Test fitting the floor pans

Exciting times! The Wolfsburg West floor pans arrived last week, so I couldn�t resist a quick test fit to see how everything lined up;

They cost a pretty penny, but I feel it has been money well spent having inspected the excellent quality of the pressings.

Operation: Beetle relocation

A short documentary film about moving my dismantled VW Beetle to a new workshop via a small detour across the iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol.

It is worth noting that the shell would have comfortably fitted inside the van, but that just wouldn�t have been as much fun or looked as awesome.

If it is worth doing, it�s worth doing in style!

Kick panel cleanup

I am currently visiting my parents and sorting through a load of old junk that I dumped in their attic almost a decade ago when I left home. Anyway, I was thrilled yesterday when I came across a few old original parts that I had taken off of the bug and had almost forgotten about. 

Here are the dirty old kick panels that go under the rear seat;

They were looking pretty shabby, but I knew that with a bit of elbow grease they would scrub up like new. So armed with an old toothbrush and a myriad of cleaning products (that I found under my parents kitchen sink) I set about the task with gusto. About an hour later I had one all cleaned up and ready for comparison:

As I was scrubbing away it occurred to me that these are the first parts of the car that have been restored. Small progress indeed, but progress nonetheless! Another hour and another part cleaned:

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The chassis teardown begins!

I have just had a very productive bank holiday Monday and managed to strip a lot of components off the chassis. The first job I tackled was the brake lines. You can see below where they attach to the master cylinder:

And here is the junction where they connect at the rear of the car:

After dismantling:

For the first time during this project I was 100% confident that the components that make up the brake system would come apart without any drama. This is because I replaced all of the brake lines and master cylinder with new ones about 8 years ago and liberally applied copper grease to all of the threads at the time. It made everything so much easier and I gave myself a pat on the back for thinking ahead.

Before I could remove the master cylinder I needed to detach the push-rod that connects to the brake pedal. This was simply a case of removing a circlip and sliding out the pin:

 

I was then able to pull out the push rod and remove the master cylinder:

I then turned my attention to front beam which connects to the chassis by 4 bolts which are clearly visible in the image below:

I drenched the bolts in lots of penetrating fluid and then jacked the front up slightly to take the strain off of the bolts as I began to remove them: 

Once they had all been taken out, the front beam (with the wheels still attached) came free easily:

.....then I decided to take the wheels off (I have no idea why I did it this way round, I just did!) and this is what I was left with:

Next weekend I shall hopefully find the time to work on the rear section of the chassis and will be removing the transmission.

Note to self: I will need to purchase a 26mm socket for unscrewing the two huge bolts that secure the transmission onto the frame.

How she looks now (after years of neglectful love!)

O.k, so here we have a few 'warts n' all' photo's that show the regretful condition that Gretch is currently in.

Introducing 'Gretchen'

Welcome one and all to my humble blog! Within these electronic pages I shall be progressively documenting the restoration process of my rather jaded looking 1965 vw Beetle (1200). I have owned her since July 2000 and have vowed to reinstate her former glory before we reach our 15 20 year anniversary...