Third company I visited was able to balance them. Old guy, soon as I said "Beetle wheels" ("Kupla vanteet"). He smiled and nodded.

Got the back tyres on. The rear wheels appear "tucked in" rather than sitting vertically. I presume thats because the car was jacked up for about a week, and that it will settle?

Managed to remove one front mudguard. It was horrific.
The brackets were held on by homemade bolts, which were bits of threaded rod welded to flat bits of steel so they'd fit flush under the interior vinyl ( neat idea, but they spin and its difficult to hold them still, they might have been glued in place at some point) i eventually managed to bend them enough that mole grips could get a hold of them., and a bracket between buggy mudguard and extra mudguard, that was a damn tight fit to get a hand with a spanner in there. Front wheel is now fitted on that side. Hope to tackle the other side tomorrow. Its starting to look like the pure,simple late 60s, early 70s buggy I want.

Horrible mudguard bolts for horrible mudguards.

Not that you can see much from this photo. Taken in the dark with my mobile. But the tyres are tucked in. Closer together at the bottom than they are at the top. I'm hoping they just need to settle a bit. I'll open the garage door tomorrow and everything will be fine.

Yes Campbell a bit of weight in the buggy and a short drive should put the wheels back to their previous camber.

Good old mole grips - one of my favorite tools although I know purist mechanics can frown on their use on nuts and bolts !

Two fat blokes drinking your tea and eating your biscuits will soon sort that out.

Two fat blokes drinking your tea and eating your biscuits will soon sort that out.

That's Hudge  and me volunteering for an all expenses paid trip

 

Wheels fitted mudguards and front bumper removed. Those dangling fog lamps will get cut off too. Nearly ready for katsastaus (MoT)

Wow! It fired up straight away. I started the buggy so I could check all the electrics. I drove her out the garage and I'm afraid I just grinned like a fool and forgot to check anything.





Its weird seeing it outside when I've been used to being right up close to it and unable to step backwards. You can see in the first picture where the mudguard has been cut to fit those extra guards. I'll have to look into replacing the missing part with new fibreglass. I've also found out that earlier Mac buggies had a more Manx style back. without that box. I'll put the word out and see if anyone has recently cut that section out of theirs (seems to happen a lot). I'll inspect the wiring and look at booking it for its MoT (finances allowing)

It's looking good Campbell, certainly knocking it into shape and a big improvement on how it was when you first got it. Now you've changed the tyres and removed the mudguards I can see it's running coilovers, you may find it would ride better if you removed them and converted back to standard shocks so it just used the torsion bar suspension, just a thought, see what other people say. Coming along very nicely though.

Did you fit the tyres with tubes in the end?

Wow! It fired up straight away. I started the buggy so I could check all the electrics. I drove her out the garage and I'm afraid I just grinned like a fool and forgot to check anything.

Best feeling ever!! 

Yes. Was wondering about suspension. It also still has its anti roll bar.
Its running tubes. I see JustKampers are offering standard wide5 rims to run tubeless though.

Yes. Was wondering about suspension. It also still has its anti roll bar.
Its running tubes. I see JustKampers are offering standard wide5 rims to run tubeless though.

The torsion bars and shocks were designed for the heavier bodied Beetle so putting coilovers on the lighter buggy is overkill and makes them too stiff and yes you can remove the front anti roll bar too.

Agreed - bin the anti-roll bar. Took mine off and the buggy corners like a sled on rails staying nice and level. N.B. I have 12psi in the front tyres (195x60 14) and 22psi in the rears (225x50 15).