My German Import RHD 58 - Updated

[beetlefanatic]

Dont even start on the rims, lets see.
The set that came off the bus,
set of (5) rostyles for the Notch,
and two widened steelies that I got with the bus as well!

At the last count I had 29 wheels/tyres in my storage (excluding those on the vehicles).
I can supply you with a few more if you need to fill up the place.

[Blitzkrieg]

Dont even start on the rims, lets see.
The set that came off the bus,
set of (5) rostyles for the Notch,
and two widened steelies that I got with the bus as well!

At the last count I had 29 wheels/tyres in my storage (excluding those on the vehicles).
I can supply you with a few more if you need to fill up the place.

Anything interesting in that stash of wheels??

[beetlefanatic]

Wouldn't you love to know.
As they say in the classics. "I can show you but I'd have to kill you."

[karmakoma]

I can't claim credit for finding these, I just found muderick

[karmakoma]

Right, since I promised myself ONE project at a time ONLY.There will be no spraying of the beetle or anything that costs money before the Notch is finished, and the 75th beetle celebrations at the mint on the 20th of June is around the corner.

Still, a man is allowed to have a bit of fun, so the decision has been made to roll her rat. In fact, I am starting a new movement - RESTO-RAT .

The original bumpers are still in for a rechrome, so I requested a loan set so that she could be taken for roadworthy. After kind offers from Mellow Yellow and Fig, thanks again, I got offered a complete set from Hitlers Revenge for sale at a reasonable price. So I grabbed the opportunity and now have a spare set of overrider bumpers. They are not perfect, but fit perfectly with the Resto-Rat look. Guess who spent this afternoon fitting bumpers, only to realize I handed the bolts in for rechroming as well! Rushed off to the nearest builders and found some galvanized round head bolts that fit perfectly The 58 looks so good with bumpers on again, even slighty patina'd ones. Should be ok for roadworthy . I HOPE

A while ago I stumbled across an old round spotlight. Lots of surface rust, but in one piece, and I found to my delight, working. Got my (quite handy) gardener to sand off the rust and give it a coat of primer, and then a coat of gloss black to return it to it's former glory. Yours truly rewired it and cleaned all the connectors. I also made a bracket for this to bolt onto the front bumper of the bug. Haven't fitted it yet, hoping to do so tomorrow. While there was still a little light left, and with the bumpers already fitted, it was time to fit the sterling roofrack. Again, this needs a full resto, but is perfect as it is now for the look, and all the brackets are present. Bought some silicon hose from builders as well to cover the roof racks feet, and protect the 50 year old paintwork, as seen on ACVW.

Now the beetle almost looks the part. I have a couple of other NEW accessories to fit, hence the name, RESTO-RAT.
These wil be revealed in time. They are easy to bolt-on and take off again when restoration time comes

[beetlefanatic]

No pics? How can we believe you?

[karmakoma]

See you on 20 June at "The Mint"

[Majik]

Looking forward to THAT event!

[karmakoma]

Did some work on the 58 this evening.

Decided to see what kind of state the semaphores were in. Apparently the PO had had them disconnected YEARS ago, when the bigger rear lights with integrated indicators were installed.

The screws holding them down came out easy enough, and unfortunately no wires to be seen Hope they fell into the B-pillar and weren't removed...

Got them out and lots of dust, bit of rust and grime all over them.

Picture does not really show how dirty they were (or the various insect nests inside them!). Will give you an idea:



I took them apart ever so carefully, checked the connections, everything looked remarkebly intact.
Globes looked good. Only thing really tatty was the paper cover around the coil. Cleaned up that as best I could, got rid of all the loose/flaky pieces of paper, removed what rust there was on the terminals and after the plastic housing was completely dry, reassembled the lot. A quick rummage around the house revealed a 5V, 2A, DC power supply. Figured, why not, close enough. Hooked it up and lo and behold:





Both semaphores appear to be working! With proper 6V power off a car battery I am pretty sure they will extend all the way. Also bear in mind that I did not confirm the wiring, just connected in a way that seemed logical at the time. What a nice way to start the weekend.

[Majik]

Go to page 1 of this thred and see the date of the first post.
Happy birthday project MGIR58!

[karmakoma]

LOL, true, time flies!

Tried starting her today, "good" battery in, idiot lights come on, no start though. Changed batteries around and installed the "bad" uncharged battery, idiot lights come on, and the solenoid clicks, but starter doesn't turn.

Go and fetch my multimeter, good battery (which I charged on trickle charge overnight), 5v, bad battery, 5.25v.
So... I guess it's battery recon/replacement time. Nothing wrong with the car.

20 June is getting closer!

[GavinHuart]

What a pleasant surprise with them semaphores!

[karmakoma]

So the 20th came and went, was a great day out, but not for the 58.

The NEW 6V battery bought for the beetle also did not work! AARRGGH.

Also got so caught up with life that there was no chance to fit all the goodies I wanted to on the 58.

But, felt really inspired after beetle 75th anniversary, so time to get cracking.

Ferdi was already busy with one or two beetle bits (for when he got bored with the notch you know )

The 58 fenders should not have the indicators on top, so a set of replacement fenders were found some time ago, and stored.
These went through the following process:


Strip old paint:



Fix some wrecked bolt holes:




Primer:




Paint it black (and it wasn't even red )



Looks too new for my old 58!

These will go on as soon as the beetle's nose is repaired and painted. Might happen sooner rather than later.

But, thats not all folks. Thought I would do a little experiment.

Saw some "engine enamel black" and "rustoleum ivory" paint at builders, and figured, its worth a try

Carefully instructed and assisted our ACVW restorer in training a.k.a. garden engineer, and we (well ok, he) sanded down, masked, painted, painted again, masked some more, painted and this is what we came up with.

Not perfect by any means, and we'll see how the paint holds up to wear and tear, but not bad for a first attempt.

Afaik this is what the original wheels looked like, and matches the spare wheel rim:





Happy Beetleday - 22 June 2010 !

[Farhaad]

now for a set of white walls

[karmakoma]

4 x whitewall inserts in the garage, dont want to get them dirty with all this restoration business