Engine is back in

I got the engine back in yesterday. The reinstall was fast, smooth, and uneventful. A motorcycle jack under the engine takes most of the drama out of the process.



I finally got to install the '63 heater mufflers. I had to improvise a substitution for the insulating ring (311 255 379 B) that the VW Workshop Manual advises be installed. I found some self-adhesive silica insulating tape at McMaster that should do the job. Supposed to be good for 1800° F.




According to the Workshop Manual, without insulation here the muffler can get too hot and burn.

Close to having it back on the road. I have a few loose ends to take care of and I have to see if my 6V battery will hold a charge (unlikely) or locate a new one.

Gray e-brake boot

My best find from the VW Classic weekend was an original gray e-brake boot. It's a surprisingly hard to find item, and I've been trying to locate one for years. It's really clean and there are no holes or rips. I picked it up from a seller at OCTO for a very reasonable price. Couldn't believe my luck.

Several years ago the restorer of a '58 beetle had a short run of gray repro boots made in Belgium, and I bought one when they were available. Here it is next to the OEM original.




It's not perfect—the shape and texture are a little off and the gray color is too blue—but it's well made. It's also the style without the adjustment access slots/flaps on the sides. Some original boots have these access slots and some don't, and I don't know what applications got which boots, or when. The supply of these repro boots now seems to have dried up as well. I'll sell this one and put the proceeds back into the Ghia's restoration.

Gray e-brake boots are very much in demand and it's surprising to me that a good quality reproduction isn't currently available. Respraying black boots gray is always an option, I suppose, but I doubt the result would ever look exactly right.

In other brake news, the rear brakes are finally completely assembled, adjusted and bled. If all goes as planned the engine will go back in next weekend.

1500 Ghia visor clips

Speaking of 1500 Ghia visor clips, I'm very happy to finally have a pair of originals thanks to Larry Edson. They're not 100% perfect—both have minor cracks from use—but they're very presentable and far better than most others I've seen. It's rare for any of these clips to have survived due to an overly complicated and under-engineered design. This has lead to a cottage industry in 1500 Ghia visor clip replacements, some more successful than others. A few examples I've accumulated over the years:



I've seen a number of Ghias with these bent steel hooks. They work surprisingly well, taking advantage of the spring tension in the visor mounts to hold the visors in place, and they're simple enough to not call attention to themselves.



John Copello made these machined aluminum and powder coated clips, and it's possible that he might still make them to order. They follow the original design fairly closely but are blockier and have fewer rounded edges. They lack the flexibility that the originals have, of course, but they work. They're presentable but are clearly hand made.



Someone painstakingly cast these clips in resin and then drilled, carved and sanded them into a more rounded version of the originals' shape. They rely on a tension fit to hold the visors up, but the resin is brittle and I think they would probably break if used regularly.



These crudely fabricated aluminum clips were in my '62 when I bought it. They're not much to look at but they do the job.

A number of years ago someone in the Type 34 Registry had a quality reproduction made, but to get a set of them you had to be in the right place at the right time, and I wasn't. It's too bad a larger production run wasn't done. There are rumors of some investigation into a new high-quality repro. Hope it really happens.

Type 34 Ghia hood latch deflector

There are a few parts that every Type 34 Ghia owner needs. Who couldn't use a pair of those visor clips that seem to have been designed to break the first time they were used? Or how about the plastic deflector that keeps the front hood safety catch from damaging the rubber seal? When's the last time you saw an original one? In my case that would be never.



Greg Skinner has taken it upon himself to reproduce the elusive deflector and he very generously brought a few to Bob Walton's pre-Classic BBQ for the Type 34 owners in attendance. Here is one of his repros, a faithful copy of the original part (341 823 491). I decided to test fit it to my Ghia.



One of the good things about having owned a number of old VWs over the past 30 years is that I've amassed a lot of hardware. I was able to find screws and washers that match the originals.



Here you can see how the deflector would protect the seal—if there was a seal there to protect.

Many thanks to Greg for addressing this very real need. We all owe you one.

Modifying a '63 rear brake drum for a '62

It's only fitting, really, that one of the slowest Type 34 restorations ever should get one of the slowest brake jobs ever. That's what I get for trying to keep things correct for an early '62. Over the last few months I've been trying to locate the early parts I need without much luck. The unique early '62 brake parts are really hard to find, so you have to buy them when you see them even if you don't need them yet, because you eventually will. I've already found it's possible to modify a Type 1 oil slinger to work with a Type 3 drum. The drum itself was the next hurdle.

Over the VW Classic weekend I tried to track down an NOS or good used '62 rear drum without any luck. For a moment I thought I'd hit paydirt when I saw an early pinwheel drum in a box of NOS oval drums, but alas it turned out to be an NOS early front. I promptly scooped it up for future use.





