My '65 bug resto... going back up...

[Tofufi]

Hi all,

This thread will be the progress on my '65 built ('66 model) bug restoration.

I bought her 3 years ago for £520, and then it needed a hell if a lot to get it roadworthy. (see here: http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=214261 )

I had to leave her at home while I did my exams at uni.
5 weeks later, I come back to find this:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7630.jpg

A bit overgrown, AND she had leaked her petrol all over the drive.

Anyways, The first thing I did was sort the fuel leak, and change the exhaust. (and cut back the weeds...) She now starts first time and drove round the block pretty well :)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7645.jpg

Anyway, the plan with this bug is to make it back to stock-looking. That'll be stock height, OG colour, standard wheels etc then. I'll be keeping the twin carb 1641 engine though ;)

Eventually it will gain more of a resto cal flavour, as and when I can afford to get the beam narrowed.

I want to drive it to Bristol Volksfest this weekend, and I have an MOT booked for my '71 bay on Monday. If the bay passes the MOT, then my bug will have the body off next week. For now, I've been paying attention to areas which don't need the body to come off.

This is what I have done so far today:

Rear inner wing on the drivers side looks quite good really. It has had a large repair panel put in to the body mount already.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7664.jpg

The bumper mount has been replaced with a universal one, and was a bit rotten.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7665.jpg

So off that came...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7668.jpg

And something shiny to go in it's place.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7667.jpg

The other side was not so pretty.

Someone had welded a sheet of steel over some of the original rot, and it wasn't very strong. Hence I had a wonky rear bumper.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7671.jpg

Ooops..

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7673.jpg

My new Day Mouldings wing:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7676.jpg

Seems to fit pretty well.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7677.jpg

Bumper mount panel welded mostly into place. I stopped welding here to check fitment...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7678.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7680.jpg

Seems OK...

And with a valence (will be being made removable with no obvious fixings...)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7681.jpg

Even lines up great at the bottom.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7682.jpg

And with a bumper fitted.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7683.jpg

:) More for tomorrow.

[Shamrockez]

You gonna paint her wheels? :)

[Tofufi]

Eventually, but they are low on the list of things to do, below:

Heater channels
Floors
Inner wings
Crossmembers
Bulkhead + napoleons hat section
Bodywork and paint

:D

[Shamrockez]

nooo, do the wheels first! Instant shinyness! :D

[AxlFoley]

looking good :) i wish i had an air cooled VW :(

I know a bloke who paints the wheels on a car before he paints the car, must say shiny wheels on a ratty car does look good though.

[EcoWarrior]

Looking good dude.
we have just sold all our aircooled dubs, prob have another soon though :D
and i agree get them rims in paint :D

[1958 Harry]

Wow! So it actually begins Jim!!! Looking good bud - Beee will be shinier than Harry in no time! :D

[Tofufi]

Thanks everyone :D

The wheels will be painted sometime!

Lukey, I doubt she'll ever be as shiny as Harry... But I can try :D

This is what I've done today...

I've been trimming down the Hookeys panels, just in case I ever need to replace the repairs I'm doing now. (I intend on keeping this car a long long time!)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7691.jpg

A lot of trimming and trial fitting later, and it is tacked into place.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7692.jpg

And with the valence (removable mods in progress...) fitted:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7693.jpg

And again, it lines up well with the wing.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7694.jpg

This day Mouldings wing doesn't fit at the front yet, due to some slightly misshapen repair work beforehand..
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7695.jpg

Even the bumper mounts line up right :D

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7696.jpg

And with the bumper fitted, too.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7697.jpg

Despite only being tacked in at present, the rear bumper takes my whole weight easily. Much better than before, when I was scared to touch it in case it fell off...


http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7702.jpg

I pushed the beetle forwards out the garage to check alignment. The bumper overriders are exactly the same height :D As is the bottom of the valence on both sides. I must be doing something OK. Even the decklid seal meets the decklid spot on now.

I then spent the next two hours aligning my decklid properly. It took a lot of persuasion with a rubber mallet.

After all the aligning, I've got no clearance issues with the rear bumper - it has almost 1mm clearance :D

I then did some more welding, and got the panel fully welded in.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7704.jpg

I'll be replacing the engine side trays after Bristol Volksfest, for my shiny new Hookeys ones :)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/shiny/CIMG7452.jpg

Mmmm...

Just gotta tidy up the other side and finish the removable valence tomorrow :D - Then it is off to Bristol Volksfest on Sunday. :cool:

[Tofufi]

And just to prove I made it to Bristol and back :D

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/Bristol%202008/CIMG7710.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/Bristol%202008/CIMG7711.jpg

Complete with valence:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/Bristol%202008/CIMG7713.jpg

Next week - Van MOT and then beetle resto :D

[1958 Harry]

It's good to see Beee on her way to shinyness! I can't wait to see her all finished! :D

[Shamrockez]

What day are you taking her body off? If it's not a day that I'm working, I wanna come help :)

[MrYellowbug]

And just to prove I made it to Bristol and back :D

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/Bristol%202008/CIMG7710.jpg


Next week - Van MOT and then beetle resto :D

What is it with bugs and "that" bit of the bonnet

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/poomunky45/beetle/RIMG0263-1.jpg

[Shamrockez]

What is it with bugs and "that" bit of the bonnet

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/poomunky45/beetle/RIMG0263-1.jpg

Yep! Bella's started off as this small hole:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a309/Shamrockez7/Bella2/4049b654.jpg


which got bigger and bigger as I welded it :rolleyes: :lol:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a309/Shamrockez7/Bella2/4049b654-1.jpg

[MrYellowbug]

:LOL: Always the same side too it seems

I'm gonna have to sort ernie soon too i don't want him rotting away

[Shamrockez]

yeah I think the other side was ok at that bit... it's just horribly cracked in the normal place where early Bug bonnets go cos of the single hinge holding it up.

[Tofufi]

Mine was rusty there on both sides

I did repair it, and then got distracted by a bay window and didn't paint it :(

I'll get it all done proper again this time. :)

[1958 Harry]

Harrys bonnet was split further down, on early bugs its because the prop is on one side and over time they split, I imagine on later bugs its a similar thing as thats not far from the bonnet springs so maybe the bonnet flex's there?

[Kitten]

Looking fab...:D You lot are so clever doing all these jobs yourselves, I wish I could do it......I'm so sappy, I keep putting off changing my rear lights on my Newbee cos I'm petrified I'll break it and not be able to get my lights back on!!!!!!!!:o :o

Well done you clever peeps, your bugs a fantastic. :ghug:

[Tofufi]

Cheers Kitten :D
Just a quick update... Spent most of the afternoon weeding my grans garden, but came home and did this...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7770.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7771.jpg

Doesn't look too bad, but there are holes everywhere..

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7772.jpg

And I was able to pull some of the passenger side channel apart with my hands...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7773.jpg

More to come tomorrow ;)

[Kitten]

You've definitely got your work cut out there :eek: Do you have to get a new floor pan and sills, or do you weld plates in? :D I'm just being nosey and I'm fascinated. :D

[Tofufi]

You can weld plates in... if done properly, plates will last ages.

However, my bug is made of patches, hence I have two new decent quality floors...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/shiny/CIMG7441.jpg

And new genuine vw sills

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/shiny/CIMG7447.jpg

:)

No worries with 'being nosey', it's good to know someone is bothering to read my thread ;)

Just a bit more today...

Should I be able to do this with my bare hands?

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7777.jpg

:eek:

Rusty...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7778.jpg

The windscreen surround...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7779.jpg

A dodgy rear 1/4 repair...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7783.jpg

and front 1/4...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7784.jpg

A little more dismantling...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7786.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7785.jpg

Wow do I feel a bit bad now.

And this still has 9 months MOT + tax left :lol:

[Tofufi]

And this afternoon...

This is the drivers side heater channel. It seems someone saw fit to cut off the inside pipe only half way along. Meaning the heat got to beside the seat, and then ran out of pipe to flow along. No wonder I was getting no heat at the front...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7787.jpg

Boot floor looks shiny :D

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7788.jpg

Mostly not rust, but fluff and glue. Should hopefully clean up alright, although the lower edges have been repaired...

And the not so nice...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7789.jpg

The body had been welded to the pan with the **** 'closing panels' which weld everything together. Inside there, the bolts for the channels (which sit in the floor) were attached to nothing.

