@Mattloaf: I'm surprised how often I hear that comment, but I like to hear it when I do :) Still lots more to do yet.

____

I took a video with my camera today, I think it sounds okay. Timing is a bit off and I think my tappets need tweaking. I know the rocker cover gasket is leaking slightly on the bottom right corner so at some point I'll pull the whole thing apart and renew. The slight blow on the backbox probably isn't helping matters.

Anyway, what do you think, good or bad, anything sound amiss?

Clicky Video

Doesn't sound that bad, the revs are more consistent than mine are .

certainly sounds alot healthier than mine!

I took a video with my camera today, I think it sounds okay. Timing is a bit off and I think my tappets need tweaking. I know the rocker cover gasket is leaking slightly on the bottom right corner so at some point I'll pull the whole thing apart and renew. The slight blow on the backbox probably isn't helping matters.

Anyway, what do you think, good or bad, anything sound amiss?

Clicky Video

Hey,

Mine sounded like that and I though it was idling too high, i replaced all the vacuum tubes and did the timing and its idled quieter and happier. Worth checking the vacuum thing on the dizzy, attach a bit of hose and suck through it with the dizzy cap, arm and little black cover off you should see things moving inside

You're the second person (so far) to suggest the same component to be replaced. I'm just waiting on a few pay days so I can look into getting some new hoses, quite a few are beginning to perish now so I don't want to fiddle with them until I've got replacements to hand. I'll give your tip a try if the existing pipe is fine and/or when I've got a replacement.

what insurance company are you with and how old are you?

wanted to know because i will shortly need to sort mine out

what insurance company are you with and how old are you?

wanted to know because i will shortly need to sort mine out

I was with kwikfit 18 with a 1.1. Came to £1100 for the year. Try admiral aswell they seem to be cheapest at the moment

This is coming along really nicely, something different. I'm not mad keen on the interior, but its good to see someone having a crack at a full retrim.

@colm94: I'm with Admiral. 29 (new driver) and mods declared for £1200ish fully comp. Cheapest and best cover we found.

@Effel: Feels like everything's coming into focus at the moment, I'm hoping this is the year I get close to being finished. Interior needs more work, at the moment I've still got the old headlining and carpet in there that need to be replaced, I've just not decided on colours, fabrics and patterns yet Then of course there's the extra bodywork I want to get sorted on the back end...

@colm94: I'm with Admiral. 29 (new driver) and mods declared for £1200ish fully comp. Cheapest and best cover we found.

@Effel: Feels like everything's coming into focus at the moment, I'm hoping this is the year I get close to being finished. Interior needs more work, at the moment I've still got the old headlining and carpet in there that need to be replaced, I've just not decided on colours, fabrics and patterns yet Then of course there's the extra bodywork I want to get sorted on the back end...

there never finished!!!!!

@slacker: too true!

Did a bit more on the car today. The easy stuff came first.

Badges on the back. I'm just waiting on an auction to see if I win some gromits to fit the other badge before that goes on. Don't look too bad in situ.

Then I put my Rat-look dogtag on the car. Been meaning to do this for ages. If it *really* annoys me I'll find somewhere else to put it.

Got this leather gear gaitor from the Bay of E for a very small sum. Pops over the original split rubber gaitor and looks much nicer.

Then I had to get to fitting the condensor which, typically, required removal of the entire unit to do because VW fitted it to the underside.

I found this particularly daunting because it meant I'd have to set the timing myself, something I've never done and always been nervous of doing with this car. The condensor is important to the system so I knew it had to be done so I bit the bullet and removed the unit, giving it a damned good clean before refitting. I need to give it a better clean still much like everything else under the bonnet. Bish bash bosh it was all reconstructed and put on and, using the marks made on the unit, I lined everything up and tweaked it just a little bit to get the car running nicely again.

I'm not even sure what I was so worried about now.

Confidence boosted I moved on to something fun for myself. Took the old duck's fart horn off. Not because it was broken, just because it was rubbish.

Took a bit of effort, the nuts had seized, got my housemate to lend a bit of brute force to my ignorance. Once off I fitted the new horn after bending the old bracket accordingly. It's a tight fit, but it doesn't rub or knock on anything so should be okay.

Sounds fun too, makes me smile. As did this discovery: My car's so goth, &c.

... I should probably give him a wash.

thanks driptap and angyl

should hopfully not pay much more than driptaps fingers crossed

Get a video of that horn so we can hear it!

Recently my head gasket blew. That put me on a bit of a downer with the car until a friend stepped in to save the day and offered to fix it later in July. Since I won't need the car until mid-late July anyway, this works out ideal.

Rather than worry about the expense of the head gasket repair (and really, I'm not that worried now I know more about it) I thought I'd pick myself up with some work I can do for free.

Made a start on filling the worst of the dents and imperfections in the rear quarter. Got too cold and dark by the time it had set for me to get any further so I'll finish this off tomorrow.

Thought I'd move on to mirrors. I got a pair of these off RR, I forget from whom, ages ago. They're the best fit of all the mirrors I've collected so I'm going with them. The other side had a dent in the case and rather than leaving it alone, I gave it to my housemate to try and remedy and the mirror glass got broken in the process so I'm after a replacement.

Anyway, first of all mark where you want the holes. Masking tape doubles up as an aid to prevent the drill slipping (doesn't always work, but it usually helps a bit) when you start making a hole.

