Dirt

If you take the time to really prep well, the paint will last a lot longer. I used Duplicolor's wheel paint. clear coat and their adhesion promoter. The wheels have had over a year of hard use and they're holding up great. Make sure the wheels are REALLY clean. I scuffed them up with a scotch brite pad. With the basket weaves, that will take a while. I'd still suggest doing it. The paint will last a lot longer. Do really thin coats of paint. Don't worry about getting full coverage on the first coat... maybe not the second one either. Let them dry for a little while between coats. I let them dry over night before doing three thin coats of clear over the top. If you take your time and don't rush, they can look really good and last a long time. Pete

I noticed that when I was looking through your pics. We've got 2 cats an they're very "helpful" on any project I'm working on. Leave it to me to have a photo-ho for a cat. Mao Gracie. They're having tons of fun with the Christmas tree. This is their first Christmas with a tree and they're thoroughly enjoying it. Mao is over 15 pounds, so we have a heavy duty Christmas tree stand that is bolted into a 60 pound base. The top of the tree is tied to the ceiling with heavy fishing line. So far it is still standing. Sorry for the sidetrack. Gracie and Mao will show up here pretty often, so it is important that they are properly introduced. Today is supposed to be another warm day. I'm going to attack the rust on the driver's quarter pannel when I get home from the office. Pete

Hey folks. For some reason the weather cooperated today and it was almost 70 degrees the week before Christmas. What the heck is up with that? I worked on the hood and trunk lid to see how the Eastwood 2-part rust conversion chemicals worked. I'm probably going to replace both of those parts anyways, so I wanted a bit of practice before I let loose on the rest of the body. Before: After: The whole bloody story: My web site with more photos of this process. And a picture of my cat playing with the Christmas tree. Pete

Question 1 has to do with removal. Is there room enough for me to remove the starter without having to take the intake manifold off? It looks like I should be able to slide it up in between the intake manifold and the firewall. Question 2: Has anyone here rebuilt their starter? My guess is that mine just isn't moving because it has been sitting for years. Any advice on taking it apart? I've got a manual that describes the process. Just curious about real-world experience. Thanks for the help. Pete

You've been busy. It is great to see the work moving along. I can't tear mine down like that until after the worst of the winter. Your floors look better than mine do. Sorry that you had to find the rust there though. It would have been nice if there hadn't been any at all. Keep up the good work. Pete

Do you have health insurance? What does she have in the shotgun? If it is rock salt, I say buy it anyways. It stings like hell, but heals up pretty well. What kind of distance are we talking about? Is she a good shot?

[*:e25ce3a374]Exterior trim: GONE [*:e25ce3a374]Interior panels: GONE [*:e25ce3a374]Vintage 2004 gasoline in the tank (all 9 gallons of it): GONE (in an ecologically friendly way) [*:e25ce3a374]Another 5 pounds of rust: GONE [*:e25ce3a374]Leak in the windsheild molding: Not gone. :/ Oh well. There's always tomorrow. Pete

I've thought about installing a widescreen TV instead of the windshield. I could just hook it up to my playstation 2 and completly skip doing engine mods and body restoration. I'd save serious amounts on gas too. But seriously folks.... I probably wouldn't do it if I was the only person getting one because of the $500 shipping charge. That charge goes down somewhat if 10 people buy them though. *shrug*

I'm interested in one, but I'm not going to have funds for it until February. I won't use a radar detector and the likelihood is that I may take the heater box out of my car. Thanks for posting this up. Pete

Well, At Bisquit3's advice, I took the bumpers off. I've been wanting to since I got the car, but didn't get around to it until today. The car is now a lot lighter and it looks better too. I finally took the two spare tires and three jacks out of the trunk. There was a lot more junk in there too. Finally it is empty. There is a little rust in the bottom of the spare tire well. I have no complaint about that since I'm going to cut it out and fill in with sheet metal. There is a little rust here and there, but it actually isn't so bad. Not near as bad as the floors. I'll have to fix some things inside the fender wells, but it isn't so bad. Again, I'm sure I'll find more problems as I really take things apart. I made another discovery. I've read a few recomendations for exhausts and many people have said that the Ansa exhaust is a decent setup. I get the impression that it is a little on the loud side. When I looked under the back bumper to remove the trim around it, guess what I found? I'm sure it is pretty well rusted, like everything else on this car, but the exhaust is made by Ansa. More tomorrow. Pete

I'm glad I could be of assistance. Back on topic: I found a local source for a starter. I should have that in hand tomorrow and hopefully installed tomorrow afternoon. I borrowed a few extra gas cans so I can empty the gas and get rid of it in one trip. I've got two people stopping by the house tomorrow for me to roll their fenders. If that goes quickly, I should be able to give that new starter a test. We'll see how that works out. Pete

We used to have kids. They were catapulted more than 200 meters away in an early test of my new parts disposal device. They haven't found their way back yet. I remember that you said you were from 'round these parts at one point in your life. I should have made my comments a bit more specific about North Americans. Many of the automotive regulations that we've got are freaking insane at best and moronic at worst. Remember those sliding seatbelts from the late 80s and early 90s? Bwahahaha. I rest my case. Pete PS: I still think most North Americans are a little weird. Myself included.

