The Cal-look Lounge

Hi lounge people and fellow cal look enthusiasts. Some of you may already have seen my Red Zeppelin 67 bug but i've been meaning to come on here for a while to share some of the photos and words of the blood,sweat and tears me and my brother (Matty C on the lounge) went through to build my dream car. It was all made more difficult as most of it was done in a tiny council single lock up garage in East London that you couldn't even park a Ford mondeo in and close the door. It was originally just going to be a quick rub down and blow over with some cellulose india red taking a couple of months but got a little out of control. 6 years of weekends out of control.
Heres a couple of pics of the before and after to get started.[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Nice 😎 really enjoyed the feature in ultra vw, do you have any pictures of the dash vent delete that you did?

Thank you. Paul did a really nice feature in ultra. I’m going to try to put to pics up in order so I will get to the dash vents. We did them fairly early into the build so shouldn’t be too long.

Sweet! This is definitely gonna be a thread worth keeping up with, the Ultra VW feature was the first I'd ever seen of the car, and it absolutely blew me away.

Thanks Andrew. Been to a few shows since it was finished but hope to use it a lot more now

I bought the car about 20 years ago as an unmolested ruby red 1300 delux.[attachment=1][attachment=2]
It was my daily driver for a couple of years, adding bits as and when I could afford it (bucket seats, grant woodrim, berg shifter)[attachment=3]

I lowered the front and bought some genuine 4.5 and 5.5 early Fuchs. You couldn't get one wheel now for what i paid for the whole set. Although they had been sandblasted so needed loads of flatting and polishing.[attachment=1]
then came a nice 1776cc with IDA's and it stayed like that for a few years occasionally getting a thrashing down the strip[attachment=2]
Over at North Weald alongside Ian clarks split WPS racer and Lee Maynards choptop. Talk about punching above your weight[attachment=3][attachment=4]

Nice one Jay.
I love the UK spec 67's in Ruby Red so much I bought one too!!

In the aircraft hangar, how did you get Aaron Kaufman from Gas Monkey Garage to come all the way over to the UK then??  ;D

Cant see the front and dont get UVW but do you still have slopers or did you go for US spec 67's?

Cheers
Marc

Cheers dude. Was going to have sloping headlights but changed my mind about 3/4 of the way through the build and went upright for the U.S 67 look. Not the first time I’ve been called Aaron lol

What a nice looking little car, even in its earliest days! I'd love for my '67 to look about like that at some point!

About time we saw a build thread on this beautiful looker. Nice one.

i'd booked the car in with Andy Robinson race cars to have a roll cage fitted, but there was a bit of a waiting list so while i was waiting we started to strip the car down and soon realised that under the paint things were not as solid as we thought. Among other things, one of the heater channels was going to need replacing before the cage could be fitted.[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3] 

The only heater channels available then were bad repro early ones or you could get genuine late channels. Late channels were quite different but we decided to go with the late (better quality) one and Matty modified it to an early one. We'd never done anything this major before but thought we'd give it a go.....[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

[attachment=1] Now the foundations were a bit more solid it was off to Andy Robinson for the cage[attachment=2][attachment=3]

The cage was welded to the heater channels and also bolted down to the pan so the cage and body could still be seperated from the pan. It was also welded to the frame horns and had joining plates for body removal[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

[attachment=1]

Distinct lack of updates going on here.

Sorry bout that Lyndon. Laptops working again.
Some rust and bad repairs in the usual places like the spare wheel well and front valance.[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Nos spare wheel well panel[attachment=1][attachment=2]
we also remade the bumper brackets 5mm narrower so that the T-bars sit bang in the middle of the valance slots. T-bars normally will sit very slightly off center due to being thicker than standard bumper irons[attachment=3]

[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Small modifications to the nos front valance. Will probably go mostly unnoticed when finished[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3][attachment=4]

Considering it’s a UK car, it wasn’t in bad condition!  Some great ideas and details going on. Kudos 😎👍

Not too bad for a UK car but still had some pretty rough areas..Found a pic from under the valance/spare wheel well. Looks like i might have scraped a few speed bumps as well[attachment=1]

with the heater channel done i could get the repair to the inner wing done[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Moving to the back, the rear valance needed to come off as it was to be made removable and the rear bumper hangers needed sorting out[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

[attachment=1][attachment=2]

[attachment=1][attachment=2]

You put earlier style bumper hangers on because they are lighter yeah?!  ;D

Yes exactly that. Nothing to do with no one making 67 only panels lol

 ;D
Repairs look really nice mate.

Cheers dude. Once all the boring rust repairs were done we had a nice blank canvas to do the more fun creative stuff.

I wanted to change the delux headliner to the small 1200 type and was told i would have to drill out some spot welds to remove the headliner holding strips. After stripping out the old headlining i realised its not that simple as 67 and later bugs had tabs punched out of the body on the C-posts. These needed to be cut out and welded individually(18 of them)[attachment=1][attachment=2]

[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Next up trim removal and welding up all the trim holes. Love the look of dechromed cal look cars.[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Some changes to the dash now. Blanking off the speaker grills to take some VDO gauges. Used a part of an old glove box lid as it already had the correct curve.[attachment=1] Grinding the welds down.This is the space we have to work in if its raining outside :o[attachment=2][attachment=3]

Welded and holes cut[attachment=1] With inserts[attachment=2]

And gauges ,although the gauge layout changed twice more before I was finally happy with it. More of that later...[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Will be moving to London soon and hope to have something old to drive around - following with interest!

