Dino's Aussie '54 Oval rotisserie resto - Details inside!

[PASHN8]

Small update

Both heater channels are done, so lower 2 inches of the car all sports fresh metal courtesy of KlassicFab & Wolf parts.
No filler anywhere yet and all the metal is pretty damn smooth and in shape nicely, so should only be skim coats used before paint.

One thing i've always lusted after were a set of the original Airevo 17" radars I saw on the Samba, but the price was always too much for the pocket at around 950Euro a set, NOT including postage from Belgium where the manufacturer is.

Fast forward to a month ago, and 3 weeks of emails back and forth between Mr Airevo himself, Leslie Aerts the last two new sets of polished Airevo 17" radars in his stockpile left Belgium on a ship.

I was stoked as they are not going to produce them anymore, and grabbed the last sets at an amazing price I couldn't refuse.
He also mentioned they are the only sets he's ever sent to Australia, so its nice to have something that isn't common (which has always been a bit of an obsession for me) and will fit nicely.

The quality of them is amazing, and I compared them to a friends CIP style radars and they are like chalk and cheese.
17" x 7" ET20 which allows Oval fitment without spacers/or axle extensions in the rear seals the deal!

Same wheels:

Seeing the standard of builds on here has pushed me to really try and make this Oval something special that I can be proud of
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www.dinography.com.au - Dino!

1957 11-Window Split Bus
1954 3-fold Sunroof Oval Beetle

*** Looking for '56 Porsche T1 356A 1300 engine no. 22373 ***

[PASHN8]

Another update for the followers of my build thread.

I have ordered a new 3-fold rag top kit from John Alba at www.vwsunroofs.com for my '54 after plenty of research, looking forward to its arrival in November to complete my build! Pics to come!

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www.dinography.com.au - Dino!

1957 11-Window Split Bus
1954 3-fold Sunroof Oval Beetle

*** Looking for '56 Porsche T1 356A 1300 engine no. 22373 ***

[oldbug55]

hi dino i have a 54 lhd rag in brisbane australia. i keep it under the radar and thought to be a private import from the 50.s, but let me know if you need pics of rag etc to help with your resto.

[Bashr52]

[Hefner]

This is going to look spectacular, what are you doing with the second set of Airevos??
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1956 RHD Oval.
www.chrisgentle.com
www.customstreeter.com

[Khova]

[PASHN8]

Hi guys, Just saw the replies!

Second set of Airevo's have gone to a mate of mine. Possibly for sale at the right price!

No, that's isn't my kit, just a pic from his site but is what I'm expecting I receive given the cost and wait.

Sorry to hear about your experiences Khova I really feel for guys in situations with suppliers overseas or not nearby.
Personally, John has been extremely helpful and communicative during the process with me so I'm not sure what happened there?

I've agreed to document the rag graft so I'd be hoping my kit is perfect and like the kit pictured to enable me to give honest praise and recommendation to other dubbers interested in buying the same kit.

Will keep this thread updated
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www.dinography.com.au - Dino!

1957 11-Window Split Bus
1954 3-fold Sunroof Oval Beetle

*** Looking for '56 Porsche T1 356A 1300 engine no. 22373 ***

[PASHN8]

So it's been a while between drinks and a lot has happened in the last 3 months.
In short, I went overseas for a few weeks, got engaged and bought a new house with the lady.
We settled on Nov 2nd, and I have been working on the house ever since painting, patching, etc etc.

But, I have been keeping an eye on progress and also collecting more parts for the assembly stage


Some pics from December:

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It's coming together very nicely and there is a light at the end of the tunnel which is great.
Some goodies i've collected in anticipation:


CB Performance 2.5" dropped front disc kit (wide 5):

CB Performance wide 5 rear disc kit:

Wolfsburg West triple chrome blade bumpers front and rear:

Also a fully restored September '54 VDO speedo from Thorsten @ vw-museum (http://120kph.twoday.net/) who i've dealt with previously and does amazing work.

