71 project beetle ( with turbo )

56oval

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What a great read! Can’t wait for more updates!

This is a b*tch of a job. Anyone know if you can use paint stripper on alloy?
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56oval

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this is so cool :heart_eyes: has to be the smallest turbo i have ever seen but its easy to say your not over compensating :laughing:

Its tiny, words i'm used to 😂.

The turbo is off a Vauxhall Nova 1.5td. They make somewhere around 65bhp on the stock wastegate. Iv'e no idea how much over the stock 40bhp it'll make but its good for a laugh and been proper fun to do.
 

HILL9N3GTI

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Its tiny, words i'm used to 😂.

The turbo is off a Vauxhall Nova 1.5td. They make somewhere around 65bhp on the stock wastegate. Iv'e no idea how much over the stock 40bhp it'll make but its good for a laugh and been proper fun to do.
i cant see it making much but its still cool to say that its turbod at the least. looking forward to seeing this out and about at the shows when its done and what a project to have with your daughter.
what way are you going to work the tuning for it when its up and running on all fours?
 

56oval

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i cant see it making much but its still cool to say that its turbod at the least. looking forward to seeing this out and about at the shows when its done and what a project to have with your daughter.
what way are you going to work the tuning for it when its up and running on all fours?

I'll just plug pull it, find a good stretch of road, give it stick then cut the ignition. Pull the plugs on the side of the road and see what she's doing, it'll be rich at the minute anyway so a bit of solder and my jet reamers will have it dialled in quick enough.
 

stevieturbo

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Most paint strippers should be fine, others have used caustic soda ? Check youtube.

Or I see places online selling some adapter for the powerhose to do a bit of wet sandblasting ?
 

56oval

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Needing to find some mojo with this project.

Finally got back down to the paintshop. The rear quarter has been holding up proceedings being too high and not flush with the door bottom. I spent the morning cutting out the panel and trimming stuff to fit pain in the ass job but it's done. Not the prettiest but it's solid and all the gaps and edges are right. Should have bought my plastering trowel 😂 it's a darn sight better than it was and the door gaps are spot on now.
Also picked up a nice pair of mk1 mkx seats for it cheap.
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56oval

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This week has been all about gaps and alignment. The doors are slightly earlier so the trim holes are 20mm lower. Welded up the old holes, ran a tape datum to get the flow from quarter to quarter right. Measured checked, measured and checked god knows how many times then drilled the holes. Nothing worse than poorly aligned trim.

The wings are repro, fit is hit and mainly miss. After a few few hours of clearancing bolt holes, massaging the wing, it's as good as I'm happy with.

Bonnet is a nightmare. Tried 5 now. All the repro ones are pure dung. Fit is horrendous.

Got my hands on a good but expensive genuine one and the fit is way better, still not perfect but I'll work at it until its acceptable. The joys of the mixture of o.g and pattern panels.

Last job on this side is a piece of gutter. It's perfect bar a slights swell. I opted to peel it open. Glad I did as it would have popped up a few years after paint.

So right now I'm making a gutter section. Once that's done the entire side can be prepped and primed.

Progress.
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56oval

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Well, Covid19 has really got this stalled project moving. Matt is in lockdown at his paintshop so they've Dragged the shell out of the corner and are flat out on it and should have it in primer next week.

Meanwhile I've been flat out on the chassis, it now has all the pedal assembly restored and bolted in, beam painted, arms restored and ball joints removed ready for new ones. Chassis all painted, clutch adjusted and loads of bits n bobs. All it needs is track rods and ball joints to get the front end finished. Ran it up today, gears all work, accelerator fine etc etc. Really moving now.
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svensktoppen

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Covid is doing wonders for a lot of garage projects :innocent:

Great project, looks like a lot of fun!
 

56oval

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Covid is doing wonders for a lot of garage projects :innocent:

Great project, looks like a lot of fun!
Bigtime, although my parts supplier in Germany is holding me up now, can't really gripe given the circumstances though. Would like to have the body reunited with the pan in the next month or so and get the rest of the car built back up. Might have it finished this year, hopefully.
 

56oval

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Went to the paint shop today. He has a bug as a bit of weekend fun. It was blowing out of no 2 cylinder and asked if I'd fix it for him. Plus I had to drop off the last of the panels so a good excuse. He opened up and left me to it, social distancing in full effect.

I fixed it, engine out, head off, cleaned up, cylinder lapped back into the head, back together, in the car and running perfect in under 3 hrs.

Aside from that it gave me a chance to look at the final prep on the body before it goes into primer next week. To say I'm delighted is an understatement. It's never going to be show car standard but from what the shell was to where it is now, I'm over the moon.
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56oval

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Hit a snag, the passenger door issue. The doors that came with the car were good, expect some idiot started paint stripping the passenger door with a grinder wtf. The door skin is so badly warped it's not repairable. My mate gave me a pair of doors when I collected the car, one was rotten inside at the bottom but the skin looked OK. So I went about removing both door skins, the process would meant I could graft the good one onto the mint frame.

A couple of days later and both skins are removed. Sadly the good skin is bin fodder too, it's got a bunch of filler in it halfway up and pretty crusty in places. So back to the drawing board.

I'm on the lookout for a good 70s passenger door. Or get a repro door skin. We'll see what turns up.

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svensktoppen

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The joys of old cars, you never know what's lurking under the paint... Or rather you do know, lol.

Onwards and up! Just get a repro set and be done if they're a decent fit. Needle in a haystack finding a good original door?
 

56oval

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The joys of old cars, you never know what's lurking under the paint... Or rather you do know, lol.

Onwards and up! Just get a repro set and be done if they're a decent fit. Needle in a haystack finding a good original door?
It certainly is, and they aren't cheap either. A repro door skin is about £60 so not dear.

I've already hung and gapped the good door with the warped skin so I know th fit is fine. I'm happy to just reskin that frame unless something turns up. I have a mate looking in his store as another friend sent a load over from california. He's Said if there's one there take it for free which would be ace.
 

56oval

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Got sorted with a door, happy days. Parts are on their way from Germany 😁.

Went to the body shop today to setup the suspension heights on my painters car. All sorted.

Picked the final colour for the bug, it goes into the oven for its first coats of primer tomorrow 😊.

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