I wander what's going on...

I had that wandery feeling in my Beetle.  That's to be expected in a 46 year old car though I suppose.  I have, at some point in the 19 years I've had it, replaced all of the front suspension and steering joints, and all related bushings.  Well, almost all related bushings.  There was one original rubber piece left on the front of the car, the rag joint between the steering column and steering box.  From about the late 50's on, most cars use a rubber joint here because it dampens road vibration so you don't feel it in the steering wheel.  Old American cars are made in such a way that when the rubber fails, the column and box are still mechanically locked.  Your steering will be very, very loose, but you will still be able to limp home.  The VW isn't like this, there is no mechanical failsafe backup.  If the rubber lets go, you've got no steering, at all.  So, I decided I should probably replace the coupler(particularly since it's a $10 part).  It only takes 4 bolts, and is much easier to replace than when I did the same thing on my Corvette.  Here's the original coupler on the left next to my new one.  You can see the cracks in the original rubber that cause some extra play in the steering.

Installation is super simple.  Take the four bolt out, slip the old rag joint out and the new one in, and reinstall the bolts.  It's even reasonably accessible after you've taken the wheel off.

The other thing I wandered...er...wondered about was my engine.  One of the first real mods I did to the car was add a full compliment of VDO gauges.  They included the standard tach and oil pressure, but also oil temp, cylinder head temp, and boost.  Back when I was still running the supercharger, they all worked.  But for the last 5,000 miles or so, I've been running a stock 40HP engine.  Since I put this engine in, the oil pressure and oil temp(and boost, obviously) gauges haven't been hooked up.  I'd broken my oil temp sender taking the blower motor out, and I never replaced it.  Because of this particular engine's configuration, my VDO oil pressure sender wouldn't fit either, so I had no oil pressure readings.

I decided to finally do something about it.  The oil temp sender is the easiest to install sender of any I've ever used.  It simply replaces the oil drain plug.  That's it.  I know it seems like a bad idea to have a wire hanging off the bottom of the engine, but I've done my share of "off roading" with this car, and I've never once had the wire catch on anything.

The oil pressure sender was a whole nother ball of wax.  On late model air cooled VWs, the oil pressure port stick sideways off the engine, so the VDO sender screws right on.  This engine has the port sticking straight up, and right next to the intake manifold.  It also uses a straight metric thread while the VDO sender is a standard 1/8" pipe tread.  So, I needed an adapter to go from the metric thread to standard, and an elbow for clearance.  Autometer provided the adapter, Ace Hardware the elbow.

The problem with that is that the whole thing is too tall and can't be screwed in because it hits the intake manifold.  So, since both fittings are brass, and brass solders very well, I decided to just make a fitting that fit.  First, I cut the threads off the 1/8" pipe elbow, and filed the stub down to where it would just slip into the adapter's female threads.

Then I soldered them up.  It's pretty quick work with a torch, and there's so little pressure in the system that even standard electrical/plumbing solder is more than strong enough.

The new adapter is just barely short enough to clear the intake and thread in.  Here's where it sits on the engine(the little bit of clearancing on the intake is from when I'd initially tried to get the sender to fit when I first put this engine in years ago).

And with the port now turned 90°, the big VDO sensor fits just about perfectly between the intake and distributor.

And with that, all my gauges work the way they're supposed to.  Except for the boost gauge.  I'll put that one on the list ;)

The Mighty Caprice™

I've mentioned the Might Caprice™ in several posts, but I've never shown it.  Since it's for sale, there's no time like the present.  Here's the text of the Craigslist ad I posted:

Do you love the roar of an American V8? Do you need a car to drive this winter? Is your new favorite movie Lets Be Cops? Then the Mighty Caprice is the car for you. It's a 1994 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1 police package. This thing is built like a tank, and is the ultimate winter car. It's packed with too many features to list, but I'm going to try.

