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16/10/2026

Once the drilling jig is done making the holes is very simple.

Today was still on door latches. This is much more difficult than it seems. I made up a metal drilling guide which makes...
16/10/2026

Today was still on door latches. This is much more difficult than it seems. I made up a metal drilling guide which makes drilling easier. With the handles in position i could move onto making the latch holdown plate fit in the door. Now that the latch is mounted it can be used as a guide for the lock reciever. As can be seen in one of the photos the factory does not seem to have jigs preferring to drill holes untill they hit a spot.

15/10/2026

How these latches work

Today I made the hose adaptor for the brakefluid reservoir we are planning to use. I also made the plates that will hold...
15/10/2026

Today I made the hose adaptor for the brakefluid reservoir we are planning to use. I also made the plates that will hold the new door latches to the door. It took a couple of tries to cut the complicated shape. I also stamped some dimples in the metal to have it better conform to the shape of the screws.

The Porsche has been polished I serviced the engine by doing an oil change and filters. The next part was installing the...
14/10/2026

The Porsche has been polished I serviced the engine by doing an oil change and filters. The next part was installing the side rubbing strips.I had to remove the old double sided tape and this took some time. In the end I strung a line along the side of the car which aligned the strips. I saved the measurements for the rear stickers and they ended up fitting nicely.

Normally the replica cars use commonly available late model beetle door latches. The owner of this one opted to find som...
13/10/2026

Normally the replica cars use commonly available late model beetle door latches. The owner of this one opted to find some 1958 Karmann Ghia latches and asked me to fit them. Coincidentally Porsche also used these latches. I made some templates and we will be making some parts in metal.

10/10/2026

My own record for installing an VW engine is around 7 minutes but this one fought hand and tooth. Took me 3 attempts and some colourfull language. The car seems to have been rear ended sometime in its life and it seems the rear was pushed down about 5 to 10 mm. Not enough to really notice but coupled with new gearbox mountings it raised the gearbox enough to prevent the final push home. Eventually I got it in and in place. The carburator seems to be quite worn out but other than that she is a runner.

The paint on the Karmann Ghia came out very nicely.
09/10/2026

The paint on the Karmann Ghia came out very nicely.

09/10/2026

When I retired 4 years ago I decided to build high quality 356 replicas for select clients. To this end I developed a floorpan/Chassis to better suit the 356 Bodies available whill still retaining the functionality of the Beetle floorpan. One of the things that scream replica is the beetle handbrake assembly between the seats. Next is the shape of the central tunnel which on the porsche 356 is much lower and squared off. A lot of thought went into this modification as it wasnt simply a matter of lopping of the top of the pan and welding a flat plate to it. I designed a new tunnel which was cnc bent to the original porsche shape. A good friend then modelled the modification in His software and we made some alterations to make the tunnel as strong as a normal beetle tunnel. This alters the position of the gearlever and I had to make some alterations to the shift coupler. Since Quite a few Chassis are destined for coupe replicas I added a heater control and conduits to allow standard Beetle heaters to be used. To accomodate an under dash handbrake as used on original 356 cars I install conduits to mimic the conduits in a pre 1954 beetle. Now the cables exit right in front between the axle tubes. This design also mimics the original 356. For the pedal assembly I weld new pad mounts in order to use 356 pedal pads. I made up dies to press new floorpans which was designed to resemble 356 floors but also incorporating elements of the beetle floorpan in terms of pedal mounting. I squared of the sides of the pans instead of the taper of the beetle pan. This mimics the Porsche shape better but also gives a nod to the VW pans used in ghe Karmann Ghia and Thing. The suspensions are made fully adjustable and depending on the owner Disc brakes installed. I use caster shims in front to get the angle closer to Porsche specifications. Obviously all wear parts gets replaced.

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