Weekly drive to work #1 Southern Highlands NSW

 A glorious morning's drive to work. This is one of the benefits of a long drive to work which I do twice a week.  Its a 120 kilometre drive to get there, so a 240k round trip. Can be arduous at times, especially in the evening when it's pelting down or navigating Macquarie Pass in the wet or through Robertson in the fog (which is a very regular occurrence). Here's a nice screen shot of the Beetle travelling through possibly Burrawang early morning. Just thought I would share it with you all.

Funky looking engine mounts

 First off, can I just say that these are not my design. I admit, they are ambitious and the intention is to utilise the existing Jag engine mount place to suit the 351c. However, I don't really think it is gonna work. Why not? Well casturise on these pics. 

The Cleveland is probably sitting a fair bit too high, and the C4 could come up a little, but I still don't think this is gonna work. 

Yes, that is a Bronco sump. See the dipstick holder in the sump.  This is a rear sump. A lot of guys use them to avoid clearance issues with the Jag front. 

The other big news is I am farming out the welding work to a shop in Unanderra at this stage. Might be a couple of weeks wait, but that gives me time to do other things... Like figure out engine mounts

Got dem old Cab Corner blues

 Well,  I am up to my fifth welding guy. Four have promised me the earth and have given me the moon. And I don't mean the moon up in the sky. I mean the moon you get when someone bares their arse at you in contempt. Four miserable souls looking for a purpose in life and have nothing better to do than make promises they cannot keep. 

But all is not doom and gloom because out of the horde of idiots, I have found a really helpful guy. And it was so unexpected. He has provided encouragement right from the start and to Rob, I owe a huge debt of gratitude. It was Rob who told me to hurry up and get into things and it was Rob who made such a great start on the front cab corner. 

I now have it virtually ready for welding in.

The other side is a different proposition and I have had a good go at removing it. Sure, it wasn't a pretty sight, and I am still working on it, but the other cab corner is nearly out. Bad news is, there is plenty of rust on this side, and this is the worst of it. 

Hard to imagine that is a salvageable part. Better check out the video to see how it came to this! 

There is a big video of my adventures here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lim62AXEaeQ

And here is the current state of the truck 

This week I hope to get that other cab front completely ready for welding and put some 2k on the roof. I am also working on stripping the bonnet and doors and hitting them with 2k as well. So, quite a busy couple of days ahead. 

Never realised I had a King Dick

 Didn't realise I'd been holding onto a King Dick all these years. The old spanner was rusted to hell and I chucked it in a tub of vinegar and when I pulled it out, realised I had a King Dick! Well! That made me feel good!

Never heard of the brand, but after Googling it, now I know more about the brand. British made, and I that explains the Whitworth spanner. which I have no idea how I ended up with it. 

The other thing that made me feel good was Rob coming over for a chat and helping me get stuck into removing the cab front corner. Well, not exactly helping ME, Rob did the whole damned thing on his own while I just looked on. I kinda felt bad about it, but Rob was enjoying getting into the action, and why would I want to stop him? Rob has really inspired me to keep persisting with this project despite numerous setbacks, and it's work like this that really makes me want to keep pushing on...

Looks great now that hideous side panel has been removed. Bit scarier tho! There was some hidden rust at the bottom as you can see that is gonna need plating, but it was expected. Overall, not too shocking.

The other thing I sorted out was the mystery of the extra sump that came with the project. The extra sump is actually the right sump for the engine as it is a Bronco sump and the engine is a Bronco engine on account (as I am informed) of the different oil pickup arrangement on this engine) 

The wonders of white vinegar on rusty metal

 I am constantly amazed at how well white vinegar gets rid of rust. 

I recently learned that a weird plate I found in the truck belongs to the ashtray. It is the actual sliding mechanism for the ashtray. It was in poor condition, so off it went, into the vinegar bath for a couple of days. Here is the outcome! 

And this is what it looked like beforehand. 

I do have some reservations about the long term repercussions of leaving metal in the vinegar as I experienced the opposite effect with some nuts and bolts as I left them in there for over a week and the nuts and bolts started to go even rustier. Or so it seemed. Anyway, in this instance, this is a big win. 

Presslite wiper motor probably cactus el rootus

 Aussie made Presslite wiper motor came with the bits in the truck. It was in a very, I say VERY sad state when it turned up and I didn't even bother pulling it down to check it out because I knew it was totally cactus el rootus (whatever that means- but you get the drift).

So it sat on the shelf for a while until I decided in a fit of boredom (while waiting for SOMEBODY to come and help weld these panels up) to pull it down and check it out. 

First off, the drive seemed pretty healthy. I even had the feeling that this unit might just fire up and start if what I was seeing was any indication of the rest of the motor. I even slipped a bit of blue lube grease in there to make it happy looking. 

First indication things weren't so good once I pulled the drive cover off, but nothing that couldn't be cleaned up, so I got the cover looking all schmicko and then had a look at the drive mechanism.

Once I removed all the rust and crud out of there, I slipped a film of grease over the whole shooting match just to sexy it up. Sofa so good! Maybe the rest of the unit was half decent?

Alas, things went belly up real quick once I pulled the casing apart. It was rusted and worn out beyond repair, certainly beyond my ability anyway, and I think most people's

 I think the best I can do is toss this in the bin and salvage the wiper mount bracket. Maybe just put it all back together and keep it as garage art? Meh, what's the point? I am not one of those guys who keeps shit just for the hell of it, or to clutter up the garage. In my life everything has to serve a purpose or its out of here. Although I do like the shape of it.