TheSamba.com :: View topic - 1958 Swedish Beetle

Wed Jan 01, 2025 8:11 am

Yesterday I received the repro early short chrome trim from Just kampers and did a quick install. The trim clips needed some finessing and bending so it didn't slide all over the place. I am on the look out for an OG one in the UK.

Also took it out for a quick spin whilst it was dry. Still running like a proper sowing machine.

Sat Jan 04, 2025 9:34 am

Spent this Saturday Fixing up the Sticky accelerator due to some slop in the pedal. The pedal pin removal was a bit finicky and corroded in place. Also the return spring on the pedal had rusted through and snapped. When replacing the pin I had to do a bit of tweaking on the pedal bracket so the fit was tight enough that it didn't slip out whilst driving.
It is all cleaned up and rebuilt, I noticed a massive difference.

I recently purchased some Hayburner rear wheel skirts/spats off Facebook market place. Looking at getting them colour matched and on ready for some summer driving.

Sun Jan 12, 2025 11:05 am

Did some cleaning of the original front firewall carpet and rubber mat this week in preparation for re-installation. It is very tatty around some bits but keen to keep it as it is original to the car. Bit hard to dry in this cold weather but managed to sit it in front of the fireplace for a few days.

Today I rust converted some bits on the firewall and along the heater channels prior to gluing it back into place. Where the carpet previously was installed it still has the original nails. I decided not to remove them and just leave them in place. I know some time in the future I will remove the carpet again to do repairs on the heater channels. The Sill carpet pieces have been washed and just waiting on them to dry prior to gluing them back in. All of the floor pans are original to the car an i can only see a bit where the drivers side has had one patch. Still have the original grey floor mats for the front and one in back on the battery side. Searching for the second one.

I also discovered a possible foot press fuel primer or vacuum near the high/ low beam switch. I am possibly thinking of connecting it to the front washer bottle if so. When i have been under the front i know it is not connected to anything. Need to do some more investigation.

Thu Feb 20, 2025 10:10 am

I have been away in Australia for a 3 week holiday to visit home, so there has been little progress till now. I have managed to get my Fender skirts/spats colour matched by Classic Car Revivals (Just down the road from me). They did an epic job with the paint matching and semi gloss to match the rest of the fade.

Here is the below mounting solution. A bit different to the other options but seems to work okay. The skirt doesn't have a upper lip to run under the fender this makes it a bit tricky when installing.

I have managed to fit the RHS with a lot of messing around. The hard part is making sure it sits under the fender whist you tighten every thing up. These have been based off a NOS fender but every beetle is different which I found out for the LHS. (Previous whiskey dents and bumps).
This is the RHS.

This is the LHS. As you can see i need to heat up and manipulate the fender to fit and maybe get at it with a grinder. Bit silly of me for not doing it prior.

I am getting everything ready to go to Belgium (Ninnove) for Freddy Files in mid March. Last night was its furthest trip up to a local Caffeine Machine and it seemed to go okay. Little bit of Clutch chatter when taking off and some hesitation in 3rd after releasing the clutch.

Sat Feb 22, 2025 12:01 am

It’s nice to see this coming on, you’ve been busy over the winter. It’s looking very good, a proper time capsule.

Sat Feb 22, 2025 11:46 pm

This is really fun to follow! What a great find. I SO wish they kept that steering wheel through 1960!

Mon Feb 24, 2025 5:55 am

Thanks for the kind words.

I took the beetle out of the garage to get a better look at how the side skirts looked overall. I did some manipulating with a heat gun around the rear of the fenders and seem to help. Also added the Aussie rear window blind that was in my 62.

I have also spent some time finishing up the front under the hood. I replaced some hubcap clips that had fallen off the original wheel as well as adding a original Volkswagen spare belt. I got some fuel line for the Swedish fuel tank breather. Still need to get a OG jack & handle as well as a wiring cover.

Tue Mar 04, 2025 1:53 pm

Spent the last weekend fixing a few bits that need doing prior to leaving for Belgium in a couple of weeks. I also managed to give the car a full cut and polish.

