My 63 Ragtop

[63Ragtop NZ]

nail biting time.

WOF sorted.

Reg sorted.

Sorted!!
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[63Ragtop NZ]

Yes Sunday was a good day, very little use of a AK.
After the wof and reg last week, first job was to get the wheels all pointing in the same direction.

me ol mates at lincon tyres sorted that out, easy, rear was pretty good, I'd lined the axles up with some old marks on the spring plates and it did feel good, but the fronts were 10mm out each side, no wonder it was so scary on the motorway.
After a short test drive home, it felt much better, need to go over the kings and links again and should re pack the front bearings with more grease, but first.

as we pull into our street something went thump thump thump!

rut roe

when I put the rear drums back on the pan, many moons ago, I didn't actually have the torque wrench so I just leaned on the multiplier stuck the pin in and forgot about it.
I think I may have over done it???
the splitpin and the castle nut were still in place but the drum was lose and the back of the studs had been gnawing at the wheel cylinder.
At this point I'm out of time and money, the Auckland VW Club Spring Jamboree is days away and if I have to go on three fucking wheels this car was going!
So I pulled out the bits of seal and that mangled metal thing, backed off the wheel studs so they were flush with the drum, backed off the front brake shoe has most of that also seems to have rubbed off and redid the castle nut, without hulk smashing it, and so far so good.
I am really regretting not replacing all the soft brake lines now, as I have a feeling this is why the rear shoe has rubbed so hard.
So Sunday morning loaded up every tool I own and then some, after checking and checking the hubs, drove down to local gasser and met these guys and girls.

and arrived at sunny St Heliers Bay for the cars first wee show.

and I thought my car was low.

were some really nice cars there.

one of the picks of the day for me.

really really nice, so I was pretty please to get second place in the 58-67 bug class.
not bad for a homemade car!

So cheers to the VW club, Matt and the guys for letting/making me lead the convoy in, MichealJFox for the choise pic of me and the family leaving, kiwikombi for the new smaller Dellorto chokes and all the other nice volks I chatted to and said nice things about the ragtop on the day.
Look forward to more runs and adventures, now where is that rear wheel???

Chur.
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If you can't join them, beat them!

[HUGO bOSS]

CGS!
Finally you see the end of the tunel and get out of him!
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http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=538182

[EMPIImp69]

Carl looks badass man, nice.
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1963 Ragtop Bug

[soupcups]

Damn! I've been following this since the beginning and now thanks to photo bucket I can't refer back to the pics. This was my favorite thread and now they've ruined it. Excellent work on the car sir. Finished product looks excellent. Wolfsburg himself would be proud. I'm interested in the removable rear apron. Can you repost photos on that?

Thanks Mate.

[finefettle]

Good for you and yours.. Real nice car and work.
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1979 Bug project

[63Ragtop NZ]

Thank you gentlemen, soupcups I'll try and relink the early photos one day, best I have is at the mo is the pics a page back when the motor was going in.
Have been driving the ragtop to work for a couple weeks now, have started sussing the cold start routine, turn key on, let the fuel pump get some gas moving to the carbs, 3-4 big pumps on the go pedal and boom! but usually I need to start it again and blip the throttle to keep it going for a few seconds before it will hold anything near a idle, Winter will be interesting!

traffic still sucks! going the back way is much more enjoyable, sometimes heavy but moving at least!

just been enjoying doing boring stuff like going to the mall.

or the supermarket. still can't believe it sometimes!

will need to do something about the interior one day soon, if I want to be able to hear anything in a few years.

in the mean time I decided to cancel some of the racket out with more racket.

I've had two of these old sony 222watt amps sitting in a cupboard for about 15 years, the plan is to set one up to power my 12inch sub behind the rear seat, and the second to run some front mids and maybe tweeters.
But in the mean time I tested both, was surprised they both worked, mounted one to a sheet of ali I found at work, placed some rubber mat on the floorpan to stop damage and movement, ran a power wire via a stinger resettable fuse thingy, also something I've held onto for many years, earth to one of the pan bolts and ran the remote wire that turns the amp on, up under the carpet to the same fuse that runs the fuel pump, so its only on when the car is on.
This runs the 6x9s in the rear parcel tray and gets the jams for my phone via a headphione jack to RCA cable.
goes hard for what it is!
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If you can't join them, beat them!

[63Ragtop NZ]

Been driving this thing everyday, been trying to get the brakes to work better, had the handbrake button pop off the other day, I had never really adjusted it much, it worked, I had other things to sort out, so i put it back together and carried on. After the button came lose again I realised it was because I hadn't adjusted it tight enough and the clicker was running off the end and undoing its self So, put it back together again and adjusted it more and whatya know? the pedal feels much better too! Not sure how that works but it's much nicer to drive without the pedal going right to the firewall.
Re greased and adjusted the king and link pins this week, gave the front drums and bearing a tickle while I was at it, again, much nicer to drive. I also sorted something that had bothered me for years before I took it off the road. The breather on the oil filler would just spit oil mist out all over the back of the engine lid, originally I had a neat little K&N filter here, but after a month or so it got blocked and oil pissed out of the dipstick hole and made a mess.

terrible photo. Screwed a right angle fitting in and a length of hose out down under the tinwear with all the other oil leaks

and went for the a drive.

By the mighty Waikato River in Huntly.

made it to my parents in Te Kowhai.

photo op at the meeting of the waters

Car performed well, motor is strong, no wheels fell off etc, Did over 200miles of highway speeds and bumper to bumper stop-go traffic no problem, still need to get that sunroof replaced and really needs a couple hundard kgs of dynamat, with earplugs its fine. And those assholes need to finish that motorway in and out of Auckland! Stuck in gridlock at one in the afternoon because State Highway 1 is one friggin lane
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If you can't join them, beat them!

[HUGO bOSS]

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http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=538182

[63Ragtop NZ]

finally got the proper camera out on friday evening, car was looking pretty in the sunshine.

bell and her friend had to get in on the action.

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If you can't join them, beat them!

[63Ragtop NZ]

Beach time!

went to a local hod rod show,

managed to find a friend

been taking the boy to cricket on saturday mornings.

bloody "family" cars are getting so big and fat!
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If you can't join them, beat them!

[HUGO bOSS]

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http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=538182

[bobnorman]

[63Ragtop NZ]

and those are just Japanese Mid Sized ones!

still rolling this pile daily. been out to a few shows C&C, Kumeu the other day.

Got some new rear tyres for xmas, as the others where 15 years old and bald as.

actually slid out on me in the dry once!
Fancy Pirelli and everything, heaps of grips, just like a F1 car mate!
The guys at Lincoln Tyres sold them to me at a better price than shitty firehawks etc..

making the most of summer!!

slammage.(sitting on a funny angle)

cruized around town the other night.

me and Bell climbed a tree.

birds eye view.

since I got it back on the road I've been sure the exhaust didn't sound right, as it had been nearly a decade I just rolled with it but for the last week or two it been starting to sound more and more like a massey ferguson by the day. So on friday night I dropped the whole thing out, which was pretty easy as half the nuts holding it on were missing : and one of the studs, so sorry about that if you were following me at the time!

and then I found this on one of the heat exchanger pipes.

what the fuckity? lucky I have a welder, also don't weld in jandels, that shit hurts!
Should last another couple months, right?
got it all back together last yesterday which nearly killed me in this heat! and finally I can hear the actual exhaust note now, brum brum!! I like it alot.
Also spring washers where used this time so all the nuts and studs should stay put!

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If you can't join them, beat them!