Project Trekker

The Projects

This is a 1971 VW Trekker. I have always wanted one of these & have been trying to convince a friend to sell his to me. I have waited a long time, but now it is mine. It is a pretty good car, it has been through the wars in its life but come through it ok. I want to do a few bits to it & have some fun in it.


	This is how it looked when I first picked it up. It has no MOT or engine. My first job is to get it running. I have the engine from the blue bug I rebuilt to 2007cc. It has not yet been run, so fingers crossed. I am trying to get as much as possible done before the bay window come back from paint. Let's see what I can do!
	The car was a mid blue colour at some point, it was army green to began with. I am not 100% sure on the colour yet but I have a plan. I did think about matt brown & a ratty looking car, but I think I have had a better idea...
	My cookie cutters have been ear marked for a few projects now, but I think they are going to make an appearance on the trekker. They will suit the lines of the body well & hopefully the black rims will work well with the new paint scheme.
	I now have the engine fitted. I had a pair of Weber twin 40's on there but it wouldn't run right. I messed about for a few days with it & have cobbled together a standard carb. It now runs sweet & feels like it has a lot of power. I have only driven it a short distance. The engine has done no miles so will need running in. It sounds great!
	I was warned not to take the wind screen out as they usually break. A new one had been recently fitted so I thought it should come out ok. I was wrong & broke it! I have now repainted the window surround in gloss black. A local glazing company made me a new laminated screen for a reasonable price. It was nerve racking putting it back together with the new glass, but with a bit grease & a clean rubber it slid in ok. It is now all bolted back on.
	The only rust is on the rear quarter panels on both sides. It is limited to the main body so should be an easy enough repair. I think the right hand side pictured has been hit at some point & has had a previous welding repair.
	I cut out the rust & made a little plate to go in. It is all solid now. It is not welded to the pan either, so would be ok for a body off job at some point if I needed to.
	With a bit of filler rubbed back & some paint & guide coat the repair is very will hidden. The prep is not 100% perfect, but nor is the rest of the car. I am not going for show standard this time, I just want it to look ok & have some fun in it.
	The other side raveled a bit of a dodgy repair with a welded plate, some masking tape & body filler. The body is a bit straighter this side to start with so might no bee so bad. The repair plate is a bit more awkward to make though.
	I made a cardboard template then drew round it on the metal. It is much easier this way. I bent up the corners first then welded it in place.
	I have welded the repair plate in. I also had to add a section of the raise swage line. This was easier than I thought, but don't want to do it again any time soon. I just need to rub down the filler now & splash some paint on.
	The filler is now rubbed back, the shape is pretty good. It will need some final prep before it gets painted but looks ok for now. The whole car is now solid & should be almost ready for MOT.
	I have fitted an old THUMP THUMP! steering wheel I had kicking around in the shed. I have fitted a CD player & an EMPI shifter. It goes into gear a whole lot better now than the cheap 'Quick Shift' kit that was in there before. The selector plate was missing underneath the old shifter so I kept selecting reverse gear by mistake. I don't want to do that with the new engine.
	I painted the window frames with spray on trim paint. The windows are a metal frame trimmed in vinyl with a plastic window. They were a bit rough looking & still in the army green. They look a whole lot better in black. I have a new hood to fit soon, so they will all match in.
	This is things are looking now, I will try to get it MOT'd next week then lower the front end some more. It seems to drive very nice, so I think I will use dropped spindles. It makes it easy to lower, retains the nice ride & easy to convert back to standard if needed...
	I have fitted the new hood today. It was a bit of a mission but I got there in the end. It is very tight at the moment so I am hoping it will stretch over night. It is MOT'd now too & I managed to get a free tax disc this morning. Next up is the dropped spindles to lower the front some more.
	I have fitted the new dropped spindles today. It sits just right with the height, but is undrivable with the 185/65x15 tyres. I went to my lock up to get my set of cookie cutters, but when I got there the garage was empty! Both sets of cookies & the rare OZ Route wheels have been stolen. I am gutted & need to make some other plans a bit quick. I should be buying some wide steels with low profile tyres tomorrow so at least I will be able to drive it.
	I fitted the Monster Eachtoday I have had in stock for a while. It will help me keep the revs down while I am running in. The yellow lamp is a shift light & the red is an oil light. Hopefully they will keep me informed of the condition of the engine.
