63Ragtop

Had two small wins this evening. Bought a d link Ethernet over power thing for the garage and actually got it to work! Wasn't sure because second hand and the shed has its own circuit. Really pleased with this hack job, I bought this anglepoise style lamp on a wim on trade me, didn't realize it was mules away and payed more in freight. Got it home plugged it in and some lightning jumped out of the cracked transformer! So I converted to a nice friendly 12 volt LED system. Probably better than the tiny fluro tube, and the switch even works.

Holy shit that looks good! You must have a before shot?

Very nice, love the mid century stuff. We have grandma's coffee table, a similar style, needs to be refinished. What did you use to strip it back? Just sand paper?

Finished off the lathe tray. I rounded off the corners on the mdf buck, smoothed it out and started hammering. And then I woke the Mrs up at 11pm, so took a break and finished it off on the weekend! The round corners seem to let the ali move and stretch better and is gonna look nicer with the old school lathe. Gave it a scrub with 80-120-emery paper and then the green thing.

Excellent work bro, such a cool bike and such a cool story. I grew up on the back of my old man's bike, my brother's both have bikes, one a night-rod Harley, the other a 78' 900SS, and I'm pining for one now! Old man only just stopped riding a couple years ago at 83 years old, so I think I've got a couple years left!

Picked up a little Alpine amplifier for 100 on marketplace, spent an hour Gerry rigging it tonight, at first only one front speaker was working, a wire had come off the back of the speaker, sweet. But the rear channel still wasn't working, hmmmmmm. Checked a few things then switched the RCAs as there is two inputs, and then the sub just worked, ah ha! Luckily I had the RCA splitters from running the two old amps. Sorted, for now. The sub really needs a proper box, it's boomie not punchie, but I really like seeing it. Think I'll build a mount for the amp under the backseat opposite the battery. Gunna get one of those little Bluetooth adaptor things for wireless music enjoyment.

That is the first thing I thought if!

Well I like the new hubcaps!

Pics of myford please.

Been thinking about this for a while, was at a warehouse last week and spotted this mouldy old bit of MDF. Got it home and cut it 45 on the skilly. I had this sheet of 1.5mm Ali up in the garage roof for so long, I don't even remember were I got it. I finally had a use for it! I cut a big rectangle dressed the edges and polished up the surfaces while it was flat, was pretty dull and filthy. After a couple hours beating it with hammers and wood and dollies I was fucked and pretty happy with it, will spend some more time on it later.

Tyre pressure makes a world of difference between being alive or not in the VW, nearly ate it one time when the tyre guys put 32psi all the way around once. Car only weighs 750kgs with 70% being on the rear. Absolutely love this build Alex, so clean, so tidy, so well thought out, engineered and built. Amazing bro! And it sounds so cool hooning away on the videos, fuck yes!

Which is why I moved the big tub outside, I had visions of me walking out in the morning, pushing the door remote and sparking up a shed full of hydrogen!

Yeah it's quite effective as long as you're not in a rush. I dessove sodium carbonate, this stuff in the water to raise the ph. And just run this thing through the part and an old bit of rebar. This was the lathe chuck half way through, was quite a jump up to the 60ltrs. Didn't fizz as hard which is why I left it all night.

Did some more electrolysis over the weekend, thought I'd pop it in this thread. One very old dirty greasy and rusty thing. Filled up the tub and then realised I should move it outside for the weekend, 60ltrs=60kgs! Looked like this after it's 48plus hour bath And shiny and chrome after a quick wire wheel, until I paint most of it tonight.

Minor maintenance tasks update. Thought I'd give the air filters a birthday day to protect my newly rebuilt Dells. Cleaning kit is only 40 bucks from ripco/supacrap autos. Stage 1, clean all the nasty. Once dry, stage 2, re-oil and done! Colour match filters. Other thing I've been chasing is this very annoying oil drop from the filler/breather. I wasn't sure exactly were it was getting out from. Pretty sure now it's from the breather hose connection as it's the factory fitting is slightly smaller and doesn't have a barb like the ones I put on the catch can. I had hoped just hooning on the hose clamp would work but no so I'll ad that to the list.

