My new Fastback

[cbst3]

Having had a succession of beetles back in the late 80's, I have been thinking over the last year or so of getting back into the scene. I always wanted a type 3 back in the day, and quite fancied one now as something a bit different to a Beetle, but with the same cool factor.

Made a decision to start looking and one of the first I saw was a light blue unrestored Fastback advertised in these forums. Took a look and I could see that it was indeed in very sound condition with minimal surface rust and would suit my desire to have something to just drive and have fun with. Paid up and took the train down to the coast yesterday before driving it back. Took a little while to get used to the unservoed brakes, but ran really well.

So here are some pictures - I am sure many of you will recognise this one!

On the way home - stopped at services to make sure all lights were working:



Rear view:



Back home:



As this car is so original and mostly in OG paint, my plans are for a very sympathetic rolling resto involving cleaning up, getting rid of the very small amount of rust and preserving it. The first owner bathed it liberally in Waxoyl and it spent several decades mothballed, so it really is totally solid. Had a crawl over it today and can't find any rot - pictures to come at the weekend...

Look forward to meeting up with many of you at shows this year.

Colin

[Danny Lord]

Welcome to the forum, have seen your Fasty in the metal a few times


hope you enjoy it


Danny.

[cbst3]

Welcome to the forum, have seen your Fasty in the metal a few times


hope you enjoy it


Danny.

Cheers Danny, I am sure I will enjoy it - my kids love it already. Been lurking around VZi for a while now so I've seen a lot of your postings before and read about your cars.

Hoping to get to a few shows this year and would love to be included in any Type 3 displays.

Colin

[cbst3]

Got out there this morning to fit the rear seat belts when my 4 year old son pointed out that there was a puddle in the passenger footwell Had a look and it was all sitting on top of the rubber mat so no wet carpets thankfully and it appears to be coming in through the drain for the air box in the middle, so should be an easy fix.

Anyway, with the back seat out here are some pictures:

Firstly, a sheared off bolt that I have to get out - plenty of thread to get a grip on, but my mole grips aren't up to the job so that'll have to wait. Note how clean it is here:



And here :



Under the front offside wheelarch - shiny paint under the underseal:



The other side has a small area of rust, but it is not perforated and all around is solid:



Check out the fit of the bonnet!:



There's an old repair on the wing that needs redoing:



And the front has some stone chips and a little rust around bumper holes:



Inside, even the dash pad is uncracked:



I'm very happy! Would be even happier if I hadn't left the radio on during the week which has left me with a flat battery. Was looking forward to a drive...

Colin

[cbst3]

Thought I'd try to start it again even though it was hardly turning over earlier - the battery had rallied a little, it turned over and almost coughed into life. Tried again and it started

Left it running and quickly rounded up the kids then off we went for a drive. I am getting more used to the way it drives now and am more confident in the acceleration and braking so it is becoming much more enjoyable.

What's really great is that it hasn't even leaked any oil yet!

Colin

[Nasenbär]

Hi Colin, glad to see you're enjoying it. Glad it's gone to a good home.

Jeremy

[cbst3]

Have been driving it more and more, including a trip to work one day (Aylesbury to Reading, about an hour and a bit's drive) and apart from what feels like a sticky throttle, I am loving it.

Took it out this morning in the rain, to find that the air box leaks quite a bit of water into the footwells when on the move and it appears to be coming from quite a few places. I suppose I will have to get it all out and sealed up soon.

Took another look at the sheared off bolt under the back seat, tried a bigger pair of mole grips and whacking it with a centre punch and hammer to no avail. Took out the seat back, filed the top of it flat and drilled through it to try and weaken it. Managed to drill a hole through, blunting a few drill bits in the process, but although it now has a 4.5mm hole through it, it is showing no signs of moving just yet. I need to get some bigger bits and keep plugging away, but for now, it has to stay.

I know that a bit of heat might help, but everything around that area is still in OG paint, so I am reluctant to get too medieval on it...

[cbst3]

Quick update...

