'68 Bug quick bodge it up project....

As our van has been prettified ready for happy camping holidays, I'm in need of a project.

A couple of phone calls turned this sad looking beetle up. A cursory glance at it confirmed it had an engine, wheels, doors and rust. A deal was done and it was dragged back to mine.





The idea is to get this back on the road in the shortest possible time and for the least amount of cashola.

Having looked at it in a bit more detail I have found the following.....

Thus is the body rear crossmember where it meets the end of the heater channels, well what's left.



I knew this and the other side were gone when I bought it and I think it's the worst of the rot.

Unpicked the spot welds and got one side of the xmember out.



The floorpan in that corner had a few smallish holes which I'll open up and see if I can find any good metal to weld to otherwise plan B will come into play.

I'm not looking to split the body and pan as I think the crossmember can be done in situ and also I can't be bothered.

Gonna get a shopping list of panels I need for the rest of the car and line them up ready for a mini weldathon.

More to follow....

 

Good lookin project keep the pics coming

 

Shut it fartface.

 

Why can I never find a cheap bug ?

 

Well,

I had a couple of hours working on the beetle this afternoon namely by jacking work in early muttering something along the lines 'there's nothing more i can do today Guv, it's gotta dry out'...... and a convenient coincidence that Caroline was meeting with friend taking little Anna with her.

I'll update with photos later but right now I'm going to the pub as I need a drink - you'll see why later......

 

A couple of nice pints of Sagres in the sun.....

So.

having picked up the crossmember panels earlier the week, I set about cutting out the other side and getting the new panels roughly in place to see how much they would fill the hole and how much would need to be made up to join it all together.

One side in place.



That panel above looks a bit dodgy

Other side with the holes drilled for the body/floorpan bolts in - With it secure in place the special hammer can be used to give it persuasion to fit a bit better.




Still not liking the look of that panel

The heater channel ends are pretty rubbish but I think take it back to good metal and fab some pieces to rebuild the ends and weld to the new crossmember.

Both pieces in situ - will have to come out to cut back all the frilly bits off the ends of the heater channels.



That panel above needs poking with a screwdriver.....

Marmite the bed it fell off...



Disappointingly the panel was not held in along the top line with anything more than seam sealer from a previous 'repair' - both sides where it joins the inner wings were so thin i could rip it out with my own hands - I am very strong though so don't try this at home.

It looks like Autocraft make the end parts of this panel so I'll get them on order and use the middle section of the old panel to make something that has a bit more strength to it. The inner wings need looking at as well .

I found a pinhole in the floorpan that I cunningly drilled out and will now call it a drainhole - job done. Did the same on the other side in the interests of symmetry.



Also, while I was poking at things I found n/s A pillar bottom is bad so another part on order.



All in all a pretty revealing session.

More next time where the roof will probably fall off and the doors will explode.

 

I've been spending too much time with @giraffeinbath over the last 24 hours.....

 

You can't beat a good bug,
Here's mine,



Steve,,

 

I suspect that's how mine is meant to look- very nice.

 

Along with all the destruction I have been thinking ahead.....

Cheapo riviera wheels being given a quick polish.



Not tried metal polishing before but with a cheapo mop and compound set from toolstation the first attempt has come up OK considering the wheeks looked like they had been sat on the deck of the Titanic since that tragic night.



Problem is now that the 'lowering budget' may have been swallowed up by the 'panels budget' and I'm not sure if my late bug cal look vision will be do able on the remaining £126.47 I have before I blow my imposed budget level.

 

Spotted an air die grinder with tungsten carbide burr in ebay so thought I'd take a chance that it was ok-



Luckily it works and the cutter is still
good and sharp. Been having a play with it and its bloody excellent at cutting crap out and getting back to good metal so there is something decent to weld to. I think I'll have to go careful or I may turn the car into a pile of metal filings....

Liberated my welder from a friend who was using it to do his own projects. When I say using it I mean storing it in his barn 'cos he is a crazy fool and hasn't fired it up in anger once in 5 months eh Gareth. ....

Set the welder up and has a little go at one if the many splits and holes in the inner wing just to get my eye back in like.

The cross member is nearly ready to be tacked in place but have a load of pieces to make up tl sort the inner wings our first....

 

Well the lowering budget turned up in the post today.

Two of these....



One of these....



Good quality repair panels that fit ain't cheap unfortunately so I hope the any thing else I need I can make up out of the side of an old washing machine.

Going to bleed the brakes through this week and see if I can get something resembling a decent pedal.

Laters

 

Well the budget is well and truly dead in the water.... A quick calculation would suggest an overspend of £35 so far and I haven't really actually done anything...

So balls to that and onward...

'Gareth the destroyer' came over last night and we did a couple of hours breaking stuff.

The brake pedal would go to the floor when I got the car so needed to investigate. Tried bleeding the brakes - loads of horrid brown fluid came out and loads if air. Knowing it all I insisted on pouring fresh fluid in the reservoir and round round bleeding the brakes over and over ignoring Gareth's suggestion that something didn't seem right. Eventually a trickle of fluid from the m/cylinder showed it was leaking and needed looking at.

It wasn't until the front if the car was jacked up that the scale of the leak was exposed- a torrent of brake fluid sluiced down from the floor tunnel thing over the floor. Litres of it.....

After stopping laughing the m/cylinder came off and Gareth ripped it apart with his bare hands.



The bore has some pitting so just gonna get a new one and bang it on.

 

Work didn't really get started today as I have lost the ability to organise anything and a wave of complete disinterest in anything to do with houses and the repair of washed over me in tsunami proportions......

So bug time....

I used my skills as the second worst welder in the world to stuck some metal together.

The inner wheel arch has been zapped and enough good metal was found and replaced to fill in the gaps. The rear crossmember was stuck to the inner arch. Those people who know will spot the absence of the Bakelite tube that should go through the hole. I broke the old one and I'm not spending £50 on a secondhand one so a solution will be found at a later date....

Finally hammed the rear bulkhead panel in and did some plug welds - looks a mess currently as I'm a bit Marmite and haven't finished and ground things back as yet.



But it does mean I can put the side if the car back together.

Oh yes making progress



So need to finish plug welding grinding seam sealer and a splosh of paint and onto the next side for more of the same.

 

Gissa chance.....

I've been busy being on holiday....

Did a bit of cutting out early this morning just to ******* the old fart off next door.

Going to try and get a day on it this week and get the back end moving on. Oh and pick up the new m/cyl abs get that plumbed in.

 

Massive progress made this morning- I bought the master cylinder from gsf and signed up to their 10% off scheme.