My 68 standard 1200 model restoration

[Mabbo]

Cheers for the comments guys. Im pretty pleased with it. Theres a few bits that I want to re-do at some point, but overall Im happy.

A small update...

After unloading the car off the trailer and the snow melted, it has sat in the unit looking dirty and unloved.


I have a better pic of the interior now its fitted:



I cant decide if I should fit a carpet set. I like having the idea of having the floor and inner arches etc on display as they look nice... but I think it makes the interior look a bit incomplete.


The finish of the paint was nice, but I wanted it better. My mate came over to the unit today and we spent some time sanding and mopping my car... seems like a bit of a backwards step but I wasnt totally happy with it.

We colour sanded both front wings, the valance and bonnet. One wing started:


Finished sanding and Damo sterted mopping:


Front end finished :



Going to spend some more time sanding and mopping the rest of the body, then Im going to build a custom loom and do a few more odds and sods before I think about getting it on the road.

[andy198712]

whats that style of interior? saw a brown oval on display at volksworld like it and i love the puffy look!

paint looks nice on that wing, nice shine to it, top work, very jealous!

[Mabbo]

Alright mate, the style of the interior is 'fat biscuit'. I had them done at Trimming Tonic in Lancashire. A bit of a drive for me but well worth it - http://www.trimmingtonic.co.uk/

[Mabbo]

After working on customers cars all day, and the dissapointment of not making the Volksworld show, Iv struggled to get motivated to work on my car... but this week iv stayed late a few nights and spent some more time stripping my car down and doing some more colour sanding as I dont want any peel in the paint. Today my mate Damo came over and mopped my car while I did some prep work on a customers Bay.

Both valances still need mopping, as does the decklid, and the bonnet isnt quite finished. Theres a couple of areas I want to touch up but Im pleased overall

We pushed the car outside while the sun was still almost out to get some pics.

Reflection in roof:












Im going to lower the rear a little, its too high at the moment. Im not in a rush to put it back together. Going to re-detail my engine bay and wiring loom. Iv been colour sanding under the bonnet ready for the loom to go in. Going to strip the interior out and sand the paintwork inside and get that mopped up too.

Lots on at work at the moment so Im going to take my time getting it finished... Hopefully done for Bug Jam

[Mabbo]

Im getting a bit carried away with the colour sanding and mopping. I ended up stripping some of the interior out today to colour sand the inside. Feels a bit like 1 step forward 2 steps back, but I dont want to end up getting the car fully built up and then wish Id have spent longer detailing it, so Iv decided to strip the interior back out and take my time with it. Target is Bug Jam... We will see.

I wont bore you with too many pics of the colour sanding but heres a couple:

Starting to colour sand under the bonnet:


After mopping the main bits. You cant really see how shiny it is with my phone camera and poor lighting. Need to finish off some areas by hand that i couldnt get the mop to:


Iv also sanded the passenger inner door frame, heater channel top, A post and B post... Then I started on the dash. Got about 1/3rd of the dash done. Need to finish the dash and sand all the drivers side and around the top of the windscreen and around the inner roof sections. Sanded through in a couple of places which is a bit of a pisser, but Ill touch them up when Iv finished doing all the sanding.

[j-f]

You make me badly want Rivieras to put on my 68 

Very nice car! Nicely done to a high level 

[Mabbo]

Its been about a month since I done any work on my Bug due to being pretty busy at the unit... Managed to spend a bit of time on mine over the last couple of weeks though trying to get it sorted for Bug Jam.

I blended in the couple of areas that I sanded through while colour sanding and the bodywork is almost finished, finally. Few bits Im not happy with though, but overall Im pleased.

The rear end was too high and needed resetting. Sorted this out today. I wanted the back slightly lower than stock height, but not as low as one spline. After a mixture of some inner and outer splines, it sits like this:


Im going to have to lower the front a bit more though now as it isnt nose down enough for me.