Took a wire brush to the passenger inner wing to make sure that all was sound there, and it is - picture shows it after an application of Kurust:



Have taken out the airbox and found that the drain was blocked as expected, and that the panel has rusted through as can be seen here:



I'm going to cut out a slot where all the rusty bits are so that I can get up in there to treat the rusty bits inside. I'm not keen to weld there as it would make a mess of all the lovely original paint, so I am going to try and cover it somehow, make sure that it is waterproof, whilst also allowing me to take the cover off in future to clean it or perhaps repair it properly one day.

Would be interested to know what others have done here?

Colin

[cbst3]

Also, I wonder why the finish is different on the inner wings, drivers side is smooth paint like so:



Whereas the passenger side has a rubbery textured surface with paint over it, like so:



Any ideas?

Colin

[Editor]

Previous work on the driver's side inner wing maybe? Could be they simply didn't do that bit. I think mine has it, if I've not removed it for repairs!

The bobbly rubberised underseal is applied onto the anti-rust and the primer coat - if water gets through, the paint system is pretty minimal, and remains undetected until it blisters and a hole appears.

Don't be lulled into a false sense of security. Our UK cars can spring a surprise, even when they look superb. That front wing is obviously rust damage - look under around the headlamp bowl.

[MikeyB]

Nice sound looking car, have you tried spaying the bolt with WD-40? it might help.

[Editor]

On removing the broken bolt, there's every chance that if you drill it a bit bigger, the heat of the drilling will loosen its grip and it will screw through to the outside world below the panel. If the end is rusty under the car, that would be an easier way to go anyway.

If I get a stubborn bolt like that, I would clean off the underside if possible and use a MIG to weld a blob on it and the heat usually does the trick. I doubt if it would damage much of the paint that way. If you've only got a propane torch or oxyacetylene, that would certainly mess the area up a bit.

[Rich Oakley]

Welcome to the world of Type 3 ownership! You've certainly picked a nice one. Just a bit of history that Jeremy may have already filled you in on....

Phil Evans from Walsall bought the car brand new and only used it up until 1976, putting 52,000 miles on the clock. He covered it from top to bottom in Waxoyl and then locked it away in his garage. I bought it from Phil in December 2006- it didn't look too dirty from being locked away for 30 years, but you got covered in thick, gloopy waxoyl every time you went near the car. It took me two weeks to clean the car up! Here's a pic of Phil with the car when I collected it in Dec 2006...

...and here's a pic of it with it's older brother...


Incidentally, that damage on the top of the O/S wing happened in a pub car park in Wombourne, South Staffordshire in 1974. A pedestrian was walking past the car carrying a pushbike which got dropped on the wing.

Enjoy it!

[cbst3]

Hi Rich,

Thanks for filling in some of the history of this car, it's fascinating to know what happened to it and why it is so solid now. I'm enjoying using it although I haven't been able to for a few weeks while I sort out under the dashboard to stop it leaking. Hopefully it'll be back together this weekend, but holiday preparations will mean not much driving.

Colin

[splitybus]

great looking fasty and a great bit of history

[cbst3]

Getting a bit fed up with the petrol smell from the leaking vent, so had a go at it this weekend. Got it up on axle stands, got the wheel off and cleaned it up a little around the filler pipes. Got the old vent hose off - you can see the holes in the picture below:



While I was there, I scraped some of the underseal off to reveal:



and cleaned up some other random areas - everything is looking very solid under there





And finally, one showing the top corner - looking good...



Now I just need to get a new bit of pipe to go on and the job is done.

Colin

[Editor]

Take a closer look at the big metal filler pipe - get all that mud off and Waxoyl it round there. The clamp structure behind the pipe traps mud and it can rust through into the pipe. You won't get all the mud out without taking the pipe off but if you get the Waxoyl into the mud residue, it will be nearly as good.

The photo shows the back of a filler pipe where the clamp holds mud against it. Yours isn't like this yet, but neither was mine some years ago!

[cbst3]

Thanks for the tip Dave, I'll give that pipe a clean as best I can and get some Waxoyl up in there.

Some 15mm I/D fuel pipe arrived today so I should be able to get the breather sorted later - it'll be nice to be able to go round left hand bends without spreading petrol over the road!

