Dude’s 58 Ragtop Beetle

[Deanodynosaurs]

Thanks all.

No way i'm selling this one! I have put so much blood sweet and tears into her! Shes a keeper!

She might get faster though!  

Dude 

[Deanodynosaurs]

Right there’s nothing on telly, so as good as any time to update my build thread.

Although it feels like I hadn’t done much recently, when I looked at the last pictures I posted I realised I have done a fair bit, and quite visual stuff.

Firstly I’ve fitted a BERG engine brace. Now although this is actually pretty much a bolt on affair, me being me I decided to do it a bit differently. I didn’t like the way the bracket bolted through the inner wheel arch so I welded the bracket on instead.



As usually nothing just fits, and the rod that drop down to the bar fouled the oil filter bracket and hoses. I got round this by fitting some extension pieces in between the hose fittings and hose ends, which can be seen below.



Another thing that I didn’t like about the original BERG setup I was the way that the bar that dropped from the bracket rubbed against the bumper mount. Thus just attracts rust. Thus I made my own brackets which mounted the bar slightly further away from the body.



I also did not like the way in which the bar just sat under the engine, as I was concerned it might slip off, for example under a heavy launch. Thus I welded a locating tab (ok it’s a bolt!) onto the metal seat of the rubber stop, which located into the front engine hole, which was ground into a half moon shape for some reason.



These pictures shows more clearly how it fits onto the engine.





And the engine support bracket all fitted up.




And now for something a bit more visual. The car with the bonnet wings, and running boards all fitted up!
Wings are fibreglass daymoulding wings which are an excellent fit, but the bonnet is a OG four tab. Headlights are also fitted and fully workings, and the regulation cal look t bars are there too.



OG handle and badge fitted.



Posh ali fittings and stainless bolts used throughout.







Looking at the interior, a few more bits added as well. There’s a genuine 58-59 only plastic sun visor. These are different from the oval ones as they are curved, rather than square, and being two years only are very hard to find. Cheers to Delly and Steve for this, it’s your old one!



And here the glovebox with a genuine EMPI glove box pull. I know it might be a little resto cal, but I love it and I can actually open the glovebox with it as well!!



And finally the rear tail lights fitted! These have been wired so that as well as being tail lights and brake lights they also flash. The semaphores also still work, but they flash now too! Thanks again to Larry from Resto Custom for the wiring diagram.



Anyway that me up-to-date. Hope some of you are still awake after my geeky ramblings!

Dude

[71CALRIPPER]

Love the work dude..dude

[Zach Gomulka]

A lick of paint and some threads and you'll be done! Nice work.

[Rocket Ron]

looking good, I love all the little bits you've done, really well thought out 

[fahrvergnugen]

Looking good dude

[Deanodynosaurs]

Although I have been doing a fair bit on the car, I’ve not done a lot of ‘visual’ stuff recently.  I’ve been doing bits like chasing down wiring faults, bleeding brakes, and lots of little odds and end jobs. However, here are a few of the more interesting things I’ve done.

Firstly I hadn’t realised that on the front disk, the wheels was sitting on the centre bit where the bearing goes, and not actual sitting fully home on the face of the disc. A trip to Bears Motorsport followed and the inner parts of the disk was turned down so that the wheels now sit all the way home.






I also finally got the pop out windows fitted that have been sitting on the top of my cupboard for years. Not without drama though, as I managed to drop the whole assembly whilst fitting it and break the catch, breaking the only bit that know body reproduces.  




However, Jonny from Java VW came to the rescue sorting me out with a pair of OG latches, and in the ivory colour I was eventually going to change the knobs to anyway.

Here’s the pop outs all fitted up.










I’ve also been doing a few more small bits. For example I have fitted carb return springs, using machined down hex bar linkage mounts.








I also fitted a quick connect/ disconnect wiring terminal to the decklid so it can quickly and easily be removed.




