Ole's '52

[Ole]

Hi all,
last weekend I picked up my '52. It was sitting and waiting for it's reatauration for the past few years, but now it's time to get it back on the road (read: NOT strip!  ). Here's what it looked like when I towed it to my shop.







The good part is that most of the important (and expensive..) parts are there. On the downside there's a lot of rust and some accident damages...

The heater channels have to be replaced for sure, I guess the worst part will be both doors. I have two pairs of split-doors, but they are all dead...

First we have to get rid of the Volvo (rust repairs, what else...?), then I'll start stripping the '52.



Saludos,
Ole

[vwcab]

Nice project Ole(looks a little bit like a german looker now,with the wider front wheels and front oilcooler ).
Are you gonne re-use that decklid(like it,saw these more in the late 80's on the faster german bugs).And what engine?
Anyway,have fun with the built-up,and keep us updated(and pics offcourse).
    Peter

[ESH]

You have some cool stuff lying around! Looking forward to seeing the progress on this. 

[Ole]

Nice project Ole(looks a little bit like a german looker now,with the wider front wheels and front oilcooler ).
Are you gonne re-use that decklid(like it,saw these more in the late 80's on the faster german bugs).And what engine?
Anyway,have fun with the built-up,and keep us updated(and pics offcourse).
    Peter

Hi Peter,

you're right about the "german look", indeed it's a car with a lot of german history. In the 70s the car had 4.5 Porsche 356 rims and 165-15 tyres, I think about going back to this type of wheel. Not sure about the decklid, actually I had exactly this decklid on my first car ever, later I traded it for the decklid that came with the split... so I have several decklid options.

The engine is a 69 x 90mm with Oettinger Nicasil liners, Schleicher cam, early Weber IDF carbs and a Riechert external oil pump. The engine has been rebuilt not long ago together with the gearbox, for the moment I think I'll not do any changes to it.

[Ole]

You have some cool stuff lying around! Looking forward to seeing the progress on this. 

Thanks Mat!

[Turtle001]

hey olé -- do you have pix of your engine? thx

[Ole]

Yesterday I pulled the junk out of the car to get an overview what's there and what's missing.



Although I don't want to change the look of the dashboard it will need some work, there are a million holes closed with bondo from the backside. The gauges (speedo and tach) are out of a NSU TT.



There are Scheel seats I already had im my '53 ragtop which I sold recently. The passengers seat will be modified to match the drivers seat.



The doors! First thing I realized is that they are as double as heavy as they should...



Inside I found a mixture of rust, bondo and something I couldn't identify...



The lower hinge of the passengers door just stayed closed if you opened the door...



I hope not to find too many surprises when I remove the carpet, you never know!



These are the rims I'll probably use. In the 70s the car had 16mm spacers between the rims and brakedrums. I don't have them yet but if I manage to get them I'll mount them again.

Saludos,
Ole

[Ole]

hey olé -- do you have pix of your engine? thx

Here's one for the start, I'll take some more pics when I removed the body.



Saludos,
Ole

[j-f]

Is that an external oil pump?

[richie]

Ole,I think that when you do a chop you chop the doors at the top not the bottom    

Looks like it will keep you busy for a while,look forward to seeing it on the strip

cheers richie,uk

[ESH]

... I think that when you do a chop you chop the doors at the top not the bottom ...

German engineering's not what it used to be. 

[Ole]

Is that an external oil pump?

Yes, it's an external pump. It works additional to the stock oil system, there's a pick up for the oil pump at the sump, the cooled oil gets back to the sump too. I'll post some pictures later.

[Ole]

Ole,I think that when you do a chop you chop the doors at the top not the bottom    

I had Bill Mitchell's second Thunder Bug in mind when doing this... 

Looks like it will keep you busy for a while,look forward to seeing it on the strip

cheers richie,uk

Busy yes, strip no! I already had enough cars that coverted to race-cars over the time.

Saludos,
Ole

[Ole]

... I think that when you do a chop you chop the doors at the top not the bottom ...

German engineering's not what it used to be. 

Mat, you know my profession. Maybe I did too much quality control...

[nicolas]

... I think that when you do a chop you chop the doors at the top not the bottom ...

German engineering's not what it used to be. 

Mat, you know my profession. Maybe I did to much quality control...

 

nice linkage, if you junk it, i'll be the junkyard. 

so it will be out by EBI in 2018 

[vwcab]

... I think that when you do a chop you chop the doors at the top not the bottom ...

German engineering's not what it used to be. 

Mat, you know my profession. Maybe I did to much quality control...

 

nice linkage, if you junk it, i'll be the junkyard. 

so it will be out by EBI in 2018 

No....no...Nicolas,the next EBI will be in 2011,and it's gonne be every 2 years,so it will be
2017....or2019.     

[Lids]

What an odd way to lighten a beetle(remove unnecessary weight from the doors and engine lid), and then stick steel rims on it.  Madness.

But it really needs a chop 

Nice project.

[ESH]

... you know my profession. Maybe I did too much quality control ...

You can never get too much of that. 

[Black Sheep]

Looks like your gonna be busy this winter with that Ole , looks to be a fair amount of oil based plumbing in there , like the dash layout and seat choice 
Is the car on a later pan as I cant see a heater control knob ? Keep us up to date on progress 
Glenn

[Ole]

so it will be out by EBI in 2018 

More likely Bad Camberg 2019...

[Ole]

What an odd way to lighten a beetle(remove unnecessary weight from the doors and engine lid), and then stick steel rims on it.  Madness.

That's O.K. The weight added by using steel rims was removed at the flywheel...

I'll post pics as soon as I can, got some trouble with the camera 

But it really needs a chop 

Hhmm, got to think about that...

Nice project.

Muchas gracias!

[Ole]

Is the car on a later pan as I cant see a heater control knob ?

Yes, the pan seems to be 64ish. I called the former owner today and he told me they swapped the rotten `52 pan for a brand new factory pan in the 70s. He promised to look in his photo album for period shots of the car

Saludos,
Ole

[Christofe]

Hi Ole,

Nice car and project !

If by any chance you would consider selling the five bolts sprinstar, I have a freind looking for a set .

Christofe

D.A.S

[Ole]

I got rid of the camera probs today, here are some shots of the engine

This is the external Riechert oil pump and the oil pick-up/return at the bottom





The breather system is kind of what I've seen at some formula vee engines...





Have you ever seen a Weber 40IDF setup like this?









The flywheel is... well, it's light...







That's it for the engine, I'll use it just like it is as it ran pretty good, never change a running system...

I removed the body from the pan this weekend and I found a lot of work, I'll post more pics tomorrow.

Saludos,
Ole

[Ole]

Hi Ole,

Nice car and project !

If by any chance you would consider selling the five bolts sprinstar, I have a freind looking for a set .

Christofe

D.A.S

Hi Christofe!

Sorry, the sprints are not for sale.

Saludos,
Ole

[ESH]

... I removed the body from the pan this weekend and I found a lot of work, I'll post more pics tomorrow ...

What did you think you we're going to find!   

Good luck with that! 

[speedwell]

waouwww that flywheel look like a cheese 

[gibber!]

Wow...!?!   

[Zach Gomulka]

That is one COOL motor!!!

Ohh, and the car, too!

[nicolas]

so cool.

is it common to see an extra jet on older 40 IDF's, somthing similar to Tri-jets from Dellorto? i am sure newer IDFs don't have the upright squirter.

i like the engine, the setup could look really nice in a detailed enginebay.


so how is the choptop coming along then?