The 1978 VW Beetle Cabrio


Disassembly begins
Restoration of the Chassis
Restoration of Suspension Components
Major Rust Repair of the Body - page 1
Major Rust Repair of the Body - page 2
Major Rust Repair of the Body - page 3
Pre Painting the Body and mounting to the Chassis
Prepping for Paint
Assembly after Painting
Interior

Interior

The Super Beetle 1303 has a dash with only one gauge, and there is no room for a Tach, and some other gauges. So I customized it a bit. I cut this piece out.

Making some templates

Fitting the dash plate

Here with the gauges in. The idea was to keep the Speedometer with the gas gauge, and all the warning lights.

Template for the surround.

I used sheet metal for the surrounding section.

Had to make it from severel pieces.

Welded it all together.

Cleaned and blasted, ready for some filler.

Done and ready for some Vinyl.

Installed with the rest of the dash

Sorting out the wiring.

I made some wiring harness for the additional gauges.

Ready to install the gauges.

Here are all gauges installed.

All gauges got LED's for illumination.

I found a nice set of Porsche 996 power seats. I made new custom brackets for the seats.

Test fitting the seat.

Welding up the brackets.

I had to cut out the front center piece where the normal seat would attach and adjust.

At the rear side it goes in to the existing slide channels and is just tight up with a block. The whole thing is all bolt in, and the seats will bolt in with their original brackets.

Bead blasted and Powder coated the whole thing. Ready to go.

I had to cut out the front center piece where the normal seat would attach and adjust.

Here are some pictures of the iterior.

Disassembly begins
Restoration of the Chassis
Restoration of Suspension Components
Major Rust Repair of the Body - page 1
Major Rust Repair of the Body - page 2
Major Rust Repair of the Body - page 3
Pre Painting the Body and mounting to the Chassis
Prepping for Paint
Assembly after Painting
Interior