Replica Schwimvagen...

[phil munga]

Thats looking very nice , is the engine a 1.3 single port ?, its hard to find engines of the corect type , I've a fifties? beetle one but has been left outside and not too good

[mark m uk]

Thats looking very nice , is the engine a 1.3 single port ?, its hard to find engines of the corect type , I've a fifties? beetle one but has been left outside and not too good

 

Spot on Phil, It is indeed.

Dates from the mid - late sixties. I am learning a lot as I go on, the next one I build will be much easier.................I hope !

 

Regards Mark,

[Bodge Deep]

Gob still lolling open in amazement... I love it!

[ford 369]

Gob still lolling open in amazement... I love it!

 

what amazes me is not only what a fantastic job you are doing but the fact that you are already planning the next one

[mark m uk]

what amazes me is not only what a fantastic job you are doing but the fact that you are already planning the next one

 

Never let the grass grow and all that ! another little update.

 

Brrrrrrrrr, chilly out in the garage today, but things got warmed up when I fired up the welder.

Today, I was mostly making exhaust pipe !

I bought one from the CZR, but it was too small by 15mm. considered altering it, but figured that it was almost as easy to make another one.

So, got my mate to bend half a dozen bits of pipe, bought some steel tubeing - and found that the guys at machine 7 sell ready cut flanges.........that was a result !

Cut, grind, measure, cut, weld, measure, drill, cut, measure, bish, bosh, bash and - hey presto!

 

[snowtracdave]

Mark - you haven't told us how it sits now you have the engine in .

[Bodge Deep]

You, sir... are the daddy

[mark m uk]

You, sir... are the daddy

Thank You BD,

 

Dave, It is starting to sit nicely - I was surprised by how much it went down immediately, and settled some more after a couple days. Now the front looks too high, but I am not going to worry about that as I have adjusters welded into the beam and can always let it down a little.

 

Thanks for your interest guys,

[phil munga]

doing a lovely job , found a couple of pics and thought you might like the look of them , at some point it looks as though door openings have been made on this one

 

 

[FWDTEXAS]

I could not see the 2nd picture, a reply was bloking it

[mark m uk]

Wow ! - never seen anything like that phil.

 

these schwimmers are ugly enough, but that reall does take the biscuit !:-D

I see its in a book, and a colour picture - is it a post war 'improvment' ?

[Adrian Barrell]

I could not see the 2nd picture, a reply was bloking it

 

Hit your refresh button.

[Blackpowder44]

Wow ! - never seen anything like that phil.

 

these schwimmers are ugly enough, but that reall does take the biscuit !:-D

I see its in a book, and a colour picture - is it a post war 'improvment' ?

At one time that one with the doors in the side belonged to me. After the war it was used by boar hunters and was bought by M. Dinely, I bought it from him, I have pictures of it somewhere and will post them. John.

[Bodge Deep]

did the doors render them unswimmable or were they watertight/dribbly

[Blackpowder44]

did the doors render them unswimmable or were they watertight/dribbly

They were never made with doors, the doors in this one were cut into it to de/militarise it and then when baptys bought it and used it for film hire they roughly welded up the doors. Below are two pictures when I bought it in 1990. John. tried to put them up but the picture format has changed, not for the better, so no idea how to show pictures, why alter a perfictly good system.

[phil munga]

Hi all, well I never thought a previous owner would reply , There from a book called VW Beetle by Clive Prew there are a few more pictures of four others plus a four wheel drive Beetle ,

[m715]

Hi Mark

 

Spent last night going through the tread....you are doing an amazing job on the replica, look forward to seeing it.

 

Andy

 

ps

I've got some pictures of the one at Samur...If you want I will try to upload them

[ashley]

They were never made with doors, the doors in this one were cut into it to de/militarise it and then when baptys bought it and used it for film hire they roughly welded up the doors. Below are two pictures when I bought it in 1990. John. tried to put them up but the picture format has changed, not for the better, so no idea how to show pictures, why alter a perfictly good system.

 

 

You can actually revert back to the "old" system there was a thread here on the forum from lee i try and lok for it later.

Ashley

[Blackpowder44]

Just tried to download pictures of the schwimmer, that worked in a roundabout way. as you can see the dashboard is not original but basically it was a sound machine. John.

[jimmy harleston eng]

really great thread mark .me and my dad peter spoke in great length about this with you at wantisden valley at the end of the summer and i seemed to remember you questioning the feasability of the project. being a tin basher fabricater by trade i can fully appreciate the effort and skill that has gone into this and would like to offer my congratulations to a job well done so far.

judging by the pictures i think that this could be the first of many. look forward very much for more pics.

regards jimmy

by the way how many hours have you put in so far?

Edited January 15, 2010 by jimmy harleston eng
spelling mistake

[mark m uk]

really great thread mark .me and my dad peter spoke in great length about this with you at wantisden valley at the end of the summer and i seemed to remember you questioning the feasability of the project. being a tin basher fabricater by trade i can fully appreciate the effort and skill that has gone into this and would like to offer my congratulations to a job well done so far.

judging by the pictures i think that this could be the first of many. look forward very much for more pics.

regards jimmy

by the way how many hours have you put in so far?

 

Hey Jim, great to see you on here - yes, we had a great chat end of last year. I remember the encouragement from both you and Pete. Being proffessional 'tin bashers', your opinions then, and compliments now are extremely valuable - did I spy you on the TV a few evenings ago ?

 

It is difficult to figure how many hours the project has taken so far without refering to my notes. I intend to have a count up at the end, and put a £ value to the project - I think it is scary amount.

 

Here is an example of one piece, about 20-25 hours, but that of course would be reduced as the patterns

and 'tooling' (yeah, tooling........LOL) is already done,

 

There is a removable panel in front of the axle beam to protect it, and stop brush or weeds getting caught. I figured it was about time I tackled that................Here is one, It's the panel immediately forward of the front wheel that continues back between those wheels and bolts under the body.

As always, starts with studying the pictures, making sketches, measuring stuff and generally getting your head around the task, then cutting it out in cardboard.

Then cutting out some steel sheet. I use one of those thin discs in a four inch grinder. Times like this one of them plasma cutters would be like a dream.

Next, find some scrap - this is an old earthing rod. I weld some bits of crap on it to stop it rolling around while I use it to form those ribs.

Of course, it gets offered up regular, it seems like all I do is bolt it on and unbolt it .......Doh, But, it's the only way to be sure it will fit, and much more accurate than measurements transfered.

Gradually taking shape.

[mark m uk]

One last task is to strengthen the underside where it bolts to the body. I figured I would put a step in it to accomadate an existing rib under the beetle, and then wire the edge - that would make it stronger and take the sharp off it. The rest of the raw edge I will salvage by just folding it over.

Never done a wired edge befor, so this is probably all wrong and gets a good laugh.

Anyway, it kinda worked. Now it's almost done, bit of tidying up and a coat of paint - Bolt it on, and back to boring engines

[phil munga]

Hi Mark, doing a fantastic job , its great to see how you made the front panel , Like you say a Plasma would be nice , I find that the power shears work great , couple in the links below one a tool company the other Ebay

 

http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=123898

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BOSCH-SHEET-METAL-POWER-NIBBLER-CUTTER-SHEARS_W0QQitemZ170431789288QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM?hash=item27ae86b8e8

[jimmy harleston eng]

hi mark.

very interesting, were you able to clamp the earthing rod down tight enough to form the ribs with out having to peen it with the hammer? they do look very neat . must be quite thin gauge metal?. i couldnt imagine attempting this without using the brake press or the folders which we have. is the welding screen in the picture the one that you use? if so i advise you to buy a cheap light reactive one from the net , they really are the business and makes welding such alot easier. saying that you dont seem to be having much trouble with any aspects of this project.i should imagine a few things have gone flying at times.:undecided: pete doesnt look on the internet much so hasnt seen any of the pics yet, however ive definately been " bigging it up" to him and he is quite interested to see it. maybe we could drive up for a visit sometime.

yes that was us on the tv a few days ago, filmed at the dump dig back in september ,it was quite amazing and far beyond our expectations. looking forward to another crack at it in the spring.

did you plan for this thread to be your 166th posting? got to be a good omen right.

regards jimmy

[mark m uk]

Hi Jimmy, great to hear from you. Sure come along and visit anytime - it would be great to see you both and there is always a cold beer in the fridge. Tell Pete his got to come !:-D

Thanks for the advice regarding the light sensative mask, I do struggle with the welding most of all. Just cant see through the black glass, and by the time I have an arc going and it is light enough to see what is going on, I am miles away from the bit I need to be doing.

 

I think a new mask would be a good investment, I have to get over to ebay because Phil has suggested power shears as well.

 

Cant really complain about buying tools - they are so cheap these days - I bought a 4" grinder for less than a tenner. The first 4" grinder I bought was 30 years ago, it cost £65, and I was earning £15 a week.

Over a months money ! - now less than an hours pay. It sure is a different world.

 

The steel I use is 20g , yes I split the end beyond the ridge. I tried on a test piece without doing that and it distorted the top edge.

 

Thanks again for the encouragement and advice Jimmy, Now, tell Pete to get in the car and come over for a peek !

 

Regards Mark.

Edited January 20, 2010 by mark m uk