Just Married

Getting ready for a big day! I've been putting in some serious time on the weekends and after work to get the pan ready for its "marriage" to the body.

It's been a busy few weeks. I adjusted and bled the brakes, fixed the accelerator pedal and wiring, and with a little help, I even got the engine started and tuned. I also gave the pan a much-needed cleaning.

Last Saturday was a huge milestone. We officially mounted the body onto the pan for good and I connected the steering. It's so good to finally see them back together!

Next, I'll be fine-tuning some of the details, like adjusting the M10 bolts for a good gap around the doors, tightening everything down, and tackling the rewiring with a JBugs wireloom. I'm hoping to take it out for a test ride with my dad by the end of September. Wish us luck!

Preliminary check of a front fender

Left-rear fender is up

 

Steering wheeeeeeeel

 

Test fit with the original bushing

Some polished and painted parts for the doors

The assembled steering wheel. I like the way it turned out. Not perfect, but way better than I anticipated.

L471

 A little painting and assembly. The handbrake and turnsignal are still left to do, but the rest looks stuning. I especially like the steering lock, it was fun to finally finish it.

A quick morning fix before the painting.

Test fit right before the base coat.

During assembly

The finished piece

From the front. It turns like a dream, the key is a temporary one, made by a locksmith since the original one has been lost ages ago by the previous owner

Slow weekend

 

Small steps forward

 I did not have much time in the last weeks so the progress is small but at least not zero. Hood is getting together fine, I mounted the lock and handle together with the trim and crest. I also started to put on the sealings. 

Some progress on the assembly

Since the weather has turned to spring/summer I also allocated some time to spend in the garrage. I started to assembling the bug and had some small progress on the dashboard. It is uplifting to see how beautiful it get together, it again confirmed that the color selection went very well, the mango and chorome are the perfect match! 

I also put on some sealing and door locks but missed to take pictures. Next bit step is the new brak system and the refurbinishing/assembling of the stearing mechanism. I try to speed up with it a bit and put it back to road this year. 

On the way to the paint shop

 In the last couple of moth a logistic battle been fought. The body had to be delivered to the body shop within a rather narrow time window then again transfer it back just in time for the painter to could start the painting job. The final touch on the body been carried out by the same professional as last year's fender fixes, the result is quiet impressive and nice. Finally the chassis was in a ready state for the paint preparation, all the unnecessary holes been fixed as well as the right corner window and the B pillar then the jack clip been mounted to its place too.
Right now the painter is preparing the body for the color finish, the painting chamber is booked and the logistic is planned with it. Hard to believe that after so many years of shooting the shit this is finally happening! 

Stay tuned! 

Dashboard and trunk adjustments

At the weekend we finalized the dashboard and finally cut the cigarette lighter's hole on it. Look stunning when all the ivory knobs are fit to it. After this lifting moment we switched to the trunk adjustments, that was horrible. The right  side of it was up at the edge while the left was just in okish position. When we moved the right to the proper position the other side fucked up and vice versa. At the end of a sever hour of struggle we reached the state of "fuck it, it cannot be better". To be honest it still looks ugly yet at least in an acceptable way...next step is the welding!

Horn grills are done

Yeah, not much but at least somethin' has happened again. I cut the grillholes to their original shape, look fine.

Countless hours spent yet not much visible progress

We put a whole weekend into the bodywork again, yet the result does not reflect it at all. Unfortunately small gaps, miss-configurations killing us time to time. Just to adjust the deck lid into a somewhat acceptable position we spent an entire day. Anyway at least it is open-able and has even gaps around, still needs to adjust a bit once the sealing is installed. Next step is the door gap setup, that will be hell of a ride at the right side for sure.

Also a couple of parts been landed at the garage so we put an European setup to the bumpers and tried out the running board trims.

EBI 5

Two weeks ago we spent an incredible weekend at Chimay. The weather wasn't the best at saturday but that was the only negative. The beers the city and its courtyard were awesome. Of course we were checking the new and old bugs and buses as well, fortunatelly a lot of fan came to visit EBI and show their cars. At the end of the show we continued our journey to Paris towards some belgian abbey and the coast of France. We spent a night and day in the capital of France, checked the most important turist attractions and bought some local craft beers. After we left Paris we put Zurich on the GPS as next destination but before we could reach the city we stopped in a quiet nice town near to the France-Swiss border. As the last station we visited our friend in Zurich, drunk some local brewed beer (I have to say something is wrong with it :) ) and tried to sleep in a bathroom (literally :) ) after 10 days and 4500 Km we arrived back to our beloved city, Szombathely. That was a long and tiring trip but it worth all the minutes and money. Next year new targets!