Then drill the hole file it smooth/reshape it as required and paint the edges to prevent rust. If I'm honest, I didn't paint the edges because of it being too dark and cold, but it won't hurt overnight. Then refit. I had to jack the car up to get my hand between the arch and wheel and it's then a case of blindly tightening up the bolt with an allen key.

I think you'll agree it looks pretty smart.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to live with it as a full replacement to my original mirrors yet because although I can see more in the wing mirror, those things are a lot smaller. I'll make a final decision when the car is on the road and may end up with some peep mirrors in addition. Once I can find an intact mirror for the passenger side I'll repeat, but for now I'll use the original, or take it off if the look of it really annoys me.

Finally, I trial fitted the roof bars I got from Retrowagen. I'm going to strip and polish these. I'm close to having everything I need to get the rear end customised now and ideally I want to get it all done at once. Just having the patience to save up enough money while running the car and fixing him when he has tantrums.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I'll get on with that rear quarter and giving everything a very thorough clean. Sometime over the next few days I'll be getting some fresh red paint and some masking tape to update the paintwork and, hopefully, I'll be polishing it all too.

Thing is, when life gives me lemons I don’t make lemonade. I make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don’t want your damn lemons, what the hell am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life’s manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I’m the man who’s gonna burn your house down! With the lemons! I’m gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!

That last picture makes that street look 'effing STEEP.

That's because it is! All of Sheffield is steep, even the flat bits.

That's because it is! All of Sheffield is steep, even the flat bits.

. Here is something my mum told me: Always park an old car facing down hill. That way if it doesn't start you don't need to push it for a bump start. She grew up on British Leyland cars and an Alfasud with a fucked alternator.

That makes a lot of sense, though at the moment I'm loathe to move him at all thanks to a blow head gasket. If I have a fully brimmed tank of fuel I *have* to park facing downhill, otherwise my petrol escapes (very slowly, I might add) out of the top of the filler neck. Tank and neck seem to be in tip top condition, so it must just be the steepness of the hill doing it.

What part of Sheffield do you live on then mate?

That makes a lot of sense, though at the moment I'm loathe to move him at all thanks to a blow head gasket. If I have a fully brimmed tank of fuel I *have* to park facing downhill, otherwise my petrol escapes (very slowly, I might add) out of the top of the filler neck. Tank and neck seem to be in tip top condition, so it must just be the steepness of the hill doing it.

If you know exactly where the whole is you could try and use some exhaust repair putty to plug the hole.

Edited 1 July, 201115 yr by MattLoaf

That makes a lot of sense, though at the moment I'm loathe to move him at all thanks to a blow head gasket. If I have a fully brimmed tank of fuel I *have* to park facing downhill, otherwise my petrol escapes (very slowly, I might add) out of the top of the filler neck. Tank and neck seem to be in tip top condition, so it must just be the steepness of the hill doing it.

If you know exactly where the whole* is you could try and use some exhaust repair putty to plug the hole.

*hole

@Maxmax: Crookesmoor/Walkley area. I'm looking at moving out to the edge of the city next year though, after living somewhere quieter with a bit more space and a lot less late night drunken students.

@Mattloaf: The hole is where the petrol goes in, there's no other holes there. It's to do with the design. Only when the tank is brimmed and the car is parked facing uphill on a steep hill, petrol comes up the filler neck - which is then much closer to horizontal, meaning things like capillary action can happen more easily - and slowly drips onto the road. It's not much, certainly not as much as say a holed tank, and once a little bit of fuel is used it stops happening. It seems to be a peculiarity of design rather than anything else since the fuel is coming from the very top of the neck where the cap goes on. The rubber seal in that area could be perished I guess, but it just means I park facing downhill when the tank is brimmed and/or don't quite brim the tank to prevent it happening.

Ah right, i'm in meadowhead. You venture out there much?

not normally, but I was out that sort of way recently for the show at Norton Country House - people weren't entirely sure what to make of the car, especially the judges - Until I've got the car running normally again my adventures are a bit more limited to where my legs can take me.

Looking outside, I don't fancy my chances with the clouds now that I've finished doing a little job, I hope the paint dries enough for any rain not to be an issue.

Today I finally got around to marking out and painting the proposed red side scoop. I'm pleased with the new shape, I think it looks better than the old.

This was stupidly difficult to mark out. I started with a straight line and adjusted it by a tiny margin here and there to get this long, gentle curve. Took a while to get the flat spots out of the curve and to find where to start it. The wing is masked straight to the bodyline, the curve begins at the leading edge of the door and ends at the rear arch.

After carefully keying back the masked area I could apply the first coat of new red paint I bought since the old pot I had has gone a bit weird due to me using the wrong thinner.

Masking tape off. I had a look at the other side to compare and I prefer this new shape. I'll be fitting a chrome strip to the top edge of it and of course finishing off the bits of filler. But the clouds closed in and I didn't have time to be sanding and painting the filler on there.

So, weather permitting, my weekend job is to get another coat or three on this new red panel and get the other side started too. I'll also be going around the car dealing with dents and imperfections and getting the paint as close as I can to ready for flatting back without actually flatting it back until I have the polisher and all the stuff I need in my grubby little hands.

I'm going to take the plunge and learn how to weld with the neighbour's MIG welder when I can afford a gas bottle for it. Having looked at the panels I want to fabricate there doesn't appear to be a need for complex curves apart from the spats and leading edge of the rear arch, which I don't need to do yet.