My pet project my wife bought ;)

[TimeMan]

Hiya guys

Ok at long last i iam done with the beetle with what i wanted to do ...... cept a couple very little things .... ( i got to keep my hobby alive now don't i ? )

Well this is going to be a looooong write up so get a beer and get comfortable

1. Replace TP heads
2. Take donor dash from another beetle and fit to this one
3. Install guages
4. Fit SP beetle steering
5. Center console
6. Redo wireing that turned out in making and replacing the whole bloody harnass from front to back
7. Fit the leather seats i got
8. Fit back seat seat rest and kick boards
9. Fit battery cutoff switch
10. Do something about horrible tar board firewall
11. Fit reverse light switch and lights
12. Add hazzard switch and circuit
13. Replace broken indicator switch/arm in steering
14. Fit decklid spring
15. Install radio/Speakers

Well from those who followed my progress with my wife's beetle , i sized the bloody big end bearings , then started with another engine for the beetle , finished it and put it in , started her and had a bloody awefull misfire , feeling around i realised number 4 plug was loose . Couldn't understand why so took engine out again . Sigh and yeah the damn insert was loose and on closer inspection realised that the head was cracked next to the insert anyhow .

1 Refurb TP heads



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Lucky i had 2 more TP heads but needed inserts put in , so i send them to a engineering comp and had inserts done on them ( sry forgot to take pics) anyhow assembled the engine once again , and then decided well seeing as i am doing this once again i'd rather do what i was going to do anyhow ..... this is the list





2. Dash before :



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Donor dash :


By timeman007 at 2011-05-15

Fitted after covering with cloth as it was very cracked and broken from the sun and rain in donor beetle



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3/4 Fit guages and fit sp beetle steering



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5. Centre console

Used a console from a VW fox



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Front Console rough template that i will use and make one from plywood and also cover with the material like the dash



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7. Fit seats

Before



Donor Seats



Fitted after a lot of swearing and sweat



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8. Fit back seat seat rest and kick boards
9. Fit battery cutoff switch



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To be Continued

[TimeMan]

10. Do something about horrible tar board firewall

I didn't like the weathered and haggard looking tarboard that was fitted to the firewall so i decided to change it , this was the first try i used the same stuff they use to isolate industrial roofs



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But i didn't like that , so went to a metal place here in nelspruit and got them to make stainless steel plates to a templae i have drawn from the tar boards . BAH they originally quoted me R 350 to make it , then when i got there to pick it up the price shot to R 850 !!! Bloody hell i wanted to throttle the moron , but yeah the engine had to go in and time was important to me so i swallowed hard and paid him , it does look good but still .......

So i first fitted the tarboard to the firewall and then the stainless over that , and i must say it does look nicer than the old tarboard .



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11. Fit reverse light switch and lights

Seeing as this poor little beetle didn't come out with reverse lights i decided to install some for the beetle , but as the beetle doesn't have a bumper to fit the reverse lights too i opted to use white LED's as reverse lights , and i got a VW bus reverse light switch that i installed in the nose of the gearbox



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I only put 3 on each side but want to put 7 on each side but they didn't have stock so waiting for the stock to come in



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14. Fit decklid spring
HAHAHA this was a biaaatch to install nearly lost my bloody finger in the process as this is a tricky damn spring to fit , even after reading up on how to do it




15. Install radio/Speakers



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2 X 6X9 4 ways in the space behind the seats , my wife still wants her space to put groceries etc in when she drives



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The round speakers and will be mounted inside the centre front console when i am done with it and the tweeters also still needs to be installed


Well you will see i left out num : 6 / 12 / 13 but will do a whole write up on that still as i read up hours and hours on diff forums , learned a lot and did a lot rewiring the beetle , but proud to say everything is working indicators / horn / lights (dimm and bright and spot lights ) relay for starter and fuel pump , and my hazzard circuit i installed plus all my gauges , reverse lights , radio and wipers even added a spade fuse block to fuse the normally unfused live wires the beetle has in it's harnass .

Later Guys

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[MINCE]

Wow. Those steering wheels are hard to find! Nice interior dude