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Good morning

Well the DMV told me I couldn’t have a title until I showed them a complete car. Photographs of the complete car were not good enough. They said if they want it to be titled as a roadster it has to be a roadster, and so they have to see the car.
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Well it’s time to go by that welder. I’m not putting it together with all that rust.

The awful part of this is that when I get it back together a year down the road, they may still not let me register the thing. I may just have to sell it out of state.

The good news is the Volkswagen parts are going up in price and pretty soon the chassis you see here will be worth as much as the whole car.
 
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Well the DMV told me I couldn’t have a title until I showed them a complete car....They said if they want it to be titled as a roaster it has to be a roadster, and so they have to see the car.

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Could this be titled as a roaster? :sarcasm:

But seriously, I had boxes of Styrofoam, epoxy, fiberglass, and various metal and wood stock that I registered with the FAA as an aircraft.
Never put it together, but it was issued a registration number of N4TJ a week after the kit was delivered and I had not even purchased the engine yet.

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Rutan VariEze Kit as delivered

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Rutan VariEze completed [but not by me.]
 
LOL, You never miss a Cue, do you Scoop?

Remind me to tell you about the time that I had to tow a roaster…

Anyhow ,my experience leads me to believe that most of the people that bought kits like this ended up feeling that they’ve been ripped off in the end; because the amount of time it actually took them was about 10 times what the manual claims.

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They don’t include any trips going to the DMV either.
 
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Well the DMV told me I couldn’t have a title until I showed them a complete car. Photographs of the complete car were not good enough. They said if they want it to be titled as a roadster it has to be a roadster, and so they have to see the car.

Well that party freaking sucked! :( Maybe you should have just called it a Beetle "convertible"? :D So what if it looks like an MG. Where is the VIN on those, anyway?
 
Well I pretty much expected this problem. Actually I expected worse and I still do. Stay tuned . . .

I didn’t think I’d be working on the car today as I went and got my second Moderna shot yesterday and the doctor told me that I might feel sick afterwards but so far no after effects.

I got my grandkids to come over and help me In the house and the garage, and they helped me stick the front body clip back on the car.
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It’s not secured yet but it’s positioned. I was up late working in the garage and I got a lot done.

The rear crossmembers, parking lamps, front valance and front bumper, rear bumper and rear sub frame are all on. The heater boxes are gone and the “Heater delete” tubes and muffler are installed.

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Today I will try to get the front fenders on.

I need to trim the floor pan just slightly before mounting the forward body, and I have to locate and attach the forward crossmember which supports the runningboards and the tail of the front fenders.

The rear body has no rear body mounts and never has had. Basically it was sitting on the muffler and cantilevered from the fenders.

There’s the front fenders, the tub, and cowl. I also still have to install rear fenders and doors and runningboards.
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At some point the people who built this car couldn’t get things to fit and they just gave up. That’s because the chassis was bent (!) but with some easy modifications I have taken that out of the equation for the body.

The radiator shell is very much out of square and I need to oversize the holes in the body and get it aligned properly. The mounting of the front body is not going to be finalized. I’m just throwing it together to get an inspection passed.

You folks in other countries where they have engineering requirements for custom cars are not used to the system in California. They’re mostly looking for smog cheaters and insurance frauds. They are not gonna look at my welding or the amount of rust on the frame.

You’ll notice I haven’t bothered to clean or paint anything, because this is all going to come apart again. My wife is going to hate me.

Anyhow, I am tired from all the work yesterday, but the best part of all of this is I was expecting to feel sick today. I was warned by the pharmacist, because he had a mild reaction, but I am having no issues.

The one thing I did not do is sit around and take it easy, And so it’s back to the garage for me.
 
Glad your second Moderna is treating you good. Mine only made me a little more tired than usual for a day, no pains to speak off. As far as the car, a polished Moon tank would look good up front..lol
 
Yeah, those headlights really do detract from the overall look and are out of place.

But, the car is going to look really good once you finish it. I've been keeping up with all the work you've been doing, and it's a lot.
 
Thank you buddy but the truth is that I have procrastinated a lot and not always for the best reasons.

However it is going to come together now and I have ordered (finally) the $4000 welder of my dreams. And thanks to modern technology it cost under $900 with shipping and tax.
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I ordered the Primeweld TIG225X, Which comes complete with a nice CK Flexi torch and a Nova pedal, a stinger and a ground, a flow regulator and hose & a pack of tungsten electrodes.

