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Xevin 
Samba Member
Joined: January 08, 2014
Posts: 7635
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 Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2024 5:22 am Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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That was fun Glenn, thanks.
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Keep on Busin'
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!  |
| Clatter wrote: |
| Damn that Xevin... |
| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
I respect Xevin and he's a turd  |
| SGKent wrote: |
My God! Xevin and I 100% agree  |
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Dusty1
Samba Member
Joined: April 16, 2004
Posts: 1435
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| Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2024 6:15 am Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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| iowegian wrote: |
You had it easy------I had to walk 5 miles to school, and it was uphill both ways. And snow. Imma tellin' you it was up to my navel----in the summer.  |
Some of the "best" storm and snow adventures came later.
Coldest day I've experienced was skiing at 42 below with a wind chill. Fiberglass skis and plastic ski boots tend to self- destruct at those temperatures.
Rode the scooter to work at ten below when nothing else would start.
Went to work during a "hurricane" in NYC. It was a fizzle. It's very strange bein' in a city that has a population of ten million or so during the day and feeling like the only one there. I was certainly the only film maker / videographer "on duty". The suits at the ad agencies wait until the last minute to get things done. Even if the water was up to the lobby during Superstorm Sandy (different storm, not a fizzle) I wouldn't know about it until I finished work days later.
Then there was that memorable snow storm. As you might imagine the subway still runs every hour or so. But... emerge in Journal Square, none of the busses are running. What to do? How about trudge the length of Kennedy Boulevard uphill both ways in almost a foot of snow?
For realz.
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Abscate
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014
Posts: 22681
Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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| Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2024 8:11 am Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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| Xevin wrote: |
That was fun Glenn, thanks. |
I was told to stick to threaded pipe..
 [/s]
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oprn
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016
Posts: 12760
Location: Western Canada
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| Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 1:59 am Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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| Dusty1 wrote: |
| Rode the scooter to work at ten below when nothing else would start. |
Unreal!  You Southern guys would be so screwed here from October to April! The only vehicle I have ever owned that was that poor at starting is my (British built) David Brown diesel tractor. Even then it will start at -10 with a shot of ether in the air cleaner. You guys would be walking 10 months of the year in Northern Canada or Alaska!
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iowegian
Samba Curmudgeon
Joined: February 16, 2005
Posts: 9830
Location: Somewhere between Dubuque and Keokuk
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| Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 4:14 am Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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| oprn wrote: |
| Dusty1 wrote: |
| Rode the scooter to work at ten below when nothing else would start. |
Unreal! You Southern guys would be so screwed here from October to April! The only vehicle I have ever owned that was that poor at starting is my (British built) David Brown diesel tractor. Even then it will start at -10 with a shot of ether in the air cleaner. You guys would be walking 10 months of the year in Northern Canada or Alaska! |
Is that why so many retired Canucks winter-over in balmy places like Billings or Fargo? |
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Xevin
Samba Member
Joined: January 08, 2014
Posts: 7635
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| Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 4:50 am Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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| oprn wrote: |
| Dusty1 wrote: |
| Rode the scooter to work at ten below when nothing else would start. |
Unreal! You Southern guys would be so screwed here from October to April! The only vehicle I have ever owned that was that poor at starting is my (British built) David Brown diesel tractor. Even then it will start at -10 with a shot of ether in the air cleaner. You guys would be walking 10 months of the year in Northern Canada or Alaska! |
My VWs never have a problem starting at 14* F Never tried at -10*F. I can’t believe you live in -10*F 10 months out of the year like Dusty1 was driving his motorbike
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Keep on Busin'
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
| GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo! |
| Clatter wrote: |
| Damn that Xevin... |
| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
| I respect Xevin and he's a turd |
| SGKent wrote: |
| My God! Xevin and I 100% agree |
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Dusty1
Samba Member
Joined: April 16, 2004
Posts: 1435
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| Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:30 am Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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| Xevin wrote: |
| oprn wrote: |
| Dusty1 wrote: |
| Rode the scooter to work at ten below when nothing else would start. |
Unreal! You Southern guys would be so screwed here from October to April! The only vehicle I have ever owned that was that poor at starting is my (British built) David Brown diesel tractor. Even then it will start at -10 with a shot of ether in the air cleaner. You guys would be walking 10 months of the year in Northern Canada or Alaska! |
My VWs never have a problem starting at 14* F Never tried at -10*F. I can’t believe you live in -10*F 10 months out of the year like Dusty1 was driving his motorbike |
The '74 Bug that I mostly drove to the mountain generally looked like a pile of snow at -10. Still. there were days when it was warm- ish and then dropped down to bitch cold when the sun went down. I usually drove it to the inn and parked it up by the barn. In retrospect maybe not too bright. There was no power in the barn which limited my options.
