| [ Total Views: 2543 | Total Replies: 14 | Thread Id: 96278 ] |
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 Handy
A.k.a.: Anders Karlsson
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| posted on April 7th, 2012 at 10:41 PM |
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Apricot & Cream. My -68 Bug, transformed and customized
This is how it started, an ugly fatchick with elefantfeets and loads of rust
I got this rusty Vee dub from my brother. He used it as adaily driver for a few years but when he bought other car this one was just standing in the
garden adding more and more rust.
Note the piece of wood in there between the heater channel and the seat, I used that to prevent the seat to fall out trough the floor pan when I drove
it home to my place.
So I couldnt stand to see it in that way, I just had to save this bug from the treating death.
Time to do something about it.
Body off and the floor pan in the garage
This bug had a hard life in Sweden, we use salt on the winter roads to remove ice. Unfortunately salt also eat metal and turn it into rust. You don't
know how lucky you are in Australia !!
I had to replace both halfes of the floor, all the way.
I'm sorry if some photos are big.
Even the "Napoleon hat" needed some work..
And the front beam was "eaten" in the lower parts.
It was not only the floor pan that needed to be repaired. The body needed a lot of new panels all around, in the back, bumper mounts, new heater
channels, repaired lower parts of the doors and a lot more. I can't find all the photos now and I also guess you not only want to see just rust,
right?
So asfter a lot of work it finally went to the sand blaster shop to make it naked in bare metal.
The guys there also put on a layer of epoxy primer before it went out in the winter again.
Next stop was the paint shop.
Looks like a lot of filler but most of it removed after sanding.
Even some on the inside because this bug will have a lot of painted metal visible.
First sprayed on the inside..
And then outside, here is also the cream white sides done.
First springday outdoors in her new clothes.
Pretty low, hahaha
This is how she looks now.
The taillights are from a Land Rover Defender. Full red, lights, turnsignal and brakelights all in the same.
Backdated fenders and front lights, older hatch in the front with the same type of handle as in the rear on my W-engine hatch.
And the inside
Here is her clean dashboard
I removed everything, glovebox, ashtray, all the buttons, ventilation and even the soft crap that covered everything.
Interior from an Hyundai Coupé -05 (Coupé is the European name of the Tiburon).
Yes even the back seat
A lot of painted metal inside of the car and my own custom lining.
Floor mats in my own style
I like to make it a little different from the others..
How about a 25 liters custom made fuel tank in aluminium?
Hope you enjoy it, more to come...
A "car guy" from Sweden, I love Vee Dubs and Porsche...
I'm also an Auto Electrician in my profession.
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 Bizarre
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The artist formerly known as blue74l
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| posted on April 7th, 2012 at 10:51 PM |
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Love the colours!
Very nice
Anything different in the HP department??
Futue te ipsum!!!
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ClockworkMonkey
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| posted on April 7th, 2012 at 10:58 PM |
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very tidy! did the seats take much modding to fit in?
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Handy
A.k.a.: Anders Karlsson
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| posted on April 7th, 2012 at 11:11 PM |
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The front T-handle
I've also had to create new fittings to the front bumper because these from -68 are mounted on the outside and sticking out through the fenders  I made mine lower to create a narrow look 
I can tell that every single bolt and screw have been removed on this car (except in the transmission).
As you probably already notice, there is other wheels on my Bug. It has 4 bolts with cc 108mm (the same as old ford, peagueot and some more).
I drilled new holes in the drums 
And the well known result
The wheels are 16 inch high and 7inch wide with 175/55-16 in the front (same as on Smart) and 205/60-16 in the rear.
A little narrowed suspension in the front and "normal" in the rear so the wheels stand straight I--I, it shall not look ugly like this /--
A "car guy" from Sweden, I love Vee Dubs and Porsche...
I'm also an Auto Electrician in my profession.
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cam070
Custom Title Time!
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Mood: Getting hands dirty stripping the bug down
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| posted on April 7th, 2012 at 11:19 PM |
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Nice work. A job you should really be proud of.
