I ordered a new dual circuit master cylinder and some drop spindles from machine7 lastnight and was surprised to see them arrive at 12pm. The snow can't be that bad then eh!

Fitted the new cylinder and a mock up of the reservoir so when the shell goes back on I can secure it to the shell.

My next job is fitting the spindles, I've taken the front wheels off and let everything soak in some wd40 to hopefully make the job easier when I get to it next week.

Ok bit of an update...

Changed over to the new Master Cylinder all things went well... Go to bleed the system and the front right bleed nipple shears inside the wheel cylinder...

I order a new one of them, and brake shoes while im at it... They show up the next day and I go fit them.

Cant be bad can it...

I go to re-assemble the drum and the inner wheel bearing falls apart haha! The rollers come out of the bearing so back online AGAIN! to order new inner and outer bearings.... What a carry on.

Saying that the whole front end will be basically brand new once its sorted out so I guess its worth it.

So got the new wheel cylinder and put it all back together.

Job done he said. That was easy he said...

Ohhhh no.

The drum wouldn't fit back on properly, when I went to go place it back on. I thought perhaps the shoes were getting in the way so I adjusted them lower to allow for the drum to go back on.

Nothing.

Turns out the inner wheel bearing had crumbled apart and the rollers had fallen out preventing the drum from going back on.

What a carry on. Finally got the bloody thing out to find the rest of the rollers and now I've had to order a new bearing, plus get the old bearing seat... or Race depending on what you call them out...

More swearing with a hammer and a nail punch and out it came. I decided I might as well get new brake shoes and an inner bearing as well so I ordered them up too....

All the parts arrive on different days and I get as much done as I can. The big bearing seat was a complete bitch to fit. I resorted to "cooking" my drum in the oven at 100°C for 20min while the bearing seat sat in the freezer.

Lots more swearing with a hammer and its sorted. Phew!

Job done he says, back to stick the drum on now that the bearings been seated and sealed in etc.

Oooohhhhh no. It's not that easy.

With all the frustration I forgot the inner bearing collapsed right? So whats a bearing made out of? two steel circles with rollers in the middle like a donut.

Since the bearing collapsed I only removed the top circle and the rollers. I forgot the inner part was still on the spingle hahaha! At the time I was about suicidal trying to figure out what it was until it dawned on me.

Put it all back together and upgraded the bearing lock nuts with the "later" style single nut with allen locking clamp.

Talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill... All I wanted to do was change a brake cylinder now I've pretty much rebuilt the entire braking system!!! Just got the other side to do now so hopefully thats not as bad as I know what im doing now haha!

In other news I've started to sand all the imperfections out of the shell and ready to fill them with fibreglass filler and smooth it all out again ready to get painted. Gonna stick with yellow because I quite like it.

Then its take the chassis outside, give it a good power washing to get all the crud off from sanding the floor pants etc then paint them with zinc 182 and hammerite ontop of that....

Oh yeah I've deisgned my new layout of the dash board too which a friend of mines will re upholster in black leather.

bit of a bad pic but theres a little ridge at the bottom where the speedo is where I can just fit my new switch pannel for the wipers, washer, rear fogs im fitting and the front spot lights too.

All the old switches will be gone as Im replacing them with a single rotary unit with a horn function too.

Love this! Should be awesome when its done. I spy mini switches and surround under the speedo! Similar to what I have in my mini. Not done a thread on mine as it would be way too long and bore everyone!

Good to see someone else who has both a classic and a Fabia although mine is a mk1.

The dash is away with a friend getting re-trimmed. Should have it back in a month or so just in time for putting everything back together

The bearings done, the top few coats of Zinc 182 primer are down... Just to do the underside now! Been busy with a little blow torch melting the paint off and scraping away... but as she stands now..

with the sad news that beachbuggy.org.uk forum has been closed due to whatever has gone on behibd closed doors ill have to read a book, whatever they are, on how to fix my bug instead.

anyway...

been filling up some cracks and what have you on the buggys shell and bonnet....

i hate sanding.

ive also painted my first coat of hammerite yellow to the floor pans! woohoo progress!!

The Cibie Oscars I have aren't safe from my restoration... heat guned the paint off and found this...

Like a map of the world. You should matt lacquer that patina...

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

Not really into the rat scene but it did look very interesting.. Big bit of Africa there

Been painting underneeth the floor pans.. absolute nightmare painting upwards :(

Well thats all the painting finsihed as far as the chassis and metal work is concerened. The floor pans and everything else I could make hammerite yellow are now, uhh, yellow!

The cibie's will be left until I get the shell done as I want them the same colour.

After a fair bit of swearing and threatening the exhausts with the angle grinder I got them off and gave them a quick going over with the wire wheel to get ride of the rust. They're pretty badly pitted but no major holes. Just a few tiny pin head ones I can seal up.

Just need to convince the old boy to help trailer off the shell somewhere to get painted

Off to the paint shop we go!

Got the phonecall from the paint shop will be ready on monday to pick up.

Jizz'ed in my pants.

yahoo!

Edited 8 April, 201313 yr by apmaman

loving this dude :love:

New rear lights and stainless steel reg plate holder. Also re-done the headlights to match the new yellow/black theme I've got going on...

So with my first day off I've had in a while that I've not spent with the Mrs I made an active effort to get on with the bug.

I got some stainless steel seat wedges from flatland engineering and some seat runners too.

All bolted up.. Yum Yum

Aww shi... The holes are just a tad too short! :-[

]

A little grinding work and TaDa!

Just gotta measure up the floor pan to drill now! and get new corbeau seats, but I cant afford them at the mo...

Still waiting for the dash to come back though as thats holding me back from starting the re-wire...

OTT?

OTT? Not at all, you just need a whopping great CB aerial on the back now for that true American '60s look.

I'm trying to get one of those CB arieals and let it act as a digital radio antenna. so I can get DAB on the fly while looking retro.

Petrol Tank, bonnet, dash and front lights all fitted and routed through the front... It almost looks like a real car again! Just the dreaded re-wire to go...

I'm gonna have a bash at cleaning up the speedo gauge.. Might re-paint the metal ring as it looks a bit tired. Coming along nicely

Edited 10 June, 201313 yr by apmaman

always wanted a buggy :love: …. oh well move needed lol

always wanted a buggy :love: …. oh well move needed lol

Get one! You know you want too!!

Finnished up checking all the wiring etc. It's all labelled and neatend out so should make the rewiring quick and easy.

its alive!! and snorting fire!

Edited 7 July, 201312 yr by apmaman

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJPsHgI6NIY

ready for its mot!

added some nice stainless steel scat rocker covers.. redone the paint on the exhausts too.