Colin

[cbst3]

Fuel pipe went on last week, wanted to put in a right angle copper pipe fitting in the middle to avoid having to bend the pipe, but I couldn't find one and I am not sure that it would fit anyway. Ended up curving the pipe and will have to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't kink.

So, after charging up the battery, it was off to VW Action on Sunday with my son...

After arrival in the car park:



Some pictures of the Type 3 and 4 line up - I wasn't sure that I was going to be coming so I hadn't arranged to be part of it, maybe next time. I hung around a bit but nobody was there, although I did hear Danny's name mentioned during the auction!





Colin

[cbst3]

Been a while since I updated this thread on here, so about time that I did...

When the MoT was due this year, I was a bit short of time and money, so I decided to take the car off the road and do a few jobs on it. The idea being that I would get it MoT'd during April, ready for a trip to Stanford Hall at the beginning of May.

One of the first bits I tackled was the airbox, which had rusted through into the under-bonnet area. I cut some of the top off, pulled out the patch I put in there before and generally cleaned the area up. It now has a coat of primer on it, and is ready for a better patch, before I make a cover for it. I have cut it so that the cover doesn't have to be a compound curve, hopefully making things simpler. Here's a picture of the area in primer, I'll topcoat it once patched to try and avoid further rust issues.



Next up was removing the front wings, mainly so I could check the inner wings and carry out any remedial work. So far I have the driver's wing off (I eventually found all the screws and bolts), and whilst not perfect, the inner wings are solid and a lot better then most UK 70's type 3s, as can be seen in the overall shot here:



Looking more closely, you can see that rust is starting to take hold in the usual place:



And at the end of the sill:



However, the bumper mount is great:



Really glad I chose to do this now, as I can clean this all up with wire brushes and treat it before it really takes hold and breaks through. I'm going to remove some of the underseal too so I can make sure that there aren't any other bits under there that need doing.

The passenger wing is ready to come off - I just need to move the car forward to open the door and reach the bolt just in front of it. I expect that side to be similar, and I hope to have a good crack at it this weekend, so I can put the wings back on during the following week. After that, I'll need to turn it round and get the exhaust off to repair or replace it. Then it's time to service the engine and finally have yet another go at the sheared bolt under the back seat.

Colin

[cbst3]

This last weekend, I got the passenger side wing off and started attacking all the rusty bits with a wire brush and kurust, like so:



and:



and:



and:



Also removed some underseal to reveal quite a lot of good OG paint:





Then added some primer:





Relieved to find that it is all solid, with just surface rust in places. It does look like the passenger inner wing has been re-done at some point with some stonechip, but there is no evidence of any rust or accident damage under there, so I am not sure why it would be the case.

Next is to buy some topcoat - whilst on the subject, does anyone know what the correct paint code is at Halfords, as they have 54D and 54D/R, both called Marina Blue? I'm going to try my local store rather than the one near work and see if they know more, but would be grateful if anyone does know. I'll then give all the primered areas a coat or two of paint to protect them and keep the water out.

In the meantime, I'm going to wire brush the returns of the wings and protect those as well as T-cutting all the bits I can reach now that the wings and bumpers are off. I'll sort out the tabs in the bottoms of the headlamp bowls before putting the front end back together. I also want to deal with a couple of crusty bits on the outside of the sills - just around the trim holes and squirt some Waxoyl in there.

After that, it's time to turn the car around and get the exhaust off for repair or replacement, a service for the engine, then it's MoT time.

[cbst3]

Spent this lunchtime looking at the wings, and although they are mostly fine, they are both a bit thin at the top corner, with some bubbles in the paint on the outside where rust has gone right through, although there are no actual holes. The return where they bolt on is thin in places, although it has cleaned up OK. I think I'll protect them as best I can, then maybe take them off later in the year and give them a really good going over.

[cbst3]

During this past week, I got some paint on the inner wings:




Then got the wings back on:



Looking better up inside them now:




Next job is to get the airbox sorted, fix the small holes in the exhaust and get it MoT'd.

The wings will be coming off again later in the year so that I can really go to town on the rusty bits. I will probably end up bare metalling the inside, and I hope to be able to de-rust them from the inside so I don't have to re-paint the outside. The majority of the paint is fine, so I'd like to keep it and just touch up the rusty bits.

Colin