Oh, and whilst were at the decklid are, I trial fitted the number plates. Took me ages to work out the best way to do this, and the position, and in the end I just used bolts with some spacers to keep the plate flat, but it looks ok.




 I also noticed when I fitted the T bars that they didn’t line up right, so I started making some shims to correct this. These were done in a single piece of aluminium in the end, once I’d got the spacing right.






I have the same problem on the fronts, but these actually needed cutting and re-welding as the need to be spaced the other way. Oh well nothings easy!















If I’m gonna race the bug at any point I’ll also need a tank breather with a rollover valve, as this is a MSA requirement. Most of the breathers I found were massive, and way over sized, but I did manage to find a small one in the end which looked OK. I think it looks pretty cool with the copper lines as breather.



 


The line exits the boot space through a factory hole, and goes to a breather under the tank, attached to the bulk head. Most of this was made from standard brake line fittings.





So that’s it really, not a load of progress, but some progress all the same.

Dude  

[Jesus]

Progress is progress dude,

Lovely to see you all be it brief at dubfreeze.

[leec]

Interesting idea on the fuel tank breather, might have to borrow that!!

Where is the roll over valve positioned?
What fuel cap is that? Msa hate mine as they say it will leak if the car rolls!

Lee

[Deanodynosaurs]

Hi Alex, Was great to see you too mate. We should actually jusy sit down n have a beer and catch up one time.

Lee, the valve is actually in the little ali piece on the top of the tank, and it works well as i tried blowing through it right way up, and upside down, and it does as it should, and well!!
I got it from speedflow and its a Mocal one i think. A bugger to fit at it uses a ali sealing nut, ad you cant weld a nut in, as its a special breathed one (is that a word?!).

No idea on the fuel cap, i had it off a mate, who had it on a tank he had. I am gonna replace it for the standard VE logo'd one which should be fine with a good seal.

[Deanodynosaurs]

Bit of an update.

I’ve actually decided that, despite not being able to race in MSA classes (i.e. VWDRC, OLFF etc), I’m not going to fit a roll cage. I know some people think I’m mental, but I built this car to use and enjoy, and having a full cage does get in the way (I know from the race car). I could actually live with a 4 point cage, but MSA rules say I got to have a 6 point due to the ragtop, and I’m just not willing to have all the scaffolding down the A pillar.

However, and bear with me cause I’m getting there, but I’m not happy to run without decent seatbelt/ restraint either. At the moment there’s nothing, as 59 didn’t come with belts.  I don’t like the look of standard later 3 point belt, and I’m not willing to fit the harness using the ‘easy break your spine route’ of fixing them to the centre of the rear seats.

Thus I’ve come up with the following design, which allows 4 point harnesses to be fitted, the ragtop to be easily opened, and for passengers in the back (with a bit of climbing under tubes!)



I’ve actually made a prototype version of this with thinner tube (gonna use CDS tube for real thing), and here’s how it fits. Thank you to the wife for being my glamorous assistant!














It will attach to the B pillars using welded on plates with welded in nuts, and another plate welded to the bar will bolt to this. A bar (not shown) will also drop down to the tunnel. This will stop it pulling down when people grab hold of it getting in the back!. Here’s the plates I made.








And here’s a mock up of how the plates will fit on the bar (excuse the terrible bend, pipes to thin, and the pipe bender just kinked it!).  Good enough for a template though.




Well that the mock up, but I’ve ordered some CDS tube to make the real thing. Update soon.

Dude  

[Deanodynosaurs]

Well it’s been a while since I last posted any updates, but I can finally report the trial build is finished.

I’ve actually been quite busy, so where to start. Well I decide that I wasn’t up to the job of fabricating the harness bar myself thus I went to see Bob at Concept Racing (http://www.conceptracing.co.uk).  I cannot recommend  Bob’s work highly enough, but I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.





Stunning TIG welding.





Harness loops to keep the belt in place.



And with the seats and harnesses fitted.










Welded in inserts to attach the harnesses.






