Hi there. I am a new member. I just purchased my first Volkswagen on e-bay. It is a 1969 Baja Beetle. I have yet to see the car in person, but I am picking it up on Thursday. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...92776&rd=1

I am new to car restoration and I would like to make it 100% street legal, so I need some advice. The only thing it needs to make it legal is to have windsheild wipers. The previous owner said he "shaved" the wipers. What exactly does that mean? How hard is it to install a totally new assembly?

Another thing I would like to do is to get an engine cover for it, as it currenlty has none. I think the current engine/exhaust looks a little large for a standard cover to work, but could I crop an after-market one to cover 90% of the engine? Maybe not even use hinges, just lock pins?

 

All right, Let's start with your easier problem. The wipers. By looking at the pics, he didn't do anything to "shave" them other than put some sort of cover over them. You will have to look at it when you finally get it though. Usually "shaving" means they removed the mechanisms, filled the holes in (Sometimes weldind them over) and then getting it painted. This doesn't appear to be the case. It looks like they put a cap of sorts over the holes which should be easy to remove again. Then just go buy a book and instal wipers as instructed. The wiring is probably still in place.

Now for the deck lid. That's a little more complicated but not by much. Likely it'll be more expensive than complicated. The good news is that a rear deck lid WILL fit over that engine from the looks of it. Bad nes is that A.) The exhaust is in the way (You will need to replace the exhaust with something that allows the lid to open and shut) abd B.) there's no rear apron for the deck lid to latch to. The last thing you have to consider is if this was NOT a conversion, there likely is no mounting spots FOR a rear engine deck lid thus another wrench in the plans for installing one.

To rectify the situation, you can get a rear apron and weld it in place, change the exhaust, and then install the deck lid and repaint the car. Otherwise without latches, the decklid will merely fly open every time you drive the car. I'd say the wipers are feasable to be done but the lid for the back, not so much.

 

Well,I founda reproduciton engine cover for $80. I was planning on cutting the bottom a little so it looks like an upside-down "U". That will leave room for the exhaust to poke out. I will also not need the apron, as that is not what will be holding the cover on. I plan on using four locking pins. That way when I want to pop the cover off I just take it off completely.

 

Well if that’s the way you plan on going about it, I don’t see any problem doing it that way.&amp\\;nbsp\\; Just a bit much work for my likeing.&amp\\;nbsp\\; Either way good luck there.&amp\\;nbsp\\; Take some pics once it’s done I wanna see how it turns out!