Small additional accessory

Here is a photo of a gear lever extender, not as neat as the ones you could get for the type 1 ghia but useful for the early cars. there are still some for sale at:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=135721

Getting ready for 2008

Called in to see the body shell a few days a go, a small amount of work has been completed but nothing to merit any photos.
I replaced the driver's side rear wheel bearing hub seals seals today, I put the rear drum back on but left the brake linnings out so that I can check in a couple of days for leaks and prevent the linnings getting oil on them.
Next activities in January\February will be:

• Replace the front passenger side brake cylinder balance pipe
• Treat the fuel tank with a POR15 sealant kit
• Try to strip the anodosing off some aluminium trim pieces and see if I can then polish them up and re-annodise with a home kit
• Collect the pieices that I took to the chromers for replating and passive coating
• Fire up the engine
• Chase the body shop to make some real progress and get the shell back by the end of March at the latest

Paint prep progress

The body shop has made some more progress on preping the car for paint. The main shell received a flash coat of primer and then a high build polyester filler primer on top. This now needs to be flatted back and remaining imperfections identified and sorted. Hopefully the pace will now keep up and maybe the bodyshell will be back home in the new year.

Rear brake drums

I finally got the NOS rear brake drum drilled to accept the rear hub oil seal thrower and have refitted that drum to the axle. However problems continue with the other side as the seal is now leaking and will need to be replaced before the car goes on the road.

Trim rings and chroming

I managed to pick up a set of the correct wheel trim rings off The Samba. These are a 1961 set as fitted to Type 14 and Type 2 but only to the T34 for a short period of time. Overall they are not in bad condition. I am looking into anodising companies for a few parts on the car and may get the trim rings refinished at the same time.

Meanwhile I took a load of small parts for rechroming at London Chroming Co along with other parts for passive plating, these should be done in about a month.

Finally I took the rear drums back of the rear axle and off to an engineering shop to have a hole drilled in the NOS one of the pair so that I can fit the oil thrower assembly back on.

No more progress on the bodywork but hopefully things will have moved on by the next post.

Prep work photos & progress

Here is a selection of the photos Mike kindly took for me when he called in at the body shop - all metal surfaces inside and out are being stripped totally bare to ensure no trace of rust remains.

I have also received the rear wing repair panels to use as a profile template and will drop then in at the end of the week, Paul at the bodyshop says there has also been more progress since these photos.

Meantime I took some minor pieces that needed rechroming to the plating shop, along with various small parts for passive plating - should be back in about 1 month.

Prep work continues

Called into the bodyshop today. All panels have now been profiled and skimmed and work is now underway with preping the underneath of the car. There is a small amount of work left to do to ensure the swage line in the rear wing panel is correct and also some minor work in the front boot area, replacement of cable ties etc. After this the primer will be going on, as soon as I have pics I will post them.

A little filler here, a little filler there..

Dropped in at the weekend to see what progress there has been with the body, more filler has been applied here and there, mainly on the passenger side, and some progress has been made on the drivers side.

The hope is that after next week there can be a big push to make more progress and get it into primer.

I took a range of small parts for blasting at the weekend and will post a few pics of them during the week.

magazine insert

I acquired the ad below at Bad Camberg in June. The dealer told me it was an insert for magazines in the 60's. I am a bit doubtful as to wether it is an original item due to the thick nature of the paper it is printed on but it is a nice stylised view of the VW range.

Signs of progress

Mike Dempster called in for me at the body shop to check on progress and found activity taking place. One of the front wings was in the middle of being preped for a light skim of filler and hopefully this means that the pace will pick up.

The body has gone in on a 'fill in' basis so it has to wait its turn between other jobs which is why progress might seem slow. I'm quite happy with this as long as the end result is good. In the meantime work has been completed also on the front panel which proved to be slightly out of shape following the rebuild.

Georgsmarienhuette - Type 34s - Part 3

Here are the last of the type 34 photos from GMH. they include the tacho that Johannes managed to pick up from a guy who had owned it from new - he approached him (I think) at another meeting and said he had one at home left over from when he had owned a car - it just needed some cosmetic paint work to the bezel and pointer.

Also a couple of fantastic shots of Joerg's 341 as we drove behind it in convoy for 2 hours - Joerg kindly offered me a drive in it at the end of the meeting but I was disappointed to have to say no as we needed to set off on our 8 hour trip back to the channel tunnel - next time and thanks for the offer Joerg!