[SA7VA5]

OK adding some more pics including the engine....

Do let me have your feedback on this please.

Thanks

[swarnava.m]

Originally Posted by SA7VA5

OK adding some more pics including the engine....

Do let me have your feedback on this please.

Thanks

This one looks fabulous. Just found this thread and I am sure I am going to be hooked onto it. The progress looks really impressive, and looking forward to more details soon. Cheers and all the best.

[SA7VA5]

Hi All - am adding some more pictures for your reference.

Cheers!

[KPS]

Keep up the good work buddy, I am sure you will have an excellent runner on hand.

Cheers

[mbz180]

Originally Posted by SA7VA5

Hi All - am adding some more pictures for your reference.

Cheers!

Hi SA7VA5,


After a long time I am going through your thread in detail so I thought i'd start right from page one to refresh my memory.

Firstly, it takes guts to take on the restoration of a car in the condition that you picked it up. Most people (me included) would have run a way from such a daunting project.

Secondly, I am amazed that you actually bought body parts from abroad, which (though I had thought of it) is expensive.

And thirdly, the quality workmanship on the body; it really looks flawless. Once it's restored fully, it'll be hard to believe the condition of the car when you had bought it. And also from the amount of body work, I must say that the work has been pretty fast.

I also see that you have used seam sealing pastes, which again shows the extent of the detailing even though no one will be able to see it in the finished product.

The engine as a whole really looks great and well finished too. And I think you have a desirable Beetle in the sense that metal sunroofs must have been rare as a factory option.

I am eagerly waiting for the car to be completed and have little doubt that it'll be one of the best classic Beetles running in the country.

Best of Luck
mbz180

[beetle_boy]

Saurabh Sir,

Too late on this but thank God I didn't miss the details.Great work going in there and looks fabulous. Just found this thread and I will be glued to it. The progress looks really impressive, and looking forward to more details.
Would be great if you if you share the pricing on the restoration.

Cheers and all the best.

[SA7VA5]

Dear All

First of all thank you for the pat on the back.

All I want to say is that when I buy a car or a bike to restore there are three things that I always keep in mind - 1. That Mr. Tutu Dhawan is going to be there to lend his superlative restoration abilities for my cars & bikes 2. that the end product has to be better than what it must have been when it came out from the factory & 3. that the car or bike MUST run and perform without a hitch or failure once restored. The last one is most important because sometimes if a compromise is made due to whatever the reason may be later on one ends up re-doing a lot of things which end up costing more than things done right the first time. Also the pleasure of owning or driving one of these perfectly restored machines is beyond imagination. What fun when you can drive these oldies once restored without having to think twice before putting the pedal to the metal!

Having seen the modern day technologies and materials in our company factories its only obvious for me to extend as much and as many of those to my restoration projects. Seam sealing post de-rusting is a classic example of the same. Shifting from wet sending to dry sanding is another one. Post denting full assemly pre painting is another one. All these take time and lot of effort but they are worth the weight in gold when you look at the end product finish and performance. Painting components while they are assembled and painting them while they are dis-assembled makes a huge difference to the end finish of the part or parts.

Same is the case with Stainless Steel bolts and nuts. Often people think I go overboard when it comes to use of such fasteners. But then look at it this way. If you are using ordinary nuts and bolts from the after-market regardless of the coatings they come with, they rust over a period of time leaving ugly rusting marks on the parts that they are on. Repairing the same takes time, money and effort again and when parts are repainted they never match the first finish in the original place.

So with that motto of no-compromise it becomes so much easier for the restorer & the team that is working on the product to then take no short-cuts but to devote all the energy and focus on going forward with only one objective - Best possible restoration finish and optimum performance of the restored car or bike.

I know it requires a lot of patience as it needs time to do such a job and budget is skewed slightly higher but then thats set off by the satisfaction of seeing your gleaming restored beauty and by the appreciation it gets from afficionados like all of you here.

At the end of the day I treat restoration like WORKS OF ART!

This is my signature style - this is my art - this is how I do it. There ARE people who don't agree - but then I don't really get bothered by that

Thanks to all of you have given their feedback - very very valuable! I seek more to improve.

