As a final entry, I'll report that I moved to Oregon for a variety of reasons. I did not take the VW with me, so it stayed in Utah for a number of months.

After it became apparent that I was not returning to Oregon, but instead moving further West (to Hawaii), I listed the Beetle for sale and it was sold. The proceeds went to the people that cared for the car while I was traveling.

I loved the car and it treated me well. I hope to one day be able to call a Beetle mine once more.

Dual Core Volkswagen

For three days, I had a Volkswagen with two power plants, one in back and one in front. Of course, all good things must come to an end as they say...

Some time ago (in March), I had come across a store of Volkswagen cores. See Treasure!. Whether I had mentioned it or not, I had sent both cores into a local VW shop, Air-Cooled Engineering, to have them prepared for rebuilding. I ended up selling one to the shop and the other I was able to finally pick up on Thursday.

The shop gave me everything I need for a 1776cc motor including rebuilt heads, new pistons and cylinders, a cleaned and milled block, bearings, a ground crankshaft, a camshaft, and the other miscellaneous parts.

In the coming days, you'll be seeing some more pictures of my progress. It'll be fun!

As It Stands

As a general update, I'll give you a report on how the Jackwagen is at this very moment.

The car is running, inspected, registered, and licensed. I did take the insurance off of it, however, after I got a newer car that Grandma could go shopping in.

The transmission is in it and seems to be working well. Not fully tested, however.

I haven't yet gotten it over 30MPH as one of the brake lines needs to be replaced. I did end up picking one up when I received my motor, but it's not in yet.

By the photograph, you'll see that I let the fender rust a great deal. I didn't get it painted before we took the carport down and it was necessary for inspection.

I am still trying to track down the individual of whom the specialty it is to repair heater channels. They are in really bad shape and I can't just ignore them. I have to get them done before the car is painted.

That brings me to the car being painted. The whole car needs to be painted at this point and I really should have it done before snow falls.

The glass is not in perfectly, either, but we'll see to that when the painting is done.

The electrical is still in chaos, but it works. Someday I'll get a stock-style fuse box. I hear they're quite handy and I can't really find anything else that really turns me on.

The back seat I can live without.

If you see anything else that needs obvious attention, feel free to make a note of it. I am finally giving it some attention after I spent my life savings keeping the city off my back.

Seats Installed

Of course, it's been a while since I've posted. The seats have been done for quite a while now. I have not done much writing as Google has changed their photo storage website or my work has made changes to their firewall in such a way that I can no longer upload or even view my photos. Either way, included are the photos of my new seats in this post. Yay!

Seat Brackets

Since the first time I drove a Beetle, I hated the seat brackets. There were a nightmare to adjust and (in my case) they were easily broken. It also doesn't help that I stand at 185cm/73", which makes for lots of stooping and leg cramps. I was determined since the beginning of this restoration to replace the seat brackets with something new and improved, even if it meant being creative at the local hardware store.

My first idea was to use the square tubing with the perforated sides as one side of the bracket with a piece of angle iron with similar perforations on the complementing side. The two would join together with a bolt or similar. It may not be lever operated, but it would pass inspections, wouldn't break, and would be versatile.

I had some trouble finding the square tubing I wanted, however, that wasn't attached to a street sign at the time. As a result, I consulted the welder that put my floor pan back together. He didn't have any, but he suggested a few places where I might find some. As a kind of after thought, he showed me what he had in stock.

After perusing his inventory, we found a combination of materials that would save a few dollars and a trip to the steel works. The upper bracket would be a steel pipe, measuring 13" in length and 1.75" in diameter. The lower bracket would be made of a type of steel channel which I was unfamiliar with, but I can describe it as being a square tube with the fourth side cut and rolled inward as to prevent our seat-side bracket from escaping through the top. This would allow the seat to move freely horizontally and there was enough clearance for carriage bolts to fasten the bracket to the body. The two pieces would be easily joined by a bolt going through both perpendicular to their length.

The first attempt (the passenger seat) is being made as I write this. We cut the steel to proper length and I retrieved one of the unfinished seats from the upholsterer. We also removed the original seat bracket completely. Tomorrow, I anticipate the installation of the seat and the beginning of work on the second seat. If I anticipate driving the car in the near future with passengers, I'll have to get a third seat in order to be able to juggle them all between the welder, myself, and the upholsterer.

Emergency Take-Off!

This last weekend was an exciting one, but not by any means pleasant in the nature of excitement.

