Aircooled VW South Africa

Well I purchased the Blue Lady a few months ago and started stripping her last night ... was awesome to beetle along for a few hundred km's before i started the project DoubleD (decisions decisions that is)

One thing we all need to take into account (especially me) is that this will be the first bodywork and engine work i have ever attempted on an aircooled VW, hell, on any car really! At least of this magnitude!...so constructive criticism will be appreciated, but be kind! This is a learning curve for me!

I've been sorting out my garage with a workbench etc and there are quite a few more tools i need to purchase ...MIG, Compressor, decent 3/8" drive set, etc.
But non the less the stripping has started it is afterall the easiest part right?

Budget is not bottomless, its actually rather restricted haha ... Time, however is on my side!

Now when i first started posting here i mentioned i wanted to Baja the blue lady, seems a lot of people here dont like that idea haha...iv'e always wanted a Baja and that was the reason for me purchasing a Beetle until i realised that this body is actually not in bad shape. Maybe a class 11 rep!? ...I am still undecided tho ... cannot make up my mind!!! hence the name DoubleD (decisions decisions) ...

The day i got her



Last nights rust hunting expedition revealed a lil cancerous rot



















The rear parcel shelf area is not bad at all hey!



lets hope im fair with a welder hey...

Hi

I am in the same boat as yourself, started with the resto of my beetle about a month or so ago (see post 73 resto RdJ). Bought a Mig welder, compressor and sand blaster and am now in the long haul to hopefully a decent restoration.

This is definitely the forum to help us along and we can also compare notes. I am also no mechanic but love a challenge and something to do with the kids outside of todays computer age.

Good luck and look forward to your progress.

good luck, lots of work ahead

Hey!! .. Good to meet you today,

You have a lot of hard (read FUN) work ahead of you, but thats the joy,

Herman

Hey Retrovan! Great to meet you too!... was the first time i went out to enquire about a welder today, and there you were! Awesome! Been reading up heavily on MIG gas and gasless welding ... might be able to get Co2 from a family owned pub, so might go the gas route ... got a while to think about it before i purchase and start practising though.

My plan is to learn the basics from this build... so that "hard work" will definitely be fun and worthwhile!

@renierdj... i see you are quite a lot further than me with the build (that sandblaster looks like fun!!) ... but you have the kids to help hey!! ...what welder did you end up purchasing?

Yeh, kids come in handy when doing this type of work.

The welder I got from E-weld (http://www.E-weld.co.za ) 200 Amp @ R 5400 with all the bits and pieces, works well but haven't tried on the bodys sheet metal yet. The only down side is the gas bottle, to buy one is big bucks so I went the monthly bottle rental route (Afrox), R125 per month and the initial cost was R800 (17 kg bottle) Argoshield light. First time I've done Mig welding and I must say what a pleasure.

Very addictive this hobby...... Good luck

So some time has past ... along with some ideas ... some decisions ... and some money ... here is where we are at:

After stripping the blue lady and not riding her for a while i came to the conclusion that i wouldnt survive the next few months (years ) redoing her without being able to cruise around in an aircooled ride! So my decision was to look for a lwb buggy body that i can put on the chassis in the meantime while i work on the blue lady's body! ... i found the buggy body i was looking for (a kestrel station wagon with the canopy) remember this is going to be a fishing vehicle at present! Bought the body along with a respray!

When i found her:





After some work but faaaar from done:



The canopy and final colour:



The Body is being stone chipped all on the outside and a flat olive 'army' green is being sprayed over. Reason for the stonechip is because the areas i fish in require me to drive through some narrow bush paths which will scratch easier if their wasnt the stonechip. This vehicle is going to get USED!

Should hopefully have the blue lady's body off and the new body on by the end of March. latest.

MrHappypants - like the look of that buggy

Seeing as there are a few other posts on vehicles at work
Maybe one should start a "Buggies at work "post

Would be good to see some pics of

MrHappypants wrote:the areas i fish in require me to drive through some narrow bush paths which will scratch easier if their wasnt the stonechip. This vehicle is going to get USED!

And then the fruits of your labour from along the coast

Busy with my Manx that will be used for pleasure and also for work (more hard fishing ) down south

Good luck with the beetle
Sandblasting and mig welding are 2 very addictive pastimes

Also on the market for a welder, let us know what your take, pros & cons, it will be much appreciated.

Thanks Warwick-Lowlight! Will start a thread of that nature as soon as my buggy is up and running. I like the sound of that idea, 'look where my buggy can go'

and calooker il definitely mention the welder i choose ... i have spent the money i was going to use on the welder on the buggy body and bits n bobs aswell as soon to be purchased tyres for it. So its saving time for a little while until i can sort myself out with a welder.

Question: Im still undecided on what tyres i need on the back ... i wanted 245/75/15 but bigger isnt always better and im starting to think that a 215 or 205/75/15 might be able to push the buggy through the mud and sand better than the fatter tyres. As long as it still has an agressive tread pattern no doubt??? i am running a standard DP engine, your thoughts?

right - eee - o - then ... Got the body off, found some more rust after stripping all the 'black stuff' off the pan. Looks like il need to lend a welder to patch up the holes! Also went ahead and found some widened rims and got the 245/75/15's fitted on the rear ... only time will tell if that was a good move or not haha

Going to be using the wiring lume out of the beetle as it was working 100% ... i just have to make sure i ground everything to the chassis right?

Lots of cleaning to do!!

Anyway, some pics:

Stopped the pan from rusting any further until i save up for a welder to be able to fix the small holes. Will be using the pan like this until further notice ... its not the work some of you guys are doing but its at least better than it was! and for me, thats progress.

Used a paint scraper, hand wire brush, wire wheel on a drill, NS1, NS4 and NS8...

during:





After:






Started cleaning the front suspension yesterday ... so we are getting there ... went to see how my buggy body is coming along and the chap doing it has not made any progress in 3 weeks, ... looks like im gna have to light some dynamite under his ass!!

Picked up a stainless 4 in 1 exhaust along the way and a galvanised roof rack for R1100

Good work so far, I would not be too concerned about the small holes if I was you, The car will have more value with them then with a blotched weld job.

Just seal them with Rapid epoxy (5minute two tube type as from Builders) and it will last you for many years.

Herman

Aint you just the MrHappyPants...

I like the 245's they always look better than the 215or205's. Just remember to inflate your tires to between 800 & 1.3bar for normal driving and flat for soft sand grip and youll never get stuck... Youll drive past the big 4x4's when they are getting winched out... Good work on the NS paint job. That should work fine till you replace the panels. And yes you need to make sure the pan has a good earth connection. While your at it move the fuel filter out of the engine bay cause the last thing you want is for all your hard work to go up in flames when you get a fuel leak. Your also missing some engine tin on cyl 1&2 it should be fine with the buggy but you should look for replacement tin when you put the beetle body back on.

Keep up the good work...

Thanks guys ..

@ Herman, Will do just that for the holes in the meantime. Was thinking of useing that silver tape with the bitumen stuff on the one side but it will look horrible compared to your suggestion.

@ Vader, Keen eye, will be sure to put it all back together completely when the blue lady comes to life again. I think i have that missing tin lying in the garage. Fuel filter will be moved and all fuel hoses will be replaced . For extra measure i have a 1kg fire extinguisher that i will mount inside, just incase the buggy attracts too many hot ladies and i need to cool off