Archive for August, 2010

Last weekend when my cat disappeared I was busy having fun doing some mountain unicycling. I might as well remember the good stuff. Saturday a group of us rode Mr Toads Wild Ride as a 13’ish mile shuttle. I think it was my fourth time riding this trail (hopefully by writing it on my blog I can keep track better). Here’s some info here on singletracks about the ride. It is one of my all time favorite rides in California. It is very taxing on the body, and tough to ride all the way up. This was my first time... [read more]

Please help! My cat Piper is missing. She is a siamese, with white snowshoe paws. She is a polydactyl (extra toes) and is fixed. She comes to the name Piper (when she feels like it). She was last seen the morning of Saturday, August 28th at our house in the Santa Cruz mountains off of Hutchinson Rd. Louise let her out for the day and she never came home. She may have gotten taken by someone, or may have wondered too far from home and gotten lost. There is also the possibility that she was injured by another animal, or... [read more]

The speedo in the bug was broken. Ed, who I bought the car from, said it was just the cable that needed replacing and that he had replaced it a few times. I suspected something else must be wrong if he had to replace it more than once, and when I stuck the new cable in the speedo I realized it was really tight to turn (almost too tight), which would cause it to break the cable at the wheel (where it was broken). The speedometer also had some moisture in it, making the glass look a little foggy, and... [read more]

What a fun weekend! It started out at 10 am with a mountain unicycle (muni) ride at Soquel Demo Forest. Jason, Aaron, Chris B and I rode up Highland to drop in at the top of Soquel demo and hit up Braille Trail. Kevin was a little late, and without cell reception we didn’t know he was going to arrive, but he fortunately caught up. Chris had to leave early to hit up a kid’s birthday party, and oh man, did he miss out! Since we are all cell phone junkies we all captured some nice little video clips and... [read more]

I needed to replace the seals in the little vent windows and put in a new handle. This involves pulling the glass out out of the vent window channel and riveting on a new handle. It turns out it isn’t easy to do. I had found some general vent window install steps on the BugShop, but he used a screwable “Workmate” table, which I don’t have. So, instead of doing it with a proper jig, I figured I could muscle it in. I did go ahead and use the bandsaw to cut out the profile of the vent window in... [read more]

General Tips on Restoration Classic VW Bugs – http://www.classicvwbugs.com/restotips.htm – Lots of videos on how to do various restoration items.. This is where I first learned how to install windshield, and he gave a great tip on using weed whacker wire. The BugShop: Project ’57 – http://www.thebugshop.org/goresto.htm – Lots of general tips as someone restored their bug. Online Stores California Import Parts (cip1) – http://www2.cip1.com/ – Fairly cheap prices on parts, with free shipping on lots of small parts when you order over $100 worth of stuff. I bought most things through these guys. I would also call them up... [read more]

Well, the project’s batteries are going to be delayed. I checked up on the battery status, and it turns out there was a mishap with the order – Evolve Electrics goes through Alliance Batteries, which orders them from China. Something went wrong, and the right ones weren’t ordered, so I’ll be waiting 10 more weeks from them. That is going to set the project back a bit, but I still have a bit more restoration work I can do in the meantime. Again, I’m getting 48 Thundersky 200Ah batteries: http://evolveelectrics.com/Thunder%20Sky%20Lithium%20Batteries.html — definitely not cheap! The advantage of these cells is... [read more]

I was really nervous about installing the headliner. I heard it was really hard to do, and frequently didn’t come out right or required a second headliner due to the first one getting messed up. Because of that, I ordered the “easy install” single piece headliner, as opposed to the “original install” headliner that is more difficult to go in. I’m okay with not having a 100% original look, and heck, the car isn’t going to be 100% original due to my tweaks and electric conversion. I ordered all my interior parts from jbugs.com. Originally I thought I was just... [read more]