Bella - 1958 Australian Beetle

can't you take her a little lower, i mean come on..... when is she going to get the slam stick treatment!







but on a serious note, looks fooking ace!

she's not quite as low as she was before I don't think - but there's stll 3 teeth left on the adjusters

Haven't been on the forum for a while but i've got to say the bug is looking sweet now! top job!

Thanks!

Got a little more done today - wired up one the headlights - doesn't appear to work and I dunno why... perhaps I need the other one connected up? Anyway - then I decided to fit the wiper motor - looked at the switch and it only had 2 of the 3 screws in it which grip the wires - great! Where am I going to find a tiny little screw? So I thought I'd take one out to have with me while I looked through the tin of bolts/screws/nuts we have - yep you guessed it - I got it out and promptly dropped it somewhere under the bonnet so now that's 2 tiny little screws I have to find... yipee! So after a few minutes of rummaging through the tin, I gave up! So I thought I'd look in the glovebox to see if I could find the ratchet for the handbrake - it wasn't there, but her old ignition switch was, complete with some teeny tiny screws! Yay! So I removed 2 of them and got to work on wiring the switch up - and promptly dropped yet another tiny screw! Luckily this one landed where I could see it, so it was quickly re-captured and told off! So now the switch is wired up, as is the motor. So I bolted the whole thing in... and connected the battery - and hey presto - it worked! After a brief 'wiper dance' I called Steve in to see the miracle! Not that I have a screen or anything... but I have a working wiper motor!

So now I need to put in the 12-6v thing... is it between the live and the motor?

Don't you just hate it when you drop the little'ist screw and can't find it...

Bloody bus popout screws are nightmares

yeah it's always the stupidly small ones - never the nice big chunky ones!

Got quite a bit done on Bella this weekend Steve gave me lots of help, which was great



We got the beam back on again after moving the steering damper mount so that she could turn left (always helps!) Got the steering all back up together - but still got to undo 2 of the ends to move the steering box over a smidge.



Got the shocks fitted too - had to use Mini shocks to get something with enough travel - which meant that we had to remove the mini bush and change it with a VW bush so that it would fit on the trailing arms... which took Steve ages! But they're on now!





I got my new handbrake ratchet fitted and the handbrake cables pulled through and bolted up. Not tightened yet cos she's on axel stands at the front.:





Got the headlighs working... well sort of.... we can get side lights, dipped and main beam working on both lights - but not all in the correct places or at the same time lol - but it's a start!





And the one rear light which is fitted also works:

Ooh and forgot to say I got her horn working, then enjoyed testing it out



And Steve put the new rubber bung in the top of the master cylinder for me - so after I get some new blue brake pipe we can start bleeding the brakes

I now have lots of lights! Side dipped and full! All the in the right order too!



Just need to find the other rear light and the other semaphore and that will be the wiring pretty much done!

Shamrockez wrote:

I now have lots of lights! Side dipped and full! All the in the right order too!



Just need to find the other rear light and the other semaphore and that will be the wiring pretty much done!

So how long before the MOT do you reckon then??

Well I'm just writing out a 'to do' list - and there's not many major things left on it actually! Ideally I want her to be MOT ready by the end of the month.... but that might be dreaming

You going to bring her to the end of month club meet then???

thats me, you, rich and dirty dave with end of month dead lines

dubberatlast wrote:

thats me, you, rich and dirty dave with end of month dead lines

The 'END OF MONTH MEET CHALLENGE' it is then .... lets see who will make it .....anyone up for it , only for a laugh ?

Nice one lucy...

dubberatlast wrote:

thats me, you, rich and dirty dave with end of month dead lines

Not me dude.. CTTP deadline for me..

To Do list:

* Fit 12-6v wiper converter
* Fit pass side running board
* Tighten driver's side running board
* Fit pass side front wing
* Tighten driver's side rear wing
* Tighten driver's side semaphore
* Fit and wire in pass side semaphore
* Fit pass side rear light
* Fit popouts
* Fit windscreen
* Fit rear screen
* Wiper arms
* Connect acc cable
* Tighten clutch cable
* Tidy underbonnet wiring
* Screw in driver's inner door handle
* Get driver's door to shut to 2nd click
* Tighten bonnet
* Fit bonnet catch
* Tighten decklid
* Fit rear valance
* Fit rear decklid lock
* Fit front wheels
* Fit driver's side rocker cover
* Fit M/C to resovoir hose
* Bleed brakes
* Adjust brakes
* Hope engine still works
* Do timing etc.