Next up I fitted an external oil cooler. I decided I wanted a external cooler as well as the standard cooler, as I’d heard stories of big engine car over heating in traffic que’s, a fact of life in the UK.......

Now originally I had got a complete fan and cooler set up. However, I planned to fit it under the rear parcel shelf, and as usual it didn’t fit!! Thus I had to do some modifications.











And heres it hidden away underneath the car.







The oil line connections to the oil filter and motor.




Next up was a front number plate mount. Now we all know most cal look owners use the, ‘It must have fell off officer....’ excuse for not running one, but I didn’t want to be stopped all the time. Thus I came up with this quickly removable bracket.








I positioned it slightly back from the t bars so it’s not used as a bumper!!





Next up it was time to sort one of those annoying niggles, the front tyres rubbing on the inner arch. Now I don’t like tyres rubbing partly because it remove the paint, but mainly cause it causes damage to  the tyres which could be dangerous.

Now I already had an early steering box fitted and racked my brains for ways to limit the travel on the pitman arm of this. However in the end I decided it was easier just to fit a later box, pitman arm, and weld on a stop to the beam.

Here’s the later box I found in my lock up.



And here’s it after a bit of a clean up and paint.





And here’s the stop welded in (excuse the welding, this will be tidied up when the beam is off!)






Another annoying niggle I had was brakes related. Although I’d fitted a ‘performance’ master cylinder, the pedal still had a soft feel to it, which I attributed to the larger brake callipers both front and back. Sadly I also had some problems sealing the pipes from the duel reservoirs I had made

Thus I decided to change the master cylinder to a Porsche 944 item, due to its bigger piston, and the integral reservoir. It worked well, and the pressure was increased as well, as stopping the leak. It also had an added bonus of a low brake fluid sender, which I wired to a dash light.



Master cylinder fitted.




Next up it was time to change the car from a shell to a car by fitting the doors.

I was lucky enough to have found some NOS door that had been sitting at the back of a workshop for years. Sounds good but they were only painted in factory primer, and thus there was a fair bit of surface rust.

Anyway first job was to fit mirror hinge pins, as i wanted to run mirrors both sides. Now I gotta say the door hinge pin tool that Joey Coghill produces is worth its weight in gold when it comes to removing door hinge pins. Both were done in 20 mins.






I made this tool for installing the hinge pins.


Hinge pins installed



Next up was removing that surface rust.









And some protective paint



And the passenger side door fitted.



And heres all the internals,

 

Now it turns out the doors I have are actually 61 doors. There are a few slight differences, such as the door lock bar flex support thingie. Thus I made one to stop the bar flexing.



And a few more details








So here it is. The finished car. (well in terms of trial build).





 

And here’s the motor.



And a shots of the interior.



And here’s the dash layout (n.b. This is a temporary tacho, I have a matching motometer one to go in)



Well that’s it!

Time to start stripping it all down again for paint.

Dude

[Chris W]

Great work on the car! Really like your harness mounts.

[Lids]

belt bar is good, also acts as a handlebar for the rear passengers!

Put glass in it and take it for a spin

[tikimadness]

Wow cool dude!! Nice subtle mods you made.
Wanna see it with some shinny paint.

Michael

[Deanodynosaurs]

Thanks all.

Lids, i did take it for a spin, well sort of. Was going to take it round the block, but only got to the end of the lane before i ran out of fuel!!  

tikimadness, me too.

Dude  

[stretch]

I know how much work has gone into this car, well done Dude, looks great.

Now get it booked in for paint !!!   

[Jesus]

Looks Great Dude, sorry again for being miles away when you called the other day.

Looking forward to seeing the car all shiny!

[Rich_h]

dude looking good 

cheers for the tank by the way
(well stretch cheers for the tank )

hopefully see it in the flesh at shacky dragday ?

rich

[jamiep_jamiep]

Looks ace Dude, and seconded, we'd love to see this along at Drag Day next year. Glad to see all your hard work paying off

[Nico86]

Great work and cool car!