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Handy
A.k.a.: Anders Karlsson
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| posted on April 7th, 2012 at 11:19 PM |
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| Quote: | Originally
posted by Bizarre
Love the colours!
Very nice
Anything different in the HP department??
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Thanks.
Well, about the HP department, there is only an original 1300.
For now... but I have a dream
A "car guy" from Sweden, I love Vee Dubs and Porsche...
I'm also an Auto Electrician in my profession.
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Handy
A.k.a.: Anders Karlsson
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| posted on April 7th, 2012 at 11:31 PM |
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| Quote: | Originally
posted by ClockworkMonkey
very tidy! did the seats take much modding to fit in?
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I can say, YES it took many many hours fo fit in. I made a adapter that fits into the VW original fittings in the floorpan and also fits under the
Hyundai seats. So there is double adjustments :-) It was a lot of welding, cutting, changing, lower and lower and more adjustments before the final
position.
It´s very good to keep the original and do it in this way, just in case I get tired of less suspension I can easily change back the seats. Those
seats are fantastic, not to less and not to extream looks, and you sit very well in them.
The back seat was easier to fit in, my requirements of interior is that it must come from a 2 or 3-doors car and it must be a small one, so the Coupé
was perfect. Actually the original back seat is a little wider than this, I had to fill it out by making the sides there I can rest the arm.
The whole back seat lying on a pieze of wood custommade to fit in tho the car. The back are in two piezes and they are very easy to fold/remove by
pressing the button on top of the backs to get access to the compartment behind.
This backseat are vary comfortable, if you don't sit behind the driver, hehehe
A "car guy" from Sweden, I love Vee Dubs and Porsche...
I'm also an Auto Electrician in my profession.
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Handy
A.k.a.: Anders Karlsson
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| posted on April 7th, 2012 at 11:34 PM |
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| Quote: | Originally
posted by cam070
Nice work. A job you should really be proud of.
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Thanks a lot.
A "car guy" from Sweden, I love Vee Dubs and Porsche...
I'm also an Auto Electrician in my profession.
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Handy
A.k.a.: Anders Karlsson
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| posted on April 8th, 2012 at 12:12 AM |
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Regarding the brake drums at one of the previous images, which I have used the wheel studs for the new bolt pattern. The wheel studs are M12 1.5 and
they are 64mm long. This is in preparation for a conversion of the brum brakes to disc brakes. I plan on turning down the drum exactly so much that
the disc fits over the drum. The disc shall also have the same bolt pattern. Then I need a setup from an appropiate car model, I guess it will be from
a Ford Mondeo, I will use both the disc and caliper and a self-made mount that fits into where the brake cylinders are fitted now.
For the rear discbrakes I will do the same operation but I think that I am going to use front disc and caliper from older Saab 900 because they have
the parking brake on the front-wheels, this will fit properly in the rear of my Bug.
This is how we do it in my country, we take what we have and innovate something. Of cause I could buy something new, but money money. Or just a simple
Vw disc brake bolt-on,  not that funny.
After that future disc brake conversion I will start thinking about the engine-conversion. Before that I just want to enjoy her for a while.
I know that everybody likes photos on the forum, so I will post two more today. See you soon again folks.
A "car guy" from Sweden, I love Vee Dubs and Porsche...
I'm also an Auto Electrician in my profession.
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Aussie Dubbin
Fahrvergnugen
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| posted on April 8th, 2012 at 08:10 PM |
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Looks great fella nice and clean look. Great color choice and sensational finish. Keep up the high quality. Thanks for sharing.
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Handy
A.k.a.: Anders Karlsson
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| posted on April 9th, 2012 at 04:08 AM |
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Thanks. A previous owner removed all the crome on the sides and welded all the holes so I decided kind of early that my vdub shall be some kind of
clean-looker, I don't want to say cal-looker because she's buildt in my way and not really follow the cal look recipe. I follow my ideas and a
picture I had in my mind, I shaved off a lot of things that disturb the lines of the body, no fuel filler cap in the frontside, note the blinkers
inside the headlamps, clean fenders, no holes, even cut a piece of the "gutters" ( I don't know the correct name in English) on the sides in the
back of the roof and also the part in front of the doors, I saved those parts over the doors mostly because I don't want a half bucket of water in
the seat... You can see this in previous photos. The bumpers has
nothing sticking up as the US-versions, just clean, and of cause they are older than -68 so they have a more rounded shape.
