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Hey all!
I've been lurking over in the Australia international board for quite some time now, and figured I might as well start my build thread over here instead of on my previous forum that I was a member of. Let's just say, the members over there are all purists and **** the direction that I'm going with Zelda.
She's a 1973 Volkswagen 1303S Beetle. If you're from Australia, they're called L Beetles.
Factory they come with a 1600 twin port Type 1 engine. However, mine was purchased with a 1500 single port engine.
A quick run down of what has happened so far.
About a year ago I got Zelda like this.
One of the major things I disliked about her were the taillights the previous owner had put on her. Some things just aren't supposed to go on a VW.
Since then, she has broken down on me on more than one occasion, had three engines inside of her, odd wheels and a sound system upgrade. I also added some LED's under the dash to give the car some more lighting inside.
I de-chromed her by removing all the outer trim besides the front bonnet piece.
I have since rectified the rear, putting 1971 VW Beetle fenders on the rear with the old style Tombstone taillights.
Then I kind of blew up the distributor on engine number one. So in went engine number two, a leaky 1600 twin port, with unbalanced and very shitty dual carbs.
Random photo I took of her while she was in one of her "not driving today" states.
So, I just drove her for a while after that. Engine number two in, exhaust number two on, and she was just driving me every day, to and from work. Had a couple of cruises with mates, got some nice photos, the normal.
But, let's just say Zelda has been the target of vandals twice. Back on the 20th of June last year, I woke up to find the passengers side mirror destroyed, and the drivers side one down the road twenty metres. I thought nothing of it and just replaced the parts.
And then this happened.
Now, Zelda is my first car, and as much as people were telling me to get rid of her, I knew I couldn't. Volkswagens have been in my family since day one, when Mum and Dad were together they had an old Type 3 Stationwagon which I remember fondly as a child, probably the only times Mum and Dad were happy together. Hell, even my Grandma used to have a Beetle, she used to race it until she blew a piston through a head.
So, as much as I wanted to give up, I knew I had to keep going, I knew I had to resurrect Zelda into something bigger than before and give the guys who jumped on my Zelda the finger.
Within two days, the second engine was out and getting stripped down to add the third exhaust, new tinware and a new carb setup. Soon, Zelda looked like this.
And then came engine number three. Like I said, engine number two was leaking oil like no tomorrow, so I replaced it and put all my good bits onto the new block that had been rebuilt from the bottom up.
So with engine three in and running smoothly, it was time to work on the aesthetics of the car. I thought, what better opportunity then to put in some new front struts and get her down a couple of inches from 4x4 status. The best part about Zelda is that she is a strut front end and IRS rear, probably the best combination to ever be seen on a Beetle.
Dropped 2.5 inches.
At this point in time I was actually given a new body for Zelda! Probably the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me was to actually give up his time for me and help me work on the new body, and all the customisation I wanted to do to it.
So started the new Zelda.
I've been lurking over in the Australia international board for quite some time now, and figured I might as well start my build thread over here instead of on my previous forum that I was a member of. Let's just say, the members over there are all purists and **** the direction that I'm going with Zelda.
She's a 1973 Volkswagen 1303S Beetle. If you're from Australia, they're called L Beetles.
Factory they come with a 1600 twin port Type 1 engine. However, mine was purchased with a 1500 single port engine.
A quick run down of what has happened so far.
About a year ago I got Zelda like this.
One of the major things I disliked about her were the taillights the previous owner had put on her. Some things just aren't supposed to go on a VW.
Since then, she has broken down on me on more than one occasion, had three engines inside of her, odd wheels and a sound system upgrade. I also added some LED's under the dash to give the car some more lighting inside.
I de-chromed her by removing all the outer trim besides the front bonnet piece.
I have since rectified the rear, putting 1971 VW Beetle fenders on the rear with the old style Tombstone taillights.
Then I kind of blew up the distributor on engine number one. So in went engine number two, a leaky 1600 twin port, with unbalanced and very shitty dual carbs.
Random photo I took of her while she was in one of her "not driving today" states.
So, I just drove her for a while after that. Engine number two in, exhaust number two on, and she was just driving me every day, to and from work. Had a couple of cruises with mates, got some nice photos, the normal.
But, let's just say Zelda has been the target of vandals twice. Back on the 20th of June last year, I woke up to find the passengers side mirror destroyed, and the drivers side one down the road twenty metres. I thought nothing of it and just replaced the parts.
And then this happened.
Now, Zelda is my first car, and as much as people were telling me to get rid of her, I knew I couldn't. Volkswagens have been in my family since day one, when Mum and Dad were together they had an old Type 3 Stationwagon which I remember fondly as a child, probably the only times Mum and Dad were happy together. Hell, even my Grandma used to have a Beetle, she used to race it until she blew a piston through a head.
So, as much as I wanted to give up, I knew I had to keep going, I knew I had to resurrect Zelda into something bigger than before and give the guys who jumped on my Zelda the finger.
Within two days, the second engine was out and getting stripped down to add the third exhaust, new tinware and a new carb setup. Soon, Zelda looked like this.
And then came engine number three. Like I said, engine number two was leaking oil like no tomorrow, so I replaced it and put all my good bits onto the new block that had been rebuilt from the bottom up.
So with engine three in and running smoothly, it was time to work on the aesthetics of the car. I thought, what better opportunity then to put in some new front struts and get her down a couple of inches from 4x4 status. The best part about Zelda is that she is a strut front end and IRS rear, probably the best combination to ever be seen on a Beetle.
Dropped 2.5 inches.
At this point in time I was actually given a new body for Zelda! Probably the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me was to actually give up his time for me and help me work on the new body, and all the customisation I wanted to do to it.
So started the new Zelda.
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