Thought its about time i tell my story of my 58... some might have seen it gettin around brisbane or at the last valla...

dont ask how it got the name bumhole..

i bought this off simon (Volumex) in december 2010.







Cleaned/polished everything and anything on it... ground back the surface rust and reworked few of the minor imperfections...

once it was all in a "good enough" state, i blended some paint over the roof, guards, bonnet and a few other patches that had previously been hit with primer. I got the paint matched at MPA birkdale, they matched it by eye and just played around with the mixture till they were happy and i trusted there judgement. i had to wait a weekend or 2 until the weather was right before i layed it on..

it got new rubber though out..





at the time i did have a fresh engine.... only one that we pulled out of a wreck that ran without blow smoke.... so i reconditioned it with a can of paint







rebuilt the old carb...



the captive nuts in the heater channels had alot of bolts snapped off in them... i tried easy outs and then drilled them out but neither work well so i cut em out and made new ones and welded them back in (was much quicker in the end)

purchasing this thing in decemeber i set a deadline...



it had to be register by then cus i wanted it to attend the first show of 2011...

everyone helped do something.... even the missed got in at put new matts on the running boards...



Polished the old stockos (old against the new)





i also have an oval project which i have been restoring for the past 4+ years to a standard i want close to a resto cal look... but as i have already restored the pan on this... it was quicker to through the 58 on my already assembled oval pan.... (i welded 2 new pan halves on the oval pan and painted it years earlier...)








my brother an i built our own 4.5 inch narrowe and adjustable beam with bugboy shock tower and i bought rear adjustable springplates to make easy work of ride height adjustment...

got the tyred swaped onto the 58's stockos with fresh white walls (165 rears with 135 fronts)







my brother (omr-007) is a wizz with electricals so he got the wiring sorted... mmmm semaphores and snowflakes....



gave the do cards a clean... old against the new



then had a go installing a headliner... slow old job but came out ok...





fitted the old 40hp now running a fresh coat of satin black...




installed rest of the windows... Note the old dealer sticker on the rear windows





got the brakes relined and machined to match..



fresh lowered shocks all round...





then it was time for rego!

Nice car! Now how did it get the name bumhole???

Nice mate.

Oh to have a shed / workshop.

i got rego on febuary the 8th 2011.... that was 2 months of really late nights... very empty bank accounts and alot of hard work.... i spent 9 out of 10 weekend on it... i still owe a big thanks to my older brother dibba and my girlfriend shana for the help and support...

it was a great feeling to get it on the road...



and lets just say it made it to dubs by the pub 2011 without a drama!





i then got it in my mind "lets drive it to day of the Volkswagen in Victoria" so the same year i got it registered on the clapped out old 40hp i decided to take it on a few long trip to build up the confidence for its maiden voyage to vic!

while doing so i took it for a country drive out to ask one sunday where it chewed a rear main seal and left us stranded on the highway with no oil in my engine or spare in the car (last time that ever happened)



mum and dad to the rescue bringing 14l of cheap oil to get me home...! and my brother thought he would catch up with us 2... check the leak!

found out those 2 lip rear mains were prone to tearing apart...



so replaced it with a stock german one and didnt have any drama after that....

added a few accessories... one being skirts.... they needed alot of bodywork to get into shape and i had to move the tabs so they actually worked but i liked them to change things up for a while...

you've got some cracking VW's - the 58 is sweet, nice work.

Gorgeous car mate! LOVE THE SPATS!

what do you call those wing mirrors?

thanks guys... the story goes on....

come a week befor Day of the volkwagen victoria we were loaded up a ready to go!



first stop was in the back of byron... where it hit dirt road





first night was in yamba where it temporarily broke down...



as im abit of a stress head i didnt get much sleep that night and got up at 5 am to pull the carby down and blow out the jets.... i tell you fuel doesnt taste really nice as that time of the day... but it was worth it cus it fixed our no idle problem

next night was coffs harbour...



then to port macquarrie!!





hit sydney and didn't like it there much... had a look at bondi



between sydney and bendigo we we had one night stay in Yass... we really liked the one street town..

made it to Bendigo to catch up with some friend befor heading to the day of!

...

Got to day of the volkswagen 2011 and had a fantastic time!

got voted Number 1 car of the year by Melburgluft... was really stoked!

