Project 1972 basic beetle 1200; mahoosive project

[DaveDorson]

3 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Can you fix mine, mister?

No, in all seriousness, great to see the work's continuing on this one - my teenage years spent obsessing over Volks World mag has left a lasting fondness for Beetles, and I've no doubt it'll be cracking once it's done. Nice one!

I've actually got a 1303 as well, they're getting really hard to find now so I bought one before they all vanished and it's sat at my mates yard waiting for me to make some space.

[DaveDorson]

bit more progress, and a bit more rot found, so I've had to buy a body mount on the drivers rear, as well as the cross member.

 

It's slow progress, but it's better than no progress, and it's been fitted in between doing some wing repairs and sills on a 1.6 MK4 golf and replacing an oil pump turbo and cleaning out the sump on a Seat Ibiza 

[DaveDorson]

Well...

[DaveDorson]

So this new panel will go into that hole..

[DaveDorson]

Hopefully this works...

[DaveDorson]

@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..

[DaveDorson]

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..

[DaveDorson]

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 😂

[DaveDorson]

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.

[DaveDorson]

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..

[DavidB]

My garage neighbour has a nice one from the 60’s I think stored under a marquee for years, he’s going to restore it. I opened the drivers door, the hinges are seized and it the whole front wing comes away from the body with the door. It’s completely rotten. The local stray cat also sleeps in it.

[DaveDorson]

1 minute ago, DavidB said:

My garage neighbour has a nice one from the 60’s I think stored under a marquee for years, he’s going to restore it. I opened the drivers door, the hinges are seized and it the whole front wing comes away from the body with the door. It’s completely rotten. The local stray cat also sleeps in it.

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.

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, DaveDorson said:

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.

I think the 1302 is even less loved for its odd proportions. As you say the best in terms of mechanicals but unless you're building a German looker with a monster type 4 lump in the back, the MacPherson strut cars aren't well liked 

[DaveDorson]

2 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I think the 1302 is even less loved for its odd proportions. As you say the best in terms of mechanicals but unless you're building a German looker with a monster type 4 lump in the back, the MacPherson strut cars aren't well liked 

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

[dave j]

11 hours ago, DaveDorson said:

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.

It's mad to think that my "late" beetle is 50 years old! 

 

Good to see some more progress on yours! 

[DaveDorson]

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.

[DaveDorson]

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.  😂

[MT606]

just looking through this thread depresses me...to think that I have all of the above to do on my 68 LHD  .......

[DaveDorson]

2 hours ago, MT606 said:

just looking through this thread depresses me...to think that I have all of the above to do on my 68 LHD  .......

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

[bunglebus]

7 hours ago, DaveDorson said:

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.  😂

Sounds right up my street, crack on! 😄

[DaveDorson]

 

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.

 

[motorpunk]

Looking good. Great to see the little steps of progress. I’ve never been nuts on Beetles but this thread has me hooked. Good luck.

[bunglebus]

Are you putting carb access panels in?

[DaveDorson]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Are you putting carb access panels in?

I did consider it but I probably won't 🤣

[DaveDorson]

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.

[DaveDorson]

 

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

[DaveDorson]

Thing with these old cars, it's the fact they're old, or even how they're constructed.. much of the battle is undoing another gibbons handywork.

Why weld?

lovely "repair panel" by a previous gibbon.

 

Getting down to business now.

[DaveDorson]

More picking away at previous repairs has confirmed that this car has indeed been worked on by morons.

 

 

For reference, it should have a panel in which wasn't re installed following a lower quarter repairs, instead they just glassed and wobbed over it making it look like part of the luggage area skin behind the rear seats.

So I'll have to buy another repair panel to cut that bit off of and graft on.  

*Sigh*

 

[bunglebus]

Unfortunately Beetles are a double edged sword, they became popular when most were 20 odd years old, so lots got "restored" using plop and newspaper. It did mean more survived into old age but plenty are hiding horrors under the surface

[DaveDorson]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Unfortunately Beetles are a double edged sword, they became popular when most were 20 odd years old, so lots got "restored" using plop and newspaper. It did mean more survived into old age but plenty are hiding horrors under the surface

What's annoying me the most is that much of what I've found would have taken more effort than doing it right.

 

The lengths people go to not to use a welder, to buy the right parts, or to properly install things are really unbelievable.