Lucy, Paul and Sarah (Shamrockez, Percydub and The CCR Beaver) came over, and gave loads of help. As you can see in this shot, Sarah is removing a carb and Paul and Lucy are stopping my garage from falling over.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7790.jpg

A lot of cutting from Sarah and myself, (notice Paul and Lucy watching again :lol: )

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7791.jpg

And the body is off....

:D

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7793.jpg

I promised Paul I wouldn't show this photo, so I won't...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7794.jpg

Full of enthusiasm, Paul, Sarah and I (ok, so I had no enthusiasm...) began cutting the old pans out...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7797.jpg

one out...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7798.jpg

And the other...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7799.jpg

We then removed the strip round the edge (which we left on while removing the bulk of the pans)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7800.jpg

Before tucking it all safe into the garage :D

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7801.jpg

We already had one chap in a white van ask us if he could take it away :rolleyes:

[yellowbug]

Progress is being made then, it'll be nice and solid for years to come when it's done!

Watching this one as i reckon my bug will need some chopping and re welding soon

[Shamrockez]

we weren't watching - we were supervising!!!!! Project managing! ;)

[Vickie]

Blimey Jim, some good progress being made on Beeee!

Rust is scary stuff eh? Petal's floor pans were welded together rather than bolted as well - muppets :rolleyes:

Will be keeping an eye on this thread as well - I think I have a lot of this kinda stuff coming my way soon! :laughing:

[ian c]

the body is off !!!!

it will fly back together from now !!

[Doodlebug]

That looks scary! Eek!

[Vee.Dubster]

Excellent work!

I love mid-sixties bugs me :)

[1958 Harry]

Looking good Jim!!!I can't wait to see Beee all done! :D

[Kitten]

My goodness!!!!! Thats so much work!!!!! You can be so proud of yourselves when Its finished. Well done yoos..:D :D

[Tofufi]

Cheers guys :D Yes, it is a small bit of work to keep me occupied!


Just a quickie update ;)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7814.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7815.jpg

Jus' gotta repair the body mount / Napoleons hat section and finish removing the very last few bits of the old pans at the back, and I can get these welded in. The quality is awesome, and they appear to fit perfectly :)

Sadly, the quality can't quite be said of the Napoleons hat section...

Sadly, nothing better is available. I'm only going to use the outer ends of it.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7813.jpg

I'll aim to get it ready for the pans to be welded in by the end of tomorrow :)

[Kitten]

I hope you never sell Bella after all the work you've put in. :)

It must be great knowing that you've done all the work. I'm going to keep being nosey cos I cant wait to see what Bella looks like when she's finished :laughing: ;)

Harry and Ernie are beautiful too. :ghug:

[tred]

No worries with 'being nosey', it's good to know someone is bothering to read my thread ;)

I'm reading your thread too but also feel like such a numpty that I don't know what to say :o It's fantastic to see a thread like this and to see how the car ends up looking. I take my hat off to you as I'm still struggling to fill up the windscreen washer on my newbie ;)

Keep up the good work...and keep the photos coming :)

[Tofufi]

I hope you never sell Bella after all the work you've put in. :)

It must be great knowing that you've done all the work. I'm going to keep being nosey cos I cant wait to see what Bella looks like when she's finished :laughing: ;)

Harry and Ernie are beautiful too. :ghug:

My bug is called Beeeee, Lucy (Shamrockez) has a '58 bug called Bella ;)

Thanks though, I'll certainly never sell her now :)
She was my first car and I've owned her more than 3 years now (Bought when I was 16 using the money from my first job :lol: )

I'm reading your thread too but also feel like such a numpty that I don't know what to say :o It's fantastic to see a thread like this and to see how the car ends up looking. I take my hat off to you as I'm still struggling to fill up the windscreen washer on my newbie ;)

Keep up the good work...and keep the photos coming :)

Cheers :)


Today, I've been working on the bulkhead...

Repro versus original.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7813.jpg

To be honest, I could have made jelly into a shape more closely resembling the original panel than the repro panel. Seeing as I can't weld jelly, the repro had to do.

Got one end fitted today :)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7820.jpg

(No inbetweeny pics as I left the camera in the house)

It was plug welded all around, and the front end seam welded too, as this is how we did the rest of the framehead bottom plate a couple of years ago.

I also cleaned up all of the edge, ready to fit the new pan...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7816.jpg

And this is pretty much in place now...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7818.jpg

I just need to find out what is happening with the rear body mount now... before I can weld it in :D

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7817.jpg

See here: http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=465280

More to come as and when I find out what the heck I'm doing :D

[Tofufi]

Just another quick update.

Got the LH pan tacked in. I won't finish it until I've lowered the body on to check the fit is 100% perfect.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7861.jpg

And started tidying up the RHS ready for the RH pan.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7862.jpg

These floorpans are very very nice to weld to. The red primer comes off really easily with a grinder too, which is excellent :)

[Tofufi]

Today, I cleaned everything up.

Did a repair to the end of the naps hat section (RHS)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7864.jpg

and I was then able to tack the RHS pan in.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7865.jpg

Just need to trial-fit the body now, to ensure everything lines up. Then I'll be able to finish the plug welding. :)

[Shamrockez]

Those pans are so pretty - I'm very jealous!

[Kitten]

That looks really solid now. :)

Sorry I got your beautiful bugs name wrong. :o Its a family trait :eek: I even get my childrens names mixed up at times......they really get unimpressed as one is a girl and the other a boy!! LOL. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Bubbles]

That looks really solid now. :)

Sorry I got your beautiful bugs name wrong. :o Its a family trait :eek: I even get my childrens names mixed up at times......they really get unimpressed as one is a girl and the other a boy!! LOL. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

don't worry, my dad does that too.....most of the time he calls me Brad and my bro, Laura!!!! :rolleyes:

[BeBe]

Looking awesom Jim!!!

Those new pans are Luverly!!!

Bugger!!! Its Luke, not Gem, Forgot she was logged in! :lol:

[Tofufi]

Cheers guys - a quick mega update from me today!

Got the body back on the floor, everything lines up pretty well...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7875.jpg

Needs a new channel or two though...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7876.jpg

I sorted out the drivers side floorpan, and got the pedals in.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7896.jpg

For the first time since I bought the car, the accelerator pedal doesn't stick to the floor :D

And then I got the pans into primer...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7916.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7914.jpg

Found 3 layers of metal on the inner rear wing, where there should only have been one...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7912.jpg

Bloody bodge-merchants have been running rife on this car.

And today, I replaced the seal channel on one side of the front bonnet.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7939.jpg

And with seal...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7944.jpg

Just had time to check the fibreglass wing fits, too...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7931.jpg

Ace ;)

[1958 Harry]

Bee is gonna look effing awesome once she's done!

The work is looking spot on dude, and your aim of having her done by Sept is looking more and more possible!

[Shamrockez]

yeah he can come and do Bella when he's finished :p

[Tofufi]

Cheers guys - I can't help feeling the goal of September is getting further and further away.

I need all new front and rear inner wings now. Not gonna do the fronts 'til next year though.

[Tofufi]

Today, I started work on the rear crossmember. The factory spotwelder must have been feeling poorly that day, as there were about 5 spotwelds holding it on, along with a few small seams.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7949.jpg

Anyway, that came out quite easily...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7950.jpg

As did the heater channel..

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7955.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7954.jpg

Who says you need door braces? The proof of the pudding will be in how well the doors shut, however.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7951.jpg

Outrigger ought to fit. Vaguely.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7956.jpg

Not much metal left on there..

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7952.jpg

And finally, drilling the holes to spotweld the new channel to the channel bottom plate.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7961.jpg

I've already realised that due to the previous heater channel replacements / bodges, I won't be able to get it looking exactly factory. There is just too much rot to deal with and not all the panels are original. I'll have to settle for solid repairs which may not look perfect. :)

Having cut the old channel out, I didn't want to leave it in the air too long to warp. So Tom came over this afternoon to lend a hand, and we put the body back onto the chassis. We bolted the outrigger and channel loosely to the floor first, that way we can be sure everything will line up when the time comes to bolt the body on finally.

We then spent the next 30 mins lining up the door aperture in the body. The A pillar on this side is a bit banana shaped, so I guess it has taken a knock at some point. That'll be straightened out later. Everything else lines up OK.