Mmmmmm...Cosmoline.

A few other potential leads failed to pan out, so I decided it was time to drill a hole in the existing '63 drum on my Ghia to accommodate the oil slinger.



In this photo of my car's original beyond-tolerance doorstop you can see said hole at just after 12 o'clock. If you look closely you'll see there's a slight depression in the casting below the hole to allow clearance for the oil slinger tube.



Fortunately the '63 drum's casting also includes this depression, helpfully indicating the drilling location and saving me some time with a Dremel tool. After measuring carefully I drilled a pilot hole and then the final 8mm (5/16 in.) hole.



Testing the fit with an original Type 3 slinger. It's good to go. After a little cleaning and painting today the left rear brakes will be ready for reassembly.

Rarest of the rarest of the rare?

It was good meeting Aaron Britcher over the VW Classic weekend after years of long distance correspondence. He made his way over from Oz along with a contingent of mad VW freaks who all seemed to be having a great time visiting the Southern California VW scene. Aaron is the owner of the world's fastest VW 1500 panel van, among other VWs, and he has a great collection of Type 3 rarities with an emphasis on performance parts. With his eye always open for the rare and the unusual, it's no wonder he came across something at ISP West so obscure that no one would have even imagined its existence, let alone known to look for it.




A 1962 1500 badge that had escaped the final die stamping that would have released it from the sheet, seen here with a finished badge for comparison. I guess it goes without saying that it's NOS. Somewhat analogous to a mis-struck coin, this is definitely one for the collector who has everything.

2010 VW Classic Weekend

As usual I got my first proper sunburn of the summer at last weekend's VW Classic. I hit as many events as possible this year, starting with Gizmo Bob Walton's BBQ on Thursday, followed on Saturday by OCTO, Ed Economy's Toy and Literature Show, ISP West's open house, the Type 34 Registry dinner, and the VW Classic itself on Sunday. Kind of a marathon, but well worth it. It was good catching up with the everyone and to get to meet Adam Barrett, Aaron Britcher, Eric Farnsworth, and a bunch of Samba regulars.

Bob was kind enough to let me drive his Hot VWs-featured '62 notch to the events on Saturday, and the first stop was OCTO. It was my first OCTO and it didn't disappoint. Here are Gerson's freshly stamped Type 3 pans at the swap:



After a swing through the toy and literature show it was off to ISP for their open house, always one of the best Type 3 events of the year. Here's Eric Colla's low-mile '62, which he drove down from the Bay Area for the weekend:





Everything's as it should be for an early '62, including the plastic carb linkage and the rubber boot for the accelerator cable. Awesome. You just never see these parts on an engine anymore, let alone one that's driven 1000 miles in a weekend.

Eric Farnsworth drove his nice 1500S down from the central coast:



Then it was on to the Type 34 dinner in Irvine, which had a record-setting attendance of 26 if I'm not mistaken.

On Sunday I headed down to the Classic a little later than I had hoped and got stuck in the long entrance lineup for over an hour. I got through the gates at a little after 8 and tracked down the 1500 Club, and then headed over to the swap where Larry Edson was selling a Vanagon load of Type 34 parts from Tim Dapper's 30-year collection. It was a lucky day for any Type 34 owner who stumbled onto Larry's swap space. I scored a few good parts at the swap and picked up a set of pans from Gerson.

1500 Club lineup at the Classic:



Gary Stell's first-place Nutria 1500S — nicely overrestored and impossibly clean:






Pedro Sainz's 1500S took third in the notchback class.

Deena Reese's low-mile '65 Square won first in class and, unbeknownst to most of us until the deed was done, she sold it to collector extraordinaire Mike Malamut. Nice to know it went to a good home.



Tom Reay and Roger Marcks won first and second place for their Type 34s, respectively — or did they tie for first?



A clean '67 Type 34:



Oscar Guevara's '62 notch with fresh new salt & pepper interior, apparently finished only hours before the Classic:





Oscar's is the first interior finished with the new repro salt & pepper cloth.

The nicest coachbuilt at the Classic had to be Mark Merrill's beautiful '57 Rometsch:





And in the bizarro department there was Randy Carlson's ratrod Tatra T600...






...and a Renault R8 Gordini clone with a racing history and (now) with all-VW running gear. Crazy.




It was a great weekend. Good to see everyone again and meet some old friends for the first time. Many thanks to the 1500 Club — especially Jack and Bob for all the great food — and to Bob and ISP for hosting their pre-Classic BBQs. And Bob, thanks again for letting me drive your notch on Saturday! I just wish I had taken more and better pictures.