Introduce yourself and what do you do at Just Kampers?
Hi I’m Ian and I work in the JK Warehouse. I’ve been into VW’s ever since I was a child. I guess the Herbie films were to blame for setting me on this path as they combined my two great loves…Beetles and Racing.
A part-time job after school meant I’d already bought a 1974 1200cc Beetle, a year before I could even legally drive. Since then I’ve owned a Splitscreen Bus, 2 Bay Windows, 1 Beach Buggy and 4 Beetles including a 1303 Cabrio, 1968 steel sunroof semi-automatic and a nitrous 2007cc Beetle which ran mid 13-second ¼ miles.
To fund this habit I worked in the graphic design and advertising industry for 17 years before joining Just Kampers in 2003 and 16 years later I’m still here, surrounded by all the goodies I need to rebuild my most recent project. A 1970 Beetle that I’ve raced on some of the finest race tracks in Europe.
New seatbelt mountings were required for the six point harnesses as two straps go between the drivers legs and mount to the floor directly under the seat. For this I drilled two holes then welded a pair of seatbelt mounting plates J11582 under the floor.
Next, the frame head was solid but the base plate and napoleons hat were beginning to rust, so these were replaced with new items J14776 and J18776. The napoleon hat is only available as left hand drive so I had a choice of drilling a new brake master cylinder hole and welding up the old one or turning the napoleon hat round 180 degrees then cutting the ends off and flipping them over. I went for the latter option.
On the base plate I cut off the standard brake pipe mounting brackets as I’ll be using alternative fixings for the braided brake hoses and once all the welding was complete the welds and joins were sealed with seam sealer J11330 using a caulking gun J18186 to stop any future rust issues.
At the rear of the floor pan the holes where the heater/handbrake cable conduits exited were welded up and then I added some new holes of my own to try and shed some additional weight off the rear. Finally, the whole surface was sprayed in etch primer, so now the finished floor pan is ready for paint.
VW Model
1200 Beetle
Age/year of Manufacture
1970
Engine Size
1285cc, 126 bhp at 7700rpm
Spec:
Rebuilt to 1965 spec to compete in Historic Touring Car Racing. 1285cc, 126 bhp at 7700rpm, running on Sunoco race fuel. 0-60 in 6.5 seconds. 15.0 second quarter mile. Top speed limited by gearing to 108 mph at 8000rpm. Competing against mini coopers, lotus cortinas and ford mustangs with a number of class wins it was the first VW Beetle to compete in Historic Touring Car Racing in the UK
Owned For:
6 Years
Work Completed
In the middle of a complete strip down and rebuild
Future Plans:
Currently in the middle of a complete strip down and rebuild to shed another 80 kg to be competitive against the fastest mini coopers in the 1300cc class. Along with an engine rebuild. The new engine has a one off 0 mm crankshaft to make 1299cc with aluminium 83mm barrels. The result should be around 140bhp at 900rpm
Other VWs Owned:
MK4 VW Golf- daily driver