Check the door gap. For the first time ever, the door seems to fit.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7965.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7963.jpg

When everything was OK and in place, we clamped it together...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7967.jpg

and Tom got welding.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7966.jpg

His welding is better than mine, and I was feeling lazy too...

Hows that?

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7970.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7971.jpg

The plate to the inner wing will be removed as soon as I get the new inner wing section to weld in. The front end was so rotten I had nothing else to weld to.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7969.jpg

Channel lines up 100% perfect with where it should on the bulkhead.

and the (soon to be replaced) rear 1/4 panel, too.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7968.jpg

That's all for now folks.

[Tofufi]

New stuff!



http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8016.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8017.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8018.jpg

;)



The Day Mouldings wings fit onto the mexican 1/4 panels nicely.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8024.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8025.jpg

So I spent some time removing the bumper mount, fuel tank support and other bits from the new front 1/4...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8027.jpg

To leave this...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8026.jpg

Next, I set about removing the old fuel tank support. The old one had had a repro front clip fitted over the top of the old panels...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8034.jpg

As did the inner wings (see above photo again).

Why people just bodge panels like this I don't know.
Where there is only meant to be one layer of metal, having two sandwiched together is just gonna be a rot trap!

Mmm, tidy.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8035.jpg

:rolleyes:

Having found the mexican fuel tank support was an inch too short, I left a bit of the old support in place, and welded the two bits together :)

This is to keep some rigidity in the body whilst I remove the rest of the front 1/4. I'm aiming to keep the rest attached, to save alignment issues.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8036.jpg

And just to check:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8037.jpg

Fuel tank still fits!

And today.. Walked past the point of no return, and cut out the front 1/4...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8039.jpg

To...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8053.jpg

New one seems alright? I hope it fits well.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8040.jpg

Aerial hole..

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8041.jpg

Gone...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8045.jpg

(welded up)

And the view from behind... (why did I make a better job inside than outside? - outside will only need a tiny skim of filler tho')

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8048.jpg

I then welded up all the holes I made when removing the old bumper mounts (europa stylee ones) so I can fit early ones.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8051.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8052.jpg

That's all for now folks... :)

[1958 Harry]

Lookin good dude!!!

Do you think you're gonna have the bonnet probs with your front quarters?

[Kitten]

Looking fab :D :ghug:

[Tofufi]

Cheers guys :D

Just a quick update today. I spent ages faffing around with door gaps, and still no real joy there.

So I turned to the dashboard...

Before...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7750.jpg

Someone had enlarged the radio hole with a sledgehammer.

Leaving this mess...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG7751.jpg

So I welded up the radio hole - NO filler in this pic, just bare metal with primer on it...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8054.jpg

And with a radio blank :)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8056.jpg


1000 times better - just needs paint now!

The primer is only temporary, to keep out rust before I paint the whole lot properly.

Back to fiddling around with door gaps tomorrow. I *need* the doors to shut perfectly, otherwise it'll annoy me forever afterwards.

Oh, and if anyone is wondering, the front 1/4 in the last pic is only balanced in place. Not welded until I sort the door gap out.

[1958 Harry]

Looking good dude!

Radio aperture looks 100 times better!!!

I spent today getting Hatty all ready - We made a right hash of setting those valve gaps! :lol: I wondered why it got so hot just idling, I reckon we'd set the valves in the wrong order, so I did it using Mr Haynes this time, you start at 1 (as we did) but turn the engine 180 degrees anti-clockwise, which puts it onto 2, then 3, etc ;)

[Bunkerbilly]

liking the restro job ur doing here :D wish i can the time and skills to do that, i have all the tools well my dad does but i just dont have the skills to do everything and it is a bit annoying asking him everytime to help, and ive had the same problem with bodgers as well. in my rear arch there was a massive rust patch and there was 4 overlapping peaces of metal welded together so i took them right out and done it properly :D, my parents are telling me to sell my car and get a better newer model that has had all the work doing to it.. but seeing the work uve put in, and TBH it looks like fun ( apart from the door gaps haha ) im gunna keep my beetle for MANY years to come :D:D

keep up the good work m8, cant w8 to see the end product :D:D:D

[Tofufi]

Thanks everyone :D

Just a quick lunchtime update... managed to get the passenger door to shut perfectly... (possibly the most boring video ever on Evvo)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/th_CIMG8060.jpg (http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/?action=view&current=CIMG8060.flv)

However, it only shuts like that when I have a ratchet strap round the dashboard and the beam to pull the A pillar up. Removing the strap makes it crap again.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8061.jpg

The front 1/4 seems to fit nicely, though I havn't checked the important bonnet alignment.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8058.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8057.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8059.jpg

Neat.

More to come as I mess about with that door some more.

[Tofufi]

Just a quick update from today,

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8071.jpg

Looks ok.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8072.jpg

Looks ok too,

But not from here...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8073.jpg

Some cutting later...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8076.jpg

And I could put the outrigger in place. Needs a bit more trimming yet.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8077.jpg

Bodgery - found lots of that today.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8078.jpg

Bottom plate attached.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8079.jpg

And channel sat in place.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8080.jpg

More to come tomorrow. :)

[Shamrockez]

well it wouldn't be as fun if you didn't find something bodged!

Channel welded in tomorrow?

[Kitten]

At least you KNOW there will be no bogged bits when you've finished :D :D

[Tofufi]

At least you KNOW there will be no bogged bits when you've finished :D :D

True :D

Right.

It's been a very long time since the last update.

I managed to get the drivers side heater channel and outrigger fitted in place...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG0890.jpg

And tacked in...

I then went to the front... Damn.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG0891.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG0892.jpg

Nothing was even vaguely close to lining up.

This put me off working on it for a very long time. Anyway, Tom came over today after work for a few minutes.

Within 10 minutes, we had sorted out the problem... the drivers side heater channel was fouling the bulkhead pushing it forwards and lifting it up. A bit of persuasion with a grinder, and the offending messy bulkhead was no longer a problem :)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8134.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8133.jpg

And the front beam mounts fitted too ^^

After that, I just did a small repair to the guttering at the rear...

Holey...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8129.jpg

Sorted.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8130.jpg

This to come tomorrow:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8127.jpg

Feels really good getting somewhere with it again :)

[yellowbug]

oh looks like you are getting on ok :)

bet it feels very satisfying every time you get another bit done :)

[1958 Harry]

Yayyyy!!! Does this mean all your doors line up nicely now dude? :D :D :D

You said within 10 mins Tom would sort it! :lol:

I'm glad its sorted dude, if you need a hand with anything let me know :)

[Tofufi]

oh looks like you are getting on ok :)

bet it feels very satisfying every time you get another bit done :)

Very satisfying indeed.

More to come tomorrow, hopefully. I feel inspired :D

Yayyyy!!! Does this mean all your doors line up nicely now dude? :D :D :D

You said within 10 mins Tom would sort it! :lol:

I'm glad its sorted dude, if you need a hand with anything let me know :)

Dude... check the last pic of my reply... the drivers side doesn't even have a bottom hinge mount :laughing:

It'll get there though ;)

[Kitten]

Its good that you've renewed your interest again. :D

I can only imagine how frustrating it must get :D

Your getting there though and Beeee is going to be one hell of a fantastic bug :ghug:

[Bunkerbilly]

just think, ur always that little bit closer to putting the key into the ignition and hearing a massive bang were the engine has blown up haha, glad its up and runing especially wen you've done so much already, should be looking great :D wen done, keep it up

[Tofufi]

Cheers guys :D - really appreciate the comments :)

Kitten - yes, it can get very frustrating when things just don't fit. It's worth it all when you make them fit though!

A bit of work from this morning..

Fitted the bottom hinge...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8139.jpg

Adjusted everything until the door fits perfectly..

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8140.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8141.jpg

I then adjusted the passenger door, and welded everything up to get a bit more strength in there. :)

Next time to fit the front 1/4 panel. It is getting there now. Everything seems to fit OK, although there isn't enough of a curve where it meets the A pillar.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8138.jpg

Glad I fitted the fuel tank support seperately, considering none of the holes where I drilled out the spotwelds line up with the 1/4 panel now :D

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8136.jpg

[Shamrockez]

Next time to fit the front 1/4 panel. It is getting there now. Everything seems to fit OK, although there isn't enough of a curve where it meets the A pillar.





hammer!!!! :D

[Tofufi]

:D

Just a bit more to report...

