No,I meant the underneath not the outside paint .Outside paint looks fab.I was only meaning the under wing and inner wing area.

Not like me to play in the garage on a school night, but I was anxious to clean out the solid fuel line, and as it was a quick job....

I was going to use an air line, but wasn't convinced this would get it as clean as it could be so decided to set up a recirculating flush system.

Firstly, I rigged up some tubing from both the front and rear ends of the solid line.



Then connected it in line with my small 12V electric pump with both ends in a container of cellulose thinners.





I simply left this running for about 10 minutes until it ran totally clear.

After a while, I could see the old grotty fuel starting to settle on the top of the thinners in the container. Once this ceased to increase, I knew I'd got them completely clear and clean.

A simple and effective way to make sure all my carb, pump and tank cleaning isn't wasted.

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Ah - I get you.... Sorry if I sounded deffensive! :oops:

To be fair, lots of what you see under there is actually a fine layer of dried dust and mud, which with a quick wipe over with a damp cloth reveals mostly paint with various amounts of pitting.

I know what you are saying, but I'm hell bent on keeping it unpainted and original, even if this means it will remain less than cosmetically perfect.

I'm not trying to win any shows, prizes or awards, but I spent so long looking for a totally 100% original virgin, and there are so fuew out there, I'm going to kepp it that way. The wings have never been off and the motor has never been out, judging by the untouched nature of the various fasterners etc.

Hope that makes sense?

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Devoted my day off to the Oval again, and having thought long and hard about it, decided to invest in some POR15 Tank Sealer which from the reviews I've read, is about the best available.

It leaves a rubbery casing inside the tank that not only deals all the seams, but prevents leaks and weaps, further rusting and build up of sludge and gunk.





It's a funny sort of stuff with a strange consistency, but a nice silver colour.





I gave the tank one more go with some metal ready, and then a thorough flushing and drying, the sealed off the drain hole with duct tape.





I also masked off the top of the tank arounf the filler neck as I didn't want any of this stuff to spill on the exterior of the tank as it's a real pig to get off apparently.





Once I'd poured the full tin inside, I sealed off the filler neck, again with duct tape, then slowly rolled the tank around for 10 minutes or so to make sure everywhere had been coated.

Once I was satisfied I had an even coating, I placed the tank on two tall cans with the original tin underneath and removed the tape from the drain hole to allow all th eexcess to drain out.







It was still dripping over a hour later, but eventually stopped. What amazed me was how much poured out again back into the tin!





This was the medium sized tin as Frost didn't have the small tins in stock. Rest assured, if you can get hold of a small tin, it will be more than enough.

Whilst I was waiting for it to stop drippng out, I couldn't help giving the gas cap a quick clean up.





Once it had stopped dripping, I cleaned up around the drain hole then had a peep inside. It gives a lovely even and smooth rubbery silver finish. Really impressed and cannot recommend it highly enough.





Next, with a few hours of the day remaining, I had a play with some of my new loot.





Whilst there isn't much wrong with the original coil, I think it is best for long term reliability and service to renew it with a BOSCH new one. I didn't like the look of the new mounting hardware, so I cleaned up the nuts, bolts and clamp from the old one and used these to mount the new one. One of the low priority jobs in the future will be to paint this black and apply the period Oval shaped BOSCH sticker for the authentic look.





I then cleaned up the old coil, fitted the new mounting hardware to it and will keep it as an emergency spare unit.





Next up was to replace the plug leads with some nice new Beru items which seam very well made, are the correct length and have the dust and heat insulation caps on them.
I also removed the plug lead mounting tube and cleaned this up inside and out, along with the mounting clamps.





I had to remove the plugs again to fit the little screw on connector caps which came with the Beru leads to allow them to fit, but once all back together, it really freshens up the engine bay.





Whilst I was at it, I cleaned up the right hand side of the engine and then fitted the new fan belt. Starting to look like an engine now. Remember, I’m not trying to restore it, I’m just cleaning and preserving to retain it’s originality and virgin nature. One I’ve got it up and running, I’ll detail it further, but for now, this is a big step from what it was.





Once I’ve got the new fuel tap in and the new fuel hose, I can try to get it running in the knowledge that the carb, fuel and ignition system is spot on.

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Didn't get much done today as I was mostly doing the brakes on Dad's '61 Merc. Couple of small updates though.

Firstly, I fitted some NOS SWF wipers. It looks alot more complete now.




I wasn't really comfortable with the appearance of the new coil, and wanting it to look a little more authentic, I couldn't resist a little modification.

I removed the modern stickers and flatted the alluminium body with 1000 grit wet n' dry. After some panel wipe, I gave it a few coats of acid etch primer.




Followed by several fine coats of satin black.




And with an original style sticker in place, it dramatically improves the look of the engine - to my eyes anyway. And before anyone mentions it, I know the sticker should be the other way up, but my OCD got the better of me! Just my own little personal touch.




A load more parts arrived this morning, so I've got plenty to go at in the next few weeks.

