It’s been awhile since I updated anything about the 1965 Rat Beetle. Moving slowly forward but hopefully it can be ready for Safety Inspection this spring/summer.

All of the old (complete!) brake system was thrown in the thrash and replaced with brand new parts. New shocks all around too. New wheel bearings. New hoses, brakelines and every nut/bolt is new in the brakesystem. Fenders have been removed for clean up and new blackbody/ship paint applied to underside. Going to be re-installed with new bolts and seals, anti rust wax etc.

Engine have been worked on also, valves adjusted, new oilsump/gaskets, new: sparkplugs, dist.cap, ignition coil and wiring, rotor, condensator, restored Solex 30-pict carb, new fuel lines everywhere, new exhaust system and all gaskets, restored 12v generator and new Bosch charge relay and 12v generator stand, new fan belt and pulley, new throttle cable etc.

That’s it for now! Next up is transmission overhaul and then test start the engine for first time in 20 years…

My 1967 Ghia gets a complete overhaul of the frontend. It was all stock height but the front is a little to high for my taste, it needs to be lowered around 50-100mm to get the beauty lines of the car to really flow. Rear is stock height. A brand new adjustable 2″ narrowed front beam with needle bearings. New narrowed tierods, new droppen spindels, new wheelbearings, new shocks, and all the brakestuff was already new. Wheels will be polished Porsche Fuchs. Since I had to remove the fuel tank I installed new fuel lines and cleaned up the front luggage compartment a little. Here comes some pics…

Found an old picture on the patina bug from last year. Built in 2013. Now sold…was a cool ride for sure. Click on “Rides & Projects” in the menu for restoration pics….

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This is the story of my old 1950 splitwindow Beetle. When found it was basicly just a rolling shell with all the parts stuffed inside of it. So it needed alot of work to get rolling again. The first thing to do was cleaning it out and wash the chassi and put a new fresh coat of undersealing on it. The old front beam was takeon out (saved) same thing with the transmission. It was some early 1940’s KDF parts on it, like steeringbox and door handles, very cool and rare! The old transmission was swaped out for a more modern with syncrozied gears, so a custom made bracket for fiting the new trans was needed. New bushings, new adjustable torsionarms and lowered shocks, 2 splines lowered on the torsion. The frontend got a brandnew fronbeam with dual adjusters and narrowed 6 inches. New CB performance dropped spindles, new flipped tie-rods, all new brakes all around. All windows got new rubber seals. Engine was an almost brand new industrial engine, 30hp! This car runned great on the road and never a problem with it. I had to sell it in 2009 when I got the chance to buy a Samba bus project instead. The split is now in Italy at a VW collector. Apparently it’s a super rare car in Italy, only 2 know to exist in their country, cool! Guess they just have Fiats and Ferraris there, I feel sorry for them.

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