I'm interested in getting hold of an old car (I'm thinking Beetle) and restoring it. The thing is I have absolutely no idea how to restore a car

Can anyone recommend any good books on the subject? A quick search on Amazon brought up a couple of books specifically about restoring Beetles (HERE and HERE) which I guess would be a good place to start, or should I be looking for a more general book on restoration?

Cheers,

Pete

[Edited on 16/4/07 by scoobyis2cool]

Sorry to burst your bubble but a bug is not a good a good choice for a first resto car. Sure every little bit is very easy to get hold of but and I ain’t kidding here the rot they can contain is truly staggering, think the bottom 6 inches of the whole car needing replaced. Trust me here, I do know what I am talking about…sadly.

Your average bug will need, new front, new back, new sills and heater channels, new floor pan halves, new rear quarter panels, new bottom A pillar posts, new wings…and the list goes on and on. By the time you have added all the panels up it will easily top £1200 and that’s before you’ve even touched the welder. Do not in any circumstances remove the shell from the floor pan if it’s not 100% solid as it will collapse and many a bug has been killed that way. Be very wary of any car that has been ‘restored’ few ever do it properly some do it appallingly and some just plain dangerous. Check the gutters, they all seem to be rusting there and it’s a difficult area to weld as there is three different pieces coming together not the apparent two.

If that hasn’t put you off, well when I have some time I can let you into the many things you need to look for, as I think I can safety say I have replaced every bit you can on a bug at some point, sigh.

As for the books, get them both and read them very carefully.

[Edited on 16/4/07 by Mr Whippy]

Ok I think that's the bubble well and truly burst!

So maybe I'd be better off starting with a slightly easier project, preferebly one that won't take me 10 years and a bottomless pot of cash.

So let me change my original question to... any recommendations for a nice easy(ish) car for a resto newbie? What are Minis like?

Cheers,

Pete

Porsche 924

Galvanised, cheap.

Forget all that "Van engine" bollox, nobody says that Astons have tractor engines or Vipers have truck engines do they?

You could buy a 924 for less than the Welder you'd need to buy for restoring a Mini.

And it's a Porsche - get one now, they won't be cheap for much longer, look at the 914 I could have had one given to me twelve years ago, now basket cases from the states are 8K - it's the power of the badge!

And no I haven't got mine anymore

We're a four car family with room for two cars.

Bugger.

Cheers

Chris

It is probably better to get in touch with someone local who has done it before through a VW club. practical explanation, demonstration and assistance is much more useful than any book. A lot of practice welding bits of rusty metal is an advantage :-) Gas is much better than arc or mig, Tig does not work at all on rust but if you can cut back to clean metal it gives the best finish with least heat.

Mechanically just be very careful to note and photograph anything you take apart or take off and bag or mark it, this makes it less likely that you will have a bagful of odd shaped bits of metal when you have finished the re-build 8-( The rest of it will all e clearly set out in the appropriate Haynes book :-) or official workshop manual. A manufacturer's parts book is also invaluable as they have exploded diagrams of various assemblies, invaluable for identifying those odd shaped bits of metal and figure out how to put them in before the bit is put back on the car!
Before you start you have to decide what your aim is at the end, a fun working classic, a Concours car or a daily driver with some concessions to modernity. Whatever you budget it will at least double and if you change course to a different end result half way through it will rise in cost exponentially!

As is building kit cars it is immensely rewarding to complete the job and each sub assembly on the way.

Good luck!

Caber

PS if the bug is off the list try a Land Rover, almost all bits available every sub assembly bolts off, even if you buy a complete basket case it is impossible to kill totally as you can buy everything including chassis and bulkhead. I would suggest getting something that is a runner even if an MOT failure as it is likely to have everything there, I would avoid anything in boxes as the vital part (s) won't be there!

[Edited on 4/16/2007 by caber]

keith sume did a good book on modifying them.

How about this?


