Crank it baby

The driver looks a little confused and angry here... Not getting ANY reaction turning the key. Well, only owning a 66, will set you back in the world of splitwindow beetles. After finding the starterbutton, the smile was back on his face =) Cranking up the 1750 engine, and make some nice skidmarks on the driveway, sure makes all the garage hours worth it at the end...

... and it all started in the office as always =)

What else can you do in the dark winther nights when office hours seemes like days? Dream about summer action?

Recreating an atmosphere

The first idea of "theme" for this car, was to keep the fifthies atmosphere. As the car had some changes made early on, and still many of the correct pieces intact, it was no option to make it over restored =) The patinated paint applied in the 60 ies is preserved as good as possible, with the obvious color mismatches were new paint is added. The car probably had a few touch ups along the way as well, so getting it correct all around was out of the question. Having lived a tough lifte on the road, the car is full of batlle scars and small dents. Well what do you do with a car full of scars, and wanting a fifthies atmosphere? You could follow the common road and slam it, put on some chromed replicas and get your self a nice looking rat. But they didn't have slammed rats in the fifthies, did they? Well, as the picture of the half finished interior will tell, the "theme" headed another direction =) Less is more?

Spring is here

Well, as always, a little too early =) The time preassure has been quite huge the last weeks, as I am in the middle of building a new house, and that consume ALL of my sparetime. Luckily I have some easier days ahead now, and the zwitter definitely needs some attention again. When I broke off some weeks ago, the car was rollin', but brakes, wiring and some vital chassie parts were missing. Of course many body details still have to be taken care of. But after a long dark winter, the bright warm summernights ahead will suit me perfect. Still some rivers to cross, bringing a car back to life after 25 years.

Rollin' rollin' rollin'

Well, I lie if I said it was no fun... to roll the car around the garage with no engine. With almost the correct wheel mounted, and suspension and steering all working. Like a child with his pedal-car =) The rear torsion springs has not been loaded for over 20 years, so it sits relatively high in the rear yet. But with an engine mounted and some kilometers down the road it should sit quite nice. The car was put on stands again after the garage boys were finnished playing with it, and fenders stripped off gain. Now it's time for painting the last details and clean everything up nicely. Another step in the ladder cleared =)

Brake power

Of course it's tempting to think in the direction of disc brakes to get the car closer to modern technology. But that would probably spoil the total image of the car right now. So to keep drum brakes, I went for 65 T1 front brakes, the widest type for linkpin set up. In the rear I have used T3 5 stud brakes. Every piece except the drums and shields have been replaced with new parts.

The drums was machined to new finnish, and to fit the T1 axle. The latest brakeparts arrived from CIP1 yesterday, and was fitted last night. Still a little curious to how the handbrake will work on the T3 set up.

Rollin'

There has not been to much update on this blog lately. I've mostly been working on details for the car, that will be revealed when the car is driving. Building up for a surprise moment? In a way it's fun to show up in the spring with a car no one has seen before. My biggest consern these days is the time aviable to finish the car. I'm about to reach a critical stage in building my family a new house, and that sucks up a lot of time. But the main goal, given the limited time for VW these days, the car will be rooling at the end of april. The chassie is almost complete, and fitting brake parts and bleeding brakes should make it ready. The bodywork is mainly done, and a finishing coat of color is left to do. The engine will be fitted in early may, and hopefully with some "tuning" of the whole car, it will roll it's maiden voyage to Sweden in early june. I promise to release some more footage as we reach may, and the car is really coming together... The photo show what's going on these days =)

Making it go

It's finally time for bolting things together for real, after several nights in the garage with bondo and sandpaper. I managed to use an evening in the garage again, and some pieces are coming together. I bolted the pan and bodyshell with all bolts, and it was a tricky task to make it all line up again. A pain in the ass to be modest. Then I installed the pedalcluster and mounted new wires and greased them up good. The shifter was mounted and adjusted, and felt right at home in the "climber". The next on the list was the main seal of the gearbox, and a new Sachs release bearing found it's way in. Removing the old stone hard seal was not as easy as expected. But it came loose without damage to the box =) Most of these functional parts are sourced through Wolfsburg West, and I must say they seem to be VERY good. Everything is "Made in Germany" and the quality feel is a lot different than Mexico and Brazil parts. Rounded off the night with installing new axelboots, also german with superb quality. Next things to do is bolt up rest of the chassie and get the last brakeparts to blasting and machining. The summer is coming way to fast....

Rear apron

The apron is now welded up and the details for making it removable are done. I also managed to restore the rear body mountingbrackets and weld them into place yesterday night. Finnished off with grinding and etc primering the last surfaces on the car. I also started sorting out some wiring under the hood, as the car was transformed to turnsignals at some point. More pictures to follow... Just had to try out the correct taillight to see how it will turn out =)

Turning water into wine?

