Lo and behold, this thread is not dead, I know, I know, it’s been almost five years to the day since the last update, but, we are still alive and kicking, life happened, work, some holiday, other hobbies (gasp), family commitments, you have all been there and know how it goes.
I’ll start with a , surprise, surprise, disclaimer: any project, big or small, needs to be driven by the owner, no-one else. So I take full responsibility for how long this took, and how it turned out.
IF it sounds like I am blaming someone for anything during the process, that’s your own reading of it, not my intention, this result is my own making, warts and all.
When in doubt, refer back to point above
. With that cleared up, I want to thank everyone who was involved so far, with advice, help, parts, services, labour, a push and a bruised knuckle or two (repeat after me, never use a shifting spanner, no matter how big the temptation).
So what happened? The last episode finished with a completed paint job, half completed interior, and final assembly to start.
Eventually the car was taken to Vdubtech for final assembly, (and the little gremlins that crop up in this phase), in part exchange for the two other notches I was selling.
It took some transport and arranging, Pierre was a legend here to help organize, and the process was started. I honestly can’t remember exactly the date and time of this, but starting on this the assembly must have been late 2013, and other notches recovered and fetched sometime in 2014. I digress. Assembly was going ok, electrical sorted, disk brake conversion fitted, glass went back in (without breaking the precious windscreens)!
Then I got the call, the engine had at some stage stood in the rain, for a prolonged period of time , and was rusted solid. It would not turn with any amount of motivation. “SIGH”. So a quote was received to now also include an engine overhaul. I hesitated at first, but realized a second hand engine would a) be hard to come by, and b) also be an unknown quantity. We have come so far, so what the hell. Go for it.
Engine was duly overhauled, again I can’t remember the time span, and I was asked to come check. Overhauled engine in, but smoking like an old one, we were all perplexed. I saw the new parts used, and the old parts that had come out, didn’t make sense, but, yet here we were. There were one or two other niggles to sort out, but otherwise she was so close now. Engine was opened up again, and everything checked and double checked, and if I recall a new set of rings were installed, just in case.
But, wait for it, same result! Car runs fine, but smokes like nobody’s business. Eventually the real cause of the smoking was tracked down, and it turns out it wasn’t the engine, someone had shoved something far down the oil breather, car gets hot and BOOM, after that was removed, I can report she is now smoke free and pulls very nicely
.
But I am getting ahead of myself. This obviously all took some time, and with this going on, I think we all lost a little interest (I know I did). When the engine was finally sorted, the car was now jumping out of gear…. DEEP SIGH.
It needed a recon gearbox. Fortunately we know a guy who builds gearboxes, but dammit, I was GATVOL, and just hit pause. Lots of time passed, and the car was standing, in the sun, and wind and rain, amongst the other cars.
I did think about the car, can’t lie, but was a little frustrated at this point. Eventually Pierre contacted me and said look, we either have to fetch the car, or replace that gearbox. (It was standing there for years now, so fair enough).
AGAIN , my thoughts were, so much has been done, we have come so far, so let’s not quit now. Fix it.
Gearbox recon done and finally, last Saturday, I went to fetch her…..
Don’t pop the champagne just yet though. By this time, it has now been 5 years since the paintjob was done, and as some of you had warned, clearcoat, sprayed outside, combined with baking sun and rain for 5 years, yup, you guessed it, the top half of the car’s clearcoat was completely oxidised. OH my aching nerve.
The battery was also flat from standing all this time, and after all this, we had to push the car onto the trailer. Let’s just say it is a good thing I am not a smoker, or I might have done something silly to the stupid car right there and then.
With MUCH effort (and a couple of unsuccessful running and jump starts) we had to tow the car the final 50m’s to get it home and park her at my house for the first time.
A good night’s sleep usually brings perspective, so the next morning, check and fill the cells, battery on charge, and we wait.
NEXT day, test the battery, strong, connect it up to the car, engine turns over but she will not start. AAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH. I can smell the fuel coming through (and I added R200 on the way home as advised to make sure as well).
The coil is hot so chances are it’s generating spark. I check the plug leads, just in case one got loose, all good, I do find a loose wire going to one of the carbs, reconnect it, but nothing, then fiddling around just looking for something obvious wrong, I noticed the right carb linkage position looks different to the one on the left. I fiddle with it and whump, it comes loose, was stuck on fully open…….
No way, it can’t be that simply, surely, it never is. Get in and vroom, she starts right up, idles a bit rough, probably still flooded! But after a minute or two, settles down to that familiar sounds we all know and love.
Finally I get to take her for a drive for the FIRST time since I bought her, too long ago to mention.
That was a pretty good moment.
Make no mistake, there is still a lot to do. That swear word, rust, has reared it’s ugly head again, so since the paint was already dodgy in these areas, we sanded the rust spots down and just red oxide’d it. Actually not too far off it’s sunbleached red colour
After being exposed to 5 years of the elements, never mind mechanics butts, the interior no longer looks new. It also faded, and has a few marks. We cleaned it up pretty well, but it has the patina of an age appropriate interior for this vehicle. If you didn’t know, you would say, wow, the interior looks great for a 50 year old vehicle.
I changed the steering wheel for a slightly better one I had, resprayed the horn bar, did some more cleaning and tidying up, fitted a few of the accessories I forgot I had, and tell you what, it’s not the worst looking car out there. (In my humble opinion of course).
The steering box needs replacement or rebuild, it is so vague you turn the wheel, say a prayer, and half an hour later you may get a response, and those 10 year old SP99 tires rub the wheel arches like they are getting paid.
The notch was dropped a spline front and back, so the tyre profile is way too high. A new set of tyres, and if required different offset wheels should sort that though.
The instrument cluster does not seem to come on, is there a wire/fuse I should check or is it more serious (fuses look ok, but perhaps I am missing something obvious) ?
Speedo and milometer works fine, just need to see oil , temp and fuel levels! Indicators, lights, all work fine.
She starts pretty much first time, every time, and besides the gear locations feeling a little offset (vs the many beetles I have driven), gear changes are pretty smooth, with no jumping out of gear
.
Despite the horrid steering, I had a pic in mind from a location not far from my house, been on my mind for years, so today I figured, lets drive there and get that shot.
a reminder - The Vision
Just unloaded
After a clean, tidy and some accessories - The End Result
and a sixties style pic to match the car
LOTS to do, but a running project, is SO much better, than a standing project.
I’ll post another update once a bit more has been done.
I’d also like to take a moment to dedicate this build to our late friend Beetlefanatic, besides his love of busses, also a big fan of the Type 3.
.
