'68 Fastback
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 12:37 pm
Hey guys,
I think that I should have created this project thread sooner, but it would have been a pretty dead thread as not much would have been posted here.
Now that my intention is to get this car running by the end of January, I have decided to start this thread to keep me motivated and to provide a kick start for the resurrection.
Some history on this Fastback
This car started life as being a standard ’68 Fastback which was originally white from the factory. In 1995, it received a 1,9 WBX engine transplant. The engine was bought from Ace Auto Spares out in Springs and cost something like R5500-00
. To get some cooling air to the rad tucked away in the sparewheel well, a neat hole was cut in the front valance and covered with some mesh. Other hacks include a hole cut in the rear apron and also the ring and surrounding metal where the cooling fan boot bolts onto. So the car has seen its fair share of hackery 
Some time later, the car was then sold to the guy who I bought it from. He also proceeded to do his fair share of modifications to the car. The most radical was respraying and dechroming the car. The attention to detail was also quite good, as he had colour coded everything that was originally chrome (with the exception of the door handles) and smoothened the beading holes and the rear decklid. At this point, the car was lowered two splines in front and one at the back by Kraftwerk (any further history on these guys?). It also had a set of chunky tyres on 14" Rostyle rims which were also sprayed a metallic grey - IMHO a very cool contrast colour! It must have been a really wicked looking ride, with decent performance thanks to the WBX
In its glory years:
And then, it all went bad...
The WBX started giving poo. Head gaskets leaked.Owner ran out of bucks. All of which lead to the PO stripping the car, selling the engine for scrap and just parking it under a carport in Edenvale. Yeah right. It definitely wasn't Eden for the Fasty
Along came blitz
To cut a long story short, I first went to go and see the fastback in Dec 2007. Even though it was stripped and partially buried under a layer of dust, I instantly fell in love with it! The moment I saw the car, I knew that I had to have it. And so It was a done deal. I checked it out and decided that it would make a quick project (famous last words). Here are the first pics that I took of it.
Anyway, after confirming that I was going to take the car, I had to wait for a further two weeks before we went to go and pick it up. The car almost never made it home. As we were coming down the off ramp at about 40kays per hour, the car broke loose from the A-frame and decided to go on its own way. In those adrenaline fuelled moments, I don’t know exactly what had transpired, but I do recall jumping out of the moving car at around 40 kays, narrowly missed being hit by a Golf 5 GTI as I ran after the Fastback in the middle of the road, slipping and falling on the gravel on the side of the road as I fought with the steering through the door of the Fastback, eventually getting it to a halt on the side and hearing my Dad curse my stupidity (had to remember that part
). I waited for around 2 hours on the side of the road with the damn car as I waited for my Dad to get a car trailer and then finally managed to get it home without any other problems. (Oh yes, the previously jammed passenger side door did open as we got off the highway – By then, I was seriously wondering if it was cursed...)
After finally getting it home (offloading was another story – Trailer was too big to fit in the yard so it took a bit of juggling – Even stopped traffic in the street for a while) my initial idea was to get it running as a daily driver and then fix up my ’67 as a long term project.Yeah right. That never happened. Main reason for the car not running sooner was because of my studies, work and a just a lot of indecision as to what engine I should run . (Wbx, Type 4, modded Type 3, Type 4 again, Golf motor, WBX again – you guys get the drift!). If I had a set plan from the start, this car would have been running a few months ago already
About a week after I got it:
I did some minor work on the car, such as cleaning it up a bit, putting all of the panels on loosely etc.After a while, the car was moved into the garage. Where it has been sitting ever since. Again, under a thick layer of dust. But at least protected from the elements.
My first priority is to get the car running, sort out the licensing and roadworthy (and my drivers’ license
),then drive with a smile for a while. I will then start modifying the engine, brakes, interior and anything else that might need work. Would like to do as many VW meets/runs/camps with it in 2009 
A brief overview of my plans - Will go into more detail when I’m busy with the relevant sections.
Engine
Most definitely a Type 4. The 1800 that I originally bought had a few issues (odd piston, distributor drive was fooked etc), but has quite a few decent core parts and it is rebuildable, which will happen sometime next year .The new engine that I have in my possession is a 1700 Type 4,but is quite a rare beast as it has a magnesium case. And it was just last night that IMPI called me to tell me about another 1700 up for sale that has already been rebuilt, so who knows what could happen regarding motive power for this Type 3...