Never noticed the front valance mod- love those details - thanks for sharing

 Very cool build, I love the attention to detail...

Gesendet von meinem EVA-L09 mit Tapatalk

Really nice car !
I dig the eyebrow vents on the rear decklid.
First time I saw them, was in a feature of Ricki Riyat black cal-looker in february '98. Volksworld issue.  8)

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Ricki’s 67 was a very cool car

welding up the center heater vent[attachment=1][attachment=2]

and glove box lid trim holes[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Discs in place for welding up the grab handle holes[attachment=1] filing down a small amount of lead after teaching myself how to do lead loading[attachment=2][attachment=3][attachment=4]

What a great thread, can't wait to see all the other touches

Next we wanted to weld up the ashtray so that the ignition barrel could be relocated to the centre with switches for the fuel pump and magneto kill either side. I like symmetry ;D[attachment=1] This is the area that needs cutting out[attachment=2] Plate made and tacked in[attachment=3]

[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Switches and ignition installed[attachment=1] and the gauges back in[attachment=2] looks ok but needs more gauges...

decided to fit a tach so needed to weld up the holes i'd already cut so it could be re-cut for 3 gauges[attachment=1]

and the same with the insert[attachment=1][attachment=2]

[attachment=1][attachment=2] looks better but somethings still not right. Maybe a little unbalanced. So we welded up the hole on the left side and in the left insert and re-cut both for one more gauge

[attachment=1][attachment=2] Thats better :)

I couldn’t be arsed with making all the wiring look neat on mine. Nice work.

At this point i hadn't even thought about the wiring. Although i think i was more surprised than anyone how well the wiring turned out considering i'd never wired a car before

[attachment=1]All steel eyebrow decklid that the Paintbox had knocked up for me [attachment=2] although it could have ended up like this[attachment=3]

nice little job of welding up the aerial hole[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Lucas indicators fitted to my Day moulding front wings. Cant remember who told me the trick of drawing a line from the headlight mounting screw to the top of the bumper slot for perfect positioning of the center of the lucas lamp[attachment=1]  Notice i was still going with sloping headlights at this time[attachment=2]

More rot in the usual places that needed cutting out[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Didnt know how far the rust had travelled behind the body mount panels so thought the best thing was to remove them and check[attachment=1][attachment=2]

[attachment=1][attachment=2]

It wasnt too bad but there was some small repairs to be made and some repairs from before i owned it that had been done badly that would need re-doing properly[attachment=1][attachment=2]

To get the rear crossmembers out and to do a few other jobs we needed to seperate the body from the pan.Not that easy when you're this limited for space. Just enough room to get the body up and roll the pan out. And the garage door can still close. Result ;D[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Interesting view[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Great pics to follow- thanks

Cheers Heydon 8)

Shit area to fix, who’s repair panels did you use?

The rear crossmembers are the later genuine Vw ones that I got shipped over from the states. Couldn’t get decent early ones then. At least now you can get good ones from klassic fab.

love your thread, thanx for taking the time to post

Thanks Karl. Lyndon, wasn’t sure if you was asking about the crossmembers or the body mount panels. As it’s a 67 ,it would be a one year only panel which no one makes(like everything else on a 67) so we used late bug (heritage) for the large backing panel and early body mounts from hooky. It looked right and Hooky’s mounts are much stronger than stock ones

I was asking about the cross members , it took me a while to source a pair of genuine body cuts and those needed plenty of work to make them right. Top darts, I’m enjoying the thread, brilliant work especially considering the lack of room etc. Keep the updates coming

The car is not going to have heaters so while the shell is up we removed the heater pipes and painted the inside of the channels[attachment=2]

Crossmembers and offending rot removed[attachment=1][attachment=2]

New genuine vw crossmembers. Heater holes will be welded up[attachment=1]

Fitted[attachment=1]

the shrinker/stretcher we bought was really handy for making a piece to repair part of the lower arch[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Really is inspirational work. I'm envious of your skills!  8)

Thanks Keith ,that means a lot. I think we done alright considering mine and Mattys day jobs are not related in any way to cars or engineering or anything like that. Just a self taught hobby. 
The Lounge build threads have been inspirational and the owners very helpful with advice (namely Lyndon and Danny Gabbard among others) and talking to people like Simon Emery from the Paintbox and watching Ron Covell DVD’s has taught us plenty. Still always asking questions though  ;D

turning to the pan for a while[attachment=1]

removed the heater cables and tubes and welded up the outlets and did the same to the rear section of fuel pipe as it wasn't going to be used. Also added a frame to hold the oil cooler. You can also see the sections of the roll cage that attach to the frame horns that allow for separation to remove the body[attachment=1]

spot welds drilled out and cuts made to gain access to inside of the tunnel[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Teflon fuel line fitted in the tunnel. Rear end exits under the shiftrod/transmission coupling[attachment=1] and from underneath[attachment=2]

i'm curious why the exit is at the bottom of the pan..?
why not on top?  ???

