The variant is in da house!

Finally it's mine, picked up the '67 Variant (Squareback) last night. The trip back to my parents house went pretty smooth, compared to the beetle it have a bit more comfort. The engine need some attendance, it have some ignition problems. Will try to take some pictures while it's still daylight :)

Nostalgic Fiat pictures

It's not strange at all that I've become a aircooled vw addict. I've grown up in the backseat of a Variant (Squareback) and before that we had a cute little Fiat 600. These pictures are taken before I was born, but they're the only taken of the car that I know of. "Those were the days" :)

Can't stop dreaming

As the time comes closer to getting my hands on the squareback, I can't help it... just have to make some suggestions of what to do :)

A new family member?

There may be a new member in our family, a 67' Variant/Squareback. White and nice, 1600 engine and red interior. You'll be posted on the progress!

Wobeliwobeli wheels...

Trouble again, this time the bearings in the disc on the left front wheel was broken, and the disc most probably wasn't straight. So, an new (used, but got it cheap) disc with brand new bearings was installed yesterday... and man... once again I can enjoy my ride :)

I've also in the prosess of getting the lowering aproved by "biltilsynet", the norwegian trafic administration. That should be fun... not! They are not known to be easy or nice, so we'll see how this will end...

Away for the weekend... spotted vw's

We went away for the weekend, and spotted som VW's... didn't get a picture of all of them, but hey... something is better than nothing. Have also heard rumors of an abandoned t2, fingers are crossed :)









Not exactly a vw... but part of one.





























Some love, time, money... and lots of steel!

Look at me!

We did it! After a pretty long afternoon, we finished assembley of beam and brakes. Got no time to take pictures, but the result is what it's all about :) Since Spot sits on 5,5" Sprintstars with 185 tyres he got too low... Anyone got 4,5" Sprintstars?

Frontbeam disassembling

Yesterday we started the work to put the new adjustable-beam and disc brakes on "Spot". We didn't do much tough... but it's a start. There weren't any hidden surprises either, so we might just get the car togheter today (or tonight...).

Transformers

Found some cool info on Wikipedia about Bumblebee, the "not so beetle looking toy". Why it's cool... well I remembered that I have a old transformers toy, a golden bug... and in the Wikipedia article it's called Goldbug (form 1987)... :) (maybe I'm a geek?)

"Goldbug" should be easy to spot here? Together with som of my childhood vw's.

Left door is painted and back where it belongs...

A strong wind had blown the left door out of my hands some while ago, leaving a ugly dent in the door. Originaly the plan was to swap doors, so we painted the spare one last weekend togheter with the rest of the car. But after a closer inspection we concluded that it was no problem to fix the dented door... so this weekend we took it off and gave it a fresh coat of paint. The result was not as good as the rest of the car tough... so we'll probably swap doors next year.

The 2 final coats

Saturday it was time for the 2 layers of coat, with the color L91D Kansasbeige. So good to see the car in it's original color, without rust and spots. Altough the spots is gone, the car is still going to be named Spot! Tomorrow we're going to paint the new drivers door on the inside. But we'll probably wait until monday before we re-assamble the car.

Sanding and primer

Sanding and filler to get the body smooth and straight... and a coat with primer. No more rust! At least for a long time.

Waterpool... no more!

In heavy rain or much snow I've had trouble with water inside the car, behind the passenger seat. Friday while preparing the car we found the reason... A hole behind the right front wheel. This have now been taken care of :)
(not show finish, but good enough for a daily-driver)

Covering up!

A weekend at the paintshop

Thursday night I stripped the car for bumpers and sils. Friday after work I went straight to DeLuxe60 and Bugsterz to prepare the car for the paint job. My girlfriend also helped out... thanx dear!

Beam assambley

The new front suspension is slowly coming together... The beam is close to finished, picture is from yesterday, so more have been done than you can see :) Also closed a deal on some new (new to me that is... they're used) calipers, a great relief since my calipers are stuck... and it's not sure if they'll ever work again.

Another one from SCC

NICE! More pics at vw2you.

SCC...mmmmmmm

Almost a year to the next time we'll see som action at SCC, but with this picture from Jhu's Cal-look blog we can dream for a whole year :D

Assembley started...

I put togheter the painted brakeparts today, and they are looking a lot better than they did before we started. The bad news was jammed calipers... totaly stuck! The donor car wasn't used the past 10 years... We split the calipers apart, and filled every possible gap with corrosion-remover. We'll see in a couple of days if there is any hope. I'll be crossing my fingers, my wallet is not ready to buy new ones.

Preparing disc-brakes

Today I have been blasting and painting the parts for the disc-brake conversion. I've also painted the adjustable front beam. (I didn't do the painting myself, thanx to DeLuxe60 for the help).

Day one... almost...

This is the first day on the journey for Spot to become a "late looker"... or at least the first day of this blog :) Spot is a '70 beetle, named after it's colours... As I have learned true my vw hobby, patience is worth its weight in gold, because things take a looong time. But I realy hope that within a year, most of the work will be done. Today some parts have been sanded, and made ready for painting (which will be done togheter with the whole car before the winter)