Many years in aircooled but my first T3

[sinclair]

On a bit of a whim I bought this, you may know it, sure I'm going to need much advice about the T3 quirks

Firstly......new wheels!

[Editor]

I'm guessing that's a South African or Australian car if it's RHD, with the wide 5-bolt wheels. There's not a wide choice of wheels for those.

That's the first of your quirks! Good choice of VW though.

[Danny Lord]

fasty welcome to the forum

[sinclair]

67 Left hook US car
Body off resto, link and king pin drops on a t1 beam. I guess it should be 4 stud for 67?

OK for starters there's ment to be some cable to operate the tilting seat?
Can you buy luggage area liners front and rear?
z handles. Can you get them, mine are missing.

So much more room than a beetle..... Ahhhh
Oh and flexi glass!!!!! So cool!

[Editor]

Hmm, odd to have 5-bolts. Yes, should be 4 bolt. I don't know anywhere else that produced left-hand drive with 5-bolt wheels, but it might have been an option for somewhere, I suppose. Are front brakes drum or discs?
Yes, there's a leaf spring at the bottom of the front door pillar. The cable runs up under the seat. Not easy to get. Later seats got the release knob on the side. Might be easiest to get the later seats if you can't sort out operating cables. Cables are part number 311 881 919 . There are other parts but probably not needed even if available. The cables move as the door is shut and the seat back locks.

Luggage liners are not easily found second-hand, and I don't know a source new. They are generally black or off-white/grey mill board, originally with a pattern of small squares embossed.

Fastbacks had a vinyl lining in the rear luggage area. Again, there's not much available apart from second-hand, or cut some carpet to size (or Spirit of the Sixties?).

Z handles come up second-hand from time to time. Advertise in the wanted ads on here or elsewhere and hope!

Yes, Type 3s are big enough for a family or people who suffer from claustrophobia.

[miketyp3]

4 and 5 stud swing axle parts are interchangeable so was a fairly easy modification.
The swap from 4 to 5 is even easier as the 4 stud back plates can be retained, so just a case of swapping drums.

I have a few of those seatback cables NOS, but they don't include the fittings as Dave mentioned.
The only levers I have are earlier, so the bracket for the cable on the inside inner wing wouldn't line up, and there's still the return spring and a solid link - the latter is diecast and rivited to the cable so rarely survives being removed.
You can fit later seats - 67 was the last year for the cable system - or simply tie back the latch to avoid having to reach under the seat to release it.

ISP West in the US do repro front load liners for various years. They are not exactly the same (covered hard board, rather than pressed card) but Ok if you're not hung up on originallity (it doesn't look like you are...)
Of course shipping and duty are the issue, but the material they use is from SMS auto fabrics, so cheaper to ship some of that and make your own.
I'll have to look, but I should have a spare used rear liner, at least the centre section over the trap door anyway.

The 66/67 Z handles are quite fragile so difficult to find and only available second hand.
That of course makes them expensive unless you happen to find a bargain.
As you'll notice parts are not as freely available as they are with Beetles.
Its a situation that is improving all the time as the cars become more popular, but all part of the challenge of owning something a bit different!

Mike

[Creationblue]

Great stance

[lemonyellow]

hi and welcome car

[sinclair]

Thanks guys. Tucked away in a rented barn at the moment but I must check out those door cables. Would be good to get them working. I keep finding the missing parts on the web which is fun. I always like the doing and get bored when they're done. But really like this car, it was a stop gap while I'm between busses and doing a late bug but what a revelation! These cars are really appealing!!!!!