In the meanwhile, I'm going to start work on this one.
A huge thanks to Pine who brought the engine for me from Klerksdorp in the back of the FuchsBus
. More on the engine later…
Bodywork
There are plenty scratches and in some areas the paint is cracking due to imperfect prep, but on the whole, it isn’t too bad. This car is most definitely not a show car and the intention is not to build one, so I don’t think that It will be resprayed anytime soon. Maybe a few minor touch ups here and there. The one area which does need urgent attention is the rear decklid and apron as the metal is starting to rust under the body filler and the filler is falling off in chunks. I will be painting those areas Satin Black once the car is running. Something like what this guy had done...
Interior
The car came with a nicely re-upholstered door panels and rear seats, but only one front seat. No worries, as I am going with a pair of cheap Nissan seats for now. Might upgrade to Porsche 924 items at a later date. I also intend to use a VDO speedometer and revcounter from a Porsche 924, which I will only get in the New Year. The steering wheel is from a MK1 GTI and I still need to get a steering column and switchgear from a MK1/Citi Golf as well. No cheap generic Autostyle steering wheel,pedals or gearknob here
Brakes and suspension
As the car is already lowered and has a set of new shocks on, I will wait until I drive it to see what further tweaks it requires. I have a feeling that a camber compensator will go on there as well
. In the meantime, the stock brake system will be freshened up with new hoses, linings and whatever else is needed. In January or so, I will do the VR6 rear disc mod for the front, with a set of Audi calipers. Will also get a set of 411 rear hubs and drums and redrill them for the correct PCD.
Wheels
The current Rostyles just don’t cut it and won't be compatible with my choice of disc brakes. I had a set of 15” BBS wheels from a friend’s imported Golf VR6 in mind, but that deal doesn’t seem to be happening. In all likelihood a set of plain and simple steelies from a Jetta 4, powdercoated in a contrasting colour will be the choice of wheel. I had two of these with decent tyres and when I let someone who urgently needed to move his Golf use them, they never found their way back to me. Bastard guy
Nothing in life is definite, so if another rim does happen to catch my eye...............................
I will be finishing off with the day job tomorrow, so for the next two weeks I will be spending a lot of time trying to get the beast to live.
Will update this thread as I go along...
I think that I should have created this project thread sooner, but it would have been a pretty dead thread as not much would have been posted here.
Now that my intention is to get this car running by the end of January, I have decided to start this thread to keep me motivated and to provide a kick start for the resurrection.
Some history on this Fastback
This car started life as being a standard ’68 Fastback which was originally white from the factory. In 1995, it received a 1,9 WBX engine transplant. The engine was bought from Ace Auto Spares out in Springs and cost something like R5500-00
. To get some cooling air to the rad tucked away in the sparewheel well, a neat hole was cut in the front valance and covered with some mesh. Other hacks include a hole cut in the rear apron and also the ring and surrounding metal where the cooling fan boot bolts onto. So the car has seen its fair share of hackery Some time later, the car was then sold to the guy who I bought it from. He also proceeded to do his fair share of modifications to the car. The most radical was respraying and dechroming the car. The attention to detail was also quite good, as he had colour coded everything that was originally chrome (with the exception of the door handles) and smoothened the beading holes and the rear decklid. At this point, the car was lowered two splines in front and one at the back by Kraftwerk (any further history on these guys?). It also had a set of chunky tyres on 14" Rostyle rims which were also sprayed a metallic grey - IMHO a very cool contrast colour! It must have been a really wicked looking ride, with decent performance thanks to the WBX
In its glory years:
And then, it all went bad...
The WBX started giving poo. Head gaskets leaked.Owner ran out of bucks. All of which lead to the PO stripping the car, selling the engine for scrap and just parking it under a carport in Edenvale. Yeah right. It definitely wasn't Eden for the Fasty
Along came blitz
To cut a long story short, I first went to go and see the fastback in Dec 2007. Even though it was stripped and partially buried under a layer of dust, I instantly fell in love with it! The moment I saw the car, I knew that I had to have it. And so It was a done deal. I checked it out and decided that it would make a quick project (famous last words). Here are the first pics that I took of it.