Well, to be honest, the heart shaped lights have seen better days. But they seem to be the correct ones for the car, without holes in the bottom. That had to be when they were new, because mother nature has supplied some natural holes over the years. The ready painted light was in far worse condition than the untouched one on the left. I put it in citrus acid, and the solid material left was not much. I built the bottom part from epoxy-metal, and it looks to be solid and usable for the purpose. Then a little filler and primer, and that was it. Not nearly NOS, but they will serve their duty on the car for some more years.

The choice of tail lights

Given the fact that my heart shaped lights were in bad condition, I settled with using 60 ies lights, because the car had them when I picked it up. They are parts of the cars history... Or... What a lot of bullshit =) Of course the car is going to have the OG lights. I just had to mount some straight fenders to fit the H-apron. The car has taken so much beating in the ass, that the fitting was a nightmare. The H-apron came fom a fairly straight 58, and should fit OK. But a lot of hammering, cutting and bending was the only way. I'm not sure if only the Wolfpart bumpebrakts will do. I think some large donor pieces from another car is needed for a 100% result. But for now, the "racer" will have a removable H-apron that fits "OK"(hopefully).

Putting in a new bottom

The spare wheel well was gone way beyond saving, and the whole nose on the car was smashed in about 10 cm into the well. The best thing would be to get a new Wolf part, but for now a new bottom will do. Having Brezelfürsten around the workshop, means that no shortcuts are made. After I finnished cutting the new piece, the "profile-police" arrived =) I had no other option than to copy the OG profile. With a hammer and simple tools, and about an hour later, the profile was ready. Not perfect, but much better than expected, given my sheetmetal skills. It's temping to chose the off-the-shelf way, but it's more curing of the soul to make it yourself.

Now it's just the welding left...

Getting the profiles "correct"

The last touches of welding were completed on the drivers side as well, and some new fastening nuts are now in place. The whole front corner is also redone, and some more grinding and filler will make this good as new. The top part of the profiled innerwing was also replaced with a cut-out-part from the wrecked donor car. Amazing that 65 body parts fit the 52 like a glove, and look completely the same as the OG part. A new frontclip and a wheel well from Wolfparts will most likely be fitted before painting the car. But for now it's fun to practise some welding and recreating parts.

Cleaning up the last welding details

Before
After

The zwitter suffered a front incident at some point, and there has been some hammering to get the shape right again. Still I was not quite happy, as the profile around the wiring tube-mount had lost it's shape. Luckily I cut away this piece from the donor car we wrecked last year. The front part of the innerwing is not 100% still, but the profile is right, and maybe some minor hammering and a coat of filler will make it Ok for now.

Zwitter details

It's all in the details I've heard. For the archives and Fürstens satisfaction, I took a picture of the OG fastening clips for the brakehoses. I imagine these are the correct ones for the car, and the set was complete with 6 clips.

Ending 2007

At the end of 2006 I made a promise that the Zwitter would be welded at the end of 2007. The main goal I set when I purchased the zwitter was to have it ready for Hessisch Oldendorf 2009. As the pictures from last night can reveal, the status is a little better than what I was aiming for. New front end with new pieces, the gearbox with new mounting rubber, and new brakelines are all in place. I finnished off this year of restoration work with a paint touch-up of the parts mounted on the chassie. Now I look foreward to a summer of testdriving a newly restored car =) HO 2009 is still possible =)

Waiting for the BIG push back there?

When I (Oval57) was working in the garage last weekend I couldn`t help for shooting this picture of Knechtens Zwitter.
Is he thinking of a BIG engine back there? TELL us!

My early years

We all have to start somewhere, and for me the interrest for motored things came with the moped years. Long before I reached the age of getting a license for a moped, the customizing was already started. Most of my buddies were in to the same thing, and the "hot" thing in the late eighties were Malossi equipped Suzukis. There were a lot of "battles" on the roads at the contryside were I grew up. 11 HP mopeds and speed up to and above 100 km/h was exciting for a 15 year old =)

Now being twice the age, I still remember the good times with the moped gang. Some of my buddies back then still keep the spirit alive, and are rocking hard in a band called Malossi. And most of the lyrics are related to the good old moped racing days. Go visit them and listen to some of the mp3 songs available: http://www.malossi.cc/, a nostalgia trip to the teenage years.

The music works very well with VW cruising as well =)

6V ironman contest

Last night Fürsten and Oval 57 helped me out putting the body back on the pan. As you can see in the movie, these three men are working in an office all day long. Heavy lifting does not come natural to us, but we managed anyway. For those who understand norwegian, there is quite a lot of "jabbskjit" in the background. We are sorry.

