In The Land of Hope and Glory

There comes a time when an anonymous VW enthusiast gets to go somewhere nice, usually that is California if you play your cards right. I got to go on this fabulous trip with my buddy Aleksi and we dearly owe our gratitude to our girls for organizing all this. We could not have made this with out them. Sad but true... ;)

The trip was already in planning early 2007 and we flew to Sacramento right on the beginning on September. Right in time for Sacramento Bug-o-rama! What a coincidence!!! Well that was about the only event during our trip so we were very happy that it worked out like this. Some pics following to let you know the main stuff that went on. One thing that I might add is the heat. It was really hot. We heard some rumours about some local hat fashion. You can guess the rest by looking at the images. Phiuh!

Niks Naks!

That should be translated as a removable rear valance of a bug. So that's where I got after finishing the channels. I have to say that it's true that when you start later in the line you get to study some earlier fabrications on a theme and that's just what I did. Never really liked removable parts that were too obvious to the eye. So I wanted to do it like a really nice boob job, invisible to the eye. Or at least as close to it as I could get. When the lid is on, there is a visible seam on the body where the valance meets the rest of the body. So that's the planned meething point. By using an aftermarket rear piece and rear quarter bits it was almost too easy to fabricate all necessary. Just mark the line of cut to sides and then allow the new piece to overlap about 15mm to allow fender style joints. The new piece slides out when all the bolts are loose with a little turn and lift and goes back in similar manner. I'm very happy with the results. Only down side is that you can not have your IDAs on the engine while putting the engine on. But there is enough room to do it when you've got the engine in. After the parts are painted I need to source some suitable rubber channel to seal the joint from water and dust...

Parts search!!!

Over the past few months I've gathered some necessary pieces to get this heap moving in some point. Getting the rear wheels has proved to be most challenging, and I ended up getting slightly too new edition of 6'' fuchs instead of the old 901-series. But for now these 2 911-series wheels will have to do. I'm sure that most people don't know the difference between the models but for the "period fuckers"(pilkunnussijat - muhahahhhaaaa) it is evident mistake. Well, when you're doing 160 and 6k on your tacho, I'm sure it is the last thing you need to worry about! :)



Some technical aspects have also come together. Got a Porsche cooling kit from a local enthusiast Vilho, less the fan but I'm currently working on it. Heads came from JP-motorsport in Sweden, and also got a brand spanking new SCAT killer dry sump case from US. The heart of the engine ie. crank is still a bit of a mystery since SCAT doesn't seem to make them every day. Getting one needs a preorder and takes about 2-3 months to be completed. That seems like a long wait even though I'm not really in a hurry... Thinking currently on a All T4 journal 86mm flange crank. Let's see how this works in the end.

Even more metal swap!

Decided to swap both of the heater channels. They weren't too shabby but since the A-post bottom pieces were totally gone it sort of made sence to also change the channels. One good thing that came out of it was a perfect fit with those aftermarket floorpans. No grinding necessary what so ever!! And they are light as feather! ;) After test fitting the doors I was pretty sure that the channels were in the zone and welded them all the way. As for the A-posts, I had a NOS piece for the right hand but for the left it surely was a pain to get it right. I ended up using half of a repro piece and half of a 50's donor piece... Not sure why thes companies end up doing panels that just don't fit? Maybe Wolfparts is doing us all a big favour now...



After getting the welding and grinding done for most of the front end, I painted the bare metal parts with Zink paint to stop immediate corrosion. My carage mates have had some good experieces with this stuff so why change the formula? ;)

Parts ahoy!

Since this piece of machinery will need some wheels in the end and the starting plan was to search for some fuchs wheels I decided to get some. The nice thing about those fuchs is that they are extremely strong thanks to the forged aluminium construction. And they're also quite light compared to some aftermarket wheels. So no wonder some VW gearheads are willing to spend large amounts on the real thing... And who would want to see the repro fuchs to either slow a car down or brake under a heavy power load?? Not me anyway. As so many others, I found a set of 4.5x15'' fuchs on Samba. Paul Salinas from California agreed to send me a pair. Thank god the currency is slightly with us here in the euro zone! They do have some patina and need a bit of work to really do it! Thanks Paul.

More metal swap...

As usual the spare wheel well was also in need for a total "make over" and some more mexican stuff was used to cure the pain. Even though not nearly identical to the OG sheet forms these should do the job. Just can't see the point in searching some NOS parts for a race car - they're too heavy anyways! ;)))

Have to say that this part of metal work must have been the slowest bit. Not too many ready parts for the sides and the repro panels needed some pounding to fit. Some pouding is to put it mildly thrust me... Well, not too shabby result, at least the front hood fits!

Pan and Chassis

So the pan or to be more exact, the frame was sand blasted along with the new "oh so light Brazilian" pan halves before welding it all together. Decided to make a full continuous weld instead of tack welds. I've heard that there are 2 schools of thought in this issue and agues now I've taken my side. 100 point restorers look away, I'd call this a 100 pint restoration, or even 200 ;) well see... Left the whole piece unpainted for now, I'm sure there are loads of alterations ahead as soon as I start fitting in the driveline. What comes to mind are new transmission mounts and maybe oil cooler supports etc. Some folks also seem to attach that safety cage straight onto frame horns... Not a bad idea considering the function?

So had some help from a buddy to lift the chassis on to the pan. Looks to be quite all right. Some of the old mount points on old channels do not meet the holes on new repro pans but when I checked the new channels, they seem to fix this problem all together. Then again I'm sure they will bring some more issues up as I get along.

Started on the chassis by replacing the rotten luggage pan. Had a donor piece of a 60's bug and it was pretty close to the original split design. Slight curve difference at the front edges but that was a minor problem considering the alternative of fabricating a completely new piece or searching a period correct sheet. Again, purists, look away. In a way, starting from these "out of the open" pieces certainly gave me more confidence with the mig. Still not my favorite tool but with a bit of patience it could lead to some acceptable results...

Managed to fabricate some welding aids aka "inter clips" marketed by Eastwood I think. They seem to work as advertised on flat pieces. For more difficult areas I'm thinking of getting some magnets or such to ease applying donor pieces. All in all, I'm quite happy about the way this project is going, although it's bloody slow...

Sideline showcase 2

Some more pics of the event.