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Door Handle Chrome 12-3-2009
 So I decided to get after the door handle chrome-looks-like-crap dilemma. After buying several individual handles only to find out they all have some chrome imperfection, I decided to disassemble the ones I have and have the button and handle chromed again. There are several after market handles that are available but they come with the cheesy black plastic key, not the steel stamped Huff hey. Secondly, I understand you cannot simply change out the cheesy lock that comes with them and install your older, OG tumblers.
 The Huff keys are one of the signature pieces of early VW, not to mention I already had Gabriel key all my locks to match the same SC profile. So I took the handles apart to get just the handle and thumb push castings ready for chrome. There are apparently no good chrome shops in town, so once again George at The Wagen put me in touch with our old Friend Kevin McCain in Grand Junction, CO for some decent chroming.
I'll be sending the components out to Kevin later this week and I can go onto thinking through the next challenge. |
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Back to work on Oscar! 12-2-2009
I was inspired today to get back to work on the '65 by someone I have never met. He goes by PatterBon on The Samba and he has really shown some dedication in getting his super beetle engine back together and drivable. I have been staring at my '65 in the garage in its sorta 1/3 built state wondering when I'd get the urge to get busy on it again. I found that ambition tonight! After fighting the generator fan for sometime, I finally got it to the least amount of run out possible without reinventing the wheel. After mounting it, I also installed the correct 111-905-205N distributor for the '65. More correct parts . . .
 One of the toughest thing to do on this engine has been to get all the cooling tin to slip together effortlessly. I watch old videos of the VW assembly line and these technicians drop an entire shroud with generator attached onto an engine and all the edges just fall in. Pfffsstttt! As if . . . Since Sheri was not home yet, I decided to keep busy and got the shroud in place. Cleaned up the generator strap, and put all four 8mm bolts in place to hold the backing plate to the shroud. The icing on th cake was the two sheet metal screws, one on each end of the shroud, threaded in perfectly the first time! And did I mention I have NEVER worked on a VW and had hands this clean before? I guess new/clean parts have that added benefit.
I finished up by mounting the 12V regulator on top of the generator. This is an old 356 Porsche 90mm generator, same as the 6V VW units. I had a local generator specialist, Clarence (yes the name fits, good people too) replace the fields and armature. He also drilled and tapped the top so I could mount the regulator on top like it was when the car was 6V. I am trying to keep the car as original as possible - and 12V cars had the regulators off of the generator. I have a brand spankin' new harness in this car and it would have required some serious hacking if I moved it anywhere but on the shroud - and I did not want it there. Anyhow, Clarence hooked me up. The only difference is that it sits about 3" forward from where a 6V regulator would. I found another Porsche generator and Clarence will be restoring it for me too so I have a spare. You don't just walk into Auto-Clone and find these things.
 I plan to get the pocket for the sunroof door sealed to the roof one of these evenings and the four drain lines for it routed so I can call the upholstery guru to come install the headliner. After that the interior is all down hill I hope. I'll be looking to get a carb from keifernet hopefully - the 28PCI I have is just too small for the engine.
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