Yeah its all coming back to me now my dad used to have one of the vans and his mate had a beetle i remember everything u just said its mad. U need to spend lots of time on them to restore one.
Yeah its all coming back to me now my dad used to have one of the vans and his mate had a beetle i remember everything u just said its mad. U need to spend lots of time on them to restore one.
tell me about it!!! Thanks very much for all the useful info mate - didnt catch your name though geezer, but much appreciated all the same, will start my google searching!!Originally Posted by NovaloadedAgain
James
99% of beetle convertibles from the factory were made by Karmann! The only other ones were made by Hebmuller, and if you can find an original one now, no matter what condition your talking ?30K plus, proper stupid money! The ones you will see most of are 1302 and 1303 convertibles, as these were produced in the later years. These have slightly more technology in that they have disc brakes on the front and macpherson strut suspension, as opposed to the earlier cars torsion beam front end and drums all round. The earlier cars look better and are far simpiler, but they cost a premium, to be honest any convertible old skool VW will. for a tatty one your probably looking at ?3.5K up to about ?12K for an out and out show winner. Beetles are fairly simple as their flat four air cooled design makes them a piece of piss to work on, and you can take the complete front end off a beam car with about 6 bolts and half an hour. They truly are a car you can take apart with a socket set and little else. Only thing is once you take it apart you find rust, then you buy a welder.... You can see where I'm going with it
As for the Wizard kits, they did a few different styles, an out and out 2 seater, a 2 + 2 and a few others besides. Tjhey also did different kits, the really old ones used a complete new fibreglass bodyshell, the later cars just being a fibreglass panel to bond on, and strengthening plates to bolt/weld to the chassis.
All the above is just a rough outline, as it's late and i'm tired, so if the info isn't 100% don't flame me
As for a website, try www.volkszone.com they have a pretty active forum and most people are friendly, even if they are a little snobbish. Hey if you really eager you can always buy my beetle off me as thats going back up for sale shortly.
Chris
more advice AVOID volks dreams they are a place in ely they will do nothing but rip you off/cause damage to the car!
and Amr motors in newmarket do subaru engine conversions 1.8/2.0t/2.2 but i would be hard pushed to reccomend them as andy is a bit of a bodge it merchnat
Oh yeah, on the subject of projects/engines, you can put any engine in a beetle. Don't got for a Porsche engine as it's a flat 6 and won't fit the rear end without major agro. Your best of going for an Alfa or Subaru lump. My mate had an impreza turbo lump in his, completely standard apart from air filter and exhaust, and it would eat porsches for breaakfast. Wasn't too keen on being stopped by solid front discs and drums though!!! LOL
Chris
AMR a bit of a bodge? LMFAO!!!!!
We had to take their work out and start again after the car ate a gearbox in 80 miles. When we took it out we found the adapter plate they'd used was on the piss, so they clearanced the gearbox with a dremel/angle grinder and this made the gearbox bolts weak, so it snapped the gearbox case on a hard launch. The conversion is easy, you'd be better off doing it yourself, there's a few guides on how to do it on the internet if you look about. The adapter plates you want are made by Kennedy in the states, superb quality, unlike the shit AMR use.
Chris
Yup Volksdreams in Ely do have a bad rep, not had anything done by them mind. My mate has had a few issues though as he owns the registered company name Volksdreams, as he was going to do his own VW business as a side line to It contracting.
Chris
that beetle is perfect in above pic ^^ saw a conversion on that Wizard site thing, hmm, perhaps i should just stick to what i know! nah sod it, this could be fun..
Wizards aren't bad with the roof down, but look damn hideious with the roof up!
Here's some nice examples:
Hebmuller
Early Beetle Convertible
Or have you considered a ragtop? Nice straight cheap example here: http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=155820
Chris
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