I've thought about making one of these for the bug. Bug-tech. As always, enjoy your work man.

Thanks @Lord Gruntfuttock I don't drive it as much as I use to, but it's just a VW, the corolla of its day and should be used. Future plans include, renew sound system, some kind of headlining which means some work on the sunroof mechanism, new running boards, and I just lost one of my wee hubcap things off my mags. Also a narrow beam, drop spindles and disc brakes would be nice!

Always looks better after a wash. And from my favourite angle. Finally got around to changing the oil, really should have been done sooner, there was so much crap in the sump, all that lifter paste. VW's don't really have a sump, or a filter, just a sump plate with a tea strainer around the pick up. Ignore the big square sump in the picture, that's aftermarket and my car is probably to low for such things All was going well until I went to reinstall the tea strainer plate arrangement. The gaskets in the oil change kit have recently gotten at least three times thicker, so now the six little studs are getting very short. Only had just enough engagement, one but had to go sans crush washer. Have continued tuning the carbs, @sluggy suggested cranking the accelerator pumps, so I've been doing a little at a time, everytime it's gets a little better and nicer to drive, idle is very low but very smooth and doesn't stall, just seems weird not having it shake the car at the lights. Mrs even commented on it.

Fuck that's a sweet set up. Nice work Matty.

And a permanent roof tent. Nice work on the interior, huge improvement.

Gentlemen, after a good six months of neglect, general wear and tear I finally had time to service the VW. Living outside had not been kind to some of the so called stainless steel. Was to embarrassed to pop the hoop open at Kumeu. It been driving okay, it runs hard but it's that traffic speed, just puttering along off idle, it just didn't sound right, but fine when accelerating, something was a miss. One of the projects at work is up Silverdale so popped in the see the carb Barrys at Weber specialist, got a complete rebuild kit for the Dells. Alfa Romeo, very fancy, much racing cars. Having been through everything else the carbs are the last thing needing sorted, I don't think sitting for nearly two years on a shelf whilst I built the motor and various other life admin got in the way, helped. Borrowed the ultrasonic cleaner from work and cracked into it about 8:30, Friday night. Fuck there are a lot of very small parts in a 36mm DRLA Dellorto, and I've got two. many hours later and into the early morning I was nearly finished, didn't want to stop half way and forget where something went or lose a tiny jet. Had to stop drinking so I could concentrate! In a very rare occurrence I got to spend nearly all weekend just working on the car and not the house or the yard or visit relatives or anyone. After forgetting to tighten half the screws on the right hand carb, it started and ran pretty good. So took the time to sand back all the rust and polished it all back to a mirror finish, cleaned and wiped everything. No excuse for a ugly engine bay. Carried on adjusting the brakes, always amazes me how much a badly adjusted handbrake affects the overall performance of the old drums, seems to take up a lot of slack in the system. Popped the valve covers and set the rockers and checked the headstuds were tight still. Just need to grease and adjust the front end and actually change the engine oil and the maintenance will be up to date. Continued playing with the carbs, the access windows I put in the rear wheel wells make this easy and actually possible. I'm pretty happy with how's it's running now, so much nicer to drive, smoother, quieter better performance, more responsive. Maybe the tiniest flat spot just off idle, but nothing like the spluttering bullshit I've been driving around. Much nicer at motorway speed, just cruises.

Congrats on the wof, always fun in a old car. I love the ratty og paint, it's only original once!

Was doing some yard work a couple weeks ago and my cheap tree saws plastic handle feel apart. Whittled this out of a old piece of the house, on Saturday the neighbour who is into his woodworking helped finished it. Came out nice, looks great, fits your hand mean. Could have just bought a new one but this was heaps better.

Me brother has a Grange, hsv number. Huge boat of a thing but so gangsta!