Endre's panel

[Endre D]

Hello all!
I thought I'd share my latest project with you all, and hopefully get some good advice when needed (I'm new to early bays )
The car is a 69' panel that I picked up from a fellow norwegian VW enthusiast, a good 6 hours drive (and a bunch of ferries) from my hometown Stavanger.

Started on the inside;

Ouch, time to learn how to weld. Holes!

In need of a good cleaning!

Interesting colour on the de-greaser on the glove box lid..

Washed it out a bit on this pic. The glove box says "Remember the lights!" in norwegian..

On the floor between the seats you can see the original color, Lotus white. My plan is to take it back to this color, since i think it's beatiful - and I have a 67' beetle in the same.

The car is a walkthrough originally, but the original seats were missing, and the gap between the seats closed with a sheet of plywood (!). Luckily i got a hold of some original seats, that i picked up on the great norwegian VW-event, SCC, this weekend.

Haven't cleared out the back yet, but enjoy the colors! :lol: Real hippie-bus

A real beat-up luggage rack was also included;

The sliding door has got an aftermarket window of some sort, which is also broken. I'll have to get hold of an original door or weld in a piece of sheetmetal here.

On to the not so pleasant suprises.. this doesn't look so good, but i suppose it can be fixed? that beeing said, this is about the only bits of serious rust on the whole car.

A bit of bondo on the rear corners;

The original engine is still in, but not working.. I'll be putting in a pepped-up 1600 I just built instead

Big-ass Eber is also in place.. Might have to move this somewhere else to make room for dual Dell'Ortos..

This is probably never gonna be a show-stopper, but i'm hoping to make it into a fun car to cruise around in!
Stay tuned for more..

Cheers, Endre

 

[Endre D]

Here is a pic of the engine going in. It's a rebuilt 1600 with an engle W-110, 10:1 compression, stock home-ported heads and dual 40 DRLA's. It's real snappy!

 

[Justin & Muttley]

Nice find - looks pretty cool!! 8) 8) 8)

What are your plans?

 

[Endre D]

Nice find - looks pretty cool!! 8) 8) 8)

What are your plans?

Thanks!
Not really sure what the plan is yet, but I have a few ideas. I'd like to get it painted (Lotus white), and I've got some dropped spindles on the way from Nate at wagenswest. In addition, I picked up a fresh set of the new SSP BRM's in "satin-finish" this weekend that I'm putting on.
I will also freshen up the interior up front with some new seat covers, door panels and carpets.. Got a pair of 914 seats that i'm considering, but I also like the clean look of the stock seats. In the back i'd like to make some kind of interior that allows me to camp in there and a stereo would be nice.. Suggestions are very welcome!

 

[Endre D]

A few more outside pics..

 

[Endre D]

Also ordered 4 new outriggers/jacking point today (genuine VW). Engine swap next!

 

[Endre D]

Engine came out today - which was a real easy task compared to the beetle that I'm used to. No problem doing it by myself.
Here is the poor wounded thing;

And here is the empty engine bay. Supported the gearbox with a strap, and covered the eber in plastic since I'm cleaning out the engine by tomorrow and i doubt it likes water..

 

[Endre D]

Cleaned a bit in the engine bay today - doesn't look to bad actually

Also removed the eberspacher. Going with dual carbs, so it will be in the way. Anybody know if its possible to relocate this somewhere else on the car? The extra heat would be nice..

 

[Justin & Muttley]

Nice work - you could always fit your heater under the rear seat - mine was there when I bought my van!

 

[Endre D]

Nice work - you could always fit your heater under the rear seat - mine was there when I bought my van!

That's a good idea, thanks! Just have to build a back seat first..

Another question; is there any way to remove the air filter stand without destroying it?

Cheers, Endre

 

[Endre D]

Took the moustache bar off the old engine yesterday, and luckily it seems good and solid. Cleaned it well and painted it with some rust preventive paint.

Also found out that the engine I'm putting in hasn't got the mounting-bosses for the bar, so i'll have to use the oil filter mount thingy..

 

[Endre D]

Still wondering how to go about painting it as well.. Sanded down the rear valance to see how the condition was underneath the rolled on paint. It turns out that brown isn't the only unoriginal color its been sporting over the years :lol:

I ended up sanding the whole thing down to bare metal and giving it a few coats of primer. No rust at all, just lots of dents..

Read through the "unoriginal pain removal" thread on thesamba today, and I'm thinking I just might give it a go on this one.. There could be a nice coat of lotus white underneath there somewhere?

 

[Endre D]

Still hoping for tips on how to remove the air filter stand with maximum damage control

 

[Endre D]

Waiting for parts to convert the gearbox to the newer style release bearing. In the meantime I rebuilt the carbs for the engine.. 40 DRLA's. They came out pretty good

 

[froggy]

Love the badge 8) take it its not original :lol: :lol:

 

[Endre D]

This car is a real treasure hunt these days.. If you value rust :?

This is the left rear outrigger/jacking point. I started drilling out spotwelds, but the top-hat is also bad so the whole lot has got to go..

Started picking at the rear main frame around the torsion tube.. It contained a few kilos of sand and a LOT of rust.

Here the bottom of the frame has been removed, along with a few holes that needs patching.

:msn4:

 

[Endre D]

Naturally, there was also a hole behind the end of the jacking point - both the inner and outer sill.. more cutting and welding to be done!

The crossmember on the other side of the outrigger was also rotten, so I cut out the bad piece.

 

[surfbus]

Good luck with your treasure/rust hunt Endre !!

 

[gninnam]

Welcome to the wonderful world of rust