* MOT

It looks like a long list but a fair few of the items won't take very long at all

Even if I did get her MOTd by the end of the month, I still need to register her - which could take forever!

Shamrockez wrote:

Even if I did get her MOTd by the end of the month, I still need to register her - which could take forever!

Yeah too right ....it took me about three weeks ....and I was on it straight away all the time

Exactly! It could take a week, or it could take a couple months!

The longest mine has ever taken was a week and half that was the crewy the only reason it took so long was cos the chassis number was wrong on the import papers...
The Oval only took just over a hour..

Get her ready, make an apointment with exeter DVLA, chuck her on a trailer get down there with the paper work all in order and they can issue the paper work then and there..

But that means we've got to get her on a trailer in the first place

Shamrockez wrote:

To Do list:

* Fit 12-6v wiper converter
* Fit pass side running board
* Tighten driver's side running board
* Fit pass side front wing
* Tighten driver's side rear wing
* Tighten driver's side semaphore
* Fit and wire in pass side semaphore
* Fit pass side rear light
* Fit popouts
* Fit windscreen
* Fit rear screen
* Wiper arms
* Connect acc cable
* Tighten clutch cable
* Tidy underbonnet wiring
* Screw in driver's inner door handle
* Get driver's door to shut to 2nd click
* Tighten bonnet
* Fit bonnet catch
* Tighten decklid
* Fit rear valance
* Fit rear decklid lock
* Fit front wheels
* Fit driver's side rocker cover
* Fit M/C to resovoir hose
* Bleed brakes
* Adjust brakes
* Hope engine still works
* Do timing etc.

* MOT

It looks like a long list but a fair few of the items won't take very long at all

Got a few bits crossed off

thecrewkid wrote:

The longest mine has ever taken was a week and half that was the crewy the only reason it took so long was cos the chassis number was wrong on the import papers...
The Oval only took just over a hour..

Get her ready, make an apointment with exeter DVLA, chuck her on a trailer get down there with the paper work all in order and they can issue the paper work then and there..

It does only take about an hour .............but applying for the paperwork pack ....filling out the form's , insurance ,mot ect .....took me about three weeks

To Do list:

* Fit 12-6v wiper converter
* Fit pass side running board
* Tighten driver's side running board
* Fit pass side front wing
* Tighten driver's side rear wing
* Tighten driver's side semaphore
* Fit and wire in pass side semaphore
* Fit pass side rear light
* Fit popouts
* Fit windscreen
* Fit rear screen
* Wiper arms
* Connect acc cable
* Tighten clutch cable
* Tidy underbonnet wiring
* Screw in driver's inner door handle
* Get driver's door to shut to 2nd click
* Tighten bonnet
* Fit bonnet catch
* Tighten decklid
* Fit rear valance
* Fit rear decklid lock
* Fit front wheels
* Fit driver's side rocker cover
* Fit M/C to resovoir hose
* Bleed brakes
* Adjust brakes
* Hope engine still works
* Do timing etc.

* MOT





Done a few more bits.


Wiring has gone from this:


To this (not done yet!):


Tightened the running board - need to adjust that door!


Got one popout mostly in - need to find some other bolts which escaped from my pocket and drill the holes for the catch.





And did the wiring for the 12-6v transformer wotsit. I dunno what you're supposed to connect wires to this with, cos it looks far to small for any connector I've seen - so I soldered it! Then I got some sticky blocks and stuck it to the top of the back of the ash tray to keep it safe as the stupidly small holes for screwing it down to something are half the size of our smallest screws!

Shamrockez wrote:

And did the wiring for the 12-6v transformer wotsit. I dunno what you're supposed to connect wires to this with, cos it looks far to small for any connector I've seen - so I soldered it! Then I got some sticky blocks and stuck it to the top of the back of the ash tray to keep it safe as the stupidly small holes for screwing it down to something are half the size of our smallest screws!

Doesn't matter which way round you connect it (it's a resistor not a transformer), you're correct the tags are designed to be soldered to and not for connectors.

That resistor will probably get fairly warm so make sure your sticky blocks don't melt lettting the resistor drop and cause a short!

As a matter of interest what's written on the resistor?