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Wilst the tank is out I'll replace the inboard brake componentry. The original stuff may well be fine, but where brakes are concerned, I'm not going to take any risks at all - I'll clean up and keep all the stuff I remove and put it all in a glass case or something....

I ventured up into the attic to my mystery hoard of NOS/OEM wonderfulness that came with the car and was delighted to discover this little lot in one of the boxes....

Full set of original OEM ATE cylinders, flexi's and master cylinder!













Gotta be pleased with that me thinks.

I've discovered that just a few minutes a day sorting through old original VW parts is a cure for no end of ailments! :)

Got an order going in for all new rubber grommets and clips etc whilst I'm at it. All new fitting kits and shoes turned up the other day too, so we should be good to go for a full brake system rebuild soon.

I'll just do the 'under tank' stuff initially to allow me to refit the tank and concentrate on getting the motor up and running, and then complete the brakes afterwards.

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Set of TDE Theo Decker tail pipes waiting in the departure lounge too! :lol:

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LT > I'm sure you know this but just a word of caution with NOS brake components.

Although never used, rubber doesn't last a lifetime so if it was me I would strip down the master and wheel cylinder's just to check the rubber components in there are all as they should be. :wink:

Don't think you'll find any problems but like you say above, can't take chances with brakes.

Keep up the good work. Bet you can't wait to drive this to the MOT station!

Cheers, will do. The good thing with them is that they are a very late production run, so not from the 50's or anything, so not as old as they could be, but I will check them thoroughly before installation.

I've got a brand new set of nickel copper solid lines too, so once all installed and checked, I'll know that the brakes anre all new and 100%.

Like I say, I'll clean and refurbish as much of the original stuff as I can and keep to one side.

I can always push it to the MOT station! :lol:

Thankfully, I've got a MOT station that will 'look beyond'the lack of screen washers which is a bonus.

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Fairy liquid bottle with a 'Washers' label on it seems to do the trick for most. :wink: All you need is a method of washing the windows when driving, just open the window and squirt. :lol:

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Exactly.....the Cabrio survived for 55 years without windscreen washers so I wasn't exactly keen on drilling the scuttle to fit a washer nozzle!

being lowered:roll:

:lol: :lol: 😳

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:lol:

Left myself wide open there didn't I...

I have found the story of your car really interesting reading - well done! In the mid 90's I had a 1957 CKD Oval built in New Zealand after European Oval production had ceased. The car was lovely, one of my favourite Volkswagens that I have had the pleasure to own.
When the work was finished on the car - I had it repainted, the original engine rebuilt, exterior chrome and trim, etc. I took it for the MoT and it would have sailed through but for the washers... It had never had any fitted. (And stubbornly, I wasn't about to drill a hole in the car!). I looked into the subject in detail and got on to the MoT inspectorate and after a lot of investigative work I found that screen washers are one of the few elements of MoT testing that have to be retro fitted if they were not standard (unlike safety belts).
I still wasn't willing to drill a hole in the front scuttle - so I made it my quest to get around doing so. I got a Split Screen van washer bottle and put it in the glovebox, removed the ashtray, routed the rubber pipe through the ashtray hole and sandwiched it between the bonnet and scuttle and then gaffer taped a squirter nozzle to the scuttle. It worked fine and the tester had no option to pass it. I removed it out side the MoT station thinking how great I was to have had one over on 'them'.

Now, moving on a few months... The car was my daily driver and I had to use it for my 40 mile commute from one side of Surrey to the other - this meant driving along the M25.... Trust me when it's winter you'll find out why screen washers are so essential!

If you do not plan to use your car in anything other than fine weather - feel free to do like I did and beat the system. If you think for a minute you will use this car in adverse weather, you might find that drilling one hole in the scuttle could save your life...

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=703767 

Ivan has a good point there. One car overtakes you on a dirty winter road and the whole screen can end up plastered in about .32 of a second. Not fun!

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More dangerous is left hand drive with just semaphores and bad rear vision through a tiny back window - yet this nightmare is allowed through the MOT test. You can pull over and clean you screen, but you can't be sure that there is a driver or bike youve not seen just about to smash into your right turn as he hasn't seen your semaphores or doesn't know what they are. For hell's sake they're not even mentioned in the highway code. And you're all worrying about washers. :evil:

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Nice rant. Why did you edit the "Safer Motoring" dig out?

I prefer not to have to worry about finding somewhere to pull over and arse about with cloths and rain-x every 5 minutes just to be able to see where I'm going... but I can understand why not drilling one little hole in the bodywork is more important.

Actually... no, I can't.

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The majority of VWs imported into the UK in the 50s were dealer fitted with "Tudor" windscreen washers. I don't think that retro fitting a period set up now would in any way affect the integrity of the vehicle, but it would make a lot of sense on safety grounds...

My oval has semaphores that no one sees, I drive defensively, sometimes missing turns all together if I think the chap behind hasn't seen me indicate and avoiding right hand turns wherever possible! I intend to put discrete motor bike flashers on the bumpers at some point to make driving it a little less like running the gauntlet. :wink:

Mike 😎

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