PAGE 1: 1971 T1 1600
PAGE 2: 917 RSK PORSCHE REPLICA
PAGE 3: 1964 T3 1500S NOTCHBACK
PAGE 4: 1974 T1 1600 to be a CUSTOM SHOW CAR with big CC's
PAGE 5: 1958 T1 1300 (for sale)
2005-11-02
Hi all, I live in sunny Johannesburg, South Africa. I purchased this 1971 Type1 1600 in October 2003 for R2500 with a damaged clutch and thrust bearing (previous owner thought the motor had seized) I got the motor to run once it was out the car, I sold it and it nearly paid for the whole car. I was a bit weary of the purchase initially because it needed a bit of work (interior was trashed), what made me buy it in the end was that it had no rust at all, it was kept under cover for 7 years and had done only 97000 kms. I have spent about R4500 to get the car to its current state. I resprayed the car with 2k baby blue paint. The car was decrohmed and t-bars added.
The tranny is stock 1971 swing axle. This car is driven on an almost daily basis. I did all the work at home apart from the recovering of the seats.

The interior was also redone with Escort (recovered) seats and matching panels. I got a second hand roof linig that was 100% from a 78 and fitted it myself, boy did I battle !!! The dash also needed a litle attention and was touched up.

The motor was a 1641cc TP with a p&p to the heads using 35x32 valves and had electronic ignition dizzy from a 2100cc WBX and a custom 4-1 exhaust & reground cam (270 deg) it has no motor at the moment. I sold the motor to fund a bigger one and the offer was one I could not refuse. The Swiss cheese flywheel came in at a mere 5kg's.

The front suspension was rebuilt, new king & link pins, I am currently working on a new dropped front beam (80 mm drop) it also has a Golf 1 steering column & king-link pin suspension. I added disks (VW golf 1, custom hub & backing plate) to the front this has the wheels sitting 2 inches in under the fenders, the rear is stock with adaptor plates for 4x100 PCD. The wheels are TSW VX1 17inch 205/40/17 front 225/45/17 rear.

An 1835 with Dellorto DRLA 36’s is on my workbench at the moment and will be in soon. I have plans in the near future to install a 2110cc.

Here are the heads I am running in the 1835cc modified 42x36 Ford valves, combustion chambers have been reshaped, inlet & exhaust ported / polished.

valve on the left is standard on thr right is the modified one.

2006-01-06
This is the front beam that I have cut & welded and will soon be going in it should drop the front about 40mm and aid the handling a little. I am in the process of completing a modified 1641cc, it is basicaly the motor that was running in my spyder but is having new internals fitted. Will keep you posted on the progress, I am waiting for the heads from the engineering shop, the short block is done, watch this space.

25-02-06
I have now cut out the rear valance and covered the exhaust outlets, the valance is now removable. I have just fitted the 1641cc with some mods & a Solex 40 P-11 for now. I have also changed the rear drums and eliminated the adaptor plates with 4x130 PCD drums redrilled for 4x100 PCD, the tires will now fit under the fenders and no rubbing. I have also resparayed both rear fenders as well as the rear valance. Deck lid standoffs have also been added so the air cleaner fits without touching the lid. A traction bar made by me will be fitted soon & will eliminate wheel hop. I will be adding a deep sump as well as a full flow oil system as soon as it arrives from the US.

28-02-06
I ran the motor in the my ride last night and it pulls nice and strong. I think the home made manifold could do with some preheating as it iced up real bad and caused some spluttering, I will give it another run on a warmer day and take it from there. The Volkspares 4-1 exhaust is noisy, but I like the sound, you can hear just by the way it idles that something is brewing under the lid. One the plus side, no oil leaks for now, I hope it will stay that way. I will be fitting the traction bar soon and then I will give it some real stick.

2006-03-27
The traction bar has now been fited and Blue Bug has undergone some work on the front end, I replaced the front beam with one that I cut and welded for a 65mm drop, new shocks, rebuilt steering box and a new steering damper, 2 tie rod ends were also replaced, king and link pins and bearings were done some time ago so were just put back, needs wheel alignment and I will grease up the nipples as soon as I get a chance, new front tires were also fitted. the steering feels a lot smoother and is a pleasure to turn, one drawback of the drop is that the turning circle has been reduced a little. The rake look is a traditional calook feature, less the "new look wheels" it is just about there. The rear drums were also replaced new liners fitted as well. I will be doing some more additions / changes to the motor and this will become my Daily driver again, after about a 6 months of layoff.

2006-05-01
A set of rebuilt Solex 34-PDSIT-2-3 carbs have been fitted after some jetting issues with the Solex 40 P-11 carbs, consumption and perfomance has been drastically improved, this is one of the most fuel efficient T1 motors I have put together to date, geting on average 12km's/L, it pulls nice and strong and very smooth.
Here are the specs on the motor:
All new bearings AE big ends, KS mains, conrods re-sized & new small ends.
AS41 block.
New 87mm Mahle pistons with new rings
Polished & ported heads 53cc, CR 8.5 reshaped chambers
Reground cam, Camtech C35 273 DEG. 9.5mm lift @ cam 10.45 @ valve
8 dowel stock crank
Lightened flywheel 6.5kg
Twin 34 Solex carbs, with custom linkage with new cone air filters
New clutch & pressure plate
New Shadeck 26mm oil pump
New fuel pump
New Volkspares 4-1 exhaust
Electronic ignition (WBX)
Double thrust cam bearings
Engine tin resprayed
Makes power to 5200 RPM approx 85-90 hp

2008-05-28
Sadly this ride has now been sold to fund some building work at home. I still see it on a regular basis as I sold it to a buddy who has been adding some of "his" personal touches, some are not to my taste but hey, it's his ride now.