Just for ease of access to the fitting. The oil cooler is to one side plus oil thermostat , torque bar and roll cage mounts. The fitting is on the part that slopes up so it is still tucked up out of the way but easily reachable.

[attachment=1]fitting the other end was quite tricky through the access hole in the end of the framehead. Small hands and long arms help ;D.  [attachment=2]

The teflon fuel line was cable tied to the clutch cable tube. The center section of the original fuel pipe was left in place for added rigidity to stop vibration[attachment=1][attachment=2]

At some point while working on the body, i had to chuck a tarpaulin over the pan as a sudden snow storm hit..Wish i had a bigger garage but work goes on...[attachment=1]

True dedication right there jay 8)

More evidence of bad repairs by previous owner[attachment=1] straight doner piece[attachment=2]

the car had all its original layers of paint and it appeared to have had at least 2 resprays on top of that. Removing the paint proved hard work as nitromorse didnt seem to do much so it was all sanded off.Quite a lot of it by hand[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Removing the bonnet seal strips to remove any hidden rust[attachment=1]More removal of original layers of paint and covering with a light coat of red oxide to keep the rust away[attachment=2][attachment=3]

Welded up more unwanted holes (catches for rear pop outs, rear seat belts and rear seat mounting points and stoppers)[attachment=1][attachment=2]

By this time, me and my shoulders are starting to really hate sanding[attachment=1][attachment=2]

[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3][attachment=4]

Inspirational work.  8)

Thanks Keith. Hope you’re feeling better. 
Couldn’t have done any of this without Mattys help throughout the build. He’s truly inspirational and kept me motivated

I'm looking at these pictures and thinking: "I'd slap a headliner in and cover up all them holes!"

Which is exactly why my cars will never be to the standard of yours. Truly awesome.

Lots of work to clean up all these areas. Great detail.

But I would still know that the holes are there. I wouldn’t be able to sleep  ;D Thanks Neil.

Cheers Lyndon. So far just the tip of the iceberg. You know probably better than anyone how many unnecessary or unwanted holes there are ,or just areas that can be tidied or improved.
Word of caution to anyone thinking of welding every single hole inside the cabin. When you try to close your doors the air pressure cannot escape and so you have to close the doors slowly but firmly. Open the window slightly and the doors close easier lol

Nos rear valance.Will be made removable and have exhaust cut outs welded up[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Wanted to move the shifter back as i find it difficult to reach 1st and 3rd when strapped in with racing harnesses.
Taking some measurements[attachment=1]
Tunnel marked out.The two pieces will be cut out and swapped around[attachment=2][attachment=3]

Body off again to take the weight off of the pan while the tunnel is cut[attachment=1]
[attachment=2][attachment=3][attachment=4]

Tacked in[attachment=1][attachment=2]

[attachment=1][attachment=2]

My brand new late model doors needed a few modifications to make them into 67 doors and to accept my winder mechanisms[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3][attachment=4]

another winder mech mount welded in[attachment=1]
support for door pull welded in[attachment=2]

Now onto the one piece windows. There have been a few details about my one piece windows that a lot of people have asked me about especially the one piece aluminium surround so i'll try to show how we did it.
First i fitted a second bailey channel in each door to support the front edge of the one piece glass[attachment=1][attachment=2]

When the vent window is removed, there isnt any room on the edge to make a hole for a clip for the new longer one piece scraper. I could have just glued the scraper in but prefered to modify the door so it could be clipped in olong its entire length.[attachment=1][attachment=2]

With one piece windows, i never really liked the way the felt channel was really visible so we tried a few ideas to hide it slightly. Matty came up with the idea to make a aluminium surround like stock bugs have and as we've never seen anyone do it before we thought it might not work. After lots of head scratching we gave it a go...[attachment=1] luckily i kept my old door tops for mocking it up[attachment=2][attachment=3]

painted black just to see how it will look[attachment=1][attachment=2]

[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Thats the pieces of the jigsaw all shaped[attachment=1][attachment=2]

What an epic car... that window trim is just amazing work. I can't wait to see the rest of the magic behind the car!

It’s the details that people don’t notice that take the most work to look right.

Thanks fellas. I think this modification is one of my favourite parts of the car. And you are right Lyndon, this is one of those details that people dont notice but took so much work to get right.

now in one piece with a bit of paint[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Thats gotta be worth taking a photo of ;D[attachment=1]
with the outer scraper attached (which is actually a one piece inner scraper remounted onto the aluminium trim) and Talbot 333 mirror now fitted[attachment=2][attachment=3]

[attachment=1]
Mattys seal of approval[attachment=2]

Hadn't really planned of putting photos up out of sequence but i thought id slip this one in to show how it turned out. Still had to fix the felt channel in properly[attachment=1]

I like that a lot.... well done

Cheers Ed

I see a VDM Coach wheel hiding in there... what ever happened to that?

