Bella - 1958 Australian Beetle

Does that mean you might bring Bella to Oktoberfest??

If I get her MOTd and registered in time, then I will do! But I don't really want to think about that cos I don't want to get dissapointed again like before CTTP.

Ok, so I've not posted much since May, but I have been doing stuff to Bella now and again, so I thought I'd update this.

I replaced the rear hub seal in the pass side rear because it was leaking. This also meant I had to put new shoes in because they were contaminated - which was annoying as they'd only covered 1 mile under their own steam! I then put new hubs on all round because most of the threads were stripped:






We replaced the master cylinder and put some shorter flexi lines in due to the narrowed beam. I'm sure we did more stuff, but I can't remember what they were lol.

Then the weekend before her MOT was booked, we were adjusting the pass side door and I noticed a crack at the bottom of the B pillar - I poked it (as you do) and it got bigger, and bigger and bigger.... oops!


So Steve made me up a patch and I started to weld it in.... half way through there was a lot of smoke... and it was coming out of everywhere - out of the decklid, the rear vents, semaphore, bonnet etc etc.... so we waited for the welding to cool down, and the smoke just got worse.... I felt where I'd welded and it was now cold, but there was a rather hot spot a couple inches above it.... so a bit of digging behind the rear door card and this was revealed:


Which continued to smoke for the next 20mins till we watered it with the watering can lol.

So I finished the welding:



And she still stinks of smoke!

Then I spent 5... yes, five... hours fishing the bit that you screw into for the bottom hinge on the pass side door.... the strap of metal that normally holds it in the right place has gone awol, and trying to keep it in the right place was a nightmare! It was also impossible to keep in the right place and get the hinge in place... so I had to weld it onto the A pillar so I could fix the door on securely! I'll redo the A pillar with a hookeys panel at some point.

Anyways - off she went to Invader for her MOT. Failed on 9 things, but all pretty easily fixable (or at least I think so), so I wasn't dissapointed. 3 of those things were because I'd forgotten to tighten bolts up oops!

The rest was (off memory), the link pins need adjusting to get rid of play, the steering is too tight, there's play in the rear spring plates (hopefully just needs new bushes), the bit which connects the round disk thing to the steering column is slipping and one of the rear brake pipes touches the shock, so that just needs to be bent out.

So all in all, a good result I think. She's not failed on anything which isn't fixable.

Pic of her when I dropped her off at the garage:

Glad there isn't anything too much Lucy. You reckon you will get it retested for the weekend???

no lol. Gonna take my time with her. Even if she was retested before the weekend, I wouldn't have time to register etc her anyways.

Aiming for CTTP again

Shamrockez wrote:

Aiming for CTTP again

Not that old chestnut again??!?!?!?

it wouldn't be the same without it tho! It would be like Christmas with no Santa!

righty, Steve and I spent a couple hours with Bella yesterday and made some progress! We sorted the slipping steering column problem, adjusted the links to remove the play, adjusted the wheel bearing on driver's side front and tightened the driver's side shock.

We started to adjust the steering box - following Moby's instructions... loosen the bolt, then undo the screw.... ok....erm... no bolt.... no idea where that's escaped to! But on adjusting it the steering felt much more free, so that's good. We've both got some time off next week so hopefully we should be able to fit the rear doughnut things, move the brake line, finish adjusting the box and tighten the front shock on the other side and then she *fingers crossed* should be done

have you got a link to moby's instructions ....as I need to tweak the ghias box a little

here ya go: http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=496400&highlight=steering+adjustment

Been working on Bella again today. Started taking the driver's side rear suspension apart to replace the donuts - what I thought would be a 2hr job max.... I thought wrong!

I found that they were very, very worn! No wonder she handled so badly! But the new ones don't seem to be the same as the old ones....





Outer on the left, inner in the middle and new inner on the right.

Now, as you can see, the 2 I've removed are both perfectly wrong with no nobbly bits - is this how they should be? Or have they/one of them worn so much that the nobbles have totally gone?

I can't seem to find new versions of the outer one - all I can find is smooth ones for 60 onwards, but some sites say they fit all, and some sites say use the right inner for the left outer (with nobbly bits) and vice versa.... I'm confused!


Also I tried to fit the nobbly one and it seemed massive - I gave up trying to fit it is this normal? Is there a trick to getting them in?

since found out that I need 2 of the smooth donuts - so I shall be ordering them tomorrow!

Thanks for the link lucy, sorry I haven't been keeping up on this thread ....but you've just posted what I was a bout to say ....there are two types smooth and knobbly ....well done Re-test soon then

No worries!

Well hopefully! All I've got to do is adjust the steering box, fit the donuts, moving a brake pipe and tightening a shock bolt and she's ready!

cool can't wait to see her

I wouldn't hold your breath - we've been here a few times before

Good luck on the MOT you will get there eventually, i was lucky, we got through 1st time when we imported Jessie..

yeah one day

She was unused for a few years in Oz and didn't appear to have been that well looked after altho, to be fair, most of the fails were on the shiny new (and expensive) parts I'd bought for her :rolleyes:

Righty - I ordered the bushes from KK yesterday and they arrived today so I fitted them!

Drivers side done:


Old vs new:




Then we turned her round....


Started on the other side...




Old vs new:


All done - except she thought it would be fun to leak a load of gearbox fluid....

Reckon bella was busting for a pee!

that wouldn't suprise me.... she isn't house trained....

Today I decided to take Bella's engine out to change the clutch and the flywheel oil seal. The clutch has always been dodgy, so waaaay back in about April I bought a new kit.

Once the engine was oil and the clutch was out, it was obvious that it had been wearing oddly:




Once the flywheel was off, I found a lot of oil!





But looked much better once all cleaned up:



Not sure what the brown stuff is tho?

Aaaaahhhhhhhh, toooooooooooooo many jokes!!!

Not the most interesting update... but here we go anway lol.

I decided to replace the whole clutch assembly - including the release bearing - when I took that off I realised it was quite oily under there, so decided to replace thew gearbox seal too:


Ok, the old one didn't look that mullered to begin with - but it appears to be impossible to get them out without killing them lol.

So I fitted it, then gave the gearbox a clean up:


And as I was on a role, I thought it would be wise to fit the flywheel and clutch to the engine... flywheel went on fine, but disaster struck when tightening up the bolts which hold the clutch to the flywheel.... poo so off it came again! In case you can't see, it's the ones at about 2o'clock and 7o'clock:


I also tried to fit the new release bearing, but it didn't go on instantly so I gave up lol.

Anyways - today I decided to give the engine bay a lick of POR-15 whilst the engine was out. I know it's 'normal' to have this body coloured, but I'd rather have it protected as I've seen people have to replace this panel, and no one's said it was fun lol.

I am actually waiting for the update that says, 'Today I decided to paint Bella all over in Por15!!'