Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water...

In preparation for the new exhaust system, I wanted to make sure that the plugs weren't fouled.

That's how I got here.  In order to get to the plugs on this engine, the carbs and manifolds have to be removed, then the eyeglass tins and, finally, the plugs.  Funny part is that I didn't even get the plugs out because I ran out of time. Tomorrow is another day.

I swapped over from the early oil fill tube to the late oil fill tube - primarily to mate up the 'road draft tube' with the oil fill - which ensures that any oil that makes it past the breather will wind up back in the engine instead of all over the bottom of the engine/fan shroud.

 This is what remains of the seal for the oil filler thing...I should probably know what it's called.

The distraction was completed - cleaned up the oil fill / dipstick holder bit (brb - have to go look up what this thing is called...)

It's 311 813 313 A, Oil Filler Neck

Well, it got cleaned up, the gasket was replaced and the whole thing was put back on the car.

I've got several quotes for replacing the pans and I'm going to go with one of them here once the IRS conversion is set to take place.  The plan is to also modify the pan so that I'll have 3 point seat belts up front (real auto retracting ones) and I want to move the rear brake "T" slightly to eliminate a bend that seems to serve no real purpose other than to make it a real bitch to install the brake line.  I'm also going to have the fuel line in the tunnel replaced with a new line since the front end is pretty close to being toast.  All that's left to decide is if I want to use a bed liner on the bottom of the pan and what I want done with the inside of the pan (paint or ?).  I don't want bed liner on the whole thing so I have to figure that out rather soon.  I'm looking forward to putting some of these parts that I've been hauling all over the country to use!  I'll have to try REALLY hard to prevent scope creep - these cars come apart really easy.

The proposed build up of the IRS conversion - barring anything odd - is going to happen in a couple of months.  I'm waiting on a part from CSP to convert the rear disc kit from swing axle to IRS.  In the meantime, I've sold off a lot of the swing axle bits and those funds will go toward funding the IRS conversion.  While the engine is out during the IRS conversion, I'm going to swap out the tins for better condition original tins without the wrinkle finish on them - it shouldn't bother me because it's such a minor thing - but it bothers me.  I've got some nice original tins that can be put to use and the wrinkle finish stuff can go to a new home.

I'm trying my hardest to keep the motivation up and get this car on the road - let's see what I can carry down from that hill better than Jack and Jill.

It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.

From a project car perspective - today was both productive and weird.

I received confirmation from CSP that the rear disc brake kit could be converted using a few simple parts - they did not propose that I buy a whole new brake kit.  I'm waiting on the sales team to tell me the cost of the parts...should be tomorrow, I'd guess.

Once I had that confirmation about the brakes - I decided to start posting parts for sale.  Sold a few things and then through some Facebook conversations, I sold a whole lot more.  Since I'm heading into an IRS conversion and I have that prostreet transmission, I cannot use the camber compensators.  In two different conversations, I sold all of the camber compensators and their related parts within a couple of hours.  I also sold a few other stock parts that I've been hanging on to for quite some time with no real reason or purpose.  I'm real close to having this conversion fully funded through the sale of parts that I would have likely never used.  It'd be great if half of what's left would sell too - I'm motivated to let things go now that I have what appears to be a clear path forward.

Additionally, I found a semi-local source to both replace the fuel line and weld in the KlassicFab floor pans.  They're working up a quote to do the job and I should have that back tomorrow.  Having all of this information at hand definitely makes it easier to propel the work forward.  Plan is to get the exhaust on the car, drive it for a while and then take it apart for the pan restoration/IRS conversion.  Let's see how I do later this year, yeah? 

I will have to come up with a list of things to modify on the pan before I drop it off...new 8mm fuel line is one, moving the rear brake T as it exits the pan is another thing.  The rear seat kick panel I've been dragging around, along with the pans and the NOS rear kick panel stand brackets will finally get put to use!  It also sounds like they've got an old school panel beater within their walls - I could theoretically take a panel at a time and fit my stuff in between their full blown restorations - getting the car closer to paint each time.  It'll be nice if it works out that way but I'm not going to get too excited quite yet.

Speaking of not getting excited - the box of pipes from CSP is in New York and should have cleared US Customs today but it didn't...so Thursday is the soonest it'll show up this week.

2018 Bugfest

 The local show was pretty good - met up with some old friends and made a few new friends as well.  I sat with Lou in his swap space for a couple of hours and made just enough money to buy myself some lunch later in the day.

Nice bus in the parking lot.

 Super clean split window single cab

 Another view of a few nice splittys

 The beginning of the row of bugs - it was a long line and double deep.

 I moved down about 1/3 of the row and took this picture

 A couple of the nicest Westies - there were a few more that I didn't get pictures of due to people.

 Beetles

 Beetles

 More beetles

 One of a few nice early 'vert beetles

 An earlier 'vert beetle

 Bradley GT with a scooby motor - sounded really good.

 Joe's 67 Fastback

 Doug's 66 Type 34

 64 Notch - heavily modified/patina car from Indiana

 Tom's 68 Squareback

 66 or 67 Fastback - I didn't realize until later that I failed to take a good look at this car.

Nice split window bus - very similar to the one my stepdad had when I was a kid.

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place

So, I learned today that the 'dent' in the muffler is intentional...it was borne out of the necessity to make the header fit properly.  I can now go back to being annoyed that the second box was delayed 6 days - preventing me from driving the car to the local show on Sunday (unless it rains).

I wound up spending some time chatting with the owner of a local ACVW shop this morning - discussing the merits and costs of doing an IRS conversion while the pan is apart.  He's interested in doing the conversion, has the experience in doing them and the price was pretty reasonable.  I may have also found a guy to install the KF pans at a reasonable price as well - I'll chat with him at the show on Sunday.  The really great part about getting the pans done and converting to IRS is that I'll get to 'consume' some of the largest parts in my cabinets and they will be much easier to move next year if they're permanently attached to the car or sold (swing axle parts).  I have spares of spares and those will likely get posted in the next few days.  The camber compensator parts will all go off to new homes as well - once I sell the swing axle parts, I should be able to recover most of what I will put into the IRS conversion.

The only real bottleneck to the decision is the rear brake kit...if I can buy a couple of parts and convert it to work with IRS, I'm probably going to go for it.  If I have to buy a whole new kit, I most likely will not go for it unless/until I can find a buyer for my swing axle kit...which is probably not going to happen so easily.

Such a slippery slope - getting the pan done would be a huge leap forward though.

Damaged goods arrive

Two things happened today.

I sold the NOS front beam to a guy in Nebraska.  I'm going to pick up a box tomorrow and get it packed and hopefully shipped.

I received the muffler for the CSP Python exhaust.  The box was poorly packed and only stapled shut (no tape).  Part of one of the long flaps was torn open but it didn't look like anything was missing.  Once I got the box open, I inspected the contents to find that the muffler has been rather severely dented.  I've forwarded photos of the damage along with the package condition to CSP - now I get to wait and see how they respond.  The box with the tubes/pipes is about a week away due to a delay on their part in getting it out the door.  I'm far less annoyed with the delay now that I have a muffler that is damaged.

Just because you've turned a corner doesn't mean you're out of the alley

I went into the garage with the goal of getting a few things done today. 

First up was to replace the pan boot and that went pretty well - the old part came out, the new part went right in.

The correct part on the left, the 'modified' part on the right.  The fit is perfect.

I'd planned to do an oil change and swap the oil fill tube for the later version so I'm not blowing oil residue all over the engine but I stopped so I can do other things.

An oil change, clutch adjustment and discovery regarding the weird noise on the right side are in order. 

Wheels need to be checked for 'true', carbs need to be adjusted once the exhaust is installed, oil needs to be changed, and a 4 wheel alignment should be done by someone more qualified than me.  I'd also like to try to figure out why I've got so much camber on the rear end - it should sit more flat than it does.

Effingham 2018

The Effingham show was very light in both participants and attendees - there were two other shows in the region on the same dates and I think they all suffered some attendance issues because of it.

63 Type 34 - a little rusty but pretty straight body.  Guy wanted $20k for it, which I think is a bit ambitious.  Interior was worn and partially replaced - overall decent.

 70's Brasilia - it was very nice but a little too low.

 Super nice 'vert.

 A German Fridolin with crazy expensive paint.  Very nice condition but hard to look at in bright sunlight.

 Really nice split window single cab.  Very clean inside and out.

21 window split bus - looked nice from 20' away but as I got closer, I noticed that the little windows on top had rust around all of them.

 '68 Squareback - mostly stock, decent shape.  I was too lazy to walk over to get closer.  It was over 95ºF and I was wiped out.  The double door bus was super nice.  Must have been like driving a pizza oven though.

