Nick's Burgers - DKP monthly meeting diner is closed!

After decades, Nick’s Burgers has closed down. It was truly a piece of So Cal VW history. The monthly meeting point for the legendary DKP cruise night.
Luckily, I've been there during my latest US-trip this August, here are a few pics:

 not a VW - but really nice as well:

  

 

carburetor issues?

Today I took the Volksback for a spin, but it ran everything else than perfect...
As the carburetors are basically unserviced since day one I expected a problem here, so I checked the left carb first...

... and I found this: a brass tube on the ground of the housing!?

... which belongs in the cover:

so I refitted it into the cover: 

and while I was at it, I cleaned the float bowl housing from some dirt and slime:

then I assembled everything again. When I thought I was ready I checked the engine bay - just to spot this one:

... I forgot to install one of the carburetor gaskets - so, all steps in reverse order...

I also spotted a fair bit of oil below the breather tube:

So I replaced the paper seal with a composite one, I hope it will stop spilling oil now...

P.S.: unfortunately it didn't run better afterwards - I will check for other issues tomorrow!

The spark plugs are all tan-colored and the distributor is in perfect working order, also the ignition timing is o.k. - mmmmh?

rear light cosmetics

There was a bit of chrome missing on my left rear light and the nickel was shining through which annoyed me since a long time. During yesterdays visit of the HistoriCar Duisburg, I found a good used base for the rear light in the swap meet area.

Here, the missing chrome layer is visible:

old vs. new:

Now, the Volksback is (again) a bit more perfect than before!

farewell to a fellow ...

Today I sold my trusty Skoda Octavia 1,9 TDI, after more than 13 years of ownership. It has seen several movings; countless holiday trips through Europe and my son Toby was raised "in" this car.
It gave us almost 200.000 km of trouble free driving experience! 

 
after the latest inciDENT (of course caused the missus) it was time to part... 

It was sold to its country of origin and will hopefully see many more happy kilometers in the Czech Republic!

New wheels + aircooled season 2013 is over...

After last Sundays meeting in Dorsten, which was the first appearance for the new Cosmic rims on the Volksback, the "aircooled year" is more or less over.  This year Ralfs and my Type 3's were equipped with bigger brakes (6 pod calipers) in Porsche bolt pattern and new wheels. Let's see what next year will bring...

Here is the story of the Cosmics:
rear brakes, the 4 lug hub and drum already removed - still as good as new! 

the 5 lug hub in place:

5 lug drum installed:

... and here the first shots, direct after assembly:

  I like the contrast between light body and dark wheels

 ... for me, the front could a little lower...

electric gremlins...

Yesterday evening the main 16 A fuse was killed - again. This happened 4 times since the Volksback is back on the road, so obviously there was something wrong. After I checked the remains of the fuse I could tell that LOTS of current must have blown this one:

It was literaly molten away!
After it was blown the last time I checked the replaced fuse and it was hot to the touch - not good! 

So I checked the whole fuse box set up, the dip relay, light switch etc, because the main power chord runs through the light switch and then into the fuse box.
Finally I found the failure. I connected this main chord after the fuse, not before! So, all the current ran permanently through this fuse, which couldn't work.
I reconnected the cable to the correct side of the fuse box and now everything should be good again!