63Ragtop

The problem is you don't have enough oil spraying around the engine bay to keep the dust done! 5th gear must be nice.

Nice work man, stick it to the cert man!!

Semi pointless update. I did score these for a reasonable price. 6.5inch 3way JBLs. Asian dude selling several pairs for dollar reserves on TM, look brand new, he had the boxes etc but was selling the grills separately, which I didn't want anyway. I'll 3D print a trim to cover the screws. Plan to make proper front pods like this. Also, this Bluetooth unit sucks! Will have to replace it with something better.

Drove this thing to work today. Unhooked the el-cheapo blueteeth module, test the amp with a rca plug, fine, reconnected the module and it works fine. It does get random electrical interference, the old turn off and turn it back on gets rid of it. Took the gas tank out the other night and turned the tie rod half a turn, tracks much straightnesser. It's running real nice now, once she's all warmed up it just hummms.

Fuck you sistema and your shitty little clips.

After a month in the shed it needed a good wash, also gave all the windows a good clean which really tidy it up. Next thing is the Bluetooth amp has fucked out and I need to sort the long tie rod, I think it's gotten bent hitting the bottom of the gas tank, low life problems.

Father in-law asked me if I could fix his numberplate light off his 1953 Ford Prefect. Some Barry had given him piece of 2mm acrylic but he reckoned a old coke bottle works better. From when tail lights were glass. Stripped it down, blasted it clean, primed and painted it. Cut out a seal for the clean glass. Found some thin frosted plastic sheet. Only problem is now it's the nicest thing on the car!

Nice work Alex, I think you may have out done yourself with the pod set up! Not only the fact you can get all these different parts working together but it all looks so factory, but better!

Once I was happy that was all sealed up, I checked the muffler fitted and tacked it in place and melted it up, note the self clearancing flange. Also took the opportunity to fix a couple other small things. I had to mangel this flange a few decades ago, for some reason the stud was bent on my old head and instead of fixing that I just cut a massive notch. Sorted, and 3D printers think they invented "additive manufacturing" Happy with that I gave it all some more hi temp paint. And fitted it all back together with some shiny new hardware. Took it for a drive seems fine, engine actually felt I bit smoother, I think. Will see how it goes. Pretty happy with the repaired header as I haven't done a lot of pipe/tube welding, TIG welding is bloody cool, so much more control. Chur.

Pulled the headers off, tried to reweld it but it had cracked right at the inside weld. Was impossible to get down in the bottom here, so many holes. Made the call to completely chop it up. Then I had to repair all the damage I'd done trying to save time. Decided to give it all a clean it loosen up years of blackness. Luckily with the removable ass end I could use the engine as a jig. Now I know this is probably terrible welding, still very much learning how to TIG.

I didn't build shit for this one. Got given a old record No3 awhile back, was completely seized with something in the jaws After a couple days in the electric bath it freed up easy and moves better than that shitty China long neck thing behind it ever has.

Nice work man, top fuckin notch.

Well, one step forwards, two back. Got a new/old swiper motor, works nice old one musta been lazy as. Was giving it welly pulling out of a side street and oopsie. I have been dreaming about building my own stainless system. Pic of running car.

Built this little switch box this week at work, nice little project. Customer supplied the old on on the left, needed a new battery, it just opens a electric ball valve for testing. We needed another so I got some parts from jaycar. Who ever built the old one didn't include a power switch so you would have to unhook the battery every time you were finished and the wiring was a mess, half through the lid and half through the box, no heat shrink etc. also made a nice label on the laser, very satisfying.

Yes, fibreglass on a shortened vw floorpan. https://www.speedsterclinic.com/vehicles/356_a_coupe/ This place is in the UK, I'm sure there are others. I don't think the real ones ever had pans. Just occurred to me that you see plenty of convertibles and speedsters, which for some reason don't appeal to me.

Asking for a friend, how would you get on certing a 356 coupe replica? Same as the roadster/vw based bathtub?

