Bella - 1958 Australian Beetle

Yeah I think I'll leave it like it is till I've got the courage to try again - or Luke comes back lol

Steve, Jim and I have been working on Bella today - think she was a little shocked to find it wasn't just me lol!

Weeks ago Jim told me to make sure I didn't take the semaphore wiring out when we did the loom.... I stupidly didn't listen to him.... and have spent about 3 weeks trying to get it back in with no success! So when Jim arrived he took the spare accelerator cable out of his Bay and fitted the semaphore wiring in a matter of minutes!


That pic shows how badly the door gaps are, but for now it's closed to the 2nd click which is needed for the MOT - good door gaps aren't, so I might leave it till she's MOTd.

Jim also refitted the pass side rear wing:



Whilst Steve and I fitted the new shoes to the pass side front brakes and put the hub all back together, then tighted the bearings on the other side cos they were worryingly loose lol. For some reason I didn't take any pics But we also fitted most of the brake lines to the front and the new master cylinder. We also adjusted the shoes so they're 'just' touching when you spin the disk by hand.

Jim also lent me his 'magnet on a stick' so I could fish the ratched bit of the handbrake mechanism out of the tunnel.... it's a lot deeper than i thought and got about an inch of goop at the bottom - eugh!

Hopefully tomorrow we'll have working brakes!

Today we didn't do much on Bella. We ended up watching the F1, seeing Vic's puppy and tidying up the kitchen cos we've got people coming to value the house on Wednesday!



Anyway - I did get the rest of the brake lines connected. None of the sections in the kit had the right length for the line going from MC to pass front brake so I had to put a few more bends than I would have liked in that one. Also i had to reuse the old pipe from MC to resevoir as the new kit didn't come with one. I will tidy up the red wires btw:

Right, not much progress, mainly cos we've just bought a new house! So in the next couple months we'll be moving down to Somerset - and that means Bella needs to be finished asap! We tried bleeding the brakes, but I was sold the wrong master cylinder bung so all the brake fluid leaked out so I ordered a new one at BVF. Also at BVF I got some popouts for her Need to get seals, catches and hinges before I can fit them tho.

Forgot to add - the house has a massive tandem garage which is also pretty much double width and also has a pit!!!!

Vw fixing moving in party on its way

Sod that, just a moving in party!! Fill the pit with water and ice and it'll keep the ales cool!!

haha that sounds like a brill idea!

Righty - I was bored in work today and I made a new list - and scared myself by setting a deadline for just over 2 weeks!

Fit front pass wing
tighten rear pass wing
fit pass running board
tighten drivers rear wing
fit drivers front wing
fit decklid
fit rear valance
connect number plate light
fit pass side rear light & wire in
fit and wire in pass headlight
fit and wire in driver's headlight
connect pass side semaphore and indicator switch
fit and wire in horn
fit windscreen
fit rear screen
fit rubber bung to master cylinder
bleed brakes
adjust brakes
fit drivers door
fit and wire in wiper motor
wire in wiper switch
fit wiper arms and blades
tidy wiring
fit bonnet
get her running again
drill beam leaves again to make them a little deeper
make shock towers
paint beam
fit shocks
refit drums etc
refit steering box
fit track roads
connect steering column.
fit fuel tank

The last deadline on which I need her MOTd by is the 2nd August! So i gotta get cracking!

You should have all that done in a day

I'm not Rich

Ticked a couple things off - pass wing and running board on:

You just bought a house

rich would have that done in his sleep

Who said that where you talking to me..


Looking good lucy and that list isn't to bad really

You wouldnt want to meet that breeze block in a road in the bug i no

I have to roll her onto that brick to get the jack under the beam!

Naa the list isn't too bad - just needing to get the enthusiasm to do it...

Are you going to need a hand to shift your fleet of 386 VW's come moving day??
You could just hire one of those articulated car transporters!!! That would look hilarious, all of your Vee-Dubs loaded up on it.
Imagine the faces of your new neighbours!!!

Mr Scoops wrote:

You could just hire one of those articulated car transporters!!! That would look hilarious, all of your Vee-Dubs loaded up on it.
Imagine the faces of your new neighbours!!!

I want to be there to see the face's

We haven't quite worked that one out yet we can drive Robbie (NB), Widget (T5) and Joey down. We're hoping Bella will be on the road by then too so we can drive her down. That just leaves Bert (71 Bug at the back of the garage). We're hoping to take him down to Steve's parents house on the same day we trailed Bella to her MOT so he'll be out the way too.

Then we have to take all our crap out of the garage


A little worried about getting Bella on a trailer to be honest.... not sure if she'll go!

love this bug more and more every time i see it

Righty - little more progress today. I moved Joey and Bella around - took at pic of the current ride height while pushing her out of the garage:


then Jimble arrived and started to fix the semaphores:




Then we got the engine running! but it was running rough so Jim suggested that we adjusted the valves - which were way out:


Still got one side to do, but it confused us a bit.

Well after a few set backs - getting the house ready for sale and having to do more revision for yet more exams... she's not gonna make it to Volksfest Wales and that's the end of the show season for her really.... unless it's really good weather for Slough and we decide to take her there. So next year is most likely when she'll be out next.

But so you didn't get too sad, I took a couple pics this afternoon:

What an amazing machine! That was a fantastic find in aus land.

Looks like you enjoy fixing the little things as much as me!

It's a case of having to fix the little things

Here's some pre raising pics of her on flat ground:





















Gonna raise her up after lunch so she can go on the trailer in a few weeks time when we move! As soon as she's at her new 'home' she'll go back down

tis very nice cant wait too see it out and about