One piece at a time

Gearbox…

beetlebuild — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 18:43:36 +0000

Just a quick one, I know it’s been a while. Yesterday I got the gearbox back It’s now round at Matts garage waiting to be put back in, which could be happening on Saturday. I’ll chuck a couple of pics up when I get a camera round to the garage.

Careful assembly

beetlebuild — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:13:45 +0000

You read right – assembly! With the ‘pan and parts painted we decided on Saturday after work, to make a lot of little parts one larger whole and started adding things to things. Such as…

… handbrake and heater levers…

… the front beam with steering box, new coupling, new damper, brake discs and calipers and the wheels. Other shiny bits went on…

… pedal assembly and gearstick. We then whipped out the front axle stands before fitting the last couple of parts…

… The seats!

So thats how it stands tonight. We can’t do too much more until the gearbox comes back from being rebuilt. At least I’ve got some time to try and save up for more parts!

Some colouring in…

beetlebuild — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:57:10 +0000

Well I must admit I am quite giddy. Friday the 4th I receive a picture via text message that makes me bounce off the walls, get my shoes on and get round the garage. The picture looked something like this…

Yep we have paint!!

Along with the floor pan we had some other odds and sods done too like the front beam

and the seat runners and little bits of trim

I’m really pleased with how it looks and this isn’t the final covering, there is still more magic to be applied! That will be at a later date though, this is all we wanted for now.

Front end

beetlebuild — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:40:16 +0000

I have bought some new, shorter, steering arms, a new Koni steering damper, new track rod ends and found the old brake calipers in my garage. This means that the front end, especially the steering, is pretty much sorted.

Talking of steering I have sent the steering wheel, column and the new arms away to the chromers. After the job he did on the other bits I’m not too worried about how these parts will come back. Should look really nice once they are all installed.

a little more

beetlebuild — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:34:21 +0000

Well to be honest, its been a couple of weeks and I can’t remember what we have done since the beam has arrived.

I do know we have stripped the shell of all bits and bobs -doors are off and emptied, dash has been stripped of parts, what was left of the interior has come out and all the wires have been removed. We now have a pretty empty shell that we can bath or blast to see where the good metal is, if there is any!

Its a little bare but doesn’t seem to bad on the whole.

oh get down!

beetlebuild — Sun, 02 May 2010 22:33:41 +0000

Ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages. The front beam has arrived, thanks to my Bro and was fitted last monday night.

Fitted to this were the trailing arm, ball joints, spindles, brake discs and wheels.

I know this is on a jack in this picture but it was still an inch or so off the floor at full drop, which wasnt enough for me… I wanted it lower!

So with finding out the ball joints were directional and removing and replacing them correctly, by friday night the car looked like this;

pucker up ground, im coming for ya!

a little more

beetlebuild — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 20:00:49 +0000

Well hopefully, all being well, Ady is meeting up with Slamwerkes at big bang this weekend and collecting my front beam off them

Also, the floor pan is hopefully being sorted out this week ready for a bit of colour next weekend.

beetlebuild — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:18:16 +0000

Sorry its been a while, its been a bit quiet on the build front the past couple of weeks. However, as promised I have got a pic of the sunvisor taped on;

and I’ve got a pic (not a very good one I fear) of the parts I’ve had chromed;

Also some good news – my front beam is now in production and could be ready by the end of the week

The gearbox is getting closer to coming back too. I spoke to them today and the Diff should have been built for it, which is the only part needed before the ‘box can be rebuilt.

beetlebuild — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:33:44 +0000

My through bars from Red 9 Design arrived yesterday, so now i can send them off to Slamwerks and get my front beam made

Oh and the sunvisor has been taped onto the roof… looks alright I’ll get some pics up soon….

another ‘new’ bit

beetlebuild — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:42:27 +0000

On wednesday, the external sunvisor I won on ebay arrived its a solid fiberglass one which I haven’t seen many of so I’m quite pleased with that