**************************************************************************************************************************


My 3-fold sunroof is also finished and will be shipping shortly. Some pics from it's construction during Nov/Dec thanks to the ever helpful John Alba of Grumpy's Metal who has been fantastic to deal with over the last 3 months -(www.vwsunroofs.com)


My rails test fitted to an OG 3-fold:

Rail fit, no screws:

Opening:

The colour will be L227 Strato Silver and i've ordered a blue stayfast canvas sunroof top, with gray headliner inside.
Completed should look like this (albeit slammed on the 17" Airevo's) -

(Image courtesy of RareAir from The Samba):

Be nice to find some early oval pop outs like above, but damn they are EXXY!
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www.dinography.com.au - Dino!

1957 11-Window Split Bus
1954 3-fold Sunroof Oval Beetle

*** Looking for '56 Porsche T1 356A 1300 engine no. 22373 ***

[67_SO42]

I like what you have going on there. You have good taste.
Check out my thread if you like, we have similar ideas.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=481801
Ill be following yours Sir
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58 Binz DC #151 "Nacho"
61 Norwegian, bug "Greta"
65 Swedish, Westfalia 400 trailer "Melania"
57 Binz scooter “Micha”

[PASHN8]

So it's been a while between drinks and a lot has happened in the last 3 months.
In short, I went overseas for a few weeks, got engaged and bought a new house with the lady.
We settled on Nov 2nd, and I have been working on the house ever since painting, patching, etc etc.

But, I have been keeping an eye on progress and also collecting more parts for the assembly stage


**************************************************************************************************************************

It's coming together very nicely and there is a light at the end of the tunnel which is great.
Some goodies i've collected in anticipation:


- CB Performance 2.5" dropped front disc kit (wide 5)
- CB Performance wide 5 rear disc kit
- Wolfsburg West triple chrome blade bumpers front and rear:

RHD Cruiser pedal (thanks D-train!):

Also a fully restored September '54 VDO speedo from Thorsten @ vw-museum (http://120kph.twoday.net/) who i've dealt with previously and does amazing work.


**************************************************************************************************************************


My 3-fold sunroof is also finished and will be shipping shortly. Owner, John Alba of Grumpy's Metal has been fantastic to deal with over the last 3 months -(www.vwsunroofs.com)[/b] and i'm looking forward to seeing it in the metal!


The colour will be L227 Strato Silver and i've ordered a blue stayfast canvas sunroof top, with gray headliner inside.

I'd really like to find a set of OG early Oval pop-outs, but they are rare as hens teeth and just as expensive!
The difference between split/early oval pop-outs, and later pops are:


Split and early oval Beetle (pre mid 55) is the rare flat frame as pictured here:

The ribbed frame came later, which is the more common one to see and find:

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www.dinography.com.au - Dino!

1957 11-Window Split Bus
1954 3-fold Sunroof Oval Beetle

*** Looking for '56 Porsche T1 356A 1300 engine no. 22373 ***

[PASHN8]

Update time:

Bodywork coming along slowly:

_________________
www.dinography.com.au - Dino!

1957 11-Window Split Bus
1954 3-fold Sunroof Oval Beetle

*** Looking for '56 Porsche T1 356A 1300 engine no. 22373 ***

[PASHN8]

Took LJ's advice, and decided to cut and reinforce the clutch tube

Looked pretty good, with no movement in the tube:

Decided to reinforce it anyway using a correctly sized washer welded to the bracket:

Made sure there was going to be no weld getting into the clutch tube:

LJ also advised doing the rear whilst were were in there, so cut we did!

Was trying to think of a way to brace the tube in a solid way, and dug out one of our old curtain rod holders from home:

Screwed in place:

Welded with a tack on the screw head to make sure it can't back out:

Time to close up:

_________________
www.dinography.com.au - Dino!

1957 11-Window Split Bus
1954 3-fold Sunroof Oval Beetle

*** Looking for '56 Porsche T1 356A 1300 engine no. 22373 ***

[PASHN8]

Not long after, a large box arrived at my office with VWSunroofs stamped proudly on the outside.
4 months of anticipation was present, so it was time to take it to the panel shop and unbox this bad boy! It literally took up the entire rear of the R36 wagon and 'just' fit in!

