NEW ROOF LINING

I loaded Oupa on a car trailer and took him to someone in our club to install the windows with the trimmings. Apparently it is somewhat of a "craft" to fit the trimmings and I think it is also the reason why a lot of Beetles have window rubbers without trimmings. I will rather not say what I was quoted previously to have this done, which is why it took me so long to finally have the trimmings fitted. Upon my arrival I was told that the balck roof lining I had installed was not done properly and had to be replaced before the windows could be fitted. There was no other option and I gave the go-ahead. This time I settled for a white roof lining instead of the initial black. I must say the final product is awesome.

Now the windows can be fitted and we can start with the interior.

I hope Oupa appreciate all the trouble I am going through...

Oupa's Ticker (final)

I bought a gasket set to replace all the old gaskets on the engine. I took the engine to the VW Aircooled "guru", Werner Alker, to replace the gaskets and assemble the engine. As mentioned in an earlier post, a pressure washer was used to remove most of the dirt and grime. The problem is that we didn't properly block off all the places where the water could go into the engine before we started cleaning the engine. As a result we could see the years worth of rust on the sleeves. When we removed the push rods we saw that they were eaten away by the cam. This meant only one thing, the engine needs to be opened so that we can look at the cam. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse we noticed a crack on one of the sleeves. Luckily we had a replacement sleeve.

At first Werner thought I would need a new set of pistons and sleeves but after he started working on them he mentioned that it might not be necessary after all. He cleaned all the pistons and sleeves and then he honed the sleeves. Werner then opened the engine and as was feared, the lobes on the cam was worn off.

Except for the sludge in the engine caused by the water everything else looked fine. Werner said that this was the first time in his life where something that looked like a lost cause when he started on it, turned out to be a success.

I left the engine with Werner and he called me a day later to say that he has finished assembling the engine. I took all the tin pieces, generator, replacement exhaust etc. to him so that it can be fitted.

Fast forward a week later. Today 23 February 2015. Oupa's engine is finished and to crown it all off...Werner started it for me. I took a video of the event, the master has done it again. I am overjoyed ....

Oupa Returns Home

At this stage I want to explain that we moved to Pretoria and that a year has since passed. Fast forward a year +. Oupa returns home.

We loaded Oupa on a trailer to take him home. He was all bright eyed and shiny  when we picked him up.

Check out the view in the rear view mirror (I still couldn't believe he is coming home...)

 When we arrived home, we had a bottle of "bubbly" to celebrate the occasion.

Oupa's Ticker (Part 2):

Once all the tin were stripped off, we tried to remove most of the dirt and grime using a pressure washer.

I started sanding down all the metal bits and sprayed them with heat resistant spray.

Oupa's Ticker

Oupa's ticker is a 30HP engine. It was sitting in my garage while Joggie was busy with the body restoration.

The engine covers and fan housing were stripped down. I wanted to sand them down and spray them with heat resistant spray.

THE DOORS (FINAL)

The doors have been aligned and their windows and trimmings have been fitted.

The old door panels have been fitted temporarily until I can find someone that can redo the door and rear panels to look like the originals

THE DOORS (no not the band)

Those of you who have been following this blog will remember how much I struggled to get hold of doors for Oupa. I eventually got both doors but the inner panels on the one door were missing. Joggie had to cut these out from the old doors and weld them into the replacement door.

The other door looked good on the surface but when Joggie started sanding it, a rotten surprise was waiting for him. The previous owner used fibreglass to fix the door but did not remove the rust before applying it. Joggie had to cut out the rotten part and weld in a new section into the door.