Retrovans 1956 OVAL Beetle is no more -RIP

[retrovan]

OK, so long time no post.

Well as most of you know, my Oval engine went "walkabouts"

Did a tour of J-Bay, then home, then down to Villiersdorp.

Must be the air there, or maybe something in the fuel, but it grue up a bit.

Came back as a 1835cc twin port, with big S/Steel valves, welded counter balanced crank, and it was balanced as well.

Did I mention the electronic distributor with control unit.

Not bad for such a short trip.

To celebrate this wonders occasion, The British sent me a set of genuine 34 ICT Webers (what , again ??) complete with manifolds,

The Germans sent me tower linkages for the genuine Webers.

The Canadians sent me a full set of rubbers, NO !, not those, for the Oval windows, doors, hood and boot.

As well as A pillars to be welded in.

The Yanks sent me Mirrors, with door hinge pins, so now I can look back, and see a project moving on again.

So the strip down has begun, and all loose parts will be sandblasted and e-coated prior to repair and paint.

Body will be a slow strip down, rust convertor-ed and primed,

The pan will be stripped of " Fiber glass" and welded up to new.

So a fair bit to report, but not much to Photo-ise ...

Till than.

Herman

[retrovan]

Well finally....... I have loaded the loose parts from the body, to take to Soda Blasting in the morning.

So we have made a start, and will do my dam dist to fit the rebuild in between the tight hours of salt-mine.

Yes the body still has to go, but want to see the outcome of the other sections like doors and venders.

On return we will have them e-coated before welding and repair. then straight to primer.

well till then

Herman

[retrovan]

Well it would seam the Soda Blaster does not work with the same calender system as the rest of the world, and I have realized that maybe his day is the approx. length of our week.

Still waiting for the parts to be done and returned, so that the body could go, but now, if calculated, by means of this forgone equation, the beetle body would be returned by the year 2145, or there abouts.

Now you know why I am doing the DKW project, only way to get my fix, as well as keep my sanity.

Herman

[MrT]

In 2145 I will be only 173 years young!! Cant wait to see the result

Keep the pics coming Herman!

[retrovan]

So the Soda Blaster was a Total Failure.

In all this time, he just managed to blast the bonnet, and half a door.

The bonnet, has totally rusted again, and the door, I was told "was not possible to clean" due to body filler.

Got so mad, that I removed the parts from him, and handed it to a local powder coater, here in PE, and he blasted it perfect in two days.

Even cleaned the body filler, and when asked, he asked,"what problem?"

Due to much body filler on the apron on the engine bay, I decided to cut the whole back off and split the double skin, so that I could panel beat it.

When done, I copper primed it before doing MS epoxy primer. This will keep the rust at bay.

As I have now got the apron off, I decided not to weld it back, but as has been done here before, I will be bolting it on when painted.






This will allow me to fit the 1835, OOOPS, did I type that ....., The engine in and out with out having to remove all the carbs, and other parts to get it in and out.

Make life easy I say...

As I am building my new "Man Cave", which will be approx. 6 car Garage, these projects are going along very, very,........very ..slowly.

Herman

[retrovan]

Time to close this here thread..........

The Oval is no more.

As there where "Issues" with her past, and the lack of papers, and the lack of understanding her past, she was turned into a doner to save the life of other pre 59 Beetles.

Some of the usable body panels where used to remove the badly rusted body parts in the 1952 split.

the rest went into a number of savable beetles.

Still have some parts over, and will offer these up to the Forum members once I am done with the 1952 Split Beetle.

You may ask why....... Well i tell you, due to me not having all the parts true to 1952, I will be using some of the 1956 to stand in till the correct parts are found.

Getting the 1952 parts is slow and time and money consuming.

So with that I say Good Bye and RIP to the Oval, may the cars you saved make you proud.......



Herman

[Donovan D]

That's a real shame !

RIP '56

[JonnoDub]

Rip , its a damn shame

[dixtoy]

Sad to hear. RIP '56.
After many year of waiting for mine to come to me it finaly did

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1452144823.870721.jpg

[retrovan]

Great to hear you got yours.

Keep me posted with the progress, May have parts for you.

So what have you still got ??

Herman