Hi All,

I thought that I would post what she looked like before I stripped her down completely........




[ Edited on 25-7-2007 by MattY-64 ]

Looking forward to watching the transformation.


Can we have a "current stage photo too"?

Keep up the good work.

Sure no worries, this is what it looks like at the moment:

Sorry problems with image (too large I think).....try again:

and ....

So far I have done the following:

The pan was sandblasted and powder coated
the front beam, arms, rear swing arms, rear torsion cover plates, pedal assembly and crap loads more has all been sandblasted and powder coated...all have been done using an undercoat powdercoat and then a top coat....I wasn't too happy with the arms (shouldn't have gooten them done) have to be reallly carefull when you have to tighten up nuts around powdercoat as the pressure cracks it as it is soo brittle (but it is hard so that is ok)

I have had the original wheels powdercoated as well (it was the cheaper option) the front is 13 and the rear 14....looks very nice with the hub caps.....i want to get them chromed but too expensive.....maybe my next set will be better....

I did the brakes up myself as well......it is all the original stuff just all cleaned up....40 years of brake dust and crap really takes its toll..

I haven't bled them yet....

It took me about a month of on and off to clean up the trans and box...there was alot of old grease, mud, etc....i took the trans appart and panted it all then put in new gaskets and re torqued it all......did the same to the steering box...I bough a set of coil over shocks, but I only added them to the rear.....I did up the front ones instead....

The body is in the shop...but my uncle helped me remove most of the rust and then it when to get sandblasted and powdercoated undercoat and now it is in the shop....all the other body panel have had the same treatment...

Its taken me about two years so far...hopefully it will be finished next year......i am going with all new rubbers, turn lens etc.....

I am going to use drop spindles at the front with a notch drop at the rear....i will probably go the 1916 engine (build it myself) and a heavy duty cluch of some kind.... I hav got am empi quicl shifter already and am looking into a flat 4 wooden steering wheel and large tacho (rice it up a bit) i was even thinking harnesses....it is only going to be a two seater...

Any thoughts.......

Suggestions welcome.....

Cheers

Matt.

Hi All,

It has been a long time coming but I am finally back on the progress road!!!!

Here are some pics of the transformation so far.

Matt.

And one from the rear...

And one from the side....

Well last night I did some more work, while listening to the footy on the radio. I loosely fitted up the fenders.

The bug has yet to go back to the shop to have its final coat but I think that it is looking pretty good at the moment.

It is riding very high, (mostly because there is no weight in it), but that will be solved with drop spindles and by lowering the rear a notch once I get it completely rebuilt.

Its starting to look like a bug again......finally.

I should have the boot lid and deck lid on by the end of the week but will have to see what happens.

And one of the rear

Looks good..

Hi All,

Well I finally got off my backside and got her to the paint stage. She is on the way back to the panel shop to be finished off and the doors fitted, etc. Been a bit busy with cleaning a new house and work so the progress is slow. I don't know how Dasdubber does it (and to perfection at the same time!!!!).

Anyways I hope to have her on the road by the end of the year so I had better pull my finger out I suppose.

Well I thought that I would attach the transport pic so you can all see what see looks like now....

Cheers,

Matt.

And another for good measure....

Hi All,

Well I can finally update this thread with some new shots. I have finally got the dub back from the paint shop. Soon to upadte its reassembly as I progress.

Anyways, here are some pics.

And from the back:

Very nice, that colour looks fantastic

Looking very nice.You will have to really give that finger a tug to get it finished on time.When I started mine back in'00-I wanted it finished B4 Xmas last year-it looks like it still won't be done by this Xmas,and maybe not even in time for the National Bug in over next Easter.

Great stuff Matty - it certainly is nice to start reassembling bits that are all clean and new rather than going through the motions scraping off grease and crud. Keep the updates coming!

That is ace :thumb

veeeeeeeery nice colour!!!! love it !

nick

Thanks for all the support everyone,

The colour may put me in the bad books though as it is not a VW colour. It is actually a FORD colour named VELOCITY.

It does look great though. I am not sure if the pictures do it justice as it is a little lighter and more metallic in the flesh.

And so the journey begins to re-assemble the girl!

Cheers.

Matt.

Believe it or not, Fleur's Beetle is a Ford colour?

It will make it easy if you ever have to get any touch up work done one day, as there is a straightforward colour formula.

Well it has been a while since I have updated this thread, partly because the finger is still partly inserted!!!:P I have been real busy at work so haven't had all that much time or motivation to do anything on the old girl. Plus over the Christmas break I was repairing a friends car, nasty job that one!

Anyways so far I have polished up all the flash bits and started to put them all back on. Fitted the door catches and handles, etc. The doors now sit beautifully (just have to put the rubbers on) Cleaned up all the wiring and put it all back in. The main wiring harness that goes up over the passenger side is a real pain in the a%$& to put in! Took me a few attempts and lots of swearing to get that back in.

Next I will fit up the boot and deck lid, then finish wiring it all up. I still have a large list of things that have to be done, but that is the fun of it I expect.

Anyways, here are a few more pics.

Matt.

And another...

One more for good measure..

So clean.... so good... keep it up and pull it out! Don't keep it inserted

Looks great matty, no worries on the colour love it, infact i was going to paint a ''69 bug the same colour and add plenty of bling!:thumb:thumb

nice bug, 1st time ive seen this thread, looks great, nice to see another hot ippy dub being built

Awesome car and the colour looks wild. I like how you kept the chrome trim , great contrast.

Cheers Paul.