I remembered a few important rules about welding today. Never wear loose sleeves. I have loads of burns to prove it!! Always wear a hat under the welding helmet. I have a burned forehead, you’d swear i was out summing myself. Then again i didn’t get this burned all last summer!!

Started with the passenger side rear quarter panel. The rusty panels where cut out.

And replaced.

They will look good when they get a light coat of filler. I just used a bit of areosol primer to keep them protected until i get to the bodywork.

I started filling all the small holes in the passenger side of the body. Got most of them done. I was going to move on to the front half of the arch on the rear but the repair section which i was going to use was full of fillers so no point putting it on. I’m going to have to leave it until i can get a repair panel in.

I started the doka project today. But it was a short day. I spent the morning cleaning up the garage to make space for the doka, the parts that have to come off her and the other cars so nothing gets damaged.

Then the stripping could begin. I only got about 3 hours stripping her so I’m happy with the progress. There are a few stubborn bolts that don’t want to come out so they are left over night in WD40. If they don’t come out tomorrow the drill will have to come out.

There are a few extras i didn’t know about, one fairly big one. She must have had a little tip at some stage, nothing major but its a lot of cutting and welding for me to fix it and i wasn’t expecting it.

This is the back section under the light, again the bumper was hiding it but there is a common enough panel to go but again I just didn’t know about it.

Haven’t decided if i’m going to break it or restore it

It was a great shakedown for the buggy, i got more miles up over the weekend than any other time in the buggy and it highlighted a few issues which will have to be sorted before the summer kicks in. Nothing major but I might drop the engine to sort out a few oil leaks that developed, mainly push rod tubes which where not done during the build.

I did what i tell everyone not to do, bought the van without seeing it but the timing was bad, it was bought the same week we had Triona and there was just no option to get over to see it. So it was a gamble, thankfully its not a bucket of shit but there is one or two extra things on it that i didn’t see in the photos and the seller didn’t tell me about but nothing major.

Its a 87 Doka, running a 1.9 DG engine (for now), lowered 70mm.

The plan for her is to clear her up, cut out the rust, weld in fresh steel, repaint in red and tweak a little to suit the style I like.

I haven’t decided if i’ll post progress pics or wait for the unveil at the end. I’ll see. It will be 2 weeks before I start it as i have a few jobs to finish first. Hopefully it will not be a 5 year restoration, 5 months would be nice but as ye all know, these things have a habit of taking a mind of their own!!

The first problem was the suspension, it was too low and the tyres where scrubbing on the wings, the dropped spindles where removed and replaced with the standard one. Now there is plenty of clearance but now there is another problem, the tyres on the front wheels look miserable, i have larger profile ones in the garage so when i’m getting the car tracked i’ll put the larger profile tyres back on.

Next problem was the carburettor, it wasn’t running right, it was fine when going flat out but she wouldn’t idle properly, i cleaned the carb and gave the idle jet a good cleaning, seems to be running fine now.

Last problem, which i haven’t fixed yet is the indicators, they are shorting out someplace and melting my flasher unit.I don’t know whats causing this but i’ll look into it. Can’t be anything major except a short someplace.

I brought her for a spin afterwards, not too far about a 20 mile run, man its cold driving a beach buggy in this weather!!!

And my little boy ready to help daddy in the garage!