Oh, was it you that came around and bought the buggy off Dan on newnham rd?

long story short we made it home perfectly fine!

this is the trip we did after leaving melbourne (day of) we keep heading southeast and hooked back up the coastline back to brisbane.



after the trip the old 40hp got really smokey! dont froget i pulled this out of a wreck not knowing what condition it was in...

a guy dad introduce me to (in country buggies) offered to show me how to build motors... so i took him up with the offer as i wanted to build a 36hp for my oval but would run it in, in the 58...



Dave, the guy my dad introduced me to showed me how to pull an engine down (im only a young fella and always learning!) and got me on my way with a machine shop he uses regulary...

anyway pulled it all down...





water blasted everything!!! and wire brushed the outside of the case for abit of a shine!





then took the case, crank and rods in to get worked.... case got line bored for new bearing, crank ground (and crack tested) and new small end bushes and big end machined for new bearing to...







ordered a heap of fresh parts! at this point i decided it wasnt gonna be the stock motor i had first thought....

my brother then bought me an okrasa spec cam for my birthday....



then kept with the okrasa theme...



some straight cuts for the lovely whine!



and the rest of the new parts arrived..

Cool car mate!

when came assembly, the guy that offered to showed me how to build an engine fell really sick for quite a while... and while i had all the new parts and a really smokey 40hp i couldn't help myself... and with a little help from my brother... and the book "keeping your vw alive" i nutted it out all by myself... massive learning curve which turned out super rewarding!

i didnt take pictures but i spent hours cleaning the case, all the journals in the case and crank and nearly anything that went near the case with shellite (good shit!) i took my time and checked 3 times befor final fitting.... (this was very nerve racking, as an apprentice chippy with what was alot of money i could throw to the wind if i buggered something up!)


fitted the staight cuts to the okrasa cam... with lock tight to 18ft pound



checked the clearances with the aftermarket cam gears and bolts... all good...

as mentioned... i cleaned out all the journals with pipe cleaners and shellite... did it serveal times till the pipe cleaner came out as clean as it went in...



then using mums cooking scales a balanced all my rods withing 1 gram of each other.... (to this day she still thinks my girlfriend needed them for cooking )







then i assemble my crank as per for book...



check to make sure all the rods fell evenly under there own weight etc..

then lapped my oil pressure relief valve into the case making sure it wasnt "sticky"







nice a smooth...



then checked all the clearance on the lifters/pushrods and number them on so they went back into the hole i had checked them in...

then came assembly!



line up the dots...



and matt the to side together... obviously i scored and checked the bearings for fitment etc, checked for free spin etc....

while tightening the case to spec a 6mm stud over the oil pump decided to snap off flush with the case... my heart sank and i thought i was goin to have to split the case again... then i thought... i wonder if i could weld a nut to it and turn it out?

3rd time lucky... the weld grabbed and i got it out...





called the old owner of this car an asked if i could steal a stud off one of his spare cases... got it out and whacked it in that night so the case was then DONE!!

changed the head studs to suit the okrasa heads...



fitted pistons and barrel with the arrow facing the flywheel...



not forgetting the under cylinder tin...





then on with the okrasa heads tightened as per the book...







in with the pushrods to the hole i had numbered them to...



cleaned up the rockers...





fitted the oil relief valve..



rebuilt the fuel pump...

then came the oil pump...

the old oen was ratty byu very serviced able... so i got a piece of glass and went to town surfacing it... first on 1200 wet and dry... then 1500 then 2000.... mmmm shiny!!!!

BEFOR




DURING


AFTER...











had to cut the cylinder head tin to fit the manifolds... then i welded up the fan shroud and bodyworked it ready for paint...

when it came to an exhuast i was pretty tight for money to get an abarth.... so i thought i would make my own which i named "the ghetto abarth". Using abit of left over gal water pipe... i went to work...









and in it went....



the cam makes it sound really lumpy and the exhaust sound super awesome for a backyard job!

this thing gets up and boogies for a 36er! much better then the old 40hp i had it in...

a listen from inside the cab! its a video taken at night... so just listen to the noises!

had a few gremlins which i sorted out, bloody dodgey ignition connection!

its maiden voyage was to ash and bobs dubs and diner cruise...



the picture above is me winding it off the clock for a 36er im super happy sat on 70mph the hole way to and from valla which was this engine next big trip... to which there was not one hiccup! super stoked with this little goer!





5th car back from the front..



then my girlfriends 61 and my 58 parked up in valla!



sorry its so picture heavy but that the story behind my 58 to date! if you see me round feel free to come say g'day

Cheers, Nug

looks good, but i think it would look better with a tree painted on the door.

i have one of them too

good story mate
so much detail
love your work