1968 1600TL Fastback Automatic

[Marko]

spent the last 2 days working on the passenger front wing, needed quite a bit of surgery! it had a couple of patches welded on from a previous owner and to be fair they were quite good but they stood proud so I ripped them off and started again

as you can see most of the hard work was at the wing top near the windscreen area, the other bad bit was near the sill. I also welded a small piece in near the headlight bowl top.





a couple of skims of filler and it's starting to look something like I thought I was done when I found a series of little dings on the wing top so gave that a big skim over just to be sure it's flat



quick blast of primer and it's looking great! next stage will be stopper then re-prime. also need to re-drill the holes for the side trim as they were in the wrong place so I welded them up.

[Marko]

all 4 wings stone chipped on the inside and ready for paint except I need to put some PU seam sealer round the headlamp bowls and rear sections where moisture is likely to get in.. I'm hoping I can get the undersides painted then fit the wings/boot/bonnet before I go on holiday a week today, we'll see!

[jmarkha1]

Nice work Marko - must feel good to get on to the exterior paintwork... will all come together now.
proper old job...

[Marko]

finally got some colour on some panels!

[MikeyB]

Looking really good!

[Editor]

I sense a nice looking Type 3 about to emerge.

Just a comment on the stone-chip paint: There's really no need to coat the whole inside face of the rear wing - only a few inches around the wheel arch is exposed to stones. Waxoyl is probably as good a coating as you need under there, and continues protecting even after any rust there has pushed off the stone-chip paint. I guess you can waxoyl also, though, for belt and braces protection.

Lovely job though.

[Marko]

I know what you mean Dave, I got carried away with the stone chipping and it would of only gone to waste if I left 1/2 a can! plus I thought it may just give some extra sound deadening properties too

[Marko]

had a play with panels this morning, looking good actually and things line up ok considering there only 3 bolts holding the rear wing on and 2 on the front , my plan was to paint the wings on the car but considering how easy they are to fit I'll paint them off now..





tyre just clears the arch but I'll be sapping the 205's for 185's as they too wide!

[col1600]

brilliant work mate a real tidy job....

[Marko]

bought a good used left hand door last week so cracked on and got it in primer, gave it a skim of filler 1st just to smooth things out then hit it with the 2k primer, not looking too bad but now the other door needs further work on the underside and where the seal retainers are just to bring it up to same standard! I get carried away sometimes with prepping stuff that will never be seen but at least I know it'll be right if anyone cares to look under the door

[MikeyB]

This is going to be a really nice looking car!

[Marko]

one final flat and it's all systems go! gonna be a nightmare trying to spray 8 panels all at once so may do them in 2 goes or I'll be tripping over them as I only have a few trestles to work with them.. dust also going to be a potential problem, going to have to give the garage a damn good clean 1st!

[Marko]

been busy with the spray gun today, managed to get all the panels painted

[Editor]

That's impressive speed - the panels look lovely too.

[Dave G]

Are you taking bookings yet?

Looks great, keep at it!

[Marko]

thanks guys! I've been hard at it for 8 solid months now, and I as hoping it would be ready for this summer me been a little enthusiastic! there's no rush now, it's going to be ready for next spring now. it may look nearly done but there's still a fair bit to do and parts to find to complete

[MikeyB]

Cracking job!

[Marko]

got the lovely job of colour sanding it all now, gonna take aaaggges! 1200 grit by hand/block then 2000 grit wet on da sander, started doing bonnet as this is the worst panel and had some silicone marks in it too just to test me . I'll post some decent photos when I have some progress and a few panels and trim fitted.

Mark.

[Marko]

built my doors up this weekend and fitted one of the door seals, now my door doesn't close right due to the new seal not compressing all that well, I hope it gives after a bit, was really happy with door shuts too is this normal?



desperately need to sort the rear tyre situation out, I can hear it scrapping just driving out of garage! rear has 205/50 tyres on so might fit the 185/55's from the front rims on the rear then go for 165's on the front. rears are 5.5" and fronts are 4.5", not the best tyre choice especially as the offset isn't correct for a T3.



front bumper need replacing but for the time being I cleaned it up and it doesn't look too bad! back one is very poorly

[Dave G]

Afraid I can't help on the door shuts, but as for the tyres, I'm running 185, 165's on my fastback and it works very well, and I'm lowered by two splines on the rear.

[Marko]

Afraid I can't help on the door shuts, but as for the tyres, I'm running 185, 165's on my fastback and it works very well, and I'm lowered by two splines on the rear.

the main problem is the Beetle chromies I'm running have the wrong offset.. think if I go down to 185 on rear I'll be ok.

[Editor]

I've heard that about new door rubbers. Shame.

[Marko]

if that's the case I'll either find alternative seals or try and trim mine down a bit. I can't believe people reproduce these items without a care in the world if they fit or not same goes for the indicator seals I bought, they're a joke and took a lot of fiddling to get to fit

[Editor]

Maybe you can adjust the doors tighter and leave the rubber to compress a bit, but I think the door corners may yield instead.

[Marko]

the door is already tight and I have to push on it to open it! I'll try chopping it down at the weekend, if that fails I'll look for some good condition original seals that actually fit. I'm almost certain VW would have not let the car leave the factory with massive door gaps and hard to open doors that "spring open" after pushing on them!! and these rubbers are supposed to be German quality one.. on the ISP site they actually say the German quality ones that cost $110 more don't work well