Removed old bulkhead...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8142.jpg

New bulkhead ready to go in...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8143.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8144.jpg

Just filled the bulkhead section with POR15, as it was an old panel and had some surface rust where it hasn't been rustproofed inside. I'll be able to weld it in tomorrow.



Finally... it is my bugs 43rd Birthday. I didn't make it a cake (My cakes ain't worth eating anyway...) though.

[Shamrockez]

Happy birthday Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :D :D :D


How's the fit on the bulkhead?

[EcoWarrior]

Just been reading this thread and your doing a grand job http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/images/vzismilies/hangloose.gif keep the updates coming :)

[Kitten]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEEEEEE :ghug:

She's looking great :D

Are you going to keep her the same blue when you come to the respray? :D
Its a really nice blue :D

[Tofufi]

Happy birthday Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :D :D :D


How's the fit on the bulkhead?

Bulkhead fit is awful! Not as bad as the other (repro too) bulkhead I bought first though!

Just been reading this thread and your doing a grand job http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/images/vzismilies/hangloose.gif keep the updates coming :)

Cheers :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEEEEEE :ghug:

She's looking great :D

Are you going to keep her the same blue when you come to the respray? :D
Its a really nice blue :D

Thanks - No, I'm not keeping the light blue. I know it'll be a big change, but she is going to be the original dark blue colour like her dashboard is :) - she will look totally standard, until she goes to pull away a bit quicker than standard due to the 1641cc engine :D

The light blue paint job wasn't amazingly well prepared, and it was done along with a lot of very dubious repairs... be nice to have a bit of a change, too :)

Anyways, a bit of progress - this morning I was forced into taking a new beetle for a drive :p - Thanks Lucy :D

Anyway, this afternoon in the pouring rain I managed to get the bulkhead prepped and welded in to the extent that is is secure. I need to do a lot more welding to firm everything up, and then I can get cracking welding the front 1/4s on. :D

Just two pics from today... Bulkhead outside

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8145.jpg

And inside...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8146.jpg

I can tell you this area is a bitch to get at, when the body is on. I didn't feel there was enough strength in the bodywork to remove the body, however, so I had to struggle cramped up in the footwells cutting away :rolleyes:

:D

[Tofufi]

Today I spent ages welding. Doesn't show for much as I was only firming up all the bits I'd already got into place.

Outrigger central section welded and primed to keep any rust off for now.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8152.jpg

I then went on to fit the bumper.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8153.jpg

This was to line up the bumper mount (the panels come with europa bumper mounts, which I removed. I then had to weld on the old mounts from the previous front clip.)

Mount welded on:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8155.jpg

And finally, I couldn't resist loosely bolting one of my wings on. They look much better than the old wings, perhaps the shape around the headlight is more defined.

It made me happy, anyway :D

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8154.jpg

Tomorrow, I aim to get the inner wing welded in on the passenger side :)

[Shamrockez]

she'll be in paint in no time! :D

Does this mean I'll be able to nudge her nose with my foot and she won't wibble soon?!

[Tofufi]

OK, so I didn't manage to do it on saturday... but today I managed to start welding the inner wing in place :)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8159.jpg

Finally!

More to come :)

[Shamrockez]

Mmmm inner wing porn..... no nasty holes or patches - just nice smooth soild metal :D

[Tofufi]

A bit more for ya, as promised...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8163.jpg

And it cleans up OK, too :)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8165.jpg

Just given it a quick spray in primer to keep it from rusting.

[Shamrockez]

cool, that front 1/4 must be pretty much finished now? Well, cutting out and welding in new panels wise :)

[Tofufi]

Still lots more welding to do on that 1/4 :)

But yes, it's getting there! That's the last panel on that front 1/4 other than a few repairs needed to the front boot floor. :)

[1958 Harry]

Looking awesome dude!!!!

She's really starting to come together now! :D

[Tofufi]

:D

Cheers dude

Continued welding the inner wing on...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8172.jpg

Followed by doing the seam on the A pillar...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8168.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8169.jpg

More to come... slowly. I seem to work at about 1/8th the pace of most people on here :lol:

[Shamrockez]

doesn't look like it'll need much filler to look spot on :)

[Tofufi]

Shouldn't do! :D

Just a bit more progress.. Welded the front valence to the inner wing..

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8174.jpg

The repro front valence was too wide on the inner edge, so a fair bit of trimming and re-welding there was needed.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8175.jpg

Fitting the wing made me notice that I dented the corner of the valence... pulling it back out is on my 'to do' list. :)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8176.jpg

Bonnet lines up OK - If Carlsberg made repair, panels, they would probably fit like this. The Day Mouldings wings really are superb.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8179.jpg

MMmmm, clean inner wings...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8181.jpg

Finally, I bolted the door back on, and it still fits :D

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8182.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8183.jpg

[Shamrockez]

see, now you paint the front wheel, and you can mock up that side as almost 'done' :D

[Kitten]

Wow :D you are cracking on at a great pace :D

Beeee looks really solid now. :D

[Tofufi]

:D Thanks!

It's nice being able to jack the body up without it all distorting and the doors fitting differently when it is in the air :)


Ok...

Today, I made a small hole.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8207.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8209.jpg

Whoops.

Found lots of ugly mess when removing the old 1/4..

I mean, why use filler here?

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8186.jpg

Old body mount didn't look too bad really...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8187.jpg

was actually very messy...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8189.jpg

New panel very vaguely trimmed to fit..

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8191.jpg

Got a slight gap here, I think the outrigger/crossmember sticks out slightly too far.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8192.jpg

Crossmember hits here:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8197.jpg

[Tofufi]

With a bit of persuasion, got everything to line up a bit better.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8201.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8200.jpg

Rear under seat bit still looks tidy...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8199.jpg

And closed the gap a bit. I'll still need to trim the outrigger slightly to make it perfect.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8196.jpg

More to come :)

[1958 Harry]

Wow looking good dude!!!

Wont be long now!

[Shamrockez]

was there a reason for the really random shape? :D

[Tofufi]

That was meant to be a straight line. I've never been able to draw straight lines, and I sure as hell can't cut them with a grinder either (see todays update for more!) :(

A bit more from today

First, I trimmed the bodywork at the top.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8212.jpg



A bit more cutting...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8210.jpg

Some trimming on the B pillar...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8211.jpg

And it was ready to weld :D

After tacking it in place, it would have been rude not to trial fit the wing and running board.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8214.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8213.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8215.jpg

Not too bad :)

The door shut line is OK too, but tricky to get a picture that shows it... so I gave up :D

Lots and lots of welding for me to do tomorrow.

;)

[Tofufi]

Just to add, that is all butt welded. No overlap at all.

Should be able to grind it all down with just the metal assuming I manage not to distort it.

:D

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8218.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8219.jpg

[Tofufi]

Just a bit of work from today...

Lots of welding, and grinding...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8221.jpg

Inner wing looks nice...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8223.jpg

More welding and grinding later...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8228.jpg

That's with NO filler.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8229.jpg

Sadly, the last bit isn't quite as good, will need a thin skim of filler to get right.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8231.jpg

This bit inside looked a bit messy.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8232.jpg

Cut out...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8234.jpg

Here's one I made earlier...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8235.jpg

More tomorrow...

[BeBe]

Wow Jim! your work on Beee is first rate!!

We spent the day sorting the leaky oil cooler and self destructed clutch on Hatty! :lol:

Next weekend we are gonna replace all her front suspension bits! :eek:

[Kitten]

Woww :D Beee is looking fantastic. :D Your welding is really spot on. You'll be totally sh*t hot at it by the time your finished :D and be able to do it with your hands tied behind your back :laughing: :laughing:

[Bunkerbilly]

You'll be totally sh*t hot at it by the time your finished :D and be able to do it with your hands tied behind your back :laughing: :laughing:


hmm not to sure about hands behind back haha,

im likeing the progress your making :D will lookin mint after your done with it :D, what colour yout thinking of painting it when its all done? :D

[Vickie]

Wow Jim, I can't believe how great Bee is looking and how fast she's coming along! Do you fancy doing mine next?! :laughing:

[1958 Harry]

Have you got Petal back yet Vickie? Its nearly 2 years he's had her now! :eek:

[Vickie]

*sorry for thread hijack Jim!* but I'm well on my way to getting her back now. We had another court hearing which was his appeal, it went on for an hour and a half and we won! He made himself look really stupid and didn't come across well in front of the judge - who then refused him the right to appeal in the County Court again, so if he wanted to challenge that he would have to take it to a Circuit judge (which is the next step up and would cost him thousands!)

