Sold the Bug

I sold the Bug today... I'm a little sad to see her go. I didn't have any time to spend with her this summer and thought I would put her up for sale and see if I got any interest. I got a lot more interest then I thought I would ... and I ended up selling it to a true VW Beetle fan. The new owner has had 12 or 13 bugs in the past and was looking for something that needed a little work but not too much. Perfect since there is some finishing that still needed to happen.

Here are the final pictures that I had.

More Pictures

New distributor and test drive ...

Well its been a while since I've done anything with the bug. This past weekend it was going to be nice out so I thought it would be a good time to get things moving again. When it was put away last year it wasn't running. It would turn over but nust not start. I really want to get it running again.

Last Friday I stopped by Tony's place and picked up a different distributor. The reason I wanted something different was because I've heard and seen how hard it is to get the 34 Pict 3 carb and the 009 distributor to work well together. The original distributor had a vacuum advance and the 009 is only mechanical. So I picked up a vacuum advance.

Saturday I pulled the car out of the poll shed and put it back in the garage where it's a lot easier to work on. I plugged the battery into the charger to make sure it was ready to go. I was hoping to use the new electronic ignition from my 009 in the vacuum dist. Well, this didn't work, not even close.

Since I couldn't work on getting the car running I decided that I it would be a good time to get the rims painted. This also gave me a reason to use the new 2.5 ton jack I got from my wife for my Birthday. ;-) While I waited for the rims to dry, I pulled out the chrome center caps and cleaned and polished them. I also gave the chrome bumpers a quick buff as well.

Monday morning I stopped by Tony's again to look at options and Tony threw in points and condenser so that it would be functioning. After work I spent a few hours putting the distributor in ... static timed it, but I couldn't get it started. It would turn over but just wouldn't start. After some checking, i noticed the gas filer didn't have any gas in it. I tracked it down to a cracked line that was coming off the gas tank under the hood. After replacing it and some cranking it fired up. Actually ran great considering that the carb settings are all messed up.

This evening the weather was great. I couldn't take it any more ... I just had to take it for a quick spin down the road. It fired up right away and ran well. Here is a picture from tonight after the test drive.

Car show events for summer.

My buddy Mike has already had his chopper fired up so I know it's that time of year again. I know it sounds like a long ways off, but summer will be here before we know it. Here are events that I enjoy attending.

25th Annual Twin Cities Bug-In car show and swap meet.
Sunday June 5th. 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
Its a small show, but VW's only!
http://www.twincitiesvwclub.com/

38th Annual Minnesota Street Rod Association (MSRA) Back to the 50's Car Show
June 17th, 18th, 19th, 2011
8:00 am - 10:00 pm
Over 12,000 cars, 3 days long and held at the MN State Fair Gounds in St. Paul
http://www.msra.com/

Lakeville MN, Cruise Night (Pan-o-Prog)
July 8th, 2011 starting at 6:30 pm
Bring your lawn chair and sit on the side of main street and watch over 500 cars parade through downtown Lakeville. After the parade a couple hundred fill up the downtown streets for an evening car show. Food vendors, music and beer!
http://www.panoprog.org/category.cfm?category_id=54

Northfield MN, Car Show (Jesse James Days)
September 10, 2011 9 am - 3 pm
Usually 200 - 300 cars at this show
http://www.djjd.org/lmth/events/carshow.html

New Prague MN, Cruise Night (Dozinky Days)
Friday evening, September 16, 2010 6:30 pm (show up earlier)
Once a year, 400 plus classic cars and trucks take over main street in New Prague. The cruise night takes place on the Friday evening.
http://www.newprague.com/dozinky/

Farmington usually has a car show during the summer as well. I don't have any information on that yet but I'll post an update when I figure it out.

Roll-up windows

I was having lunch with some friends today and catching up on lost time with our buddy Chris Harkman. Chris asked how "the bug" was coming and I told him it was close to getting on the road.

My buddy Mike suggested that we spend a couple hours on it this afternoon and see how far we could get with it.

I really wanted to get the last of the windows in so that I could take it out of the garage and over to Tony's so that he could take a look at the motor and get it running better ... (or at all. For some reason I can't get it to run at all right now. It cranks over fine, just doesn't start. Some type of gas or spark issue.) (UPDATE ... it was a cracked gas line, starts great now)

Mike stopped over and we went right to work on the roll-up windows. They are a pain! There are lots of trim pieces and they have to get put on in a certain order. We didn't know that order so it was a lot of puting things on then taking them off again.

Mike was a huge help and we where able to get the windows done! The glass fits a bit snug, but they go up and down by the little hand crank.

Now this week I'll get ahold of Tony and see if he can take a look at "the bug" and get it running.

The Dash is in

I got some time this evening and was able to get the dash board. I have a few more things that still need to go in but most of it is back in place. One of the new things is a new radio antenna.

I also came across a set of 4 brand new bumper trim thingys. (Its like Christmas every time I go to the pile of parts). They go in the fenders and the bumper mounts slide through them. This means that I have to take the bumpers off to put these in. Easy job, just wish that I would have seen them before I put the bumpers on the first time.

Frog and Toad

What happend to the frog's car when it broke down?
...
It was "toad"