TheSamba.com :: View topic - Unrestored '56 Oval in bits

Fri Feb 06, 2015 11:30 pm

Quick version:
I have a '56 Oval that's currently in pieces, in a shed. I'm trying to work out what to do with it (restore (slowly) on my own, restore with help, or find it a new owner).

Photo gallery is here (engine photos are from 2006, all others from January this year)

Longer version:
I've spent the last few weeks reading these forums (and a few others), looking at some brilliant restorations and learning a lot. To be honest I'm now a bit intimidated about what I may have ahead of me...

In 1996 I came to be owning a 1956 Oval. It had been sitting idle for 21 years - last registered in 1975. It's got 63,000 miles on the clock.

At the time I basically just wanted to pull a car apart and rebuild it. So I started doing just that. Everything was catalogued and written down as I dismantled. While age had obviously taken it's toll, things such as the cardboard glovebox, sun visor, and semaphores were all in good condition, and have been stored well since I begun dismantling.

From 1998-2003 I was off at university, so no work got done on the car.

Between 2003 and 2006 I completely stripped, cleaned, and rebuilt the engine.
I then moved to another city for a few years. The engine was to the point of bolting down the heads (but that wasn't actually done - hopefully only resulting in the need for some new paper gaskets).

For the past 9 years, the in-pieces-Oval has sat in a (mostly dry) shed outside Melbourne, Australia. The engine has been wrapped up in a tarp, I pulled it out a few months ago and it looks to be in exactly the same condition as when it was wrapped up.

The body is solid, but with some patches of rust. The floorpan is in good condition, however completely rusted out where the battery goes (it was stored from '75-'96 with the battery still in). Interior upholstery is completely gone, seats are acceptable probably will need to be reupholstered. Front-end brakes/axle/suspension are quite rusted, the rear end slightly less so. Engine as mentioned has been re-built by me, and gearbox is in good condition.

So I'm now looking to the collective wisdom of this forum - is it worth restoring this Oval, and if so, how should I go about it?

How much work would be required to actually restore it? It's obviously been many years, so I'm happy to commit many hours over many more years. But it's a 45 minute drive away, so it's not like I'll be working on it nightly. I'm comfortable with anything mechanical, and even though I can weld, I wouldn't be comfortable doing any body work myself. I'm happy to spend money on it as well, but where possible I'd rather do things myself. Is this a realistic plan or a pipedream?

If it's realistic - what would people suggest would be the best process from here? Start with the floorpan and then clean/rebuild everything to the point of a rolling chassis? Should I leave the body as-is, or take it off to get blasted, cleaned up and primed while I'm doing the mechanical work?

If it's unrealistic to slowly restore, what are my options? Given the condition is it worth doing a chequebook restoration? Or is my best option to find it a new loving home?

I'm happy to answer any questions - and thanks if you made it this far!

Sat Feb 07, 2015 12:17 am

Nic, only you can choose what is right for you..I will say that there is nothing wrong with a long rebuild project as long as you can stay motivated and not loose interest over time.

Upon completion, I'd bet you will have a greater appreciation for the car if you did it yourself than paying someone BUT you'd have useable time with your 56 sooner.

Sat Feb 07, 2015 12:28 am

I really enjoyed working on the car, never considered it a chore. The 56 oval would be a joy to put back together.

Sat Feb 07, 2015 1:14 am

I definitely enjoy working on it - probably as much as I will enjoy one day driving it!

So from the responses so far it sounds like it's an achievable task as a weekend project, based on the condition? (or what can be seen in the photos at least!) It's not an issue to do a rebuild over what I'm guessing will be a few years?

Sat Feb 07, 2015 5:18 am

I get Hemmings Classic Car magazine. There are restorations featured in there that have taken 10 years or more. Many of us have projects that also have gone on over a period of years.

Something I would not do right away is overhaul the brakes with exception of redoing backing plates, drums, bearings and such. A good example is a 67 pan that I had recently partially restored. I have a big project I am working on now and 2 future projects. So, its going to be years before I get to doing anything with the 67. What I dont want to have happen is rubber hoses, wheel cylinder seals, etc dry rotting before I even start working on the car.