[Deanodynosaurs]

Thanks all for the kind words.

Yes i will hopefully start to sort getting it painted soon! Keep bugging me Stretch!! 

Jesus, No worries mate. I'm not always with it!! Anyway your not used to seeing me (well speaking! to me) anywhere not at a race track!! 

As for the Drag Day, i really hope i can get it done for then. Drag Days are the sort of events i built the car for.

Dude 

[hotrodsurplus]

Another annoying niggle I had was brakes related. Although I’d fitted a ‘performance’ master cylinder, the pedal still had a soft feel to it, which I attributed to the larger brake callipers both front and back. Sadly I also had some problems sealing the pipes from the duel reservoirs I had made

Thus I decided to change the master cylinder to a Porsche 944 item, due to its bigger piston, and the integral reservoir. It worked well, and the pressure was increased as well, as stopping the leak. It also had an added bonus of a low brake fluid sender, which I wired to a dash light.

That's a lot of hard work. It's coming out nicely.

I'd like to point out one thing with your master-cylinder observation. Increasing the master-cylinder bore diameter reduces hydraulic pressure for a given amount of input force. So effectively you reduced the amount of pressure that your system generates.

But that's not necessarily a bad thing. The larger caliper bores will generate more mechanical force for a given amount of hydraulic pressure (as you stated the larger bores also make a pedal spongy). So in your case you upset the system balance by installing the larger calipers (which generate more mechanical force at the expense of a softer pedal) but restored it by fitting a larger master-cylinder bore (which generates less hydraulic force at the expense of a harder pedal).

Bear in mind that I'm talking balance and not bias. Bias usually describes the braking-force ratio between the front and rear axles. You can have acceptable overall balance and still have improper bias.

Hope this helps.

[Deanodynosaurs]

Another annoying niggle I had was brakes related. Although I’d fitted a ‘performance’ master cylinder, the pedal still had a soft feel to it, which I attributed to the larger brake callipers both front and back. Sadly I also had some problems sealing the pipes from the duel reservoirs I had made

Thus I decided to change the master cylinder to a Porsche 944 item, due to its bigger piston, and the integral reservoir. It worked well, and the pressure was increased as well, as stopping the leak. It also had an added bonus of a low brake fluid sender, which I wired to a dash light.

That's a lot of hard work. It's coming out nicely.

I'd like to point out one thing with your master-cylinder observation. Increasing the master-cylinder bore diameter reduces hydraulic pressure for a given amount of input force. So effectively you reduced the amount of pressure that your system generates.

But that's not necessarily a bad thing. The larger caliper bores will generate more mechanical force for a given amount of hydraulic pressure (as you stated the larger bores also make a pedal spongy). So in your case you upset the system balance by installing the larger calipers (which generate more mechanical force at the expense of a softer pedal) but restored it by fitting a larger master-cylinder bore (which generates less hydraulic force at the expense of a harder pedal).

Bear in mind that I'm talking balance and not bias. Bias usually describes the braking-force ratio between the front and rear axles. You can have acceptable overall balance and still have improper bias.

Hope this helps.

Ah thank you, that does make perfect sense, and actually seems to work in practice as well.

Since changing the brake pedal is restored back to how it should feel, i.e. much more positive.

As for the bias , without getting it checked on the rollers i wont really know. But i'm hoping it should be about right, i.e. 60/40 to the front as the Horizon calipers are larger.

Dude 

[Deanodynosaurs]

I know I said I was going to start stripping it down for paint, but I got one last update before I do. It's a good un.

I always wanted something a bit special exhaust wise, so I went to see a long time friend of mine Turbo Thomas who custom made me this absolute stunning 1 3/4" merged header with turbo muffler. I am really pleased with it as the fit is perfect, the welding is stunning, and he positioned the muffler exactly where I wanted it to sit under the rear valance. You just don't get something that well made of good fitting off the shelf.