A small step for mankind...

.. but a huge step for me =) Last night I finally got the body placed on top of the pan. Most of the heaterchannels have been replaced, and it was interresting to see how they would match up. The meassuring during the welding seems to be pretty accurate. The holes in the pan and body aligned well. It was a heavy lift, but with good help from Oval 57 and Fürsten, we managed to drag the body onto the pan.

This was a critical milestone for me personally, as I had set a goal to complete the welding during 2007. With two small kids and not to much spare time, it was satisfying to come this far during 2007. It has been a long jurney of welding and sheet metal work, but it has been worth it. Now starts the funny part of the project, bolting all the parts together and to give the car the correct stance.

To day is also my birthday, and I could not wish for a better present =)

Peace and harmony

The floor pan made it's way into the garage again. It has been 20 years since the body and pan were together the last time. The time has now come to join them again in harmony =) The pan was sandblasted and painted in 87 and has been stored indoors since then. It has a few scratches in the paint from transportaition, but I will do a touch up of the paint after they are joined. The body has been stripped to bare metal in all four inner wings, and got a layer of etch primer.

There is still a little welding job to complete at the rear bumpermounts and some small repairs in the front as well. This will be completed when I finnish the new rear apron. The last thing I managed last night was to glue the rubber gasket to the floor pan with sikaflex. Next operation is to place the body ontop of the pan, this will give some needed space in the garage right now.

1750ccm Kvikk Motor

I have moved the Kvikk engine build up to our new blog, "Memory Lane". There I have added part 2 of the build up as well.

http://6vmemorylane.blogspot.com

On my back

Not having a barbeque stand for my zwitter body, a lot of work has to be done lying on my back. Last night I finished grinding all the welds after changing the bottom of the heater channels. Found two small holes that needs to be taken care of as well. Then it's time for painting the bottom of the body, and bring the floor pan into the garage. Everything takes time, but I will not have to worry about rust anymore... And the car is now solid enough to be driven HARD =)

Toxic juice

Picked up some chemicals on the way home from work today. If they work half as good as it smells, it will stick on the car for at least fifty more years. It will be interresting to se how it turns out. Epoxy primer first and then a topcoat of black filler-primer.

Speed welding

Knechten's 52 zwitter is rapidly coming togehter. With a welding-speed like the devil himself were chasing right behind that splitted rear window, welding of the car is nearly completed. Last night saw the rear left chassismount to be worked on, here under careful supervision from Brezelfürsten.

Preparing parts

From the first day I purchased this car, I have tried to follow the wise word of those who have done it before. "Everyone can restore a chassie, but God knows how many who left their half-finnished projects there". I have therefore consentrated on the timeconsuming rustwelding insted. But seeing the light in the tunnel, it's time to look a little ahead. The floor pan was sandblasted and painted when I got the car, so all it needs is a good cleaning after 20 years storage. But everything else is not ready and stored in a LOT of different small boxes. To make things ready for assembling the car, I have started some small preparations. First thing out is the pedal assembly, sandblasted, painted and adjusted. The nice throttle pedal got a good cleaning and new grease... Ready to floor it =)

New update

Last night after cleaning out some scrap from the garage, I could not resist the temptaition of picking up the welder. A couple of weeks ago we ran out of gas for the welder, but with a fresh bottle at hand, I fired it up again. I used two nights a while ago making all the pieces to be welded, and the welding therfore went pretty easy. Some adjustments had to be made, but the corner was almost completed in two hours. One year of practise with the welder makes a hell of a difference in speed. Every step brings the zwitter closer to road legal again =)

Knechten`s cal-look

This pic shows Knechtens 65 cal-look which he sold (how is it possible to sell such a pearl?).

It is only minutes before we are heading for BugRun 2006.

Building a cardboard-car

Some of the welding parts are quite difficult to make without having a cardboard model. The trickiest part is the one in the corner of the backseat, around the heaterchannel. I pray for this part to be reproduced by someone very soon, because it's a pain in the ass to make. For now I have made it, but for the next(?) project it would help a lot. Drawing, cutting and taping... Kindergarden for grownups =)

Rear apron

I removed the rear apron as well, because I will change it for a H-type and make it removable. This is toget easy access to the engine, and make removal and fitting easier. Removing the apron revealed more rust. Both end pieces with the bumperbrackets will be replaced. More parts to order from Woffe =)

Keep on struggeling

Last night I cut out a pile of rust again. The heaterchannels doesn't stand a chance when someone put insulation materials in them many years ago. It had soked up a lot of moisture, and of course rusted like hell. I manage to remove all of the rust and started making new welding parts... Not to forget removing the old undercarriage material on the innerwing, that took half the night... But now it's gone forever =)

Weld through spray

I use a weld through spray made of zink as protective layer before I weld the double layer metal together. I dont know how effective this is, but I intend to use some sort of undercarriage spray to penetrate between the metal sheets after painting the car. But I cant understand anything else that this is a rust trap how you do it, if it's supposed to look factory stock. Next time I will weld the NOS support metal for the rear bodymount.