Bottom line is this - if you are having fun with it, just keep plugging away. At some point you may be able to be closer to the car and working on it will be easier.

One last point - as you go on with the car, you may get more comfortable with doing more things (body work for example). That was something I NEVER planned on doing and I am at least getting to where I feel good about roughing in replacement panels and such. Final body and paint is somebody else, but I can do more than I did a few years ago.

Sat Aug 12, 2017 6:38 pm

Well more than 2 years later I figure this thread is worth a bump! The replies I got, combined with a visit to a friend-of-a-friend who has built 100's of VW's convinced me I can just chip away at this project.

The car is stored 45 minutes away, so I've been getting out there a couple days a month. It's going to take a while, but I'm enjoying it immensely. :D

A few photos...

Cleaning 10 years of nature out of the stable where it was stored...

All original body, but in various states of health...

OG rear window! I've gotten a bunch of photos of the sticker in case I need to re-create it, but I'll try my best to save it!

Out of storage, ready for work to begin...

Looking a bit worse for wear in a few spots...

And the pan after a good pressure clean and scrub...

Sat Aug 12, 2017 7:35 pm

Looking at the front of your pan, it looks as though it's pretending to be carry-on luggage! :lol:

Your oval window appears to be very solid, and very straight! It looks like a great start for a restoration... glad to see you're back at it. All the best on your project

Sat Aug 12, 2017 10:54 pm

Heh! Yes the front was already off, so I built a dolly wheel to move it around.

Sun Aug 13, 2017 4:38 am

Looks like a very decent car, fun project 8)

Sun Aug 13, 2017 8:35 am

Looks like part of the heater channel bottom still attached to the pan in that one picture. You will at lease need part of a bottom but possibly new heater channel(s) depending on how far the rust goes. I would recommend Virtanen, Wolf Parts and Klassic Fab for replacement parts. Avoid the Chinese, Danish and Brazilian panels.

Fri Sep 15, 2017 2:53 am

@splitjunkie: Yep I'm going to go with all new channels. It's the one area where the rust really set in...

A few other updates. I stripped the pan down, new pan where battery had rusted it out, and had it blasted:

Pan painted, front-end rebuilt, trans on...

Engine finally all closed up...

Carb rebuild, engine on...

Which brings me to my next question.
As you can see above the air cleaner hasn't been touched yet.
I'm conscious of not blasting the top due to the filter on the inside.
So wondering if there's any tips on restoring the outside to a nice black, and cleaning out the inside?

I don't have a great photo of the top, best one is probably this:

Mon Sep 18, 2017 9:06 am

Good progress.
I wouldn't blast the top of the air cleaner for the reasons you note. Do it with a wire brush, rinse it thoroughly in solvent and then paint it along with everything else.

I have a 56 that has been in pieces for 20 yrs or more. I'll finish it when time allows. Glad you didn't give up.

Fri Sep 22, 2017 9:45 am

Coming along nicely.

Sun Sep 24, 2017 9:15 am

You go, Badger! The work done looks great! I've been working on and off my '57 for over 20 years. It's getting close to being finished. The closer it gets to getting finished the more motivated I get. I just finished a '59 and have a '58 MGA almost done, too! These cars get along very well in the garage!!

Sat May 05, 2018 5:56 pm

OK probably overdue for an update! I ran in to some issues with my starter, so that took a while to get sorted.

In the meantime I unpacked all the bits that I'd packed away ~20 years ago. Speedo needs a good resto...

I really love the patina on the paint. The red-oxide undercoat they used in Australia comes through in places and looks quite nice.
I'm on the fence about painting or not (and my family and friends are also split - but they have strong opinions both ways!)

Steering wheel still looking good...

Seats are....ok. I'd love to keep them original, but I think they're maybe just a little bit too far gone so will need to be recovered...

Once I got my starter back all fixed, I made some good progress assembling the rest of the engine...

Fuel lines (we'll come back to them in a moment!)