He also used a more modern style collector, which is held on with springs, which I think looks super good.





So that's it, it really is time to start stripping it down for paint.

Dude 

[hotrodsurplus]

You just don't get something that well made of good fitting off the shelf.

amen, brother. That is some beautiful craftsmanship and it has the potential to outlast the car. Congratulations.

I have one question: why didn't you eliminate the conventional slip joints? I totally understand the slip joints to the collector (and think it's a good idea) but the other slip joints are largely redundant. Manufacturers build those into production systems so they will fit dozens of engine combinations. This header on the other hand was made for this particular engine. Plus slip joints represent potential leak spots.

Not knocking the job at all--it really is beautiful--but I'm just curious. 

[Deanodynosaurs]

You just don't get something that well made of good fitting off the shelf.

amen, brother. That is some beautiful craftsmanship and it has the potential to outlast the car. Congratulations.

Cheers fella, i completly agree.

I have one question: why didn't you eliminate the conventional slip joints? I totally understand the slip joints to the collector (and think it's a good idea) but the other slip joints are largely redundant. Manufacturers build those into production systems so they will fit dozens of engine combinations. This header on the other hand was made for this particular engine. Plus slip joints represent potential leak spots.

Not knocking the job at all--it really is beautiful--but I'm just curious.  

Good question mate, and I did check with Rich. Not suprsingly knowing him there done not for ease but for a specific reason.

He leaves the slip joint in as as the motor gets hot as it expands, and if it was welded together, over time this may lead to the header cracking. Agreed about slip joint being a potential sorce of leaking. However, the slips on this arnt baggy mass produced once, there super tight fits, thus i pretty sure there not gonna leak, especially with a bit of exhaust paste. :-)

Dude  

[Deanodynosaurs]

Well time for an update, and there is a lot to update.

The car has now been fully stripped down, with the pan and body separated, so it’s time to get some paint in them.

 

Now at this point I must say, the paint has always been an important part of the build for me, and here only the best will do. This is why I chose Nick and Stevo at Double H Restoration to do the job.

The car was painted in two stages. Firstly the chassis was painted. When I collected this I dropped the body off, as I simply hadn’t got room for both in my garage at the same time. It also meant I could building the floorpan up whilst the body was being done. Thanks to Nick and Stevo for being so understanding about this. 

However, they are in Coventry and I’m in South Wales so I needed to get both the body and the floorpan to them! In order to do this I built a transport frame for the floorpan which fitted into the back of my van. It only just fitted though!!

 

 

Once the floor pan was delivered the first thing they did was to media blast it. Luckily they found no serious rust in it, other than a small amount of pitting.

 

Stevo then worked his magic on the pan, undersealing the bottom, filling any pitting, and finally giving it a coat of gloss black. I am so impressed with the finish on this. Its BETTER than a new pan!

 

This picture show the quality of Double H's work. Spring plates painted, wet flatted and polished.



Other parts painted by Double H.





And here’s a few parts I painted. Well I say ‘a few’ parts, there were bloody hundred of little chassis parts that you don’t think about that all need stripping down, prepping, and painting.











Stevo also painted some old panels so that I could decide on the final colour for the body. It is definitely going to be blue, but I’m trying to decide whether it was going to be Fjord Blue L434 (left) or Capri Blue L335 (right). I decided on Capri Blue in the end.



Before I move onto the floorpan build up, here’s the Body delivered to Double H Restorations. Again a special transport frame was built to take it there. The body bolts to the frame, and it can then be ratchet strapped down to a trailer. Having caster wheels it also means it easy to move around in the workshop.

 



However, there a lot more panels than just the body, doors, decklid (decklids in my case!), and bonnet that need painting! Here’s all the other panels I stripped off the car! You don’t realise how many there are until you put them all together!



Now at this point, (and on a slight tangent), I gotta say a massive thanks to my Dad for re-roofing my garage, so that I’ve got a dry, non-damp place to build the car in (Not that my dad even knows what the internet is!!). It great not to have guttering inside the garage, and not find your tools covered in condensation.

