by barefootvw » Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:07 pm
Haven't done a lot since Jan on the van but this week managed to get a few half days on it, so progress at last.
As with most old beetles, everywhere is a pile of patches welded on to each other! Surprisingly a lot is rust free though, and even the floorpans are really solid. I have sanded these back and other than a small bit of welding near the jacking point, they have come up like new. at some point in time someone has welded in new pans I think, but they are a hell of a lot heavier duty than the ones you get now! They might still be the originals as the soundproofing looks VW.
Much of the work this week has been in seeing exactly what needs to be done and cleaning up years of crud.
I have bought a heavy weight fibre glass flip front (when the thing is 60% fibreglass anyway why worry about originality?!). The offside front quarter panel had been in an accident and had 30mm thick filler so needed removing, and I like the idea of a one piece tilt front on with struts.
Around the rear boot floor / inner arches needs a lot of work and I am going to cut out all the old patches (which are 3 or 4 thick in places!) weld in new inner arches and boot floor edges rather than mess around with more patches. The seat back panel needs a support bar, and further cutting down now that I have a set of Type 3 tinware. I'm also thinking about a roll cage (anyone got one for sale?)
I've been picking up stuff over the last few months, so have new lights, fibreglass widened rear wings, etc when the time comes. I had a spare pair of Porsche seats from Judith's 944, so they'll be retrimmed and going in. I want to go very OTT on the interior and have a load of ideas brewing. A sort of Drag Racing / Saltflats meets Steampunk theme!
The garage is full of engine parts to go into the build and I must get on with putting that together over the Winter.
I've welded up a new windscreen surround and I'm pleased with how that looks now. The gutters and seams have been removed and I have tidied up the pretty basic job there (still a fair way to go to get these right).
I'll try and get some pics up.
