December 20, 2005
Tonight I updated the “Updates to Project ’56” page- more pics!!
I am happy to report good progress on the ’56. Master cylinder and fuel pump are wired up and plumbed. Brake system has fluid in it and has been bled. Prepping the dash for the gauges. Vent for gas tank in place. Once all this is done I can get the hood back on the car. Oh, and all the glass is now in the car. BFY did a nice job of putting the vent windows back together. The 1600 for the ’68 has all gaskets in place and the mufflers are on order. I will be doing the swap very shortly. The stereo will also be coming out of the ’68. Selling it all- in dash DVD is likely sold already.
This is how I bled the brakes. Pump by hand, set up the wood, open the bleeder screw, close it,
repeat. Worked really well. We’ll see if the car actually stops when it
has a motor in it!
Date has been set for the CB Performance Pro Stock Nationals- August 18 and 19, 2006. BE THERE!!!
December 14, 2005
Another event this summer not to miss!!! The CB Performance Pro Stock Nationals in Indiana.
ROAD TRIP #2!!!!!!
December 11, 2005
SEASONS GREETINGS!!!
I ended up
buying that 1971 Super Beetle. Likely
the body and pan are sold. Working on
getting rid of the rest of things.
Check out the list here.
I will likely
keep the engine case. It is an AS-41
and is in really good shape. If I get
time, I will build my first motor- something like a 1776cc. Small enough to not have to worry about any
clearance issues, big enough to show a noticeable improvement in horsepower!
In the shop, I
am expecting the Rancho trans to arrive for a customer in the next week. Motor for the same car should be in the week
after from CB Performance. I will be a
busy beaver over Christmas in the shop working on that ’61 convertible and on
John Rothnie’s ’67 convertible as well.
Little issues
continue to plague the ’56 assembly.
Parts not fitting correctly, other mods to be made. Like I said before, slowly but surely.
OH YEAH- ROAD
TRIP!!!! It’s a go for Georgia on March 12. Greg and John Rothnie are in- are
you??? It will be nice to get away from
Southern Ontario mid March. Check it
out here. When I get the hotel booked, etc I will post
it all here.
November 30, 2005
It’s been a steady go on the ’56. Nothing that amounts to much to look at, but
I have the brake lines all plumbed now and am waiting for a brake fluid
reservoir that will look slick. It’s been ordered. Also picked up a couple of gauges so I can see how they fit. Tach is tight, boost is even tighter. Need to cut the holes in the old radio spot
for 3 gauges- boost, oil temp and oil pressure. Waiting on some more stainless fasteners to keep going on the
fuel lines, and Ben has shipped my chrome stuff from Montreal. There is a big event in Georgia on March 12
that I will be at, maybe with the car. Click here for details.
Got the 1600
engine fixed up a bit. See pics
below. Waiting for gasket kit to come in
to reassemble. Should look good in the
’68. By the way, I have my 2110 engine
for sale, click
here.
John Rothnie’s
car should be back in the shop here by next weekend. Snow has started to fall in these parts so it all depends on the
weather. Need to change the clutch and
play around with the front end. With
any luck he will be able to just enjoy it next season!!!
I have updated
my “Updates to Project ’56” & “DVDs for Sale” pages, as well as some
backgrounds.
I should have taken a before shot too………….
November 6, 2005
Okay, okay, okay. I’m updating the site!!!
It’s been almost
a month since I updated this thing and I apologize. Hasn’t been too much happening on the VW side of my life, but
here’s a summary:
- I have a 1776cc type 1 motor on order
from CB for a customer. Goal is
100hp, exhaust has been ordered from A-1 (sidewinder ceramic coated
black). Everything should be ready
by year end.
- Helping Greg Rothnie on his 75 Standard
Beetle. Disk brake conversion in
front, 2332cc engine is in place for mock up before car goes for
paint. I bought a 1600cc engine
from him for my ’68. Pics of that
engine soon.
- Found a ’71 Super Beetle out by Lake
Erie. Was going to buy it for
parts, too much money and too much effort for what was there. Nonetheless, if you have an old VW you want to get rid of give me a call.
- Found some VW vans and campers that I
am trying to pick up. See pics
below.
- Picked up a new tool box for the shop
at Costco. All stainless, works
good and looks good. Also added 4
fluorescent light fixtures to the shop for increased brightness.
