The first bolts came out on the 27th October 2012. The engine was the first
thing to be removed and it needed a lot of work, add in a conversion to 12volt
and the allocated $1000 was not enough. The largest cost was the reconditioning
of the heads followed by a new muffler. Other things were, A new alternator,
distributer, carburettor, gasket and seal kit. The clutch housing had to be
modified from a design flaw. When designed they didn't leave enough room for
the clutch release bearing. Sure there was enough room when it was all new but
when the clutch plate wears the bearing bottomed out and would make the clutch
slip only compounding the problem.
Alongside the engine repairs the chassis was worked on. Armed with an
9"angle grinder all the old bolts, timber and shield were cut off. There
was so much corrosion and rot that none of it was recoverable. The chassis was
sent out along with other components to be sand blasted. This also cost more
than was budgeted for. In fact almost all aspects of the restoration was more
than budgeted for. Initially $2000 was set aside for the whole job. Half for
the engine and the other half for the chassis/body. It was
within weeks it was realised it would need twice that.
Around April 2013 paint was starting to fly, took until mid September
to complete all the painting tasks. The chassis and the other major components
were done first so to have a rolling chassis as soon as possible. Unfortunately
the weather turn cold early and made painting very difficult, took weeks for
the paint to fully cure. With the chassis painted the engine was
bolted in first, probably the first job that went very smoothly. Then
came time to re install the axles. New wheel bearings were required, the old
ones looked like the grand canyon. These also cost more than planned. 8 new
seal were fitted to the bearing housings and 2 for the gearbox. Working
out the wheel gauge was a bit of the stumper, in the end the answers was found
using Fairmont ST2 Manual.
All the brake rigging was pulled apart. A lot of it uses the same parts from
Fairmont as is the design. The brake shoes are held on by wooden blocks. These
had to be made, thankfully we had some hardwood laying out back and saws/tools
to turnout 4 brake blocks. Linkages were welded up and redrilled and new pins
fitted taking out all the play/slop in the brake system. This a part of the
project was cheap and painless.
The gearbox was another easy job of refitting taking very little effort. A
bit of silicone sealant and it bolted straight on and it doesn't leak oil.
Time came to do something about the body work. Originally the sides and
running boards were hardwood, the top deck was plywood. Not surprisingly
hardwood is hard to get these days and what is available is expensive. The
decision was made to make everything out of marine grade plywood. Prior to
painting the plywood was fitted up so the paint would not get damaged trying
to fit it all to the chassis. To replicate the plank look the boards
were cut down their length. The plywood was primed before being painted red.
An all new shield was made up based on the same dimensions of the beat
up original. The new one is all welded, no rivets were used, bracing
was traded off for thicker plate steel. It ended up being only slightly heavier
than the original, it will help with traction as well. Its construction was
simple and straight forward. However, painting it was a nightmare. On the
back of it is pale green and the front has to be red. The green back was done
first then masked off to paint the front, all was going well until the last
coat of red. A fly landed on the wet surface and ruined the finish. Once the
paint was cured and the fly mark buffed out another 2 coats were needed but
just as that 2nd coat went on it ran badly. Fixing took a couple of weeks.
The excess was mopped up straight away, the paint then had to dry completely
before sanding the entire front face of the shield with wet and dry
sandpaper, then another 3 coats. It was at this point I was ready to throw
the entire project in the bin. Thanks to a good friend who was helping
with the job made me see sense. We moved on to getting the new trike
trailer finished in time to take the VW to the Wagga model show.
The second to last job was the wiring of the electrics, this is the part I
love doing. A central control box was made up to house the power distribution,
fuses and relays. There is a key ignition to prevent unauthorised use and an
emergency stop switch. Fitted also is a multi-unit electrical system I
developed for when two or more trikes are coupled together, a jumper cable
is used between units. This system makes it possible to share power, operate
lights for direction of travel, all horns sound as one, most importantly and
why the system was developed, is that from one point all powered units can be
shut down should something go wrong. It also has a remote control option.
On the 27th October 2013 the last bolts went in and the attachment
of the identification plate on the front. This too didn't go to plan,
despite using quality rivets they broke before pulling tight.
The VW is still yet to be track tested, probably sometime in the new year
once the Crookwell Heritage Railway has its Heritage Operators Licence from
John Holland Rail. It did go the this year's Wagga model show for display with
only good comments received.
All up the final cost figure was $4,700 not including its purchase or labour
and I lost count of the hours after 300. Would I do it again? I have
a TIC to do but it won't be done to the extent of the VW and not for a while. I
will enjoy what I have for a while before tackling another restoration.
