DaveDorson

As usual with these repair panels, some trimming and adjustment may be required

my mate is down the workshop today; I dropped some more metal off last night and he's going to make a start at cutting out the rear quarters and letting them in (he's a bodyshop guy by trade so I'm leaving the "stuff you'll see" to him). He'll also be painting the car for me. Awaiting some more parts today, and hopefully before Saturday so I can get on with the build up.

I did consider it but I probably won't 🤣

Today's progress, lots of drilling, welding, grinding.. Engine bay side trays are toast, the bad rear quarter repairs suck too, (awful installation so I chopped them out) so I've now ordered more repair panels. Triggers broom she may well be but at least it's all made of metal.

Once you get stuck in it's not too bad to be honest. My main issue is finding time, and money.. and enthusiasm

Forgot to take the phone down the unit this morning.. pans are now plug welded along the spine as per the factor spot weld locations and the runners have been removed. Picked apart the bulkhead panel so I can section that and repair my old one. It's slow progress but it is progressing so that's something. I have also ordered some CB Performance rhino gearbox mounts and an intermediate nosecone mount to give the drivetrain a fighting chance of not falling out if I play hooligan once the engine is in. I've ordered some lifeline seat mounts with bolt in adaptors so I can mount an FIA spec seat for some Santa Pod action without the risk of back breaking low backs in the event of it going a bit wrong. The plan with this car has always been a "hot VW" built in the spirit of the California look of the late 70s giant killers of Orange County, but without a few additions such as modern "vintage look" fuel lines, carbs, and tyres, because safe is cool, but it doesn't mean you need to make it look like a hot honda with stainless over braid everything and a million miles of bling and chrome. I know it's not really in the spirit of autoshite.. but frankly it's my restoration and I'm the one paying for it. 😂

By the way if anyone wants the floors I took out speak up. They're in Kingscliffe Northants and they are going for a donation to the biscuit fund. They're thicker guage steel than the after market ones but they have peppered in a few places so will want some repairs doing before use, and have some nasty patches at the back near where the crossmember section is.

You've reminded me that I've got a Type IV engine to collect from my mate Rob.

ironically, it's easier to buy good quality parts for the earlier cars (pre 67 at least) than the late ones, as the late one is quite unloved in VW circles. It's also true that the least desirable for enthusiasts in the post 74/5 1303.. and it's also technically the best and as a result of so many being chopped in for their IRS for split bus conversions, now the one of the rarest.

early start before my day job.. Offered up the spine to the body so I can get some idea of what needs massaging Slid in the floor pans so I know that sort of fits before we spot it in place. Looks like this is going to need some work.. Comes up way too far so I suspect it's for a later/earlier shell.. the joys of repair panels Luckily mines rotten on the other side of this panel, so I might pick the panel to bits and just graft in what's needed from the repair panel, rather than replacing the whole lot and leaving it a bit of a dogs dinner..

Had a bit of time today So what you can see is the original spine with the new floors offered up. One snag is the seat rails are wrong for the year so we will remove them from the old pans and attach them to these pans. As you may be able to see, they are attached with a lot of spot welds.. now my old pans aren't too bad and if they were the original German ones I'd likely have persisted and repaired them, but some good quality reproduction ones will have to do for now. The old ones won't find their way into scrap just yet though, as they have a lot of good usable material that may be helpful to someone else.

Black Friday on eBay means 20% off some of the material I need.. No body/chassis progress shots at the moment as there's a lot of drilling out spot welds and cleaning stuff up, and I keep forgetting 😂

Managed to score these for £60 and got myself a Tilton Pedal box from someone's abandoned project.. so the old peppered pans will come out and these will go in..

@meggersdog told you she was a rotter. Scary thing is these are now MOT exempt cars and there are thousands of these running around with worse grot hidden by glass fibre, filler and paint. This is typical of an 80s restored beetle..

Hopefully this works... VID-20211030-WA0040.mp4