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Can late bugs be as cool as early stuff?

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How many wrong uns to make a right un

14K views 164 replies 16 participants last post by  camper2 
#1 · (Edited)
This awful tale starts a lot of years ago, I wanted a classic car to use in the winter. As I was predominantly a motorcycle rider. But as the years went by my desire to almost freeze to death each winter got less and less. I bought a 67 beetle that I finished off to use (see unfinished project 67) and finish it off I did. By hitting a wall and totalling it :(. By this time I’d well and truly got the bug (pun intended). And proceeded to buy a 68 fastback which ...yep needed a few year resto and I fitted a 1914 fast road motor :) . Unfortunately it didn’t scratch my itch . Whilst a lovely car that ‘did everything better’ than a beetle just wasn’t the same, perversely I prefer more noise ,less cabin space , firmer ride and go kart like experience, so it was sold and I went looking for another bug 8)......
Meet the new car
 
#2 · (Edited)
A 72 ,made up of the usual mismatch of various parts and typical period repairs.it was running with a 12 month ticket but rough here and there but a decent price and a home for my plan of a big motor. Apparently it was the second shell to have graced this pan, so a wrong un already :).
 

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#3 · (Edited)
After rolling it for 12 months it was time to sort out a bit of rot here and there , yes in other words, this was where things were about to go badly wrong :lol:
I had come across a load of panels that I thought I’d probably sell on:rolleyes: that was a bit optimistic.
After taking stock I thought it best to split the pan from the body and assess the damage ... and yep it was scrap ,pretty much all of it .but sod it won’t take me long to put in a pair of pans etc:(
 
#5 ·
So let’s add a frame head into the mix .it’s only a bit further in than pans and at least the shell doesn’t need much:lol::lol: or so it thought at the time. Fitting it requires a LOT of messing and measurements and moving stuff about and measurements and messing etc. At this point I will say this is NOT a job for a beginner an excellent understanding of what engineering required is vital not just to get the car to drive straight but to be safe. Really don’t want the frame head falling off. That all sorted I .....errr no after checking the now welded up frame head with a brand new beam fitted I found one end ten mill higher than the other. The pressing for holding the beam not welded exactly level. Most wouldn’t notice but..... so out with the heavy body jig stuff to tweak things to within 1.5mm haaaa that’s better glad the shell is good or this probably wouldn’t be worth it :eek::eek::eek:
 

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#8 · (Edited)
So with frame head on and now level I looked at the naps hat as most/all are for lhd cars and need the holes drilling/filling for moving the master cylinder holes etc over to rhd. It was at this point I looked at the one I’d already done (as I originally thought I’d get away with just replacing the naps hat only) and they were different, someone having warned me that he’d tried to put his shell back on and it was miles off:eek: I’d been collecting some panels that I may use on the shell and had a lower bulkhead to try and yep ,miles off:(
So unpicked the dam thing and fitted the previously modified version.
To be fair was probably less work than trying to drill the big hole for the master cylinder.
Then I moved onto the pans (should be easy eh?) nope the drivers was a 1990’s part fitted mint. The passenger side wasn’t (see pictures) so a bit of an unpick and fab up the repair section
 

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#9 · (Edited)
Whilst all this fannying about was going on I kept looking at the shell and while it wasn’t the worst I’d seen there was a few dodgy areas like the rear gutter and the fact that the roof was dented (looked like someone had run over it):eek: so I thought I’d look for a different one, if no reasonable candidates turned up I could/would repair this one.
What was I saying about the shell being good?
 

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#11 · (Edited)
Old age ,yes forgot to upload pictures.
Notice in the second picture, the camber compensator? Yes and I’m sure after using one that it would have saved my 67 :(
 

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#12 ·
After looking at and rejecting a few pre loved? Shells :rolleyes:
Why is it you can never find something when you want it, previously I’d seen rot free shells at decent money but nothing but rotten shitters or unfinished/badly repaired ones , then I came across this bad boy
 

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#13 · (Edited)
Came as a roller , pan with log book reg etc for better money than I’d seen bare shells, and the price was delivered :cool:
So I pinged over the dosh and waited.... later that day it arrived (now this was meant to be, after all the grief of the pan, I was due some luck)
Or maybe not.
As this was playing out I had made the decision to go year correct with this car. Now while I love the early cars with the long lids sloping lights . I just felt like it’s a 72 so use 72 bits and love the late. In a few ways it is an upgrade especially as it will run a big motor, factory fitted discs , vented deck lid , and late model bits are cheaper/less desirable aren’t they? Yes course they are.
So no wrong uns here, the og car had early deck lid and internal filler petrol tank so a few bits to find/swap ,, be easy this ha ha ha
 
#14 · (Edited)
So for anyone keeping score this is shell number 3. And what had I bought.
Well the first and most obvious thing I noticed was .......
It was left hand drive!!! Eh? What? Noooooo how did I miss that:confused::crazy::lol:
Oh my days. But.
The gutters were the nicest I’d ever seen, yes it needed channels ( don’t they all? A few repairs around the cross members etc and the screen corners were rough , not to worry though as I had amassed a big pile of panels including:-
Drivers rear complete 1/4
Passenger complete 1/4 (both og vw items)
Rear crossmembers (1 og 1 pattern)
Hookys door pillar bottoms
A complete front clip ( the ones that come already together)
Same for the rear
Rear body mount for the passenger side and finally. Being from Yorkshire and a typical tight arse I’d acquired a pair of new 1980's channels that had been fitted to another car and chopped back out, perfectly fine just needed all the old body work unpicking.
So I was ready to repair but what about the fact it was a sodding left hooker? Well I had a complete spare shell to hack up so let’s do that first
With this in mind and as I use one at work , a cheap plasma cutter was added to my toolbox . Also see the picture of the original dash :rolleyes: got some messing about to do here.
 

