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.