DaveDorson

it's the little things that can make and break how a car drives. Obviously, I've bought the Bilstein shock absorbers for this car, but something often overlooked with these beetles are the gromets and bushes that are used to keep the torsion bars in check and the torsion leaves up front, they're over-looked because you can't see them once fitted to the car I think. I'd been using the now defunct Machine7 Automotive in Nuneaton for all my parts, sadly they folded earlier this year. One of my friends Russ runs a race team Shiftin Ghia (he's got a Karmann Ghia with a VW 20vT engine) and he also does what he can to provide good quality parts to those of us carrying out restorations. This will be a road car (mostly), so I didn't want to buy urethane suspension parts, I also didn't want to use the urethane stuff available for classic VW's because they're shit, they don't fit, they squeak even when correctly lubricated, but rubber stuff is a bloody nightmare, so finding some good quality stuff is key.. the end caps that hold my torsion bars in place are also really badly corroded, so I got a new pair of those too. These are often overlooked when people build beetles and it means the suspension does some odd stuff meaning the car can squirm and shuffle, adding to the already interesting handling characteristics that are part of owning a swing axle suspension car. The top bushes, fitted to the plates in this picture are handed L and R, (the generic urethane ones aren't!) and have different part numbers. The brake hose clips I'm just replacing as a matter of course. The grease nipple is for the front torsion beam, I've got one missing. Silver plates are actually locking plates for the front brake callipers, mine are shot, so new ones. The stack of 4 bushes are for the front torsion leaves in the beam, they're a grease seal and mine are alright, but while I'm there... And finally, the bottom two are inner rear torsion bar bushes. I've already bought new ball joints, tie rod ends, earlier in the restoration, I've also bought some castor correction shims as I'm going to be running the front suspension lower than usual, with some skinner front rubber, and fatter rear giving a nose down stance, and want to make sure the front suspension basically acts like it should do, again this is all stuff that's absolutely irrelevant for Instagram, but quite important to how a car actually drives. New chassis components so far: Refurbished Calipers Master Cylinder Brake discs and bearings (fr) Solid Lines Flexi lines Flexi to Solid line clips Torsion beam bushes Ball joints Tie rod ends Steering box (refurbished) Steering box connector bush Steering box damper Tyres Floor Pan halves Rear torsion bar bushes, inner and outter Rear torsion bar location caps Rear wheel cylinders Rear shoes T2D specification re-valved Bilstein Shock absorbers front and rear. Castor correction shims and HT Bolts for front beam location That's quite the list when you break it down, and doesn't even get into the engine, gearbox, body shell, glass/seals, interior etc.

It was horrible so I didn't take any photos of that one.

Yeah I really dig what they've done with that to be honest

Those who are not aware, the town of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire is the home of the Pork Pie and Stilton Cheese. During my visit to the vintage market, which was mostly people selling tat that wasn't vintage at all, I took some photos of the cars which have become part of the regular display during the event.

Just spent the morning thrashing about the lanes with the top off, still enjoying it a bit. This came complete with an AMG badge on the boot.. I've removed it now, and aside from adding petrol haven't really had to do much else.

It's hot. So I'm doing more sanding of the bits you won't see when it's built

Thanks for doing the purchase and saving me from an inevitable divorce when I rocked up with another SLK.

I've run about 200 miles of fuel through this now, on a mix of roads across four counties, and I have to say, this is one of the best vehicles I've ever owned for getting me from point a to b, in a degree of relative comfort, keeping me engaged, and at a reasonable pace. Paperwork reveals I'm only the 5th custodian of this car, and it's got a massive heap of MOT's to back up the average mileage, as well as a merc book full of service stamps up until about 40k miles ago I think. There's also a sales brochure in the paperwork, and some receipts from indie garages around the Cambridge area where the car appears to have spent the majority of its fairly cosseted life. There's not really much else to report as I'm waiting for the breather hoses to arrive, and the tyres on the back haven't tried to kill me to the degree I want to replace them yet.

I picked up the paperwork for this earlier. There's a lot of paperwork with the car and a spare key, this made me happy.

Loads. I have honestly given up counting them.

I've daily driven a lot worse. Get someone with a smoke tester and a decent diagnostic tool to do a bit of diagnostic work on it for you to save you second guessing where the the vac leaks are and playing parts darts with the under bonnet bits, and throw some money at used cosmetic parts if you so wish and you'd be able to make a few pounds back on that I suspect.

As the resident pineapple and modified old Volkswagen fan, I've recently re-opened my subscription to Hayburner magazine, because they support the classic VW community, and I really like being a part of that community. I got sent my "free" (you pay for the postage only, it's a quarterly mag), and I have to confess I've not managed to sit down and read it yet.

any pointers are appreciated, I'm not new to cars, but I've not really done much with "modern" mercs.

The more I use this car, the more I like this car. It's a really good bit of kit, goes alright, handles alright, is comfortable, it looks great and it feels well nailed together. Drove Sarah to work this morning with the lid off, got home and ordered some breather hoses, some oil, and a set of filters and spark plugs. Took the air filter out to check to see if the intake hoses are a bit oily (they are, of course they are), and the air filter is Mercedes marked, and quite clean, but I did manage to get a few good clouds of dust out of it, so I suspect it wants swapping at some point.

Flat tyres. Honestly, always check the cheap stuff first.. it seems alright now, it's not terrifying speeds, but it's adequate.