Blizzard's rolling rebuild of a 1303 1975

[H2OSB]

Very awesome!

[Blizzard]

I did not post anything for a wile. But just like owdlvr I also would like to keep this forum alive. I have not posted any updates about my super beetles because I was distracted with a (new to me) old VW.
Last April I bought my first bus. So first a few pics and updates on the "new" '73 deluxe 7 seater bus and than I will show some updates on my supers, the red and the black one.

This is what the bus looked like when I bought it. Stock hight, wheels, ugly amateur interior panels.


This is Germanlook.net so I will post some related updates on the bus.
First update, was for better road handeling.

lowered spindles and new Koni shocks in the front.



Thicker torsionbars, and also new Koni shocks for the rear.


Other wheel options are a set of Cup2's and a set of original Fuchs.



It has a 1800cc Type-4 that needed some new parts.
Vintage speed exhaust and stainless heatexchanger replacement tubes.


Before

After


New interior to replace amateur ugly old pannels.
Before

After



cleaned up the towbar / bumperbracket and fitted a new rear bumper.
Before

After


Thats all for now on the bus.

[Blizzard]

The chassis of the black 1303 is as new. It got new floorpanels and napoleonhat. After the welding was done it was sandblasted and got a good rustprotection treastment. Epoxy primer, black paint and I did the stone chip protection myself.

[Blizzard]

I like to do everything myself, thats the hobby for me to learn new skills.
Uptill now I spraypainted everything outside or in the dusty garage.
For a more profesiional result I bought some electric fans, led light bars and filter material to build a paint booth.
First I made a small one as a proof of concept to see if the airflow setup and filter were doing their job. So I started with the fenders and a few small parts.






End result is almost perfect, a little orangepeel and one little fly landed on the wet paint. All easy to buff out. But no dust craters, runs or dry spots.





New glassfiber fenders are ready to paint without much extra work.
The body of the car needed more work. New undersides of the heaterchanels,
and some small easy patch panels.




The biggest and most difficult rust repair problem I faced was on the roof, next to the sliding roof opening. It rusted from the inside out.







I am glad that job is done. Now I am waiting for warmer weather so I can continue to paint the rest of the car and put everything back together and drive a superbeetle again. The bus is nice, but it's a slow big heavy brick compaired to the beetles.