Bub: the Buggered Up Beetle

Oh my word, the calculations do NOT do the tyres credit ..... old v new rear tyres old v new front tyres The joys of having a forklift and a car that only weighs about 800kg chunky .... it will be a tight fit but Libby thinks it'll work a bit of trimming or judicious bending and we could be good

I have been accused of being obsessive, mono-maniacal, ultra focussed, 'extra' (by my daughters) and I see those as good things ... mostly. The downside is that I get a new project and it fully occupies my mind when I have other, important things to do as well. Luckily, after a hellishly hard week or so in the office its a summer holiday Friday and I can look at some of the major design features for Bub. No matter what Bub is going to look like when I'm finished, there are a few things that are common to all the ideas: sports seats, roll cage, big tyres and raised suspension.  Big tyres or Raised Suspension? Yup, I'm heading, ultimately, to the sand, gravel and rocks of the Sahara Desert and Atlas Mountains. Rust2Sahara allows you an extra £500 budget for preparing your car for the rigours of the desert on top of the normal £500 'buy and prep' limit for the other rallies. Your car will need raised suspension and bash plates as well or have a high to...

Bub - a video introduction A bit more information on what I'm planning ... note: this may change in no specific order large tyres to increase ground clearance adjust the wings to cope with the wider, bigger tyres lift the rear suspension by a huge amount to make the car run level cut the back off, Baja style to improve entry/exit angles possibly trim the front as well fit a roll cage fit a bigger engine Before that  strip back bubbling paint and rust treat repaint rusty areas with silver smoothrite (I am not changing how it looks) dismantle all suspension, running gear, brakes etc and replace if necessary strip clean and paint replace all rubber bushes, pipes, hoses In the mix of ideas are swap the front of the chassis to carry a 'beam' front axle to remove the entire front and fit a 'full tilt front' beer keg fuel tank (from a previous buggy) make it look mental fit a 2027cc long stroke engine making 3 times as much power a...

It seems the fuel leak is not as bad as first feared so 2 days later and Bub has not expired in an orange fireball, I can start finding out what needs doing. I'm hoping to get along to Rust2Rome Romania leaving day but the car has to be safe so here is a list of things that must be addressed before going on the road ... in no particular order seatbelts - they're not really fit for purpose so new ones are on order and will be fitted straight away. The body really doesn't feel strong enough to cope with them but I will be fitting a roll cage so that won't matter in the long term. Well, that will work well in a crash! Not sure how that's meant to work at all!   lights indicators work but the hazards don't (might buy a new relay) right hand tail/headlights don't work brake lights aren't exactly reliable engine tune up it starts brilliantly and revs cleanly enough now I've fettled it but the timing needs doing properly, oil check...

What's the very first thing you should do when you get an old car? Get a Haynes manual, a used one of course! £12.50 well spent.

So, Bub actually arrived on Monday 23rd July, destined to sit until the end of the driving season (I have a 1912 car I've restored over 11 years) and the Veteran Car Club Scottish Event (I'm running) at the end of September but I can't leave anything alone .... I want to know what I'm facing so the only way of finding out is to get it started, running and driving and see what drops off or breaks. Luckily insurance is £75 per year and its MOT and Tax exempt so I can fiddle, fettle and test without breaking the law. Of course, the first thing is to check it's actually safe so I'll be doing that and then putting in for an MOT to see what really needs doing. But first ... It drove off the transporter and then stalled ... so I put petrol in it. I drove it up and down the access road and ....it goes, turns and stops really well. This is good. It ticked over at 100,000rpm and stank of unburnt fuel. It stuttered as I tried to rev and was not 100% ...

And it starts, as always, with a car rolling off a trailer ... or in this case a transporter. Bub, as he will be called until a better name comes along, has arrived. He's a VW Beetle, a 1973 1303 aka a Super Beetle with coil front suspension, independent rear suspension, a 1300cc engine and no roof (or serious rust, which is a relief). Okay, I know you're asking 'what the hell are you up to now?', well there are reasons which you will learn on the journey from Here (Scotland) to There (the Sahara Desert). We will pass through 'what the fuck have I started this for', 'bangs head against wall', Woohoo and How Much, on the way, It's all part of the fun. Why a Beetle? I had a few when I was a kid and I fancy the idea of doing another Beetle Build. The trip to the Sahara is with Rust2Rome and their logo is based on a  Classic Beetle and driving 4,000 miles across Europe to Africa and back in 3 weeks in a £500 car is clearly not hard e...