The procedure for starting a '74 Bug w/ straight 30 oil in the crankcase at -10:
First, while it's still warm eliminate all oil leaks on your motor.
Then, when it's -10 or colder shovel the contents of the fireplace into a large cast iron skillet. Lug your skillet full of hot coals up to the barn and slide it under your Bug's motor. If you're on deep compacted snow you might want to slide a couple pieces of firewood under there first so your skillet doesn't melt its way down to China.
Go back to the inn. Watch John Stuart or whoever is on late for at least half an hour.
If your Bug hasn't burned to the ground by then it will start like it's a warm spring day.
It works on diesel tractors too.
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oprn
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016
Posts: 12760
Location: Western Canada
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| Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 3:13 am Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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| Xevin wrote: |
| I can’t believe you live in -10*F 10 months out of the year like Dusty1 was driving his motorbike |
I don't. Weather comes and goes, what I am saying is that -10 can and does occur anytime between the end of September and the end of April here. From November to mid March it is a guaranteed daily high unless it is colder. In those months we often have weather fronts move in weeks at a time in the -30 or colder range.
No car in good running order and properly winter prepped should have any difficulty whatsoever starting at -20 to -25. My VW TDIs and Dodge Cummins will do that any day of the week. Gasoline powered engines should do it even easier. With a block heater plugged in and out of the direct wind that figure goes down to the -40 t0 -45 range. Below that is when it becomes difficult to predict if they will start or not.
My '71 SB would and did start many times at -30 and I had a '70 Beetle I started once at -40 both without a block heater but that is pushing it. 30 wt oil is too heavy for winter. We ran that in the summer only, 20 wt spring and fall and 10 wt in the winter. The block heater that bolted on the bottom of the screen inspection plate is a must and a battery blanket is a bonus. With those in place and the proper weight oil an air cooled engine will start and run circles around anything out there in any kind of cold weather. The method of engine cooling has NOTHING to do with how it starts.
I know because our family where there and done that as our only daily drivers from '69 to sometime in the late '90's. The modern 1/2 Chinese VW with most of the factory developed aids to good starting and running ash canned in favor of bling and popular belief... you are on your own...
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kingkarmann
Samba Member
Joined: November 05, 2003
Posts: 4114
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| Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2024 6:14 am Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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What a fun date
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Dusty1
Samba Member
Joined: April 16, 2004
Posts: 1435
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| Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2024 5:53 am Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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| oprn wrote: |
| No car in good running order and properly winter prepped should have any difficulty whatsoever starting at -20 to -25. My VW TDIs and Dodge Cummins will do that any day of the week. Gasoline powered engines should do it even easier. With a block heater plugged in and out of the direct wind that figure goes down to the -40 t0 -45 range. Below that is when it becomes difficult to predict if they will start or not. |
Yeah, but...
Old crocks with carburetors were a whole nuther kettle of fish.
I had a '66 Jeep Wagoneer. Worst POS ever in the mud, best ever in the snow. It would go anywhere in the snow if we could get it started. Any pile of snow was a parking space. Any snowmobile trail was a road.
But what a POS! Soggy and hard to light doesn't begin to explain it.
We used whatever oil they had at The Greedy Mart. I'm still not sure about that fancy multigrade oil.
...aside from the zero / twenty Mobil One in the Prius. That I'm sure about.
My '79 'Westmoreland." Rabbit was another soggy and hard to light POS. I thought it was cool when I had it but what a steaming turd in retrospect. I kept a spare set of axles in plastic bags in it 'cuz I never knew when it was going to eat a CV joint. No noise, no warning, no go. It was eating struts and wheel bearings when it wasn't eating CVs. You might infer I beat on it a little bit but I don't think so. I just drove it 800 miles every weekend NYC almost to Canada and back.
And, oh yeah... with Bosch K Jet fuel infection and Bosch everything for ignition parts one might think it would start like Gangbusters. Yeah, right! Below zero (Fahrenheit) it didn't want to know about it. It was my first metric vehicle aside from my motorcycles so it might have been a metric thing. Below zero Celsius that's 32F warmer... still might as well stay home.
Because...
If I think about every time that thing ate a CV and I ended up crawling around under it in on the ice...
Then every time it didn't want to start with the new axle in place...
I might just pound anything VW with a hammer until the flashbacks go away. 