- Got some more wiring done on the ’56. Got my tach mount mocked up, tail lights in place, working on fuel line. Competition Engineering 3 way adjustable shocks all 4 corners. Check out the “Update to Project ‘56” page for recent pics.
- Finally, I have a new supplier. Kustom Coach Werks
will be supplying me with complete narrowed beams. I will have a few in inventory so call
me with your needs! I chose this
company as I have met John Jones in CA, and have dealt with him throughout
the build on my ’56. Super nice
guy and I look forward to a great business relationship with him.
October 10, 2005
Happy (Canadian)
Thanksgiving!!
I have added Ben’s buggy under customer cars, and updated a
couple things on my 1968 Bug for sale
page.
Got some more fasteners for the ’56 so I have more brake line routed now, and more stuff fastened.
October 1, 2005
Updated the contents page by adding a link to pics of the ’56 in progress. When I actually start using a real web site design program you’ll be able to enlarge the pics, but that’s down the road.
Ben’s car is to
be done for Oct 5, I would have pics but John did not want to reveal anymore
until it is back together- sorry Ben- you’ll just have to wait!
September 23, 2005
Took some pics of Ben’s interior as John gets to work on it. Pics of seats and side panels should be up next week.
Been working on
the wiring still on the ’56. Slow and
steady….. It’s taking a while to find
those small, elusive parts to finish the vehicle. Windshield is in, trying to get the vent windows back in the
frames with new rubber- I see VW had a special jig to do this. I have a workmate my parents bought me-
we’ll see how that works!
Here’s a couple
of pics from the cruise last Saturday.
I had some issues with the ’68 (loose wire) and really appreciate the
folks waiting for me to show up.
Thanks.
September 09, 2005
Took a picture of Ben’s interior in his buggy that John Wilke is redoing:
Doesn’t look
like much now, this is the old stuff, but it will look sharp when it is
done. Tan leather arrived this morning
at John’s.
That cruise on
the 17th is organized by local Grimsby guys and it’s route is along
the North Service Road. Be there or be
square……….
September 06, 2005
Just got notice
of a VW cruise leaving the “Gateway to Niagara” located on the south west side
of the QEW and Casablanca Blvd in Grimsby at noon on September the 17th. Don’t have more details yet, likely this is
the “Bugs in Motion” cruise that Wayne Dean has written about in VW Trends a
couple years back. It will go to Port
Dalhousie in St.Catharines. More
details as soon as I get them…..
Oh, and I’ll be
at the Mapleview Mall cruise on Sept the 7th in Burlington. Start time is 5pm, lot is full by 6pm.
September 05, 2005
Finally added my
parts for sale to the site. Please take a look and see if there is anything
you need, otherwise I can always order it in for you. Will take about 3 weeks, from CB Performance it takes about 1
week.
August 31, 2005
Just added some
shots of the seats in the car so Ron Lummus Racing can
suggest the best roll bar to make and how to mount the seat belts.
August 22, 2005
A brief update
here.
I have been
working on the ’56 and as of tonight I have both pop out windows in, rear
window in, wiring started, rear carpet in place, seats in place, steering wheel
on. It’s gonna look sweet, for
sure. Still a LOT more time involved
though. Pics will be up soon.
Ben from
Montreal is coming down to Oakville on Sept 6 to bring his award winning buggy
to John Wilke for an interior upgrade.
I’ll post pics when he is here.
Oh, and from my
August 2nd update, Peter fixed up his exhaust with another hanger
and is happily driving around in it again.
If rain is not
predicted for this Saturday I will be in Grand Bend, but last year it was
rained out and I don’t feel like driving 3 hours there and not see some good
ol’ VW racing. Weather report does not
look good right now.
August 2, 2005
Well, I’ve been pretty busy working on nice VWs, but I had better update this site.
First, I will be adding a section real soon of what I have in stock and pricing so be sure to check it out ‘cuz I need to sell some stuff!!!!
Next, I went to
Milan for the Bug Out on July 30. See pictures here of the event. Many
more can be found on the ‘net. Got
lost in downtown Detroit with my wife going to the show Friday night because of
poorly signed detours. That was
fun. Not.
Saturday I
worked 14 hours on Beetle Juice. See it
here at www.beetlejuice.ca. Had to pull the fuel injected, dual throttle
bodied 1776, pull the trans, change axles to the new trans, put everything back
together. Had it done by midnight, but
with a bad exhaust leak. Peter said he
would find it and fix it. So that’s
that.
