... day 9...

A few days ago I got some melting metal in my shoe while welding and yesterday it started to get kind of grose. So today I decided not to wear shoes. Which off course means I didn't really work on the 1302. Did make some brackets for the radiator that took more time then anticipated and other then that I enjoyed the sun. It was to hot to work anyway. Tomorrow I'll hope to test fit the radiator.

amazing how much time drilling 12 holes takes

... day 8...

Got a good few hours in. My old neighbour needed some help again and my buddy came back with new parts (you know, from yesterday) for his bike, but other then that I got the driverside front done and I made the ridge for the front. That's about it. Oh, and my good old friend would see if he could get me a blind date with an asian girl as thanx for the bike. Yes, they are strange times we life in nowadays :D

here's the little ridge, lots of little cuts to bend it

here is the new front part and the ridge

and the front clammed on again, it fits

and from the back. welds look bad and rusty. maybe it's the flash

and one happy friend with new shinny bike.

... day 7...

Day 7 started ok. Cut a piece of metal for the front and started shaping it. And then it started to rain. Cats and dogs that is. Now I'm not made of sugar but welding when it rains is asking for cursing your longs out and it started to get really dark. So I went to a DIY store to get some metal and after that the weather cleared. But a buddy of mine came to see me because he needed some help with his bike. Which turned out in me giving him one of my old projects... that we needed to finish first. Hopefully I get to put some hours in my bug again tomorrow. This beetle vacation is turning out to be harder then I imagined......

... day 6...

Yes, I'm not counting the weekends... So this is day 6. I did some more cutting. I cut out some ugly repair stuff and the spare tire well. Didn't know were to cut the well (looked at a identical project 1303 on the net, but they turn out to be a little bit different there....) so I just cut the half. Luckely, because the support brackets I thought were there, were really there. After that a lot of thinking on how to put the radiator in there. Haven't come up with a plan yet, need some more looking :D Then I started with welding a new piece in the front. Doesn't look that great in the pic but it's a lot better then the previous piece. Tommorow we'll start with the other side.

Yup, it's cut.

The extra lip looks wierd but I still need to cut that.

...day 5....

Today a lot of cleaning up my workspace and... more cleaning up. Also made a few templates out of cardboard en did some sanding on the front. No picts. Sounds kind of boaring? Well, it was. Tomorrow I'm going to see my dad. We're going to a flee market so I hope I can pick up some parts and stuff. No work on the bug tomorrow....

ps. Found out that the color on the car (white) is not the right color (white) :-/

...day 4.....

Like they say: measure twice, cut once. So yesterday I did some cutting and today I measured. Even more then 2 times. :D Nothing much to show tho, maybe more tomorrow.

soooo... how am I going to get this to bare metal....

Beetle holiday day 1 ....or uhm day 3?

Yes, that is correct, a beetle holiday. Well kind off. Not one that I am cruising around europe in my bug. No, it means me taking a 3 week break to work on my beetle. No other jobs or stuff, just me working on my 1302.
Well off course that's never gonna happen. Already day one was spend indoors because of bad weather and lots of other stuff that had to get finished, day 2 I spend on cleaning up the garage and day 3 I had to help my old neighbor. But at the end of the day I did get some work done on my bug. I cut off the front to get better excess to the spare tire well. I am going to cut it out to make room for the radiator. My dad called me insane to cut out a perfectly good spare tire well.... hmmm, not much rust but perfectly good.... Anyway, the previous owner didn't do a very nice job on repairing the front (race car means race repairs) so getting the front off went kind of ruff. Some welding and new panels needed here.
Here are the pictures to give you an idea. More news tomorrow (I hope :D)

321 and off with the front.

I promise, I did not touch the well in anyway....