And ready to go!

I wired everything up and expected to then spend half a day troubleshooting, but surprisingly it ran! First time since 1976!!

However, there were two issues!
The first, my crankshaft pulley was wobbly. So much so it made an amazing noise when running. (I've since pulled it and got it on straight)

The second issue, which I still need to solve, is the fuel line going in to the carb. I noticed a slight fuel leak after running it for 5 minutes.
So I removed and reinstalled the pump->carb line. But then this happened...

I tightened it up a bit more, and while there was no leak, there was also no fuel getting to the carb.
I had to leave before I had time to properly investigate, but if anyone has any thoughts on what this might be, please let me know!

Sat May 05, 2018 11:28 pm

The pulley noise was wacky!

I'm not sure how tightening the fuel line would cut off the fuel but I would remove the line and look at everything and make sure the cutoff valves inside the carb is not sticking for some reason either. This would be unrelated to the fuel line.

Also: Do you think your fan belt is too small? It's riding really low on the upper pulley.

Sun May 06, 2018 2:25 am

Thanks for that - I’ll pull it off and check the carb over this week hopefully.
When I picked up the fan belt my mechanic mentioned it may be the wrong size, but wasn’t sure. Given this is my first/only 36hp I had no idea how it needs to sit in the generator pulley. I’ll grab a bigger one and hope that’s right!

Sun May 06, 2018 1:40 pm

Everything is really shaping up. Your car's patina looks so right. Unless there is something that I'm missing (or is missing), the interior actually looks like it could clean up very nice and match the patina of the car. I'm really looking forward to see it all put together. Good luck. It'll be worth it.

Tue May 08, 2018 4:39 pm

nic_ wrote: OK probably overdue for an update! I ran in to some issues with my starter, so that took a while to get sorted.

In the meantime I unpacked all the bits that I'd packed away ~20 years ago. Speedo needs a good resto...

I really love the patina on the paint. The red-oxide undercoat they used in Australia comes through in places and looks quite nice.
I'm on the fence about painting or not (and my family and friends are also split - but they have strong opinions both ways!)

Steering wheel still looking good...

Seats are....ok. I'd love to keep them original, but I think they're maybe just a little bit too far gone so will need to be recovered...

Once I got my starter back all fixed, I made some good progress assembling the rest of the engine...

Fuel lines (we'll come back to them in a moment!)

And ready to go!

I wired everything up and expected to then spend half a day troubleshooting, but surprisingly it ran! First time since 1976!!

However, there were two issues!
The first, my crankshaft pulley was wobbly. So much so it made an amazing noise when running. (I've since pulled it and got it on straight)

The second issue, which I still need to solve, is the fuel line going in to the carb. I noticed a slight fuel leak after running it for 5 minutes.
So I removed and reinstalled the pump->carb line. But then this happened...

I tightened it up a bit more, and while there was no leak, there was also no fuel getting to the carb.
I had to leave before I had time to properly investigate, but if anyone has any thoughts on what this might be, please let me know!

This is awesome!!! Im now following your thread - I too also have a 56' ragtop I am restoring and getting back up and running after a few years of sitting. Great motivation - just keep going - one part at a time, one day at a time. I try to tell myself: don't look at the whole car in pieces. just focus on one piece to the puzzle, and just knock out one thing at a time - even if its just plugging in the wiring, or screwing in a mirror, or hooking up a fuel line. Slowly but surely as you do it - it will all come together - it helps to get motivated and keep going! With mine - I tore her down to get her re painted, then it turned into a full on restoration - replacing everything as I went through the car - the motor, the transmission, brakes, interior, wiring - the ragtop - everything. One piece turned into millions of pieces to the puzzle. Keep at it - I love your build so far - that motor looks cherry - watching you start it up was awesome. cant wait to turn the key on my oval! Cheers!

Tue May 08, 2018 6:03 pm

Looking good, the upholstery try some love and some conditioner..maybe Restritch it? And I'm a believer it's only old once ....wear the old paint...keep going.love it check out my 56, it needed exterior paint.