Actually, yes!

The car has been at the workshop for a while now and was held up by various things. Work began last week and now the body is off the pan and the front beam is off the pan. I'm picking up the beam tomorrow so I can tidy it up. I replaced all the ball joints recently (ha - must be at least four years ago!) but I will check it all carefully.

I've just been catching up on http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,32366.msg363597.html#msg363597 so I know what I have to do!

Other than that, I've been hunting parts, cleaning things I took off the car and paying for the self-storage where the car lies, in kit form!

That is a messy job! Looks so much better now and I bet it will all work perfectly. Nice work.

Offers entertained

If the beam is going to be narrower, then the leaf spring pack should be too.



First up, I cleaned all the leafs.




Marked where the new recesses should go to fit the narrowed beam and filed a groove with a round file.



Drilled a hole about 4 mm in size.



Then I made the 90-degree countersink and cut off the end of the leaf spring pack. Definitely worth investing in a high-quality countersink—it cut like butter!




Then it was just a matter of repeating... Here's a little before/after:



The control arms got a splash of paint too. "Mmm... shiny"



Next up were the spindles... These were pretty grimy and badly in need of a rebuild.




I pressed out the old bushings and fully disassembled the spindles...





Soaked the parts in Evapo-Rust for about 1–2 hours. Would've liked to leave them in longer, but due to time constraints, this will have to do...




Then the new bushings were pressed into place and fine-tuned with a file.





These have now been sent off to be reamed with the proper tool.
To be continued...

This is an original empi leather wrapped deluxe big button steering wheel. The horn push was missing the logo and I replaced it with something that fits perfect. It's a vintage reflector and looks great and matches the original empi wheel cover wrap I installed on it.  The spokes are nice the only thing is that the leather wrap is loose that's why installed the wrap and it's a lot better but not perfect still loose under there but useable for sure without any issues


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here is an update on the progress of my car for this year.

I went to a race in Germany that was actually close by (2h drive) and although I did just two runs before my coil failed I learned a bit.
1. I improved my PB with a 13.61 to a previous 13.85. that isn't great or good by any means.
2. that brings me to the main lesson. I need to build a lot more confidence in the car and stop overthinking it. the main problem is on this side of the steering wheel... some more work to be done. and some more runs will add too that. I have figured out that I actually did  event last year. only two crap runs at EBI and some 1/8 uphill runs at Spa and not even 50km on the road. 5 km of road since the gearbox was fitted. I am not making excuses, just honestly posting that I am on a learning curve and driving in a straight line can be scary.  

I did however build a cage. in between jobs and on evenings I started bending some steel tubing (that I bought a while back to give it a try). I think CrMo would have worked easier and would make it lighter. but on a first attempt I went with steel.

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Any updates on progress?

This is an original empi deluxe big pad horn button fits snug. You can hold it upside down and it stays on, but if you shake it hard enough, it will come off ........  easy fix like everyone else does put tape on the inside for it to fit like new

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This is a very rare original Econo motors pamphlet in great condition, no rips or tears very soft and pliable. You can clearly read the dealership logos it's alittle wrinkled use as is or heat it up with a hair dryer to smooth it out. Perfect to complete your empi equipped ride or your display case

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Went down the hill for an appointment saw an ad for a 1974 super beetle and noticed it has broken Econo frames I figure the guy wouldn't mind selling them to me since they are broken get there and I noticed it had a deluxe leather empi wheel on it but no horn button so I asked if he would sell the wheel and I would put another one on and I just happen to have one along with tools in the truck so he said sure so as I was removing the steering wheel, he was telling me that his mom bought this car brand new at Econo motors in 1974 and him and his brother both learn to drive in it so I looked to my left inside the driver's door pocket and found the Econo motors blue pamphlet looked around a little more and found the horn button under the seat so he said I could have that as well. Another good day in Southern California.
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