TheSamba.com :: View topic - June 1952 molested split slow and painful refresh

Sat Jan 31, 2009 4:19 pm

cant wait to see more!!

Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:10 pm

as you asked for it... here's more :)

unfortunately for the moment i have to deal with some repro parts just to fill the blanks, so i had to make a fiberglass popes nose, taillights housings and dash panels.

al you see is carefully prepared by me and mircea_cotiga (see fiberglass kubelwagen replica thread in the pre53 forum) and the molds are now ready for mass production. the dash pod is made from scratch by me, after checking some thesamba pics. i did not have an og to get the mold, so mine is not 100% correct i guess, but will do just fine. the popes nose and taillights... well here's a story.. on thesamba there's a good man named Blue Baron, that lent me these fiberglass parts to get the mold. he has sent it at his own expense, without knowing anything about me, and be sure i'll return the favor. the popes nose was all wavy and i had to carefully take it to a more pleasant form, tail lights both ok, but not pair... :D

i will make 2 dash pods, one that will be modified to look exactly like an enclosed split radio, hopefully i will get the dimensions right from photos on the internet... the other will keep for the moment the 58 speedo, and the 2 later beetle knobs, just to keep the car operational. i did the dash pod somewhat smaller so that the dash trim fits ok, but unfortunately i do not have any trim yet... so i'll have to test this thing later on.

some pics .. today i did the molds (not pictured) and tested the fresh panel for fitting in the dash

Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:46 am

one pic. the rear clip arrived, the doors are here too. all i need now are some front and rear aprons and minor other sheetmetal parts.

here's me, a dirty but happy guy ... :lol:

Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:28 am

With the skills you'll be learning on this restoration, you should be able to build a split from scratch by the time you're finished with it.

Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:34 pm

eurodub wrote:
here's me, a dirty but happy guy ... :lol:

Is there really any other way to be happy?

Looking good. I'm loving the way you are bringing this sad little split back to it's original glory.

Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:55 pm

Well this is very good news!
Those are some nice key pieces you've got here!!! And as said Freednighthawk, you'll learn a lot through this! Even how to transform a 58 into a split :D

Julien

Mon Apr 27, 2009 1:38 am

allrighty then...

this was a busy week-end, my split made its way to Mircea Cotiga's garage (you know him, the fiberglass kubel replica guy ;) )

my first concern was to strip the small bits off the car so ... bumpers gone, turn signals gone, interior gone, later fuel tank gone..

then, i started grinding with a wirebrush the B pillars. there i found the semaphore posts carefully welded shut, door wedges , and as i thought, the latch area has been butchered and replaced with later type.

the strange thing was that the semaphore posts were filled to the top with "pips" (i am not sure i translated right.. it was what we found inside peaches, plums etc... the hard thingy) but the original semaphore wires were there, plastic with cloth cover on them.

you can see here how the rear view was attached with rivets... pro job

for the moment i had 2 stainless steel home made semaphore covers to prevent the water from coming in

oh yeah... and i spent the night there... :lol: how many of you slept near a kubel? :P

oh yes, i am a beer addict... i did not went to sleep until the 2L beer bottle was emptied.. :oops:

Mon Apr 27, 2009 6:05 am

Hight five for you. Thats some work to put this one back. Wow thats crazy about what yall found inside b pillar go figure.

Mon Apr 27, 2009 2:34 pm

wow. thats alot of work ahead of you. i hope you the best with this one!

Mon Apr 27, 2009 3:12 pm

Looking good, thanks for the update.

The insides of the peaches and plums are called "pits".

"Pips" sang backup for a female singer named Gladys Night back in the 70s. I have seen the pips and they would not fit in a semaphore box..... :wink:

Mon Apr 27, 2009 5:14 pm

I don't believe I'd care to see Gladys' 'pips' now! :lol:

Mon Apr 27, 2009 9:28 pm

what can i say... sometimes even the smartest translators get this wrong... :lol:

Mon Apr 27, 2009 10:56 pm

Looks like a squirrel is responsible for this, I mean the pits in the pillar, not the welding up of semaphores.

When I took the covers off my seats, a load of empty nut shells poured out. All had little teeth marks on them. Those critters get inside of everything.

Great to see you getting this poor split back to the way it should be. Someone at some point must have been real proud of what they did to this car.

Tue Apr 28, 2009 4:24 am

And;

PIPS can also means PITS or Seeds, according an online Thesaurus.

johnshenry wrote: Looking good, thanks for the update.

The insides of the peaches and plums are called "pits".

"Pips" sang backup for a female singer named Gladys Night back in the 70s. I have seen the pips and they would not fit in a semaphore box..... :wink:

Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:09 am

i know the feeling, my 53 oval was molested also...
you car was a split when made, after some time it can be a nice split again, have fun with the resto/rebuilding.
I had to start with this :

and now :

Tue Apr 28, 2009 6:19 am

Good to know. Can "pits" also mean Motown back up singers??? :lol:

[email protected] wrote: And;

PIPS can also means PITS or Seeds, according an online Thesaurus.

johnshenry wrote: Looking good, thanks for the update.

The insides of the peaches and plums are called "pits".

"Pips" sang backup for a female singer named Gladys Night back in the 70s. I have seen the pips and they would not fit in a semaphore box..... :wink:

Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:48 am

Can't wait to see more progress on your poor split! Good luck. Pip pip!!

Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:19 am

i cut the dash today, and the luggage tray section up to the fuel tank. well, all the pics are at the garage. i still have many things to do before welding the dash section. the left side is rotten and i have to do the repair, the dash was brutally cut and welded so the A pillars are pretty much fucked up.
i will post some pics when i get home, now i am homeless, 60km from my town working on my split.

p.s. my luck is Mircea, because he knows stuff. i am only learning now and while i did all the cutting myself, welding will be far more complicated.. he is my teacher and for all that think repairing a car is easy... try that without any new repair panels and fab all the parts yourself..

one thing is for sure: this split will live again this summer. :)

Wed Apr 29, 2009 12:55 pm

Nice story. Good luck with the rest of the work & please keep us updated.

Wed Apr 29, 2009 12:55 pm

sure, but it depends on how poorly they sing !

johnshenry wrote: Good to know. Can "pits" also mean Motown back up singers??? :lol:

[email protected] wrote: And;

PIPS can also means PITS or Seeds, according an online Thesaurus.

johnshenry wrote: Looking good, thanks for the update.

The insides of the peaches and plums are called "pits".

"Pips" sang backup for a female singer named Gladys Night back in the 70s. I have seen the pips and they would not fit in a semaphore box..... :wink: