attempt 2, i lost the first one...

of late i have been thinking about the 36hp landspeed challenge. wondering how to go fast on the cheap. as you may have guessed from pervious posts money is always an issue for me, so finding a cheap option is good if it can be done (aka if i try to go the expensive option it won't happen).

a drop tank lakester would be the ultimate but OMFG the $$$ to get a real tank. both the aircraft and the hotrod guys want them so i haven't got a chance unless i found one "in the wild" and we didn't get a lot of ex airforce WW2 surplass stuff in this region.

aside from that there is a formula v locally that i put a deposit on and need to pick up. it's a 70's mk1 mako. it needs work but it is a doable project.

so fast foward to today. this morning i had to unload a truck at work. i got talking to the driver while unloading, he was an older bloke (68yo) and an interesting fellow. once we had finished i offerred to make him a cuppa. i may not smoke anymore, but i'll still have a cup of tea and a few minutes to relax/think after some hard work. while we were talking in the tea room, i worked out he was into fords, i stated that i liked old volkswagens myself to which he responded "i used to race formula vee back when i was younger, i bought my car off larry perkins... etc" needless to say i told him of the resergance of historic vee racing and grabbed his number incase someone has his old car and wants more of it's history. while we were talking he offered to have a look around his house for any old volkswagen info and to send it up in a box on one of the next trucks. as you can imagine i accepted with many many thanks. he was rather a character, from his stories it sounds like formula vee in the early/mid 70's was closer to a lifestyle than just a racing class. he must have been rather wild in his youth.

so as you can imagine i'm thinking more about "my" formula vee.

4 minutes later i wander around to the local pieshop for a quick snack (aka really late breakfast) and who should be there but the guy who has the formula vee i'm getting. everything is telling me i need to get this thing.

then this afternoon i messaged the secretary of the historic formula vee group in nsw to pass on this guys contact details and he emails back with thanks and a picture of larry perkins vee in the day plus reminds me that i have a 36hp sitting in his garage to be picked up next time i'm in sydney.

now i'm just thinking how bloody obvious a sign do i need to do this. maybe burning "god says you must race the vee in the 36hp challange" on my lawn might be a little blunter but hey if that happened i'd just take it as a prank anyway.  btw i don't really believe in "signs" (or god for that matter) and don't look for them either but when basically everything noteworthy vw wise and (everything out of the ordinary) in one day points in one direction i will make note of it. there have been too many times that everything has pointed in one direction, i have ignored it and it's all gone pearshaped, to ignore things like this now. plus lets be honest it is just a set of coincidences but it reenforces what i want to do already so i'll grab it and run:)

well at least run with it till i get destracted by something else... my attention span can be a little short at times. if something else comes up that includes learning new stuff or just offers an interesting change i'll get caught up with it and forget what i have been doing. eventually i will get back to the first thing but sometimes it takes quite a while.

i was going to post a pic of what is thought to be "my" vee racing back in '73 but the photo belongs to someone else who has open up his photo archives to the historic vee guys, so i'll be good and not break copyright.

edited.

pt 2.

the next question would be what class of motor, btw i'm assuming that we would use the same catagories as the us landspeed racers do.. i'd imagine SS (stone stock) would be out of the question as well you can't fit a stock exhaust in a vee. SSS (super stock single) is probably the best option as it is basically old school hot rodding everything with a single 28PCI on top. aka free crank, p & c, headwork (stock heads) exhaust, cam etc etc.

of course DSS (dual super stock), basically any pre 65 carb/s on stock or period heads, internally free...  running twin solex P-11-40's on heavily worked wolfsburg west okrasa head repros, would be my dream motor/class but financial reality says not a chance... (2 peice lifter/pushrods, custon LN niscals, pobjoy hillclimp spec cam if a 36 could handle it, poss twin plugs for a monster CR  etc etc) i'd imagine there would be no change from $15 000 for the motor... not going to happen. i seriously think there could be about 130 bhp (hell possibly even more if you aren't worried about engine lifespan) available from a 69.5 by 81-82mm 36hp to someone with the time / skills / patence and $. i just wish it was me.

SSS seems the most logical as most of the base parts i have (well i'd need some 40 hp big bore p & c plus if poss a okrasa/empi 69.5 crank to take it where i'd want to go). plus the traditional hotrodding aspect of the class really does it for me. hell you could even take a simple twin carb set up and shoot for two records. (national not international yet). at the moment i think basically all of the national records are open so are acheivable on a mild budget... aka get a car legal and there, then set a time and you get the national record. unless of course someone else has the same idea, then you will need to put in a lot more work just to be safe and sure.

edit:

pt 3

ok a quick read of the 36hp challange makes no mention of a class for lakesters etc so a formula vee might be out of the question... may need to do some research on that one...

sometimes in the quiet moments when there is no one around (to tell you perhaps you need to up the medication) you have an idea. this one was inspired by a thread about distributors on the samba. it talked about how the stock distributor car is a limiting factor to the voltage you can run to your plugs. from my VERY limited understanding of electricity a higher voltage = a larger gap the spark will jump. also a fatter spark across the same sized gap (err i think). all usefull if you wantto run high compression etc.

whan i read this i thought to myself, "what about a big cap distributor?" aka an early 40hp distrubitor.thes then lead to the question "could you fit the guts out of a VJ4 BR25 into the big cap body?" giving you a distributor that had the bigger electrode spacing than a stock mech advance unit that is built from early bosch components that are said to be very good quality. this is about as far as the idea got for maybe a year. (to be honest i can't remember when i had the idea but i think saying that it was only a year ago is year generous).

of late the idea had been floating around in the back of my hear with regard to the 36hp challange. the rules in several classes state something along the lines of "must use a bosch distributor and coil". maybe this idea may have a home...

one of the things i got in sydney was a cast iron big cap 40hp distributor, it kind of pushed this idea a little closer to the front of my concious. i've been in a rut of late, unable to get out into the shed and do anything... tonight i forced myself to go out there, i feel better within myself when i spend some time doing "shed" stuff.

so out i went with no fixed idea of what i would do, i sat in my "think'n" chair and there in front of my was the big cap. i had toyed with the idea of seeing if my theory was possible, but thought that it wasn't for tonight, but there it was in my center vision. it was a push to break the rut but i picked it up and pulled the "fakie" assistant over so i could grab some tools. i was off. note i didn't pull the VJ4 BR25 (010 for those that like the later bosch part numbering system) apart, instead i grabbed the spindle out of an oval dist VJU4 BR8) that was already loose in a draw, they are close/the same in a lot of diamensions.

observations:

a big cap must have been a pain to change condensers amongst other things when in a car.

the internals of the bigcap are very different to the VJ4 series. the big cap has a large hump in the middle of the body that sticks up 10-15mm, this carries the top spindle bush etc.

the bigcap shaft is slightly smaller diameter than the VJ4 range. usefull, the orig bigcap bushes could be reamed out larger in situ and reused.

the bigcap shaft is somewhat shorter than the VJ4 and the bigcap is one piece vs 2 peice. the difference in legnth is 2 fold, the shaft in the body is longer on the bigcap ( compared to the bottom half of the vj4), the points cam and partly in the top bit that the rotor sits on of the VJ4 is much longer than  (the top half of the VJ4). on the vj4 br25 shaft the top part rotates on the bottom half, the amount of rotation is controled by the weights + stops this is the total advance, the points plate doesn't move (on the VJU4 oval dist's it does but that is a different animal). 

when i tried the big cap rotor on the VJ4 shaft, it was too big... needs an adaptor bushing (or does it...)

to fit the advance weights into the bigcap the top bush will need to be pulled out, the hump cut almost to the floor of the body and the bush seat recut etc, some other clearancing may also be needed for the weights etc.

shortening the top section of the VJ4 to fit under the bigcap cap would be a several stage modification. i thought on this for a while then put the big cap back together. when i was wondering inside it hit me... cut the top off the big cap shaft and fit the weingt pin plate from VJ4 onto the bottom... much less work.

a custom points plate will need to be made or the stock VJ4 BR25 one modified to fit into a much larger body, but all in all i think that it is acheivable.

now i hit the two biggest stumbling blocks. i can't do the machine work and don't have a pet machinest either. plus i'm not chopping up my 1 big cap or my 1 VJ4 BR25.

i don't know if this idea really has any merit for the 36hp challange as i don't know if there is a bosch coil with enough bang to need a bigger electrode spacing (or can you run 2 coils firing in sync feeding into the 1 dist)(is it even legal to run 2 coils?)

if it is of benefit, i see it as being in the spitir of the 36hp challange as all the bits used in the dist are pre 64 or there abouts and none of the techniques needed in the conversion are post 64 either.

not to get some parts i can chop up and someone to turn the knobs for me.

if anyone reads this and can add comments of use or tell me if my rough ideas on electricals are sort of close to the mark or WAY off, please do so.

if i remember to take some pictures i'll add them so this make some more sense to people that don't have the distributors in question in peices in front of them.

henry.

ok not exactly vw realted but damn some physical labour can do wonders for your head. i had to do a few days in the wharehouse at work... i love it. yes i feel a little sore but it was REAL work, i didn't have to be nice to people if i didn't want to, i didn't have to try and sell people shit.

to top it off this evening i got a call from my ex father in law in a bit of a state, as he had cut and bailed some hay and it was starting to rain. it was only a few achers so it wasn't a big job and he has a really old bailer so the bails are small (and hence light) compaired to the modern monster bails. i quickly dashed out there and flogged the guts ot of myself lugging a bail in each hand to the pallet thingy he stacks them on, then running to get another 2 (normaly i don't run for anything if i can help it). i haven't had myself blowing so hard for years. i just kept pushing myself... i did eventually have to stop the running and then go back to one bail so i didn't fall over but damn it felt good. now i come to think about it this was probably the first time thati have really gotten to appreciate not smoking any more. 2 years ago there is no way in hell i could have done that.

on the the reason we are here, cars. my folks came up from sydney to visit and brought my "rad" wheels. i was traveling by public transport when i was there so couldn't get them here. of course i had to play with them, so out the back i want and bolted one on the front of a rolling shell that is waiting for me to dispose of it thoughtfully. (i won't say just how long it has been waiting...) i quickly fitted an old guard that was about the place to see how it would fit. how the offset worked with stock guards. from a rough eyeball it looks like it sits in about 5mm from the guard lip. close yes but still legal i think. plus so different to the normal tucked/narrowed thing.

it shows that i'm getting old... but the tucked thing doesn't do that much for me, mainly as it is so damn impractical. useful if you want to go REALLY low, but i don't i wouldn't be able to drive a really low car here. this town just isn't suited to no clearance. plus, a narrower track is (i'd imagine) going to make the car handle worse. i supose another thing i have against narrowed beams is in at least some cases it looks really stupid IMHO. i know others love the look but (with exceptions obviously) it doesn't do it for me. i have never been cool though .

also it is SO overdone, come on people how about something different!

the first thing i noticed when i fitted the wheel up to bolt on, was how well the spokes etc fit stylistically with the front drums and bearing caps. in my eyes they look great. i don't know if the person who designed/made these took that into consideration, but if so, they have/had a great eye. i'm thinking that these wheels need black drums with either a black bearing cap or maybe a chrome cap... depends on how 70's i want to go. the one problem may be, i have an old set of shermans front disks, i think that they would loose the look completely fitted over them as they have a flat face (plus they widen the track... i hadn't thought about that...  bugger.)

i went to take a picture but the camera has disappeared. nfi where it has gone, i hope one of the kids hasn't stashed it.

i found the missing bits i am selling. in my fakie assistant... just in the first draw, not on top where i thought i might have left them. of late i have been seeing that a lot, mainly at work, but now at home... something moved just a little out of place and it vanishes. several times i was looking for a box in the warehouse at work and it was 2 - 3' from where i was expecting it to be. i spent several minutes each time walking up and down isles trying to find them. now these bits... i had spent about 1/2 an hour trying to find them and they were 6" from where i first looked. i guess this could be seen as i sign to open my mind a little and try to not be so preset in my ideas... (yeah man).

btw i wheeled the fakie assistant out to the shell instead of just grabbing the tools out and taking them out to it... i liked it, it worked for me. the only problem being, i ended up going inside and grabbing one of the ammo cases that i used to keep my tools in to sit on. i got so used to using them as a stool over the years... i will have to get a real assistant with the hole for the stool... and a real (or more likely a repro) hazet work stool.

i also noticed that the guard i bolted on is worse than i thought. it has had a hit at the bottom near the running board that has been roughly knocked out. i was hoping to do a little work on this area and eventually if i did good enough a job (though my ego said of course i would have) using it on my ragtop. when i fitted it up i realized it was rather tweeked. it looks like it has been shrunk along the mount lip as it curves too tightly, plus the damages bit is worse than it looked when not mounted. oh well, i guess i'll just add that to the want list for my ragtop... at the moment it stands at basically every bolt on panel plus HEAPS of small bits. hey its only money.

if the rough fitting of the wheel is anything to go by, i'll have to roll the lip of the guards on what ever car i fit them to. no they don't fit with my vision of my ragtop... i guess i'll just have to get another car for them. i'm still in two minds about using them on anything as they are SO heavy, quite a bit more than stock. aka they would fuck up the unsprung to sprung weight ratio. aka they would be run for thier looks not practicallity.  in some ways at least you'd have to say i follow the bauhaus tennent of "form follows function".

i had envisioned these wheels on a car where the tire is about an inch to an inch and a half from the guard. (remember these are 14"s so with 60? series tyres that is a lot lower than it is with a 165 on a stock rim) with such a tight fit of the rim to guard i'd need to fit a really strong sway bar to try and keep the wheels from rubbing when pushing through corners (i even have a corner in mind when i say this)(a double apex across the railway line near my place that drops right off camber just after the second apex, good vision too so you can see if there are other cars around. on my way to work...fun)

speeking of corners, i have noticed in my life that i have had various "favorate" corners, generally on a route i travel fairly often at the time. over the years they have changed and varied in style as my driving and personallity has changed.

i'd love to go back to some of my old favorate roads and know that there were no police of other cars about... also in a decent car. kur-ring-gai chase and the old hwy from cowan to mount white. when i was young and had time/money they were my fave roads. either in one of mine or a friends cars. we'd just go for a drive for the sake of it. windows down, chatting or by myself thinking. sometimes going fast, sometimes not, just enjoying the road. damn life is simple when you are young. i still like just driving, but the chance to do so doesn't come up anywhere near often enough.

errr now i've gone and done it... not 100% but two tests both showed 1 strong and 1 faint line.  yes, if you hadn't guesses pregnany tests.

my children are the only decent thing i have done with my life but 3 is enough. my wife kept pushing for another till eventually i gave in and left it up to fate. i wouldn't swap my children for the world but i don't know if i have enough emotional room for another one. i already feel that i don't give my children enough now let alone with a baby on the scene. my eldest two are 13 and 12 (both girls), we really should be focusing on doing what we can to help them through what is going to be an interesting few years for them. of course i told my wife all of this and much more but still she had her heart set on it.

this is completely avoiding the question of how the fuck are we going to afford it. to be honest our mortgage is tiny compaired to any one from a city but still our income/s aren't that flash either. i say income/s as my wifes job finished up about a week ago, she hasn't started seriously looking yet either. mine is also looking a little shakey as i don't have the ability to sweet talk and basically lie that is needed to be a sucessful salesman, plus i think the customers can tell i don't like my job. if i belived in the product maybe, but i don't and i can't convince myself otherwise no matter how hard i try. to be honest i had a feeling that she would fall pregnent as i could see our financial position getting worse. murphy's law and all that.

what has this to do with cars... well, as it is, getting $ to spend on them is harder than pulling teeth. time i could make if i turned this bloody computer off, on a day off, no chance of late as marnie always seem to be able to fill up my days (plus my headspace hasn't been the best so i sleep a lot when i get hte chance). the masicist (sp?) in me says you may as well flog the lot off, what chance do you have of finishing it now? even though it is the only thing that keeps me semi sane at the moment.

i'm sure that (if it proves to be true) i will wonder how i could have ever thought this, but at the moment i'm freaking out. i'm sure almost every father reading this will remember that moment of panic after they found out, even if they had been trying for years. the "oh shit, i've done it now. this is a life time comitment thing". i can't even do "the make it all go away" trick and hide for a few hours in an alcohol induced haze, on sit and chain smoke, pipe dreaming etc.

i don't smoke, drink or do drugs any more... i tried too long to play peter pan and realized it was well past time i stoped all of that. nothing but cold hard reality for me. i can't even pipe dream about vw's to destract myself.

i think i just had one of those moments of clarity. our children are marnies hobby, that is why she wants another so desperatly. they are how she spends her time and what she does to make herself feel good/enjoy herself when she is at home.

wish me luck all.

        A customer of mine recently commented to me that his father inlaw had a beetle laid up in a carport since its registration had expired back in September 1994 and was considering selling. The owner originally purchased this beetle brand new back in 1965 while it was on display at the Volkswagen display stand at the Wagga Wagga show. As he had a company vehicle back then he told me he had travelled to Sydney and Melbourne once and the remainder of use was locally and on weekends to and from his favourite drinking venue. Speedo shows a total of 47184 km of which he tells me is original. Unfortunatly time has been quite hard on this example as it was never fully garaged. Even with the dry climate of Wagga Wagga it has its rust issues but really only very minor (front heater channel and floor).         

if i say man tantrum to anyone here i'm sure you'd know what i mean. the outpooring of frustration when working on something mechanical that just won't go right. whether you suffer from them yourself or just know someone, you'd still know what they are.

i started musing ove rthe man tanti today at work when trying to fix a single lounge seat with a recliner mech in it. it got to the point i had to go for a walk around the corner to the bakery to unwind of i would chuck my version one. to be honest mine are generally rather tame, i've never been one for throwing tools or throwing parts. i liked my tools too much to chuck them and whatever it was i knew i'd just end up making more work for myself. the same with kicking things, i have once or twice but it didn't take long to realize that it really hurt. all in all i'm sure that my tanti's are rather dull, but they do still happen on occasion.

i do wonder though why we do it, why do we express our frustration this way. i just thought that you could make a rather ammusing reality type tv show of candid footage of guys chucking man tanti's in their sheds, there have to be some funny styles out there. i'm sure you could go to any country in the world and hear the thud of knuckles on sheet metal followed by the sound of a dropped spanner on concrete then muttering and swearwords. 

if i believed in faries i'd say that there has to be a bolt fairy that gets it's nourishment from mens pained frustrated muttering, it goes around seizing threads then comes back when you are trying to undo them and either makes them let go suddenly, makes the head twist off or makes the spanner slip. in this modern world of marketing i'm sure it could also make a pretty penny on retainer to the manifacturer of WD 40 or similar. (as an aside i have tried "freeze and release" and found it to be rather average) 

my musings on the man tanti were far broader than this but i can't remember half of what i was thinking.... oh well.

First off, if you haven't noticed, we finally released the first issue of Vdubber magazine, thanks for all of your kind words, and support, it looks like it's a success. A big thanks to all of the contributers and also Melle Mel for typesetting the whole mag.

I picked up the oval this week as the cage has now been finished off. We lifted the body off today, and I stripped the front beam off and trial fited the new narrowed beam up. I had to keep the car rolling as i am going to a scrutineers meeting tomorrow and need to be able to get the car on and off of a trailer, so I temporarily fitted the new drums up too, but all of this will need to come off to be able to finish the pan.

Next stage is to finish the welding off on the pan - mostly the rear of the new pan halves and the IRS brackets, and run the fuel and oil lines through the tunnel, before giving the pan a quick paint. Then I need to figure out the gearbox / engine mountings and fix up the gearbox selector shaft. I have got a repro hurst shifter from the states, but I need to modify the gate to allow selection of 5th gear. There's also a scatter shield to fabricate too.

My shipment of goodies finally arrived from CB performance, so I now have the plenums for the turbo induction, as well as lots of other stuff. I also received my el cheapo tacho and guages from ebay too. I just need to fabricate up a tee piece to join the throttle body to the plenums and the induction is sorted. For the present I will run without an intercooler, and see what happens.

I've been deliving in to the EFI system and figuring out what i need to get it all running. All I'm missing are some injectors and a MAP sensor, which i will sort out next week. I confirmed that the two lambda sensors I have are both good to use, and that the water temp sender will work fine as an oil temp sender instead. I have drafted up teh wiring diagram and just need to go buy the wire and switches to make up the loom. not a big job, but one that needs to be  done right.

Also sourced a better steering wheel as the one I had was cracked around the centre boss, and another boot (engine) lid so that I can cut a hole in it to allow the Porsche 911 fan setup to be used. I decided that this was the simplest, cheapest and quickest solution. It might not look quite right but at this stage I need to save every little bit of time that I can. I'm aiming at cuting a hole in it so that the fan doesn't foul it, and then adding an air scoop for additional cooling and induction to cover the hole. Fortunately the class that I am running in allows bonnect scoops, and spoilers. I didn't really want to fit a spoiler, as I wanted to leave the car relatively stock, bodywise, but I may have an issue with high speed stability, so at the moment I am a little undecided about this. I might make up one up, but not fit it so that I can trial it out whilst we are there.

This week i aim at getting the pan completely finished off, including all running gear - suspension, brakes, steering, gearbox mounted and engine installed. This only really amounts to assembly as i have purchased all new components. I would like to be in a position where I can start fabricating the headers at the end of the week. If I can achieve this, then I should be on track to firing up the engine the following week. My big job for Monday is to get the drive shafts underway, as these are probably the last item to have outsourced.

As Stevie Miller said... "Time keeps on ticking"

So I finished stripping the oval today, the doors didn't want to come off, half of the bolts came out with a little persuasion from the rattle gun, but the rest had to be drilled out. the keeper plates will have to be cleaned up and re-tapped before refitting. Fortunately, door hinge screws seem to be something I have an excess of.

With everything off of the car I had a good nose around and was pleased to see that the shell is a solid as expected, with the only rust present in the rear footwells - probably from sitting in water from the missing rear window.

The front valence, hood and offside wing have sufferend from a shunt at some point in the distant past, the wheel well panel needs to be replaced, and ideally the outer panel does too, but i will have a go at beating it out before resorting to a complete new clip. The rear valence has suffered a similar fate although not as bad, my guess is that someone levered the body up over the engine with a bit of 2x4" when it was removed.

Next plans are to roll the pan out, replace the pan halves, and fit the IRS. Then the front beam can be swapped out. I got a price from classic vee dub for a 2" narrowed beam with adjusters fitted, 2" dropped link pin spindles and a wide 5 disc brake kit at $1200 - not too bad in my books. The beam needs to be fitted up with the trailing arms and springs from the existing beam, and the tie rods need to be shortened + there's all of the small items like new seals to consider, but at least it will provide a good solid front end. They also offer a rear disc conversion for IRS in wide 5 pattern too at $770. Whilst this is all relatively cheap - it all ends up adding up, so I might buy the end plates and adjusters and cut and shut the beam myself, it's not a big job and will probably save $400-500. The front brake kit with dropped spindles is $700 on it's own.

I was offered a rebuilt late IRS pan - which is tempting, but seems a little sacrilegeous as it feels like cheating - it does however save some dollah's. and I will consider this as an option (please feel free to talk me out of this / encourage me to do this).

So - next stage is to go buy some more axle stands as the four I have are holding the Ghia up, and get the body off of the pan. Also need to decide on what i want to do with the pan / brakes / suspsnsion etc then go and either buy the late pan or buy the stuff to fix this one.

I need to source a boot hinge as the offside one had broken off of the hood and unfortunately isnt with the car - so if anyone can help me out - shoot me a message.

There's some more images in the gallery that I've uploaded. - you can view them here - http://www.vdubber.com/photo/gallery_tag/vdubber

The past week has been pretty busy, I've had to re-enter a massive amount of info to catch up with my book keeping which was all on the laptop that was stolen, and this still isn't going to be finished in time to submit my BAS. Yes I know I should be entering receipts and reconciling bank balances and not typing a blog, as I have about an hour left in which to submit it, but to tell you the truth, I've simply had enough - it can wait - my brain was hurting.

It's amazing how much data you accumulate / use on a day to day basis, this is probably far in excess of normaility for me as I generate pages and pages of code for both my work and stuff like Vdubber. Some of this stuff I have now recovered / re-entered, but some I have simply decided to do without - a bit like a spring clean. Unfortunately, my accounts did not fall into this category.

I've spent a bit of time over the past week or so updating the site code to fix up some bugs and annoying aspects, and have also paid someone to install some modifications - this is a first for me - as i usually loathe to pay someone for anything that I can easily do myself, but time is precious and so it seemed like the most cost effective way to do it, plus a little investment in the website is a good thing.

The biggest news this week is that the oval is now in it's new home. It arrived yesterday after a weeks journey from Caboolture, just north of Brisbane, down to Adelaide where it's now waiting to be turned into a salt flat racer.

The first jobs on the agenda are to sort out some kind of clear coat to fix the paint from rusting thorugh any more - The Adelaide weather can be a little wet at times, and the nice sub burned and faded paint would soon turn into a furry mess. The patina will be staying!!  I also need to sort out a beam adjuster and some moon discs before i will be sending it out to get the roll cage welded in

Next is to assess the state of the floor pan - the battery tray looked to be a little rusty although not too bad, I need to find out what panel work (if any) will be required to make the car safe, this will also determine if I need to split the pan. My original idea was to split the pan, restore the chassis but leave the body the same, but I might have a change of heart and just fix it up as it is. The idea with this car is that it is supposed to be a budget racer, plus I don't relly need yet another another money pit in which to pour cash.

So the initial objective is to get it prepped, whout going overboard.

Pics to follow....

     Just a follow up on the second part of my holidays.

           Day 10 to Day 15 : Went for a drive with my freind Bob (who was the previous owner of my Beetle Cabriolet) to a place called Stokers Siding near Murwulimbah NSW to catch up with another freind, Alan who is the owner of Stockers Siding Garage. Alan has quite a lot of respect when it comes to working on and or suppling parts for Volkswagens from Queenslands gold coast to the northern rivers area of NSW. In conversation with Alan he told me that he has now sold the garage and is going to retire. Looking arond the garage alan has quite a lot of second hand and new parts that he will keep for resale at a later date from a back yard shed that he has ( the premises will no longer be used as a garage).  All his parts cars will be dismantled and the left overs will be sent off to the metal recyclers. There was nothing worth salvaging for myself but my freind spotted a 70,s Westfalia pop top. With all the original material still there it was to good to leave behind so it now resides in Bobs shed complete with cutout roof section.

          Day 16 : An early start to the day was needed as myself and my two freinds Bob and Rob were travelling to Brisbane to take in some Volkswagen therapy at the Volkswagen Drivers Club Of Queensland's ACTION DAY (see photo's in photo gallery) Not being to a show in Brisbane for quite some years I was a bit dissapointed in the total number of cars that were on display compared to how big the scene is supposed to be in Queensland. The quality was outstanding for the majority of the vehicles there so compliments to those that did enter their cars. The swap meet side of things didn't fare much better for me either but there were still a few people parting with their cash for items that I guess they needed more than me. Old vintage VW stuff is geting really hard to find at Volkswagen only swapmeets now but I did miss out on a pair of 1960/61 only taillights with serviceble lenses for $30.00.

         Day 17 to 19 : Check into the Mantra Resort at Salt for the Dealer release of the new Triumph Thunderbird. Second day there take in dealer meeting , see T-Bird motor dismanteld , go for 1 hour ride loop with eleven other riders on T-birds, settle down with an evening meal at peppers resort and then a good nights sleep as day 19 was the big trip home.

         Day 20 : Home now, just chill out in the shed as now my holidays have come to an end, work tomorrow.

        Just got given today a Hazet special tools box. Unfortunatly without any tools so now the hunt is on to hopfully fill it with the correct tools. A hard task I know. Also picked up from a local swap meet in March a hazet spare wheel tool kit. I won't tell you how much I payed for it but it was cheap compared what I have seen some people pay. As you can see I not only collect Volkswagen vehicles of which I will show you more of what I've got later on but also any thing to do with VWs. I have collected over the years a range of things from brochures , nos parts , magazines , vw accesories and toys both old and current. These I will also share with you vdubbers as time permits. To start withh here is just some of my Hazet stuff.                   

                                                   Cheers Jason

Well it's been a very interesting past week or so in our household. Our first child was born, which turned out to be a boy , we had decided not to find out the sex as we wanted it to be a surprise. We thought that as there were few surprises left in life that weren't unpleasant, we would not find out the sex before the birth. Nine months of anticipation was ended when we were handed the little fella - a very emotional moment - especially to find out it was a boy. It was also my birthday a few days prior - definately the best birthday present I've ever had.

Progress has also been made on the VW projects - to a fashion. I've placed the order for the garage and will submit the plans to council tomorrow. I've also been clearing the garden out to make some room for it. This has also forced us to take a look at the garden in general, we have unfortunately done very little to it since we bought the house a few years back, and it's only since we decided to do the garage that we have bothered to sit down and work out some plans for it. We drafted up a rough layout to figure out how the garden could look - taking into account the position of the garage and planned extension. It was quite good to be a bit creative and run through a few ideas - especially since we also had to consider how the garden would work with our new addition. We also wanted to have some kind of basic pla so that we didn't end up doign everything twice - once for getting the garage up and again for when we redid the garden.

With a basic layout decided, I have made a start on clearing out the garden and have cut in some new beds at the rear in front of the new fence i recently erected, These will get planted out with some native Australian shrubs to hide up the fence a little. I've also started to clear an area to the rear of the proposed extension where I will relay the red brick paving curently sitting where the extension to the garage will go. This has caused me to pot a couple of standards where the bricks will be relayed - not too sure where these will end up, but didn't want to get rid of them as they are lovely when they are in flower. The whole garden is a little like this - a string of smaller jobs that need doing to create the space for the garage extension. The existing shed needs to be moved out of the way but retained to house all of our gardening equipment - until the garage is finished that is. To move the shed I need to relocate the compost heap and a whole bunch of bricks, rocks and pavers... and so on! With the garage extension finally underway, getting to work on the VW projects is just that little bit closer.

I also finally picked up the exhausts for my DKW's. For those of you who have read my other site you will know that I have 2 old Auto Union DKW motorbikes - a 1958 and 1959 RT250 (gotta love German aircooled machinery). About year back I had two new exhausts made up for them - they have only just been finished off - a long time in the coming. The '59 is currently roadworthy but had a non standard exhaust, whilst the '58 is mostly stripped down and had a really battered standard exhaust on it. Fortunately it was suitable enough to make a pattern from. These are yet another 2 projects on the (probably too long) list - getting the garage sorted will allow me to segregate a few areas for the diferent projects - whch will be fantastic.

OK, fresh back from the scrutineering meeting yesterday, decided to get cracking. Went out and sourced some steel for the scatter-shield, and the RHS braces that were discussed, and also some sheet metal for fabricating up the new bulkheads and patching a few bits of tin worm here and there.

Also bought all of the stuff to build my wiring loom with - nice aircraft kill switches and pushbuttons. Even got some stuff to make up a DIY dyno controller box for the DTA EFI unit I am running.

Here's the competed RHS braces. Still need to add flatbar underneath to tie it to the pan.





Also welded up the IRS pivots



And started on the scattershield.



Day off tomorrow - got to go drink beer- it's Australia day!!

This evening I went on the Volksenthusiasts Club (VEC) Volksfest cruise. This is the precursor to the Volksfest event happening on Sunday at Port Adelaide. The cruise met at the Botanical Gardens and went for a run through the city before finishing up for pizza and coffee. I was fortunate enough to hitch a ride with Fin, a fellow razor owner, who let me ride in his razor, so at least I got to cruise in style. :)

The turnout was excellent, despite a very heavy downpour just an hour before the kick off time. Fortunately the weather held out and didn't put off the cruisers from attending.

The range of rides was pretty varied, with some new just finished rides such as the white and candy red splitty, some stock, some custom, some ratty, and even a new style emerging with an oval bug with exausts through the fenders - definately something new happening there.

You can view the pics of the event in the gallery - http://www.vdubber.com/photo/gallery_tag/VEC Volksfest Cruise 2009

after a lovely day at work, i went up to my grandparents tonight (it's really just my grandmothers now but it somehow isn't right saying that) for dinner with my family and parents. an interesting night. saw some more stuff that i hadn't seen before. aka pictures and things from WW1 that had been my grandmothers aunts and had come to her. there used to be more (most of which i had seen) but she donated it to the AWM. a good place for it really as the people weren't family, just friends of "the aunts". one of them ended up high up in the army in WW2 (and lead 1st div against the japanese at milne bay in PNG). his brother who also sent pics and postcards transfered to the english army between the wars and ended up as some sort of aide to edward the 6th post ww2?

some of the remaining stuff was really interesting, one postcard of a guy in a tent in Palistine i think with his rifle as one of the tent poles and all his gear was fascinating. plus the postcard from one of the guys above sent from london as he was recuperating after being wounded in 1917.

there was also a portrait of someone else and the tag off his gear "wounded officers luggage". i couldn't imagine what would happen now if the government went to war on a scale like ww1 or ww2. i just don't think anyone would volunteer, certainly not enmass. we are way too soft for our own good. i doubt i could hack it. plus we all think that we are far more important than the rest of the society around us. how many people can you think of that wold willingly put thier life on the line with a strong possibility of loosing it today. it would be someone elses job.

while up there i went up to the back shed and had a poke about my 63 ragtop. it has been up there since 2000, sitting, waiting. harry came up with me and he LOVED it. he was in the drivers seat, i put the roof back, he was playing with the steering wheel and the pedals (yes he's huge for his age) etc. he wound down the window and stuck his head out, he was standing with his head out the ragtop. he loves climbing in my volvo but this was a whole new level of excitement. he was calling it "herbie". it was so good to watch him enjoyong it so much. i so need to get moving on this car. even marnie came up and said that i needed to get moving on it... i'm sure it would be all good until i tried to spend some money......... 

again no camera. i did take some pics on my phone but don't know if/where the cord is to download them.

i had always thought that the spare wheel was original to the car, but it turns out it has a 1-62 date on it and is a different green to mine. oh well. i guess that leaves the pass door as possibly the only orig bit on the car. even then it has rust in the bottom.

when i started writing this blog i thought that it would just end up a gaint todo list or something similar. so far i don't think there is even one list in it.... so here is one.

BODY WORK NEEDED ON THE RAGTOP SHELL.

nose. remove front vanance nad straighten sides. poss replace front skin if availably... maybe clip whole nose at fueltank to remove the worst affected areas.

if not replacing fix mount holes for window washer tank nest to brake header tank.

if not replacing replace weld nut in bumper mount.

remove and replace bonnet seal retaining strip. repair mount surface as required.

A pillars. redo patches at back of front wheelwells to look like og metal. check bottom skins of A pillar, replace if needed.

above brake pedals. does this need doing/redoing? does the bottom plate need replacing?

fix dents in front of door hinges on drivers side (poss pass side as well)

fix small dent in ridge below windscreen on dash.

straighten strap that holds glovebox.

straighten all the clamp clips behind drivers door.

fix and stregnthen around cracks on swege line behing doors both sides.

remove and replace carpet clamp strip.

check B pillars and repair if needed

check sills from front to back. what need doing to them?

check rear 1/4 bottoms.

remove old patches at end of heater channel and replace with stock tooking patches.

undo stich welding down sides of rear firewall, crimp closed (lots of cleco's?) and spot/plug weld  once properly positioned.

check all weldnust as i go and replace as nesseccary.

fix dent above RLguard mount.

straighten or replace mount strip for engine bay to engine seal.

check and replace if needed engine lid seal retaining strip.

remove nad replace if needed rear bumper mounts. (needs at least the LHS one done.

straighten rear valance of just remove and replace with NOS one.

shrink out ripple on roof behind ragtop on drivers side (from memory)

add extra spot welds around window openings, poss stitch weld other seams for added stregnth/reduced body flex.

i'm sure i have missed half of what needs doing. all in all it is ok for a 46yo car... at least it isn't a UK car.

Went and picked up the interior for the Ghia today. Gotta admit, I'm well pleased with the job they have done.

I had the front and rear seats, plus the door cards and rear quarter panels redone. They made up new door cards from the templates I supplied, and did an awsome job of the door panels. They even added the correct heat seams into the panel to match the original. The panels are vinyl, whilst the map pocket was trimed in a leather material. The seats are also leather, in the same shade as the vinyl. Gotta admit, I was a little sceptical that they could match the vinyl and leather together (i originally wanted it all leather but the talked me out of it) but the match is spot-on. you cannot tell the diffrence.

Here's some pics.



One of the front seats - I still need to source one of the plastic trims that covers the front / side edge of the seat before I can reassemble it.



Rear seat base and back. You can also see the rear quarter panel.



The door panels have come out really well. They will look excellent fitted up under the black door cappings. I alread had the trim strip repolished.



Detail of the door panel showing the heat seams and the map pocket. Also, in case you are wondering, the arm rests are good used items.

I also went out and bought some sound deadening material - the stuff that the sound-off guys use for thier cars - a bitumen / foam / foil sheet. I will use this to finish off the skin panels before i fit the trim. I will also add some to the rear firewall and roof too.

Next step is getting the car rolling again so that I can take it to the trimmers to get the headlining put in. Might just put the current suspsension back in rather than waiting until I can finish the new one off as that won't happen until after I have extended the garage, which is at least two months away.

Only other thing I really need to do beforehand is to remove the door hinges and clean / polish them up. Which is actually a nice simple job - perhaps I will tackle it when I have some spare time.

         I stumbled upon this at my local vw repairer.  I asked if it the owner had it there for repair or sale and as luck would have it, it was for sale. The owner was called and a deal was struck so now I have another VW. Only A few things needed to be done like engine reco, new tyres, cut and polish and a good detail. Remakably it is rust free. It was originally sold new in Canberra then sold to the people from whom I purchased it from. It has been a country Victoria vehicle all it life hence the no rust. This now becomes the newest aircooled Volkswagen I have ever owned. Picture is as I bought it so as soon as the detailing is finished I will post an after photo. So I guess all I have to do now is go camping. Bring on spring

Just noticed today that there are repop right hand drive front cab floors for sale on DSK. Have PM'd the seller - hopefully he has more for sale. The Right hand drive conversion is probably the first thing I need to sort out on the bus, so the floor is the first panel that I need to get.

Fingers crossed!

Made more good progress today, i fitted the new pan halves and got the body back on the pan. Somehow I managed to do this by myself - I guess it's a lot easier if you're not worried about scratching paint. I postponed fitting up the new front beam as I didn't have an adjustable 18-22mm reamer, which is necessary for reaming out the king pins to fit after they are pressed into position. I will try to source another beam as a doner and then outsource getting the king and link pins fitted as it will probably cost about the same as an adjustable reamer.

With the body in place the next thing was to get the engine trial fitted to make sure that there was enough clearance for everything, and to take measurements for the header system, but with the engine in place, several things became apparent.

The engine sits about 2 inches further back than normal - this means that the rear valance will need to be clearanced - not too big an issue, and one that I was expecting.



The second problem was that the injector bosses I had welded into the inlet manifolds foul the engine bay bodywork - but this too can be addressed with a grinder and a little imagination. I also had to remove the rocker covers to slide the engine in position, but the car was not on ramps and so this should not normally be an issue.

The rocker covers also foul the rear bodywork and so more tin will need to be removed to allow the rocker boxes to be fitted / removed with the engine in position, I will look into using stock steel covers instead of the finned aluminium ones I currently have to see if this gains me a bit more clearance.



By far the worst issue was that the Porsche cooling setup that I currently have prevents the engine lid from being closed. One solution would be to run deck lid standoffs, but this can be seen as 'streamlining' or trying to improve the aerodynamics. I could add a bulge to the lid, but that's also not something that I really want to do to a perfectly good W deck lid.

My only solution is to use something like a Cali cooling setup - this uses a Type 1 fan housing, mated to Type 4 cooling tin, not too hard a job to fabricate, but a bit of an issue for the generator stand as there is nowhere for it to bolt to on my engine. Sharpbuilt, here in Australia offer a complete upright VW style cooling solution for the Type 4 engine, but the generator stand bolts to the stock Type 4 breather tower - my breather tower has been machined off to allow the fan to be mounted directly to the engine so that it sits lower, not an insurmountable issue, but additional work I wasn't bargaining for.

Here's one I made earlier...



The problems don't end there either, the turbo is also proving to be a bit of an issue to locate, the ideal position is behind the rear valence - which is perfect for a Garret T03 or similar, but not so for the RayJay unit I have - it's huge in comparison. This means that ideally I need to fabricate the headers with the engine in the car as the clearances are simply too tight. I also considered cutting out the rear luggage area and installing it there with a cover made up to house it.



Lots to think about. Lots of new issues to address. But at least the pan is now ready to go off to get the cage made.

hmmm. if is a little sad that there really isn't differance in my cars from when i started this blog.

i have a feeling that that may change over the next 9 months. marnie is SOOOO hormonal already. i had forgotten how full on she gets. it probably doesn't help that she was taking zaiban (sp?)  when she found out she was pregnant and of course has now stopped. dirty smokers....          ha! spoken like a true ex smoker :) . zaiban made my completely loopy when i took it a while back. it also does strange things to your head when you stop taking it.

my "fathers day" present from the family to me turned up yeaterday (i won't give details on just how pissed off marnie was when this MASSIVE box showed up:) ) a box of headlight bits from, you guessed it, e.bay. i do so hate the place but love it at the same time. it was 6 lenses and bits of 3 bodies. all of the bodies were a bit rough, but it was cheap so i won't complain. the add had very few pictures and not the best title/description which made it hard to find + probably made people a little hesitant to bid. i wanted (i originaly typed needed but it wasn't a need...) one of the lenses to complete a set of headlights i have. when they showed up i was plesantly surprised. of the 6 lenses 5 were good, the other didn't survive the post, a little sad as it was a decent match for another of the lenses. non of them were propper VW logo lenses but beggers can't be chosers. still of the 5 surviving 4 were semetrical lenses (aka early single spot) the other is a late split bus and will be going to a friend, as, though i want a late set of bus headlights, just for the sake of having them, he needs them. he sold what he thought was a spare set to a friend in desperate need only to find out that they were the lights out of one of his busses and he doesn't have a set for it now. 

i just realized how damn booring this must be for anyone reading it. if you are, you really need to get a life. (not that i can talk :) )

just to finish my headlight monologue... it turns out apart from the lense to finish off my set ant the one for my friend, i got another that will (once i source a half decent 12 and 3 bosch stamped ring) make a pair to a light i have. i have several suitable spare bodys for it (and mashed rings that are beyond my current skills to straighten) . i also should be able to make a half decent early bus light out of spares and another of the lenses. unfortunately the last lense is too different to make a decent pair with my last unmatched early light... if only the 6th lense hadnt smashed. oh well, you can't win them all. i think i did damn well though.

i can add "headlight perv" to my list of VW fettishes. (6V, the later ones don't do that much for me.... though i do like the early type 3 bosch spot/leadoff lights). it has been an on going thing for years. to me a good correct matched set of early lights is so nice, a thing to cherish and admire.

i saw these advertised and fell in love, perfect for my 63 ragtop, but alas at $600 they are about $599.10 more than i can swing at the moment.

that pic is almost porn to me. it is also very frustrating as i know that by the time i source perfect rings or get some straight and rechromed, get the reflectors recoated, get new seals/spring clips etc and then source a perfect match for one of the lenses i have, i'll be looking at close to $600 anyway and they will still not be as nice. even if i flogged stuff off, i prob wouldn't have the $ in time.

it is funny how a lack of $ always comes at the times when all of these amazing things you rarely see come up for sale. aka the headlights and a heap of NOS body panels on e.bay. plus this weekend is the local car show/swap meet. i haven't been for a few years, but last time i went i scored some NOS kombi bits and i can just feel that there will be something i'd LOVE but won't be able to afford. i even arranged with work to have this weekend off specifically so i could go. :( 

back to headlights. i did work out how i can display/store all my complete lights... a length of timber  with little hooks bent up from a strip of stainless steel screwed on at a suitable spacing. mount out from wall a few inches for clearance then mount the headlights with the hook catching on the inside of the rolled lip on the headlight ring.

ahhh too much talk not enough action.

i'm a bit of a hoarder when it comes to vw stuff (amongst other things) so when it comes time to sell stuff i find so many different reasons not to. actually getting it up and advertised can be really hard. it doesn't help that there are a few things that i regret selling (actually that is bullshit, out of all the stuff i have sold there are only a couple of things i wish i hadn't).

i'm really good at making excuses not to sell stuff even when it is for my own benefit. (how do you spell that?) i have poked about in my shed and dug a few bits and pieces out but keep finding excuses not to photograph them etc. today i had the day off, i did spend a chunk of it doing stuff for my wife which is a valid excuse im my book, but damn what do i have to do to make myself do this. even writing this is probably to get out of actually taking the pictures so i can advertise and hence SELL stuff. i really do get seperation ansiety (again spelling?).

it is not like this stuff really means anything in the grand scheme of the world, it is just crap to suit an outdated car. still it makes me feel good knowing that it is stashed away. i don't know why though, i have far more of some stuff (quite a lot of stuff actually) than i am ever likely to use, but still i keep "what if-ing" myself or just plain putting it off.

if anyone (a) reads this, and (b) has this same problem with collecting/not parting with crap, please tell me so i don't feel quite so insane.

i think i also need a better way to sort out and store my stuff so i know which is my "personal use" pile and what is just for the sake of having. i do try and make sure i have gone through all of a group of stuff if i'm likely to want it in the future so i make sure i keep the best of each thing for mself, the problem being that sometimes when i have packed up at a later time i just chuck it all back in together. in some cases the difference between the parts that i want to keep and the rest is very minimal or not apparent until you look really closely/pull it apart. wow another excuse for not putting it up for sale right now.

i should add that this does ebb and flow with my mood/life as sometimes it is so easy to do, then there are times like this.

right, time to go out to the shed. i think i will ban myself from the 'net until i have the pictures taken and resized for 15 things i want to sell. 

as the title says i have asomething that i'm working on but only time will tell what actually happens.

i got a call back re the ragtop mechinism, the guy couldn't find it but thinks that it may be in one of 2 steel boxes that have audi engines sitting on top of them. aka he can't check them without a bit of extra muscle.

while on holiday i got a call from a lady that i gave my usual speil about vw's "i don't suppose you know of any vw's or bits there of in your neck (knecht :) ) of the woods?" one day at work. "no i don't, but i'll find one for you". there was something about the tone in her voice that said she was determined to find me one and would... she has. all i know so far is it is that has been converted to 12V (aka it is a 6V model the owner said he thought it was a 67 or 69), is fitted with a 1600 motor and comes with a spare motor and "anything with vw on it" of which there is suppositly a bit of. wife permitting i'll be checking it out on sat morning (its a good 3/4 hour drive to the town where the guy lives then we'll head out to his farm) i'm trying not to get my hopes up but lets be honest i'm more than a little excited. only time will tell. damn i love the thrill of the hunt.

i need to stop dreaming about cars and flog off some crap so i have a few $ to play car with...

The past week or so has been a right PITA regarding the site. All of our merchandising was deleted from our store by some jobsworth at zazzle, who decided that as our site (and also therefore our merchandising) was VW related we must be in contravention of Volkswagen of Americas copyright policy. The funny thing was, that VW actually allow the use of thier logo and name in relation to advertising goods and services relating to them. 'Johnnys Volkswagen repairers - We repair Volkswagens' is perfectly acceptable. Erik (the farkwit at zazzle) failed to actually read the policy, and if he did read it - very obviously failed to understand it.

Erik would have you believe that VW actually own the letters 'VW', which is a crying shame for all users of our alphabet as they appear right next to each other - and in the same order. ....STUVWXYZ. This is obviously a bit of a blow for childrens educational programs, who also flaunt VWoA's copyright policy.

So after many many emails trying to get Erik to see reason and reinstate the products, I have simply ended up giving up. Even trying to correspond directly with thier copyright agent seems to be falling on deaf ears (yes yes - i know - the agent is probably Erik).

After a little research it would appear that the same experience has been shared by many other zazzle users, some having as many as 200 images deleted. (oddly enough many post letters from Erik on the web too) Perhaps I should consider myself lucky. :-S

Guess I will chalk that one up to experience.

I have now moved the shop over to Cafe Press - you can view it at http://www.cafepress.com/vdubber don't forget to go buy something!

On a better note, Ian from Unique Fab come round to have a look a the 15 window, Ian assures me it's within thier capability and will take the project on. He's booked out for the next three months which gives me some time to source the panels i need. I am thinking of importing panels from the UK as I have a couple of contacts there in the trade, i figure it's easier to buy direct. So if you're in the market for some splity panels, leave a comment below.

I also need to source some good s/hand stuff as well. My bus is completely devoid of everything. First up I need to get hold of a pair of '62 cargo doors (low hinges) LHS B and C pillars (complete) and a rear engine lid and valence. If you have any of this stuff shoot me a line.

More next time...

Mick.

Damnn - I just spent about 30 minutes typing out this blog and accidently deleted the whole thing by pressing the wrong button, I bet it's half as eloquent the second time around. :( I've not long been using a mac - previously I was a (fairly) long time Linux user - and before that a windoze user - so I'm still getting used to the shortcut keys - the one that always seems to catch me out is 'home', somehow I always manage to make the browser go 'back', instead of the cursor, losing all of my hard work in the process. Ahh well, guess that's what you risk when typing epic blog posts - lol.

Anyhows.... I digress....back on topic now.......

Since I started vdubber, I have been thinking of many different ways of promoting the site, the whole idea of vdubber, is a global online aircooled community, so to acheive this the promotion of the site needs to reach far and wide. There is already a perfect userbase out there, but this userbase is unfortunately already taken by other forums, so to speak - web habits are hard to break, and trying to lure users away from their daily dose of thier favourite forum, even for a short visit here, is a very hard task indeed. In fact it's a task that frequently keeps me up to 3am in the morning. Visiting other forums, and blantantly spamming them is not generally acceptable, (tried that once - lol) instead the only really acceptable way is to simply participate, and hope that someone clicks on the link in your signature. Whilst this is ok, and so far has been showing good results, it's a lot of work when there's only one person doing it - I currently go to over a dozen forums on a regular basis, and this take a lot of my time up (I'd rather be posting here).

So, what to do? how to solve the problem? Well, I figure we simply need to offer something better or different, or free. The better part is mostly already catered for with the software the site runs from - it's pretty feature packed - with stuff like video chat and instant messenger - plus, more to come in the coming months, it already knocks most other forums for 6. Free stickers, don't really seem to appeal to many - i gave a few hundred out at DOTVW here in Adelaide (yeah yeah, i know - they weren't top quality - but what do you expect at 2 days notice - lol), unfortunately i don't get to interstate shows at present, and the UK scene that I used to frequent is quite a few thousand miles away now.

One solution is to appoint representatives for other states / countries to go to shows and promote the site, but with such a small userbase currently, there are few members to choose from. This something however, that I will persue in the future.

My current idea is to utilise the skills of my partner (mellemel) who recently gave up work to have our son. She previously worked for a print house printing a range of stuff from business cards to bound books. So to keep her busy (just kidding babe :) ) we are now putting together an ezine - called vzine :)  (great name huh - lol) This is something that can easily be emailed out to users or subscribers, and will be free to anyone who wants it. For the first issue I already have two articles for inclusion and will be kicking off the restoration of my 15 window deluxe walkthrough which will then be featured for the e-zine. The frequency of release has yet to be fully decided as it depends on many factors - but most importantly when we have decided on a schedule, we don't want to dissapoint people by being unreliable, we also don't want to commit to something we cannot acheive.

The e-zine will hopefully be ready within the coming month and once we know how much work is involved, we will commit to a release schedule.

Another promotional tool is the use of icons and banners by users, we will be putting some of these together soon, so if you want to add our banner or link to your site you will be able to use an official logo. We will also be adding to the merchandising range with some new garments, hats and mugs with the new site logo, so keep an eye out for a news release.

Well, I feel all blogged out now. Time to do some more development work on the site and then go visit some forums :)


Mick.

I actually managed to do some stuff directly related to the splitty today. I took a trip down to visit Unique Fabrications workshop at Holden Hill to see what things were like there. After the recent phonecall from ian, the owner, about restoring the bus, I decided that i should take the time out and go and pay him a visit, both to show that I'm serious about getting the 15 restored and to have a bit of a nose at his operation.

There was an array of cars being worked on - two 356 Pre-A coupes, a Type 1 Ghia that had some nice tasteful and well executed body mods, a couple of bugs and theier current show project a volks-rod. Unfortunately the body was at the paint shop so I didn't get to see it, but the chassis was there and looked like some pretty good work.

Currently Ian outsources the painting and just concentrates on the steel fabrication side of things. He is well tooled with equipment like a 3 metre guilotine, 3 metre box and pan folder, english wheel, swage rollers and the usual mig and tig setups for welding.

The work that I saw on the Ghia was impressive - the rear arches has been flared to take wider wheels (the car is being prepped as a rally car) the flaring was very subtle and did not look out of place.

Whilst I was there i was introduced to a few other customers, and Ian took the time to chat to me about the business and his plans. Overall a top boke, I hope things work out.

I'm now waiting for Ian to come round and take a look at the bus, he's still booked up for the foreseeable future, but hopefully this is one step closer.

Unique Fabrications workshops are located at Braeside Avenue, Holden Hill.

Well I got a little closer to getting the garage finished today - I lodged the application for the building consent. This involved filling in a couple of forms, drawing a scale layout and parting with some cash. Also cleared a bit more of the paving from the area.

You might also have noticed that I have uploaded a new site logo and changed the appearance a little. I'm still playing with the overall visual style of the site - at present I'm going for a clean uncluttered look - I figure that there is a lot of info on the main page and so it doesn't need to be made too overpowering by adding lots more graphics etc. - well that's the theory at the moment. This may change in the future of course - probably when I learn a little more about what makes a good layout.

the most amazing thing happened today but i have no idea why. to cut a long story short i came home from work super grumpy so went and had a sleep, i was woken up by my daughter coming in and saying "mum wants you to come and look at something" eventually i crawled out of bed and marnie was on the computer looking at a beetle in the trading post, and asked me "what do you think?" she said that she even put a bid on one (nfi where as it wasn't e.bay)

i am seriously stunned at this, actually stunned isn't strong enough a word. i have no idea what has changed, i really don't get it but i hope that it lasts. she has always acknowledged my hobby (addiction) and said that she would like me to get my ragtop moving, the funding for it is another story though. she has been saying we need a second car for a while but always said that she thought a cheap newish (10yr old or so) thing would be better than a vw. if you are reading this you probably understand why i didn't agree with this. to spell it out, i think i can maintain a vw with little to no outside assistance. aka for the cost of parts only, plus if looked after properly a vw will only go up in value as it gets older.

some now it looks like my wife has come around to my way of thinking, i don't know what happened but i'm really pleased.

having said that i really want to be the one to pick the car i will have an on going relationship with for the next while (most likely a few years if not longer), so i'm worried that i will come home one day to find a vw here that she has bought for me but it won't be the right one. aka have some fault that will cost huge $ to fix that i could well have spotted beforehand or will be a total abortion of miss matched bits and ugly mods etc. as i have said before i'm a tight ass and as i may or may not have said i'm really picky.

i'm still up in the air as to what i really want. the ideal would be to do my ragtop, but that would need way way more $ than i can spend. not to mention the time that it would take to do it the way i want. i already did it wrong once and spent $$$ on stuff that for the most part won't be reused in the it's new incarnation, i want to do it right this time, not do another half assed job. the biggest issue $ wise would be getting the body done, i'm slowly trying to teach myself the skills to do it myself, but i'm only at the very beginning of the learning process, no where near ready to do it, let alone do it perfectly.

i really want a 6V beetle obviously the earlier the better, to be honest 56 is about as early as i would want to go as prior to that parts go way up $ wise, plus i have plenty of stuff for 56 on but very little for 55 down. i live in a country town so don't need to keep up with cut and thrust peakhour traffic 36-40hp is plenty for cruising (mind you 50-60hp of vintage tuning fury would be heaps better). fuel economy is a consideration, not the be all and end all but it does figure in the consideration.

i don't need a kombi as we have a 4wd with 7 seats (f'n POS) and a tow ball. though we are looking at getting something more modern with a similar number of seats (i think this is totally ridiculous and we have been arguing over it so only time will tell). the thing with the kombi is i own a lowlight panelvan (if the guy hasn't resold it as i have left it there so long) but i have never had a kombi, don't have any of the bits it needs bar the engine, and as it only has 1 other seat it isn't much good for the afternoon school run if we get stuck. plus i'd imagine that the fuel economy wouldn't be that good compared to a stock early beetle.

late model beetles are prob a little more refined, safer and use cheaper parts if needed but again i have very few parts if i need them and basically no experience bar with twinport motors. plus i much prefer the look of earlier vw's they look so much cleaner and more simple (and i'm a bit of an early car snob).

i also have a volvo 122S in the shed that would be great to get back on the road. it needs rust work and and engine/gearbox rebuild though... not that cheap. i have grown up a lot since i last drove it daily, but i couldn't help but flog the guts out of it nearly every time i drove it as it was so nice to drive briskly. it was really nice through the corners, not super fast but very good for it's age with a lovely involving feel and response = heaps of fun,..  and it sounded so good with twin SU's and a beautifully burbly exhaust note that built to a lovely rasp at higher rpm's. a lead foot plus a later 2l motor with an aftermarket cam meant really crap fuel economy, 

an early shape t3 would be nice too. i've kind of got a thing at the moment for fastbacks. i never liked them, but found a 66 parts car in vw blue and fell for that combo, then relooked at all fastbacks and saw their appeal. VW blue with just a slight lowering with some popouts and maybe at some stage a set of rims and it would be perfect, nothing flash or outragous. even the silver factory slotted rims (wide 5) currently on the ragtop would be enough to give it that little bit of spice. fit my speedwell wheel and a matching gearknob of some description plus a small diameter set of extractors and i'd feel king of the world in it.

basically no spares or experience again though... plus where would i find a really good vw blue fasty in my price range. i've only ever seen one for sale since i first fell for the combo.

more thinking needs to be done. unless of course the perfect car falls into my lap, i'm spreading the word every day so at least people know i'm after one.

btw i got the socket rails but haven't been out to the shed to do anything with them.

ahhh two days off, lovely. still only did 1/4 of the things planned but i had some fun playing with stuff..

this morning i picked up a fake hazet assistant that i found a few weeks ago. as i say, you always have to ask.  

a fair chunk of the day was spent pulling it apart, cleaning and then, yes you guessed it, putting it back together.

as you can see it was a little feral when i got it. it was too cheap to expect it to be cleaned.

plus the back end was a little worse for wear... "hey mate, is that 2 or 3 splines?"

about 3 hours later...

it looks a little like a freeway flyer doesn't it.

i know i need to patch the bottom of my shed wall...

btw this last picture is rather flattering, you can't see all of the little imperfections.

since the pic was taken i have cleaned the trays etc and put it back together.

not assembled till well after dark so no pics have been taken.

i haven't loaded my tools onto it yet.

just the shitty little stuff like the tray dividers and the rubber trim + the top tray matt to clean now. i'm not sure it i'll keep the book holder off the top tray, i think it might get in the way. (plus it is a little twisted and i can't get it to sit flat when folded down.)

i have to say that these things were built to a budget. not the best quality piece that i have ever seen. still it is an experement to see if this sort of tool box will suit my style of twiddling spanners. if it works well for me i'll continue the hunt for a real hazet one. ha, lets be honest, i'll keep looking anyway.

this will be such a change from the way i have used/stored tools in the past. i have always used .50cal ammo boxes. carried them in my car or stashed them in the shed, then hauled them out when i needed to use them, packed them up (well i've been getting a little lax now i have my shed) when done.

for all of the time i was daily driving vw's i always had to work outside so you couldn't leave any tools just lying around.

all of my spanners are in a tool roll (in order) and the majority of my sockets are in there case. i don't think that these will work well in the (fake) assistant but i like the order of it all. the spanners are all in size order and obviously the socket set is as well. it means i know if they were all there at the end of the day and i can go straight to the right one at the beginning of the next. though once i was using them they ended up sitting where i was working until i cleaned them (well most of the time) and put them back. the cleaning is as it really shat me to go and start something fresh and have filthy hands before you even toughed the car especialy when it was a minor thing and you were not dressed to get dirty (aka on the way out and the sh!tbox needs something adjusted AGAIN)(plus it feels like the right thing to do etc).

i must be getting so old in my outlook on life, the idea of a car that isn't very reliable just annoys me where as only my last car has ever been reliable.

plenty more to say but i'm back to work in the morning so need some sleep... oh to be independantly wealthy.

to start i realized that the brakes will be a bit more complicated than i had thought, so added a comment re this on the previous post.

back to business.

well about 8 this evening after work etc, i donned the thermals, multipule shirts, fleece jacket, heavy beanie plus mechanics gloves and faced... the shed...  in winter...

to be honest it isn't really winter yet. it can't be, as i was nice and warm.

total work on the type 3 brakes, 0 minutes. mainly as i can't find my easyouts (insert expletives here).

i figured that that meant it was time to have a go at what i have been avoiding for a while...  cleaning the shed.

there have been probably 3 or 4 times in the 3 1/2 years that i have owned this house that my shed has been something resembling clean and organised. there has always been the corner next to the door ( corner = 1 by 1 1/2 m ) that has had various "house" crap in it. when we moved in my wife asked if she could store some boxes of stuff in my shed, i grudgingly agreed, on the promise that they would be there for 3 weeks maximum. she has talked a few times about sorting them out and getting rid of the junk, but the only time they have been touched iswhen i have had a go at it. i think there are boxes there that have not been touched since before we met, aka 8+ years ago. i won't started on that tangent/rant.

the size of the "corner" has grown and shrunk (i did sort, condense and chuck some of it after my shed was flooded in a torrential downpoor about 2 years ago.) more stuff comes out to fill the gaps a month or 2 after each clean, but it has always been there. aka my shed has never been truely organised.

one of the times was one school holidays when a friend who was minding the cat decided to tidy the shed up for me. he knew that it would be good for me, i needed a hand to get moving and i would appreciate it. yes he is a really good friend. thanks Hans. that was probably the cleanest the shed ever got, as he organised all of the big stuff so there was room to move and when i gat back and saw it, i tidied the bench and re organised heaps of boxes of stuff. all in all it was really really nice for a few weeks. then i decided to start on the rebuild of the 1776 out of my ragtop. 

i got it completely stripped, all while wearing white overalls i might add, it was a new experience to do things with particular care about being neat and clean. i will stick to that style i think, then i broke the dogs leg... (don't worry it was by accident, but i won't go into that one now). $2400 later the dog was back on 4 legs and i had no chance of rebuilding the engine any time soon. as an asside $2400 was almost exactly what i had priced the parts and machine work for my engine to be.

that was well over a year ago and the engine in it's little bags still covers half the bench as a reminder to think before you act (and i'm not really sure where to put everything)( hmmm i just had an idea about where)

i really wonder if anyone else reads this as it is really total drivel.

to cut a long rambling story off before it gets any longer, the shed is still a pigsty with 2 exploded engines (the other came from the free type 3) covering the bench and a chunk of the available floor plus heaps more house crap than normal, but i have started to re assert my dominance over it.

the bit that surprised me was the amount of stuff i have been tinkering with over the last year. basically nothing totally finished but a fair bit of it cleaned up and to a state when it can now be stored safely awaiting the time i need it and therefore will throw the nessecary $ at it for replacement consumable parts or work that i'm not capable of doing myself.

time to go back to the shed and spray some more wd40 in these brake drums.

btw 2 hours of sorting stuff out and the easyouts didn't turn up, i think that is bacause i broke one last time i used them so took them with me to find a replacement. obviously i never put them back in the shed. nfi where i did put them though.

edit 2, i should also add that yesterday i got more $ in and stuff posted off to people, most of that round in and out. almost time to advertise some more stuff. plus i got back to a local guy with a hazet assistant copy so i should pick that up next week. he's still umming and ahhing re selling his front wheelnut spanners. we'll see what happens.

also in the neverending quest for the right car/the right bits for my ragtop, i asked a random stranger at work if they knew of any vw's in there neck of the woods and much to my surprise she replied that she had 3 on her property she wanted to get rid of. now i just need to wait for her to sent through some pics to work out if they are worth going to have a closer look at. always ask.

I have been building my Type 34 Karmann Ghia for the past 12 or 13 years (it's been so long I've forgotten when I actually bought it).

So far the restoration has been documented on my personal website www.t-34.co.uk or over at the Type 34 Registry (ww.type34.org) where I help manage the site.

The current status is that the engine and gearbox are built and ready to fit, the car has been repainted, the suspension and brakes have mostly been finished and the interior is currently at the trim shop being recovered.

The only major works left to do are to get the engine and box back in the car, which requires finishing off the rear suspension and plumb the engine in

The engine is based around a Type 4 Unit and runs at 2.7 litres on a set of LN Engineering nickies. This is fueled by a turbo / EFI setup runnning from a DTA EFI unit. The engine drives a Porsche 915 5-Speed through a 944 rear suspension setup and has 996 / 944 turbo brakes all round.

I would like to get it running for late this year / early next year, but I guess I will have to see what other distractions occur between now and then.

I will keep you posted.

Mick.

i've been doing reasonable amount of thinking on things of late. specifically a full tilt 36hp motor, but not that much has really happened.

yesterday i did manage to pick up another big cap 40hp distributor. this one turns out to be an australian made one. i say turns out as at the time i had to lick a finger to try and wipe off the grot to even see if it was a cast iron one or not. it was caked that thick in grease, dust and general filth. much to my pleasent surprise it is really nice not the most of the grot is gone. i think that the german one will end up getting chopped as will the aust one is well australian.

i stripped it down and apart from a 2 shims and a fibre washer, everything is great. of course those are the hard bits to get... i only gave it a rough once over, i was at one stage going to strip and paint the body but found (or didn't find actually) the masking tape was gone so that idea was cut short. the joys of having children.

i think that it will end up with the vaccuum can off the other as it is cleaner, plus i need to replace the earth wire on the points plate. oh and a few screws are a bit chewed.

in my head the conversion of the other is done. i think i have most of it sorted, the whats and the hows at least for the major stuff. having said that i'm sure that reality will through up a few bumps in the road.

i still haven't talked to the guy i hope will do the machine work for me. he is a fitter and turner by trade and clocks are his hobby, so he is used to precision, plus he likes older cars. i like to think that he won't charge an arm and a leg, i really should call him to suss it all out. they aren't ch

i have also been tossing around ideas on welding up a 36hp case to increase the support on no 2 and 3 main bearings. finding a local to weld isn't looking that promising. i had one local fabricator say outright that you can't weld magnesium. i didn't even try to dissagree, just scratched him off the list of potentials. mind you i asked a few questions of welding cases with a couple of engine guys on the samba, one said the he didn't really think that it was nessecary. now i'm in two minds as to wether to follow the idea up. i think my desire to do it once and do ti right comes from the fact i only want to build it once. specifically buy the parts once. if everything is stregnthened to a point that it won't break at my given end point then well and good. i don't follow the idea that if you aren't breaking parts you aren't making enough power. i like to think of the potential problems (all of them would be the ultimate) and make allowances for them before the hot oily bits end up on the outside as opposed to souping it up till it breaks then stregnthen that bit and try it again.

a gentleman recently made a proposition to me and it has rather taken my attention. it is very early days yet, but there could be a colaboration happening over the next year or three. i'm rather anxious about it all as it is a big commitment, but very excited at the same time. plus rather honered to by asked to become a co-conspiretor. (spelling?). it comes at the perfect time in a way as the creative juices are starting to flow and ideas are again finding fertile ground in my head.which i have to say is a really nice change.

edit 50 posts...  that is an awful lot of babble.

i was adding a coment to a post pelow and it reminded me of some of the other crazy ideas that have occupied my thoughts over the years.

as mentioned below one was for variable valve timing and OHC desmo acuated valves with different alignment on the valves etc.

another was for cross drilled vented wide 5 front disks with alloy hubs and ring type bolt on disks. think sort of like motorbike front disks on an alloy hub. i do think that this would be achievable and useful.

oil spray bars in the heads to cool and lube the rocker tips and valve springs.

oil lines into the rocker shafts to pressure lube the rockers etc.

dry sumping the gearbox and fitting oil sprays onto the gears to reduce hp loss through churning the oil in the sump.

tapered ribbed alloy pushrods to add stregnth but keep the valve train weight down. i still think that this one is worth chasing

a whole heap of different dual wishbone suspension set ups for both the front and rear of the car.

various hydrolic clutch set ups.

in car adjustable brake bias set ups.

piggybacked fuel injection/timing maps so you could switch between them while driving to suit your mood/what you needed

quick release front calliper set ups for "racing" pad changes.

quick release hubs for "racing" wheel changes.

variable length headers where the collector slid, set up so the tuned legnth of the exhaust changed to the optimum for the motors rpm

fitting type 3 wide 5 drums onto a type 1 beam. i think that this is doable, i just need to beat a couple more stuck bolts to get the bits loose to check this out better.

an electricly operated stand off kit. this idea was from back when i first got into vw's.

two different types of 2 peice push rod/lifter set ups to suit 36hp's.

rear 1/4 windows that could wind up/down.

various ways of reducing un sprung weight. mainly front but back as well.

in car adjustable center beam adjusters with various methids of movinf the steering box (or in some cases rack) to keep the wheel alignment in spec.

a clutched fan pulley so you could "slip the fanbelt" when ever you needed just a little more go for a few seconds. i belive that this has now been done with auto airconditioning pulleys.

modifying stock 36hp heads to DP's.

i'm sure that there are heaps more that have crossed my mind but as i'm almost falling asleep typing it's time to go..

i picked my username years ago when i first got an e.mail account. it fitted at the stage of life i was in at the time. both as i had no direction and was just making it up as i went along and  i could also be a little grumpy. well i'm still somewhat directionless. i have an idea of the basics aka i'll be in my house with my kids and working to pay the bills. plus the way i view time has grown up with me. i'm also far grumpier and really don't like being disturbed when i'm focusing on something.

all that aside, the reason behind the title is as follows: edit: the following is rambling and prob unclear but it gets there eventually and sort of made sense as i was typing it. i haven't re read it to see if it still does)

over the weekend the family and i went down to sydney to find a new family car. it was a damn expensive exercise and my wife and i are complete idiots (we forgot about a little thing called stamp duty and now have to pull $900 extra out of our backsides...) aka we ended up spending our entire budget on the car without keeping a little aside. still while it is booring and modern, it is kind of exciting. it is a 2006 torago... yeah i can hear you asking "how is that exciting?" well as the previous newest car i have ever owned myself was built in 1971, having something close to new is a real change. even our daily driver "the pig" pajero is early 90's (and not in my name obvuiosly). it is kind of scary when the "little car" in the family is a full sized 4wd.

right, back to vw's. we stayed with my parients, so i had a poke around in my car shed "the shed o' death". an 8 by 8' garden shed FILLED with greasy crappy car bits. to be honest it isn't as bad as it used to be. it is no longer chest deep in the middle. you only have to pull out 2 panels to be able to climb in and get access to (some of) the stuff in the shelving across the back wall. btw anyone want to make me a reasonable offer on a 68 beetle engine lid or a early shape squareback rear hatch so i don't have to keep pulling them out when ever i want to get in there?  

i had got a formula vee guy to hold a 36hp longblock he wanted to get rid of. it was cheap and i like 36hp's. in the end i swapped him a pr of "373" 1200 heads for the motor and 2 early distributers. i'm happy with what i got and i hope he is as well. (the heads looked really crusty but i think they will clean up really nicely. i certainly hope so.) i still haven't carried the engine into the shed it is sitting in the back of the pig. my shed here is in the back yard and motors are heavy. plus my shed needs some more organisation. it's a mess again.

for any distributor pervs. one wis a stock 36hp dist... nothing that interesting, i've got several spares. but the other is a cast iron early 40hp bigcap dist (with a fairly good data plate too), which i didn't have one of. nfi if i will ever use it, but i love the look of cast iron dist's and they are really nice to pull apart and put back together.

while in my shed i also pulled out my other "373" 1200 heads. these ones are really nice, having only spent a matter of months on an engine. i got the engine along with a heap of other stuff way back when i first ot into vw's. i gave the pistons and cylinders  to a friend when he shattered a piston. pity as they were 82 or 83mm 40hp bigbore ones and i think they were also fairly fresh. i wish i had them now. they came up in a milk crate with a pr of bastard heads. i'd love to build a hot "bastard" motor. anything to be different.i'm in two minds re the "373" heads, keep them stock for future historic vee use or build a 40hp vintage speed style motor. i'm so indecicive.

i also grabbed a 1200 "D" manifold that i think is the one with a larger throat from the factory. there was a box of rods (i think) in the shed o' death so i grabbed them. i'm hoping to find a set of "100" 1200 rods as i believe that these are the rods to use in a historic formula vee motor. i don't intend to build it up the vee as a historic racer straight off, but it would be nice to have a pile of bits put aside for if/when the time comes.

another box i grabed was a box full of rocker gear. from 36hp through to 1600. damn that box is heavy.  while i was at it i snuck out 5 camshafts, 2 jars of lifters and various other trinkets. there is an early bastard/40hp generator pedistal (how do you spell that?) that looks so lovely woth it's lack of outside bracing. it is the little touches like that that make or break an early vintage speed motor as far as looks go.

the cams and liferes ane so i can find a suitable set to put aside for the vee's future and so i can also eventually get a cam and liters reground through stan pobjoy.

i'm sure with the right bits i could even make a 1600dp look like a vintage thing. add a cast iron dist with a brown cap (VJ4 BR25 or 019 etc), a blue coil perhaps, an early generator stand and rewound 6V size generator with the early pressed backing plate. a stock rebuildable style fuel pump. run a stock pulley. run something like kadrons with thier aircleaners painted silver and the perforated screens replaced with ones made from fine mesh to emulate the knecht aircleaner look. either run a non fresh air style fanshroud or a later shroud with all the paper airhoses and stock hoseclamps. fabricate some suitable looking hard fuel lines and maybe a more "vintage" linkage and you're ready to show off. all in all it would be rather cheap too bar having an early generator rewound for 12V (assuming you were running 12V).

all in all what this rambling post is about is, i now have so many new things to play with as well as all the on going bits and peices, i have absolutely no idea what to tinker with next.

Had my birthday on monday, got heaps of money for 'Zac's Kombi Fund'. 

Hoping to get some new parts for Daisy!!

      Just been on just over two weeks holiday. I really did need a break. Plan, take in a little of the FIA World Rally Championships aka 09 Repco Rally Australia, Volkswagen drivers club of Queensland Action Day, Dealer and Media release of the new Triumph Thunderbird (work related).

      Day 1 : Up nice and early to start the drive to Kingscliff NSW which takes about 16 hours a long drive I know. But I just hate two day trips, it just takes up so much of the days you have. All was going well 1200 km in 12 hours so i was right on schedual, as it was a light drizzle and rain most of the way lights and wipers was used most of the day. Travelling between Glen Innes and Grafton I noticed that my wipers were starting to go a little slower than normal and a little further on my headlights started to dim. A check of the dash and no sign of the alternator light but being 50 km from Glen Innes and 100 km to Grafton I had to press on as it was 6.30 pm and dark my 2000 model AU falcon Series II had other ideas and started to slow. Loosing power I had to pull over. Car stalls and wont restart (flat battery and one toasted alternator) and no phone service. Hazard lights on and wait for next car and wait and wait. This is not one of the busiest roads at night. A few cars drove by without stoping but eventually some one did. Luckily he had an in car phone which had signal and the NRMA was called. Gotta love roadside assist. NRMA arrives checks charging system and tells me the alternator has given up (no shit). Says he will call the tilt tray and have me and my car picked up in about 1 hour. Gee why dont we just put the new battery in that you bought with you and I follow you back using your headlights. New battery in, back to Glen Innes for a motel for the night.

     Day 2 : Now Glen Innes has only one auto electrician and its now sunday morning. NRMA man said he might be able to get said auto eletrician to look at car if i'm lucky. 12.00 noon arrives and a knock on the motel door. Good news get your stuff and I will take you to the auto electrician. Five hunred dollars later and I'm back on the road and find myself getting to Kingscliff by 4.00 PM Sunday

     Day 3 to 6 Catch up with freinds

     Day 7 to 9 Take a look at the WRC pit/service park which has been set up at Kingscliff (3 blocks from my mums place). I did not go and see any of the rally cars in action as there are only about 10 cars in the top level and the distance and time spent to see these cars would of just taken up to much of my time (maybe next time).

it amuses me to think about some of the distractions i have created for myself. enjoyable distractions that i followed willingly but still things that missed the point. things directly or vaguely related to vw's that really serve no purpose when it comes to actually getting one of my shitboxes on the road.

the case i am thinking about tonight in my bremi points cabinet.

a while back i visited my friend A in sydney, he has 3 points cabinets in his shed that he uses as partially decoration but also to store his small interesting parts in. they are extreamly functional but look excellent at the same time. i kind of fell for them at the time and decided that i had to get one for myself. not much came of this for a while.

a few months ago i started playing with distributors and looked at e.bay to see if i could get consumables for them cheaper than retail prices. i grabbed a few points, condensers and rotors etc, then a few more, then i saw a points cabinet for auction... perfect, i thought, just what i need to store my spare dist bits. some $ and a little while later it arrived at my door. i hung it up that night and was rapt. the problem was that it took all of the new distributor parts i had and still looked empty. i then added a few select new electrical system bits, not a lot but enough to make it look slightly less empty.

this is where the distraction took over. it still looked too empty so i went looking for more T-1 dist consumables, not focusing on any particular type of distributor or era, just T-1. i justified it by saying, well if a vw friend needs it i'll be able to hook them up, but really it was just so the box looked better. it is not like anyone other than my family has seen it and they don't care. it is not like i'd even be willing to show my shed off at the moment, it's a mess, better than it was but still a mess. the thing is i know it is silly but even as i write this i have another pair of points coming and will buy more when i see them. i am trying to focus on the parts for 67 down cars and would love to pick up a heap of 60 down bits, but still. on this front i did stop myself bidding on some late parts i already had some of, at least that is a step foward.

i look at the picture above and see the empty spaces, it doesn't matter in the real world but still i want to fill it to satisfy some bizar part of my psyche/ego.

Managed to source a pair of bumpers for the bus. Good bumpers don't seem to come up very often, every set I've ever seen sold over here seem to need a fair bit of work, and finding a pair of slash style before someone else snaps them up is more than a challenge.

The pair I bought have already been straightened so no work needed to be done apart from painting them and fitting them. Unfortunately they're not the correct slash style - they're the earlier ribbed style, but this fits with my plans for the bus and they are much better looking in my opinion. Just need to source some brackets for them now.

Also, after a bit of research i decided on an exhaust - just ordered one of these from vintage speed.

With the exhaust - that's pretty much everything I need as far as the engine is concerned.

Now all I need to do now is find the other 3000 odd parts that my bus has missing.

the net at home has taken a dive for reasons unknown so i couldn't give an update yesterday but a friend has gratiously let me use his net so i'm typing this.

i went and checked out the beetle i got word about yesterday (i dragged my eldest along as well and she seemed to have fun). it was by nomeans a short drive but enjoyable. it is one of those cars you would never find it if without being told, not even an aeroplane would  help with this one (one day i will spend a day or 3 with my pilot friend car hunting). it turned out that it is a 65. there is nothing that really makes it stand out (well there is but i'll get to that once it is in my hot little hands) it was birch green but has since had an external repaint. to be honest birch green is probably my least liked 6V vw colour... so booring imho. it will probably need a couple of panels to get it where i'd like it but only time will tell (i still have to talk my wife into it... ). the thing that i most lke about it (apart from the copious spares that it comes with) is the fact that from what i could see the main rust is a small patch in the drivers A pillar (famous last words...) the pans looked solid, the front of the rear inner guards the sill bottoms. mind you a good high pressure wash may reveal more once the the mud is blown off. now that i think about it one of the door bottoms may need a little work. it looks as if it has taken a hit in the rhs of the bumper od similar as that side of the wheel well is a little pushed. the other side is ok though. all in all it is a fairly lean country car. much better than most cars i saw in sydney 10/15 years ago and it would prob make the UK guys cry with jelousy. the motor that it had in it when the current owner got it got seized by his kids at some stage so it now has a 1600DP but with a little luck the og case is one of the others that are included. (an early 40hp, a 36hp beetle and another 40hp or later case plus god knows what else (i saw a bastard head in the pile of stuff here's hoping for a VJ4 BR25 :) )

there was also another car included (well the g'box ws included as that is all the guy thought was worth taking) but i saw a few other things (4 tab hood and bogged over semaphore pillars that would be useful, not to mention lots and lots of little bits. it was once a 60 model btw. there were also a few more panels in a scrap pile that i will grab just 'cause they are there and may provide something useful.

obviously i'm keen to get it. now i just need to convice the misses or flog off enough stuff that i can just tell her that i'm getting it and deal with the consequences later. if i don't spend any house money they will not be too bad. yes i am dying for a vw to drive it has been a long time. 

i did take a couple of pictures but i won't post them until i have te car safely at home just in case. plus i couldn't be bothered trying to deal with making my camera talk to a friends computer.

as  i said it isn't the flashest car or the cleanest or the mst original it isn't even all that interesting buti think it might just be thee one for me now. i already asked my eldest if she'd like a beetle as a first car so maybe in 3-4 years when she is old enough to get her liscence it will go to her. it would be nice to spend time with my daughter doing stuff i'm passionate about. the biggest prob would be i would need to get another one for my second daughter who is 358 days younger...  about then it could start to get very expensive very fast.

time will tell. i may not even get this car. if it was the price i was originaly told i would have put down a deposit but it was a little more, not a lot but still enough that it made me hesitate.

yes i am excited by the prospects though. it may be a few days work getting it all home... i kept myself awake pipe dreaming last night...

i love getting new cars... it has been 6 or 7 years  since i last got a new vw. soon my precious soon.

well i guess to start my name is todd my partner is nicole and i have owned a few beetles a t4 and a 2006 polo . well the beetles a 62 deluxe grey and white lowered with a 1916, the next was a 68 i call feral it ran a 1500 with 1600 heads and lokked feral but went ok when it ran right . then  came the polo it was airbrushed and lower with roh mantis wheels white the air brushing was of a dragon on a snow mountain( everybody has an opinion ) but my partener loved it. then a t4 caravelle which was to be done and cleaned but illness stuch and that ended that . now i\'m well and looking for a good project to start a come back, maybe a mark 1 golf or type three .

what a day. today i spent to entire day catching up with 2 old and one new vw friend. i do basically all of my car socializing (if you could call it that) over the internet, but as i am in sydney on holidays i took a day to catch up with my 2 long long time vw friends and one guy who actually lives 15 min from my place but was down here as well. i originaly wrote this with thier names but figured initials would protect thier superhero identities better, having said that 2 have the same initial so it may get a little confusing.

firstly i visited A, who has a rather amazing collection of cars and seems to find a fair bit of super cool stuff. several hours were spent leaning on cars, talking about cars, ( + i sat in a few that are far too cool for me to get hold of unless i really get lucky) poking around his shed and just hanging out. always fun, a top bloke all round. not only that but he sold me (for a reasonable price i might add) his latest super cool set of rims. his last set of super cool rims were a set of keel/sabidusi 14" rims one of 2 possibly 3 sets known, i really wanted them but just couldn't swing the $ back then and have regretted it ever since. so this time when he pulled out a set of really nice vintage hand made rims and said he liked them but didn't have a car to but them on i jumped. needless to say i don't know how i will break it to my wife i spent several hundred $ on a set of wheels but it's too late now. i just keep looking over at them and smiling. one needs a new rim on it but how can i complain, i have a set of one off rims. well to be honest i don't know if they are one offs, but they are definately not mass produced. from the amount of work that has gone into them i really doubt that there would be another set. though having said that they do look sort of like a set i have seen on a KG around armidale, not the same but maybe similar. i will post some pics when i take some. i have no idea who made them so i will call them my "rad wheels"

edit. i also had more than a little a drool over his wall of factory tools.  one day i'll have a decent tool collection of my own.

next was off to the other A's place, there i looked at his cool project cars, again out of my league unless i get really lucky. (having said that both of the guys said today that they couldn't get thier toys now if they had to start from scratch.) plus i couldn't get mine again either. also had a good poke through his stuff and checked out his enviable collection of oil company stuff and other cool "shed" things. i have to admit i got a little jelous at some of the stuff he pulled out of boxes, then he was the one who taught me about accessories back in the day so it is not surprising. the first A above taught me a fair amount about car hunting and what/where to look for, most importantly to always ask (plus he gave me my first oval... it was totally rooted but still it was an oval.) together they both drummed into me the importance of keeping on trying. now i think about it they really set the basis that made me the vw person i am today. thanks guys, it means a lot.

next off was J, who lives up close to me but we have never managed to hook up up there. i got to check out his late bay microbusses one with factory AC. he even let me take one for a spin, kind of amazing in my opinion seeing as while we have spent several hours talking BS on the phone we had only met for 2 minutes in person before. i was rather amazed with the demo he gave me of how well it took off, you wouldn't pick it if looked at the engine bay, but one or two minor tricks that really woke it up. i'm also looking foward to checking out his other toy back at his place near me.

edit. it really shows that it takes a lot of time, effort, persistance and perhaps a little luck to get a nice collection. all of the guys above have been at it for 20 odd years and myself for close to 15 now.

all in all i drove 1/2 way around sydney caught up with two good old friends plus one that looks like it will be a good new one and had a very tiring but excellent day.

...and i scored a super cool set of rims.  

it has been a little while since i wrote here...

not that much to say really. lots and lots of nothing interesting has been happening (as it tends to do when there are responsibilities in life). there hasn't been all that much car progress. a little here and there but nothing noteworthy that i can think of. at least anything reciently... aka that i can think of. i've actually had to work at work lately and i'm not really used to it anymore. aka carry around big heavy boxes the heaviest was 51 kg but most 20-40, unload trucks etc. i got used to being a salesman that sat around and made bad jokes.

i picked up the original "the love bug" on DVD from a servo of all places. my kids all sat mezmerised, it was good. harry my 4yo didn't blink for nearly 1/2 and hour at the start, then when it finished went straight to the dvd player to play it again :). there are so many cool rare and rather desirable cars in the racing scenes. the bizzaranni (sp) was the one that most surprised me.

time to get some sleep for work tomorrow.

i was reading the early 70's book i picked up yeaterday about vw's and it furthered some ideas / thoughts that i have had for a little while.

basically, what is must have been like for people back in the day driving and modifying vw's (aka the 60's and early 70's... even back into the 50's for some)

i look at these cars and see a beetle, there have always been beetles as long as i have been alive, you could still buy them new in australia when i was born. there were dealerships everywhere and well vw's everywhere. my mother is the only one on her side of the family that never had one. i remember traveling in "the purple people eater" a friends mums purple late model type 3 fastback, when it was still a fairly new car. but still to me (and basically everyone else i'd imagine) they are now an old car. an oval (aka my first car) is now over 50 years old. that is a really old car. even in the late 60's early 70's an oval was an old car, but you could still buy new parts form them form a vw dealership. i'd love to see the reaction that you would get if you took one in for a service at 95% of the vw dealerships now. 

i think what i'm trying to get to is, what must it have been like to be owning, driving and modifying them when they were a new car. buying a new beetle is 67, driving it home and fitting a twim carb kit, or building a dual port motor for it in the early 70's, say 71, it was a 4 year old car. how old is the car you drive every day? i know mine is a lot older than 4 years, i have tried to think of parallels in modern terms to explain what i'm getting at but there is nothing to compare to it, nothing even close. i have heard that the vw engine is the second most modified in the world after the small block chev and the beetle is the most modified car ever. have a go but i can't think of anything that can be even vaugly compared to it with regards to being cheap dependabe transport, it's versitility, ability to go fast at the drag strip, as an off road machine, in hot / cold. mud / sand / snow. haul huge loads, to do basically anything that was asked of it (provided you were willing to throw some cash at it in some cases) on basically every continent etc. i ask a lot of people if they know of any vw's most don't, but a fair few of those will still tell stories of the vw they owned or thier parents owned etc. generally fond ones. now they are a dissapearing site on the roads but they still inhabit our conciousness. 

our experience is so varied compared to each other in the global vw thing. compare the amount of rust work needed on your average uk car compared to a californian one. the cost of parts in the us vs europe vs australia vs NZ etc. i was stunned with the amount of $ invested in the cars in germany when i was there in 2001. completely stunned. over here you can still sort of do it on a shoestring budget. i'd imagine you could do so in some parts of the us as well, but not in germany and parts of asia. $$$$$$$$$

i wonder when the "golden age" for vw's was in australia? when it was the cheapest and easiest? the 60's? the 70"s? 80's? 90's? now? the information is easyto get now but you can't go out and pick up a good parts car every month for less than $300. you don't see a beetle every time you leave the house now.

back to the original thought. owning and modifying vw's back in the early days. whether it was to stand out from every other beetle on the block or to surprise the guy round the corner with his new EK holden. so you could tow your caravan up hills a little easier. yes remember quite a few beetles had tow bars and were used to tow stuff. maybe it was your weekend warrior rally car. perhaps it had a stock motor but you had done some custom body work to make it yours... or given it a metal flake paint job (or house paint flowers / rainbows / trees etc. i have seen a few with psyc/hippieesque additions over the years) 

it was a different time, the people thought differently. in 1959 if you were my age or a little older you could have fought the germans in thier kubels in north africa during ww2. these were a foreign car, even if build/assembled in victoria, a foreign car back when the world was still a big place, tv was only 3 years old in nsw and vic (it wouldn't come to the NT for 12 years.. 1971) and most people didn't have one, shops had roll down shades on the awnings to protect the produce from the sun. lots of men still wore hats etc. even if you lived in the suburbs you could well have had a water tank. you bought your beetle with pounds shillings and pence and you could have optioned it with traficator replacements ( aka elephant ears not semaphores) basically every service station had a service department and driveway service, there was no late night or sunday trading. etc if you added a monaro motors kit and a lukey exhaust to your big window beetle, a: you would void the warrenty and b: it would be a seriously hot vw and probably fairly brisk for a family car. hell, a beetle could be a family car and people wouldn't freak out about the lack of leg room of seatbelts / abs / airbags or aircon / dvd's / satnav etc. 100 miles an hour was FAST.

it does make me wonder a bit.

damn the blog entry that i just typed was so boring that it crashed firefox...

oh well, not retyping it. i will wait till something exciting(ish) happens.

i picked up some socket rails today from super cheap. is there a single tool in that place that is decient quality? the socket rails certainly aren't.

having said that at $5.50 total for a 1/4" and a 1/2" rail you can't expect too much, plus they will do till i find something better. (they were the only ones i could find anyway)

the 1/4" are basically squared away, though i may get another rail so i can get one clip to put the short expension on the rail as well. the 1/2" inch are partially done, all of the smaller ones are done, plus some of the odd stuff. aka most of the addaptors and plug sockets. i will need to get another 1/2" rail and cut it down to size to put the imperial (sp) sockets on. don't worry, that heathen imperiel stuff is in the bottom of the tool box, away from the proper tools :) . it is odd knowing that my socket set won't be in it's box, it has been in there since i was given it as a combined b'day and christmas present from my parents and grandparents. i kept the tag that came on the present in the box (yes for 10+ years, it means a lot to me).

i think i will like this though. now i just need to use my tools for something...

i also checked and found out the local wrecker will strip tyres off rims for $5 a piece. i think that will be the way to go in future. i am a tight ass (at times at least) but this seems worth it compared to an hour + to get one off myself.

i want to go on a tool buying binge, now all i need in the $. my list keeps getting longer, decent screwdrivers, a punch set, rachet spanners, a good quality 3 arm puller (hfi where to even find one) sand blasting cabinet, MIG, a variety of air tools, an automatic center punch etc etc.

hmmm what else can i do tonight?

well nothing else done. some more to say though.

i'm trying to cut down on my internet time as well as loosing the TV etc. it is funny how one thing can set you (well me) off in that regard. i got a pm from someone that pissed me off, consiquently i'm now trying to steer clear of all of the chat sections of the various forums i visit. i will try and keep my posts to just stuff i want or want to sell... i guess i'll know in a week if i have stuck to this. i will try and keep here as the exception as this is a good record of what i have done and thought at that precise time on any given day. plus as a site i think it has potential and i intend to see what i can do from my end to keep it going. even if it is just rambling on for lines at a time about stuff that will prob only be moderately interesting even to me in the future (if even that).

i'm still mulling over various things in my head re what to do about a daily driver. i'm too picky (and cheap) for my own good i think. plus with regards to a daily driver i want fairly instant gratification. maybe not straight away but an easy quick project... after all i can walk to and from work easily in summer, this time of the year though it is dark when i finish (not that the dark really worries me, though if i fell between the sleepers while crossing the railway bridge on the way home it could be most unpleasent) but it is so damn cold and the cold will cut through multipule layers. it is funny to write that as it was only just starting to get cold when i started writing this, not the cold has prettty much set in.

i didn't get a chance to do that much but it felt really good to do something.

ages ago i read about fitting early type 3 wide 5 drums onto BJ front ends. (in the speedpro beetle suspension and brake book). i remembered that a guy i used to know worked out that if you used the inner race from a specific set of bearings with the outer from another you could put BJ discs onto beetle linkpin front ends. put 2 and 2 together, you should be able to fit, with the right bearings, type 3 drums on a link pin beetle.

i know very little about type 3's but i do know they have bigger brakes and twin leading shoes on the front. both desirable as far as braking goes.

not disk brakes but a mod that is concevably a vintage performance mod. plus doesn't cost stupid $$$ like 356 drums or mako disks (damn i wish i had bought that set of mako's that one of the muller's was willing to sell for $500 in the mid to late 90's). yes the added weight would have an adverse affect on the sprung to unsprung ratio but every brake upgarde be it period or modern seems to add weight as well. plus everything bar the bearings would have come on a vw. (yes the backing plates need to be modified to bolt onto beetle spindles but they still came on a type 3)

with this in mind, when i was offered a virtually complete 66 fastback or what ever parts i wanted to pull off it  (so so RUSTY) i left the car there (to keep peaceat home) but amongst other things grabbed the front spindle assemblies (the drums were seized and even liberal doses of WD40 and towing the car around wouldn't free them so i couldn't just get the brake assemblies)

fast foward to today and i had another go at one of the brake/spindle assemblies that had beaten me several times in the past. still not free and apart but i now know how they fit together so have a chance. i got out the 2 bolts that hold the steering arm (and the wheel cyl's) on and drilled into the more accessable of the other 2 bolts to have a go with the easyout. then my parients arrived from sydney so work was halted.the plan is to get the bolts out so i can turn the wheel cyls and pop the shoes out of thier slots, hence the drums will come off. it sounds easy when you say it fast.

even though it wasn't as much as i had hoped for it was car time and enjoyable, plus it is working towards finding out something i have wondered about for several years... "how will i fit them?"

even if i can't get things to work, there is always fitting the idea of fitting the wheels cyl's to normal beetle drums for added stopping power. i'm wouldn't be surprised if the group N racers did this as from my reading of the rules it would be legal as it doesn't change the drum diameter or pad width, but would give an increase in braking performance.

i really need to work out this sites picture posting protoculs so i can illustrate these babbles so they will make a little more sense, plus be a little more interesting.

ignore the 25th date, it is just after midnight. so to me it is still yesterday. (how's that for an illogical sentence)

as i expected but hoped would not be true no tangable progress... again.]

got one thing posted off though, plus the postman had 2 presents for me. i love it so much when toys turn up on my day off.

i did get my shed roof swept, the gutter cleaned out (well i still need to hose out the last of the gumph) and trimmed some of the overhanging branches. plus i got a section of the house gutter cleaned out before my eldest decided to spring her knee on the trampoline = a trip to hospital. thankfully all seems ok though. the wait at the hospital was going to be multipule hours so my wife brought her home.

i really don't remember being so loud when i used to hurt myself as a kid. she screamed, cried and generaly chucked a complete hissy fit. when i went to touch her leg it was screamimg in pain about her knee followed a sentence later by "i can't feel my knee". i know i chucked more than a few tantrums as a kid but by the age of 13 they were long gone plus when i got injured i may have cried and given the occasional wimper when it realy hurt but i never screamed. i really don't get it. to be honest it really annoyed me. "back in my day..."

back to work tomorrow, not happy. plus i don't agree to working on anzac day, it feels disrespectful to me, service stations and pubs yes, general shopping no. surely you can wait one day for your crap. as a society we really are increasingly driven by instant gratification. i don't think it is a good thing. patience is a usefull thing to know/understand (8 years with basically no progress on my restoration project means that i have to at least say i'm all for patience ).

my thanks to all those who did/are serving and all those who lost family.