Aircooled VW South Africa

The engine bay all nice & clean:-


& the new clip fitted around the air pipe:-


Just a little cheeky one I took while tidying my garage.

Finally, Milly is back in the garage:-



Not much space with the new bike rack on.

Back:-


Front:-

She will finally dry out now:-


This is the mileage as of the last service:-

Around the ashtray has got on my nerves for sometime, I am considering fitting my voltage guage here as we never use it & it will fit without cutting the panel:-





Tried to make the plastic sit better by using some heat & new glue, its now better but not good enough so it made up my mind for me I decided to fit the volt meter which would hide the sin:-

The cable run for the leisure battery was dead easy just dropped it down the panel & fished it out. The power from the leisure battery come from here:-





Broke into the leisure battery loom & soldered my cables in:-

Works a treat, it even lights up. I just need to wire up the other battery, I got an idea of how to do it, tune in later to find out how.

Went for a spin in Milly today for the last time:-

We went to Volksfrost in Carmarthen & when I got back I emptied Milly & started to strip her down:-

Milly all ready to go to Custom Classics in Barry:-


The Beetle has now taken Milly's place in the garage:-


& the storage area for all the parts I'll take off:-

The strip down continues:-



Went back to Custom Classics in Barry today to carry on the strip down.



I was surprised how much rust was on the tailgate under the rubber, its obviously holding water, the boys will shot blast this clean & treat it, looks like I've caught this in good time:-

First window out:-




Luckily no rust here:-

There is some fine surface rust here, it was on the van when I bought it & in 4 years its got no worse but it does need painting:-



Some rust starting to bubble in the rear RHS quarter seam:-



RHS step seam, the paint has split & rust is showing through, this will need shot blasting & sealing:-



Window out this side, Davey took care of this with his size ten's, luckily no rust here either:-


Started removing the bumpers:-




I've started taking off the deluxe clips, I'll finish tomorrow, the curtains are off, the tailgate off, engine lid off all side windows off, bumpers off, accessories off.

I've still got the front screen, cab doors & pop top to take off, then its a good clean, a light sanding all over & then the serious prep work.

Went to Custom Classics again today, they are working on a rather rusty T25, I'm amazed at the quality of the work they do, rust is cut out & new pieces cut from the same gauge steel, its then flush welded in, once ground down it is as if it was always there.

Continued with the strip down tonight, the front indicators are off, I've drilled the 3 mm rivets out & pushed the indicator units into the hole to save disconnecting them, I've done the same with the rear light units. All the deluxe trim is now off & I've totally stripped the driver door. I didn't have my camera with me today so I'll catch up tomorrow.

Brought some parts home to work on, including the front bumper, which just needs a good clean & polish, I'll wire up the spotlights ready for when I refit them:-



The front Number plate which has a small dent that needs dressing out:-



The rear bumper that just needs a good clean & polish:-



The louvered window, needs a good polish but the metal rod will need re plating:-

The side quarter light window has never been able to open so I'm going to address this:-



The rubber is like new & the only rust is this bit, which I'll soon sort out:-



A good soaking in WD40 & now it opens like a dream, the catch had siezed, not any more though:-

I power file sanded the rust away to reveal pure metal with not a hint of rust:-




Then I masked up the glass & rubber sanded the black with 240 to give it a key, the I painted it with Rustoleum gloss black:-

Done some more work on the quarter light, I've given it a light sand with 600 & now its had its final coat, looks nice & shiny:-