The Rebuild of "Stoffel" - 1969 Bug

[merlinpta]

So this weekend did not do al lot of work on the car. Had to do some training on Saturday morning and only did a little bit of work in the afternoon and then some work on Sunday afternoon as I spend the morning at Ferdie's place shopping for some spares and drooling over some cars. Nice to hook up and chat to some of the guys there.

So all I did this weekend was to complete the flanges on the rear valance, I am quite happy thus far. Only problem I see that I do have is that that the earlier beetle rear valance C channel, sit about 1 cm lower then the later models. I will have to see if I can find some C channel so that I can spot weld in a new channel.

Some pics of the progress:





Valance removed:


Valance flange:

[merlinpta]

So no updates for a while, been busy at work and busy with some sport as well.

Managed to get all the fenders as well as the rear valance in for sand blasting, should get them back by this Friday.

I will also take the doors and bonnet in for sand blasting and the rest of the car I will strip by hand.

Still need to do some work on the Pan, most of the parts for the motor is available now and the motor will shortly go in for Line boar and balancing, new Valve stems as well as re cutting of the valve seats as well.

I have also started manufacturing bracket's for mounting the front bumper on the car, as I will be mounting spots on the car I will include the mounts for the spots on the brackets as well. Will take some pics as this comes along.

[merlinpta]

So today I decided to start stripping the interior of the bug, removed all that I could remove include all electrical harnesses, carpets, gauges ect.

All that still needs to be removed is all the windows in the car, have to be careful not break any of the windows.

All this removed:



These are the wheels that will be fitted to the car, 5 spoke, looks pretty good.


Will remove the doors and the bonnet tomorrow so that I can give them to the sand blasters when I go and collect the fenders.

[merlinpta]

So I received the fenders back form sandblasting, interesting what can be seen once all the paint is removed.

I also handed in the 2 doors as well as the bonnet and engine lid for blasting. Rest of the body I will have to strip the good old fashion way.

Was quite of lot of fun to remove the doors especial the bottom most screws, thank goodness for n nice impact driver and a good couple of hard whacks with the hammer and off the came.

I will start stripping the paint of the body the weekend.

Engine casing needs to go for Line boar and then a full balance of all the components. Hope to drop the motor for engineer in the next 2 weeks depending on time.......

I have also decide to do a full replacement of all the electrical wires in the car as most of the current harness is very hard and does not look all that good.

[merlinpta]

Hi All,

Long time no update, so work has been keeping me from the project.

The current status is that all the panels that have been sandblasted was given a nice coat of primer.

The car is now fully stripped and we are getting ready to do a lot of body work on the car.

Will provide some pics shortly

[merlinpta]

Been a while since I have updated the post.

So I final have all the parts that I require to rebuild the motor.

All parts will be going for engineer so that the motor can be balanced and all the required engineering can get done.

I have started the body work on the car as well and have laid down some primer so that i can find all the spots that need to be fixed.

Have some more spares that i need to collect, i.e. new metal break lines and some trim to complete the current stash that I have already collect. I was able to also source a new Doghouse fan shroud .

Will take some pics and update.

[merlinpta]

So on Friday the 23rd, I collected all the parts for Stoffel from the engineer works.

I now have all the parts and accessories to assembly a fully balanced twin carb 1680 cc motor.

The following was done:

Found a very nice casing that was line-board.
Crank was ground and bearings was fitted "Note check all bearings as we had to go true a couple of sets as some of the bearings in the kits were incorrectly marked"
Flywheel skimmed
Con-rads checked, and made same weight "New Con-rods"
Pistons, checked made same weight
The full system was then balanced as well.

Heads fully refurbished, new valve guides as well as new intake and out let valves.

As work has kept me very busy over the last couple of weeks, no rest for the wicked, collecting the engine parts has really given me a lift to get the final couple of spares I require to complete the build.


Need to take some pics of the progress thus far again.

[merlinpta]

So after a long absence.. I have time to start working on my bug again.

Work done thus far:
Car fully stripped
Motor rebuild and engineering is done, needs to be assembled
Work on rear valance is almost complete and this is core focus for now.
Prep of replacement floor pan needs to be completed so I can spray and stone chip.

Spares still required:
Replacement electrical harness
New running boards
Felt channels for glass, car has one piece windows

Work that needs to be done:
Repair and re-chrome of bumpers and head light surrounds and some smaller spares - any suppliers that you guys now about?
Gear box services
Prep and respray of body
Looking at getting front suspension cut and adjustable drop system installed..... who can do this for me
Need to get King and Link pins replaced " I have the spares" - any suggestions as who can do this
Full interior needs to be redone - have nice black and red leather as fitted to Mini cooper - full hides so needs to be cut and fitted.
Fit rails for Mini Copper front seats.
Retro fitting Golf 1 - Newer model, control column with stalks and light switches


Just as small list. But trying to get all done before Ferdies meet.

[merlinpta]

So yesterday I managed to clean of all the stone-chip from the wheel wells. happy days, heat gun and scraper. Was very surprised how easy it ca off with a little heat.

Also managed to do some finishing work on the rear valance another 2 evenings and I should be ready to start with final body prep.

I have also decided to strip to bear metal the rest of the body, quite interesting were you find rust.

[merlinpta]

Bought all the materiel today to build a Rotisserie so I can take the body of the pan. Should have this build by the end of the weekend.

[merlinpta]

So I build the rotisserie this weekend:







Next step is to pull the body off the current floor pan.

[merlinpta]

And then we were almost done with splitting the pan and the body.
All bolts have been taken out and this weekend... or if time permits tomorrow or Friday I will be placing the body on the rotisserie.

Made a list of the last couple of items I need, some rubbers seals, grommets and plugs.

[merlinpta]

Big day today, separated the body from the pan:

Hmm ye... as I mentioned before I am not the worlds greatest welder

1st Clearance of body from pan.


Body on the stand


Front mounting point


Back mount


Back mount 2


Body on its side


Back mounting side view


Front mounting side view


Quite easy to get to all of the body parts now. Very easy to move the body around.

One change I will make to the stand is to put more support on the uprights.

[retrovan]

Nice one, easy to work on the body this way, but is she not hard to turn back.

Harman

[merlinpta]

Nice one, easy to work on the body this way, but is she not hard to turn back.

Harman

Nope I was quite surprised when I turned it back... the CG is not that bad.