1964 Beetle.

[VDubbin]

Hi Colm and Looie! Just found this thread after Justin mentioned you had the build thread here.

It was great to see the Bug in action on Friday (That was me in the baseball cap above pushing Martin's R19) and it seems like you managed to get a lot of troubleshooting done too! Did you get the wiper and hose clip back? One of the marshalls (he had been covering the approach to Dunlop, where the pipe let go) approached us at the end of the day holding it out, but I think you were gone again?

The car sounded absolutely smashing, and corners like exactly like you'd expect a swing armed Bug. One of the most entertaining cars to watch on the day. Now that I've seen the amount of work you've put into it, I'm even more in awe!

 

[whatucolm]

hi VDubbin! cheers!
ya,i got that stuff from the marshal alright-fair play to him.
definitely got a list a stuff to improve for the next time too.will probably be a while before its done though.
did you have a machine there yourself? hopefully catch up with you up there again sometime.

 

[kombi.noise]

Well done Colm. Got passanger laps in this around mondello at the trackday. Can't believe how good it was for its first proper drive. That front suspension seems to be a great set up. Handled hard braking/turn in and hopping off kerbs great. I know its sidewards in alot of pics and videos, but colm wasnt exactly trying to drive smoothly planting he foot half way around corners. Half of the time I was looking forward out the side window!
Made a video of a few warm up laps just after pulling out of the pits (shakiest video ever, camera mount broke : ( and when he started to speed up the memory on card ran out!)

looks like ye had a great laugh colm
sounds like u had someone with whips and chains on the back seat:looool:

nice one, fair play,

 

[whatucolm]

well,i havent done a lot with the car in the last year or so,but have a few photos of where its at now-in pieces!
did a few trackdays since,and finally got to the bottom of its tendency to overheat,thank god..it was only down to not bleeding the waterpipes properly.took four hours to bleed the last time.
i moved the waterpipes from under the car-they now run through the tunnel in the centre of the floor.
fitted a front anti-roll bar from an e46 bmw too.
noticed gearbox oil leaking onto the back brakes last august-when i took it apart found the differential in shite.
i'm only getting round to fixing it now.i was putting it off until i got some proper space in the shed.this is her home for now..

 

[whatucolm]

this is the diff,and the damage done to it..
there was a spacer missing from behind the wheel bearing and i think that caused the axle to brake the circlips out of the diff.

 

[whatucolm]

this is some of the crap that fell out,and the damage done to the axle..

 

[whatucolm]

i had been thinking of converting to irs,so now that its apart i'm going to have a go.
swapped a set of alloys with Marlow for these Porsche 924 arms.they had different bushings to the beetle so i go new ones and the irs brackets.

 

[whatucolm]

i had this jig for the bracket from before..

 

[whatucolm]

thought i might get away without removing the bodyshell,but it would have been too arkward to weld it up properly,so off she came!..

 

[whatucolm]

took me bloody hours to cut this hole..

 

[whatucolm]

the tube for the handbrake cable was annoying me,so i did away with it.it will have to be a hydraulic handbrake now,or a brick behind the wheel?

 

[whatucolm]

this how the jig holds it in place..



and this is about as far as i got at the moment-tacked into place..
hopefully get back to it tomorrow.

 

[whatucolm]

here she was in happier times..the last of her swingin' days

 

[trev]

that's deadly work, well done Colm!! You were right to lift the body to do the IRS conversion, I can't imagine you'd have had much success cutting the hole and welding it in properly with the body on.

What's the gearbox on the floor behind the chassis?

 

[whatucolm]

thanks Trev! its slow going at the moment,not sure what to do about the gearbox yet.
that gearbox is '00ish bmw 5 series automatic.3.0 diesel i think-about 20 tonnes in it!-it wont fit the beetle thank god.

 

[trev]

ah, I was wondering what you were up to with it! Nothing!

 

[CulmoreDubClub]

Love the Video from Mondello....Looks great fun...

 

[whatucolm]

got the welding finished on the irs brackets last week.
the after-market brackets leave a fairly big gap to be filled at the bottom..

 

[whatucolm]

 

[whatucolm]