Oh yeah... one more thing. After a hard rain yesterday, I found that the windshield seal leaks. There was a small puddle on what was left of the floor under each leak. I'm going to get a good, waterproof cover for the Bummer this weekend. I don't care if it messes up the paint. I'd just like to keep some of the water out if I can. Pete

Us North Americans are definitely freaks. The bumpers look like they were an afterthought at best, the design work of an alcohlic opium addict with a bad hangover at worse. (No offense intended to alcoholic opium addicts with hangovers). The bumpers are coming off. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with them. I was thinking of building a large catapult that I can use to get rid of spare parts that I don't need and no-one wants. They'd be great for calibrating the catipult. I need to be able to fling something the size of that bumper at least 200 meters. I'll let you know how that goes. Most likely they'll end up at the junk yard. Thanks for the ecouragement. Karl is looking great! I'm glad that the masking tape is gone now. Pete

Happy Birthday Ludwig!

I'm fortunate that this isn't going to be a daily driver. That removes a lot of the fear about digging through stuff for me. I pretty much go for it and worry about the consequences later. My grand total spent on this project so far is still well under $50. That isn't going to last for too long though. I'm getting a new starter at the end of the week. That will at least get the motor turning on battery power. It will let me move onto the next step in getting the motor running. Thanks for your comments. Good luck with your project. Pete

I saw the same thing and was intreagued by the process. Many things get a lot easier if you're using adhesives instead of welding. I may experiment with some of that on my car. I have to say that I've gotten a lot of inspiration and ideas from the power block. Most of the shows are very well done. Their selection of on-air personalities is quite good because most of them do all the wrenching and fab work on the show. I liked the old incarnation of the show "Trucks!". Even though it is about a kind of vehicle that I'm not particularly fond of, they did some amazing fab work and restoation on that show. I confess. I have a Jessi Combs thing too. There's something damn appealing about a chick that fabs like she does, has a star tattood on her arm pit, can kick my ass at arm wrestling and look good doing it. Sorry to take this thread in a different direction. I'll explore some of the panel adhesives when I get to that point in the restoration. Pete

Looks like new floors are definitely going to be put into the Bummer. Passanger side floor. The car was parked leaning so that the passanger side was a little lower and the sunroof leaked and puddled water for a few years. Hopefully there's enough good metal to weld in a new floor. We'll see when I cut them out. With the seats and carpet out. It looks like some of the wiring was cut towards the back of the car. I can't tell if it is just stereo stuff or what. I'll chase it down soon. Pete

Good afternoon. Well I didn't get much time to work on the Bummer* last week, but I did get an hour or so today. I stuck the battery in and hooked it up and got good news and bad news. The good news is that the gas gauge works!!!! The bad news is that it registerrs Full. That gas has been in there for at least two years. I was going to say that there's no telling what state it is in, but I'm wrong about that. It is going to be bad gas and I'm going to have to drain the tank. That means getting a few big gas cans and carting them to the waste disposal place this weekend. GGGGGGGGGggggggggrrrrrr. I took the passagner seat out so that I could get to the back seat. The mechanisms on the front seat for folding forward is pretty much toast. I yanked the seat out and then gently took out the rear seats. Though dirty, the vinyl appears to be in perfect shape. I'll unhook that tomorrow and send it off to Greg on Friday when I get paid. I also found an alternative ventilation port under the rear seat. The driver's side floor had been welded up and resealed. The passanger side was weak, rusted and had a 1"x2" hole in it. I'll weld that up when the time comes. For now it lets a nice breeze into the cabin. I thought I'd see if the motor would turn over. No such luck. My guess is a bad starter or starter solenoid (sp). I didn't get a click at all when I turned the key. All of the interior lights dimmed like it was sucking amps. The battery is a brand new optima, so I'm relatively sure it isn't that. I'll read my trusty manual tonight and see what's involved in changing out the starter and its solenoid. The rest of the carpet comes out tomorrow to survey the additional foot ventilation that might be around under there. I'll document what I find when I have a little light to photograph. On the good side, I did find a 1979 quarter under the back seat. Thanks for reading. Pete Oh yeah... I forgot about the * remark above. I was writing an e-mail the other day and tried to type "Bimmer" and it accidentally came out "Bummer". I figured that was Freudian, so until the car runs, its new name is "The Bummer". I guess I shouldn't heap such bad karma (or carma) on the the little thing. I know it'll run when it is time for it to do so. Please don't mistake my derogitory names for my car for me not loving this thing to death.

Thank you!

Simple thing that you probably already checked.... Did you check all your fuses? Good luck. Pete

Is this the one that you ended up using? Thanks! Good luck finding your short. I hate those kind of bug-a-boos (no offense intended to any bug-a-boos that read this post). Pete

You should be excited!!! Congrats. You'll definitely have fun getting that thing installed and running. Keep up the good work. Pete

Glad that you're okay and that the car wasn't damaged. I've driven some of those roads and they're a lot of fun when the conditions are good. I can't imagine they're much fun in the snow and ice. Pete

VW Corrado's in the US are notorious for having horrible headlights. One thing that helps them is having a good wiring harness with relays to maximize the power going to the headlights. I've also read that going to a more powerful alternator helps the headlights too. Good luck! Pete