A nice ride on a nice Spring day!

Just got the itch to take the bus for a ride the other day.  I ended up down at the beach for a quick pic, and an ice cream on the way home.  It feels good to be driving the bus again.

First visit of the season

I got up to the storage garage the other day to visit the bus.  It's starting to get nice out once in a while and it is getting close to car show season.  I wanted to be sure it would start and everything looked good before move back home day.  All was well.  I couldn't resist installing the little piece of "Grill" I bought for the bus this past winter at a show!

New winter project!

As I mentioned a while back, it's time to park the bus for the cold and salty Michigan winter.  I decided it was time to start looking for a new winter project.  My first thought was a rat rod beetle, but I could not find a suitable donor.  I did, However, run across this nice little 67 Beetle that was just begging to be brought back to it's former glory.  I decided to start a new blog for the beetle project.  I will start posting back to the bus blog when I get it out in the Spring.  For now, it's Beetle time.  I hope you enjoy the project as much as I will.

Good times just driving the bus.

I have been having a great time driving the bus and just tinkering with the hundreds of little things that one must do when you own a 40 year old car.  There is always a little clip that needs to be replaced or a seal that needs to be removed and reinstalled, the list never ends.  I have been spending a bit of time working on a hard cover photo book of the bus project.  I found a site that makes this pretty easy to do.  It's called Blurb.  I haven't bought anything from them yet, so I can comment on their quality, or service, however, their software for making the book is pretty good and it's free.  I will be sure to let you know how it comes out.  I thought this would make a nice thing to have sitting in the bus when I take it to shows.
As a part of that project, I needed some pics of the bus in it's finished (current) state.  I headed out to the park and shot a few pics before the weather gets too cold.  Have a look.

Some plans for next summer include a new awning that is a bit more authentic looking than my Walmart pop-up, Maybe a roof rack, I have the front beam adjusters on order so I can lower the front to match the rear, a new stereo, and maybe a new air cleaner and some stainless push rod tubes.  Then it's on to some more shows.  My brother in law and I are talking about making it to Road America this coming June for the big show there.  Sounds like a good time.  Maybe I need a tow dolly or a trailer?

Window seals and a new stripe

It was raining a bit yesterday, so I thought I would see if I could make some headway installing the new door/window seals on the bus.  I started on the passengers side door and just dug in.  It all made pretty good sense as I went, it just seemed to take forever.  I was at it for a bit over 3 hours to do this door.  I didn't get to the door seal itself, just the window and vent seals.  It looks really nice, the only problem I am still having is the window goes up and down very stiff.  I am not sure why this is yet, I can only think it might be how hard the new seals are squeezing on the edges of the glass.  this might be a problem.  I will try putting a couple of wedges in the slot and prying the gap open a bit.  This might help a bit.

The next thing I decided to do was to add a 1/8 (3mm) black stripe to the two tone line between the turquoise lower and the white upper.  I saw this on a white over yellow bus at the show last week and it looked pretty nice.

Upon further inspection, I noticed that my seats also have a black piping on them; it's like it was just meant to be there.  What do you think?  Keep it, or lose it?

New Exhaust II

I finished up the new exhaust last night.  I am very happy with the look, and the sound.  I took it for a ride and it just seems to have a nice rumble now.  Almost cant tell a difference at highway speeds, but rollin' around town sounds much more authoritative, if a bus can be authoritative I guess :)  I considered this pipe when I completed the rebuild and didn't do it, big mistake.  In fact, I considered this pipe, no, lusted over this pipe back in the late 70's when I owned my old Beetle and just never could save up the cash. Again, another big mistake.  I love the sound.  Now I really want to drive the bus, but the weatherman says it's going to be a couple of days.
This is the Before Shot:  In essence, a small piece of water pipe.

Here are a couple of After Shots:

A V-Dub show last weekend

Well, I took the bus to a V-Dub show last weekend.  It was held at the US131 Motor sports park in Martin, MI.  A local club called the GoodVolks puts this show on and it was called the 2010 Fall Bug Run.  It was a really nice show.  There were about 150 air cooled cars, of those, there were more than 20 buses.  Very fun.

  There were some absolutely beautiful cars there.  It is really cool to see how much care and time, (as well as money!) These people put into their cars.

The center stage of this event was the drag racing.  About 25 VW's were there just to race (even a couple of buses were racing.)   I have never heard VW engines that sound like that; amazing and very fast.

The problem with going to a show like this is that you cant help but developing a passion for the little things you still want to do to your car.  This "passion" found me in my garage last night with the rear end of my bus ripped off installing the new exhaust I "bought" at the show (I keep having this strange feeling that I owe someone money for this! I am sure I will remember who, eventually.)

It was fun to see all the cool ideas other folks have come up with, and then to figure out how I am going to work in the ones I like.  More projects.  Anyway, as I watched and listened to the many bugs and buses roll by, I really felt that my bus needed a more "serious" sound.  The quiet and airy sound of the stock muffler just isn't cutting it.  So, along comes the new exhaust.  Cant wait to fire it up.

A couple of other cool things happened at the show as well, I ran into the guy that I sold my Manx style buggy to there this Spring.  We had a brief chance to talk and it sounds like he is really enjoying the buggy.  Man that feels good.  A car like that, no matter how much you try to make it right, is still a kit car and you can't help but worry a bit about how it will all work out.  I am very glad to know it's working out good for him so far and he is having fun with it.
Later in the day I ran into the guy, his wife and family that I bought the bus from.  It was really good to see them there.  I hope he was pleased with the progress so far.  I remember when we were discussing my plans for the bus when I was purchasing it and I think I have stayed pretty close to the things I was originally thinking.  It wasn't that well thought out, believe me, it just worked out that way.  All that said, I really hope he liked the outcome. He seemed pleased, and that made me feel good.
I also got a chance to take the bus down the drag strip; I have never been on a real drag strip before, it was pretty cool.

It was a great V-Dub weekend.  We are coming to the end of the season, and I will be putting it away in a month or so, it sure has been a fun few weeks with the bus all painted and rolling.