 Two very similar split buses - both in nice shape!

 NOS front beam brackets.  I never expected to find these at a show in the middle of Illinois.  A little worn but they'll clean up nicely.

The only other thing I bought - a super straight front subframe plate.  It'll clean up really nicely and take paint and then I'll sell it - because people like pretty stuff.

I sold the Vintage Speed exhaust from the car and the modified one that I've been dragging around for years.  It's been nice to slowly sell off the stuff I don't need or things that won't help me get where I want to go with this car.

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity

 It's been a month since the last post and a lot has happened.

As documented earlier - the car showed up earlier than everything else and had this massive garage to itself.

Then all of the 'stuff' showed up.

A couple of weeks later, I got the garage organized and it's much better.  It's nice having a large garage with high ceilings but I've somehow still managed to fill it up.

Other things to note:

• I listed up a bunch of parts for sale and sold a decent amount of it.  
• I made my money back on the NOS parts group that I bought.  
• A CSP Python exhaust is on order because I decided to not dump any more money into the Vintage Speed exhaust.
• I have a VW show to attend on Saturday - haven't been to this particular show in at least 3 or 4 years.  
• Nothing has been done with the car because I am ambivalent about working on the car...or driving it but maybe a proper exhaust and carb tune will change that a bit.

Still on the table: Swap out the pan boot and adjust the bowden tube by a washer.  I should also swap out the warped wheels for straight ones.  I'm going to keep the warped wheels and use the centers for custom wider wheels someday.  Some day.

Swedish reflectors

The Swedish reflectors arrived - just in time - as the moving truck is showing up on Monday!

They are in very nice condition and after a good cleaning - they should be very presentable.

 The posts are straight and complete - always a nice thing to see on vintage reflectors.  Part number is stamped on the back side and the spacer rings are awesome.

The spacers are clear plastic rings.  For some reason, I always thought they were rubber...happy to see that these are in really nice condition.

I don't have any plans for them other than to clean them up and add them to the collection.

Churn and turn

 NOS VW factory rebuilt pump - I knew if I was patient and waited long enough that I'd find one.

All of that waiting paid off!  Sure, I had to buy a bunch of other stuff to get it (and the window cranks) but it will be worth it in the end...

 The NOS window cranks - one is very nice - the other one is 'ok' due to scratches on the arm.  I have the third window crank and I think it'll make a good replacement for the final fitment.

 Found two sets (4 pieces) of these on German eBay but the seller won't ship to the US so I asked a contact in Germany to help me out (which he did).  They'll get shipped over with the next package.

Overall, I've been content with the rate of sell through of the parts that I have up for sale.  I'll be much happier once they're all sold and I can return focus to my car but, for now, things are going okay - I should be able to recover what I've spent this time around.

Subculture

An exercise in 'how strong is my OCD?'

The left is the hand written tag - tags I bought specifically for the cabinets that store the parts to the car.  The second iteration are P-Touch labels that I simply slipped into the slot.  A little calculation showed that it could be fairly expensive to print them all out and slip them inside the holders.  So, the third iteration was born.  I spent about 15 minutes in Excel and created a template for the bin locations and got to printing them out.  The worst part is having to cut each tag on the paper cutter - and, all told, it's not that bad.  I'm about done after approximately 3 hours of listening to music and putting tags on the bins.

I sold a bunch of parts yesterday, which is good news for both 'right-sizing' my level of parts and for the things I have yet to purchase for this car.  I know...how the hell can there be a part I don't have yet?  There are - although their numbers are dwindling rapidly.  People are getting out of the hobby and that means that parts are becoming available, very, very slowly.  Patience is key.  Then I'll sell my used/excess parts to those who don't have patience.  Circle of life or something like that...all I know is that it's all very slowly working out in my favor.  Finally.

Nigel made it to Illinois (and NOS parts)

Got a call late today that Nigel is safely tucked away in the garage in the house in Illinois.  Nice to have that taken care of so quickly!

Scored myself a shit ton of NOS parts.  I really only wanted the fuel pump and the window cranks but this was an 'all or nothing' deal so I went for it after some negotiating.

I should see this stuff by the end of next week.  The nice part is that I can also sell off some of the 'close but no cigar' parts I've been hoarding - thinking I'd never find the parts.  I will do a late 'evaluation' of parts and offer up the rest of it for sale.