My 67 Aussie Notch

[67oldskoolfool]

Grabbed this real quick some months back now.

Wasn't a fan of the "rat black" thing but i had to get me another Notch after losing my 65 1500s and another right hand drive just had to be done.
As i was lucky enough to remove most of the valuble stuff off the old one before it went into storage (for a resto) it meant i had a bundle of new chrome, rubbers, accessories and shiny trinkets to be throwing at this one (just glad i didn't sell it all off when times got hard).

Although i've noticed the vents in front of the windscreen are different on this one to my last so i hope they fit

How the Moto-Lita looked after many years in my old one but

Got busy with the yacht varnish (15 coats and a whole lot of flatting back between coats)
The above along with the bumpers, tmi seat covers, chrome side trim, all carpets and the later wrap around fittings (indicators / rear reflectors) again with new rubbers (and a bundle of repair panels and other bits in the for sale area )
I've driven it very little in the past months due to weather, the ratness and the whole 6v gamble every time you turn the key and a couple of weeks ago i decided enough's enough's and started removing the rat-blackness kinda wondering what it was hiding.
so in my spare time i done this.


and to my surprise its hiding very little.
Just the normal front wing rash they all have (top and bottom corners) but the rears have absolutely no rot at all.
However its not all plain sailing as pretty much every panel has got some kind of damage, but with a little beating and a skim of filler i'm thinking it'l come together nicely.
Oooh and the reason i havn't de-blacked the bonnet and boot lid just yet

Like every other panel the ones on there are rot free but a little damaged in some way (the bonnet came with it and the boot lid was sourced for my last one)
i've had to work round the lights etc as its being driven to my mates workshop to get the work started.

[67oldskoolfool]

Now here's where my dilemma begins.

Along with all the stuff saved from my last one was about 5 Ltrs of Baltic blue and 2 Ltrs of ivory white that i was going to use on my last one, along with some clear wrap round indicator lenses and new pair of rubbers, 1 wrap round NOS rear reflector pod and a new pair of rubbers and the chrome off my 1500s with the repeaters on the wings (repeaters i also have left) and a pair of flat red rear lenses.

Do I (a) go with the factory white an replace all the bullet style fittings?
(b) Do the Baltic blue and replace all the bullet style fixing? (also a factory option on this year / model)
(c) Do the Baltic blue (maybe with a white roof again) and change to the later wrap round fixings? (like my old one)

Things to remember.
(a) requires a new red back seat back and a drivers seat as it already has a red and white interior and MORE paint
(b) requires very little as the seat covers i have from my old one are grey cloth and i can change the fittings in time as i find (can afford) them
(c) requires a pair of wrap round indicator bases and 1 (drivers side) rear reflector base. (and i can fit my bonnet bra )

Heres a little photoshop of (c)


Oh and i may have forgotten to mention i'm taking it to a friends workshop tuesday to start the serious stuff so i need to make my mind up FAST! Although there is a little welding to be getting on with first and its My first time with a welder so i'm guessing it's going to be a week or two.
(Welding to do includes an off side outer sill, offside front inner wing and a few small repairs to the floor)

Excited that this time "I'm doint the welding (overlooked by my mate) and I'l be doing the Prep work on the body (again with the help of my mate) when it comes to applying the shiney top coat i may even have a go at that too

[foxy]

Definately go for Baltic blue mate, its such a cool colour, and pretty uncommon. White roof would look sweet too.
I'd stick with the bullet indicators/small reflectors if it were me. I just think they look the best, and also thats how it came from Oz.

[foxy]

Are these repro?...



If they are the 'bent' type ( which is hard to tell from that pic ) they won't fit your notch. The bent ones are pre 65 only.
If they are the bent type and original I've got some original straight ones that I'll swap with you.

[azza]

Yeah, go two tone. Blue with white roof. I think it'll look great.
I really like the Moto-Lita steering wheel also. Currently trying to track one down for my notch. What diameter is yours? 14"?
Cheers

[67oldskoolfool]

Are these repro?...



If they are the 'bent' type ( which is hard to tell from that pic ) they won't fit your notch. The bent ones are pre 65 only.
If they are the bent type and original I've got some original straight ones that I'll swap with you.