As you can see, my oil pan has a hole somewhere, apparently the boy doesn't know anything about that!? Hopefully this cable lasts longer than the last one, 2021 I think. At least I'm getting faster! So close!! Arhhh, nearly! Just about. @#$&+!!-&&#$++_&#!!!! a few hours later... Needs adjustment but seems fine. Now, wonder why the wipers stopped working....

So I spoke to vw guru Vann at Qualitat who said the hooks do go behind the bearing on the fork, most forks have a groove for the clip to sit in but I'm sure that's a weak spot which is why my heavy duty unit just has holes. Makes installing the bearing a dickhole as the hooks have to go in first then the straight ends in the bearing. Gave the springs a good squeeze. Also gave the fork a wee blast with the welder to repair the fogged out bit. Picked up a new axle gater as mine had ripped and was slowly losing gearbox oil, about a litre dumped out whilst it was jack up, so better top it up once everything back together. West Germany? How old is this stock! Other job I wanted to do is install these urethane gearbox mounts, @sluggy gave me them years ago, I've use the front one but had the old red bug pack ones on the back, these are much nicer. I replaced them with factory rubber ones when I rebuilt the car hoping it would make the car more civilised, ha! Who am I kidding!? So after fighting with the gearbox for an hour I then realized I hadn't unhooked the gearbox from the shifter! Rookie mistake, no wonder I couldn't move it back far enough. And that's when I saw it! One very sad looking clutch cable. Usually you feel it when a cable brakes, this thing has had a slow death. Yep, there's ya problem. Also putting this spring back on sucks! Decided to reinstall everything so I can get the car back on its wheels to move it about the shed to access the other end of the cable, now that's a bastard of a job! The clutch arm was quite stiff when I put it back together, so gave the bush a wee shave on the lathe and it moves much nicer. New cable now soaking in oil, someone said it might help?

Yonked the clutch arm assembly out. Think I might have used the wrong clips to hold the throw out bearing in place? Doesn't sit hard in the groove. Has made a bit of a mess of this one. These stupid hair clip things vw decided to use have a hook on one end, I remember this being a cunt of a job, had enough with the part out. I think the hook end actually goes in the bearing sides and the straight end goes in the fork so they sit all twisting and fucked looking but are under more tension.

Clutch has been fucking around on me, not sure what's up with it? It's like the adjustment has been running out reaaaaallllllly fast. Then the last couple times if I give it a small thrash it'll go out of adjustment, once on the way to work, give the old cable a tweak and it's good as gold. So here we go again. 1.5 hours on the floor. Clutch seems fine, popped it off and checked. Which I guess leaves this end of things?

Yeah it's a Weird one, and I am definitely not an expert on electronics and definitely do not want to die! I should have said, the liner was replaced awhile ago, and I've been testing it with no wire loaded and the tension open, works perfectly when it's just the two small power connectors for the drive motor but as so as it's mounted, no go!? And I think the old unit still works as well. I should get a few bucks for it at the scrapper, fucker weighs a ton! Edit: just had another play, old unit works for a moment when trigger is pulled, new unit does not, just click from the welder. Tested both with some 12v power, both work perfectly so I guess it's something in the welder fucking up?

Anyone know how MIG welders work? I've had this old thing many years, restored my car with it, the feed started getting dicky, would sometimes not work and progressively got worse until it didn't feed anymore. I was about to get rid of it as I've got a TIG now, but came across a new feed unit so thought I'd hook it up and see if that fixes it. Weird thing is the motor doesn't feed once it's completely installed so I assume it's earthing out on something? With just the motor wires connected it works perfectly. Any thoughts?

Was at a shop the other day and noticed the folks behind the counter had these magnetic keychains for keeping track of whatever. So I spun up these little dingus' for work, now we know where shit is! Just a small round magnet with a counter sunk screw in a wee pocket, easy. So I made a mini one from brass for my keys. Now, what did I stick them to?

Very retro! Reminds me of pulp fiction for some reason!?

Made up a couple signs on the Lazer cutter, for the shed today.