Beetle Roof Chop
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October 4th, 2007
The Monster Garage has been a busy place. The car made it to the local VW show (www.airriders.ca). But since that day it has been nothing but problems. I thought I would start keeping a log, so I could figure out what's wrong.
Follow along on the crazy journey of fixing a beetle here
September 23, 2007
Well it has been a pretty nice summer working on the roofchop. We got many of the projects done that we wanted to. We are currently working on getting the dual carbs done. There will be more extensive updates when time permits, until then check out the progress and results of the flames, new wheels, hard top and eyebrows.
August 8th, 2007
It has been a crazy summer. We are a little behind on the projects slated for the roofchop, but we have made some definite improvements. The roofchop has also inspired a new project led by Matthew "Goebdawg" Goebel who is the proud new owner of a 67 standard beetle. It didn't take him long to cut that sucker up and weld it back together. Check out all his progress at
May 7th, 2007
It has been a busy couple of weeks. We got the new rear windows in, wet sanded the whole car with 600 & 1000 grit, then hit the car with the high speed buffer. This help reduce the 'orange peel' considerably, but may need a little more work. Last Sunday we made it to the www.airriders.ca season opener. There were many nice beetles there, but I forgot the camera so we got no photos or video....next time.
April 11th, 2007
Over Easter we had a couple of warm days so Colin & Josh were able to finally get the engine out of Colin's truck. The Engine seized a while ago, and now we are going to tear it down to see if anything is salvageable.
April 4th, 2007
Well here in Edmonton it is almost spring. Last week we were out and finished levelling out the car by raising the rear 6cm. We were even able to take the roofchop for a spin around the block. It ran great, and the exhaust didn't touch the road once. We will bring the back back down once we get the front lower. Tonight we are off to grab a pair of roof sections, one is going to either fill the sunroof or make a removable hardtop, the other Matt is going to use for his future project. Next up...replace the rear windows.
January 8th, 2007
Long time since an update here. I was showing off the beetle on New Years to a friend and have left the cover off for a couple of days. Seeing it in the garage again after the hiatus has got me thinking again. I have refabbed a lot of the website and started thinking more about what Season Two is going to bring us. Have a browse around, and expect more to the site soon and hopefully more to the car as soon as the temps here in cold ass Edmonton warm up.
September 21, 2006
The wedding was indeed a success. The car ran flawless all day. Couldn't have asked for anything better. We are still waiting on the wedding photo's (big bonus to get some professional photographs the day after we finished). Last night we got started on season 2 of Monster Garage Canada, we are doing all the things we ran out of time before the wedding. Last night we got the tall shifter in, check out all the details in Monster Minute: The Tall Shifter.
September 1, 2006
We did it. This afternoon we took it for a test ride. It is ready for the wedding. It was touch and go for a while last night/early this morning, when we didn't have a clutch release bearing, but figured it out with some help from my friends at volksrods.com, picked up a new bearing from Westside and got the clutch operational. Check out pics and the short video.
August 21, 2006
Lots has happened in the past week. Things are getting bolted on permanently, the engine has been cleaned and assembled, and the wiring harness has been tamed. We are under 2 weeks now until the wedding. I don't want to walk.
August 15, 2006
Down to 18 days until the wedding. Thanks to our good friends at Kal Tire our new rubber on our freshly painted rims showed up. It is starting to look like a car.
August 14, 2006
Down to 19 days until the wedding. It will definately be down to the wire. We did make some HUGE progress this weekend. The UPS guy brought us lots of nice parts on Friday, which allowed us to get all the painting done. All body parts, engine parts and exhaust parts. We even had enough time to put the engine on the engine stand. The end is that much closer.
July 31, 2006
It has been full steam ahead since we got the body back. It is now bolted to the frame, struts are in, dash and electrical is starting to come together. We had some help from Claude this weekend on the hood, check out his debut on a special edition of Monster Garage: Canada with guest host Colin Bergeron.