Installed CB
valve covers and dropped spindles on John Rothnie’s car on Sunday afternoon and
Monday night. A lot better ride now versus having the torsions cranked all the
way down- it was like a pogo stick before!
Also installed a
Mallory coil to go with my Mallory distributor in the ’68 on Sunday night.
July 18, 2005
Okay, so it would appear that people are actually starting to visit this site. Neat. So I figured I would update it a bit more.
I got my oval
back on Friday from Auto Interiors by John.
Nice job with the headliner John!
It’s a pretty light color and with the fabric used it will be a bear to
keep clean! Wolfsburg West was the
supplier of the headliner, and for the most part it was a good fit. John had to custom make a few pieces to get
it to fit in everywhere, and overall for a store bought headliner, it looks good.
Check out the
pics below of John working his magic.
July 12, 2005
I drove the ’68 down to the Bug Out 24 in Kitchener on Sunday. Decent turn-out and great weather. Sold a few t-shirts and met a few VW folks I had not met before. Saw a wicked ’67 sun roof from Frank in Guelph. Check out my pics from the show.
Today I brought
the ’56 in have the headliner put in.
John Wilke at Auto Interiors by John in Grimsby was up to the task. I’ll post pictures when I get it back.
Here’s the car
on the trailer:
June 26, 2005
Well, another June Jitterbug has come and gone. I was WAY too busy to attend the cruise last night around the Falls, but I hope all went well. The show seems like it was a great success yet again, kudos to Andy from John’s Bug Shop and his team for putting it on. Niagara Volks Folks definitely have their stuff together, there was something there for everyone, and I think it has been sunny for this show since I can remember.
A big thanks to
everyone who stopped by the booth to say hi, or to grab a business card or a
flyer, check out my car for sale, or pick up a refreshment. See below for a pic from the show of my
booth, and cars I had on display.
Thanks to my beautiful wife, mom and dad, & Brian and Jen for
helping out at the booth, and Greg and John Rothnie for parking their ’67 vert
at my booth.
UPDATE!!!!
John Rothnie not only came in runner up in his class with the green ‘vert, but he won People’s Choice!!! I told you it was a nice ride!!!!!!
June 12, 2005
Holy Crap it’s hot today!!! Nice to sit inside and update the site a bit. I have 2 1956 Oval ragtops in the garage now- my project and Chris Fournier’s. A nice work in progress, Chris just wants to get it running better for the time being. 1776cc with dual Dells, we will mess around with jetting and rebuild the carbs to get it running at it’s best.
I have a new
supplier- Ocean Street
Video. I will be selling some VW
drag racing DVDs at the June Jitterbug, and plan to have one playing at the
booth so come by and check it out.
June 5, 2005
WHEW!!! It’s been a busy month. I had John Rothnie’s kick ass 1967 ‘vert
here for some work and he and Greg came to pick it up today. VDO oil temp sender and gauge installed and
some finishing touches done on the car.
It looks and sounds great. Be
sure to check the car out at my booth at the June Jitterbug. I have my t-shirt design done, business
cards are next up.
Thanks for all the feedback on the logos. As you can tell, I picked one and the majority of feedback favoured that style.
May 8, 2005
Added my first
customer car page. Click here to check it out!!!
May 7, 2005
Just put up the
final stages of the logos from Greg
Rothnie. It’s between 2 styles, a
total of 9 variances now. Let me
know what you think.
May 3, 2005
I’m starting to
get the hang of this! New photo gallery
added of the ’56 Rag project under Project
Vehicles, and I have reduced the time it takes to load some images.
ALSO, I have a
page just with some logo ideas on it.
My buddy Greg Rothnie has been busy at work designing some cool
stuff. PLEASE tell me what you like,
and look at the stuff Bron Signs came up with too.
April 25, 2005
Well, I kind of
figured out how to add some pictures, so enjoy what I have entered so far from
Bug In 32, April 10 in Fontana at California Speedway. Click here
to see them!!!
April 18, 2005
I was down in
California for the Bug-In 32 show and racing.
WOW!!! It was surely one show to
remember. When I figure out how to post
pictures without waiting for the screen to come up for like 10 minutes I will.
When I was down
there I set up my accounts with CB Performance and West Coast Metric. Now I am in the process of setting one up
with airkewld. So if you want anything from them let me know ‘cuz I need to set
up a sizeable order!
I will be at the June Jitterbug in Niagara Falls June 26th so be sure to drop by to say hi and see what I have got for sale.