'66 bug resto

[Johnser]

best start at the beginning;

a couple years ago, was looking for a vw project, caddy, beetle, camper e.t.c, so put an wanted ad in adtrader.

chap wanted to sell a project not far from me so went to look, it was completely stripped, just a shell resting on a pan with the doors wedged in the holes, matey said he had all the bits he took off in the garage at home and only wanted £50..... with my optimism at record levels, I wrote this:

Originally Posted by Johnser

(16/05/2006)
ok, been to look today, the doors are square button so i'm guessing it is a 1300, or at least has them doors. the bug is in bits, shell off of pan. solid pan, channels, wheel well. bit of welding needed on inner wings. other bits include glass, front beam, brakes, wheels....well most of the running gear, at least 1 gearbox, an engine that is probably broke. no wings or long bonet, seems reasonable for £50.

Oh and when I got chatting, he said I could have another complete '66 that's pretty rotten but not irrepairable with a 1/2 decent 1300 engine if I take this one away......... given me the night to think about it, got someone else looking tomorrow, its a big project but its the right price and location so i think I'd better go for it!

oh and the v5 is lost but it aint gonna be on the road anytime soon!

oh how wrong I was, I have ended up having to replace the heater channel inner tubes, bottom plates, repair the front and rear inner wings, 1 door post, front clip and probably the rear valance as well as some holes in the floorpan. but to be honest, i still think it was still a good buy at £50 so it could be worse.

brought the original '66 home with tractor and trailer, picked the bits up in the caddy (deceased) and he dropped the other '66 (which was actually a '65) up to me

[Johnser]

decided to find out a bit of history as I started work, DVLA site tells me has been off the road since 1986, sent off for the former keeper details (7 in total) posted a nice letter off and got a few replies and a couple photos, (will stick them up if I find a scanner)

edit: here they are!

only digital pics of scans of photos tho, so the quality is as you might expect:





and after the painting



(note: that is most definitly not me)

be interested if anyone recognises anything!

spent most of her life in the plymouth area and gradually migrated west into cornwall

[Johnser]

I took a few photos of the worst bits when I got it home


bonnet edge








rear arches




some qwality repairs there


and the '65 , designated donor:


of course, before I started anything, I had to try the engine, been under a tarp' for 10 years, contrary to any advice, stuck some petrol in a little header (brake fluid reservoir) above the carb and....

she lives!!

drove it around the yard in first with with just the stiff bearings and dragging bits of rust to stop me till the seat fell through the "floor".

[Johnser]

first summer I attacked the floorpan, started by cutting off the jacking points and repairing these areas. retrospectivly, I perhaps should have bought complete new pans, but its done now, they should be ok for a fair while.

some photos;






I should say, before I did this, I made a pan roller, I thought I'd took photos of it but cant find any.

then set about sandblasting the pan, front beam and various other bits; drums, backing plates, pedals e.t.c in my newly constructed hell - a large trailer with plastic sheeting over the roof and me, a hobby sandblasting gun and a lot of dust and rust. spent the best part of 2 weeks in there. I'm not doing that again.

then I por15'd the lot;
a couple pics:

[Johnser]

then, put all the other bits on, new brake pipes, cleaned and painted gearbox e.t.c whacked the wheels and engine on (somewhere to put it) and stuck it in the corner out of the way

[Johnser]

originally, I thought I'd get away with just replacing the bottom plates, but further investigation revealed, the heater tubes and channel outer edges were poor.





so I made some more!

bottom plates:

2mm should do the trick, SS nuts welded on.

heater tubes:





stainless steel, 50mm, tube. those double bends at the back are a bit tricky to make.

all por'd and welded up






I have since, seam welded the entire outside and inside for those of you worried there aren't enough spot welds there.

[Johnser]

and there was a bit of front inner wing and bulkhead bits to sort:

[eightyeightmph]

Jesus! Go you with the DIY repair panels! Good effort!

What are you plans?

[Johnser]

Originally Posted by eightyeightmph

Jesus! Go you with the DIY repair panels! Good effort!

What are you plans?

haha, cheers, well all the talk here about the crapness of repo stuff and the price of genuine/NOS bits spurred me on really, if you have the time, there is no excuse not to make simple areas yourself.

this was the bender I used for most of the straight bends,


yep, a bit of wood with some angle screwed to it. I have now borrowed a small proper unit tho which is a lot easier

this weekend, I think I am going to have to resort to buying my first repo pannel (excluding hooky's windscreen corners) a front clip. cant find a decent original one of these. oh well

as for plans with the car, I intend to strip back the nasty metallic blue brushed on paint revealing the original (I think fontana grey or seasand) lower it, I have an adjustable beam but may treat myself to dropped spindles if and when I finish and run it like that for a while. I have taken the paint off of the doors revelaing a little more undercoat than I would have liked. I may have to wayoyl/ankorwax/paint with oil, the outside.

running gear wise, I have that engine I know works, I think its only a 1200. I will probably stick that in and try to mot it once the body, electrics and interior e.t.c are done. one day I might do something more adventurous

[Johnser]

I bought the best part of a whole shell imported from aus, pre65 small window to get some decent rear quarters (my sheet metal bender wasn't quite up to the curves required in this area)

the before pics are in a previous post,

cut out the rot:




the new pannel




After much jigging, trigging and trimming






then finished off the HC closing plate area




I have only recently finished the other side, so the pics are still on my camera. it's much the same as this side.

edit: but here's some now ive got them:



cont... next post