My UK RHD '66 - owned for 3 years now.

Let's hear about your 1966 VW Beetle - How long have you owned it? What attracted you to this specific model year? what makes it unique? PLEASE - NO TECHNICAL OR MECHANICAL QUESTIONS IN THIS FORUM - PLEASE POST THEM IN THE TECHNICAL/MECHANICAL SECTION. Thanks John
tofufi
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My UK RHD '66 - owned for 3 years now.

Post by tofufi »

Hi all,

Another UK member here :)

This is my '66. I bought it when I was 16 as my first car.

This is the day it was delivered, I won it on eBay and only saw it in the dark before it was delivered. No MOT or tax (so not road legal) when I bought it, but it wasn't very expensive.

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In the UK, we can't drive til the age of 17, but I thought we should take it to an MOT so my dad could drive it until I was able to.

Of course, it broke down on the way to the MOT station at the end of my road (with my dad driving)...

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So we got a tow truck, and got it to the garage.

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A few days later, the garage called to let us know it wasn't going to pass an MOT any time soon.
They reckoned it would need more than £1000 (~$2000) worth of welding just to let it see the road, and a few parts too.

Anyway, being a stubborn person, a friend and I did a bit of this:

New framehead:

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Old axle beam:

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new axle beam:

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And a few other small sections to repair:

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And mended:

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There were LOTS of other small bits of welding, new headlamps, indicator switch etc were fitted.

A whole year later, I drove it back to the MOT station for a retest. Except the car broke down on the way there again. :roll:

After a bit of persuasion, I got it there without the use of a towtruck.

After a few more fiddly bits were done, it had an MOT about 2 weeks after I passed my driving test 8)

To be continued...
tofufi
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Location: Bristol

Post by tofufi »

And basking in the sun about a week after the MOT pass :)

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8)
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jmartini
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Post by jmartini »

Hello Tofufi and Welcome toe the Forum! Congrats on getting your MOT passed! It looks like you had to put quite a bit of work into her but now you probably know more about her than anyone ever has. Nice pictures and a great story. Congrats! John
tofufi
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Location: Bristol

Post by tofufi »

Thanks for the welcome John, and thanks for the help when I was trying to register too. That MOT was 2 years ago now, but there are more updates to come. I'll post them tomorrow :)

Jim.
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jmartini
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Post by jmartini »

No problem - happy to help! I'm looking ofrward to the updates and I'm sure other members will too!
fatalifeaten
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Post by fatalifeaten »

Nice looking ride, welcome :)
tofufi
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Location: Bristol

Post by tofufi »

Thanks guys :)

After the first MOT pass (2 years ago), I fitted a new front clip

From:

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To
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to:

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This now needs tidying up a bit as I never got it past the primer stage.


Also, I repaired the front bonnet edge by welding on the bottom few inches from a damaged repro bonnet.

from:

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chopped:

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to:



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Then, a whole year had passed, so it had to pass another MOT.

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This one (A year ago) it passed first time :D

More recently, following a lot of faffing around with the 1300TP engine it had before, I decided to fit a bit of a power upgrade.

From:
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To:

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This engine bay has been tidied up a LOT since this pic ^^ - all tinware fitted, piping etc tidied and so on.
It is now a 1641 with dual Kadrons.



This is how it looks now:

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:)

It is now MOT time again. I've had to take it off the road for a few weeks as I don't have the time to MOT it at the moment.
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jmartini
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Post by jmartini »

WOW - great work! Very impressed with how the front hood turned out!
tofufi
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Location: Bristol

Post by tofufi »

Thanks. :)

It needs a paint job, but there are a fair few other things to do first...

;)

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Just a few of the bits I have tucked away waiting for a sunny day. 8)

(Genuine VW mexican heater channels + outriggers, the superb Wolfsberg West floors, bumper mounts etc are made by a small company over here called Hookeys :)

In the end it will all be L360 sea blue. This is my inspiration:

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;)
tofufi
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Post by tofufi »

Now I'm home from uni, I'll have a lot more time to work on the bug.

This is what I have done so far today:

Rear inner wing on the drivers side looks quite good really. It has had a large repair panel put in to the body mount already.

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The bumper mount has been replaced with a universal one, and was a bit rotten.

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So off that came...

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And something shiny to go in it's place.

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The other side was not so pretty.

Someone had welded a sheet of steel over some of the original rot, and it wasn't very strong. Hence I had a wonky rear bumper.

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Ooops..

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My new Day Mouldings wing:

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Seems to fit pretty well.

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Bumper mount panel welded mostly into place. I stopped welding here to check fitment...

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Seems OK...

And with a valence (will be being made removable with no obvious fixings...)

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Even lines up great at the bottom.

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And with a bumper fitted.

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jmartini
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Post by jmartini »

Nice work! Coming along nicely!
tofufi
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Location: Bristol

Post by tofufi »

Thanks :D

This is what I've done today...

I've been trimming down the Hookeys panels, just in case I ever need to replace the repairs I'm doing now. (I intend on keeping this car a long long time!)

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A lot of trimming and trial fitting later, and it is tacked into place.

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And with the valence (removable mods in progress...) fitted:

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And again, it lines up well with the wing.

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This day Mouldings wing doesn't fit at the front yet, due to some slightly misshapen repair work beforehand..
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Even the bumper mounts line up right :D

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And with the bumper fitted, too.

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Despite only being tacked in at present, the rear bumper takes my whole weight easily. Much better than before, when I was scared to touch it in case it fell off...


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I pushed the beetle forwards out the garage to check alignment. The bumper overriders are exactly the same height :D As is the bottom of the valence on both sides. I must be doing something OK. Even the decklid seal meets the decklid spot on now.

I then spent the next two hours aligning my decklid properly. It took a lot of persuasion with a rubber mallet.

After all the aligning, I've got no clearance issues with the rear bumper - it has almost 1mm clearance :D

I then did some more welding, and got the panel fully welded in.

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I'll be replacing the engine side trays after Bristol Volksfest, for my shiny new Hookeys ones :)

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Mmmm...

Just gotta tidy up the other side and finish the removable valence tomorrow :D - Then it is off to Bristol Volksfest on Sunday. :cool:
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Wow!

Post by RobM »

It looks like you're doing a great restoration job. Outstanding! :D
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jmartini
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Post by jmartini »

She sure is coming together nicely - great work - keep the pictures coming!
tofufi
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Location: Bristol

Post by tofufi »

Wow!

Been a while since I updated this thread...

As well as not being happy with the bumper mounts, I knew there was a lot more rot hidden in it.

I kept on promising my MOT man I would do a bit of restoration work on it.

So this summer, with 9 months MOT still on it, I got cracking...

It started with a total stripdown...

This doesn't look promising.

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Definitely not.

A bit more off:

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This isn't looking good either (floor/sill join)

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Remember this still has 9 months MOT in these pics :D

Beetles are meant to have separate body and floorpans, so of course someone had welded the two of mine together rather comprehensively.

Eventually, with a lot of help from my friends, off comes the body :D

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My friend Sara removing a floorpan...

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All gone!

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At this stage, it gets a bit daunting ::)

More to follow, I've got a fair bit further in this job than this - those pics were taken 5 months ago now.
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