be better off repairing the original and using that instead. Nothing like the original quality. Unfortunately mine needed some repairs before being re-used.

The two bulkhead holes were looking a bit crusty (or missing completely).





Chopped out some repair pieces from rubber sheet + added the holes to suit.



Trimmed the end off the original bit but left an area to glue and make a continuous seal between old and new.





Then I attached the rest of the seal using all the original tacks in their original holes into the floorpan. I knew I saved those things for a reason 😂

Something I wanted to do while I had the chance was cavity wax the pan. Bought a simple kit and the stretched the gun hose to the same length as the tunnel (and heater channels which also got a treatment). Pushed the tube all the way in and then sprayed while pulling out at a slow pace.





In she goes......



You are left with a sticky looking brown goop which should keep any rust at bay for a while. Sprayed OK but actually ended up using fish oil instead for the heater channels as it sprayed a bit nicer than the wax to give a more even coating. You can see the wax coating in the inspection hole.

Time for the body to go back on - hard to believe that it has been around 2 years that they have been separated. First had to bolt up the lifting frames once again and line everything up. Lowered the ends down with an engine crane which was a lot easier than trolley jacks that I used when I was lifting the body off.

Congratulations!

Must have been a huge sigh of relief when it finally matched up together again!

Wow! Great cheers for the pics

sweet.

what were the engine plans ?

lookinh very good, can't wait for the next pics

Yes it was a great to get the body back on. I look into the garage now and there is a car there rather than just a big pile of parts!!

Engine wise I still have plans for a N/A stroker. More focus will be put into this once the car is completed and on the road again. In the meantime i'll have a 1500 SP to get me around. I am going to try and squeeze 1hp/cc out of it. All I need is a 1460hp NOS kit and we should be cooking 😂

Next on the list was the interior. My last beetle had a pretty stripped out interior which made the car lighter but was crap in terms of noise level - especially on longer distances. My goal for this car was to retain a full interior and include some decent sound proofing too.

After some thought and a bit of looking around I decided to go with a felt based sound proofing. I bought 2 different types - 1 with a bitumen layer and 1 standard without. The car would get a layer of each throughout.

First up was to cut some templates out and start fitting various sections.





I put a layer under the stock carpet covering the heater channels and used it to repair/hold together some of the more crappy bits of original carpet.



The top section is the bitumen lined felt which went on the bottom and the standard then went down next.







Same layers covered the front bulkhead, channels, pans and boot area. Ran the boot down under the back seat area for a continuous effect. Test fitted mats, seatbelts etc along the way.

Nice!

I am really liking it more now 😀

Wow, i just read through this post and its amazing to see how good of condition this car is for its age. Great car and great workmanship.

I just wanted to know also, what did you use to get the rust repair sections back to bare metal?

tayloredvw wrote:Wow, i just read through this post and its amazing to see how good of condition this car is for its age. Great car and great workmanship.

I just wanted to know also, what did you use to get the rust repair sections back to bare metal?

Thanks mate. Bare metal was done using a angle grinder with twisted knot and then standard wire brush attachment. Finished off with some 240 grit paper by hand. Lots of labour but comes up clean. 😎

Time to finish off the interior. Fitted up the remaining original carpets in the boot area and added rear panels.



Left some of the original sound proofing that runs through the luggage area and down under the rear seat.



As the orginal floor mats for these things are getting harder and harder to source, I decided to make up some additional floor mats for general wear and tear (and to protect the originals). Found some sheet ribbed matting that did the job nicely. Started by making rough templates from the original mats.







Rear seat cleaned up and then chucked back in along with the from seats and belts etc.

Nice work Ian - its really coming together now mate - bet you can't wait for that first cruise! Looking forward to seeing it with guards on 🙂
AL

Dasdubber wrote:Nice work Ian - its really coming together now mate - bet you can't wait for that first cruise! Looking forward to seeing it with guards on 🙂
AL

Cheers Al - very much looking forward to the first drive...... still dont want to put a date on it yet however slowly but surely things are getting finished 😎

Whats the latest on that motor of yours? Have you planned what to put it in yet??

Got some plans mate, but probably nothing in the next 6 months or so whilst the new busienss (DAS Resto Parts) is consuming all our time/money 🙂
Cheers
Al

Looks great!

A silly question from someone who doesn't know much about ovals.

Are those seats original? They look fantastic.


And a generally are ovals leather?

bugsandoil wrote:Looks great!

A silly question from someone who doesn't know much about ovals.

Are those seats original? They look fantastic.

And a generally are ovals leather?

The seats are the originals - as far as I know the only work done to them was to remount the drivers side seat bottom. You can see in the photo's that the passenger side sags/creases slightly while the drivers side is tight. Would guess that this was still done a number of years before I came to own the car.

After doing some reading and looking at various options for the 12v conversion I made a call and decided to have a go myself. Electrics have never been my strong point but I thought why not give it a shot. Decided to keep the original 6v loom as everything was working when I took it apart and understand that the original wiring is more than capable of handling the increase in voltage. As it turned out it was all pretty straight forward to do.