It’s just hanging up on the garage wall. I was originally going to restore it but decided to go with a nice comfortable moto-lita.

Nothing wrong with that! I don't think the Coach would have suited the final result as well as the Moto-Lita anyways, it's a very chrome-heavy wheel. Anyways, thanks putting this build thread up, I'm really enjoying watching a masterpiece come together like this!

Cheers man. Appreciate it

Love this build. Al those details... wauw!  8)

Awsome..!!  What a great build...!

Come on slacker - it's been a week since you posted. Running out of popcorn!

Thanks guys. Sorry Keith but that is probably why it took so long to build the car ;D

A few more factory holes that serve no purpose. Only the floorpans and tunnel will be carpeted and this area will be painted so the holes need welding up[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Made a little bracket up to mount the horn and welded it to the front beam. The original horn bracket is such a rust trap[attachment=1][attachment=2]

I like the horn bracket! Think I'll steal that idea!

You drill holes in the horn bracket and fill holes in the footwell  :D

Yeah I know. Right. Would you believe me if I mumbled something about ballast and weight distribution. Nah didn’t think so :D

No I wouldn't believe you ;D

but you are sticking to the 'red' theme of the car.

Yes Nicolas. At this stage it was more Red”oxide primer” zeppelin

This was a nice little modification to do. Wanted to enlarge the fuel tank breather but keep it subtle.[attachment=1]
this piece took a few attempts to get right[attachment=2]

area to be cut was surprisingly large[attachment=1][attachment=2]

[attachment=1]this is the idea[attachment=2][attachment=3][attachment=4]

Look, will you stop making the rest of us (OK, me...) feel inadequate?  :D

If Keith Seume feels inadequate watching this thread, how the hell should I feel? My car's not even shiny! That fuel breather thing was one of my favorite featured modifications in the big magazine feature and it's cool to see more of how it came together.

Cheers guys. Having my brother working with me has helped immensely with coming up with ideas. Two heads are better than one so they say.

There was a fair bit of rust on the underside of the fuel tank so i borrowed a blaster to give it a clean to see how bad it was[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Now im sure professional blasters have proper protective clothing and fancy blasting booths....[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]. Everytime i pulled the trigger the tent inflated slightly. And the neighbours kept looking from behind their curtains and pointing.. They probably thought id finally lost the plot ::)

Spent a bit of time restoring the wiper mechanism and linkages so thought id see how well the motor would polish up[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]. Bit of work but it came up nice

I think I’ve seen everything but blasting inside a tent?  :D

I was going to remake the wiring loom and re-route it along the inside of rails that the fuel tank sits on so that the front section of wiring to the headlights and turn signals is all hidden. The pressings in the panels where the wires would have passed through are now redundant and have to go...[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3][attachment=4]

[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Also wanted to make a mounted tube for the speedo cable[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

What a great build.

Just read from the start and inspired.

Keep em coming !!! ;D

Cheers dude.If it inspires even one person to crack on with their project then thats a good thing.
Moving on with tidying the wiring, I wanted to hide the bit of wiring visible inside the footwell.[attachment=1]
I cut a piece of tube that would be welded between the two holes that the wires could pass through.[attachment=2][attachment=3]

When replacing the mechanical fuel gauge with an electrical one the original sender cover no longer fits the new electrical sender. I modified the cover making it deeper to fit and not interfere with the wire and also made a small tripod to mount it to.A narrow tube was bent up that would hide the tank wire and secured in place with a tab that was held by one of the tank bolts. Everything would be painted the same colour as the tank[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

So you like anal then....as in anal attention... I mean to detail.  ;D

Difficult to tell if that’s a compliment or a terrible chat up line😂😂

what kind of sender did you use, the tube-type or the arm-type?

It was the arm type. Just the standard sender for a late model bug

Next we decided to delete the heater vents. Not only because it will look cool, but also as i was going to run the wiring loom in the roof and down the windscreen A-posts. I had already tried to run the wires with the heater tubes in place and got the wires jammed between the heater tube and the screen post and destroyed the wires getting them back out. So if the heater tubes were going to go, it made sense to lose the vents at the same time and smooth out the dash top completely[attachment=1][attachment=2]This would have been so much easier if i had done it before the roll cage was fitted :'([attachment=3]

a lot of head scratching trying to work out how to make up the plates[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3][attachment=4]

The final dash mod was to delete the radio hole. We cut out a bit larger so we could lose any distortion from the original radio hole stamping.[attachment=1] Wasnt the easiest panel to clamp into place[attachment=2]

Welds ground down and a small bit of lead to finish[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Time to take a break from the body and show the seat frames some love[attachment=1] I cut the rear bar off and welded in two lengths of tube.[attachment=2] Then added some more tubes on top and bent up some tubes for the rear.Plus some mounting plates for the seats[attachment=3][attachment=4]

[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Very nice,
Can I ask you what kind of red primer you use?

Hi!

Just saw these pictures and after admiring the beautifull work I wondered how you made this panel?Did you use a panelbrake and then a shrinker?I have to make the same repairs due to bad seals and was wondering how you made these.

Keep up the good work!