Who's a happy lad?

Christmas come early:

I tell you what, it really is a thing of beauty! Considering John Alba of Grumpys Metal in Huntington Beach, CA (www.vwsunroofs.com) makes each of these kits including the opening from scratch, it really is a credit to him:

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www.dinography.com.au - Dino!

1957 11-Window Split Bus
1954 3-fold Sunroof Oval Beetle

*** Looking for '56 Porsche T1 356A 1300 engine no. 22373 ***

[PASHN8]

The scary part of having the kit finally here, was that I had to actually man up and cut a hole in the roof of the '54.

We laid the opening out on the roof skin and measured a million + 1 times and masked as we went. I wanted to make sure that we would nail it the first time considering i've never done something this before.

The other thing was I wanted to replicate the factory procedure for a factory finish, and with John Alba's kit being completely interchangeable with a factory 3-fold, made sense to get it right!

Once we were satisfied with the markings, Paulie picked up the grinder asking me one last time if I was happy with the measurements. This moment consisted of puckerage-a-plenty!

Rounding the edges with some tin snips:

It's amazing just how much the roof skin moves up and down once you cut and also equally amazing as to how big a 3-fold cut out actually is!
_________________
www.dinography.com.au - Dino!

1957 11-Window Split Bus
1954 3-fold Sunroof Oval Beetle

*** Looking for '56 Porsche T1 356A 1300 engine no. 22373 ***

[PASHN8]

First thing we did was get the opening in and c-clamped up to check where we were at with the welding side of things:

Once we were happy with the fit, the car was then taken to another panel shop owned by a friend of mine in Moorabbin (MiColour) where they have a spot welder to weld the roof opening in.
There were a few ideas thrown around, like slow MIG'ing from one side to another to keep the skin cool, Fuzor metal bonding the skin and others.

After speaking at length to John Alba I decided I wanted to continue the factory look installation and go with spot-welding.
Prior to '55, this is how VW fitted 3-fold's to the oval beetles as there was no factory shelled sunroof beetle.
This meant normal beetle shells had holes cut in them the same way, and had the openings spot welded in from factory the same way we were doing ours.
Of course the later 2-folds weren't done this way, hence why they have corner reinforcing in the roof turrets etc and are actually harder to graft convincingly.

Up on a trailer and off we went to MiColour:

Cleaning up the opening:

A few hours later it was spot-welded in:

_________________
www.dinography.com.au - Dino!

1957 11-Window Split Bus
1954 3-fold Sunroof Oval Beetle

*** Looking for '56 Porsche T1 356A 1300 engine no. 22373 ***

[PASHN8]

The pan was finished and sprayed in a semi-gloss black and picked up to take back home.
It's funny how it's just a piece of metal, but it really marked a turning point in the build, and I started to feel like we were cresting the peak of he hill and on the downhill run

The pan set up on stands in my workshop ready for assembly

New Franklin's VW DOM beam with OE german leaves, OE german trailing arms and grease zerks fitted, complete with bugpack bushes.

_________________
www.dinography.com.au - Dino!

1957 11-Window Split Bus
1954 3-fold Sunroof Oval Beetle

*** Looking for '56 Porsche T1 356A 1300 engine no. 22373 ***

[PASHN8]

Old roller pedal assembly laid out and sent off to Scott @ PedalWerks for a full restoration and revamp:

Body as it sits now ready for final adjustment and blocking.
I can't believe after 2 years it's almost ready to see colour!

_________________
www.dinography.com.au - Dino!

1957 11-Window Split Bus
1954 3-fold Sunroof Oval Beetle

*** Looking for '56 Porsche T1 356A 1300 engine no. 22373 ***

[PASHN8]

JNR356 was kind enough to give my beam the once over and fitted up my CB Performance 2.5 drop spindles with new german king and links all shimmed up nice and tight!