This is how she looks under, the new new floor pans has a little dirt now 
A photo from the car show. I like this one with the flowers  .
Its a very nice car show held every summer in a park in my little home town Ronneby where I grow up. Its called Nostalgia Festival
The car show are not only for Vee dubs, no no its almost everything there. Like this car in a small scale , pretty cool too or what do you say? I know my 6 year old son would love this.
Jaaa en Kubelwagen !! But wtf
Yes probably the electric engine is ait cooled as well 
Finally an other photo, I just like this one
A "car guy" from Sweden, I love Vee Dubs and Porsche...
I'm also an Auto Electrician in my profession.
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Handy
A.k.a.: Anders Karlsson
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| posted on April 14th, 2012 at 06:05 AM |
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G´day folks ;-) Yes I know, no update for a while, I have been busy with jobs and family..
But I've been thinking about the next step on my Bug. I need a drum- to disc-break conversion, at least on the front wheels. I know how to do this,
it will be brakes from a SAAB (I'm a Swede) 9000 both calipers and the discs as the SAAB has the same 4-108 as my V-dub has now.
Then I have a dream... the engine, I need a lot more power but the account for my Bug is not the biggest right now. Any suggestions how to make around
100-150 Hp without selling my body?
A "car guy" from Sweden, I love Vee Dubs and Porsche...
I'm also an Auto Electrician in my profession.
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Handy
A.k.a.: Anders Karlsson
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| posted on January 10th, 2015 at 07:20 AM |
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Hello there, a few years later. Time goes quickly.
Not much have happend on my Vee dub, I've changed my mind about the brake update and a more powerful engine. Maybe I'm wiser now be cause I've
decided to not do the updates I mention earlier.
Instead of that I want to build an other car, an other VW Bug. This time it will be so much better and nicer, much better chassis, a much better
engine, much better gearbox and the body from an much older bug. Of cause it will cost more but I think its worth it. I will tell you all about my
plans later on, if someone is interested.
Cheers
A "car guy" from Sweden, I love Vee Dubs and Porsche...
I'm also an Auto Electrician in my profession.
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Craig Torrens
A.k.a.: Craig Torrens
Scirocco Rare
6 times Australian, 7 times State Hillclimb Class Champion
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| posted on January 10th, 2015 at 10:55 AM |
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yep, I'm interested !
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Handy
A.k.a.: Anders Karlsson
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| posted on January 10th, 2015 at 11:59 PM |
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| Quote: | Originally
posted by Craig Torrens
yep, I'm interested !
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Hi Craig,
I believe you have a lot of experience of better chassis from your hill climb beetle, am I right? I might have a lot to learn from you then, before I
make fool of myself here :-D
Ok, let me tell you a little bit of my plans, feel free to comment and discuss.
First I want to make it IRS and then use Porsche 944 rear end aluminium arms, with brakes and all of it. Yes I know it will be wider and I'm prepared
to use wider fenders as well. I also want to get rid of the torsion bars and convert it with coilovers.
I am not that clear with the front end yet (except for the use of Porsche 944 brakes) but I really want to do something good about it. I have been
looking at front suspension from Mendeola, Red9 design and Eyeball engineering, they are a little ugly haha and I'm still not convinced about quality
and if they can perform that good as they try to claim.
I've also been thinking about to build my own front end by using the arms, linkage and spindles from an Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT or so, make adapters
for the wheel bearings to fit the Porsche hubs and then use coilovers instead of the torsion bars. That front setup is pretty good on the Alfa who
also have the same 2400mm between the axles. As I said, I'm not ready here yet, so we will see where it leads to.
Craig, what are you using on your beetle?
I will start a new tread when it's time for me to go hands on with my new project in real.
A "car guy" from Sweden, I love Vee Dubs and Porsche...
I'm also an Auto Electrician in my profession.
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