Cheers,Arnoud

hi Eddie. It was just a rattle an primer from my local motor factors. I think the brand was Hycote which you can also get from euro car parts. It was just used to keep any rust away until it was painted properly,where most of the red was removed

Hi Arnoud. Yes I used a metal folder that I made myself and a Shriner/stretcher. These two tools were so handy in most of the panels that we fabricated.

Thanks for the reply!-I'll going to have to be getting one then ;D ;D

Cheers,Arnoud

Im happy with the frames so Matty was going to see what he could do with the side covers[attachment=1][attachment=2]
pieces taped in place[attachment=3]

Pieces tacked [attachment=1] Some more pieces shaped and tacked in place[attachment=2]

[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Just need to clean up the welds[attachment=1] And a bit of paint. They will eventually be painted gloss black [attachment=3]

Wauw!  :o  8)

[attachment=1]

Another detail I'd not noticed!

I'm not going to share this build thread with the kids at school just yet. They're building a '71 1200 Cal Looker but I think I'll wait til it's solid before I go mad on details!

Awesome build!
The seat undersite covers are super cool  :o.

gr
Wout

Cheers fellas.
Neil , there are so many things that people have missed on this car. Tried to keep the mods fairly subtle but hence the build thread to show some of the things that are less obvious 
Can you be sure that none of the kids at school aren’t already members on here ;D

I'm pretty sure! Did have one ex-pupil on a local forum a few years ago - didn't know he was into VWs until I turned up at his house to buy a motor off him! To be fair, he built a pretty nice car in the end, and he's probably early to mid 30s now. Still see him at the odd show here and there. Occupational hazard is suppose, I'm in my 18th year of teaching so I've probably taught a couple of thousand children!

That’s awesome mate. Must be good to make a difference. I doff my cap

Picked up a really clean pair of genuine headlamps while trawling the EBI swapmeet[attachment=1][attachment=2]

I wanted a pair of machine turned headlight inserts like Haneline used to make back in the day but they are no longer made and almost impossible to find. So i thought i'd have a go at making some. After a bit of practice and finding out what doesn't work ,i was ready to give it a try[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3][attachment=4]

It was at this point i completely changed my mind and wanted to go for upright headlights like a u.s spec 67 cal looker should have. A new pair of front wings were ordered from day mouldings and the hunt was on for a nice set of SB12 headlamps. After several months Restojohnny managed to find the parts to put together a decent set and ship them over to me. (thanks again restojohnny)[attachment=1][attachment=2]

They were stripped, blasted and repainted[attachment=1]
and reassembled (although the rims would eventually be painted the same colour as the car)[attachment=2]

[attachment=1][attachment=2]thats more like it

So where are the Haneline style inserts?

I gave them to Mike Walravens and they were fitted in his son louis’s awesome blue 66 cal looker[attachment=1]

Since I made the inserts I’ve had a bit more practice and made another set as a gift for a friend. Also just made one last set for the white Holmes/Aronson 63 [attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

great work on those!

Thanks Andy. They take ages to make but they turned out ok

Looking at the setup I was thinking how long it must take to make it look that even!

While on the subject of machine turning, i wanted a haneline license plate frame and hunted for one for ages but only knew of one and that definitely wasn't for sale. So once again I thought id have a go at making one.
measurements marked out[attachment=1] if you put one swirl in the wrong place you have to start from scratch[attachment=2]

More than happy with how they turned out ;D[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Cool! I gave mine back to Dean Kirsten, from whom I got it in the first place, along with the matching dash panels.

Yours was the one that I knew of. Remember you wanting to swap it for a Schneider motors frame. Did you ever get it? 

No, never did... :(

Next was a job I’d been putting off as I was not too confident about doing it. Wiring!!!
I drew up a wiring diagram incorporating things like the extra gauges, fuel pump and mag kill switch and deleting what I didn’t need (standard ignition system). I bought aircraft grade wires as they could be thinner than standard and still carry the correct amps. I was going to route it up in the roof of the car and down the windscreen a-post which would now be easier with the removal of the heater vents. [attachment=1][attachment=2]

All of the wires to the headlamps ,turn signals .fuel pump and horn would now be routed down this tube and run along the inside of the fuel tank support rails.[attachment=1][attachment=2]
Back breaking stuff[attachment=3]

taking shape[attachment=1]
might as well polish the relays while i'm at it[attachment=2]

loom was then removed and wrapped in old style cloth wiring tape[attachment=1]
Still a bit of finishing to do but you get the idea[attachment=2][attachment=3]

[attachment=1]

very nice wiring!