Nope not repro's, picked them up years ago. i think from memory i dropped one from each side (fronts) down the vents hoping to pick them out later (as the cars gone now not a chance )

Count the ones pictured and check ya vents Foxy, If you have straight ones i may be interested in a deal

Still unsure what to do with the colour, the bullets are definitely staying now (as i sold the bra ) the Blue would make sence as i already have it.

Heres a pic of my old one in the Blue / White combo

Oh OK maybe two :P



And Azza yup its a 14"

[foxy]

Count the ones pictured and check ya vents Foxy, If you have straight ones i may be interested in a deal

OK mate will do.
I remember your old notch from back in the day. Sweet looking car, can't go wrong making another which looks similar IMO.
I'm sure I've got a pic of it somewhere at an old bug jam or beetle bash, I'll scan it in when I find it.

[67oldskoolfool]

Had a productive weekend on the Notch so far, Fri i decided to get it over my mates workshop, so pretty much as soon as i got there off came the rear nearside wing


and this i knew about


Now have i mentioned i've never welded before 20 years into air cooled dubs and i've never tried it.

Oh well, what better time to learn than on your own RHD 67 Notch

Aaanyway, here we go how hard can it be

cut out the nastyness

(this aint quite the finished hole as i cut it back a little further and treated with funky rust stuff before the patch went in)

But .............. TA DA!!!! My 1st ever attempt at welding and i gotta say "I'm chuffed"

It's official, I'm responsible for my notch having steel where a few days ago there was none.
(i know ya probably thinking ewww what a mess but I'm guessing my weldings gonna improve real quick with the kinda practice i'm gonna get)

[67oldskoolfool]

Cut a load out of the rear inner wing and replaced that with steel too


Some of the above welding is my work.
But the below i left to my mate as i dont think i'm ready for stuff you guys are gonna see just yet


and while Matt (my mate) was repairing that i thought it was as good a time as any to get the other wing off (along with all the rear windows and the boot lid)

and here what Matt ended up with (what a star!)

Just primed steel (no filler .....YET!)

[67oldskoolfool]

No surprise , the offside it kinda similar to the nearside with the exception of the lower part (back of the sill) which is totaly solid

More than can be said for the rear pillar, bit by the bumper hanger and the bit below the back side window


So i got to cutting out said nastyness and getting plates ready to go in


And thats about as far as we've got,

Soooo Monday its all about getting the rear finished off and sealed nice and early so i can get the front wings off and see whats waiting for me.

Oooh and a little something extra

I got busy with the plazma cutter (damn thats fun!!) and cut two plates to strengthen the bumper hangers on the inner wings as i'm hoping it's gonna be happy to tow my little caravan.

Gonna weld that where its shown drill out the thread on the orig hanger and have the captives welded on the back of the plate, hopefully that will give it a little more strength.

[brimfull]

Looking good Paul, think the blue will look great. Have you thought about adding bars that go around the rear axle same as on T1 towbars?

[67oldskoolfool]

Looking good Paul, think the blue will look great. Have you thought about adding bars that go around the rear axle same as on T1 towbars?

Yeah, when we get done and ready to fit the tow bar we'll see what else we can do to make it safer.

Oh and it,s definitely going blue with the off white roof, keeping all the older style fittings (indicators / reflectors) but going with the S spec side trim with side repeaters. and the 356 reps stay for now too so i'm looking for a few bits (in the wanted section)

[67oldskoolfool]

Well its been a busy couple of months and the Notch is starting to take shape at last

I'm afraid i've been posting a little of my progress on Vzi

But heres a few pics of the story so far

Removed ALL the rust out of the body panels and replaced with steel






We patched the sills as they where generally in great shape apart from where the chrome trim had been so a strip was cut out lashings and lashings of rust treatment applied inside and a strip relaced.

Found there was a little accident damage to the tip of the drivers side front inner wing so beat that into submission with a hammer and dolly. it's not perfect but it's close enough and luckily theres no sign of the dreaded rot either so its been treated and had a whole lotta high build thrown at it

(pre High Build)

Took the tank out to have a nosey under there and all good so stripped the under bonnet area, removed all the nasty dried out seam sealer (like charcoal) sanded out and flatted back all the scratches its collected over the years, thats all it needed so a squirt with the high build later and

As the front inners are totaly sorted after the very small repairs i took em both back to pretty much bare metal.

Before a liberal coating of high build.