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#15 ·
Cutting up the old shell ,with the plasma cutter was ace made light work of it and I managed to get the screen bottom/scuttle area and dash to re use and a few roof cuts that went on to repair other cars . Which eased my guilt a little. With that out of the way I started preparing bits to start the new shell repairs, first was the channel’s I decided on removing the heater tubes (I’ll be using a eberspacher for heat) in picking the channels reveals that these are all bare steel. No wonder that they rot so fast . Closed off the inlet and vent areas under seal and paint inside then fitted some hookys bottoms. An ideal time to ensure that the bolt holes line up with the pan. A bit of tickling and I was good to go.
 

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#16 ·
After cleaning up the drivers channel I thought sod this (as it took ages to carefully remove ten ton of previous welds, that made me buy a surplus channel that hadn’t already been blessed by some one welding it to death. Same again opened up and the heater tube removed.
 

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#17 · (Edited)
With all the mess cleared out of the way
And the parts harvested. I cleared out the space to bring in my lovely new shell . Due to space restrictions I decided to pop the shell on the pan this would also help keep the plot in shape as I dissected it.
Never in a million years did I expect what I found :eek:
As I was working from ,a now solid pan. I thought may as well work from the ground up starting with the channels and as I’d more room at the passenger side, let’s start there, I already mentioned that the gutters were mint and they are (like a new car) strange as some other area’s hadn’t faired so well? A pair of hookys door pillar repairs were in my stash, so all was good. I went for the welded support method , fitted a door made the gaps good and welded in the struts . Then started chopping :mad::lol:
 

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#19 · (Edited)
I put them high enough to allow access to the door pillar bottom repair areas, I cut my trim off as not using it. I think you should be able to work around it though . Main thing is to make sure gaps are exactly as you want them before finally welding ( I used big tacks) as you are locking in, any inaccuracies, also remember, you have to get in to remove them afterwards ,so ensure the tacks are accessible ,with the grinder. Made that mistake and it took nearly as long to remove neatly, as it took for the actual repair.
 
#20 ·
And chopping and chopping seams this car has had a big restoration at some point in the past, to a high quality it seams and who ever painted it did a very professional job. Unfortunately I’d now uncovered the repairs under all the filler:confused: so basically i had full resto on my hands :( bugger ....
That said I did have most of the panels and the ability to do the work. I was speaking with a mate about this the other day and I suppose we are lucky to be able to tackle this type of work as paying someone else would be out of the question. Also how many other shells are out there that don’t require this work??
So with my tears dried and all my ducks mentally in a row, I dove in :crazy:
Cutting away all the grot/previous work left me here,
I always concentrate on one section at a time to not get overwhelmed and to keep things in shape, this turned out to be the whole side!!!
 

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#25 ·
After chopping out all the grot. I wasn’t left with much, a pair of package tray sides were added to the shopping list, I lucked out and also found a pre love inner wheel tub and body mount repair for cheap :cool: the rest would have to be repaired . I started with the hookys pillar to hold things a bit square, just tacked to the channels at this point to allow adjustments if needed, then fabled up a repair for the rear (under the trim card) I had previously taken measurements of the door hole to attempt to keep things correct, I was on the lookout for a rear 1/4 complete ,but these things are hens teeth 🦷 or massive bucks:eek::confused:
 

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#26 ·
Chop, bang , bash and weld :cool: we have now passed the chopping out stage and started putting stuff back . Felt good to not have things wobbling about
 

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#27 ·
Next was the rear 1/4, as I had a full drivers panel, I got looking at options for the passenger side , looks like vw panels are drying up fast, I did find a nos oval panel for 2 grand :eek::eek so I went in search of alternatives. A pre 63 (I think) repair section was available from the usual suspects, blurb said can be used on later cars with a bit of messing. The car had the usual bottom repair so the full side was my favourite(and another wrong un piece) . Whilst this was wizzing its way to me I started on the rear tub/body mount. The tub looked like a decent fit which was an unexpected bonus. The body mount was the usual repo bit that has the mount on a larger backing piece, which I wouldn’t need ,so out with the spot weld drill and chisels I also filled in the z bar location
 

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#28 · (Edited)
Then the 1/4 turned up, I knew the window was smaller on early cars , so the decision was made to cut along the swage line. Another difference was the door catch early cars are three bolt so some more dissection was required. Trim try trim try until it was almost in then I found the curve was different (possibly ment to go over the top?) so out with the shrinker and then the stretcher after I’d gone to far :incheek: once it was close I popped all the bits back together for a test fit. This then shows that the panels don’t quite cover all the missing metal:confused:
And in some areas there are odd shapes and unfinished spaces. But then I suppose they were never meant to be a full jigsaw just repair patches
 

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#29 ·
A bit of finessing and most of it went in. still some areas to locally repair
 

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#31 · (Edited)
Think of them like a celebrity sibling, they look similar and could be mistaken at a distance but when you look closer they are simply not the same :crazy::lol:
But a better or best starting point, just isn't available. Unless you can find a dry state body cut. Also, mine being a late 70's German shell . It was noticeably different than the 68 shell that I'd harvested parts from I'd say the earlier metal was thicker and slightly cleaner pressings( understandable with wear and tear on the press tooling?) but yes I'd recommend them , this one came from heritage (other suppliers available) and fitted with some fettling. Thanks for the compliment, I've just got back to an iPhone and can now post pictures easily, this work was around a year ago so I'm just posting up when I have 5 minutes
 

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