So... he was ordered to give Petal back and pay my £300 court costs. And the judge ruled that I didn't owe him a penny (I should think so too!)

On Thurs I had a surprisingly decent letter from him, with a cheque enclosed for £300 (from his son's account, which is apparently because he is still not working due to ill health. Read into that... skint! And also being sued by his landlord for £15,000 in unpaid rent I have since found out!) His letter also detailed what work still needs doing and offered to arrange for me to collect her myself or for him to drop it up to us and park ont he drive. I'm going for the first option as I don't want him in my car at all - especially not on the road - driving without an MOT!

Anyhoo... sorry Jim! Can't wait for more Bee updates :)

[1958 Harry]

Wow! Result!!!

If you need a hand with the mechancal side of things, let me know, theres not much I don't know how to do now, welding wise, well speak to Jimbo ;)

[Tofufi]

No updates from today, instead I fitted an automatic fire extinguisher to my van.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/Van/CIMG8236.jpg

Wow Jim! your work on Beee is first rate!!

We spent the day sorting the leaky oil cooler and self destructed clutch on Hatty! :lol:

Next weekend we are gonna replace all her front suspension bits! :eek:

Cheers Gem (Luke? :laughing:) Got Hatty going alright now?

Woww :D Beee is looking fantastic. :D Your welding is really spot on. You'll be totally sh*t hot at it by the time your finished :D and be able to do it with your hands tied behind your back :laughing: :laughing:

Thanks! I already wish I had three hands... when welding takes two hands I need a third to hold a hammer - stops the panel warping by taking all the heat away really quickly ;)

hmm not to sure about hands behind back haha,

im likeing the progress your making :D will lookin mint after your done with it :D, what colour yout thinking of painting it when its all done? :D

Cheers! It'll be the original dark blue colour. Like this, but a bit higher perhaps.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/driveby.jpg

Wow Jim, I can't believe how great Bee is looking and how fast she's coming along! Do you fancy doing mine next?! :laughing:

I'd love to work on Petal, but she'll have to take her turn in the queue behind my van and a Fiat 500 ;)


Anyhoo... sorry Jim! Can't wait for more Bee updates :)

No worries for the Hijack - glad to know you're getting somewhere :cool:

[1958 Harry]

Glad to see you got the fire system fitted dude :)

Hattys running spot on now (after swapping a few bits off Harry as well - well he wont be needing them now!), she's really bloody quick! :lol: Just got her front suspension and disc brake conversion to fit next weekend (providing the calipers are OK) - I've also bought an engine stand, a bargain £39 at Vanfest, thought it would make building up Harrys new engine a bit easier ;)

[Tofufi]

Nice :D


Just a bit more from today... Continued welding up the B pillar where it meets the new 1/4 panel. I did this 3 times until I was happy with it.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8242.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8244.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8246.jpg

To give it time to cool down (to avoid warping) I kept on going between that, and making a start on the front 1/4 panel (drivers side).

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8240.jpg

Following the Last Triumph™ method, I clamped the old 1/4 panel to the new one and then cut round the fuel filler.

A quick couple of tack welds, and it is held in place. I'm slowly going round this with hundreds of little welds to avoid warping it.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8243.jpg

More to come :)

[Tofufi]

It's been a while since I updated this... there hasn't been much to report recently, with uni work and a few other things taking priority recently :(

Anyway, here goes all the work since September which I've done in the few minutes I've had spare.

Late bug body mounts are higher than early ones...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8248.jpg

So I had to drill out the spotwelds. A bit of help from my handy spotweld splitter™ (also known as a wallpaper scraper and a big hammer) had everything apart :)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8249.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8250.jpg

Welded up all the dimples left by drilling out the spotwelds...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8251.jpg

And welded it back on slightly lower than before :D

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8252.jpg

Not finished yet as it is a pain to get to. I'll finish it next time the body comes off the chassis.

I also repaired this bit

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8253.jpg

But no after picture (I forgot).

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8258.jpg

Proof my garage is tidy occasionally ;)

And the passenger side, now almost fully welded.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8255.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8256.jpg

Just the drivers side to do now!

So here goes... first thing I realised was that I wasn't happy with how the drivers door shut. It went with a slight 'clunk' as the latching mechanism had to lift the door slightly. I also found that the door pillar was a couple of mm too long, meaning that with the door as high as it would go on the lower hinge mounting, the upper hinge mounting was only half way up.

So I cut the pillar back apart again, closed the gap up and welded it back together.

Still rough at this stage...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8465.jpg

And inside the car.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8466.jpg

Door now shuts as well as the passenger door, with no problems or drop.

Door gap looks alright, too.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8456.jpg

I then started cutting the front inner wing out...


http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8458.jpg

Whoops...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8467.jpg

Seriously, who the feck thought this would be a good idea?


http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8459.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8460.jpg

Almost 1' of the inner wing was overlapped with some the front clip on the car.

Spot the multiple layers.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8461.jpg

and the OG paint in there too!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8462.jpg

[Tofufi]

As ever, being a perfectionist I decided I wasn't happy with the drivers side door gap being like this:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8514.jpg

So I cut out the A pillar and did it again. :D

And now it looks like this...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8520.jpg

(picture doesn't show it too well, but it is about right!)

Drivers door still shuts perfectly :)

And I've been continuing removing inner wing sections to be able to fit the new front 1/4s.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8516.jpg

I don't know what the VW spot welder was doing here...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8517.jpg

And with the new 1/4 vaguely in position... it'll be a long time until it is finally fitted!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/CIMG8519.jpg

And finally... just a couple of other bits of news :D

Firstly, I've found a decent bodyshop to help me paint the bug :D
I've never done much prepwork, but it will give me a summer job working on other cars too... so I'm well chuffed. :cool:

Secondly, just a little purchase for the bug...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/beetle/1dfc_1.jpg

An AO code gearbox - from a 1500/1600 Karmann Ghia for a reasonable price ;) - should aid my top speed a little (same ratios as a GT bug!). On the old 1300 gearbox the 1641 was screaming at 70mph.

[Kitten]

Its good to see you are still cracking on with Beee :D :D

[fabuleuse]

Ah, this is the car I was wibbling on about on the other thread :D

Nice work, Tofufi.

[Tofufi]

Thanks guys :D

I've been at uni the last 5 or 6 weeks, but not entirely been resting on my laurels.

A few more toys for the bug... a new (secondhand OG VW '66) Decklid, because the old one had been hit by at least 2 cars (hit once, then fillered before I got it, then hit again)...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/decklid.jpg

Also... a Karmann Ghia gearbox, with the long ratios :D - AM code, giving the same final drive as a 1600 GT bug (or perhaps a 1500 bug, I'm not 100% sure)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/gearbox.jpg

The above was my Christmas present (arrived 2 months late) from my parents :D - and we got it for a bargainous price too, assuming it works OK.

:D

Apologies for all the previous pictures not working, seems I've used up the limit on my other photobucket.

Oh, and I'm back home now for a few weeks, so there should be some slow progress on the car. http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/images/vzismilies/biggrin.gif - Got 8 exams this summer to revise for over easter too though... http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/images/vzismilies/eek.gif

[Tofufi]

Just a quick update for yesterdays work...

First, I fitted the numberplate light etc to the new decklid.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8607.jpg

And the state of the old one....

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8608.jpg

Which had been dented, filled and then dented again :lol:

Also, I finished removing the front 1/4 panel... and it is now ready to have the 1/4 panel fitted.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8604.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8605.jpg

Lines up OK with the bonnet, too.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8603.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8602.jpg

More to come!

[gareth]

Looking good !

Labour of love project eh !

Keep us posted with more pic's :)

[1958 Harry]

Looking very nice indeedy Jim :D

Harry also has his new coat of paint and is looking minter than ever :D I'll post some piccies up in a bit.

I think Marks looking forward to having someone who can weld with him when you help in the Summer, he's stacked out at the mo!

[Tofufi]

Looking good !

Labour of love project eh !

Keep us posted with more pic's :)

Aye, if I hadn't already owned and enjoyed this bug for ages there is no way I would have bothered saving it... I'll keep the updates coming ;)

Looking very nice indeedy Jim :D

Harry also has his new coat of paint and is looking minter than ever :D I'll post some piccies up in a bit.

I think Marks looking forward to having someone who can weld with him when you help in the Summer, he's stacked out at the mo!

Cheers fella :D - Just seen Harry's pics, he looks stunning :cool:

I'm looking forward to being around in the summer to help ;) - Can't wait to see Beeeeee done.

A quick bit more work today... spent hours on it, and it still looks the same :rolleyes:

Firstly, I had to weld up the holes where I drilled out the fuel tank support(which was in the wrong place on the genuine VW Mexico panel... goodness knows how they made whole cars from them)

Holes...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8610.jpg

Welded

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8611.jpg

Flapdisc smooth...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8612.jpg

Repeat about 40 times and it's done :lol:

I also drilled the bumper mount panel (for Europas)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8614.jpg

and had to weld those up too...


http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8617.jpg

Finally, I started work on the horn mount. Thanks to Johnser to sending this to me :)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8615.jpg

hole welded up, all cleaned up and ready to be welded to the car...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8616.jpg

:) (and yes, I've been told it is the wrong way round... good job I didn't weld it on this afternoon :D )

Finally, I had a large box sent to me from Status VW this afternoon.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8609.jpg

Opened it up, and it was almost empty :lol:

Some nice shiny (mostly rubber) bits to play with. Still more bits to come for it too.

More work to come probably after the weekend now :)

[Tofufi]

Just a quick update...

Front 1/4 panel partly welded in today...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8643.jpg

Trial fitting wings...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8644.jpg

Next, I had the fun job of fitting a bumper mount to the 1/4 which was tack welded in.

With the bumper mount welded in, I was able to fit the bumper :D

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8645.jpg

Just a few more pics... makes me happy seeing it more together again.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8647.jpg

Fuel tank fits perfectly, too.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8648.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8649.jpg

Today, I also painted the rear hatch of my bay in green, just to stop it from bubbling in a couple of places through the primer.

Just got this as the last major panel to fit now...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8650.jpg

Oh, and I tidied the garage this afternoon too...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8652.jpg

Thanks to the CCR Beaver for the new shelves.

[Shamrockez]

she looks so pretty! :D and your garage looks suspiciously tidy!

[1958 Harry]

Looking awesome Jim!

Your garage is tidier than mine! :lol:

[Woody67]

Just spent 40mins reading this thread doing a great job there mate makes me want to go out an buy an aircooled again. Keep up the great work. :)

[Tofufi]

Cheers guys :D

Woody67, you should get an aircooled! You could spend the rest of your weekends welding :lol:


Just a bit of work done today...

I started off with a rear 1/4 that had seen some very bad repairs...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8657.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8658.jpg

So off that came :)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8665.jpg

Hang on... is something on fire?

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8659.jpg

What could that be...

Oh, don't worry, it's only the old newspaper someone has stuffed into the 1/4 panel and covered with filler as a 'repair' :rolleyes:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8661.jpg

[Tofufi]

More great repairs :rolleyes:, including someone bodging a huge plate over the perfectly usable return flange (teehee) of the boot floor panel.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8662.jpg

Mmm... nice


http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8664.jpg

Rear 1/4 cut down to allow it to be placed on the car

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8666.jpg

and trial fit with the decklid and valence

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8667.jpg

Trimmed down to fit

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8673.jpg

cut using a 1mm cutting disc, allows for a good join :)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8675.jpg

Door gap is good to go...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8678.jpg

Tacked into place...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8682.jpg

[Tofufi]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8683.jpg

I think I've made a nicer job of this one than the previous one :)


Inside looks alright too

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8680.jpg

And finally, with a wing on to test the fit :)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8679.jpg

(wing isn't bolted on properly, hence it is slightly low)

More to come another day! :)

[Tofufi]

A quick mini-update...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8687.jpg

With back bumper fitted.

I also kept welding the front 1/4 up, it's getting there slowly. Needs a bit of work with a slide hammer.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8691.jpg

The bumper mounts were wrong, so off comes the existing ones...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8693.jpg

and whilst there, I couldn't fathom out the reason for this hole..

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8694.jpg

so I welded in the original section for the rear light wiring to come through.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8697.jpg

(no filler or anything in that pic, just metal with a thin layer of primer)

More to come (possibly...)

[Tofufi]

Having done 7 exams since the last thread update, I decided I had to come home for my brothers birthday... ( ;) )

So far, since getting home 2 hours ago, I've opened several parcels containing goodies for my bug... some of which can't be revealed quite yet ;)

US spec '67 only brake fluid reservoir, enabling me to run dual circuit brakes retaining a fairly original look.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8733.jpg

Also, I 'repaired' where I hacked the wiring loom...

Before... I had managed to slice through about half the wires :(

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8734.jpg

One very high quality repair later...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8735.jpg

I'm only repairing it to test that everything works fully, before I can remove the loom and re-make it / get it re-made. The new loom will look stock, but probably include wires for pressure/temp gauges.

I also have fitted my new indicator and headlight relays (which are stock looking, but 12v). The previous indicator and headlight relays were motorbike and late bug ones respectively, and were just loose under the bonnet :eek:

So I now have working headlights, and tail lights again :D

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8744.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8746.jpg


New relays

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8759.jpg



After going out for lunch to celebrate my brothers 18th birthday, I then got back to the bug and bolted the carbs on. With a fuel line from a jerry can, it started as soon as it got fuel, and after a load of crap being blown out of the engine, it ran fine :D

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/th_CIMG8743.jpg (http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/?action=view&current=CIMG8743.flv)

[Tofufi]

I then got on, and attacked the bumper mount panel...

Before...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8692.jpg

After...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8749.jpg

Check for fit... it'll be close :D

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8753.jpg

Also, a dry fit of the engine bay side tray, to see how it looks :)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8747.jpg

Finally, how it looks now. The bumper is sitting much better than it did before, I think :)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8752.jpg

The exhaust is about 1" too high on the RHS, I need to cut and re-weld the pipes from the heads to correct that - but it'll be worth messing around with as the stainless backbox should last ages :)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8751.jpg

More to come...

[Shamrockez]

she looks like a real car again! :D

[Martin_Keeton]

Just spent 35 mins reading this thread!

Not a lot i can add apart from WOW! - what an awesome job you are doing!

I wish i had the know how like you have, i would love an Air cooled but know less than nothing about mechanics so would be in all sorts of trouble!

The time and effort you have put into this project is immense and i for one can't wait to see the end product!

Congratulations on the work you have done and thanks for keeping us all updated!

Well done! :cool:

[1958 Harry]

Jim you are getting more and more skilled at welding every day!!! Those repairs on the rear bumper mounts are phenomenal!

Oh and a MAHOOOOSIVE thanks for helping with Harry, sorry it went on until so late - I owe you big time! (I hope you're keeping a tally, :lol: I owe you lots!)

[WillJT]

Good work Jimmo! :cool:

[Tofufi]

Cheers everyone!:D

Just a quick update... I'm now home from uni and ready to get cracking with the bug again ;)

Just had to get my bus another MOT, it went in yesterday...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8827.jpg


Passed first time :D

Better than last year, when it failed on a numberplate light out (the only bulb I didn't check :rolleyes: )

At Bristol Volksfest last weekend, I picked up a few nice bits, including another decklid light, the correct two piece, 3 screw decklid lock, and the '1300' badge (one year only).

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8829.jpg

More to come soon :D

[1958 Harry]

Dude, I need to have a '66 chat' with you at some point.

Looking very good btw!

[Tofufi]

Cheers Lukey :D

Just a quick update today, it has been a day of drilling out spotwelds so very little to show for my effort!

Old europa bumper mount removed... and the new one removed from the Hookeys panel from whence it came.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8830.jpg

Anyone spot the modification I made to the new bumper mount?

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8831.jpg














Here is a hint ;)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8833.jpg

Only just fits under the wing...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8834.jpg

but is well hidden from view...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8835.jpg

I then welded the bumper mount in... and everything seems to fit OK.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8836.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8838.jpg

My only problem is that the rear bumper seems to sit approximately one inch too far to the right. Some careful measuring will determine the cause of this, tomorrow. But everything else lines up, so I suspect it is the crap bumper.

