24 days in December

This is the final result of the "Christmas countdown calender", a nice selection of tools - especially the ratchet!

My 2015 highlights

Funilly, almost all my highlights of 2015 are connected to the "Le Bug Show" in Spa in August this year. Besides the perfect weather and the adventure to get there (with Ralf's car on a trailer for the last ~40 km) - This recovery was the first -too good to be true- scene of this weekend:

(note this perfect blue sky!)

So we fixed this (for the 2nd time this year a repair job on the road - the other one on the way to Hannover was also something to be mentioned) , participated in the unbelievable parade,

met so many friends , found out that these Belgians even bring along their own mini"frituur":

and on Saturday  evening we visited the Type 3 meeting - and I (actually my car) got the Type 3 Award presented!

Later this night we fixed yet another Type 3 which fuel pump gave up, which was also a great example of the international camaradery of us -slightly crazy- aircooled VW enthusiasts - Awesome!

During Sunday we drove a few times around the race track:

... had another perfect day and a flawless journey home again later on Sunday afternoon.

I can't wait for the weekend of August 5th-7th 2016 for the next "Le Bug Show" in Spa, Belgium! 

Another highlight was the 6 page feature of my car in the October 2015 issue of Ultra VW, a special thanks to Dokke for the great pictures and Paul Knight for a damn good article!

 Even the shooting on a hot July day was great fun:

Oh - and not forgetting to mention a nice BBQ with great friends in late August! (You know who you are!)

Finally, the purchase of my first Porsche is something I want to add here - I know, it is not a real Porsche, but I like anyways!

So, thank you to all my friends involved in this hobby for having a great time whenever we meet and see you all in 2016!

Christmas countdown calendar

Well, this is my best guess for a translation of the German word: Adventskalender...
This year I have a WERA Advendskalender with real tools (for real men) :-)
24 little doors with 24 little gifts...

On December 24 a full pouch with tools will be accomplished! See low left area of the calendar pic!

New project - new Blog

As I want to keep the projects separated, I started another Blog for the 944:
The Alpin Weiss-ach
I'd be happy if you also visit this one from time to time!

The rev counter - a long overdue item!

One of the iconic areas of the type 3 is the dashboard with the 3 instruments. During the restoraution I invested a lot of time to make them look as a good as new. I repaired the clock and tuned it almost to perfection, with only a bout 5 minutes discrepancy per month.
But with the new engine I need a rev counter - or tach as called in the U.S. -  to control what is going on in the back of the Volksback. The original ones, made by comp. VDO and Gossen are very rare and very expensive as well. On the ISP West website I found a nice looking reproduction, and the price was acceptable. I checked some reviews and the owners seem to be satisfied, so I ordered one:

 Here it is new in the box

The fixation is similar to the original with these tabs and also the illumination is using the original style bulbs ...- I like it!
So, Goodbuy clock, hello rev counter!

There's a new kid in town!

Well, sooner or later it had to happen:

I am a fan of the transaxle Porsche's since a long time. I checked a lot of them and finally I bit the bullit.
This is a 1986 2,5l manual gearbox 944 Targa, Alpina white, black interior.

It is in good overall shape, a few bits have to be fixed (like the driver seat, a common problem on each and every Porsche...).
Maybe I will start a seperate Blog...
The plan is to use it on a daily basis after the H-registration in May 2016...

longing for perfection...

One major change for next year will be a nice set of Porsche Fuchs replicas. The front rims are slightly modified SSP's, they deliver a real cool wheel with the TÜV approval as well, but there is one detail on those wheels that bugged me since day one. The center cap is of good, heavy quality and resembles the PORSCHE center cap almost perfect - with one exception: The galvanic surface is just plain wrong, as there is a slight goldish, nickel-like shine to it. Here you can see what I mean, look close to the otherwise perfect Karmann Ghia which also won a trophy during this years Spa Le Bug Show:

(This picture was taken during the 2014 Weeze Show)

 The cover color doesn't fit to the polished surface of the wheels.

So I sent my covers to a chrome and polishing specialist, to re-chrome my covers, here is the result:

It is not easy to catch the bright chrome shine on camera. Even though it might just be a little detail, but I am sure it will be noticed!