Started with the wiper motor. Started by removing and opening up the old motor assembly.





I bought a 12v wiper armature from DAS and it really was as easy as swapping the parts out. 12v on the left and original 6v on the right.





All done. Tested and all works well.



Next up were the semaphores. Seems like lots of options with what people have done with these - I decided to go the voltage dropper route as I found a supplier who had them for $2.50 each. Not sure on how long the dropper would last so have 1 spare and then I can easily step up and rewire the originals or buy new 12v ones should all else fail.

Was told that these things get hot so I made up an alloy bracket to act as a heat sink. The material is actually a door footplate but one side is corrogated so good to dissipate the heat. Bent it into shape, drilled mounting holes etc and then got polishing.





Decided after a few trials that the radio would be a good place to mount this thing. Bolted it through some original threaded holes on the sides of the radio that were not used. Trial fit first out of the car and then in it goes. Tested it out and it got hot to the touch so know its doing its job. 😎

Time to mount the tank. The original seal more or less fell to pieces so I thought a new rubber seal might be a good idea. Started out with sheet rubber and started measuring and cutting.





Got it roughed in and then mounted the tank. Once mounted I marked it and then trimmed off all the excess.





Cleaned up the fuel tap and added new fuel hose to hard line. Also added all the inspection plates etc in the front end and mounted the original brake fluid reservoir although this wont have anything in it. I mounted it on a rubber seal to keep everything water tight.

With everything pretty much finished up at the front I finally mounted the front wings. The old beading was very crusty so started with some new stuff. With the help of my "beading fitting devices" I got it all lined up so I could mark out the bolt holes.



Punched out the bolt holes and then cut the slits ready to mount. Havent tried this method before but was very neat and easy.





New bolts and washers, plenty of copper grease and on they went.

wow great job . the standard of work you have done here is amazing.
love this car truly awesome job.very inspirational . fantastic .very jealous
what more can i say love it.
👍👍

Excellent stuff mate, i'm also loving this thread

Where did you buy the ribbed black mat?? Is the tunnel down the centre covered in original mat or did you buy this?

cheers

L469 wrote:wow great job . the standard of work you have done here is amazing.
love this car truly awesome job.very inspirational . fantastic .very jealous
what more can i say love it.
👍👍

Thanks mate - I appreciate the comments. More updates to come soon. I was very lucky to find a car in this condition which has made this process a whole lot easier!!! Can't wait now to get back on the road.

tar76 wrote:Where did you buy the ribbed black mat?? Is the tunnel down the centre covered in original mat or did you buy this?

cheers

The ribbed mat was from Century Foam and Rubber (Gold Coast) and cost about $70 for enough for all mats and a bit left over. Rubber down the central tunnel is original - had to make a couple or repairs to some tears but cleaned up well overall.

i think your front disc on the wrong sides. 😊

Precision Engineering they call it !

ian.mezz wrote:i think your front disc on the wrong sides. 😊

G'day Ian - Not sure where CSP source the rotors for their kits but when used in their applications this is the correct orientation for fitting. The rotors actually have directional arrows on them to fit them up in this configuration. CSP probably have more tech blurb on this on their website.

Cheers, Ian

yeah I think the slots go the other way,?? so that they direct the brake dust away from the hub.??

car looks good

Great project, look forward to seeing it out and about some time.

Need some answers for my own Oval project!

Chris G

Finishing off the front end. Tidied up and fitted all the original under bonnet trim. Dont think I will be putting the suit cases back in but nice to have it in there to tidy up and hide wiring etc.



Once the wings were sorted I fitted up the headlights. New bulbs were from a vintage specialist who actually makes them - they are 12v halogens which fit directly into the original fittings. Put all new rubber seals in too as the old ones had seen better days.







Bolted up the bumpers, added 12v horn and grills and the front end is complete. Could not resist rolling outside to get a look at how the car was sitting.

This is pretty much up to date now of where the car currently sits. May have a break from things for a while as we have just had our first baby (Baby Elliot) about a week and a half ago so dont expect to have much time for a little while. This was really why there has been such a push on the car over the last few months to get as much done as possible. Next step will be to clean, (possibly strip and paint) and service the 1500 that is going in. Once that is in and running the rear guards and running boards go on and we are ready to roll.......🙅

Congratulations on the new arrival Ian!

Beautiful work as always Ian.

You should be commended for your attention to detail and the finished product which is to the highest quality.

Top work on a top looking Dub 👍



Smiley 🙂

nice!

congrats on the bub too!

Been busy for a while now getting whatever spare time available to push this project forward again. The next step from where I left off was to start thinking about the motor. Got hold of a '67 1500cc SP which will do for a while to get me around until eventually a bigger motor can be sorted.

No known history of the 1500cc - this is pretty how it looked when I got hold of it.





My original plan was to just bolt in and go. I was getting round to the point of fitting the thing and I thought what the hell, lets see if we can make it a bit prettier...

Started by stripping down for a clean up.



