Robbie Rocket - New Beetle Cup Car Replica

Done more on the bonnet today:


The paint is pretty thick so it takes a while to remove!

Got the rest of the crap flakey paint off the sill and rubbed it down so that when I paint it, it will stick to it.



Getting a bit worried about fitting the sills tbh. They seem a bit scary!

Also prepped most of the boot lid:

Blimey your really cracking on with this!!

had a day off cos of the snow

After what seemed like forever, the bonnet was finally in bare metal!

There was a small dent on it where a stone hit him on the M5 once:


A smidge of filler:


Some etch primer:


Dent? What dent?


I've got some hubs off a 1.8T to fit to him:


Painted one side of them in por-15, got to do the other side yet:


Also started on the driver's side front wing fitting. On the old wings there are some brackety things which you need to remove. So it was out with the drill:


And voila:


Now I have to pop rivet it on to the new wing.

Hi, What difference will it make fitting the hubs off a 1.8T, curious as to what advantage it will give you over what's fitted at the moment?

So I can fit these:






The hubs n the 1.9TDi (and 1.4, 1.6 and 2.0) have the caliper carriers cast into the hub. The 1.8T, V5 etc hubs have bolt on carrier calipers. The new hubs mean I can go from 280mm disks to 312mm disks with the Porsche calipers.

Ooooof!! I WANT

Next new toy arrived earlier... very excited about this one!

Pssssst!!!!

Hmmmmm, Hubba Hubba!!!!

It wouldn't be worth fitting the hubs to my 1.6 Octavia, doesn't go that fast to warrant PORSCHE brakes BUT THEY DO LOOK NICE, if you decide not to fit them Si and I will haggle for them.

It's going to look FANTASTIC with the Suspension kit and the Body kit, especially if you dump it on the ground at standstill. Was the Air bags/kit expensive? (I assume it's air)

Yeah, it's air. £1350 from Rayvern. There are more expensive and more technical kits out there, but I came to the conclusion that this more simple and proven kit should go wrong much less!


I don't think Robbie warrants Porsche brakes either, but at least they'll be there ready for when I do upgrade the engine more.

New delivery today!

Shiny shiny discs!


New ones are 312mm - old ones are 280mm:

i think you are right to change the discs and calipers. with those wheels the standard brakes would look too small

Yeah, they'd have looked a bit silly!

I wish i had deliveries like you have.
I love the way your going with this car.... Its going to look 'ard as nails!

My bank balance doesn't like the deliverys lol

Had a snow day today, so been doing some more. The new hubs are at the garage having new bearings pressed in, so I started cleaning the inner arches and removed the hub and strut on the passenger side. The strut on the drivers side didn't want to come off, so it's soaking in Plus Gas for a bit.

Driver's side before:


Most of it cleaned up, but need the strut off to finish it:


Everything removed from the other side:




And does anyone have any tips for removing the ABS sensor top from the wiring? It's snapped off on both sides and I'm left with this:

Managed to get the snapped off sensors out quite easily in the end

Been playing about with the air kit today. I have no idea how I'm going to assemble it all in the boot, so I played about with where they might go:


Then wondered where I could put the gauges... perhaps on the speedo surround?



Then we finally got the front end on properly:


And I'm still trying to work out quite where the sills should sit. I'm almost there now I think...

If i were you i would cut some MDF to the shape of your spare wheel well, then bolt / screw the pumps and tank to that. Saves drilling through your floor then.
Then maybe get another sheet of MDF to cover the lot to hide it all and you can also use your boot space and keep it looking standard.

Yeah that seems to be what most people do. A false floor with a trap door above it will make it easier to check things too.

Righty.... work is back on with Robbie.

Yesterday I cleaned up and POR-15'd the inner arches after Steve got the last coilover off for me:


So this morning, armed with copious amounts of this:


I set about putting the driver's side suspension and brakes back together.

A new ABS sensor was fitted:


And a new ball joint:


The air strut went on too:


Next to go on were the caliper adaptors:


Then the discs and calipers were loosely placed on:


(I know it's the wrong side for the caliper... just test fitting with the nearest one to hand)

I couldn't resist putting a wheel on to see how it looked and to also make sure it cleared the brakes and the strut. Due to the wheels being designed for the RSI which has 312mm brakes anyway, and the Cup Cars which run big brakes (for obvious reasons), they went over the brakes with loads of room:


The strut clears too, which is a bonus!



And yes, before anyone says, I know I've got the directional tyre on the wrong side, but this was the 1st wheel which I could get my hands on - it's not a permanant fixture to that side!

That looks some serious rubber i the last pic? What tyre is that?

They're Michelin Pilot Sports - 235/40/18. They came with the wheels from Germany.

Steve cut out some MDF to make the base of the set up for me:


Then I removed the seats to run the wire under the carpet:




I'm now thinking of putting the gauges here (under the centre dash bit) as there's a light illumiating them and they're not too in the way. It's the bottom vertical bit of cream plastic:




Except I can't see how they stay in? Are they held in by luck?!



I've also decided where to put the switches - under the centre bit of dash:


About here:


A bit of drilling and a lot of filing later, and voila!

with the 2 gauges, you can get an "A" pillar pod to mount them in http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/pict/3703744318936464_5.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.shopadilly.co.uk/Auctions/52mm%2Bgauge%2Bpod&usg=__2T3MkNMRpAFzSVzoBFXiebUG2gQ=&h=51&w=64&sz=2&hl=en&start=44&zoom=0&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=3G21hX2j7wH6SM:&tbnh=51&tbnw=64&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtwin%2Bdial%2Bpod%2Bfor%2Bnew%2Bbeetle%26start%3D40%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1

also you can get air vent gauge mounts http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.swgmotorsport.com/asps/uploads/thumb/212.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.swgmotorsport.com/&usg=__AsJVzfXpNFr6hyGD7MvpcgyFzAY=&h=85&w=91&sz=19&hl=en&start=10&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=N-AxGfOJz-U7lM:&tbnh=74&tbnw=79&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtwin%2Bdial%2Bpod%2Bfor%2Bnew%2Bbeetle%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1

all gauge pods etc are for 52mm dials... these are 40mm