I had always thought (inaccurately) that the greatest threat was to my Uncle, being the owner of the Chevrolet and the Model-A that have occasionally found their way into the pictures on this site. Those two vehicles have been on the property for a great while and had gotten the attention of the city before.

Nevertheless, we had resolved to assemble the Volkswagen completely by the end of the weekend as pressure from the city had been increasing. It was a pay-day weekend and we got a great deal accomplished. The body was back on, the motor was working, and the suspension was nearly complete. However, the glass had not been installed yet, the wiring was not completed, and the doors, bonnet, and engine cover were still off. Still, we were in no panic.

When Monday came, I went early to the DMV to get a temporary registration, which is required to operate the vehicle without an inspection certificate, license, or registration. All went smoothly and I made great time for having gone to the DMV in Salt Lake (There are only two offices in the entire area).

I came home to start work again, only to be interrupted at midday by a gentleman with a very large clipboard and an official looking truck. He proceeded to write on his clipboard, at which point he informed us that we had failed to comply with city ordinance and we were looking at a criminal record adjoined by a fine up to $1800 and/or short-term imprisonment. This was not pleasing.

It was quite unnerving the conversation which took place. There was some discussion about warnings and specificity of the violation, culpability, leniency, and so forth. However, the only lead way was made when I made reference to the registration that I had obtained that very morning. I informed the gentleman, quite boldly and without the slightest doubt in my own words, that I planned on having the car inspected this very day.

He looked keenly at the disorder of my motorized transport and responded, with equal confidence, and perhaps a bit of disdain as well, that he would gladly forget the ticket had ever been written if I, in fact, did have an inspected, running vehicle by 7:00 AM the next day, at which time he arrived at his office.

He left. Then the realization occurred to me that no inspection team would be working before 7:00 AM the next morning nor would they be working after 7:00 PM that very day. This is not among my favorite of dramatic conclusions reached by myself.

Working as fast as possible, the wiring was completed, the glass was installed, the doors, bonnet, and engine cover were placed, and the gasoline tank was filled. What we did not have were one horn and working brakes -- the 6V horn had been fried and I had pulled the brake line from the master cylinder, causing the entire system to suddenly have the need to have excess air removed from its innards.

It was 7:00 PM. I had found, with a great deal of luck, that Jiffy Lube was open until 7:30 and that they welcomed anyone for inspections as long as they were still open. With the help of a nearby neighbor (who is presently working on a Ghia), the car was completely and I rolled into Jiffy Lube at 7:29 PM.

The following morning, Tuesday, I informed the man with the clipboard by telephone of the miracle which had occurred. I then proudly went to the nearest Department of Motor Vehicles to obtain one shiny new license plate, one certificate of registration, and two colorful stickers to decorate said plate.

The moral of the story is, 'It is wise only for a fool to bluff the executor of the law.'

Floor Pan Takes Flight

Since we no longer have the comfortable surroundings of the particle board enclosure, we have been scrambling to get the Beetle fit for inspections, registry, and licensing. This process has taken the following coarse:

First, it was necessary to get the floor pan welded up. We had cut out the large sections of rust earlier, during the sanding down. This was our first priority since the floor pan needed to be relatively mobile for the welding. We had some difficulty with the arc welder, and, instead of taking the time to learn, we enlisted the services of a welder that lives near our home. However, he wanted the floor pan brought over to his place. As a result, we assembled the floor plan completely so that it would move on its own.

To assemble the floor pan, we installed the new transmission, assembled the brakes, attached the suspension components, and replaced the tires. We also replaced the brake lines and bled the brakes. All of the control cables (clutch, accelerator, etc.) were installed likewise. This took most of last week.

To move the floor pan over to the neighbors, a distance of about three blocks, we strategically placed a lawn chair on the pan and attached the steering wheel. While I pulled, my grandmother took the privilege of steering the pan. This took placed on Monday.

While the welding took place, the engine was moved from the basement into the carport.

On Tuesday, we retrieved the pan and one of the seats that I had sent to have upholstered. It hadn't been completed yet, but it would be necessary for registration. This time Steve rode the pan while I pulled.

Before coming to work, Tuesday night, I started installing the wiring into the body. We had some problems with the fluff that accumulates in the channel from the headliner, which inhibited us for some time, but we were able to clear it out. We found the best solution for removing the fluff came in the form of a 1/2" PVC pipe. It was strong enough to push the compacted fluff out, but flexible enough to navigate the channel.

Tomorrow, we plan on finishing the wiring and connecting the electronics while the body is still elevated on saw horses.