Aircooled VW South Africa

Gary after seeing your car at CITP on Sunday, I am even more impressed. It is common knowledge that many kits (yours included) are built to be a much better car than the original!

I really liked the spyder...............man 5this thing was cute, looked like a hoot to drive.



I could serious see me building one of these as a track car.

Is that the original number James Dean also had on his 550?

Pine wrote:Gary after seeing your car at CITP on Sunday, I am even more impressed. It is common knowledge that many kits (yours included) are built to be a much better car than the original!

Thanks pine, that means a lot......really.

I agree with you 100% though, after the suspension work, engine, gearbox and body work, this thing will run circles around an original one.

One thing I really would like to replace is all of the bumper and rocker trim with the US specc'd one as it's all one piece and looks MUCH cleaner, I think I'll start collecting it now and then when I redo the bumper mounts, I'll re-do the trim at the same time. That however will be MUCH later.

Pine wrote:Is that the original number James Dean also had on his 550?

Yup. I think that's an old KCC spyder as it has the same UK rear lenses as what mine has. Albeit someone added indicators underneath that didn't look right at all. Plus they seem to have cut away the fake bulkhead that goes under your feet. Pity. I quite like that feature on the spyder.

Nice!

looking too cool.........

Have to say I do tend to turn green when I see things like that. It's looking stunning G, you can be proud!!

Been doing some surfing around and finally got a set from a guy off the speedster owners website in the US. $125 for all four plus $65 for shipping to South Africa. Not bad when you think that VS and Sierra Madre sell them for $70 each without shipping.

Coming all the way from the Island of hawaii.





Also stay tuned for a sound deadening project, almost 30kgs of vibraseal in the car.......

Ohhh thats sooooo sexy.... Nice catch!!

rock on!! Now they'll look like brother and sister!!

Well after missing the swap meet, I've decided to pick up the pace and pool all of my funds into getting the motor done and the engine that I was hoping would see me for about a year appears to be a lost cause, I've put less than 500kms on it and I don't think that it'll see 500 more. Excessive crank play and a knock have religated this motor to driving in and out of the garage and that's it.

So Sunday afternoon, I went down to the car and started installing the IMIX that I bought from motor technique in Pretoria. This stuff runs R130-00 a sheet which is more than the vibraseal used to be, but I thought that I'd buy a few sheets and see if it's any good.

This is half a sheet by the way. I bought 6 half sheets at a price of R390-00. The guy reckons 10 would do my whole car.



I started by the front foot wells as the battery still has to be relocated to the front, so I didn't want to deaden the back and end up ripping stuff out to do it all again at a later stage.



This stuff is easier to work with in strips of about 10-15cm wide and cut it to length as you need it, I wasted nothing, even using the smaller left over peices to fill gaps and other spaces.

About halfway through.





I did all the way to the top of the heater channels and I did about 3/4 of the drivers door. There is a solid chunk when you close the door now. I didn't expect any gains at all to be honest as it's a fibreglass open top replica that was hell of a noisy to start off with anyway.

So I through caution to the wind, topped up the engine with oil and took it for a drive.

HOLY CRAP............Best R390-00 that I have spent on my car so far. The front end is DEAD quiet, I used to have squeaks and rattles and a lot of scuttle noises when I'd drive the car, now it's silent, the noises from the door are also a thing of the past. I enjoyed driving her a whole lot more than I ever have in the past. You can tap the front kick panels and they make a nice solid thunk. I did from the top all the way down to where the heater channels would be on a beetle, I want to do the floor last. With carpet and insulation on, this thing should be great.

The plans call for the whole car to be deadened. Doors, floors, under the dash, behind the seats front and back, rear compartment, front storage area and even around the inside of the engine bay and deck lid. I reckon another 7-8 panels will see me done. But that will have to wait for the moment. Weight wise this IMIX is heavy. I think that I've added about 5-6 kg's weight to the car. But it's worth it as the car only weighed 720kg's to start off with.

Hey guys do you know anybody who has a speedster kit for sale? or unfinished project or car that needs restoring?

Not from my side, I have 3 guys looking for one though.

flatfourfan wrote:Not from my side, I have 3 guys looking for one though.

I guess that should rather read 'I have 3 guys looking for three?'

Otherwise it would be '3 guys moering each other for one'?

^^^pretty much...........lol.

Yup, three guys looking for 3 cars............lmao.