It's got an LT1, 350 cubic inches of fire breathing smallblock fury. Runs great, though the pistons slap a lot until it warms up(it's a 90's GM, so that's to be expected). I've always used Mobil 1 oil in it, and can provide the most recent used oil analysis showing the engine's condition.
Transmission was rebuilt around 60K ago, and has a 2500rpm stall converter for great off the line acceleration.
Water pump, distributor, and fuel pump were replaced at some point.
Factory posi works good in the snow, not so much on dry roads.
Brand new radiator. Seriously, this radiator doesn't have 50 miles on it. Old broken radiator included at no extra charge(A $10 value at the scrap yard).
According to the Compnine vin decoder, this car is 1 of 32 identically optioned cars built(Take that Mopar boys!). The combination of dual spotlights and side molding delete is very rare making this car a true collectable.
Speaking of the dual spots, they both work. Great for shining deer, or spying on the neighbors.
It's got cop springs, cop shocks, and cop sway bars. They make this 4400Lb boat handle like it's only 4300Lbs.
4 wheel disc brakes, only available on Cop cars and Impala SS's. ABS doesn't work, but that's OK because the brake calipers are painted red and have Corvette stickers on them(just stickers, they're not actually from a Corvette). Front rotors replaced last summer, rear rotors replaced a few years ago.
AC doesn't work, but who needs AC when 3 of the 4 windows roll down.
Power locks work, but you'll never need them because no one is going to steal your factory AM/FM radio. Included at no extra charge is the finest $60 radio Wal-mart had to offer in 2008(with proper wiring adapter).
Trunk lid spoiler is made from a genuine Nascar hood section, which adds like 200 HP. It's also good for an extra ½ mpg. Also included is the original, undrilled trunk lid if you decide the spoiler is just too awesome.
Tires are Bridgestone Blizzaks, literally the best snow tires money can buy. They even have some tread left on them. Comes with two spare wheels with very questionable tires.
Don't trust your friends? No problem, this thing has anti-stab seats(cop seats have steel plates in them to prevent stabbing through them).
It floats down the road, feels like you're going 100 MPH when you're standing still. Though you could actually be going 100. Hard to say because the speedometer only works sometimes.
Body is covered in carefully placed "speed dimples" for more performance, just like a golf ball. Most people mistake them for regular dents.
Body has many lightening holes to reduce weight, disguised as ordinary rust.
Much of the rust has been spray painted over. No one will ever know it's there unless they direct their eyes in the general direction of the car.
It's got Thrush Welded mufflers for that awful Flowmaster sound without the awful Flowmaster price.
Airbox has a K&N sticker on it, though no K&N filter is included. It's just a sticker, but I read on the internet that stickers add like 50 HP.
Dashboard is from an Impala SS, because chicks dig Impalas.
Comes with a full tank of gas, a $60 value.

I'm asking $800, and I'm firm on price. It's probably worth more than that because of the LT1, but I don't want to haggle. In all seriousness, though it's banged up and rusty, it's actually a decent car. You won't find a better car for the price, and you won't find a cheaper V8 anywhere. It's been very reliable for me and was my primary driver until the original radiator failed. Fun to drive in the snow, and I've never been so stuck I couldn't get myself out. For an extra $300, I'll throw in a set of nearly new Cooper Cobra tires on rims. It needs nothing and runs and drives as is, though it cranks slow so if I were going to keep it I'd probably replace the battery or the starter. I work odd hours, so I prefer e-mails, followed by texts, and phone calls last. Thanks, Jeff.

There you have it ladies and gentlemen, the Mighty Caprice™ in all it's glory.  It's banged up, and rusty, and has been my faithful steed for the past decade.

Really floored

Once upon a time, I replaced the floor pans on the Beetle.  It was a big affair, Dad and I pulled the body off the pan.  At the time, it was also the only car I had, which means WI winters.  Seven years down the road, I stepped through the Drivers's floor.  Last time I had the Beetle out, I fixed that.  Not surprisingly, the passengers side is pretty rusty too, so I decided to fix it.  Instead of cutting grinding, welding, and cursing, I decided to use the Jeff Tanko Glasspatch(patent pending).  Ive used it with great success many times.  Basically, you just layer fiberglass over the swiss cheesed rusty metal.  It may seem like two-bit hackery, but it works, and works well.  The fiberglass resin bonds well to the rough rusty surface, and seals it off from moisture.  I used the Jeff Tanko Glasspatch(patent pending) on one of the inner fenders on the Mighty Caprice™  four winters ago, and it's still holding as good as the day I did it. 

The first step is to prep the metal.  A wire brush on an angle grinder works well.  Any clean metal gets ground so the fiberglass sticks. You can see in this pic the holes in the front floor section. 

Next comes the 'glass.  I put four layers over the whole floor, two cloth, two mat, and ending up with around 1/4" of fiberglass over the whole thing.  I also ran the glass up around the sides to bond the floor pan with the rest of the body.

