Testing

Only my second ride out in Myrtle with my dad at the wheel. The first test ride out, being somewhat a fail. Ern has been hard at work, tinkering with various things upon Myrtle, my or should I now say "our" 1965 Volkswagen Beetle. I think Ern has grown quite fond of her.

Been for a ride in Myrtle

Ern continues to bang his head whilst coming out from under her bonnet and still calls her a "Bloody Stupid thing", among other expletives. At times we still appear to be fighting a losing battle and get rather frustrated. A, for example, is the rubber door seals. I ordered 2 pairs as although Myrtle is registered as a 65 Bug, both Ern and I were not entirely sure what door seals were fitted to her. The ones that she had been wearing were trimmed and looked old and tatty. So a set of 52 to 65 and a set of 66 onwards seals arrived.

Looking canny, lots more work to do on her

What a nightmare trying to fit the door seals. We eventually went with the 52 to 65 door seals. Ending up having to actually cut the driver's door seal to get it to fit. As for the passenger side...man doesn't even go there. We must have tried fitting it at least 6 to 7 times. Trying it both dried fitted and then glueing it in place with contact glue. By the time we had finished, I would say we must have cut at least 6 inches out of the door seal and even tried trimming where it mounts. The seal was such a tight fit, it actually knocked my whole passenger door out of whack. The alignment was all over the place and the door would not close correctly. This resulted in chipped and scuffed paint and a non too happy stressed me. The seal has now been binned so that is another £30 down the drain. I have decided to try and get a professional to sort the job.

Good news Myrtle's horn is working. Ooh, and she is now wearing a brand new steering box. Ern was not happy with how she drove on her last mini outing. After today's little excursion, just over to Craghead, up to Wagtail Lane and past the Windmills, then down to the Stream Valley Ern commented on the huge improvement. We have decided to keep the quick steer kit in place on the advice from Limebug. It should help give more clearance when the 4 inch narrowed beam is fitted along with the air ride system.

Myrtle's colour has grown on me.

Myrtle has grown on Ern I think

 
Myrtle just say makes it over the speedbumps at home, only the tiniest of scrapes today, mind you do have to drive at like 1 mph. 

  

Got to watch and bumps, she riding a bit low on just a torsion beam front beam

I think Ern's enjoyed his little drive of Myrtle now her steering is behaving

Legend my dad

She is quite small and hard to get into

Ern is currently out in the back yard working on Myrtle's handbrake. For some reason, it is keep pulling over the ratchet and this makes the button come loose. We have tried researching the cause and think it's possibly the drum brakes need adjusting up. Ern is going to take the handbrake cables off and measure them as he feels the cables are too long. According to the various parts suppliers, a 1965 handbrake cable should be 1710mm long.

Still, a long way to go with the old girl. I mean I have to get the clutch conversion sorted. Then it's things like sorting her interior, a bit of paintwork, the exhaust, seat belt mounts, hopefully, sorted this or next month. And from there I will no doubt add some of my own personal stuff. Been looking at wheels for example.

Oh whilst I am on may as well tell you about the shock I got yesterday when taking Grandma my New shape Beetle GSR into get some stuff looked at. What I thought was going to be a relatively cheap sorting out tuned out to be a potential £633.56 bill.

You see I had an error come up on my OBDeleven reader. It stated I had a short circuit on my Fender Sub-Woofer. It appears one of the coils is knackered so a new Sub £268.34. I also had a rattle on my dash. It's coming from the instrument pod, which houses 3 clocks upon my dash. An easy fix, or so I thought. Apparently, a new trim is required and that is £152.53 including fitting.

Then I  got the news that my bonnet would not open...Huh! The bill to fix this was £192.03. And finally something I knew needed looking at and had planned to sort this month, if not for additional expenditure on various things, was the front brake discs. These came in at a whopping £289.00. Anyhoo I accepted I would have to get the Fender Sub replaced and fitted, however, informed the VW dealer I would leave the other things that had been flagged up. Upon getting home my dad set about repairing my bonnet catch. A fiddly job, but it has cost £0, zero, nada so well chuffed at saving almost £200 quid and a huge thank you to my Pops.

As for the dash rattle, I am thinking of putting some sort of a rubber gasket in between the pods and the dash. Apparently, it is a common problem. One guy, I was reading actually used a bit of string. He just pulled it under the pod, so didn't even need to remove it. I will have a look and see what I can do.

As for the Brake discs, these were something I had planned anyhoo. I have just replaced the back with some EBC Blades, so when I get a little money sorted will get some matching fronts.

Ok, so that will be Grandma sorted. Just used my new Dual Action polisher I bought a few weeks back along with a finishing kit and have to say was very happy with the shine on Grandma. Of course, as she is 6 years old now she has a number of stone chips. Something I will have to live with as a proper top-end spray job would be thousands, and hey she will no doubt get chipped again.