My Detroit sandrail/pleasure craft... or "Carmela's Concession"

[frankm]

I use one of these in my harbor freight engine stand, fits perfect just like the factory mounts, no need for the plastic tube and shim.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1176339

[dustymojave]

I can't approve of PVC in a structural location in an engine stand.
I CAN approve of Robin Trower and Bridge of Sighs. I might get it out and listen to it tonight. I even have it on vinyl.
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[heywebonya]

Since you now have a welder, I welded on a second tube on the upright of the engine stand that fit the cradle nicely.

I also drilled a hole and welded on a nut so I could lock it any position. Also while learning to weld, made up a nice L-bolt.

_________________
If I knew what I was doing; I wouldn't be building a buggy!

[pullstart]

Hey Dennis, I suggest you get a Go-Pro and mount it in your shop.
_________________
4 seater Appletree buggy, road legal with 002 IRS, 3x3 Appletree kit, 6" over Dan's beam with 10" towers and Fox 2.0 shocks, '00 Subaru EJ25 with KEP stage 3 clutch and KEP adapter plate.

my build page: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=662104&start=0

[dennismcd707]

There's a reason for the theme "Carmela's Concession", and all anyone has to do to understand this is to just look at the photo. I'm sure she still loves me, but I'm also sure she can't wait until I get the hell out of the basement. I have to try to weld a gland nut to either a metal bar or to my floor model engine stand, so I'll be outside in the garage for at least a little bit tomorrow. That should make her happy for a while.

Wait ........... did I just say "I've got to weld something tomorrow?" Is this a dream? DO I ACTUALLY KNOW HOW TO WELD? A dream? Am I in 9th grade again, sitting in my room, listening with a buddy to my new Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live album? I'm trying to turn my dorky neighbor onto Jeff Beck, but he's not interested. I do remember specifically, he loved Foghat and Thin Lizzy. Ok, so I thought, this guy at least likes rock and roll, he's gotta like Jeff Beck! Especially with a recommendation from me!! I played him the two best tracks on the album (and I have no idea why I remember little stuff like this.......but I do.)

Freeway Jam and Full Moon Boogie, two great jams on the record. Oh well, I tried. As we progressed from Jr. high to High school, we drifted apart. I loved cars and baseball and rock and roll, and he was more into the arts, singing and theater and stuff. (I should have known too. There were signs. One sign was he actually got into early Genesis, before Peter Gabriel left.) But music was definitely a common bond between us, and I can still remember that day, the two of us, sitting in my room, listening to that album. I thought "How cool am I? I'm broadening this guy's horizons. What would he do without me or my advice?" (Man, was I a dick or what?)

uh, yea.....I bought a welder

Also, I'm beginning to document the dual engine mantling project that I've got goin' on. Hell, I have to put something into that ol' ugly orange money sucking sandrail that I've got out back, right? I spent a lot of time today reading threads about how to blueprint your engine, or how to assemble it with the greatest of care, checking and re-checking tolerances, doing the mock ups, getting things balanced, and just making sure that every single cc of displacement isn't wasted.

I easily sat at the 'puter for at least 2 hours straight, reading about how to build your high performance engine, as opposed to just assembling it. And since I bought all this extra "STUFF" (the surface plate, new set of gage blocks, machinist's parallels, a 1 inch travel dial indicator, and a height transfer stand) I also want to make sure that it all gets utilized. I want lots and lots of data.

In other words, by reading all of the other threads about engine building, where somebody is showing how a certain check is made, or how to check this or that dimension, etc....I'll stand a much better chance of building the perfect engine. (quiet, powerful, doesn't leak, runs cool,..........you know, PERFECT!) I used to work at a couple of small production machine shops, so I'm not a stranger to inspection equipment or machining methods. It's been a few years, but I'm no dummy. This is gonna be fun.

Look for the thread in the engine/performance/trans forum that has lots of pics of a bright and shiny yellow engine stand. Actually, the laundry room in my basement (aka: D & C's VW Motorworx Ltd LLC) is quite colorful as well, so look for photos of my basement wall. It will remind you of a song by Chicago.........Color My World. Or maybe it won't. Maybe instead you're gonna hear something like, um..... Ooh La La, by the Faces.

Tell me what you hear when you see the basement wall. Wall of Voodoo perhaps? Russ Ballard's "VOICES"? (I always hear "Dirty Little Thing" by Velvet Revolver. Actually, anytime I see a wall..........ANY wall, I hear this song. It's gotta be really loud too! I can knock down HUGE walls, as well as take on the whole world when I hear that song. Anybody else too?) R.I.P. Scott Weiland, one of the greatest rock n roll singers ever.

Oh yea, and if it's too loud? You're too old!

[pullstart]

When I look at Dennis' wall, I see that the cat litter is well maintained. Based on that, he'll probably build the perfect engine... most likely.

Congrats on the welder, and any time you wanna mix in some Hank Sr, feel free. It get's the workin' blood flowing when it's time to cut wood, haul wood, split wood, stack wood, or burn wood (It's the only album in my wood hauler)... but according to my wife, it's not the best album to pick karaoke songs from to impress her. Not sure how I missed that.

"Hey Hey, good lookin'.. what ya got cookin'..."
_________________
4 seater Appletree buggy, road legal with 002 IRS, 3x3 Appletree kit, 6" over Dan's beam with 10" towers and Fox 2.0 shocks, '00 Subaru EJ25 with KEP stage 3 clutch and KEP adapter plate.

my build page: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=662104&start=0

[dennismcd707]

.....and for the record, I've got nothing against Foghat/Savoy Brown or Thin Lizzy. I think in 7th and 8th grade (1975 & 1976), Foghat was HUGE! I loved the song "My Babe". Still do. Nor did I dislike "ALL" of the early Genesis period, with Peter Gabriel. In fact, one of my favorite Genesis songs TO THIS DAY is actually THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY. Man I love that song! But that's probably the ONLY early Genesis that I like. I just didn't get it. (I still don't. But ask me about Peter Gabriel's solo stuff, and I love it! The song "Come Talk To Me" especially! He's one of my favorites. I guess we all evolve. Or not.)

But I sure got Yes. Close To the Edge, Fragile, and The Yes Album. Oh, and Todd Rundgren too! (Something/Anything and Piss Aaron) .......so why I didn't get early Genesis (or King Krimson) is beyond me. Like I said, we all evolve. Or not (I liked ELP too.).... And slowly and sadly I'm here to report, many of my good friends have either completely switched to country music, or have admitted to me that they listen to "ALL" types of music, including country music. Huh? What's that supposed to mean? We used to HATE country music! What's happening to my rock n roll peer group?

When I was a kid, I used to hate vegetables. To this day, I still hate vegetables, and I don't eat them. Country music is kind of like vegetables to me. In life, and in an off-road VW based Internet forums.



Hank Williams Sr. is an icon, and I can listen to a couple of his tunes, but only because I love and appreciate history and popular culture. The early days of recorded media and broadcast radio. He was a pioneer, Mr. Pullstart, but Country music is still Country music, and I'll pass on it. And I'm glad ol' dusty in the desert enjoys his Robin Trower. Bridge of Sighs is good, but like most songs, I have to be in the "slower" lane for that one. "Day Of the Eagle" gets me there quicker. When I hear that guitar riff, I 'ALWAYS' want to drop whatever I'm holding (even if it's a guitar) and pick up my air guitar. Cocaine effects from just listening to Robin Trower. (The Velvet Revolver song previously mentioned does it to me too. Audioslave as well. Rob Zombie, AC/DC, Ted, the boys from Boston, and even Los Lobos, they all have that power over me. Hmm, another forum, I know. Sorry)

Unless, of course, it's the Stones. "Far Away Eyes" and "Dead Flowers", now we're talking country music that I like...... If you don't know either of these tunes, listen to 'em on youtube or some other streaming site. Wild Horses, Honky Tonk Woman, Ventilator Blues. Country? Rock n Roll? Hybrid/Indica dominant? Who cares.......I like it, like it, yes I do! I love these songs too, and they all have a country flavor. The Band/The Weight.....Marshall Tucker Band/Can't You See...Green Grass & High Tides/The Outlaws......and I love Johnny Cash and Get Rhythm, and just writing this short bit, I can keep adding and adding and adding......

And Mick and Keith like it too. Or not. (oh yea, and I'll have more to share soon of my money eating orange pleasure craft/Detroit Sand Rail, as well as details of my new adventures into semi-controlled steel melting.)

[cbeck]

I thought it looked like something you would find on the side of the partridge bus.
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My cut in half and rebuild thread
www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647779

[pullstart]

[dustymojave]

The Rolling Stones were surprisingly good at imitating American COUNTRY Music (I don't mean Nashville Glitter-Pop Country). Far Away Eyes really GOT the sound, But I'm totally certain that Mick Jagger and the gang were entirely SPOOFING on American Country music and rural America in General.

Now this thread tells me that I'm not nearly as much older than so many of you as I've been thinking for the last decade+.

I see a few years younger in "in 7th and 8th grade (1975 & 1976)". A time when I myself was attending college classes and working in a Plastics Research Lab and building Baja Bugs and my Hi Jumper buggy.

I graduated High School in 1973, the same year I started working Tech Inspection for SCORE at their 1st event and worked as a corner flag man at the NASCAR race at Riverside Raceway the weekend I graduated. A few months later in October, also at Riverside for the Times Grand Prix for Sports Cars, where I was also a Tech Inspector for SCCA, I attended a rock concert at Turn 6 of the race track Saturday night. The concert included a Battle of the Bands and was headlined by Earth Wind & Fire. The Battle was dominated by an unknown band from the Pasadena area called Mountain Jam (IIRC). The headliners then got booed off the stage by a hard rock audience who loved the hard rock bands in the battle but had no use for the pop headliners.

About 5 years later, I was seeing the former girlfriend of the bass player of that band that won the Battle. When I was seeing her, that band had their 1st album going gold under the name Van Halen. I couldn't compete with a rock star. They got back together and I believe married.

Mention of Foghat reminds me of a conversation when I was in high school about a concert that my friends attended that included Foghat and John Cougar, among others.

In my senior year of high school, in art class we were assigned teh task of doing a painting for how we would do a cover for our favorite music album. Not that it was exactly my "favorite", I'm not a guy who is into "favorites". But Close To The Edge was fairly new and the title was one that I could "see" a cover for. So that is what I painted, I still have it somewhere. Not sure where.

These days. It's amazing how familiar my son who is in his mid 20s and his friends are so into music of our era. From Zeppelin to Creedence.

At the end of that OT post by Dennis about the rock music of our era, I read about "hating" country music. I myself NEVER hated Country Music. I just disliked listening to Pop Country. REAL Country like Marshall Tucker, Country Joe McDonald and the Fish, The Outlaws, etc, was ALWAYS on my stereo. Buffalo Springfield put down some great steel guitar licks in the late 60s too in the middle of the stuff they played at Woodstock. That sort of stuff fit in well with Led Zeppelin, Blind Faith, and Yes Close To The Edge.

My music likes are rather eclectic. I like a given piece of music because I like it, not because of the genre somebody else puts it into.

For instance, I'm quite fond of Evanescence "Fallen". Even though it gets classified as "Christian Rock", because somebody heard the words "My God' in the song. If you listen to the lyrics, she's using those words as a euphemism because she has slashed her wrists to commit suicide (a serious sin in Christianity) and has had 2nd thoughts and is swearing (another sin, taking the Lord's name in vain) as she looks for a way to stop the bleeding and keep from dying. NOT very Christian at all, unless you count foxhole Christianity.

So are you going to weld in your basement? or in your garage?? Make sure that you do NOT weld near the pile of laundry. Because the Fire Department will get in the way of your welding in the middle of the job you're trying to get finished. Raggedy old towels are good for protecting the top of the washer and dryer from scratches from engine cases.

Over here at my house, it would be "Pat's Concession". She has put up with my motorsports involvement for over 35 years now. I knew she was a keeper when we were dating and she offered to pay to rebuild the gearbox for my race buggy.


_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[dennismcd707]

.....from classical music to Clutch to John Mayer to John Mayall, as long as it's not country, I don't hate it. Wait, let me qualify that statement.

In 9th grade speech class at Covington Junior High, Birmingham Michigan, Dave G., Dave K., Mark Stuart and myself did a group project called “The Kiss Interview”. Here we are during a break. I wonder why all of our eyes are so red? Hmmmm. (You bet I was a Kiss fan in my youth. At that time, and in my circle of friends, we were all Kiss fans. I'm the one holding the drum sticks.)

Hearing about your son and his friends listening to and enjoying “music from our era” makes me squint my eyes a little, raise my cheeks upwards, and stretch out the surrounding facial skin tissue, parting my lips horizontally just a ‘skoshe’. (this also seems to happen every time I say the word “cheese”) It reminds me of an episode of the SOPRANOS that used to air on HBO. Tony’s son A.J. and his girlfriend are about to (unknowingly) start a fire underneath their shiny and very expensive yellow SUV. They’re sitting there, engine idling, listening intently to Bob Dylan’s “IT’S ALRIGHT MA, I’M ONLY BLEEDING”. They both agree “this guy’s good”, and comment about how relevant the lyrics are, even though they were written “so long ago”.

….and then the catalytic converter ignites the pile of leaves. The song keeps playing as the vehicle becomes engulfed in flames, until it slows down……music playing slower and slower as the stereo begins to heat up and play louder, plastic and rubber components melting, dripping downward from the intense heat……black smoke billowing skyward umm, uh…er, sorry, got lost in the story. Yea, I love that scene. A new generation getting turned on by music of another generation. That’s the way it’s supposed to be anyways, right? I like it. Goes well together!

My mom used to tell me (after I told her that I ‘HATED’ something) “Hate is such a STRONG word”. Well, I guess she was right. All kidding aside, there are things in life that I really REALLY hate, but a certain type of music is not one of them. And you’re right, a specific genre or music ‘label’ is a very broad term, when you really think about it. It’s just a method to organize and separate, but it’s not a good way to define someone’s musical interests, let alone MY musical tastes.

I say “I HATE COUNTRY MUSIC” to someone, and they may think then that I would hate Patsy Cline’s ‘I FALL TO PIECES’. Well, I don’t dislike that song, and it’s actually one of the many songs I’ve currently got loaded onto my mp3 player. How about the song ‘AMY’, by Pure Prairie League? I think, hands down, most people would consider this to be a pure country song, through and through. Well, I’ve got that song, and I love it. It’s there with other songs by artists such as Doc Watson, The Dead South, Flatt and Scruggs, Bill Monroe, etc. Who doesn’t love banjos, fiddles, guitar pickin’ and sweet vocal harmony? And yea, I like the pedal steel guitar too. (Robert Randolph & the Family Band comes to mind, they opened for Clapton on a tour or two a few years back.)

“We’ve got both types of music here. Country “AND” Western!” (I think that was from the film The Blues Brothers) I also agree that the Stones were making fun of rural America and “country ‘AND’ western” music in the song FAR AWAY EYES, but I tell ya, I cannot listen to that song without singing along and blaring out every single word. Very loudly too, can’t help it. Same goes for the previously mentioned song “Amy” by Pure Prairie League. Great tune. So.............since I like the term Pop Country, I guess I can accurately declare that “I STRONGLY DISLIKE POP COUNTRY MUSIC”. But since I haven't heard every single song in that category, and because the boundaries of such groups aren’t set in stone, there may be a few songs that I would enjoy very much. OR NOT

I appreciate music a lot, as well as the people who make it. My dad was very involved in Barbershop singing (S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A.) and sang bass in a few local Barbershop quartets. He also sang bass for the Detroit area Barbershop Chorus (Oakland County Chapter). I mention this because from the time I can remember anything…..I was listening to music. My dad would have quartet practice in our basement, once a week, for years. I’m a little kid, listening UP CLOSE to 4 part harmony…..”LIDA ROSE”, “RIVER OF NO RETURN”, “WHEN IT’S SLEEPY TIME DOWN SOUTH”, “SWEET ADELINE”………And then I go upstairs, and my 3 older sisters (graduated from high school in: ’72, ’74, and ’76) are listening to ‘anything’ Motown, Alice Cooper, Elton John, Black Sabbath, Simon & Garfunkle, CSNY, Jethro Tull, The Who, The Cowsills, The Monkees, The Guess Who, Jackson 5, The Ohio Players, Cat Stevens…. I can still remember one of their 45 record “holders”. It kind of looked like a metal lunch box, but taller. It was white with green lettering (the lettering was odd, psychedelic style fonts, spelling out the words: Sock It To Me, Here Comes The Judge, Flower Power…..late 60’s style lingo)

So, music has been a big part of what makes me “ME”, and you can kind of see why that is. Thanks to my family, I was in 6th grade, and I knew all of the lyrics to both the Tommy album by The Who and Thick As A Brick by Jethro Tull. Eleven years old, singing ‘Smokin’ In the Boys Room’ by The Brownsville Station, actually smokin’ in the boys room at Pierce Elementary School, Birmingham Michigan, in 1974. Hey, everybody and their brother smoked cigarettes back then (In the family circle that I was raised in, that is.), so yea, 6th grade is when that whole ‘smoking tobacco’ thing started in my life. (smoked from age 16 to 38…….one of the biggest regrets of my life!) ok ok OK….music music music

Great story about Michael Anthony’s (Sammy Hagar’s sidekick) old girlfriend/current ex-wife/chick you dated and the Mountain Jam/VanHalen-bertinelli battle of the bands at the racetrack. When I think of Earth Wind and Fire, I think of the song “SEPTEMBER”……..

and I want to dance. (Did I mention I have 3 sisters?) Also want to dance immediately when I hear these…..Jungle Love/Morris Day and the Time...Ohio Players/Fire… The Commodores/Brick House….The Spinners/Games People Play….Prince/Let’s Go Crazy

And to be clear (once again) I really do like lots of different types of music. It’s not ‘JUST’ about the Rock n Roll power chord, although the rock guitar POWER CHORD, sometimes with and sometimes without, distortion/feedback and reverb, does indeed sends impulses to my brain that makes me feel like nothing else in the world does. (legal, that is) I’m 55 years old, and I still get a chubby when I hear “Good Morning Aztlán” by Los Lobos. It’s the guitar, man. No, it’s the bottom and the drums. No man, it’s the power chord! (or not) ………….it’s just music, and I don't know what I'd do without it.

Anyway, here’s a list of what I’ve listened to a lot in the last 5 to 10 years. This also includes older stuff that I’ve either recently acquired, or stuff that I’ve just started to listen to again, but maybe this time with a new set of lenses for my glasses/hearing aids. See anything you listen to also? Anybody? Yea, yea yea……..I’ll tell you more about the progress of the Detroit sand rail shortly. I’ll be starting my new thread in the engines/performance/trans forum later tonight or tomorrow, but in the meantime, here’s what still moves me musically these days………………..

Joe Strummer & the Mescalaros, Cake, The Toadies, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Our Lady Peace, Candlebox, North Mississippi Allstars, Keb Mo, INXS, Joe Jackson, Blondie, Green Day, Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, anything with Tom Morello or anything with Chris Cornell (RIP dude. I’m sorry you hurt.), Velvet Revolver, Los Lonely Boys, Los Lobos, The Dead South, Brian Setzer doing anything, Bruce Hornsby, Bruce Sprigsteen (with or without the Seeger Session players), Talking Heads/David Byrne, David Bowie, Steve Winwood, Mark Knopfler, Cat Stevens, America, George Harrison, Beatles, Traveling Wilburys, Little River Band, Butthole Surfers, Jonny Lang, Robert Cray, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton doing anything (he is GOD, after all), R.E.M., Iggy Pop, Government Mule, Elvis Costello, Tom Waites, The Romantics, Stephen Stills, Nick Lowe, Jimi Hendrix, The Guess Who, Kotton Mouth Kings, Harvey Danger, Devo, Gary Numan, Michael Jackson, Joe Walsh, Bad Company, Billy Joel, Elton John, B-52’s, Chemical Brothers, Limp Bizkit, Reverend Horton Heat, Commander Cody, John Mayer, Filter, Godsmack, System of a Down………

Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, Benny Goodman, The Glen Miller Orchestra (my folks used to listen to Big Band stuff. My dad had a vinyl record set from Time Life or something from the late 60’s or early 70’s. A collection of about 10 albums that came with books and photos. “TIME LIFE – BIG BAND ERA”. It’s probably one of the many reasons why I appreciate music that swings. Horns, rhythm and beat guys, regular ensemble musician just ‘kickin’ out the jams’!!!…….How can anybody not appreciate that kind of thing? How all that sound just comes together so smoothly?)

Ok ok, back to the list………Alan Parson’s Project, The Band, John Melloncamp (Johnny Cougar!!) Steely Dan, Allman Brothers, Eagles, Robert Plant doing anything, Natalie Merchant, Steve Miller, Todd Rundgren, Kiss, The Police, Guns n Roses, Cactus, Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, Kid Rock, Dire Straits, Stone Temple Pilots, Mother Love Bone, Russ Ballard, The Hollies, Buffalo Springfield, Bob Marley, Dave Mason, Traffic, Blind Faith, Nirvana, Boomtown Rats, Brenda Lee, Clutch, The Clash, The Black Keys, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stevie Wonder, Etta James, Living Colour, Montrose, Warren Zevon, Peter Gabriel, Dr. John, Prince, Buddy Guy, Canned Heat ……..but that’s about it.

Maybe we’ll add Styx and Social Distortion. And Roxy Music, The Tubes, and The Living End, but I have to stop here. (Gary Clark Jr. too)

…..and Molly Hatchet, Rufus Wainwright, Foo Fighters, The Stone Roses, aaaaahhhhhh, and I almost forgot Sublime? How did I do that? I LOVE SUBLIME!! (R.I.P. Bradley Nowell)

And then lastly, this part is just AUTOMATIC. Here are artists that have ALWAYS been a part of me, and thus can be heard, even on this day in 2018, on my newest mp3 player, my 2017 Jeep Compass, which I refer to as my portable mp3 player. It was the only 2017 Jeep product that offered the radio with the hard drive so you can upload your own music to it. The more expensive and luxurious Jeeps offer radios that allow you to hook up your own mp3 player, but they don’t offer you a stereo where you can pop a cd into it and just press ‘COPY’, never having to touch the cd again. Or you can stick a flash drive into it and upload thousands of songs. The Compass and Patriot were (what I called) the cheap Jeeps. Patriots are no more, and for 2017 Jeep offered 2 completely different Compasses. The 2017 model that’s been fazed out (the one I have), and the totally re-vamped 2017 Compass, without the desired hard drive equipped stereo. Still, nobody but me seems to have a problem with that. I mean, I just don’t get it. Isn’t a hard drive a lucrative option on a vehicle? I ended up choosing the least luxurious, most cheaply made Jeep product, just because of my love of being able to pick and choose what I hear in my car with the touch of a few buttons. I have Satellite Radio as well, and it’s nice to have. But it’s not the same thing. Is it just me?
Trust me, I’d rather be driving a Grand Cherokee, or even a Wrangler, but it’s the frickin’ radio wherein the problem lies. So, again, is it just me? Am I the one with the problem, because...........I don't see it.

Ah, music, music music……Here is said list ‘auto’: The Who, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Ac/Dc, Tom Petty, Rolling Stones, The Pretenders, U2, Green Day, Bob Seger, Santana, ZZ Top, Yes, and finally Rush............and then finally FINALLY Pink Floyd. These bands are just 'AUTOMATIC'

and then we move onto this .....

[dennismcd707]

Neil frickin Young! I forgot, he's one of my favorites! Add Neil Young and Eric Clapton to 'auto' list, the list that makes the man. No, the engines make the man!

It's all about the music that the man listens to while making the engines that move the men (and mountains)

......and Lumber Jack mountain men. OOOhhhhh I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok, I sleep all night and I work all day. (I did mention the ADHD, so.......) I love Monty Python films too.

[dustymojave]

[dennismcd707]

Wooohhh man, all that stuff sounds awesome. Not sure how to spell woe. But man oh man, we could swap stories. (real quick, just one....when HBO was filming in the Detroit area back around 2009 or so to film the movie YOU DON'T KNOW JACK, about Jack Kevorkian, guess who was his stand in and photo double? Me no kiddin'! And one of the first things that the casting people asked me was whether I could drive a stick shift. There was a scene where Dr. Kevorkian "Al Pacino" and "John Goodman" are sitting in his old VW bus, watching from across the street as police and EMS take the body of a woman out from a hotel room. The scene shows the two actors in the van, then pulling out onto the street and driving off. Dude.........I'm the one driving!!!)

....and I have some funny stories too. Hey, Detroit's in the middle of everything, and not too long ago, I liked to get involved in everything! But yea, this isn't the forum for all of that, and sometimes I get a little carried away.

My garage isn't going to allow me to weld just yet. I'm workin' on it though. Check out my new build thread in the other forum. Picture heavy, which says more than I can. (hard to believe, isn't it?) I'm also gonna try to keep the off topic commentary to a minimum. If I can. Gotta go shovel. More measuring and documenting, then I drill and tap. I'll practice on the bastard, have it down pat for the 1641.

[dustymojave]

"Other forum"??
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[dennismcd707]

yea, I started a thread in the performance/engine/transmission forum. I've got two brand new engines to build, and possibly a third as a science project. It's probably a junk case, but even if it's not, it's an old case, and I think it would be fun to get it running, and see how well it works.......with the bare minimum to get it running. just an idea, but I think I'm going for it.

Gotta go to work for the next 3 days, and hopefully Sunday I'll know more about being able to weld in the garage. I've only lived in this house for a few years, and up until last spring, my garage was just for storage. Then I bought my rail, and started to spend time out back. The wiring is old, and I've learned it's also temperamental. I can't draw too much juice at once or the little glass fuse blows. I got used to it being like that, and forgot that a welder is another power tool ......... just what my garage needs. I'll either cobble something together, or get help, and we both can cobble something together.

The house has a breaker panel, but it's the garage that has it's own fuse panel, with two 20 amp screw in plug fuses. I'd like to 86 the need for plug fuses, and get it wired as if it were ........... 1999

[dennismcd707]

I just love that picture, so I posted it again.

Nothing has been done in the garage yet, so I still have a welder sitting in a box. I might just run an extension cord out to the garage so I can at least try to weld my gland nut/crank assembly holding device. I'm running out of time (not really........this by no means is an emergency) and would like to start assembling my cranks. But the box holding my welder is still sitting on the floor in the basement, and I'm positively sure that one of my three cats would like to see it gone. (or............ would just plain like to see it) Our 15 year old black long haired cat has become blind over the last 9 months. The vet said it was caused by high blood pressure, which screwed up his ability to see. Huh? Man, that sucks. (for him, poor guy)

We try real hard not to leave anything on the floor, and we don't move any furniture around either. Plus, the litter boxes get cleaned ALL THE FRICKIN' TIME......3 TO 4 TIMES PER DAY! Blind cats don't like to step into a dirty litter box, and since blind cats got a totally raw deal out of life, I try real hard to make him happy. I can see, but he can't.............so I have absolutely no problems doing what's needed, including cleaning the litter box 3 to 4 times per day. He bumps into stuff all the time, and even 'SMACKS' into doors and furniture when he's excited. We're all adjusting, but him more so. And my welder is sitting in the basement, another obstacle the cat has to account for.

At least the box doesn't have any sharp edges, which makes me rest a little easier. The cat will sometimes walk into whatever's right in front of him, and his HUGE pupils and his 'blank' eyes are always wide open. Sooner or later, he's bound to walk into something that's gonna poke him in the eye. Here he is doing a little reconnaissance on a new engine case.

I just ordered and received another shipment of parts. (coil, plugs, wires, new fan shroud w/o heat ducts, push rod measuring tool, end play measuring tool, deck height measuring tool, fulcrum plates, carb rebuild kit, and ............. wait for it................ magnets! (for making it easier to weld things) I saw them being used on youtube, and knew automatically I needed 'em.

Ok, in keeping with the theme of "mobility first", I'm slowly checking things off my list. Big items still needed: 1) trans 2) alternator 3) battery 4) clutch & pressure plate 5) skid plate 6) engine gages 7) tow bar brake lines & master cylinder........ (& possibly front disc brakes, but with my goal of "mobility first", the disc brakes can wait until "AFTER" I crash into something 9) tires

..........and here are my other two cats. (their eyes work)

I'm going to probably pick a simple skid plate design out of the Appletree Automotive catalogue that I've recently obtained. I don't want to overlook or forget about the importance of a skid plate on an off roader rail such as mine, so this is needed before the rail goes mobile. Also, I'm ready right now to purchase the trans. The problem I'm having is choosing who to buy it from. I want to buy it from a reputable shop that knows a thing or two about VW transmissions, and I'm hoping to find one locally. Or at least within driving distance from Detroit. (up to maybe 150 miles?)

Anybody have any suggestions? My fear is boxing up and shipping my transmission core out of state, to some trans shop, only to have them tell me over the phone or through email that my core is junk and can't be used. That's when the problem starts. What am I supposed to do? Do it all over again? Ship them another one.......and then wait at home until they call or email to tell me if it's ok to use? Aside from the added cost of shipping, it's the whole inconvenience of it all that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'd much rather just drive somewhere, and I would think that there would be a good VW trans shop somewhere in S.E. Michigan, wouldn't you? Anybody have a trans shop offering?

Oh........... and I like this pic too. Lotsa detail & mise-en-scène

[dennismcd707]

........and speaking of Hank Williams Sr. and country music, I was listening to the soundtrack of the film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", and there's a song on there that made me think of somebody I know who just loves listening to Hank Sr. when courting the young ladies, or sinking ever so deeply into his West Michigan wood fetish. It's called "IN THE JAILHOUSE NOW" by The Soggy Bottom Boys. If you like a little Hank to get your juices flowin'........... I think you're gonna love this tune. I do. (and I hate country music) ok ok, I dislike pop "young country" or whatever it's called. I think I've made my tastes in music quite clear, but I wanted to mention this song because it needs to be heard. And sung along with.

And to clarify about my role in the HBO film "You Don't Know Jack", I was Al Pacino's stand in & photo double. After re-reading my previous post, I wasn't clear on that part. Most of it was shot in New York, but in the couple of days they shot in Detroit (it was actually Troy and Pontiac), I was his photo double. I didn't talk to him because I was told not to, but we still worked together. I'm listed on the credits of the film in IMDB, but not on the actual film credits, because the Michigan filming was so insignificant.

But on a different note...........

[pullstart]

I'll have to look into that... I do have that album somewhere. Speaking of having physical copies of music... I just ordered a new Colorado to haul the buggy and they don't even come with CD players any more! Can you believe it's not an option? I'm only 32... but I don't have a smart phone or other devices to play from. Not sure what I'm gonna do.
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4 seater Appletree buggy, road legal with 002 IRS, 3x3 Appletree kit, 6" over Dan's beam with 10" towers and Fox 2.0 shocks, '00 Subaru EJ25 with KEP stage 3 clutch and KEP adapter plate.

my build page: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=662104&start=0

[heywebonya]

Pullstart,

Family sing-along in the new truck?

-Jeff
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If I knew what I was doing; I wouldn't be building a buggy!