Though rusty, the rear of the floor actually had most of it's metal still there, and I want to keep it from rusting more.  The inside is taken care of, the outside, not so much.  After a through wire brushing, this is what we're left with:

Remember how I said I love brushed on Rustolium?  Once again, I'm using it as my not so secret weapon.  To be really effective, it has to go on thick.  I used a roller, and used an entire quart to coat the floor.  Between the Jeff Tanko Glasspatch(patent pending) and the Rustolium, the floor in the Beetle should be good for many years to come :)

The rest of the story

With the front suspension back together, I could get  the front end buttoned up.  With this kind of thing, where surface finish isn't an issue, I paint it with Rustolium.  I paint it on with a brush, so it goes on very thick.  It can take over a month to fully cure when it's that thick, but once it does, it's nearly as tough as powdercoating.  While I was at it, I replaced most of the brake system.  Most of the lines were replaced, along with hoses, wheel cylinders, and the master cylinder.  I also replumbed my line lock so that it locks both front wheels instead of just the front right(which makes for much better burnouts).  Part of the reason for replacing so much of the system is that I wanted to switch to DOT 5 brake fluid.  Unlike standard brake fluid, DOT 5 brake fluid doesn't absorb moisture.  That means the brake system won't rust from the inside out so I will never again have to replace the metal parts of the system.  It's a much better choice for an older car that doesn't get driven all that much.

That doesn't look safe. That doesn't look safe at all.

I've had my VW for a very long time.  Hard to believe, but for a number of years it was my ONLY car.  Because of that, it got driven all year round, and soldiered on through many WI winters.  It is actually the best winter car I've ever had.  I NEVER got stuck with it, not once.  Even the Mighty Caprice™ gets stuck occasionally.  As a consequence of winter driving, it got pretty rusty(not to mention that it what already pretty rusty when I got it).  When I first put it in storage, the front suspension was "questionable."  I had previously roughly and sloppily welded some 1/4" plate steel under the frame head(the part of the floor pan that the whole front suspension bolts on to).  When I got it out this time, fixing the front suspension was at the very top of the priority list.  Driving it from the storage unit to my house, I was nervous that it might actually break.  Here's the area we're fixing.  It's easily accessable after the gas tank is removed.

The front axle is the large tube running across the bottom of the pic, the triangle piece is the frame head(the piece we'll be working on).  Since it's a unibody, the whole pan is made from stamped sheetmetal of varying thicknesses, including the frame head.  Doesn't look too bad, right?  Lets take a look at it from the bottom...

Now you understand my concern.
I didn't want to replace the whole frame head.  Because it's where the whole front suspension attaches, it's absolutely critical that it be aligned perfectly.  I didn't want to mess around with all that, so I decided to replace just the lower piece.  Conveniently, VWs are popular enough that almost everything is available as a reproduction.  I was going to make my own bottom plate, but it was actually cheaper to buy the actual correct part.  This particular part was stamped in Denmark too, and is a quality reproduction.  After cutting off what was left of the bottom plate, you can see just how little metal was actually holding up the front of the car.

Here's a view of what was left on the car with the really rusty bits removed.  Just that little bit of sheetmetal was holding up the whole front of the car.  

After grinding the rust back to good metal, I sprayed the areas to be welded with weld-thru primer.  Weld-thru primer is typically almost pure zinc.  It gets sprayed on before the metal is welded together.  It's meant to be welded over, giving you some rust protection between the panels, acting like galvanized metal.  After careful measuring, I welded the new panel into place, putting welds where ever I could.

From the bottom, it's easy to see where my welds are.  The new panel is about 1/8" thick, so I could crank the welder up and get full penitration on my welds.  As you can see, there wasn't all that much good metal left to weld to. 

There wasn't enough welded area along the bottom of the frame head for my comfort.  For the most part, the sides and top of the frame head, never having snow and water standing on them, were still perfectly good and thick metal.  To give the frame head more strength and help tie everything together, I made some more plates out of 1/8" steel.  Here are all the pieces I added, in the location they're placed on the car.

Finally we have everything welded together.  You can see I also added some vertical straps that go well up the firewall for added support.  Once again, everything is backed with weld-thru primer.  With all the reinforcement welded on, while not the prettiest, my front suspension is now stronger than it was when it was new.

Project One

Many many years ago, I got my first car.  It was a little foreign car, and not very glamorous.  My little car needed paint.  So, my little foreign car got painted with some big American colors.  Since it's been in storage for so long, most of the people I currently associate with have never seen it.  Many don't even know I have it.  Now that it's out of storage, people who didn't know I had it started asking if I bought it because it matched the Viper.  They're always surprised to learn that it's the actually the Viper that matches the Beetle.  My Beetle's been painted like this since just a few months after the Viper was even built :)  As it happens though, they're both painted after the original Shelby Cobra.

The Beetle

Just a quick pic today.  Here's a digital pic of a hard copy pic of my '69 Beetle.  This was the day I got it, waaaay back in 1997. This is also the first time ever that my Beetle's been seen on the internet in it's original pre-painted condition.