[Tofufi]

Started cleaning the new bumper mounts up today, I need a finger power file, to get into the corner, but it shows it has the potential to look OK, I hope :)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8844.jpg

Otherwise, I've not done much today. Just small bits of welding about the body where I've only had things held in place by some of the welds, and not finished it yet.

This evening, I got the family to help lifting the body back into the air, to allow me to do more work tomorrow :D

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8843.jpg

;)

[Tofufi]

Not much to show for today, the first thing I did was to replace the metal fuel line running through the tunnel. So now I'm covered in multiple cuts from spending a good couple of hours struggling with this.

The old one was in poor condition, and fatigue had caused it to break off at the front.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8846.jpg

Looks a bit better with the new line fitted through the tunnel...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8850.jpg

Can anyone tell me if this is (part of) a quickshift kit?

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8848.jpg

I can't find it on parts diagrams...

I then went on to look at the rear engine bay corners.

I forgot to take a pic of it in situ, but here is how it was...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8856.jpg

And with a new one welded into place (thanks to the excellent (as ever) Hookys panel shop for supplying special one-off panels for this).

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8857.jpg

I also tidied up the bumper mount on the RHS, too.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8855.jpg

[Tofufi]

I spent a while fettling the seat runners to make the seat operate freely...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8858.jpg

Then, I looked at the other side of the engine bay rear corner area.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8859.jpg

5 minutes later...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8860.jpg

Next, I popped the body down on the chassis (with a bit of help from my family!) to sort out the exhaust wonky tailpipe issue. Sadly, I couldn't find a way to make it look good, so I gave up and fitted an old standard backbox, I may try the stainless one again sometime in the future - if anyone knows of another stock stainless backbox like my old one for sale, let me know :D

That's better...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8864.jpg

I then spent a couple of hours moving tailpipe cutouts. The RHS one is grafted in from the old valence, and the other one fettled to be the right shape. The ones in the repro panel were not quite right, and also cut ever so slightly too low, making them very close to contacting the tailpipes.

A few welds...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8866.jpg

and all finished...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8867.jpg

My next job was to make the removable valence more secure, so I welded tabs to do through the 2 rearmost wing mounting bolts each side, and a couple of captive nuts to allow the inner section to be bolted to the inner wing. The inner wing shows no sign of the valence being removable other than one extra bolt head :D

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8869.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8868.jpg

Then, I welded up the large hole in the inner wing (same as the other side, with the small hole to allow the wiring to pass through, using the original pressing), and fitted the LHS engine bay side tray.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8870.jpg

And from outside...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8871.jpg

Just 3 pics from today...
engine bay side tray (RHS) fitted...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8872.jpg

I also welded up 5 random holes drilled through the firewall/upper rear boot floor area

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8873.jpg

The finished outer wing area...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8874.jpg

Now to drop the body back down and get more welding done :rolleyes:

[Tofufi]

Got round to welding up the rear 1/4 panel...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8891.jpg

And just a quick update on the rear inner corner bit, which used to look like this...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8917.jpg

The black areas were where I had repaired it previously to get it through the MOT. Whilst these were 100% solid, they were not quite neat enough for me to want to not replace them while I had the chance.

So, I made the hole bigger...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8934.jpg

...and then spent ages fabricating the little hump the rear boot floor area and making up a couple of bits to weld in.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8937.jpg

Got the other side to go, but the warm weather doesn't make me want to do a lot of welding :D

[Vickie]

Hey Jim!

You are doing an amazing job on Beee! I am so impressed!! Can't wait to see her out and about again soon :)

[Black Sheep]

What can you say but wow, thats some serious repairs you've had to do and its looking good, cant wait to see it finished.

If you had to do it again would you do it in a different order??
I only ask because I have similar work to do on my baja (when I finish my beetle pen) and was advised to sort out the body first and then do the floor pans as they can be moved slightly to fit properly,
but to be honest I'm not too sure where to start and which route to take.
This thread is definately inspiration and now I want to say sod off to work and get restoring.

Well done so far.

[1958 Harry]

Lookin good Jim :)

[Jose Martinho]

Great thread. Great work. :)

[gael]

I've just browsed that post.
You made an amazing job. :eek:

I'm sure you'll enjoy that car more than any else :laughing:

Please, keep showing pics.:)

[Tofufi]

Cheers guys :D

Black Sheep, I reckon I'd do it in the same order again. The channels are the part I found could be adjusted every so slightly - I bolted the channels to the floor and then put the body down on top to get it in place. I wish I had done that with the large bolts through the framehead though, as they don't line up quite perfectly yet.

Been doing the same the other side today...

Hole...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8940.jpg

welded...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8942.jpg

Still gotta do the section where the inner 1/4 meets the heater channel though!

The rear of the car is getting closer to completion...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8944.jpg

Because it was warm today, I spent some time working by the garage door, where it was cooler... so my bug now has part of the sealing strip for the decklid fitted.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8946.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8947.jpg

More to come :D

[Tofufi]

Been a bit ill the last few weeks, so not so much progress. Here we go...

New beam (Thanks MetalheadAndy :D ) - spent all day yesterday stripping it back to bare metal and welding up the holes in the shock towers.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8959.jpg

Completely unmolested, no adjusters or anything :D

Think the shock tower bottoms look OK now :D

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8960.jpg

Needs one more coat of POR15 and it'll be ready to fit, when the chassis is painted ;)

Drivers side B pillar, I had only tacked the rear 1/4 in place until I was happy with the fit. I only got round to welding the bit just inside the B pillar this morning.

Before:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8986.jpg

Lots of little tacks:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8987.jpg

All ground down:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8988.jpg

And given a layer of primer :D

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8989.jpg

under seat welding finished on the passenger side.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9011.jpg

Very pleased with my black and decker powerfile :D - looking at that picture it might need a bit more use! Not my best work ever, I'm afraid.

Also, painty painty ;)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9003.jpg

I've pretty much finished the passenger side B pillar...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9034.jpg

And I also relocated the drivers side rear body mount, in the same way as the passenger side.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9023.jpg

Still need to finish welding both sides yet.

I also picked up some nice stainless steel bumpers from Roidhead on here at Dubs at the Castle last weekend...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9019.jpg

I'm not sure whether to keep the bumper nudge protectors, but I've had to remove them for now to be able to use them with the bolts I have, the ones that came with them aren't long enough...

And on the car...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9030.jpg

With the correct brackets to support the bumper (Thanks Howard66 :)) I appear to have enough clearance on the decklid..

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9029.jpg

Seems to line up pretty much perfect, too.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9032.jpg

Finally, with the help of a few friends I got the body back in the air to continue working on it tomorrow...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9033.jpg

More to come ;)

[Jose Martinho]

More nice work fella. :)

[Tofufi]

Thanks :D

Just a quickie update...

This is how the boot floor looked this morning...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG8935.jpg

As you can see in the above pic, I didn't have any heating connections.

So, I had to weld some metal heating tubes in, cut from another '66 by Kank (Thanks :D ).

Thanks also to Purplepete for donating the heater connections between the channels and the rear crossmembers.

So, the drivers side now has heating tubes welded in...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9040.jpg

And the passenger side...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9039.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9044.jpg

After painting, I used a bit of seam sealer just to protect it (hence the grey mess). This will be cleaned up.

Finally, I cleaned finished welding, and cleaned up the inner arch and bodymount on the passenger side.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9041.jpg

back to the front passenger side inner wing today.

Now all welded in, and ground smooth. As usual, this is all just bare metal with a layer of primer to keep any dampness out until it can be painted... I've not used any filler on the entire car yet.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9050.jpg

I managed to fit the horn bracket (hopefully the right way round!) and finished welding the inner wing to the fuel tank supports and spare wheel well. Still got a couple of bits to tidy up on the underside where it meets the spare wheel well yet.

Can anyone confirm that this hole is for the speedo cable?

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9051.jpg

In this pic, you can see the bottom of the valence is dented where it meets the wing...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9052.jpg

So I cut a bit out, and welded it back up to the correct shape.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9054.jpg

This bit still needs finishing, but the heavens started to open so I packed up and came inside :D

I LOVE my Day Mouldings wings :D - they fit so well even without wing beading!