Big thanks to Ol for the spindle carriers which I didn't have!


I then fitted the beam up to the pan to get the ball rolling to get this baby on the ground:

Empi oil filled shocks fitted up front as recommended by JnR:

CB Performance Wide 5 front disc kit fitted up with new bearings:

Couldn't resist to bolt on a couple of Escra's i've had waiting patiently for my Splitty to visualise!

_________________
www.dinography.com.au - Dino!

1957 11-Window Split Bus
1954 3-fold Sunroof Oval Beetle

*** Looking for '56 Porsche T1 356A 1300 engine no. 22373 ***

[PASHN8]

UPDATE for July 2013:

It's been a steady stream of boxes coming from all over Australia and the world with all sorts of goodies which has been like Christmas in July.
My batwing came back from Koch's in the US looking like new and i'm stoked at the finish, and color match:

Carpet choice has been fun, and came down to Oatmeal and Honey Brown in German Square Weave, and since Honey Brown was the matching carpet for L227 Strato Silver, i've decided on that:

I'll set it up as factory with the carpet edges and the correct black rubber mates for the floor to keep it fairly OG inside.

The OG splitcase gearbox was delivered to ACME in a sorry state, going in for a full clean up, new mounts, new bearings and cosmetic makeover.

JNR was also kind enough to get the Pirate to rebuild my 12V starter and 12V genny which will be assisting the 12V conversion on the 36er.
One cool detail was date stamped 1954 brake drums that came off the splitcase, so I guess it might have been a low mileage car, and considering that it hasn't been registered since 1979, could be the case.

Pan is coming along slowly but surely. Being busy with work doesn't allow me much time in the Man Cave, but I squeeze in an hour here and there when I can, but some progress is better than none!

After what seems like eternity, the body is now in guide coat and being blocked. I got a trade price on the Glasurit materials needed to paint the thing and that wasn't pleasant, but it's an all or nothing build, so no point skimping now.
Some pics:

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www.dinography.com.au - Dino!

1957 11-Window Split Bus
1954 3-fold Sunroof Oval Beetle

*** Looking for '56 Porsche T1 356A 1300 engine no. 22373 ***

[PASHN8]

Time for an update and I apologize for the time between drinks. Work and the house has been taking up a lot of my time, but I have been chipping away at progress.
Last I mentioned I sent my split case box to Mark K (JnR356) for a tear down, inspection and rebuild, along with rebuild of my 12v starter and 12v genny and what a job he did!

The case was media blasted by John W (IN2VWS), who also did a cracking job at short notice.

JnR's fine work:

Re-assembled with all new rubbers, seals, wheel bearings, clear coated outer case, new oil and CB wide 5 disc brakes fitted:

Back at home:

OG springplates removed. Yes I would have liked the torsion bars to have stayed in, but no matter what I did, they wouldn't budge:

Gearbox going in with some JerFab 2.5" drop plates sitting on the floor:

Motor tins removed for a basic clean:

Panel shop movement is almost done and here are some of the hang ons:

My honey brown german square weave kit arrived from Newton's finally also, and it looks great!

And by ABSOLUTE chance, the manufacturer of Airevo wheels in Belgium was in touch to see if i'd fitted the polished set of 17" wheels I imported from him a couple of years ago and I told him I sold them, much to my regret.

He then mentioned by coincidence that a wheel shop in Europe had closed down, and they had returned to him TWO sets of 17" Airevo wheels the same as what I had bought from him previously, but this time they were CHROME sets.
Needless to say, along came another 2 month wait whilst they were shipped from Belgium!

Fast forward to today, and we're expecting a delivery from Glasurit of all paint materials to paint this beast as planned in L227 Strato Silver

The plan is for Damo to lay color on the shell on the Australia Day long weekend, so it's going to be some sleepless nights waiting for the result after THREE years!
_________________
www.dinography.com.au - Dino!

1957 11-Window Split Bus
1954 3-fold Sunroof Oval Beetle

*** Looking for '56 Porsche T1 356A 1300 engine no. 22373 ***