	I have fitted a set of wide steels with 195/50x15 tyres, but they still hit the wings. I will try some smaller tyres this week to see if that will cure the problem. If not I will have to fit a Sway-A-Way beam adjuster & take the dropped spindles off again.
	The rear end has plenty of gap between the rear arch & tyre so no problem there. It looks a bit funny & also might effect the gearing. I will have a think of what to do, I have a spare pair of 195/65x15's I can use, that will fill the arch & up the gearing a little. I don't want too much of a nose down rake on this one, so will see what I can do.
	The rear tyres were bugging me, so I have fitted the 195/50x15's. It hasn't jacked the back end up as much as I thought it might, so it is looking ok. I have changed the front shocks for some much stiffer ones. It has given the car a bit of a harsher ride, but still not too bad. I have used Toxic shox, which are known to be rock hard. I have extended the length of them to accommodate the dropped spindles. I used the original top mounts to do this.
	I decided to get some gloss paint on the trekker. I don't want to put the car in my lock up as planned since the break in, so the car can live here & get used instead now it is tax'd & mot'd. The grey primer would just suck up the rain water & rot the car. The camper is coming back in 5 days, so I need to work fast!
	After a lot of thought about colours, I made the bold decision to go with the previous blue. It's not the nicest of colours but the inside of the car would need to be painted for a colour change. By using the same colour will save me a massive amount of work. I spent the day sanding back the primer. It was flakie in places & needed some careful work.
	I laid a couple of coats of the matched blue from, Automotive paints, on the main body after masking off the inside. The paint job is not top quality but is all one colour, shiny& will keep the rust at bay. It was never intended to be a show winner, just to get used in the good weather for some fun.
	You can see that there isn't a great deal of space to work in the garage, but I got it done. I now have to prep all the panels for the car & get them painted ASAP. I will need to get the car out so I can do the rest of the parts. Fingers crossed I can get it done in time...
	I fitted up the roof & window surround just to get it back together quick. I didn't really have anywhere to store them while I did the work. The safest place for them is on the car. I have fitted the rear lights on too.
	The bonnet & engine lid are painted & fitted now. They are to the same poor standard as the rest of the car. It's a shame I don't have access to a good work shop & have the time to do a proper job. I fitted the doors on to set up the striker catches. The doors will be next for paint.
	The doors are now painted & fitted back on so the car is now water tight. It's only the wings to do now then we are back in business. I got a few runs in the doors as I was rushing again. Doh!
	It's finished! Well not quite. It is back together now but needs a good polish. There are runs in the light blue camo, so I need to try to flat them back. I need to get the overspray off of the darker blue too. Hopefully it will look a bit better after I have had a little go at it.
	I polished one corner of the bonnet to see if it would come up ok. It looks like it will. I will have to use the electric mop on it with some coarse cutting compound. Once that is done the Oval should be MOT'd & the camper should be back from paint. A busy couple of weeks for me!
	The new tyres arrived today, so I have had them fitted. The ride is good with no rubbing at all. Finally I think I am there. I have polished the whole car now to reduce the over spray from the light blue camo. It gets everywhere & makes the darker blue look milky. It is a lot better now with some definition between the two colours.
	I am unsure of the rear ride height. It looks a little high. There is not a massive amount of clearance in the rear wheel arches either. To go much lower I would need to swap the exhaust to gain some ground & fit lower profile tyres (again) on the back. I think I will have to leave it for now as the camper is back in a few days. Well, it just goes to show what you can do in a short time if you put the effort in, although if you ever see this car in the flesh you can see it's a rush job...
	I finally sorted the problem with the carbs. My being a jelly head swapped the jets over to a customers car & forgot I put the 145 main jets in my carbs! That's why it didn't run right. I swapped the jets out & hey presto we are off. It runs nice, it's smooth & quiet. I am pleased with the result. I have done a few hundred miles in it now with no problems. I am collecting parts to go EFI & turbo eventually. Weather it will be in the trekker or not I don't know yet.
	I took it out for a spin to the pub for a well earned pint. It was abit blowy with the roof & front window down. I wound it round to about 65mph & it is mad!
	It does look funny. It's not for the shy, that's for sure. If you want to get noticed get a wild trekker. Add a big engine & loud stereo & are are in for some great fun! The Trekker is now sold to fund yet more madness!
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