Thursday, July 19, 2018

Evolution of the G9 petrol tank

I originally picked up two tanks on the cheap last year (via Ebay) and had them shipped from California to Niagara Falls NY.

These were bought to practice on and hopefully use on the project if things worked out.  There was lots of sanding, some accidents, some welding, filling and painting.   This one still requires some clean up before clear coat is applied and my pin striping leaves much to be desired;  However I am very pleased with it!  The decals came from a company in England with a very wide array of products with excellent prices and service to boot!  I highly recommend them.  




Surface rust! 


A good soak in a wood bleach and water solution removed the worst of it.

However sanding was required to remove the pitting...

Bugger!  The aforementioned repair of the badge screw mount.

Primed

First coat of pearl white paint

My first attempt at pin striping by hand 


fourth coat of black paint....

Application of decal and tape removed!  Not perfect and not factory, but I like it! 

Until next time......

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

No man can serve two masters; (Aka, Farewell to the Beetle)


Yes I quoted Matthew 6:24.  No, I am not turning religious on you.

The quote is one that did stick with me from my days in the Anglican Church and it seemed the best to summarize the situation I found myself in.

In a previous post I spoke of being struck with an anxious feeling when I went into the garage.  While that feeling passed to a degree, it never completely went away.  I believe that deep down one knows when changes need to be made in one's life.   For me, the weight of my ambitious list of projects had become far too much for me to manage.

Something had to go.


There were several reasons that the forlorn bug became the sacrificial lamb;  It was taking up far too much real estate in the garage, leaving little room to maneuver.  Secondly, not having my friend available anymore to assist took much of the joy from the project.  I also hadn't really worked on it in a couple years.  Lastly, there was a laundry list of items left to be done, including paint and body work.  That is a very large time and money commitment.

The decision was made and the ad went up.


The Beetle sold (rather quickly) to a retired gentleman with a nice, big garage.  He has lots of time and pocket change to finish what I started. 

Regrets?

Not a one.  I am very proud to have rescued it from the crusher and to have had the opportunity to work on an iconic car;  I learned how to weld and met lots of great VW people in the process.

The first thing I did was secure two new workbenches to put along the walls.  I plan to get another one up as well, to eventually have 16 feet of workbench space (4x the current amount!)

Once everything is cleaned, purged, swept and sorted I can once again focus on my first love, English Iron.

Until Next time....


Thursday, July 5, 2018

Yuasa for Life.


After 9 years, Katie's original Yuasa battery died.  It struggled valiantly since March after I had to charge it for the first time.

Despite all my other careful maintenance, I was incredibly neglectful with the battery.  A battery that was supposed to last 48 months (according to the manufacturer) gave me 108.   At one point after being hit while parked (!) in 2012, she sat idle at the dealership for nearly 5 months.  Once all the new parts finally arrived, she fired up like a dream.  Always rock solid and reliable.

Last Friday I bought a replacement battery.


Needless to say, It was another Yuasa.