Next up was to have a trial fit of all the tinware to see if I could get things to fit a bit more nicely. Gotta love original tinware... Only a small amount of fettling to get things looking nice.



Things all going well until I took off the rocker covers and noticed a sticky valve. Time to rip the heads off.



I made a quick valve tool using an old clamp. Works a treat 🙅







I stripped all the valves out to inspect and give everything a clean up. I think that the motor must have had a rebuild fairly recently (km wise) as 6 of the valves cleaned up as new. I ordered a couple of replacements for the worn two.

Went to town on the bare heads and cleaned everything up ready to have them reassembled and lapped in. Came up nice.



With the heads done, time to clean up the remainder.

Cleaned up and sanded all the tinware ready for paint. Went with a satin black so the motor would look neat but not too shiny... Just used rattle cans to make things a bit quicker.The original tin was in pretty good shape so did not need too much work to straighten out.







Cleaned down the piston tops and barrels and confirmed that this motor must have been rebuilt a relatively short number of k's ago. Piston and barrels have been swapped out for 85.5mm (1600cc) which was a nice surprise - bit of extra grunt!!!



Time to get the refreshed heads back on again. Engine stand makes working on this thing soo much easier...





Starting to come together. Fuel pump replaced as will all fuel lines, filters etc. Everything else cleaned up and put back into use. All new ignition points, condenser, leads, plugs etc will go on. Original rocker gear all cleaned up and bolted back on.

Ian. You are doing sensational work as always. Not overdoing things but churning out a consistently neat and tidy job. Keep up the fantastic work, I am very much watching for your next lot of progress.



Smiley 🙂

Started to fit up the painted tinware and various ancills...





The down tube broke off my oil filler so I had to weld it back on and sort out some dents/rust. A skim of filller and ready for paint.





Made up some new fuel hard line through the rear tinware and into the engine bay. Moved the fuel filter next to the gearbox to keep out the way and keep things tidy.

Very good standard of work there! clean as

Finished up all the bits and pieces and the motor is finally ready to fit back into the car... Was a bit tight to get the sucker in but eventually got there.







One thing that caught me out was fitting the front tin. I thought that the hardest part of fitting this motor would be clearing the rocker covers and width issues. With some subtle bending and flexing of the rear inner wing and engine compartment areas I have plenty of clearence width wise (with this 1500cc and hopefully still enough for a stroker motor depending on exact combination). The front tin however was impossible to fit. I had to trim off a fair bit to eventually be able to fit it. Anyone else had this
issue??



Finally got everything sorted, front tin fitted and re-painted. Stripped down, cleaned and replaced accel pump and few other bits in the carb.

Far cry from a 2276...

Looks great.

reub wrote:Far cry from a 2276...

Looks great.

😂 Maybe not quite the same responsiveness!!

Not much left to do now. Got the wing beading laid out ready to fit the rear wings. Robbed all the pegs from the washing line again..



Checked the fit was still OK on the repaired side of the valance and bolted up snug.



Last job was a bit of paint on the rear disc to keep surface rust coming through.



With everything assembled I put some Ankor Wax on the most oxidised paint to give a bit of protection. Never used Ankor Wax before but pleased with the result. Nice shine on the dull bits - will go with a more normal wax/polish for the other sections of paint which are in better shape.

So that is about it........... Have actually been driving the car for a little while ironing out a couple of gremlins. The only thing that is still to do is sort out the horn which has some kind of earthing issue I think. Will get round to it one day!!!

The brakes have been getting better and better the more they are bedded in. Very happy with them so far. Rest of the car drives well - the gear ratio's are very nice. Cant wait to get a bit more power to really make the most of them.

The car is registered and a revised insurance valuation has been agreed. Only thing next to do is wait for the Mod plate inspection to get final sign off on what I have done to the car. Once this is done then I can start doing some decent K's and venturing a little further than the local estate!!!

The next stage of the project will be new motor. This has been progressing quietly behind the scenes while I have been slowly collecting parts. I have around 60% of the parts that I need for a reasonable 2275cc. 🙅 No rush at this stage though so wont be happening for a while yet.

A true credit to you dude... Sweet as.

Very nice work Ian!!

😎

Aussie wrote:So that is about it........... Have actually been driving the car for a little while ironing out a couple of gremlins. The only thing that is still to do is sort out the horn which has some kind of earthing issue I think. Will get round to it one day!!!

The brakes have been getting better and better the more they are bedded in. Very happy with them so far. Rest of the car drives well - the gear ratio's are very nice. Cant wait to get a bit more power to really make the most of them.

The car is registered and a revised insurance valuation has been agreed. Only thing next to do is wait for the Mod plate inspection to get final sign off on what I have done to the car. Once this is done then I can start doing some decent K's and venturing a little further than the local estate!!!

The next stage of the project will be new motor. This has been progressing quietly behind the scenes while I have been slowly collecting parts. I have around 60% of the parts that I need for a reasonable 2275cc. 🙅 No rush at this stage though so wont be happening for a while yet.

Sweet as..........dont forget the bay seat anchor point and rear pop-outs 👍