The VW SWF wiper mount had cracked and eventually snapped. I managed to score some sandblasted SWF ones off a fellow UK Samba member at a reasonable price. I have since painted and put back on.

On Monday I bought a beetle jack & handle from eBay, Hopefully the right one. It is a blue top Bilstein. It took a little bit of elbow grease and it was working all fine again. Got some patina so it suits the car well.

Still having some dramas with the engine and hesitation, I messed around with the timing, checked the points and used some sand paper to clean the rotor and cap. Hopefully this will help.

Fri Mar 07, 2025 10:07 am

Love to see cars like this, original survivors being given some love and used.
Not a fan of skirts but it’s your choice.

Keep up the good work.

Tue Mar 18, 2025 3:38 am

I had the pleasure of driving over to Belgium on the weekend to Freddy Files VW event in Nninove. It was the biggest drive the beetle has done since it was parked up in 2007 in the UK.

We had a great weekend with the beetle driving over 5 hours each way. The only issues we came across was a leaky fuel pump diaphragm and seals. I already ordered a rebuild kit and will be getting on to it straight away. We met so many epic VW enthusiasts and saw over 1000 VWs.

Leaving Home Friday

At the Leshuttle SAT morning.

Driving in to the Car Train

Filling up with the Cruise UK to Ninove Crew in France

First Night in Ninove at BnB (after Brewery)

Driving in to Ninove for Freddy Files

This was my first time and not my last. Such an amazing event.

Tue Mar 18, 2025 1:53 pm

I love your car! Just finished reading the whole thread for the first time. I love the fender skirts, I think it gives a "nod" back to the post war aero sedans of the 1940's, they just flow so nicely with the beetles lines. I have a set of foxcraft skirts for my 62 beetle but have not installed them yet. my car is original patina turkis color and i need to find someone who could match the patina. I think the black is easier. I also love your hood wind deflector, like you said "put your stamp on it"! Great Car! have fun with it.

Thu Mar 27, 2025 2:41 am

Whilst driving back from Belgium to the UK the fuel pump started weeping then leaking. I tightened up the 6 screws around the top and monitored it during the drive. It seemed to be okay whilst driving but when stopped it would seep out.

So when we got back I knew it was going to need a quick rebuild. I jump online and ordered the parts.

During the rebuild I discovered a few things wrong with the fuel pump.
- The lower half threads were all buggered and I needed to re tap them. One was so bad that they had placed a through bolt with a nut on the bottom. I managed to re tap it and so far it is all good.
- I needed to replace a few screws due to the above issue so I went to the local fastening shop to see what I could get. You can see the difference on a few photos but i am lucky i used them in the end.
- The Diaphragm was torn and stiff from age.
- The pump has had a poor rebuild in the past, the main spring was stiffer than the rebuild kit (I was advised on youtube to use the original, hopefully it was but based on the engine running well on our recent long journey I kept it in)

The green seals had a slight leak.

The fuel pump looked like it had had 80grit sand paper used to flatten out the surfaces, I ended up using 180 grit sand paper on a bit of flat stock to flatten out both surfaces after using a blade to remove the old gasket.

The Diaphragm was torn and very stiff.

After the first rebuild. You can see the waves in in the diaphragm. I did create a makeshift tool to bring the gasket down level and flat but I believe that the original screws didn't have enough bite to bring it together flat. After this i did install for a test and it leaked like a sive.

I regreased the lever.

After the initial rebuild trying to reuse as many original screws, I decided to utilize the new flat head ones i bought earlier. I went through and realigned the diaphragm so that there were no creases and once again used my tie rod remover tool as jig.

After a 30min drive to town and a few laps around our village it was leak free. And running smooth as ever.

I also changed the oil later that day, whilst filling it up I added a filler cap seal.