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oprn
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016
Posts: 12760
Location: Western Canada
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| Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2024 10:33 am Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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I still have my '76 Rabbit that I bought new. Great car, took all the punishment the 20 year old me could dish out and came back smelling like a rose! I fixed the outer CV joint issue by center drilling the axle stub and installing a grease nipple. 3 or 4 pumps on the grease gun with every oil change and never had another one fail.
The stock Zenith/Solex progressive carb took me 2 years to get working right though...
Hit a snow drift so hard once that the snow packed in the engine compartment so tight is flipped the timing belt off. Had to tow it home that time. Put the belt back on and off she went.
Flat towed it in first gear for an hour at 60 mph by mistake. Discovered my stupid error, started it up and apart from some oil in the muffler it ran like gang busters. Same engine still in it and runs fine. Boosted to 15psi+ and on propane too. Need to get it out of the hay shed and run it again...
Oh ya! Now that I think about it, one of the major disappointments in the car was that it was a poor starter in the winter. I fixed it by buying the diesel starter and installing it (direct swap), those first few water pumpers had undersized starters. The other disappointment was it was useless in the snow, then I discovered reverse gear  it will go anywhere a Beetle will in deep snow... in reverse!
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djkeev
Samba Moderator
Joined: September 30, 2007
Posts: 32658
Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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Dusty1
Samba Member
Joined: April 16, 2004
Posts: 1435
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| Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2024 5:01 pm Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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| oprn wrote: |
I still have my '76 Rabbit that I bought new. Great car, took all the punishment the 20 year old me could dish out and came back smelling like a rose! I fixed the outer CV joint issue by center drilling the axle stub and installing a grease nipple. 3 or 4 pumps on the grease gun with every oil change and never had another one fail.
The stock Zenith/Solex progressive carb took me 2 years to get working right though...
Hit a snow drift so hard once that the snow packed in the engine compartment so tight is flipped the timing belt off. Had to tow it home that time. Put the belt back on and off she went.
Flat towed it in first gear for an hour at 60 mph by mistake. Discovered my stupid error, started it up and apart from some oil in the muffler it ran like gang busters. Same engine still in it and runs fine. Boosted to 15psi+ and on propane too. Need to get it out of the hay shed and run it again...
Oh ya! Now that I think about it, one of the major disappointments in the car was that it was a poor starter in the winter. I fixed it by buying the diesel starter and installing it (direct swap), those first few water pumpers had undersized starters. The other disappointment was it was useless in the snow, then I discovered reverse gear it will go anywhere a Beetle will in deep snow... in reverse! |
I should have had a diesel starter. Pre- internet, who knew?
I had blocked, put almost entirely out of mind my two '76 Sciroccos.
I'll back up a bit. I've had easily over 100 vehicles, maybe even over 100 VWs by now. Started out with '60s GM unibody crap, transitioned to VWs, eventually figured out anything GM should have a frame under it.
One might think the early Sciroccos would be an exciting alternative to the more mundane Rabbits. Not so! Both of them were orange with orange plaid interiors, that real ugly '72 Super Beetle orange. Pretty sure it's the same color. My first Scirocco was a four speed, really should have been a five speed. It was only a couple years old when I got it and already quite rusty. Every hack mechanic between Montreal and Baltimore had their incompetent hands on it at one time or another. It had numerous vacuum, oil, fuel and coolant leaks. What the stock carb had been I'll never know. It had whatever Red Lion was selling as Catch of the Day. Catch of the Day, indeed! It would collect condensation in its formed metal air cleaner adapter on any rainy or worse, snowy day. It was mandatory to empty the puke out of the air cleaner housing every 20 minutes or so, otherwise the car would run worse and worse until it drowned. Honestly I could probably make that car great, now but there was so much that had been nickel and dimed then there was no way I could catch up to it.
Cool thing about that car, it was bad ass in the snow. After destroying every mix 'n' match tire I got with the car I pried on a set of Kleber V15s snagged off a Renault out of a local junkyard. I don't believe a Rabbit won't work in the snow. Same floor pan / chassis as Scirocco and I had several of them.
I had to drive Route 302 / Route 2 between Portland, Maine and Burlington, Vermont regardless of the weather. The section of Route 2 that bypassed Banzai Bridge in Saint Johnsbury didn't bypass Banzai Bridge years ago. There is also a set of twisties by the reservoir in Marshfield, Vermont that have long since been bypassed by a straightaway over the hill. About the only feature of the old road that shows up year after year is the culvert by the reservoir that turns into the World's Gnarliest Frost Heave every winter. I swear, that thing forms a foot deep trench from one side of the road to the other. Just the thing for wrecking another set of struts and another set of springs on a watercooled VW.