I really want the inner wings (the bits you can see on the finished re-fitted car) to look as nice as the top coat on the body work so were going to experiment with heating up the stone chip to see if we can get a smooth finish, if not i'll only stone chip the out of sight parts of the inners and have to keep an eye on the exposed bits to see how much damage they get if need be i can always re-do those with stone chip.
Seam sealed all the repairs and strengthening inside the rear inners (and removed the dried up charcoal kinda sealer in the side panels, Ready for the stone chip.

spent an eternity sanding in between the vents and flatting back and got that in primer too

sooo here she is (the old owner told me it was a guy but what does he know he called it Logan (Wolverine) but hmmmmm .................. In the Rat Black that mighta worked but in the new colour scheme ...... Notsomuch)

Front pretty much in primer , just gotta bolt up the front wings and fill the front panel as i dug a bundle of filler out where it had been repaired but now its alot straighter it shouldn't need much
Couldnt help meself i just had to roughly bolt it together (1 bolt on each wing ) just to see what it was starting to look like in its new clean solid state.

Damn how much has it lifted with nothing in/on it

OH! and with so many people asking what colour i'm doing it i decided to mix a little and squirt at the roughly prepped boot lid so here you are

When i got the paint mixed (some years ago now) the paint chip that came back with it showed a piss poor match on Baltic Blue ... more of a battle ship grey / blue so to see it is actually a kinda baltic blue and NOT battleship grey well woohooo.
Should look luuurvly with all the shiney stuff (and a little dark blue / white Pinstriping , especailly with a few red accents

And talkin of shiney stuff

Found myself at a loose end at home a few evenings back so dug out all of my shiny stuff and gave it all a good clean and polish.

Are these repro?...



If they are the 'bent' type ( which is hard to tell from that pic ) they won't fit your notch. The bent ones are pre 65 only.
If they are the bent type and original I've got some original straight ones that I'll swap with you.

Hey Foxy did you sort out what kind of deal you was looking at on the straight chrome trims against my bent ones?

[Editor]

All that cracked seam filler showing in the rear wing area needs cleaning out and replacing - that's where water can get into the inside!

Looking good though - great sense of achievement though when you do it for yourself!

[67oldskoolfool]

cheers Dave, yeah it is fantastic , the feeling of "i did that" and i gotta be honest i get it every time i leave the worshop at the moment as i can now see it coming on.

Before this i hadn't ever picked up a welder which in itself is remarkable i mean, i've been into and owned air cooled dubs since 1990 (my 1st Notch since 91) and NEVER done the welding myself. I've dropped an engine or two and done the service stuff , changed a clutch here n there , even repaired the little dings and dents along the way but this, this is the 1st time i've undertaken a full on project like this and with a little help along the way i'm determined to get this done to the very best i can (from what i've learned watching other build threads and general patience (ooh and budget ))

i have been removing the dried up charcoaly kinda mess along the way that i gather was once sealer and refreshing with new and splodging it liberally in all the places that could possibly collect water / damp (after a good dose of rust treatment). i think i should be sponsored by Krust the amount i've put on now

I'm just thankfull this ones a whole lot more together than my last and fairly manageable, the floors are in fairly good order, theres been a repair here and there that i might cut out and re-do but generaly it would split from the body (which is more than i can say for my old one) and its pretty original, mainly because its been preserved in a thick coat of underseal which i plan on removing and giving a nice coat of gloss chassis black once the inner sills are de-undersealed and painted body colour.

Hell i'm even thinking about detailing the running gear, petrol tank and engine tin in a nice shiney mid grey now i've got this carried away

Wow! dont i go on enuff ramblin

[Editor]

Beware, it's catching - do one and you think you can take on the world of rusty hulks, but they tend to take over before you realise!

[volkswalker]

great stuff keep it up

[foxy]

Are these repro?...



If they are the 'bent' type ( which is hard to tell from that pic ) they won't fit your notch. The bent ones are pre 65 only.
If they are the bent type and original I've got some original straight ones that I'll swap with you.

Hey Foxy did you sort out what kind of deal you was looking at on the straight chrome trims against my bent ones?

Hi mate, sorry for the late reply, only just seen this.
Yep you were right unfortunately you've got the two smaller end ones missing. There should be 34.
Oh well thats a shame. The idea of trying to remove mine without scratching something wasn't something I was looking forward to anyway!

I'm sure you could sell the complete rear set for as much as or more than a repro flat set will cost you for the front and rear!