'70 Beetle

[johnw]

WOW!!! That car is sweet !! We also have a 1970 Beetle and will be at the color tour tomorrow and hope to meet you. You did a wonderful job on that car. Looks great.

John in Plainwell

[TaylorMutts]

Thanks, John...unfortunately, I will not be at the tour.

[TaylorMutts]

OK...here are some updated pics:

Moved the headlights forward and down on the body, and created "bumperettes" out of a '67 and earlier bumper:







Also, here is an updated shot of the interior (note the orange billiard ball shift knob and new pedal pads):






I discovered that the brake hoses from the reservoir are leaking, so I just replaced them with new braided hoses. I need my helper (my 14 yrd old son) to get home from school so he can help me bleed the brakes.


That's pretty much it until the spring. I will likely drop the front with new spindles then (or sooner if I get bored this winter). I would like one more dry day to take it out before storing for the winter.

[bren]

Wow, nice touches. I like the bumpers and the bolts in the fender wells. Shifter ball looks cool too. Is that an Ghiastein special? Any plans to do a rear version of those bumpers?

[TaylorMutts]

Thanks, Bren. I bought that billiard ball from eBay last spring. I just got around to drilling it out and installing it. It's great!

I don't have any plans to have a rear bumper. I like to expose my ceramic coated exhaust for all to see.

You have a good eye--those bolts in the fender wells are metric carriage bolts with hose washers that I painted gray with vinyl paint. Talk about tedious. I still have little details to tackle, but will save it for warmer weather.

[Dustin]

Nice improvements. Now it needs to be lowered and some skinnier tires in front.

[Kirby]

Looking good!

[TaylorMutts]

Nov 14, 2008 18:03:43 GMT -5 Dustin said:

Nice improvements. Now it needs to be lowered and some skinnier tires in front.

Agree on lowering it....what did you have in mind for the skinnier tires? 165R-15? I am running 195/65R15 now.

[Dustin]

Its hard to say what would look best. I like the looks of the old Ford spoke wheels and skinny tires on them but I am not sure how good those will look without the front conversion.

[TaylorMutts]

Yeah, that was my thought as well. I actually considered a 205/75R-15--it would be close to the same height as the 235/75 rear, but skinnier. I might need to play around with Photoshop or something. If you come up with an idea, let me know.

[bren]

Check out this thread on the Samba. Might give you some ideas on tire sizes and stance.
www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=247735

[ghiastein]

I will post what I did to my Ghia tomorrow and If you want I can post it on our site too after I do a killer side shot in the snow covered parking lot.

[Dustin]

Dec 19, 2008 22:36:26 GMT -5 ghiastein said:

I will post what I did to my Ghia tomorrow and If you want I can post it on our site too after I do a killer side shot in the snow covered parking lot.

Huh?

Might also check the Volksrods picture thread and check the tire sizes they are using for some ideas.

[TaylorMutts]

I was looking to do something a little different with the back seat and rear compartment, so decided to remove the seat and add in two tractor pan seats in its place. Here are some pics

Before:






After:

[TaylorMutts]

I also updated the dash with a new color for the glovebox door and grills: