I've had this 55 oval for a while now - acquired as part trade for my 63 ragtop...(thought this was a 54 but chassis number turns out to be 55)



It served as a daily driver for quite a while with a 2in beam, BRMs but otherwise pretty standard...


It did a stint with my Type IV upright converted motor before that was sold....


A few years back I decided to give it a freshen up for the Warwick VW drag meet which included a repaint in Savannah beige:


Rod R kindly loaned me his 1916 type I for the Warwick meet but despite a few all nighters to get the car finished, I managed to sieze the motor on the line before even one pass!


So after being stored for the last couple of years I've decided to give it a more comprehensive repaint (body off pan....but not bare metal as the paint has remained very stable and a lot of the bodywork was done first time around).

I want to put some focus into my 54 barndoor and hence have decided to get both the body and pan into paint and then sell the oval....if someone wants us to complete it of course we can do it, but for now I just want to get the paint on, and body back on pan and go from there

Wow, nice!

First order of business was to replace the bent and rusty rear H-apron....picked up one off AVD (repro'd in Europe) and whilst it was better than what else is available, still needed a fair few tweaks


The lower edges didn't line up with the guards however this was easy to rectify:


The big problem was the top edges not lining up with the body, despite the seal retaining strip (for engine bay seal) being in alignment



Basically had to cut and shut the curvature both in height and in width to get it to sit right



Given the oval is not dead original (don't have OG engine or beam etc), I opted for a removable rear apron setup in case someone wants to go big in the engine deparment down the track








Thats about it to date, the rest of the resto will be in real time....I'm going to push this one pretty hard so hopefully progress and updates will be fairly rapid

Al

Hi Al,
Great to see it being done, sad to hear your selling it. Can the new owner have any colour they like except silver? Maybe a good selling pitch?
Can you tell me where the repro apron is from? Just bought one, hooping it fits better.
Thanks
Heath
T54

Will look nice next to the Ragtop........

Let me know what colour you want Craig, just not allowed silver

Heath I bought the repro apron from AVD - will have to go back through old pms to find out supplier (was eastern europe possibly?)

Can you

Can you please just keep it and put that turbo engine in it. You gotta have some vw for yourself.

Damo......barndoor bus + 2442 turbo = fun (but lots of $$$)

This was a custom olive mix I came up with for a 56 that recently went to sydney....probably won't go as dark this time

This was the 80s-inspired "Rad Bug" we built for the same year at Warwick running my brother in laws 2110 engine.


And the oval with Rod R's type I 1916 that I siezed before a run


Area under the rear side window seals were very slightly pitted so it was taken back to bare metal, any pits zipped with the mig to ensure the metal wasn't too thin, then dressed back and acid treated


Front apron is nasty and will be repaired properly




Work starts on that today/tonight
Cheers
Al

Quote:

Originally posted by Dasdubber Damo......barndoor bus + 2442 turbo = fun (but lots of $$$) This was a custom olive mix I came up with for a 56 that recently went to sydney....probably won't go as dark this time

That must be a pretty familiar hue to you Shane! Hope the reassembly is going well.

Bit more on the 54 today....front apron was a little hammered as they (almost) all are (esp when lowered)


After cutting out the rusty/poorly patched wheel well, some hammer and dolly work was far easier to get the major dents out


Small spot of rust on the left side was an odd spot (perfect on teh right side) so this was welded up today (forgot to get a pic)....more tomorrow


Cheers
Al

Im slowly getting there al ,the pan was a little more crusty than i thought so im changing the pan halfs,motor started and compression tested at 125 on all cylinders,looks like its had some work at some point its very clean in the heads etc.
Its ready to go back in,im going for the vintage speed look.
cheers shane.

FANTASTIC WORK ........!

Looks great Shane - will be a perfect compliment to the 56.

Back onto the 54 today...
Pan is in excellent shape - couple of holes (urgent battery clamp) to weld up but otherwise just needs some prep before it goes onto the rotisserie for two pack paint. External larger diameter fuel line was for the type IV engine....will be removed before paint


After cutting the bulk of the old wheel well out, the next step was to carefully drill out the spot welds



Wurth spot weld removal bits are effective



After some tweaking the spare wheel well went in and was plug welded from the underside and welds dressed

Are you going to leave the fuel line under the car or move it to inside the tunnel ?

After a thorough sand then acid treatment (deoxidine), the bare metal was given a couple of coats of two pack epoxy primer. Next seam sealer will be applied along with some minor filler work
The metal on the front roll was worked as far it could be without thinning it out excessively - very little filler will be required




small spot at front repaired

Front valance now ready for primer after a thin skim of filler


Rear guards are back on for some tweaking to align better with rear valance and fix a crack in lower left guard edge


Door hinge pins will be replaced next along with some rust repair on drivers side lower a-pillar....then body will come off the pan.
Al

Looking good Al!

Cheers Clint

Left rear guard had a split on rear lower edge - since the metal was fairly thin, a weld would have resulted in the crack reappearing


So a small repair section was welded in


One thing that annoyed me was this area of the left rear guard - the beading hides some variances in the body to guard tolerance, but this gap was too big for my liking


I had the choice to build up the edge with welds, or cut the guard, close up the gap and reweld (chose the latter option)


This pic shows the cut size grew once the gap was closed up


I didn't want to do a double long butt weld (by welding a piece in) so the slow process of building up the tacks, dressing them, and welding some more whislt controlling heat ensued


Some mild planishing and then welds dressed smooth....small amount of filler to come and the bad gap is gone

Loving this, nice work man. what type of carbs and linkage setup were they on the motor you took a pic of ?

Cheers Tarin, the carbs on my type IV motor were 40mm Dellortos with CB Performance linkage....teh latter photo with type I engine were Webers as far as I can remember wiht same sort of linkage (was a borrowed motor so can't remember the specs).
Al

wow great build thread!
Congratulations the Oval is looking great..
What kind of price range are you going to be asking in when moving it on?

The lower edge of the front right guard has annoyed me for a while now as it tapers away from the valance


Initially I was going to pie cut it and reweld, but it needed to be tweaked a little too far for a single cut


So a section was cut out, new piece fabricated and welded in


Tacked and tweaked....


Its these little things that you don't notice when the car is finished....but if not rectified end up standing out....all time consuming niggly stuff

This really is a quality build. Love your work Al.

I appreciate your posts and pics, great motivation for an amateur like me to try and emulate your work, never will though but it's the inspiration that counts!
I am doing little "niggly" bits on my '69 body now for an EV conversion and love seeing what can be achieved as per your '54

Thanks Al
Its great to see someone who takes pride in their work and wants it to look as good as possible...
Ive always been told "Do it once,do it right".
Ill definitely be following this build thread!
Goodluck

Nice work Al - look forward to the thread progressing. Shame you can't hang on to the car after the work you will be putting into it. How far are you going to take the resto before selling?