Melburg Luft

Long time no update - kind of hard to find time sometimes with multiple resto's on the go!

Anyway, a lot of fabrication work has been happening over recent months so rather than rambling on, here is a quick pictorial update. You can find all the pics on my site:
http://dasrestohaus.com.au/gallery2/v/C ... g2_page=68

Porsche 3.2L rear engine brace has been fabbed, and since then the engine has been sent to Brisbane for full rebuild.


The Mercedes van seats will be reshaped during upholstery stage but provide some more comfort than the stock units


Lots of fab work on the runners to centre the seats to the cab and steering column, all the while complying with the engineering/certification requirements


The owner wanted to get rid of the stock plastic 70s styling on the dash so a custom glove box was fabricated with revised hinges so the lid opened downwards



Similarly, a lot of work went into the enclosure for the Dakota Digital gauge pod

The exhaust system also has to comply with noise restriction tests for certification so a baffled primary muffler (non packed to sustain the heat being so close to the heads) in addition to a secondary resonator will keep the noise down - if the owner decides to remove the secondary muffler and just run a straight dump pipe, that will be up to him



Onto the electronics, two four channel amps mounted above the primary Optima Yellow Top battery will power the drivers/tweeters (8 of each!), and then a mono block will power the 2 12in subs. Josh fabricated the custom racks (all of which will be hidden) to maximise the space available



A processor will control the tuning of the system which also includes double din GPS/audio visual unit with reverse camera, and front seat head rest individual DVD players…..plus a dual battery system to control charging duties



A Techsafe rear seat incorporates inertia reel belts (another requirement for the owner who has young kids) and head rests (and is fully complianced)

AJ has been flat out with the centre console fabrication - something a little different that provided some form and function


Electric power steering is another addition to make this thing drive like a new car


Upholsterer will stitch up a boot for the shifter and handbrake lever


There will be a storage compartment/elbow rest up top, but a single cup holder on the angled front face was also a necessity


Part of the briefing sessions with each owner is to find out exactly how they intend to use their car, perfect example was the fact he drinks mostly small red bull cans, plus the occasional coffee and bottle of wasser, so the cup holder had to be fabricated so that all drink sizes would be accommodated without wobbling around/falling out under brakes….and also have some degree of style and visual interest




luft con evaporators have now been mounted, so next up is ducting (four vents in rear bulkhead, plus two hoses feeding the front which will split to four vents also)….


So the work goes on, and on…..and on :tu:

Nice work Al

Amazing work Al!

thanks to al , steve and the team at DAS
best prices for fuchs

Great work!

Time for another quick catch up after a couple months more solid work:

AC evaporator cover:

Ducting outlets from rear evap to outer vents in bulkhead (via flex hose)


Console progress:



Inertia reel seat belts mocked up with custom brackets (around the owner requested mandrel bent tube which forms the ducting to the rear AC vents)


Custom plumbing for the heater tube (from sub floor, ducted to foot outlets in nose and up to windscreen)

Start of lower dash mods to house handbrake lever (billet) and central AC vents:


Pimple come dimple for handbrake


Recessed slot above lever is for audio processor controller (like a head unit that controls all the audio)


Custom steel fresh luft (one) and heater (one) levers to replicate original and keep to the 'chunky' brief delivered by the owner


More hand fab'ed metal work including this storage box which resides in the centre console - shape is to allow room for custom hinges which enable lid to flip right up and out of the way to access the storage compartment





Rear corner tray rail repairs

Nice looking steel work Al...
Shiiit , you must go through a serious amount of grinding discs

Crazy amount of craftsmanship. Nice

It's been a while between updates, but work has progressed fortunately….including paint on the interior which was body colour (metallic schwarz) but with PPG matt clear over the top to tie in with the leather.




And after lots of sanding, the interior was masked off and the exterior shot






The clear was laid on lightly and a little dry to make colour sanding easier (than trying to lay the clear down heavy and chunky which is harder to cut flat)

Lots of prep and painting of interior and exterior components all to keep in line with the blacked out theme




Also some painting for the upholsterer (platinumtrimming.com) for pieces like the overhead light assemblies and AC vents (bezel originally silver)



DVD screens in front seat head rests were a prick to paint, but couldn't be left silver as they would stand out too much


Some pics from Willem at Platinum…..front seats were originally out of a Mercedes van:


Some reshaping:


And some deep red leather (which will flow into the door cards to break up the schwarz):

schwarz perforated leather headliner


Pic doesn't show the detail but the bulk head is a combo of perforated and non perforated leather


Porsche 3.2L Carrera engine has been rebuilt at a specialist workshop and ready for the final pieces


Manifolds were blasted and clear powder coated for longevity


Wanted to keep the motor as the factory intended (except for some additional detailing)



My old Turbo type 1 2442cc (sold to a customer) may make a little more horsepower than the Porker, but would be a little more highly strung The 3.2 should be a real pleasure to drive with loads of torque for the heavy DC


More updates soon as we push towards the finish line….

