20 posts in this blog. the thing that really sticks out from them is i need to do some more actual work. while i'm at it i should finish some of the projects started during the course of this blog, maybe some of the many already started before as well.
not today though.
i bought some more shit, i can't help myself... my name is henry and i'm a volkswagen addict. truth be told it wasn't even vw stuff it was bosch parts catalogues. useful to have when parts hunting plus i'm a bit of a geek at times and can get into part munbers and such.
i also but some bids on some stuff from the us, from a porsche guy. i hope i get them, i'll prob need to flog off something to cover it, they aren't big bids but combined plus shipping it is still more than a few $. i have to say though porsche guys seem to charge reasonable shipping where as vw guys must be on drugs or something. i bought a distributor from a 356 guy, for a reasonable price and he posted it for $12 US or something stupid like that plus he didn't give me an accurate figure so i paid the higher shipping cost and he refunded the difference. this guy is like $19 for a 1kg parcel, priority. i asked after a 36hp roller crank and the guy wanted $300US for postage, i have asked for quotes on small items and gotten figures of at least $40US. having said that i did get something from a vw guy a week or so ago and he only charges $10 or $15 (mind you the postage cost was $3 so that was a mighty expensive bubblerap bag.)
i guess i wanted the item so i have to pay what they want to ship it.
i had a further flick through some old volksworlds, some nice cars there but most are not quite where i would take them. back in the late 90's i had a friend alex and we were seriously into our vw's. we would always get volksworld the day it hit the shops and go through it together on the phone when we got home form work. both tryingto pick the ugliest cars and pin them on each other plus talk about how the cars had been done and what we would do differently. often we would limit ourselves to 5 changes, it sounds like a lot but it really isn't. in the year that we did this i don't think that there was a car in volksworld that either of us wouldn't have changed at least 2 or 3 things on. most we were struggling to cut it down to 5 changes.
i saw a reference to narrowed beams in a 98/9 volksworld. i hadn't realised that it had been going on that long. now that i think about it i think i remember poeple talking about it on the old CLF back before it went to cal-look.com but it wasn't a common thing. i still don't get it though. sure you can get your car lower, but it's illegal (at least in NSW) and it isn't going to improve your handling. i guess i'm just getting old. i'm not even sure if i like the look.
i have been thinking again about how much i would like to make my own wheels (well design and have made) it is so hard to do something different (but subtle). you could paint a beelte pink and nail rubber dildo's to the roof, you would stand out but it would look like crap. plus i like wheels, i like some of my designs and would like them to be on my car. (we'll just ingore the fact i don't have a drivable vw... ) plus some of the designs i think would be lighter than the normal aftermarket wheels, always a plus to reduce your unsprung mass, very important if you reduce your spring mass. i won't go into my ideas here just in case i actually do do something about them. i have sussed out that the local non ferrous foundry doesn't do this sort of work. i guess you never win them all.
i really does suck to know that the vw nationals are on this weekend and i'll be working. especially as i really need to hold another swap stall to turn some of my excess stuff into cash (so i can get more stuff... hopefully, but not always of late, to shuffle my ragtop slightly closer to completion) that is the one thing i really dislike about living in the country. i don't have a network of local vw friends to hang out with, bounce ideas off and motivate each other. for the most part i have been a bit of a lone wolf with my hobbies, never been a "club" kind of guy, but when the vast majority of my contact with other vw people is just words over the net. an event like the nationals is good to see the few real people i know who are into vw's, have a little real interaction.
the funny thing is the 2 vw people i'm good friends with don't really do the internet vw thing.
i will make a list here of cheap stuff i need to finish off some of the things i have been working on and i'll try to use it to push myself.
headlight lense seals 1 pr (if not several sets)
headlight bezel spring clips * 14 (1 set)(at least)
usefull... replated or NOS reflectors, NOS or straightened/rechromed rims, a bosch singlespot lense with leadoff that matches the markings of one of the ones that i have. for the ultimate resto a rubber stamp of the markings that a 63 bucket should have so i can repaint the buckets and still have them correct. poss use a printgocco thingy to make a screen to screen print the markings... it all sounds easy and cheap when you say it fast.
shims/fibre washers for a bosch distributor + the correct grease so i can finish off the VJU4 BR8's that are stripped cleaned and repainted in my shed. plus the VJ4 BR25. nfi where i will find them as bosch disscontinued them a year or 2 ago...
the rotor and cap for the VRU4 BR8 for ernie + the proper condenser if i can find one. also dig out the nice brown cap/rotor i put on my oval a 1000 miles before i crashed it back in the day.
go back and check if that NOS vacuum can i saw ages ago was for a vw. kind of important that one. (my name is henry and i am deeply in love with NOS stuff)
i do suprise myself with how much crap i can write about nothing.