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9055.jpg

That's all for now, folks. I can feel the paint getting closer :laughing:

[Trinytrog]

Just finished reading through your thread. I take my hat off to you, it looks like your doing a great job. Can't wait to see it finished.

[Jose Martinho]

I can feel the paint getting closer :laughing:

Colour ?

[Shamrockez]

Original Sea Blue :)

[Tofufi]

Indeed, like this:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/2759665883_80fa8d7a9b.jpg

Thanks Trinytrog :D

[1958 Harry]

Top work as ever :D And yes thats the speedo cable hole :)

[Tofufi]

Cheers Lukey :D

Time for another update - it's been a slow week really, with bad weather and other commitments keeping me away from the car.

Still, when I went out to check on it, I've found a small problem.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9077.jpg

Seems it's leaking engine oil - looks to be from a pushrod tube, but strangely the dipstick oil level is still just below the max mark as it was when I put it into the garage a year ago. :crazy:

I had some holes under the bonnet, which I wasn't happy with.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9057.jpg

and welded up - not quite perfect so it needs a skim of filler.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9092.jpg

Next up, I finished the drivers side body mount.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9081.jpg

As well as trial fitting my new rear valence ( I wasn't 100% happy withe the old one)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9078.jpg

All lines up fine except for the engine bay seal strip on the drivers side, which is far too low:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9079.jpg

Will need some cutting and grinding, but I need the wings on and the body on the chassis to finalise it.

Back to the front of the car, and I drilled holes to allow me to use a '67 US spec only brake fluid reservoir.

(yes, the primer is rough)

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9085.jpg

And fitted up...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9084.jpg

The strip to hold the reservoir in place was cut from a veng floorpan repair section I couldn't sell - happened to be thin bendy metal, perfect for the job :rolleyes:

Finally, ages ago I replaced the bottom of the bonnet.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/tofufi/bonnetwork/ce6c3521.jpg

Due to my lack of ability, the shape wasn't quite perfect and stuck out slightly, away from the valence at the very point of the nose.

Therefore my last job today was to cut the nose off, and tack it back on again. It now lines up far better with the valence and so on.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9088.jpg

Just needs to be welded completely now :)

[Tofufi]

Yesterday, I spent 4 hours repairing the bonnet nose and top corner, just got one top corner to do. I also spent 3 hours yesterday just trying to get the sodding rear valence to line up. Still, it's OK now in every dimension :D

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9109.jpg

I spent another 4 hours this afternoon just fitting the rear wings and bumper until I was totally satisfied with the fitting. I had issues with the bumper to wing spacing, the wimg bolt holes not 100% in the right places (with all respect to DM, it could be the car as much as the wings, who knows) and so on. Just a tiny bit more fettling :rolleyes: on both rear wings to be done.

Getting there though, it just seems very slowly.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9117.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9118.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9119.jpg



Apologies those pics look identical to ones several pages back, but they are new and slightly improved... just ever so slightly.

Still to do:

Bonnet and decklid sealing strip needs attaching to the front 1/4s.
Front drivers side 1/4 panel needs finishing - mostly just tidying up and grinding down welds.
Front drivers side and rear passenger side wings to fettle until they fit perfectly.
Fit + check front bumper.
Clean up front windscreen surround
Finish welding the heater channel bottoms to the channels after final check for bolt hole alignment.

then, on to the PREP AND PAINT!

Also found out this morning whilst clearing my Gran's house (RIP :( ) that my Bay window microbus can carry 2 people, one double bed + mattress, one single bed + mattress AND a 3 piece suite in one go :crazy:

Should have taken my camera :lol:

[Jose Martinho]

More good work to put the rest of us to shame. I hope Luke's making the most of his show wins at the moment as I have a feeling it might be coming second next year! :laughing:

[Pyro]

Some really good work here. Nice panel gaps.. Im off for a blast in my mates 66 now this has got me all excited. Keep the pics coming

[Tofufi]

Thanks guys :D

More good work to put the rest of us to shame. I hope Luke's making the most of his show wins at the moment as I have a feeling it might be coming second next year! :laughing:

I don't know about that! Mine is being painted by an idiot in a garage who has never done bodywork or paint before... (me)... so we shall see!

Just a bit more work, I've been stuck in Prague for a few days so not done much work recently.





http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9173.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9163.jpg

Original style seal retaining channels fitted.

I decided that rust free doors and bonnet were the way to go after spending ages trying to repair the original items and not being 100% satisfied with the results.

So, with rust free doors and bonnet fitted, as well as lots of other bits of welding (All 4 inner wings now finished)...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9188.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9182.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9180.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9183.jpg

There have been lots of other bits and bobs done, but nothing that picture-worthy. Just hours and hours spent on panel gaps and so on :)
I reckon one day of welding and the body will be ready for prep and paint :D

[1958 Harry]

Looks awesome Jim! Beee properly looks like a car again!!! Good luck with the paint I hope it all comes out ok, dont forget its the prep that makes or breaks a paint job!

I dont care if Harry comes second to Beee - with all the hard work you've put in you deserve recognition for it! Plus I've achieved everything I wanted to with Harry now, he's won several shows, is soon to be magazine featured and is pretty much mint (or will be when he goes in, in a few weeks time), I just want to drive and enjoy him now!

Mind you the differences between Harry and Beee are huge tho, Beee has been pretty much rebuilt (to an incredibly high standard!), whereas Harry is a 100% original car, with only minor welding done to the bottoms of the rear quarters and a tiny patch on the corner of the floorpan :)

[Tofufi]

Cheers fella :D

Just a quick update...

Had a few mins free today, so I fired up the compressor :D

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9319.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9318.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9322.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9328.jpg

Huge thanks to the CCR Beaver for all the advice+help with the paint/prep stuff :hug:

More to come ;)

[Shamrockez]

can't beat a fresh pan :D

[Nighttrain1974]

can't beat a fresh pan :D

For some reason that really made me laugh. :lol:

[Tofufi]

For some reason that really made me laugh. :lol:

:D

Didn't get any paint done yesterday due to the weather, but this was my work this afternoon :D - weather looked iffy all day, but it stopped raining in the morning, so I was able to crack on :D

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9329.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9331.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9332.jpg

:D

[Shamrockez]

ready for stone chip :D

[Tofufi]

;)

Black...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9333.jpg

Grey stonechip

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9335.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9337.jpg

And black again on top of the stonechip :D

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9341.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9342.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9344.jpg

Obviously, the finish isn't as smooth as before the stonechip, but it should provide a longer lasting finish with it...

Huge thanks go to Lucy (Shamrockez) and Sarah (CCR Beaver) for the help with the prep and paint today... :hug:

[Shamrockez]

shiny shiny! :D

[Nighttrain1974]

Looks mint!!! Good work.

[1958 Harry]

Very nice!!!

[Tofufi]

Cheers :D

Last update for a while, as I'm back at uni now...

Got the other side painted :D

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9350.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9345.jpg

Ready to have all the running gear bolted back on when I get back for Christmas ;)

[Shamrockez]

it looks so shiny! :D How many coats did you get on it?

[mr whitewalls]

I recognise that user name :)

Looking good fella, top work :)

[Tofufi]

it looks so shiny! :D How many coats did you get on it?

3, same as the bottom :D


I recognise that user name :)

Looking good fella, top work :)

Cheers Ant :D

Just a quickie update as I had a few days home from uni...

Now with front suspension :D

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9378.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9375.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG9376.jpg

More to come when I'm back for Christmas :D

[Tofufi]

Phew.

It's been far too long since I updated this.

Uni, buying another car, and various other things all contributed to the lack of posting on here for a while. Oh, and living 80 miles from where the car lives for some of the year.

Still, I've cracked on with it a bit today.

We now have four wheels, brake lines (need to do the rear hard lines tomorrow)

The 1500 gearbox appears to select all gears, and the suspension seems to work. Gotta fit a few other bits tomorrow, but nothing too scary. Then it's on to the prep and paint of the body :D
Not to mention sorting the wheels, interior, windows and general reassembly...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG1736.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG1737.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG1734.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/jdiwell/bug209/CIMG1733.jpg

:cool:

[1958 Harry]

Looks real good Jim!

Are you gonna fit the engine as well so you just have to lower the body back over the top when its done? Saves chipping the new paint ;)