Thanks Karl. It was the thing I was most nervous about doing. And the fact that all the electrics worked was a result too ;D

Agreed, it looks so neat compared to a stock beetle 8)  The work you did out of that single garage & all your ideas still amazes me, very impressive :)

Thanks Richie really appreciate it. To be honest sometimes I can’t quite believe it either. Although we must be mad as we’re in the process of doing it all over again with Mattys 67. But this one is gonna be better than mine. Definitely need our heads examining [attachment=2]

2nd one is easy right as you done it all before so no doing anything twice again to make it right? :o :D  Ok maybe not!!!  Going to be hard to make it better than yours :)

I agree Richie let’s not say better, how about different  :D

Didnt want to bolt the fuel pump bracket directly to the bulkhead so made a cradle which would let me rubber mount it to the pan. Hopefully will be a bit quieter than the old holley pump i had previously.[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]
ignore the dodgy bulkhead as it hadnt been repaired yet[attachment=4]

Hopefully the car will see a little track action (if we have any drag strips left  >:( ) so fitting thicker torsion bars and uprated spring plates to stiffen the rear end[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Made a bracket for the line-lock and made up some brake pipes[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Really enjoying the build Jay and thought that has gone into all the small details - is this just a hobby or do you have an engineering background? Also, being London based are there any meets you know of or attend? Only ask as I've just moved here myself.

Thanks,
Steven

Thanks Steven ,really appreciate it. It’s just a self taught hobby and me and my brother have no background in engineering in any form at all. Learnt everything from books ,dvds (Ron Covells metalworking DVD’s are awesome) and talking to people who know what they’re doing. The buiild threads on here have helped to pick up tips too.
Due to being in the garage so much most weekends for the last few years building this car and now helping on my brothers build we haven’t got to as many shows as we’d like but hope to get to more soon.
Where about in London have you moved to?

Managed to track down a Thunderbird dual muffler but wanted to do a few mods to get it to sit exactly how i wanted[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Think it sits nice [attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

[attachment=1]

I'm nearby Clapham Common, but don't have a VW...yet! I'll have a search about Ron Covell as metalworking does interest me - had been meaning to look at part-time courses locally. In any case, I went to the New Years Day meet at Brooklands which was great. I believe the Ace Cafe have a VW night, so will gauge interest with my dad about driving his Beetle down when the weathers nicer.

Just a pic of mine and Mattys because i think it looks cool 8)[attachment=1]

Cool pic!

just read through this.

inspired

Great job

Was time to show the old engine some love.[attachment=1]
Fitted some short IDA manifolds from Udo Becker and some genuine cylinder tins to replace the poorly fitting repro's[attachment=2][attachment=3]

Fuel regulator was fitted quite low as i wanted the fuel lines to sit parallel to the ground. Damn OCD[attachment=1]
Mounting for the breather box fitted[attachment=2][attachment=3]

[attachment=1]
Looks alright[attachment=2]

Nice job ;) I miss reading such good build thread!

Looks great  8), is that a Fast Fab Breather Box? Looking to get one for mine but was not sure if it would clear the Fan housing & IDF's..

Thanks Nico

yes it is a fast fab breather. Fits ok behind IDA's so should be fine with IDF's

[attachment=1]

My short IDA manifolds are the universal type where you can fit the carb either way round. i know what way i'm fitting them so will reshape the manifolds to suit[attachment=1]
more like this[attachment=2]

Engine mock up with 12v 90mm generator (Porsche 356 style) and early pie tin backing plate[attachment=1]
and my Cirello magneto. Really don't like the look or fit of the rear engine tin.I know its repro but i was sure we could make one that looked and fitted better than that[attachment=2]

So we cut a piece for the rear engine tin and bent the edges over a wooden buck to get the shape. Matty hammer and dollied the edges to neaten them up.[attachment=1][attachment=2]
Can see the buck in the background[attachment=3]

Back on the buck to check the shape is still good[attachment=1]
Cut to size and trial fitted[attachment=2]

For the second part of the rear tin our trusty shrinker and stretcher was put to use[attachment=1]
The 2 pieces together[attachment=2]
and welded[attachment=3]

that looks neat!

Thanks Karl

For the pocket under the pulley i decided use the one from another rear tin as it fitted perfectly.[attachment=1]

The piece of tin that goes over the pulley needed a bit of trimming and shaping to work with my Berg equalizer pulley[attachment=1]

Stunning car and a great thread! Can't wait to see more.

I'm guilty of not being on the forum for a while, but have just sat with a coffee and read this from start to finish... (well up to this point) all i can say is Wow, so much attention to detail. Hopefully will get to see it in the flesh when lock downs over the some shows start up again.

Thanks Rob. I’ve been a bit slack posting as been busy. I’ll sort some more photos and bung them on later. Been rebuilding the engine while on lockdown so be good to meet at a show after all this passes.

A quick blast of red primer and i'm happy with that.[attachment=1]
It fits nicely too[attachment=2][attachment=3]

An idea of what it'll look like with the pulley tin and belt[attachment=1]

The rest of the tin blasted and painted. All fits well with just a small dent to hammer out of one of the cylinder tins[attachment=1][attachment=2]

With the fan housing in place, mounting screws and generator (6 volt 90mm rewound for 12 volt) its looking a bit more complete[attachment=1][attachment=2].
Got a vintage look to it which i dig

Its clean that . And the tin fits really good too.

cheers bud. Quite a lot went into making sure it all fitted properly.

Bet you've lost count the hours already done.
P.s I have a 67 as well.
Savanna beige.

Would be scared to think of the amount of hours. All I know, it was pretty much every weekend for about 6 years. Is your 67 finished or a work in progress

Its a non welded patina bug , all steel , Had it now  9 years or so, not sure they ever get finished.
I'm glad its not a show stopper as you cant use them. Got a turbo type 4 in it.
Not sure what's more enjoyable . The build or the drive.

