Its one of my bits on the side but a restoration all the same. As bought in 1996: How it currently looks 15 years later:
It was taken off the road in 2001 for a little work and deposited on my parents drive. A couple of years later and after loads of hints from my mum who wanted it gone, one of my mates brought i across to our house on a borrowed car trailer: Its first trip on the road in quite a few years: No brakes or engine and no handbrake handle saw me cruising off the trailer and past 3 houses before i managed to stop it by dragging my foot along the ground. I deposited it on the drive and covered it in a tarp but the lack of light getting into the kitchen forced me to consider other options: I made a carport to store it under instead, which is now high enough for a hightop camper too ;D
It had had a restoration done by a 'specialist' (specialist what i'm not sure ) so i had a proper poke around to see what needed doing. Everything it turns out. I started on the passengers side as it was next to the house and afforded me a bit more weatherproofing. Some of the piccies are out of date order as i didn't take them all at the same time. Rear 1/4 bottom was out of shape as it had been welded in badly then fillered up: Inner rear arch was solid but tatty: Missing engine bay side tray: End of gutter rotten: Area under back seat, yep you guessed it, rotten and badly patched too: Heater channel was shot: and inner front wing: A pillar bottom was badly replaced and now strarting to rot: Front bulkhead had been patched over rot: It really should have been scrapped it was that bad.
I constructed some girderwork inside the car to stop it trying to change shape: Then started by cutting out the rot. I cut out the rot in the inner skin and remade it so there was something solid to weld the heater channel to and also so there was a reference point to get everything straight: I started to remove some of the rear 1/4 bottom: and front inner wing so i could pull the heater channel out: It didn't need cutting out as it was so rotten. A few bits i cut off:
Front bulkhead was cut out too: To be replaced by a donor section cut off a mates bug he was scrapping (it was actually more solid than mine ): How many patches? : Bug jigsaw: Welded in and solid again: A bit of satin black to make it pretty again: Chassis will need a load of rust repair as its pretty ropey too.
After a load of trimming the new heater channel was fitted into place. Not the best quality part but i couldn't afford genuine VW. After trimming the rear 1/4 down to size the repair was offered up to see how badly it fitted: Suprise, another quality panel that needed loads of work to make it fit. :
I managed to get the panel to fit better after spending a day rebending the thing: A skim of filler: Some paint: B pillar looks better now anyway:
The rot in the back corner under the back seat was cut out: The holes in the inner arch welded up: Plus this bit near the rear bulkhead:
Starting with a cheap repair bit for the back of the heater channel: And using nothing but cereal boxes, cellotape and loads of swearing i ended up with the shape of a panel i could transfer to steel to fill the holes: Nice and solid again: I could have just spent £50 on a rear crossmember but wheres the fun in that? The rest of the hole was filled with another homemade panel: And painted:
Wire brushing the rear wing mounting panel produced this nice lacework. So it was cut out: Some repair pieces fabricated and welded in: Much better with a quick lick of paint:
I made a couple of engine bay side trays to replace the rotten and missing original: I could have just bought them but cash was tight and they are never gonna be seen again anyway once the sound deadening is back in. Passengers side welded in: Rotten drivers side: Solid again: Painted:
Gutter rot cut out: From inside the engine compartment: Donor panel repair piece: Welded in: Ground down: Filled: Painted with some leftover paint:
A pillar was a little crispy: So i chopped it out: And some of the inner wing too: This shows just how bad the cheap repair panel was: They couldn't even get the bends in the right places. : Wish i'd just forked out for the Hooky's panel but i didn't so... I rebent the panel so it fitted better: Hooky's pillar alignment tool is a godsend ;D Welded in nice and strong again: A skim of filler: and some paint:
This hole needs filling with something now: Another cheap repair panel: that doesn't fit properly: after a little bending it fits better: Loads of plug welds and lots of hammering later and its in: Welded to bulkhead: and coated in satin black: Primered: Some more leftover paint: Wing fits nicely and so does the door. ;D
As the passengers side is now solid again i dragged it out onto the street with Fran steering sitting on a few offcuts of wood so i could get the drivers close to the house for more protection. It didn't work: I lost interest in working in the freezing cold over winter so thought i'd have a look inside the engine: Cylinder heads weren't too bad: Barrels and pistons were OK too: so i just cleaned it all up, gave it a valve job and reassembled: Tinware all degreasd and repainted: Carb and dizzy both rebuilt: As i was putting the silencer back on i noticed something was loose inside. Turned out it was the baffles, so out they came. > I bought these straight through tailpipes so thought it was rude not to fit them: The engine complete and on my test stand. Ok a late bay gearbox. To say its loud is a massive understatement. Birds flew from the trees, dogs howled in the distance and the earth was rocked with the sound of an unbaffled flat 4 bursting into life. It spits flames too.
OK, back to the bodywork. Heres the rotten areas. It would probably be quicker to just list the good bits, but i won't. > Front 1/4 is rotten at the rear: Rear of the gutter is rotten like the passengers side: A pillar bottom is non existant and is no longer attached to the heater channel: Makes opening the door a two person job. Looking down the A pillar: Theres rot in the corner of the windscreen: and behind the dash: Rear 1/4 looks good but is infact made of 1/2" filler.