I took a few pics while it was on the ramp:



Hopefully will get the new wiring loom finished off and fitted on Saturday

[Mabbo]

This is how it was looking the other day:


Since I fitted some dropped spindles the tyres rubbed the arches, so I decided to build a 2 inch narrowed beam. Before I did this I spent a bit of time bending the new copper nickel brake lines to shape. They have since been removed and polished:



I decided to take the body back off the floor as the front end was getting stripped down again, so i could colour sand and machine polish the chassis. Once I started I wanted the chassis better than it was, so I filled a few of the dents in the bottom of the centre tunnel, flatted it all back and repainted in 2k gloss black. I then colour sanded and machine polished. This is the gun finish:



Colour sanding the top half:


Colour sanding the bottom half:


Top half after mopping:


Bottom half after mopping:



I also sourced a 68 only tank, which was blasted and filled, then painted in 2k black:


Looking forward to putting it back together, again!

[modnrod]

Extremely high standard, looks amazing.

What is the colour? I did look back for it, but I couldn't find it. It's intriguing, light grey in some pics then sometimes beige and sometimes a greenish tone, very different in the light you have there.

[Mabbo]

Cheers mate,

Its a VW colour - Chinchilla grey.

[Mabbo]

Today Rich and Damo helped with work on my bug. Rich spent a while polishing nuts, bolts, washers, brake hose ends, and pretty much anything else he could find haha.


Started building the chassis back up:




Colour sanded the inner arches and Damo mopped and waxed them:


Done a bit more paintwork / colour sanding too. There were a few areas I wasnt happy with, one of them being the under bonnet area.  We mopped / waxed it, and also did the same with the fuel tank. Fitted the tank to see how it looked:


The body is almost done. Might run the mop over some of the inside before the body goes back on the pan... Its getting there though

[Mabbo]

I havent got much more done on my Bug, but I have been doing some work on it in my spare time.

Few more up to date pics:

Wiring almost done around the front. Still needs a few things changing / finishing / tidying:


Shaping the wiring to fit nice and close to the body:


I got some of this:


Ended up with this:


Thats blocked down with 2000 all over, then 3000 on the left half of the roof.

I will finish going over the whole body tomorrow with 3000 and get mopping So hopefully some more shiney pictures soon

[Mabbo]

Made a start mopping the roof. Still needs more work but Im quite pleased with it.

[modnrod]

 
Now you're just showing off! HAHA!
Bloody hell........

[Mabbo]

Modnrod - haha

The body is FINALLY back on the floorpan



Also, the colour sanding and machine polishing is almost done. Pretty pleased with the results. The passenger side:


Still waiting for some parts back from the powder coaters, then it can all start going back together

[Mabbo]

Right... I decided to take a bit of a backwards step. Basically, I was really pleased with my paintwork overall but there were a few imperfections in the paint and they bugged the hell out of me after all that work colour sanding and mopping. The car is on display at the Volksworld show, and I wouldn't have been happy with it.

I decided to take the body back off the pan, take the wiring back out, and block it back down, and I had it painted in a booth. The gun finish was great, so I haven't had to spend too long colour sanding it.

Bit of a backwards step, but I'm happy I did it. I'm much happier with it now, even though I'd have preferred to paint it myself.

In the booth after paint:




Got it back to work, and back on the floorpan:


Happy with the gun finish on the inside. Not going to need much colour sanding:


Been colour sanding today, this shows the difference between 3000 and 1500:


Did a little colour sanding on the front inner arches too. And mopped up:


Colour sanded the rear inner tubs because I wont be having any carpet covering them:


Mopped up:


Picked my brown square weave carpet kit up from Spirit Interiors. Very happy with it. I think the 3 colours work well together:


Onto FINAL assembly... Got some Silent Coat sound proofing fitted. I didnt want sound proofing everywhere when I started, but I wish Id have bought more now and completely covered the roof and doors etc, but even as it is, its a MASSIVE improvement:



We started getting the new headliner fitted:


Fitted:


Then we made a start getting the carpet in. I wasn't sure what to go for but in the end Dave at Spirit Interiors did me a brown square weave set and Im really happy with it:


Got the back section in and started fitting the seats and belts:



Had a load of parts back from the powdercoaters. Only done anything with the wiper motor yet... got a pic of it all built back up (Excuse the crappy phone pics):




Wasnt happy with my tinware, so its had a coat of high build and been blocked down ready for paint. Few more things to get prepped before I paint the black parts:


Made a start on narrowing my 'new' beam:


Started narrowing it 2 inches:


I had it blasted.... Gave it a coat of etch and a couple of coats of high build then sanded it down ready for the 2k black:




My 45 Dellortos looked a bit grubby, so I stripped them down and sent them away to be cleaned. Before:


Cleaned:

Got them built back up, looking loads better:


Looking forward to getting the engine build back up.