 
 

Had been running genuine Fuchs (4.5 & 5.5x15) that i polished and painted years ago but wanted to freshen them up and re-anodise back to their original finish .Everyone who had Fuchs seemed to have them polished and i really like the anodised finish.
Before[attachment=1][attachment=2]

And after[attachment=1][attachment=2]

They look nice.

Who did the anodising for you?
Lee

These ones were done by Canford classics quite a while ago. I needed another pair done recently and Canford no longer do them. So after a very very bad experience with Early911 I am still trying to find a good anodiser. I have heard that Biaggio can do them but he is almost impossible to contact.

I might know someone who can help. Although he recently said he won't do anymore....

This was an early attempt at making a front license plate holder. Although i don't plan of running with one its probable best to have one ready for legality reasons.[attachment=1][attachment=2]
An added piece to to inside of the hood with threaded inserts to support the weight of the frame[attachment=3]

Fitted. This was also an early attempt at the Haneline style plate frame. Realised the edges were too thick so remade with better proportions.[attachment=1]

Remade frame and support. Never been fitted since the car was painted[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Nice solution to the licenseplate !!

Thanks for sharing all your great ideas! Lovin' it!!!!!  8)

Thanks Mark appreciate it. Not seen you on here for a while. Hope you are all well.

All is well here, Thanks! I hope the same for you Jay!
Your craftsmanship is inspirational and is helping to motivate my son and me . . . we are working on his first car, a '69 sedan. Today, more work on the rear apron! We filled-in the "peashooter" holes and have removed the crinkles. I purchased a "shrinking-disc" from Wolfes Metal . . . an amazing tool!
Pardonr the rambling, but . . . KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!!!!  8)

All good here thanks Mark. Great that you have a father and son project on the go and if my posts help with inspiration then that makes me happy. Take loads of photos along the way. Good to look back on or maybe do a build thread.  My brother got one of those shrinking discs for Christmas but hasn’t had a chance to use it yet. Heard good things about them

Proud to be an invited member of the Giant Killers so had some nice hood emblems made[attachment=1]
Needed to weld up the old holes to redrill for new badge[attachment=2][attachment=3]

[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Red Zeppelin 67 has just been featured in the latest issue of volksworld magazine. The California look special no less😀😀

This means time for an update  ;) ;D

coming soon Ed. My laptop has broken with all my photos in it. Waiting on someone to either fix it or retrieve all the photos.

Apologies for the long delay in posting but had a lot of personal problems and my computer was broken so couldn't access my photos.
Continuing with the back seat delete. Due to the roll cage the original seat support bar needed relocating slightly further back. Then some plywood panels were knocked up[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

[attachment=1][attachment=2]

The column switch gear had seen better days so needed some attention [attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

stripped down. Nice to have a job i can do indoors in the warm and dry for a change [attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3][attachment=4]

With all the metalwork and fabrications pretty much done it was time to wrap it up (literally) and send it off to Simon and the boys at The Paintbox. I originally had planned to paint it myself in the little garage ,but after several years of working in the garage i realised it wasn't going to happen so best let the professionals do it[attachment=1]

More mock tudor look than cal look[attachment=1][attachment=2]

The 67's new home for the next few weeks. Me and Matt will be helping as much as we can with disassembly, sanding and cleaning etc[attachment=1]

[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Hi Jay C,

I am reading this topic (like everyone else I assume) with very high joy and excitement what comes next :)

I have seen Red Zeppelin on display at VoWo Show in 2019 i guess. And it blew my mind. Seeing how much dedication you put into this build is absolutely amazing I can just say I am taking my heads off.

One short question do I have: How do you get parts that damn clean like the column switch gear. Do sand them down all by hand :)

Have a nice day
Regards
Phil

Thanks for the kind words Phil, really appreciate it. The column switch gears was sanded by hand. Pretty much everything on the car was sanded by hand or cleaned using wire brush drill attachments or on some of the body panels I used a small spot blaster to remove surface rust which took ages. Unfortunately I don’t have a big workshop with professional blasting gear which is why the build took so long lol.
Red zeppelin was last at volksworld show in 2018 and hopefully will be there again in March this year as part of the cal look corner display with its new wheels on.
Jay

[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3][attachment=4]

Floorpan and other components have all been blasted and primed[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3][attachment=4]

Then everything was sanded, reprimed and sanded again until perfect[attachment=1]

Gearbox is going to be detailed so will need cleaning up[attachment=1]

Some parts looking good dressed in black[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Floorpan painted. Looks perfect from both sides. Will now be taken back home to be built up into a full rolling pan[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Also all nuts, bolts, washers, and some other bits yellow zinc plated for the build up[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Awesome.
Did you send them out or do a 'project binky' and have buckets of chemicals all over the workshop floor?

I sent them out. In my small garage I definitely would of had an accident with buckets of chemicals lying about 😂😂

dont you love it when you can finally assemble clean, shiny parts!

