Here are some close up shots of Mollie’s new engine all fitted. Looks stunning.
Mollie, the 23 Window Splitscreen Samba
The new gearbox has now been fitted, the new engine has been put back in and Mollie is finally out from the workshop and has had a test drive … quoted as being “very quick now”. There is just a bit of work left, to make the handbrake better for the MOT, but she is looking absolutely stunning.
Rancho Freeway Flyer Gearbox
So the Rancho Freeway Flyer gearbox arrived yesterday and it’s getting ready to be fitted. It’s always good to get photos of parts that will never be seen again, especially when they cost as much as this gearbox did, so enjoy! This should be the last piece of the jigsaw in Mollie’s restoration. Next stop the MOT.
Mollie’s Hunting Lamp
We’ve just had some more photos sent from Dubtricks, this time showing Mollie’s hunting lamp all installed. Dave bought this hunting lamp ages ago, I can’t remember if it was originally going to go on Bob, but it looks great on Mollie.
We have also decided that Mollie needed a new gearbox as the old one just wasn’t good enough for her new engine, and was having some issues. We may as well replace absolutely everything on her if we are doing a proper full restoration of the 23 Window Samba! So the custom built engine is back out, and we’re waiting for the arrival of the Rancho Freeway Flyer gearbox in the next few days.
VW Samba Dashboard
Mollie’s dashboard is all complete with lots of shiny bits! Absolutely loving the new steering wheel and horn press, along with the new set of gauges for oil temp and oil pressure etc, the switches, the retro stereo and clock, and looking forward to trying out the gear shifter.
VW Samba Bus Rear Seats and Seatbelts
The interior of Mollie has been given the full works too. The rear seats have all been reupholstered in a vintage cream with matching green piping, and we have also added new seatbelts in a tan colour to match in with the seats.
New Aircooled 1776 Engine and New BRM Alloys
The last phase of the restoration of Mollie is for a brand new custom made aircooled 1776 engine to be built, along with some lovely new shiny BRM alloys to finish her off. Dave popped over to Dubtricks tonight to drop of her new seatbelts, (all 8 of them!) and took a few snaps.
Mollie at VW Festival 2012, Harewood House
Mollie made it in time to appear at VW Festival at Harewood House last weekend, where she was displayed on the Dubtricks stand.
Here are some of Dubtricks’ photos of Mollie, along with some of the other Dubtricks restored split screens. There are still a few jobs left to do on Mollie, so after the show she headed back to Dubtricks for the last push to completion before coming home.
Red 9 Design EZ Rider Twin Wishbone Suspension and IRS Kit
Since we decided on the full restoration for Mollie, it was also important to not only make her look pretty on top, but to make sure her underneath was as good as it could be. We opted for the Red9Design EZ Rider twin wishbone front suspension kit, a 4 potted vented brake kit and the EZ Rider Twin Wishbone IRS kit. Here are some close up shots of Mollie a few days ago when this was all getting fitted.
As it Happens Resto shots
This is the beauty of the internet and social networks, as you can share images so quickly across the web so we have been getting regular “as it happens” shots from Dubtricks for each stage of the restoration of Mollie. It’s really interesting and very exciting to see it all take shape.
Here are some Instagram pictures of Mollie being rebuilt that have been shared across the web in the last week.