Anyway, after confirming that I was going to take the car, I had to wait for a further two weeks before we went to go and pick it up. The car almost never made it home. As we were coming down the off ramp at about 40kays per hour, the car broke loose from the A-frame and decided to go on its own way. In those adrenaline fuelled moments, I don’t know exactly what had transpired, but I do recall jumping out of the moving car at around 40 kays, narrowly missed being hit by a Golf 5 GTI as I ran after the Fastback in the middle of the road, slipping and falling on the gravel on the side of the road as I fought with the steering through the door of the Fastback, eventually getting it to a halt on the side and hearing my Dad curse my stupidity (had to remember that part
). I waited for around 2 hours on the side of the road with the damn car as I waited for my Dad to get a car trailer and then finally managed to get it home without any other problems. (Oh yes, the previously jammed passenger side door did open as we got off the highway – By then, I was seriously wondering if it was cursed...)After finally getting it home (offloading was another story – Trailer was too big to fit in the yard so it took a bit of juggling – Even stopped traffic in the street for a while) my initial idea was to get it running as a daily driver and then fix up my ’67 as a long term project.Yeah right. That never happened. Main reason for the car not running sooner was because of my studies, work and a just a lot of indecision as to what engine I should run . (Wbx, Type 4, modded Type 3, Type 4 again, Golf motor, WBX again – you guys get the drift!). If I had a set plan from the start, this car would have been running a few months ago already
About a week after I got it:
I did some minor work on the car, such as cleaning it up a bit, putting all of the panels on loosely etc.After a while, the car was moved into the garage. Where it has been sitting ever since. Again, under a thick layer of dust. But at least protected from the elements.
My first priority is to get the car running, sort out the licensing and roadworthy (and my drivers’ license
),then drive with a smile for a while. I will then start modifying the engine, brakes, interior and anything else that might need work. Would like to do as many VW meets/runs/camps with it in 2009 A brief overview of my plans - Will go into more detail when I’m busy with the relevant sections.
Engine
Most definitely a Type 4. The 1800 that I originally bought had a few issues (odd piston, distributor drive was fooked etc), but has quite a few decent core parts and it is rebuildable, which will happen sometime next year .The new engine that I have in my possession is a 1700 Type 4,but is quite a rare beast as it has a magnesium case. And it was just last night that IMPI called me to tell me about another 1700 up for sale that has already been rebuilt, so who knows what could happen regarding motive power for this Type 3...
In the meanwhile, I'm going to start work on this one.
A huge thanks to Pine who brought the engine for me from Klerksdorp in the back of the FuchsBus
. More on the engine later… Bodywork
There are plenty scratches and in some areas the paint is cracking due to imperfect prep, but on the whole, it isn’t too bad. This car is most definitely not a show car and the intention is not to build one, so I don’t think that It will be resprayed anytime soon. Maybe a few minor touch ups here and there. The one area which does need urgent attention is the rear decklid and apron as the metal is starting to rust under the body filler and the filler is falling off in chunks. I will be painting those areas Satin Black once the car is running. Something like what this guy had done...
Interior
The car came with a nicely re-upholstered door panels and rear seats, but only one front seat. No worries, as I am going with a pair of cheap Nissan seats for now. Might upgrade to Porsche 924 items at a later date. I also intend to use a VDO speedometer and revcounter from a Porsche 924, which I will only get in the New Year. The steering wheel is from a MK1 GTI and I still need to get a steering column and switchgear from a MK1/Citi Golf as well. No cheap generic Autostyle steering wheel,pedals or gearknob here
Brakes and suspension
As the car is already lowered and has a set of new shocks on, I will wait until I drive it to see what further tweaks it requires. I have a feeling that a camber compensator will go on there as well
. In the meantime, the stock brake system will be freshened up with new hoses, linings and whatever else is needed. In January or so, I will do the VR6 rear disc mod for the front, with a set of Audi calipers. Will also get a set of 411 rear hubs and drums and redrill them for the correct PCD.Wheels
The current Rostyles just don’t cut it and won't be compatible with my choice of disc brakes. I had a set of 15” BBS wheels from a friend’s imported Golf VR6 in mind, but that deal doesn’t seem to be happening. In all likelihood a set of plain and simple steelies from a Jetta 4, powdercoated in a contrasting colour will be the choice of wheel. I had two of these with decent tyres and when I let someone who urgently needed to move his Golf use them, they never found their way back to me. Bastard guy
Nothing in life is definite, so if another rim does happen to catch my eye...............................
I will be finishing off with the day job tomorrow, so for the next two weeks I will be spending a lot of time trying to get the beast to live.
Will update this thread as I go along...