Here’s the freshly painted pan back in my lovely dry new garage. I am so pleased with the finish on this. Note the flat and polished bulk head and frame forks.







The underside of the pan was undersealed as its going to be a car that gets driven.



Now initially I started on the rear suspension, and the first job I tried to do was to fit the spring plate. However, sadly the new rubbers seemed to be too stiff for my old spring plate covers (Which Double H restoration had beautifully painted), and they bent the covers.





After a lot of discussion with people, I decide to change to later style swing axle spring plate covers, as their made of much thicker steel. The only down side is there no hole in them for the tube to stick out. They are in the process of being sent out to an engineer to have the hole machined in them.

Following this slight issue, I turned my attention to the front of the car. However, before I bolted the beam on, I decided to fit the braking and fuel systems, as it was easier to do without the beam in the way.

Here’s the freshly painted tunnel cover plate with a fuel line bulk head fitting.



And heres it exiting at the rear of the tunnel.



The filter and pump fitted in the bulkhead.

Note, the aluminium part of the pump body has been polished, with the raw steel part as well as the clamp being lacquered to stop them rusting.



And here’s the fuel line connected to the front bulk head connection (yes the beams on! Not all pictures are in order!)

 

Next I turned my attention to the breaking system. Here is the 944 master cylinder and reservoir fitted, as well as the line lock. I know its sad, but the brake lines have been polished.



And here’s a good photo of both the braking system and fuel system.



And here’s the brake lines at the back. It took me ages to get it all run nicely! The brake line furrels are actually stainless steel items (which were hard to find!) as the steel ones I used in the trial build had rusted, thus I decided they needed replacing with stainless versions.

 

Talking of braking systems, here’s the handbrake! I originally wanted to paint it factory correct stone beige (L471). However, after asking 5-6 paint shops you’d think I was asking for unicorn tears!! In the end I colour matched some factory painted parts to the closest colour I could, and I’m happy with the result.

 



And still talking of brakes, here’s the pedal assembly all painted, and bolted up. Until you rebuild your pedals you don’t realise how many parts there are, I.e. how many parts I had to repaint!!





I didn’t like the wobbly z bar thing on the accelerator pedal so this has been swapped for an adjustable rose joint system. The pedal stop plate and l bracket thingie has also been swapped for stainless steel versions.

So at last it’s time to bolt the beam on.



Caster shims are fitted, and the beam was bolted on using standard, but plated, high tensile bolts. Where possible I have replaced steel bolt/ nuts with stainless, with the sway-a-way adjuster bolts being a good example of this.



The drop arms and shocks were then fitted.  Due to loss of paint on the KYB shocks when the outer casing were removed to give clearance on the beam I decided to repaint them. A similar grey with a slight metallic was used. However, after initial painting I decided it wasn’t shiny enough, so I lacquered them as well!!



Rather than used standard steel nuts on the drop arms these were replaced with stainless nuts and washers.



Next up I bolted the axles on. Stainless steel link pin pinch bolts were used.





The freshly painted steering box was also bolted on at this point. A later box was used in the end as it allowed me to incorporate steering stop, so that the tyres didn’t rub on the inner arches.

Note the polished steering box top, done by hand in my front room, taking two nights much to the annoyance of my wife who hates the smell of autosol!!



Now a steering box is no use without tie rods, so here’s the tie rods fitted. A steering damper has also been added.





Again more stainless items. This time the tie rod locking tabs. These will be locked down once the tracking is done.





So here’s the chassis with the front suspension all the way out to the stub axles done.



Sorry it been so long since the last update. I hope you liked it.

Dude

[Neil Davies]

Wow Dude, that's looking great!  You've got more patience than me...

[richie]

I cant believe it hasn't got deanodynosoars valve covers on it  

Looks real good apart from that

cheers Richie