Welcome to my VW site.
My Beetle is a 1968 1200cc model.
The car was purchased a
few years ago, as an "unfinished" project from a friend of mine.
It is currently undergoing a full body - off resoration
plan, with lots of customization.
All work on this car has been done by myself except the re-spray. I even took the gearbox
out! This has been painted as well as the suspension to rear.
Most of the welding had been done, with most of the
panels replaced including front & rear valances and most of the floorpan. All welding has been "sealed" and painted with
2 coats of hammerite paint and a coat of underseal.
The body was removed & stripped back to bare metal so
I temporarilly painted with "red oxide" primer to keep the rust away.
I have lowered the front end and converted
it to disc brakes at the front. The axle beam was removed, painted and eurethane bushes replaced the worn out bearings Bugpack
shock absorbers were fitted to the front and KYB to the rear. Heavy duty roll bar fitted to front. The wheel bearings to front
& rear have been renewed. Rear brakes have been renewed, along with the master cylinder, brake pipes etc.
The
engine has not been running for a while, but I have been "turning it over by hand" to stop it seizing. No real plans have
been made to tune/replace the engine yet, but it will be chromed. Due to poor quality after market chrome parts, I decided
not to fully chrome the engine, just paint it & use some chrome items.
With the gearbox out, I have replaced
it to a later known good 'box, but I had to change the nose cone to fit the '68 front mounts. All mounts were renewed. Various
seals (not all) have been replaced along with the starter motor bush.
The car has now gone for a re-spray (29 Nov 2003).
Time to clean & paint the garage!
The car was returned back sprayed - check out the pics! in March 2004. Time to start
the rebuild & re-wire.
The re-wire is now 90% complete, just a few minor faults to sort, a few gauges to fit & wire with a central
locking kit. Many thanks to those who have helped.
During the summer of 2004, the engine was re - fitted into the car. A new set of plugs & leads were fitted along
with a new distributor cap & points. The heat exchangers are full of holes & no exhaust ( a 2nd hand one was
aquired and fitted) With a cough & lots of smoke, the engine fired into life - not bad for an engine that has not
been run for over 10 years! after a few minutes, the smoke cleared and the engine was running well.
To date, I have purchased over 130 items spent over £5,300 on the car, and the list is still not finished!
The
car's not complete, so this site will be updated soon.
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