Cheers!

[rajchetan]

Originally Posted by SA7VA5

At the end of the day I treat restoration like WORKS OF ART!

Glued... Totally agree and waiting to see the complete product.

[SA7VA5]

Hi everyone...slow and steady progress is being made on the Beetle 1966. The good part of the pace is that it is allowing me to collect a lot of parts for the car while it is being worked on.

The LHD to RHD conversion is complete now with a genuine 1966 RHD Dash clip imported from a car that was being scrapped in England. The dash was in a very very good condition and careful markings were made in the body to cut out the old LHD dash and replace it with a new RHD Dash.

A brand new steering box has already been ordered and received and what is now on its way are the RHD Pedals and Pitman arm that are on their way from Australia.

With all of that it will be a great RHD conversion. Everything going into the car is genuine 1966 version for RHD bugs.

Just chanced upon an original Hella Headlamp Pair with fluted lines in UK. That too should be here in a couple of days.

Here are a couple of pictures of the progress being made.

Cheers

Saurabh

[PAVAN KADAM]

The restoration is coming along really well

Amazing workmanship so far.

While you have managed to do changes with respect to the dashboard and the steering parts. The Steering column is common to both the models, only the linkages change, also the steering shockers mount change. You also have to change the Fuel tank too, as LHD Fuel Tank does not fit the RHD models.

One more request, if you are not using the LHD pedals (Accelerator+Brake+Clutch) can i buy them from you, one of my friend is in need of it to finish his restoration.

[SA7VA5]

Thanks Pavan - trying to do my best that I can!

Yes - have a plan for the Fuel tank as well. Let me reach there. Will chop out the base and turn it around. This will help clean out the tank as well as re-align the bottom shape.

As soon as I get the Ausie pedals in my hand I will confirm the LHD Pedal set to you. Fair exchange would be no robbery so I will share what I have paid for the RHD Pedal set minus postage and you could pick it up for the same value. Add courier / postage to that.

Thank you.

Saurabh

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by SA7VA5

Thanks Pavan - trying to do my best that I can!

Yes - have a plan for the Fuel tank as well. Let me reach there. Will chop out the base and turn it around. This will help clean out the tank as well as re-align the bottom shape.

As soon as I get the Ausie pedals in my hand I will confirm the LHD Pedal set to you. Fair exchange would be no robbery so I will share what I have paid for the RHD Pedal set minus postage and you could pick it up for the same value. Add courier / postage to that.

Thank you.

Saurabh

Well Saurabh, That turning around the tank thingy will not work The bottom ridge under which the steering column runs is descending, so that trick may not work, you will have to do a little heating up and denting it.

Well, for the Pedals, how about me sending you ONE 5 lug rim in exchange with the pedal set, would'nt that be a fair exchange? Let me know.

[SA7VA5]

Hi All,

Have had some more progress on the Bug!

Body work is now being tinkered to get into final shape before sanding and painting begins. All the final bits of rust are being taken off. THe fenders, bonnet, boot were all sent for sand-blasting and that brought to the fore all the weak, rusted, about to crack up areas. All those are now being fixed one by one, one step at a time.

A lot of denting and tinkering work is going on but the end result is that the body lines are looking far neater.

Mr. Dhawan is personally involved in this entire exercise making sure that he creates a master piece out of the rust bucket I had bought....

Here are some pics of the updates.

Cheers

Saurabh

[SA7VA5]

Dear All the last couple of weeks have seen some more progress and some setbacks.

The progress is good but the set back was that I had have the rear upper vent area cut out for rust removal and phosphate coating. That has put the denting work a little behind already slow schedule.

Overall the fenders have taken shape post sand blasting, the decklid and boot are done, lot of small fatigue cracks have been fixed, rust patches have been de-rusted. Overall slow but good progress.

Here are some of the latest pics.

[SA7VA5]

Its been almost a year since I last updated this page..lot of progress in 1 year...its been slow paced since "perfection" was and is the criteria for this restoration.

Plenty has been fixed.

The Beetle is painted now - inside and out.

Here are some latest pics.

If any one has a 5 hole rim please let me know. I need one for my spare tire.

Enjoy.

Cheers