Finally found one... My 57 356 A

[vwgillybilly]

A bit more progress this weekend.

The passenger window mechanism used to skip a tooth so I pulled it to bits & welded in a new tooth on the smaller gear. All back together & working a treat. I added some extra welds for strength.

Got the rear quarter repair panel in, I need to do some shrinking & dolly work but I'm happy with the first fit. The bumper bracket slots had been hacked for the B bumper fitted years ago to 'update' the look so I sorted those. I also found the holes that had been plug welded for the reflectors - could someone please confirm if they look to be in the correct position? I also need the correct dimensions for the shine up light as this had been raised in accordance with the B bumper.

I let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Cheers

Gill

[vwgillybilly]

[waller]

nice car ,good to see you getting stuck in
p.s do you still rebuild split bus spindles ?

[vwgillybilly]

A few assorted pictures of progress - It's slow but sure! Passenger side mostly welded & playing with door gaps, a few extra trinkets back from the platers, 'GT' lid fitted & gapped up. Bank account depleting...

[vwgillybilly]

A few more pictures...

Christmas welding deadline achieved. I'm just in the process of heating / shrinking and getting the door & bonnet gaps right, which are 3.6mm from the factory I believe?

Gill

[sladey]

No pics there!?

[vwgillybilly]

Got interrupted! Here they are.

Gill

[vwgillybilly]

It's crazy how much sh1t people can hide with pudding. All 'panel' welding now complete. Just the bonnet filler conversion to do & a bit of tidying. I'm then going to attempt the lead loading & see how smooth I get the garage floor. Lots more progress made & more pics to follow. Decided to make this a warts & all type of resto thread! All welds are being titivated to look their best. I'm not a pro welder but have done plenty of VW busses that have stood the test of time. I've paid good money for a lot worse!

Gill.

[vwgillybilly]

Bosch scripted fogs back from the chromers & built up.

[roy mawbey]

Gill,

Keep on cutting and plugging. Nice to see the effort in photos. It is surprising though once you start opening it up it always seems to go further back than you expect!

Lamps look very nice.

Keep up the good work.

Roy

[vwgillybilly]

Cheers Roy.

95% of the welding is done now - I've been a bit over zealous with the metal I've removed to ensure I got the brown stuff.

Been gapping the doors today which is tedious but occasionally procrastinated & got the extended filler welded into the tank. Also repaired 5 pinholes & surrounding metal in the bottom of the tank that appeared after I cleaned it up.

Gill.

[vwgillybilly]

A few updates.

In no particular order...

New fog light brackets made.

Bonnet cut for central filler - now completely finished & not shown too clearly in the photo.

Original badges sourced & re gilded.

Ali oil cooler in place.

VDM GT wheel from KK.

Carrera gearbox mounts from Mike.

Other misc bits & bobs e.g. 14mm M8 NSF bolts from Mike.

Zenith 'tops' en route to Mike for Time Serts as a belt & braces against stripped threads.

Car booked in at IRVS Restorations in Barrow - In - Furness for 11th July. Hopefully be a couple of months.

Gill.

[vwgillybilly]

[vwgillybilly]

[roy mawbey]

Gill,

Looking good, slow but sure its the way to go. Engine looks nice!

Roy