I don't have a witty name for this yet...

[Brass Munky]

So, some of you may have seen my thread about my Barn find 59 Beetle, and a ton of other goodies. Now that my Uni exams are over and done with (Forever too! Thank god!) I can start to concentrate on my Vee Dubs.

Might as well start from the beginning...

Upon arrival to finalise the deal and start collecting my new toys...





Engine



At home finally...



Interior



My two Big Window Semaphore Beetles...



So, now that it was all home, i started to concentrate on Uni, but, i have a short attention span to boring things, so i was always trawling and talking to people about the Beetle. Some deals were made, some parts exchanged and I now owned a set of BRM's, 15x5.5 and 15x4.5... Perfect...

Watching the Aussie dollar had me browsing CIP and a few other sites, late last week, order placed for me and a couple of mates, and this morning a knock at the door and 3 boxes of goodies arrived!



Drop Spindles (with provisions for Disc brakes if I go that route...)



In the box, Chrome T-bars, billet roller pedals, gas burners (for my mates square), Full beading kit in black, plus a roll of white...

After unpacking it all in the Kitchen, i grabbed the T bars and threw them on the Beetle...



Now for the overall grand plan!

I was intending to build a car, that was Tough to look at, with a mean stance, clean lines, and my own twist on everything. A lot of show, with a little extra poke, but nothing over the top. A mild 1600 Twin port, with a small hair dryer sounded ideal. I loved the concept behind the "Black Bart" beetle that KCW built, but i wanted something with good paint this time.

Then I spotted this for sale...



And im a sucker for doing things a bit different to everyone else. So now i have a small supercharger coming, and some nice engineering and stuff to do to get it to all work! Lucky I have some friends who are well versed in forced induction on a range of engines and configurations, so it shouldnt be too much of an ordeal.

This month, hopefully ill get a Narrowed and adjustable beam into it, and over Christmas, some adjustable spring plates. If it all goes to plan it should be sweet for a drive to Portland in February, and a lick of paint around then too

[joeschmo_57]

awesome. I always wanted a Kombi (Samba) but prices are getting stupid for even a rusted split screen. So now i want to get into beetles. Have you considered the EJ option?

[Brass Munky]

Yeah, the EJ option is easy, but no where near as fun, and im a Diehard aircooled fan. Can have a motor out in 20 minutes, a new one built in under two hours, and running again in less than 3 all up!

I'd love a Kombi, but as you said, prices are too high these days, i never really wanted a split, always wanted a Lowlight Baywindow, single cab or panel van, at worst, a bus, but hey, in due time ill get one... I always said i wouldnt own a Beetle unless it was an Early one, and now i have two 59's haha

[joeschmo_57]

Sheesh. To do that in under 3hrs, you must know your way around these lawnmower engines if you can do it in that space of time!

Yeah, dream was to EJ a baywindow then cruise the roads of Aus. There is (not sure if it is stll around) a place in Adelaide that does a drive in drive out conversion for bay window kombis for about 10k?

[bryan3976]

hahah i love thse things kepp us updated


you wana be different

[img]http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/jetBeetle2.jpg[img\]

[spiderman]

Fixed

Should be cool mate

[Brass Munky]

So... The car didnt make it to the show last month, due to a number of things... But the car as it sits with 2.5inch narrowed front suspension, disc brake front end, dropped spindles, now looks like this...





Hiding in the shed...



Test fitted some narrow front rubber...



And the new wheels



The car is still a good 3 inches higher than what i asked for when i sent it in to be lowered, but that can be rectified next month. The disc brakes wernt meant to go on until late next year, but a few fuck ups and they are on now, so the car has 4x130 stud pattern on the front, and 5x205 on the rear till i get new front brakes for it. Im also getting new springplates for the rear, notched and adjustable so it can go from super low, to close to standard with ease.

Also scored some more wide wheels for the rear, and did a swap for some wide rubber too.

Maybe next month ill get one of my cars on the road... we'll see what happens...

[Brass Munky]

I have no idea if you guys are still interested in this, but an update...

Engine strip time late one night, on a side note, empty Kegs work well as engine stands when your up shit creek for a work surface!



Dirrrrrrty



A trailer full of engines and gearbox's ready to part ways and get stripped. the engine closest to the rear of the trailer in this pic gave me some nice surprises when I started to strip it, an intake port FULL of spider eggs and a very un happy mother!




Following on from this... Two engines are now completely in pieces, with two more to dismantle. Anything stock and useless has been thrown out (Cam, exhaust etc), while anything that we can still use for the new motor, and as spares for any of our cars will be kept. At the moment there are 5 or more complete engines on the shelves at the workshop, with the two more i have to take apart, we wont be short on good stuff for the new build.

Shitty phone cam shot (excuse those ones, i hate handling my DSLR with grease caked hands!) with the block almost split in two (Its meant to )



Ill get a shot of the engines completely dismantled next time im at the workshop.

The new engine has been decided on, and I should be ordering everything tomorrow, if it all goes to plan (Fingers crossed, its been a shitty start to the year so far!) it will run by the 17th of feb at the latest. Given that we will be assembling it all ourselves, theres no labour charges, thank god!



Front tyres are going to be 145 wide, while rears are 195 wide, just have to decide on which 145s im going to run... More ground clearance, or more clearance in the guards to stop me bashing headlight buckets and shit!

[JDMWheels]

Awesome Bettle - I'd love to hear more about how you discovered it in a barn ?

Keep it up Man

[Pidgey]

Awesome work dude!
I've loved these things for ages, so many good memories haha.