Well, bloody hell its been a long time between drinks (i.e. updates) again, seems time slips away awfully quickly when you're having fun

The DC is still not quite finished but getting very close. So here is a pictorial update from the last few months:

Love them or hate them, we wanted to be a little different with the wheels:


Hard to get much visual differentiation underneath for photos when its all schwarz, but these shots will give you an idea:


The bay window washer reservoir was relocated under the nose along with an electric pump"


The heavily texturised underside is due to a urethane coating (like a pickup bed liner) that the owner wanted for resilience and longevity - whilst the standard of the DC is very high, at the end of the day its not being built as a show car


Bosch EFI pump and oil filter (anti drain back) tucked away (accessed when rear wheel is removed)


We took one step forward just before taking two steps back (more on that later), some assembly started, but halted soon thereafter

Dual AC evaporators hidden under the centre console up front:


This was the final mockup before the engine came out for final time for the last pieces (more info later)


The rear end settles down with the weight of the engine and ancillaries in (the car was never built to be slammed, but still has to have a decent stance


More mockup - dry sump tank and breather plus oil filler


Dimple died cover plate under tank plus Aeroflow fittings (schwarz of course) plus schwarz braided hoses throughout


Space is tight everywhere when you cram enough components in (AC centre vent for rear plus two centre mid bass woofers


The mess of wires and ducting eventually find their way neatly into place

Centre console wrapped in leather by Platinum Trimming (who is doing all the upholstery in the DC) - http://platinumtrimming.com/gallerykombis/


All the fiddly bits not even seen wrack up the hours like one of the switch panels (for audio when not on ignition plus windscreen washer, Dakota Digital control buttons and lighting dimmer)


AC compressor paint detailed and ready to go


S&M Bender


More trim photos from Willem at Platinum:

Okay, so the two steps back resulted from the frustration of seeing a few ripples in the side panels and front doors where the inner strengtheners were vertically…whilst most people wouldn't even pick up on it, it annoyed the crap out of me given the calibre of the build…..so we re-bodyworked the rear quarters and cab doors then prepped the entire exterior and I repainted it (Ferrari Nero Daytona schwarz metallic base coat first then PPG Deltron clear)….




Before it rolled out of the booth this time, I wanted to colour sand it to get the process out of the way (long laborious task!), few pics post buffing:

Update almost complete! Now the DC is buffed, reassembly can resume inc new rear light housings with LED bulbs


Smoked lenses front and rear


Quick roll down to the 'clean shop' (i.e. our parts store - dasrestoparts.com.au)



Next on the agenda was the flywheel - we enlisted the expertise of Dave Butler who turned this slug of steel into a custom flywheel to mate the Porsche 3.2L engine to the 091 2L VW box:



Dual ring gears were required - one for the starter and one for the EFI sensor



AJ fabricated steel door pockets front and rear which will be trimmed in leather




Finally the JW Speaker headlights were slotted in place

Trim piece around the vent intake went on after this pic (forgot to install first time around!)

Well it was a monumental day today (for me at least) as the owner picked up his DC! As with any major build with so much custom work, it will come back for a few tweaks in a couple of weeks, and also so we can check over everything underneath....but for now it was nice to see the owner so happy. It has been a great collaboration between someone who had a clear vision of what he wanted to create plus the commitment to see the project through...and our team at DAS Resto Haus to put those ideas into reality.

Anyway, I have some catching up to do for the last few months....

Boring pic to start off with just to give an idea of how the central locking is set up:


After consultation with the dyno tuner, we decided to ditch the factory 1989 Porsche ECU and upgrade to Autronic SM4, plus MSD for some extra 'spark'


We had an excellent auto electrician jump on board to create a complete plug and play engine harness including auxiliary fuse panel and associated components


Hydraulic clutch plus EFI fuel filter


Some subtle advertising with the approval of the owner on the CNC machined number plate housing and laser etched website detail