Thu Mar 27, 2025 9:04 am

That pivot pin for the fuel pump is notorious for walking out and leaving you stranded due to no functioning fuel pump. Since mine disappeared entirely I replaced it with either a shoulder bolt or a pin with circlip grooves so it can't fall out. You could probably bend up a piece of sheet metal to hold both sides of that pin captive for extra piece of mind.

Fri Apr 04, 2025 1:41 pm

Over the last few days I have been removing the old paint off my beetle with oven cleaner. It is always a initially a scary thing taking a bit of fine steel wool to an alright car. Some of the paint is from old repairs and can be seen to look like it was brush on. I am looking to get the beetle back to its completely original paint. It is very slow and time consuming as there are many different layers and almost every panel requires a bit of a different process.

I have been using:
- oven Cleaner (well known to get that original paint) couple of brands
- Fine Steel wool & Green dish sponge
- Plastic blade
- Rubber Gloves - Have been burnt in the past
- A lot of elbow grease

I started on the drivers side as it was the worst area. The front fender and quarter were the OG paint besides where they had repaired a small accident behind the bumper.

Drivers Side:

The Passenger side was just the front guard as the door and rear quarter are OG paint.
Passengers Side:

The Front had a repair and some red oxide primer. I turned out okay. I also used oven cleaner in the front wheel well.
Front:

There was also a rattle in the passengers door due to a loose screw holding the center bar in, also the winder mechanism was missing a bold that was in the bottom of the door. I also noticed a few sections that seem to have a wax crayon marking that could be original form the factory.
Door Card/ Passengers Door:

Tue Apr 08, 2025 10:46 am

Just read through this from start to finish. Wow, what a great job you've done getting this thing back out on the road. It's coming along beautifully.

Well done. 8)

Thu Apr 10, 2025 11:25 pm

I KNOW THIS MAN! haha,

Killer thread dude. (its Adam with the 58 from Wales)

Was good seeing at Ninove!

Fri Apr 11, 2025 3:38 am

Scotty D wrote: Just read through this from start to finish. Wow, what a great job you've done getting this thing back out on the road. It's coming along beautifully.

Well done. 8)

Thanks for the kind words, slowly ticking along.

Fri Apr 11, 2025 4:03 am

T2Welshie wrote: I KNOW THIS MAN! haha,

Killer thread dude. (its Adam with the 58 from Wales)

Was good seeing at Ninove!

Hey mate thanks!!

You too, Can’t wait for the next year.

If you are over this way hit me up. Keen to head to a few shows over summer or just sink some pints somewhere.

Fri Apr 11, 2025 4:10 am

Had a quick few minuets to tidy up a K-L steering knob that I got off eBay. Forgot to get some before and after shots so just using the listing ones. It doesn’t have the bezel but I think it goes pretty well without. It had some cracks on the top so I super glued it up. Then used some jif cleaner to scrub it down. It took away most of the sun damage and discolouration. My thoughts were to make it shine so I clear coated the knob and stripped and polished all the other bits.

Before

After

Thu May 08, 2025 11:12 am

Been busy over the last few weeks. I manged to get out in the beetle to a few local shows and also Stanford Hall over the weekend. So lucky to get in with the Historical beetles all 1960 and below.

An Evening at Dubs at the Cross

H-Town Cruise to Cricketers

Stanford Hall Preparation at home, manged to give it a wash and polish prior to the drive up on Sunday.

Line up in Historical area at Stanford Hall

On the way home I hit a pot hole and lost one of my hubcaps. It was a bit of a shame. I did the walk of shame to go look for it but unfortunately it is stinging nettle season and the side of the road was absolutely overgrown. Once I was back home I polished up an old OG one and painted in the logo to match.

After all the driving around i thought it would be a good opportunity to refresh the gearbox oil. Drained it and was surprised to see it still had the original drain plugs and fill plug. I suspected it was a little low so it was worth doing. Mind the grubby mitts.

At Stanford Hall I picked up a few goodies, one was this Motormeter temp Gauge which I manged to mount using an AAC mount in Ivory. I need to get the gauge rebuilt to work properly.