Closing the rear end

The rear end of the heater channel has a distinctive profile. Luckily the outer panel was intact so I had to make the inner part. This was also timeconsuming, and had to be made in three pieces. I was looking to get good solid welds, because this is a very exposed area on the car. It all turned out Ok at last. Final grinding is still necessary to make it lokk satisfying. I also remebered in the last second to add the new mounting nut for the running board before closing the channel.

Closing the corner

It's always a little tricky to make ends meet (not only economical) and make things look right. To remove all evidence of rust and make fresh metal meet in every corner, I hade to make som new small pieces in the intersection between the heaterchannel and the inner wheel well. This proved to be difficult as the piece had double curves. It would have been nice to have a leather bag to punch against, but with some improvisation it fit at the end. It's both good and bad to know there is just a similar corner left =) I know how it's done, but also how much work there is behind it.

Veng? Who??

The next step was to fabricate a new piece of inside channel with the correct profile. Fürsten had a sample laying in the work shop, so I used this to find the shape. And it turned out perfect =) Now the alignment was close to perfect, but the corner was far from solid. Making the rounded piece around the heater tube was no easy task. But after a little trimming and adjusting, the pieces fell together. After welding everything up, it felt more solid and looks straight. It's probably forgivving to weld on a VW T1, as many of the lines on the lower body can be meassured out from straightlines, and nearly everything has the flat bottom of the car as a reference point.

I decided after starting the welding that the Veng part was no option in this corner. The shape was not anything near the OG shape. So I wnt for a total fabrication of the pieces myself. And it turned out better than expected. I had to skip the dimpeled part with the two holes for the bodymount, but in my eyes this is a small detail missed compared to welding in the Veng part with totally wrong shape. Maybe I can fabricate the the correct profile after everything is welded in place?

Puzzle with alignment

With so much metal removed, it is a challenge getting the corner in the right position again. It was no way around cutting away all this metal, to have solid material to weld into. I started with fabricating the outer channel side, and made sure to keep the draining holes intact, and got the height of the channel sitting right. The next step was cutting a Wolfpart bottom to fit, and tack it togheter carefully. Then I extended the last piece of the cross member, and meassured the hight to be as good as it could be at this time...

More rust

The rear end of the riht heaterchannel is a sad story... Quite much of this corner has to be removed, and there will be a problem finding the reference points again. After making the nessecary cuts, it became quite spacious back there =)

Trial fitting

Then it was time to try fitting the NOS part.. and wow, it "fit like a glove". The quality of the metal and the accurate fit is amazing... far from the repro pieces you buy today. Now it's just grinding down the weld underneath and rustprime the first layer of sheet metal. And then spotweld the new panel in place. I must admit it feels good to know how solid this corner of the car is becoming =)

Making a new part

The new innerwing plate was made out of sheet metal and cut to fit... The curved area had originally a nicely rounded edge. I hammered that out and it looked quite like the original panel. In the picture a little adjustment of the curve is still needed. The sheet metal was butt welded, and after changing from 0,6 to 0,8 mm thread in the welder, it went a lot easier.

Removing the rot

The rotted area was almost as big as the new welding plate, so I decided to make the cut in a way that most of the welding are covered by the outer plate when finnished. The edge of the rear compartment area was all good...

Re-using the bracket

Luckily the bracket was pretty good, and I think sandblasting it and remake the reinforcement will make it good as new. There are pretty much work to recreate all these details... Always a little more than you think...

Rear bodymount

After visiting Bad Camberg, the spirit to finnish the zwitter was back again. Sourcing som good NOS welding parts made the job more greatful. I started to drill out the spotwelds on the existing bodymount with the backplate, because some rust was showing through. After removing the 3 layer plate, a LOT of rust came foreward....

Collecting pieces

The choice of VW happenings to visit this summer was Bug Run in Sweden and Bad Camberg in Germany. They both have a swap meet, and the the best in each division. Bug Run swaps are the best in Scandinavia, and the BC is world class. Even on a limited budget, due to house building, I managed to track down some items for the zwitter that I have been looking for.

In the "pile of shit" are for example a KDF fanhouse plate, a NOS vdo fuelgauge with sender, a Störk temperature gauge, OG brakefuel reservoir w/floater, NOS welding parts, OG zwitter bonnet handle, and some split rubber "hard to find".... And some other "juggel" that may be used for the car...