[-Alex-]

Absolute great sheetmetal work, but even my 72' standard was not as much rotten      We had some debate, how much to use available repair panels..

[dielinde]

Very very nice job 

[Mabbo]

Cheers Alex / dielinde... 

I haven't got too much done since my last update as Iv been busy getting drunk on my stag do

The new windows are in though, and the new rubbers. Starting to look like a car again :


Iv got some of the black parts in paint:



Still a few other things to go, but Iv got some bits to make a start on.

Glad I spent a while prepping my beam, it came out good:




I did quite a bit of prep smoothing my cylinder shrouds, they came out good too:


Got my fanshroud colour sanded, again, ready to mop:


Iv also made a start building the doors up and fitting my running board mats, but no pics of that yet...

2 weeks to go to Volksworld show :S

[Mabbo]

Got the car rolling and pushed it out side to see how it sat with the new front suspension setup.





Pleased with how it sits.

One of the paintwork in daylight. The sun wasnt out though



Got the engine in. Loads left to do in the engine bay though:



Got quite a few bits and bobs done today - Got the fuel tank colour sanded and mopped again, and fitted a bigger outlet and the sender. New wing beading cut ready to be fitted. Fitted the horn. Mopped the number plate housing etc.

[VWGlassee]

Very nice 
Love to see this finished!

[Mabbo]

Cheers dude.

Well, we got to the Volksworld show and had a great weekend

I was hoping for a top 20 but there were some real nice cars there, so I wasn't really too disappointed when I didn't win anything. There were a few other cars on display that didn't win a top 20 either that I thought deserved to... but its down to personal taste I guess. I'm glad the blue Squareback Panelkraft built won, it was between that and the green square for me for best of show. I think Id have gone for the green one.

I wish Id had another few days before the show to finish putting it together properly. The passenger door needs adjusting a little. The front and rear suspension needs raising. I ran out of stainless screws for the Hi-Packs. A couple of the wires under the bonnet are too short and will need re doing... loads of little details like that I want to sort. Also thinking about fitting T bars, or finding some good original bumper irons and bumpers.

Anyway, some pics of the almost complete car.













The next big job to do is I want to finally get around to fitting Wilwood brakes front and rear, but I cant afford to spend on my car for a while so they will have to wait...

Cheers

[jamiep_jamiep]

It looks amazing Mabbo... trophies or not!

[Mabbo]

Haven't updated this in a while...

I raised the suspension front and rear:


I want a pair of genuine bumpers because the repro ones are awful. Until I find a good pair, I have fitted some hex T bars:




I took the DRLAs off and fitted some short manifolds and a pair of IDAs





Lots more changes planned for the engine

[Neil Davies]

Neil, that's turned out so well! T-bars are the right choice...

[baz]

Stunning car. can you tell me what exhaust you are running in the above pics?

Cheers barry

[Mabbo]

Cheers Neil & Baz

The exhaust is from www.rjvolksperformance.com

Cheers

[Mabbo]

Since the last update, i took the engine out and freshened it up with new bearings and rings, and I changed the engine a bit. Still loads more changes to be made, but I will be doing it bit by bit. The engine will be back out over the winter for detailing.

I drove my car to Tatton park yesterday and had it on show. My friend took some good photos:




My crappy pic, next to my mates 66



I won best engine, which was nice but I didn't get any photos...

This is the most recent one I have:



Cheers

[vwhelmot]

Having seen it in the flesh all I can say is that it's a fantastic cal looker built to a very high standard.  Great work mate and good to meet.
Lyndon.

[Mabbo]

Cheers Lyndon. You too dude... Good luck with yours