I have a set of NOS Kleber V15s in 165R15 stashed for eventual Bug use. I don't care if they're a hundred years old by now. I would really like to compare them to the Blizzaks on the Prius.
So that's today's hot tip. If you ever drag that Wabbit outta the barn try a set of 175/70-13 Blizzaks. If you can't get 'em in 13" swap out your rims and try a premium winter tire sized 195/50-15. Last time I checked that's a good fit for an old Wabbit.
I just searched 175/70R13 Bridgestone Blizzak. Got a buncha listings for used Blizzak WS15s. Those things are prehistoric! Those are the tires cave men used shortly after they invented the wheel. For reference the latest (ish) Blizzak tread pattern is WS90. And of course I have four WS60s ready to be bolted on a Bug.
The connection to this thread? I tried stick welding the rusty bodywork of my second Scirocco. That's absolutely not the way to do it. The way to figure out the right way is to do it the wrong way first.
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oprn
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016
Posts: 12760
Location: Western Canada
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| Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2024 5:12 am Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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No front wheel drive car will EVER match an air cooled VW in the snow - period! The difference is that on the FWDs when you get on the throttle the weight comes OFF the driving tires. On the old VWs throttling up puts weight ON the driving tires. Day and night difference!
With a FWD car if you get stuck going forward you can back out. Why? Because of the weight transfer in reverse. If you get stuck in your Beetle going forward... good luck in reverse! Why? Because of the weight transfer being forward and... you are going to have a long walk back because you will be 10 times further in than if you were driving a FWD car!
Oh ya! Been there, done that many times over the years with both. With winter tires and with chains. You get some funny looks driving a Rabbit around town with chains on the front... by people stuck trying to get out of their own driveway! Beware though when pulling people out of a snow bank in reverse with a chained up Rabbit... she hooks up really good but the clutch don't like it! A much weaker clutch than the Beetle had!
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TDCTDI
Samba Advocatus Diaboli
Joined: August 31, 2013
Posts: 12865
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2024 10:25 am Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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| oprn wrote: |
| A much weaker clutch than the Beetle had! |
Oddly, it’s the same clutch disc.
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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.
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oprn
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016
Posts: 12760
Location: Western Canada
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| Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2024 2:24 pm Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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Maybe is but I would be willing to bet it's a softer pressure plate.
Unless... na... that wouldn't be it. No way I abused it worse than I did my Beetles...
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crukab
Samba Chef
Joined: December 13, 2002
Posts: 6116
Location: Vermont
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| Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2024 7:05 pm Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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I learned to weld in the '70's in High School, my wife bought me a Oxy/Accet. torch set when I was 25, got pretty good at brazing, bought a Mig when I was 35, still have that, don't use it as much anymore, but it's great to have when I need it.
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My Pops:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604100&highlight=
I know you will always be with me, rest in peace with no more pain. 8/13/14.....
In the yard right now:
'51 Dodge 5 window truck
'65 Bug
'66 Singlecab
'82 Rabbit Truck Diesel from CALI 
'86 Doublecab W/T
'91 Vanagon carat/wolfsbrg.Tiico
'88 Dodge Ram pickup
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FPGT72
Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2022
Posts: 207
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| Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2024 5:03 am Post subject: Re: People who don't weld |
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| Cusser wrote: |
Me - I'd like to learn how to weld. But I wouldn't know where to start with MIG, TIG, wire feed, etc. I know one would need to practice. But I think welding would be great for simple jobs.
Can anyone provide any guidance, thanks ! |
If you want to dip you toe in as inexpensively as possible go to harbor freight and get their $150 flux core only welder. Then get a hood and gloves, you are all set to play. Watch a few youtube videos and then hit it. Now people will poopoo flux core, but it does have its place (real windy), and IMHO if you are doing a great deal of grinding it is going to matter even less. You will learn the basics in and out and be running for sub $200. You will be able to do body panels with this machine, body panels are THIN and have their own unique challenges.
What I did years ago (before youtube) is I bought a Lincoln 110 and did the same thing I suggested. I welded some pretty heavy stuff with that, making several passes and those welds are still holding to this day, one of my first "real" welds was on the arm of a brush hog (kinda a big rough cut mower that can cut saplings) Still holding.
I have made all kinds of things here lately, elevator for my shop to putting together the VW from hell. |
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