Instagram story viewer> @steve_lee_l> Posts
steve_lee_l(@steve_lee_l)'s profile avatar HD Profile

steve_lee_l

@steve_lee_l

23
followers
260
following
Owner of a 1971 1302 bug. Had it in bits for probably 20 years! Ouch...
POSTS STORIES REELS
Again, small steps. And temporary of course. But it makes me feel better! Under the dash was looking rough as hell, so a solid hour of sanding and a coat of zinc primer. by @steve_lee_l
One last post for the day. I've been looking at this brake master cylinder for a while since trying to set my pedals back on the floorpan. The cylinder was seized and i'm not taking any chances with it. I'll buy a new one. But my curiosity was getting the better of me and I wanted to strip it down. Clip and washer came out easy. I've then been soaking it with brake cleaner and tapping it with a hammer to loosen it. Quite a few times. Today it finally let go... the first piston anyway! 🙄 Yeah I know there's an exploded view in the Haynes manual. Not the same though is it? Sometimes, I just like taking shit apart. 😆 by @steve_lee_l
Had a quick look at the bonnet too. Outside looks fine. Inside, not so much. Both top corners, evidence of a previous bodge and one corner had a big lump of filler drop out. Middle behind the vent is gone. Bottom lip is gone too. Couple more pics of the boot space. Some welding needed under where the fuel tank goes but the rest looks OK. by @steve_lee_l
Front left side, above the channels looks good. Might be some cleaning up to do around the line of nuts for the wing, just to be sure. The seal strip for the bonnet is gone on the drivers side and plenty of patches down the nearside and front edge too. It's clear the front apron is out of shape and the spare wheel well has had an interesting repair at some point! Did you spot the nasty repair on the drivers side? 🫣 perhaps they thought it gave them a good root gap for welding? 5mm is about right, yeah? by @steve_lee_l
Here's where it gets a bit scary. More evidence of older patches. Gnarly! The underside of the dash looks bad but seems to resist the screwdriver, so that's where I'll need to have a better look. Drivers side A-pillar is a nasty one. Not looking forward to that. It least it won't take long to cut out. Not much left of it! Starting to wonder if the front right had an accident in the past. 1/2" of filler at the bottom of the front quarter panel. Big bodge of repair in front of the suspension mount. Better photo coming on that one. by @steve_lee_l
Next: a closer look at the roof gutters. Usual site for rust. Yeah, a few patches but nothing too serious I think. Window frames look decent. Little bit of delamination at the front corners I think. Nearside rear vent is packed full of silicone of some sort. That's going to need digging out. We'll see what's hiding there another time. Drivers side is looking good though. Drivers side rear has had some patches welded in before. I'm sure it kept the car on the road a little bit longer but I want to make it look better than that! Like I've said before, heater channels are gone. B-pillars look OK until the joint to the heater channels. Rear arches look in good nick above those channels. by @steve_lee_l
After looking over the parcel shelf, I got looking a bit closer at the engine bay too. Thought I was going to give it the same treatment. Quick clean, sand and a coat of primer to preserve it a bit longer. But then I figured I would see just how bad the car is now. It's been probably 20 years since I stripped it down. Maybe half that time stored in sheds, industrial units and barns and the other half outside under a tarp. Time to get a real understanding of what's ahead. So I started with the engine bay... wire brush and a screwdriver to find all the holes! For the engine bay, nothing I havent seen others tackle. I always knew the heater channels were done for so no surprise where they join the back there's a hole. Rest of the bay doesn't look too bad. Top corners could be tricky. Those sharp retainers for the firewall are deadly! Looks like it's had a new rear apron in the past. Bit of a bodge with the welding so probably going to take it off and either replace or try to make good. The inside is a bit ropey now so might be best scrapped and replaced. by @steve_lee_l
So after pulling the old tarp off, i thought the parcel shelf area was starting to look bad. This was an area I thought I wasn't going to have to worry too much about on the body, so I thought I'd better clean it up a bit and spray some primer on it. I'm curious what these couple of holes are for. They were covered over with seam sealer. Answers on a postcard... I roped my youngest into helping sand the shelf up a bit and got it looking better, then sprayed a coating of zinc weld through primer on it (all I had in the garage, but hopefully the zinc will be attacked now before the steel). It's going to be a while before I really get stuck into the body, so this is a temporary measure. by @steve_lee_l
This is what progress sometimes looks like. Tiny steps in the general direction you want to go. It's been a long wait, trying to find time to do any job on the bug. The body has been wrapped up tightly in a tarp for years. Now it's out and I can see it again! And I decided to get it on a dolly to be able to move it easier. Few bits of wood I had kicking around and a cheap set of braked castors from Temu sorted it. Now I'm feeling like I dont wanna put the tarp back on, which means I've got work to do. That's what motivation sometimes looks like 😉 by @steve_lee_l
A small amount of progress. Had about an hour in the garage today. I can see the centre of that shaft getting closer to where it needs to be. Starting to get pretty worried about the plug welds on the flanges next to where I've been hammering though. Think I'm gonna have to drill them out and go again once I've got the pan where I'm happy with it. They were some of the first welds I did on the car though and they were a bit of a nightmare, so sorta pleased they haven't just popped off straight away! by @steve_lee_l
So...first and second attempts to put the pedal cluster back together on the pan have stalled. Firstly, I took this apart maybe 16 years ago and figuring out how it all goes back together has been a mix of results. Amazed with the lack of info on a late model right hand drive pedal cluster but not a bad challenge to have. Seondly and more frustratingly because of the pressings on the new pan half. The old pan has a recess that the supporting plate was welded into. No such recess on the new pan. As it is now, the right side is too high, tipping the shaft and causing the left side, where the shaft exits the tunnel to be about 10mm too low. Plan of attack: since the pan is REALLY thin, (0.8mm I think), cutting a section out and MIG welding a recess in would be a nightmare. Instead, I'm gonna try clamping some 10mm steel flat plate alongside where I need the recess and then hammering the recess in. I've got some sand bags I've wedged under the pan and a hard plastic dolly to limit the damage! Lots of worries aout this. Stretching the metal is going to make it thinner. Could be really difficult to get flat and a nice shape. If all else fails... cut it out and weld a new section in! Maybe time to look for a second hand TIG welder too... #VW #Beetle #1302 #RHD #pedals by @steve_lee_l
Couple of close ups of the rot on the passenger side floor pan 🤔 Looking forward to cutting that out! by @steve_lee_l

Download All

Save the photos and videos currently loaded on this page.

0Photos
0Videos
Ready to download 0 / 0

Keep this tab open until your download is ready.
back to up