Retrovans MeFusco Beetle Truck Project

[Madbones]

Thanks for sharing and what a great achievement. Congratulations.

[Donovan D]

Great achievement Herman !
Good to see projects being completed, especially custom ones.

[Riaan.N]

Awesome Herman!!!! Awesome, well done!

How is the engine temperatures looking?

[retrovan]

.....How is the engine temperatures looking?....

Temp runs at 75 C and when pulling at 80kmh up long hill he will clime to 90, but drops down again after the hill.

All gauges are normal when running fast for long times.

Very happy with the airflow via the gills and into the engine compartment.

Herman

[retrovan]

Busy with all the small things to get MeFusco done,

making sure all is well for the Road worthy test, when all of a sudden it hit me, .....No seat belts.

Now this is going to be an issue as we did not ensure the old mounting points where preserved.

So got me a set of seat belts, and now making brackets to fit them,

Will have to peal back some of the upholstery to get fixing points or to make new ones.

So bear with us as we get this done as there will be no RWC without them,,,,,,,

Herman

[Haans]

Herman,...give yourselves a bells ! And then 2 more for the rest !!. Great achievement I think it came out great. Loved the video

Haans

[retrovan]

Thanks Haans, was wondering what happened to you,

Glade to see you OK

Herman

[Haans]

Well.......you're right.. a month ago I climbed into the ring with my opponent called. COVID-19 !! Got knocked down hard,..landed in hospital!......bottom line I got up and took the fight to the bliksem,.....and barely survived, but won the fight on " points". Currently at home on oxygen.
Live to fight another day !!!

Regards. Haans

[Terry Phillips]

Sorry to hear Haans take care stay safe.

[retrovan]

Well.......you're right.. ......Live to fight another day !!!
Regards. Haans

Very relived that you won the main round, please rest up to prevent permanent damage.

Lost my brother and brother in-law to this little bugger, also have young family still fighting their rounds as we speak.

Lots of respect Nick, may you get stronger every day.

Herman

[retrovan]

So on the way to RW the engine moved slightly forward and I lost Revers gear

Turned around and went home, and as murphy's law will have it he stop on the side of the road.

Heard the fuel pump running and looked into the tank, had fuel, then looked at the filter, and it was blocked.

Managed to get home in short bursts, and now to get him ready for RW next week.

Stay safe guys and think of others, wear a mask

Herman

[retrovan]

Has a good chuckle to my self after having a look why the gearbox moved making revers gear go AWL

When we had the motor back in the last time,

we left the gearbox front mount loose so that it could slide into place when the motor hanger mount is installed.

Needless to say, we all forgot to tighten it up again once in place.

So got it all back in place and bolted all 3 bolts up nice and tight.

Now the fuel filter, I drained the fuel, and attempted to suck out most of the dirt in the bottom of the tank.

As this is the old hidden long distance tank from the Bay's checkered past, it had a bit of surface rust which we cleaned out as best we could.

But as it was not painted it still gives off a bit of dirt. the plastic fuel filter cleaned it out but blocked up very fast.

This was a surprise to me, so I opened and found that they use a canister type filter with metal top and bottom caps,

but the gap between the plastic outer and bottom cap is so small that the dirt gets block there instead of the filter it self.

So the fuel blocks up a lot faster as it takes less dirt to block the gap then it would take to block the filter.

So as there still is some dirt to be removed, I replaced the plastic filter with a high pressure metal canister type fuel filter.

So it should now take a longer time to block.

Also I removed the tank pickup and added a short length to the pipe so it does not feed off the bottom of the tank.

The dirt should now stay on the bottom of the tank.

Will take him for a test drive, this week and head back to get the RWC.

Till then

Herman

[retrovan]

So here you go....

Finally have most of the car done, and in its final stage.

Still needs a few repairs, and small unforeseen changes such as too low rear mud guards.

Also needs a good clean as its got dirt and grim all over from the "adjustments" ...

Repair to assembly damage, and trail bumps....

But here is a full coverage of the MeFusco, after two years of work, and fun.

Will be placing a video at a later stage of a walk around as well as the loading of the Beetle.

But this will have to wait as I need to get my family over for a braai, .......(should read get them to help with the video......)

So here goes ...........































to all that read my posts, Thanks for the assistance advice and comments during the build, this was part of the fun,

as was the constant think and rethink to get it to this stage.

Special thanks to Dawie, Garhard, and Tony Z for your feedback, much appreciated,

OH !!! The rubber mat on the rear fender was taken out to take the photo's thats why its there,

Thanks for looking.

Herman

[AlanH]

Well done Herman,
Hope you enjoyed building as I enjoyed reading.
Really looking good and hope it brings a lot of pleasure driving.

[73type2]

I really enjoyed reading your project thread over the past couple of years, Herman. It’s a bit sad that it’s coming to an end, but I’m sure you’ll soon entertain us with another creation.