July 25, 2006
Got the body home back on the chassis; it was like they were made for each other. Put a seat in and had some fun. As a bonus we finally beat the strut housing that didn't want to be lowered. More car pics in the Gallery.
July 24, 2006
After a hard push the body finally got painted. It should be coming home from the paint shop (Matt's Garage) tonight. See all the details in the newest Monster Garage Minute.
July 17, 2006
It was a busy week for in the Monster Garage. We finally got the body ready for body work. We are going to try and get all the body work done this weekend, and get the paint sprayed on the weekend.
June 19, 2006
Work is progressing, we have increased the effort a little as Matt's wedding (Sept. 2) is quickly approaching and I don't want to walk. The rear suspension is back together and low. The front will hopefully go back together next week. The sunroof should be operational by the end of the week. Tonight the car will have to wait so we can watch the Oilers win the cup!!!!
June 8th, 2006
We have been picking away at the rear suspension, sunroof, and continuing with the never ending body work. There was some hope as we got the first 10 bolts back into the car. 10 down, a couple hundred to go! We should see some big changes this month with the mechanical pieces of the car going back together. Pics coming soon!
June 1st, 2006
It was a good night in the garage, we got a lot accomplished. Matt, Stephane, Ian and Josh were all out in the garage. They were able to fill in the old pee shooter holes, clean a wheel well, finish the repair on the floor, moved the rear suspension towards the paint booth and got the ragtop hole cut. Check out the pics!
May 30, 2006
Time to get serious on the roofchop. We now have 3 months to put the entire vehicle back together. I am going to have to stop creating work... this week we got an old electric sunroof, that, with a little modification should fit right into our car. Now I know what to do about that big ugly seam in the middle of the roof...cut it out.
May 6, 2006
It was a crazy week in the garage. Over the weekend the chassis/pan was painted. We treated the metal with Por-15. See all the pics on day 26 in the shots!!
April 28, 2006
Last weekend I pickup up a set of quality used fenders for the low low price of $50. They have some damage and will need some work if we decide to use them. Vote on which fenders you like better. We made lots of progress on the pan/chassis, and the goal this weekend is to get it painted.
April 20, 2006
Another big night last night out in the garage. We had a special guest appearance by Zak, Colin's brother. He helped out Stephane patch a big hole in the pan. We also were able to get the suspension pieces off the other car, the dual spring plates look like they will be stronger after they are notched than the single ones. Check out all the photos from the evening here.
April 19, 2006
Things are getting exciting in the garage. New parts have arrived, a nice freebie from the Canadian Por15 distributors, record of 7 people working on the car last Wednesday and 2 productive weekend days on the long weekend. Friday night we mocked up the car check out the video and pictures.
Should be a big night tonight in the garage. Still lots of rust control and roofchop work on the body. The chassis needs hopefully one more day of rust control and some cleaning to get it read for the Por15 paint treatment. The suspension is still getting worked over to get ready for the new lowered stance and urethane bushings.
April 10, 2006
What started out as an exciting night in the garage ended up in frustration. To start with the excitement, new parts came in. Over the last week, we were able to get the paint for the chassis and new urethane bushings for the suspension. Also found a used pair of adjustable struts, and made some progress into lowering the back. Body work was coming along as well until we lost 2 important tools. The bench grinder and the MIG welder. Fortunately I was able to fix the welder with a $13 part from Princess Auto, and Matt donated a brand new 1/2 hp bench grinder to the garage.
March30, 2006
It was a record setting night last night in Monster Garage: Canada, with 6 crew showing up for the build day. We are continuing to make slow progress on the body, and took the first steps to disassembling and lowering the rear suspension. We have also received our first donation to the donation link of $20, every dollar helps. We have also recently ordered/purchased several parts we need to monsterize the chassis including paint, urethane bushings and lowered front suspension parts (see right). Next week we should have lots of jobs for the crew. New episodes should be available next week.