Pete & Hammer put their backs into it.
Off comes the '62 body & on goes the J&S!
Pete & Hammer put their backs into it.
Off comes the '62 body & on goes the J&S!
I have wanted to put these images on the website for a while now just to give people a taste of what's to come & also to give them an idea of exactly what miracles are needed to get there!
The car, or what was left of it, was discovered on holiday up the coast from Sydney. Much to the consternation of my wife, when I'm on holidays I like to go looking in strange wrecking yards in hope of finding something interesting (like I haven't got enough rusty parts as it is). After finding a volkswagen specialist in Toronto (NSW not Canada) I asked if I could have a look around his yard. The buggy was sitting in the back corner on a concrete slab (just as well, the rest of the yard was overgrown) minus an engine. It looked really cool. I casually asked the guy how much he wanted for it. He said it wasn't really his. Some bloke had left it with him to store some ten years ago and he'd never seen him again. However, $300 bucks and it could be mine coz the guy didn't look like he was coming back for it.
Negotiations began. The "powers that be" finally conceded that if she allowed me to restore the 62bug I had, she'd never let me take it racing like I wanted. Besides we could take a buggy on holidays to Frazer Island (you need a 4WD or offroader to drive on the Island) and they looked kind of cool.
Holy Panhalves, Batman!! The original shortened pan & the reason for the other pan. What a mess!!
The converted front end.
A very short time later I was on my way to collect the car with the help of a friend of mine, "Hammer". We loaded the pan, or what was left of it, and the body on to the back of his ute (pickup for the yanks) and put the rest of the parts in the rear of my hatch. It was stinking hot and we got a bit lost to begin with but perservered.
Andrew was in an interesting mood. He was about one week off getting married and completely distractable. While helping back the ute up to load it, he directed Hammer into a parked truck. I can't be too hard on Andrew though, he was trying to help. Hammer is a patient man, and just as well, as he was tested a further number of times on the way home. I owed him big. Hammer wasn't in real hurry to stay for a drink as you can tell from the pictures.
Back to the car. I assumed that, because the car had a registration sticker on the windscreen, I could just do a rego search and find the old rego details allowing me to re-register the car under its old details. Only two problems, no plates, no engine number. A few months later I realized this plan of action was rendered impossible by the missing plates and engine number. However, by looking at the pan I'm sure you'll agree it's not so bad. The shortened pan I got with the car was riddled with rust. Toronto is right on the coast and the car had rust and salt all over it. The only usable parts really were the body and the winscreen frame. At this point a new plan was devised. Full length pan (shortened pans have diabolical weight distribution), hipo Jap import motor (not aircooled), IRS conversion. Due to budgetry constraints nothing really happened until the beginning of this year.
March 23, 2001.
The floor pan, front beam & IRS donor rear suspension for the buggy went out to Indian Automotive today. The front beam will be converted to an adjustable beam, the pan halves will be replaced & the IRS will be cut from the Type 3 donor rear suspension & welded onto the Beetle pan. Kimm Garland from Indian Automotive estimates the job will take about a fortnight. Keep an eye out for the pics of the pan strapped to a trailer. They're coming soon.
April 6, 2001.
The IRS conversion is now done & new pan halves have also been fitted.I bought a set of Sway-A-Way adjusters & they are currently being put into the front beam.
June 9, 2001.
The engineer has looked at the car but a there isn't a great deal happening. I also looking for axles & I'm waiting on a gearbox kit as well so all in all I'm getting pretty impatient! The sunrayser wheels have been sandblasted & powdercoated black though so things are happening...just a whole lot slower than I'd like.
July 3, 2001.
Lots has happened since I last updated this page. The adjusters were fitted to the front beam & I'm going to paint it black soon with rust-proof paint. I got the Subaru 2.5litre from Brookvale Spares & took it out to Indian where Kimm gave it the big thumbs up. It's really clean & looks a real goer.
The 1800 Kombi gearbox I was after turned up a couple of months ago now & I also got some gearbox straps to secure it to the pan better. The general concensus behind getting an 1800 box was that I'd need a Kombi box to cope with the power of the Subaru engine, and I also wanted something with more low-down gearing but with enough of a turn of speed on the freeway. A 1600 in 1st gear is really too low geared & had no turn of speed on the freeway, and while a 2.0litre box has good highway speed & strength,it lacks the low gearing to drive 30 inch tyres(Yes,30 inch tyres! More on that later). So the 1800 box is a good balance.
Meanwhile, the conversion kit for the Subaru engine turned up along with the front disc brakes for the VW big 5-stud pattern. The kit includes a new flywheel and adapter for the bellhousing.
Recently I bought a post '68 Beetle collapsable steering collumn, rather a necessity for the buggy in the case of a head on collision, some new tie rod ends from Volksbahn in Sydney, & from Australian VW Performance Centre in Victoria, Beetle rear stub axles with Kombi flanges for Kombi CV's to cope with the more powerful engine. The pedal set has recently been reconditioned and packed away ready for when it's needed during final assembly.
The chassis stiffening frame looks to be happening fairly soon now. This is good, however, my new garage isn't yet in, so I'll have to get a move on ready for the chassis return.
It's really weird, even my wife is starting to get impatient, but, don't mistake that for keeness. She happily watched while our dalmatian relieved himself on the body recently.
The body itself is a whole different kettle of fish. As well as the extension of it's length it will also get a 3-4 inch lift to allow for suspension travel and big tyres. That's right BIG tyres. 31 inch tall offroad rubber will go on the back. Specifics for the front are still to be decided on and are dependant on understeer (light front end) and wheel sizes. The lift done on the body will also allow me to severely lower the car later (if I wish).
Finally! The restored & strengthened floor plan.
The oil leak from the rear main seal here below.
September 8, 2001.
The floor pan has now been done & the strengthening is tough enough even for a V6 Kimm reckons....he wishes!! With a bit of luck things won't be going so slow now. The car isn't really even half way yet. Now the engine mounts have to be fabricated. It turns out the rear main seal on the 2.5l needs replacing but it's not a big issue.
The slab was laid for the garage this week & as usual the cat was of huge assistance...NOT!! Hopefully it'll be finished soon so the floorpan will have somewhere to come home to.
October 29, 2001.
So much has happened since the last update. Just over a week ago the garage had it's final inspection & then on Saturday 20th we had a garage warming with a small but happy turn-up. More work has been done on the buggy and below are some thumbnails of the test fitting of the engine and shell on the pan. I'm having a little trouble getting ground clearance and suspension travel out of the rear suspension and I think the solution will be to notch the springplates.