It is a good feeling Karl, seeing it all come together but also totally nerve wracking of that one slip with a spanner or dropping something.

Building up the gearbox and adding zinc plated nuts [attachment=1][attachment=2]

polished the steering box top cover[attachment=4]
A bit more pan assembly[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Nice meeting you and seeing the car in the 'flesh' today Jay.
Its as amazing as it looks in the photos!!

Cheers,
Marc (the bloke from Balham)

Cheers Marc. Good chatting with you today. Was a good weekend all round

rolling pan[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3] with anodised fuchs[attachment=4]

Meanwhile down at the paintbox some HoK primer is applied to the body and panels[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3][attachment=4]

[attachment=1][attachment=2]

was good to see some colour going on[attachment=1]

nice[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Rolling pan going to be reunited with body[attachment=1]

pan and body ready to be rejoined[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Touchdown ;D[attachment=1]

This was a long and monumental day when the car was coming back home[attachment=1]

And once back home it was ready to be built up...It was quite daunting ,the prospect of using spanners and screwdrivers on the freshly painted body[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

wait untill you have to use a drill to make all the holes for the mouldings again.  :o

to do that job to clean up the trim holes I use needle files and only push them, never pull them back. But I agree.... scary on fresh paint  :'(

Definitely no trim going on this car in my lifetime😂😂.
Was plenty of other holes that were now too small with the paint on and needed gently cleaning off.

Man...I like the way you think!!!!

Lookin' GREAT Jay!  8)

I hope so!  8)

Thanks Mark, appreciate it. How’s your sons 69 coming along?

Well... We just recently received the transaxle from Scott Sebastian at MetalCraft Motorsports, and my son is building a 1968cc (CB Panchito heads, 42 DCNF Webers, Engle w-110..... just needs a few finishing touches).
Then, hit a little snag... or to be more accurate, a little snag hit him! The young girl was able to finish her text before ramming the rear of his Beetle at approx. 40 MPH and causing a four-car-pileup! Thank God, my boy is okay, but we're still waiting for her insurance company to take care of her mistake!
Fortunately, we had not installed the new running gear yet.

Oh man that sucks. Glad he’s ok, that’s the only thing that really matters. Such a shame after putting work into a project. Hopefully the insurance is sorted quickly and he can get back on it. Best of luck Mark

It was time to start fitting some of the parts i'd had stashed away. A Moto-lita steering wheel that I had always wanted and a Talbot 333 mirror. Was lucky enough to find a pair of NOS mirrors on ebay for a decent price ,so me and my brother could have one each[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3][attachment=4]

Next was the interior. I was trying to find some herculon, and had no luck here in the UK so started to look further afield. I managed to contact a fabric warehouse in the States in Compton or Gardena who said they had some but couldn't send any pictures. Luckily a friend was going on holiday not too far from there, and kindly agreed to pop in and have a look. I gave him some pictures of styles i liked and one of them was a picture of John Deans "Dumper"[attachment=1]
A week later he emailed me a pic of what he found and I was more than happy[attachment=2]

So I knocked up some (not very good ) drawings and it was off to Bernard Newbury to work his magic[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

Inside sir Bernards legendary workshop[attachment=1]
And the great master at work[attachment=2]

[attachment=1][attachment=2]
headlining was the icing on the cake[attachment=3]

I like that. very nice.

Thanks Nicolas. A few more pics of the interior[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]

as much as I like a bit of a contrasting color for my interior, I think this is really nice. well done. craftsmanship throughout.

Jay, what's the little thing sticking out from the LH bulkhead below where the rear seat would be?

Jay, what's the little thing sticking out from the LH bulkhead below where the rear seat would be?
[/quote]that is the battery kill switch. This picture isn’t brilliant but you can see it a little better [attachment=1]

that is the battery kill switch. This picture isn’t brilliant but you can see it a little better [attachment=1]
[/quote]

Ah, that makes sense! The car looks awesome, man!

Thanks dude

I wanted to make sure the engine I had built had no leaks and also break the cam in before the engine was fitted to the car so we made an stand to run the engine on.[attachment=1][attachment=2]

And a control box with an array of VDO gauges to keep an eye on things. As usual we might have gone a little over the top with it :D[attachment=1][attachment=2]

Awesome car, great work!

Thanks Larry

[attachment=2]

https://youtube.com/shorts/PuTbnbjnrLY?feature=share

Was nerve wracking fitting the engine [attachment=3][attachment=4]

Jay,

for some odd reason I've never read this topic.  I just went completely in every detail through it.  You sir are a mad man, in a positive way!  Blown away by the amount of little details you came up with that a regular bloke would never notice.
A big thumbs up!  NICE RIDE!

Dem

very nice work, is this a six volt generator?

Amazing build! Do you have any additional details of how the rear apron is removable?

Great work!!

thanks Dem, really appreciate it

Yes Karl it’s a 6 volt 90mm generator but been rewound to 12 volts like the Porsche ones are

I don’t have any good photos of the apron mounting points. In this photo you can see three sooty welds where some small m6 bosses were welded into place[attachment=1]
And here you can just about see the tabs that were welded to the apron and small m6 bolts holding it all together [attachment=2]