Caber

Porsche 924 is an option although to be honest I'm not that keen on them! This is all starting to look a touch expensive too unfortunately

That Piper looks interesting but way out of my price range - I was really after something I could pick up cheap and have a tinker with without spending too much money but that's looking increasingly unlikely so I might just have to dream for a while longer and read a few books to build up my knowledge while I save my pennies.

Pete

go for a saab 96! honestly they are great to restore seeing as they don't rot much, mine had no windows down one side for about 6 months at least before i got it and it has only really rotted at the end of the sills at the front of the rear wheel arch and at the front sill on the side of the broken windows. There was surface corrosion on it too but that was pretty much it for rot.

saabs are cheap too, mine cost £100 off ebay. it was in a bit of state but it was all simple things to sort. Clutch not working windows needing replacing stripping out intreior and repainting. carb rebuilding, water pump replacing. man i forget how much i have done to it. But i throughly enjoyed it and this is my first car let alone restoration.

i have had it for two years and at one point it was close to being on the road but now its further that ever! but that is me being ambitious more than anything.

ps lots of people think that saabs look like a beetle, thats how i tend to describe it to people.



[Edited on 17/4/07 by trogdor]

Saab 900’s on the other hand love to rust weird panels on them too, craziest front wing design I’ve ever seen, actually the whole cars weird. A 90 looks like a bug? That reminds me of my friend who claimed his fiat 127 looked like a Porsche 911, oh yeah how often I mix the two up…
Rescued attachment 127.jpg

a 96 looks like a bug, this pic of a 96 really reminds me a beetle! its not mine tho! mine is much tattier!

saab 900s are abit wierd, the handbrake works on the front wheels and they can be difficult to work on such as the water pump needing special tools and the head removing before it can be changed! but then so are 96's they have freewheel gearboxes and column gearchanges. well mine doesn't anymore which is a shame but it will have 5 gears......

[Edited on 17/4/07 by trogdor]
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oh yes I found out about the handbrake when I tried a handbrake turn in the snow and flew into a ditch! thank you Mr Disco driver who pulled me out

Ehem well maybe a slight resembelence to a bug but not much, nice though and the roof rack is cool. I've heard they are very good classic cars before and quite modern.

Nice looking car, do you think there's much chance of being able to restore one on a budget or is restoration just generally expensive?

The handbrake sounds very strange too, I hope the car you stuck in a ditch wasn't one that you'd spent years doing up!

Pete

The handbrake is strange on the 900 but it is conventional on the 96.

The 96 can be done on a budget i have been restoring mine since i was 19 and i have done loads to it and it would be ready now if i was near it all year round i can only get the odd few days when i go home to see my family! Also would be ready if i didn't try and do big projects... sort out the carb? no way i am gonna put a audi engine and gearbox in it!

i am only a student with a few grand coming in a year plus my loan, say less than 10,000 a year income and i can afford to restore it so i imagine you'll manage. ebay is your friend though i have got some good bargins, how about a engine, gearbox and a whole set of glass for £20? managed that with my saab, bet you couldn't do that with any vw!



[Edited on 17/4/07 by trogdor]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mr Whippy
oh yes I found out about the handbrake when I tried a handbrake turn in the snow and flew into a ditch! thank you Mr Disco driver who pulled me out

Ehem well maybe a slight resembelence to a bug but not much, nice though and the roof rack is cool. I've heard they are very good classic cars before and quite modern.

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I know what you mean about not being able to do a quick fix trogdor, when I was building my Indy I started by telling myself I'd just bang it together nice and cheap for the experience, but I ended up spending way more time and money on it because I wanted it to turn out nice

Pete

yeah i wish i could get it running quickly, but i never get any time to work on it. It always looks so forlorn when i come home! gave it a wash when i was last working on it, as well as removing the gearbox and using an angle grinder for the first time! man they are so fun!

Funnily enough i bought a non-running 924 about a month ago of ebay.

£400 a galvanised body and chassis means little or no rust and cheap parts.

oh and the reason it doesn't run...The timing mark is on the flywheel, and the flywheel was 60 degrees out, so the valve timing was well out.

Thankfully not an intereference engine, unless you get the Turbo!