This seems to be the only picture I have of the fuel tank position. I think its a little forward of the beetle position, but very similar. it would be the same fuel tank. I would love to have used a fuel cell made for the job, but the budget does not stretch that far.
I already had a fuel tank in the garage which is from an oval so plan to use it. The tank will need to be raised slightly to avoid the suspension and provide some room for the fuel line connection. I want to fit some sort of on/off valve to making removing the tank easy. I also have to add a return fuel line.
Everything is being built to IVA specification. The fuel tank/ filler position is supposed to be in a closed compartment so its filled from the outside of the car. Not sure how to address this point, guess I will come up with something.
I was considering a through the bonnet fuel filler as I did on my speedster which was IVA ok, but not sure what clearance under the bonnet or location it would feed to. It is still an option at this stage.
Don't think it will be in paint for a few months yet. Still quite a lot of metal work to do.
Hope to get the chassis back home next month ready to finish a multitude of tasks. Then chassis back to body shop to check fit and stance and then back home to strip ready for paint. Anyway you get the idea
Managed five mins to catch up on progress today. The RHD is being modified with the original LHD dash and a LHD cut section. This should give a finished OEM look;
Dash grit blasted and epoxy primer, mostly to provide good rust protection on the inside Untitled
The LHD dash removed at more or less the original seems;
Cant believe the high price of KG parts, seems like everything is closer to Porsche than VW,
The door strikers are going to be refurbished with new internals rather than using whole new ones. I would also say the new parts are not the same qulaity. So just need to work out how to get the 2 halfs of the catch apart to fit the new plastic internals and the fiddly little spring;
The RHD dash is now more or less finished, certainly fully welded into place. The final result looks OEM, despite RHD cars never having a metal eyebrow over the gauges.
Pete copied the position of the spot welds under the dash. The fresh air levers and connecting cables will all be as per RHD. Untitled
The steering column has taken some time to figure out how to keep it original but meet IVA test requirements. We used an adapter with two cv joints to give a collapsible element. The CV joints are at opposing angles so in the event of a front end crash the steering column will not push the steering wheel into the driver, but off to an angle away from the driver. I really do agree with IVA regulations when it comes to safety. Any resto-mod car needs to blend the best of both. Steering adapter
The original column was used to maintain same geometry for steering. Untitled
I think the plan now is to build a trolley for the body and for the chassis to come back home so that I can fit everything up and get it working, set up approx suspension geometry. I have thought about using stainless steel brake and fuel lines, might be difficult to bend into the tight corners needed but look fantastic.
On wheel choice the Sport Classic II's are still top of the list. I would need to use the use the ET65 face from the 10 inch wheel but fitted the the 9 inch barrels. The the ET52 9 inch faces on the 7 1/2 wheel barrels. Bit of a hassle but doable.
Last edited by greg356a on Wed Jan 31, 2024 2:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Rolled the inner lip of the wheel arch to provide more tyre clearance. Untitled
The rear cross support brace had to be reduced in height to fit under the lower KG back end. Untitled
The front body mount to suspension did not line up correctly so had to be cut off and welded back in the correct location. The large bolts are all 10.9 tensile strength which is important when looking at IVA test compliance. Untitled
Last edited by greg356a on Sun Feb 04, 2024 10:59 am, edited 2 times in total.
Steering column into car through the fire wall. Weld collar into place and then use the rubber boot to waterproof seal Untitled
We are not sure what happened to the bottom of the back section of the wing. Compared to the other side its 15 to 20mm closer to the tyre. This is actiually orginal metal which does not look like its been crashed at any point. Maybe it was build that way, by eye. Must have been a day when his/ her eyes were closed. Untitled
The cross brace support between the original shock mounts wont fit. Pete fabricated simple steel bracket to add strength in mounting body to chassis. It will be a solid body/ chassis mount same as originally used by Volkswagen. It is IVA test compliant.
Four bolt mounting locations, I will use high tensile bolts which are bolted to a thick plate in the original location. There is also a rubber seal around the cv joint. Untitled
Moving the seat rails in towards the tunnel to better centralise the pedal to seat position. I may leave the passenger seat alone to prevent more shoulder to shoulder contact. Untitled
The chassis should be on its way back soon for further work. I really dont like all the red coloured suspension components but cant justify the cost to change from the original colour.
Many years ago I did something similar to a geniune RHD Ghia to make an all metal peak over the gauges.
I don't think VW ever produced a pressed metal dash panel for RHD format cars and on the very early SA '59 ghia we had it was factory bastardised from a LHD pressing and the top pad covered the "sins" committed to build exported cars
IMG_5590
tank
certainly fully welded into place. The final result looks OEM, despite RHD cars never having a metal eyebrow over the gauges. 
