Why swap?

Searching swap meets should be a treat but since moving our operation to the North East, and attending larger show, the swaps have been more of a disappointment. Yes, the internet has delivered a couple of major body blows to the meets but one should still be able to find things such as old (good/decent) horn buttons, distributors cores, books and maybe if you go early a good decklid or two! We are not looking for a perfect Hurst Bus shifter, no just something that can be taken to the shed and with a little love, used. We much admit that there are some nice shells that could be cut up for parts or MAYBE a resto but for the most part the last two years have brought little to nothing of interest, Well unless you are looking for a used set of Beetle brake drums that the vendor says are Thing drums.

So keep an eye pealed at the your next VW show we may be out there in the crowd pedaling a couple of little gems. But don’t expect to get them for a rusty fender! : )

Shifters, shifters every where...

The OSS had a little free time today to install the new Vintage Speed stock quick shifter. Took a bit of adjusting to get it just right... would have been easier with a running motor. But once it was dialed in shifting was nice. Now early next week we will go get the 58 out of storage and see how this pretty little unit works on a running car.

Hurst at heart but...

The OSS is a Hurst shifter fan through and through BUT we have also been in love with the beetle stock shifter for as many years. The main problem with the stock unit is sloppy as hell, in part due to the push down reverse lock out. So today the man in blue... or the Old Speed Shacks PO Box had a beautiful gift!

We ran out of good picture light but here is a little sample.

Just a lill' update.

Time is moving right along here at the OSS! We have been in negotiations with a gentle man down south for some more parts for the Secret Speed Project #1 and ill have updates as soon as it is all finalized. There has been a small amount of work the the beetle this week but LOTS of planning on what needs to be done and in what order it should proceeds. SO if all goes well that little beauty might even get a few miles on her before winter.

The post man should be rumbling up our dirt road with the final pieces to one of our "big game hunts" at some point this next week. Humm... might have to tell that little tale later tonight around the camp fire.

Here's a picture to make you mouth water. : )

Moving right along.

Well the last two day there at the OSS have been BUSY. Each evening after work we have been putting in quite a bit of time and it is starting to show. The rotten section of the rear crossmemeber have been cut out and replaced. With that finished the heater channel is now firmly attached to the car, well minus a few welds inside but we will get to that soon. Lots of welding has taken its toll on an old friend and he will have to go in for sevice ASAP. Since it was a $60 purchase spending some $ on him should be well worth it.

Poor little guy.

Secret speed project #1 (Post 4)

Today the man in brown left a little gift on the slate stoop. Low and behold it is the first major piece to the secret speed project #1. Now these heads may simply be rebuild and put on the shelf as there are other "options" on the horizon.

Progress

There has been some progress on the 61 beetle project here at the Old Speed Shack, last night the driver side heater channel was finally installed! So in the next couple of days we will level up the doors and put in the solid welds around the door frame.

Back to work.

Old Speed Shack find of the week: June28-July3

The hunt continues! This week we have now completed the trifecta of Bosch old speed distributors, the "383". Along with the VJR4BR25 and VJ4BR8 the OSS can now see which advance curve will work best on the Secret Project #1. (VJ4BR8 advance curve is the same as the Bosch 019 and the VJRBR25 is the same as the Bosch 010 BUT these were bus distributors.) There are still a few distributors from other cars makes that we will also try but that is for another time. Now the 383 was used on 25hp VWs and split case 356 and has a rather fast curve compared the to the stock vacumme advace drizzy. So this litte treasure is packed up with its brothers and will be rebuilt by tasb.

The gang is all there.

It would appear that the guys from Sech Volt Garage have made it back from their long journey to Germany to attend the Hessisch Oldendorf show. Not sure what little items they were able to find at the swap meet but they do have a lot of great pictures of old air cooled VWs.



Picture from Library of congress