1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

[broady_6]

Pottering along, I made a repair to one of my wing mirrors in the vein of "muddy" I removed the guff and cut a new M7 thread in.





]

A pleasing half hour pottering on saturday afternoon. Just need to rechrome it all now. But Ill wait until winter, the rechromers are currently shut and will no doubt reopen just as im free to use the car again!

[broady_6]

So the news, the issue of practical classics which is released next month (June) should have a photo of this ole beast in.

[937carrera]

Should be nice

Is the deed done, or are you about to have an intense period of polishing and shining in advance of the photographer turning up ?

I had a car featured in a magazine back in 2001, I wonder how much longer these magazines are going to survive ?

[vwfye]

[broady_6]

Its not a feature, just a photo as part of a feature as far as I know. No photographer unforuantely due to the poxy virus. So a little DIY shoot has happened. I cant see the magazines disappearing any time soon. Hopefully newspapers will be long gone before magazines that contain useful information.

[broady_6]

Right lots to update you on. Late last year I bought a sterring wheel to replace mine with as rather a large chunk has always been missing. I assume someone tried to lever the horn bar out.



A kind friend of mine rubbed it down and I repainted.





With it looking reasonable well, I got on with the fitting.



But bugger, the indicator self cancel tab is difference and the ring for the horn contact was also different. If only id bothered to check before all that work!

Correct style.



Incorrect



But back in the present, last week I managed to find the right part number steering wheel after 6 months of searching. And it arrived on friday.



Its got a few cracks but this isnt that unusual (based on the ones ive looked at in the past 6 months) I filled these out and then filled with resin.





This is as far as ive got with these so ill return to that in due coruse. But going back in time again, October I think I got my hands on a lovely pair of high backs. Well not lovely, but for £30 and 40 miles down the road I cant complain.



As you can see the passenger seat has taken some abuse when being removed. I knew this and was fully prepared to sort it out. But while being a bit lazy over winter I kept an eye out for a suitable pair of low back seats, if any appeared cheap id planned to buy them and use them as donors to make a good set from the two.



As luck would have it in early March this appeared on ebay, and another £30 later. They were mine. Well not quite, then this covid nonsence hit and I couldnt go an collect them. But as thing relaxed in the last few weeks I went and collected the seats. Luckly only about 40 miles away again.



So ive now got the seats in bits and the low back bases are not the same as the high backs. Which is a bit frustrating. The modifications are still smaller than trying to repair the original base. So ive made a start. Once ive got it something well worth showing. Ill update you further.

[broady_6]

Typo on the year, but here it is.

[937carrera]

Keep the mag stored safely.......... so you can look back in a few years time and see how young toy used to be

It does make you think about the actual knowledge of journalists sometimes doesn't it

[broady_6]

I certainly well. I might even get a second copy Theyre knoledgable, we chatted about the car enough, and given its a 71 nota 61. it smells of a typo to me and then wasnt caught in the proof reading phase. Given theyve all been producing the magazine from their homes rather than working together in their office. Ive let them off. I sent a email last night to let them know. Ill no doubt appear in the next issue in the "i think you'll find" correction section haha. (I already have some content in the next issue too, not type 3 related but I will share when it comes out)

[sparkywig]

[broady_6]

On with the seats then, base removed from the donor seat and compared for differences.



The biggest differences were that, the seat supports were in a different place and the low back seat only had 1 lock tab for the seat back.







Time to start translating the parts then.





Action shot! This is just a doubler plate, but it needs to come out in order to fit the "highback" doubler plate which also has the sprung clip for seat back security.





Time to get brave and weld this in, it proved a challenge to remove so hopefully it hasn’t distorted.



The lower brace had broken away in two places, so I cut this off, cleaned up the end and re-welded.



The release mechanism was the last part of the puzzle to be moved, with the rods bent to the correct shape the catches are synchronised.



During this, I noticed my welds were becoming inconsistent again. Previously ive put this down to those days when you "just can’t weld" But this was changing on a minute by minute basis. So, I started to investigate and found gas escaping inside the welder, add this to an inconsistent wire feed and you get crap welds.

ive got a retro welder and as such parts are no longer available. A bit of research found it was possible to do a euro plug conversion. I splashed out about £55 on this kit.



A couple of hours of fettling and massaging got the kit installed.





Finally here they are after a visit to the blasting shop, ready for a coat of hammered black.

[937carrera]

Lots of good detail work taking place there, it's a good job you aren't paying for it by the hour

[sparkywig]

[broady_6]

Has it really been 3 months since I posted in here. Well it hasnt been 3 idle months. Lets have a look see, so I painted those bases with a few coats of hammered black.





I also painted up the rods and levers to go with the bases. With those ready I turned my attention to the back frames. The drivers side has clearly had a whack at some point, once de trimmed I found this nasty.





I attempted to flatten this out in a hydralic press, but it wasnt just split, it was also twsited. WIthout making a jig it would be impossible to straighten. Luckily I had the pair of low backs with which to play. So I stripped one down to compare. The hope being that the lower frame was the same and it was just a case of welding the bow on to the top.





And that hope was fulfilled, Time saved, I just welded the bow from one to the other.





The passenger seat was much more straight forward. The realse tab was bent, this was easily straightened. I dressed the dings, cleaned it and painted it.



And this crack needed cleaning and welding. Otherwise it was just a case of painting it.



The adjuster cams were also a bit tired, so a local welder built them up with some weld and then I filed them to suit. This should stop the horrible wobbly seat backs were become acustomed too.



Thats as far as I got with these for now. I started to look at seat cover sets, but its currently looking at £400-500. Which is more than I want to be spending as I have other projects on the go.

[broady_6]

All the while ive been out and about in the car, something like 500 miles covered this summer just running about locally. The running issues come and go. It doesnt like starting hot, ive tried 3 diferent coils. Fiddled with the igintion many times, and slowly replacng components to identify the issue. The biggest change came with a new condenser, but it still doesnt run as smoothly as it should and it struggles up hills which it should cope with. While I continue to tinker it runs well enough for me to keep using it while the suns out. New HT leads are next, ill make these up in the week.



While browsing for tyres, I found this promo as tray. F560 tread pattern, I dont smoke so Ill use it as a change pot.



And heres a few shots of the running about, I also managed to get my hands on a set of hub caps. Theyre a bit pitted and the odd dent, but they clean the wheels up for the time being.

[Angelo Amato]

Looking good !

Angelo

[Aaronslimvw]

Looks great that!

[vwfye]

[muddy]

awesome work as ever.

I trust you used loctite on the wing mirror bolt repair.

[broady_6]

Thank you kindly, yes fitted with loctie. The arms will be going for chroming this winter as I tidy up the little bits and bobs.

[broady_6]

The jobs keep coming here and there. We had a nice dry weekend just done so I went out for a 20 mile blast before i tucked up for winter.

In the mean time I finally got around to fitting the jacking point blanks after a decent polish.





And I fitted the plug for the shift rod at the front.



After a quick polish



My steering wheel also had a large lump missing where someone had tried to lever out the horn bar I assume.



Not having the missing peice to glue back in, I manged to get hold of a reasonably priced and conditioned item. It needed some repair work so I filed out the cracks and filled with epoxy.





Once I had done that I farmed it out for someone else to paint.





I also sent the horn bar away for nickle plating.



This is was time of the assembly. A nice little project all in all.

[jmarkha1]

the wheel looks superb - makes a vw a vw...

[muddy]

Looks fab

[937carrera]

Nice to see those jacking point covers done

[broady_6]

Tramping through old videos and I found this. Laps of Brands Hatch in the fasty. Not the most exciting, but great fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzTIEnVdvl4