radio 4

Beetle Progress Report

I managed to finish my repaint of the rear wheels through the week so first thing this morning I removed the last of the masking tape and refitted the wheels. There’s a nack to putting a large heavy alloy wheel on with studs and I started to get there today, with it between my knees and shuffling on my knees to ease it onto the stub at the same time threading one stud to secure it.

Given the aggro when removing the wheels (one broken wheel wrench) I applied a little Copper grease to each thread on the rear wheels. Then I had to remove the front wheel studs one by one to grease them. So that’s 16 studs I greased and then had to retighten to the correct torque with my torque wrench. I really do sometimes question my life choices and as I’m selling the car will anyone really care.

Anyway, a few mins of a puny compressor had both rears inflated and the Beetle was once again in its own four wheels.

I am never ever doing alloy wheels myself again, it takes such a long time and is very fiddly. The results are pretty average versus the effort but as this is a budget job it will have to suffice. The car sadly is not worth enough to send the wheels away for refurbishment.

In between doing this I had given the bodywork a quick once over with a spray on cleaner that you can use dry. This was just to give it a bit of shine as it was looking a bit sad.

Next I removed the wipers arms which are in a rough state. The sprung mechanism is worn and so it’s scratched itself to bits. To begin with I’ve oiled it but I may need to replace as I can’t see a way to repair them. New units are over £60 so I will see what can be had second hand.

As I still had some time I explored removing the air filter which is at the rear of the engine bay tucked under the scuttle. This means that the front three screws come out easily but the back two are very awkward. I tried a few different tools, eventually finding that my screw bits fitted a socket in my mini-socket set and that gave me a low profile screw using the ratchet. I was impressed with myself for my ingenuity! I was glad when the air filter was found to be dirty because that justifies the effort in removing it. I’ll order a new one online.

Unbelievably that little work took most of a day but to be honest I was just doing it all for fun really and just enjoying being outside in the sunshine. Oh – I did clean the interior of Helen’s car as well so not that unproductive!

1 Jan 21 Don’t go braking my heart

I hope that I finish the brakes before I run out of song / TV titles I can use for a play on words. Following a seven mile walk this morning with the lovely Mrs T, this afternoon was dedicated to completing the brake job started a couple of days ago. My set up was a little different as I was keen to keep the garage door firmly shut against the very cold weather. Not that it was much warmer in the garage when I first entered the space, although wearing my overalls and with my hands around a warming cup of coffee, things were bearable. A couple of pieces of dark chocolate may have also helped…

So today’s job was to fit the new calipers, pads, clips and split pins. A relatively simple job you would have thought, but it did take a while. The calipers are of course incredibly heavy and holding these up while you slide the two bolts through is hard work for a pen-pusher like me. However, the pads, clips and split pins went in very nicely and the disc rotated well with no binding. The hardest part of the job today, was getting the flexible hose free from where it mates to the copper cable. For some reason, my Christmas-addled brain just couldn’t work out how to dissemble the simple connecting piece. I did eventually work it out, and came up with a technique (involving winding the caliper) to tighten up the flexible connection without twisting it. All a bit awkward, but I was pleased with how it all came together in the end. Sometimes you just have to think hard – coffee always helps. With the car in the garage, there wasn’t the usual rush to get the wheel back on and the car pushed back inside. So instead I did a job I’ve been pestered by my Dad about since I’ve had the car. I gave the wheel a quick rub down and then brush painted it in Hammerite satin black. I’ve no idea how this is going to turn out, but this is very much a quick smarten up pending selection of final wheels for the car, which is someway off. If I get a reasonable result, I’ll do the other wheels as I do the brakes so that I’ll have them all smartened up over time.

I enjoyed listening to Radio 4 as always, especially Gardeners Question Time, which is a favourite, although I have absolutely no interest in Gardening. Happy New Year to you all. Here’s to a better 2021.

  • Snazzy new gold calipers
  • Me playing at being a mechanic