Porsche Museum Stuttgart

Last weekend I visited the Porsche museum in Stuttgart, a great exhibition of the sportscar:

Currently, the 30th anniversary of the Porsche 959 is celebrated with a special exhibition, one item is the  impressive cut-away model, originally shown on the 1985 Franfurt auto show IAA.

 The famous Berlin-Rom Wagen with full aluminiun body

Moby Dick:

forget about flat 4 or flat 6 engines,  flat16! = 16 cylinder twin spark "boxer" engine =32 spark plugs + mechanical Injection

For me, one of the most impressive cars, the Porsche 909 Bergspyder, less than 400 kg weight!

The legendary Fuhrmann engine.

For any gearhead: If you haven't been there - you have to go there! 

Ultra VW magazine Issue 146: The Volksback feature and other Type 3's as well

Finally, the 6 page feature of the Volksback made it into the October issue of Ultra VW!

I am happy with this feature, words and pics are really nicely done! Most of the pics were done @ Zeche Zollverein in Essen. The shooting took place in July when it was sooo hot, this is a picture of it, Toby was assisting with the remote flash!

 Already long gone, today it was below 10°C!

Jonathan Ward did it again: VW Camper Derelict

Jonathan Ward is world famous for his company ICON (Ford Bronco and Toyota FJ supercars) and their Derelict builds.
This time he did a great job on a 1967 VW:

Old school rocker covers

With the modified rocker geometry and the added 4 mm shims under the pedestals the OEM rocker covers didn't fit anymore. I digged deep in my parts stash and found a pair of vintage aluminium cast rocker covers from German company Beetlechoose. I think these date back to the early 90's. - Already 25 years!

I just have to modify the hardware and bolts, put new o-rings and copper washers on them and the longblock is officially done!

Rear view mirror

My mirror was some sort of automatic high speed cut-off. Everytime I reached 120 kph it flipped against the vent window due to the wind load. I tried several times to tighten the nut to achieve higher clamp forces, but the material is so weak, I stripped the thread!
Luckily, we have a huge "helicoil" repair set in our company, which I borrowed today.
This is the problem: 

 No clamping force on the spring, as the thread in the lower nut was stripped.

Here is a detail shot of the stripped thread. When I drilled the new hole for the thread the material appears to me like aluminium, super soft!

The helicoil insert is clearly visible, after re-assembly it appears a lot stronger. Tomorrow I will give the Volksback a "high speed test" to check if the mirror stays as adjusted...

Spark plug sockets

Spark plug access is ain't easy on aircooled VW's - and the 2 Weber carbs don't make it easier, but luckily NGK has a wide array of spark plug sockets. After I tested a few of them, this is my choice: 

Spa 2015: Type 3 Award + Ultra VW

After some emailing and searching on Facebook, I finally got some pictures from Saturday's Type 3 gathering during the Spa weekend:

This is me - half happy / half in disbelief when I received the Type 3 / Type 34 award. Once again a big "Thank You" to the organization team for picking my car! And "merci beaucoup" to Gregory Braham and Pierre Monneret for the pictures!

If you happen to read UK's fantastic VW magazine "Ultra VW", you might have noticed this preview picture:

I'm really curious about the full feature of my car, only a few more days - I can't wait!

Engine: final steps!

Today I picked up the final sheet metal parts from Jens - you know who... in order to get going on the final assembly stage.
Here is an overview, the parts are semi-gloss black - the camera flash is mis-leading...

On Wednesday my buddy Uwe was so kind to shorten my push rods, here is the result, after I pressed the end caps on:

8 exakt same length cro-mo push rods!

So, I started to put all those things together:

I'm stoked so far - everything fits tight, no scrapping noises - looks good...

Engine: finally, heads are comming together and a shiny fan!

After endless checks and measurements with the help of Rui's adjustable push rod, now their length and the rocker geometry are finalized:

I ended up with 4mm shims under the rocker bases:

To install them correct, I needed a set of longer bolts:

Now, the valve stem @ half stroke is spot on in-line with the adjuster!

Next step: shorten the push rods to correct length...

Oh, last but not least, the tig welded, cad-plated fan wheel is back in da house!

Spa 2015: Type 3 Squarebacks

Here are a few Squarebacks:

   ...again, mostly white - I wonder why so many white Type 3 's survived?

 This is such a cool color, in the shade:

 ... and in the sun:

... and: No, they didn't come slammed nor with a shortened front axle from the factory :-)