I fell in love with this welder because it got such a good ratings on Amazon and from other professional welders who have used it, but also it doesn’t have the stupid blister switches. This rig has real old fashion knobs for everything and there’s a lot of everything.

So now I have saved a lot of money and I can afford to buy an expensive MIG welder . . . (as long as it doesn’t cost over $1000 LOL Because I will have to buy two tanks.)
 
I ordered the Primeweld TIG225X, Which comes complete with a nice CK Flexi torch and a Nova pedal, a stinger and a ground, a flow regulator and hose & a pack of tungsten electrodes.

Looks like a decent unit. Do you have a link for us? Reminds me of Everlast (green) when they first came out. Lots of features and lots of knobs and lots of people selling them. Be sure to update over at SFT--I'm sure they would like to hear about your purchase progress. :)

As for a MIG, a used MillerMatic 135/140 would be a good investment and not take up a lot of room. They run on 120v and can weld up to 1/8-3/16 mild steel. The M10 guns they come with are not overly bulky and consumables easy to source. .024" wire runs well and good for body panels. I keep .030" in my MM140 mainly because I had a roll "in stock" from an auction lot.
 
Good morning guys. Late night working on the car. I'm almost ready to mount those huge headlights...

I've been spending the time to improve fit and alignment of the body panels, as I decide how to deal with the frame. Right now, everything is based on the bumper. The fiberglass body, you see now assembled, only attaches to the car with 2 bolts thru the valance, and 2 bolts to the bumper.

The rest currently just sits on the crossmembers. If I pull the valance bolts and the bumper bolts it will all hoist off as a unit.

When I join the rear body on, I will find out how much bow the chassis has compared to the body. I have to allow for that, this time, so the tail of the body doesn't ride on the muffler.

Next I must attach the cowl. This will require some fitting and gluing.
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@Bobster


There are several different reviews on youtube for this welder, and while the early ones didn't like the pedal, it appears the pedal has been improved. In any event lots of other pedals should work, but I don't know if any of them will work better. I haven't seen other pedals tested with this machine.

I wanted TIG for doing 24 to 60 Ga. sheetmetal, and while everybody uses MIG, IMO it's not the best way. But it's at least twice as fast as TIG, so only the most expensive body shops use TIG.
 
You mentioned that you didn’t care for the big headlights, so could you maybe use smaller motorcycle headlight buckets? You can get relatively inexpensive chrome or black buckets in the normal 5.25, 6.5 and 7” from Dennis Kirk or JP Cycles, etc…heck,you could even repurpose a set of KC Daylighters from Walmart..lol
 
I think that these headlights have deficiencies unrelated to the styling but they do work and they seem secure so for now I’m going to keep them. Besides this car is not intended to go at freeway speeds. This is a parade car. I suppose it might hit 65 miles an hour if I got the engine tuned up really well and there was no weight in the car.
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Anything else on the menu will be in the future because the state of California has requirements and I have as well.

If this were to become a faster car it really would have to have a complete custom chassis and no Volkswagen stuff. I can keep this old antique a-motoring, but in the future I may transplant this body onto a completely different car and sell this chassis off.
 
There are several different reviews on youtube for this welder, and while the early ones didn't like the pedal, it appears the pedal has been improved. In any event lots of other pedals should work, but I don't know if any of them will work better. I haven't seen other pedals tested with this machine.

There are a few different "styles" of TIG pedals. Some pivot at the back, some pivot at the middle, some are raised up off the ground, some have heel stops, some are little toe levers like this one. I'd have to try it so see if I could get used to it. I would build a base to attach to it to raise my foot up a little. I have this SSC-style pedal for my TA185 from SSC--it came with it. This LINK is for the the one that fits the Primewell.

I've seen a number of his videos and they are informative, but every time there is a hand shot I think to myself "go get a manicure before you do a video, man!" :rolleyes: I used to work with a mechanic like that--he would go home with grease under his nails and come in with the same grease under them! :eek: I wonder if his wife would get a greased infection... :D

But anyway, I found it on zamazom and am considering picking one up for my shop--I am liking you a little less for this... :D I'm just concerned that it looks fairly large in the video...

Back about 10 years ago, this TA cost me $1895, on "special". A Miller Dynasty 200 at the time started at $2600 or more with options. This TA was made in Japan and has performed flawlessly. I repurposed an old CRT TV wall mount and use a battery hold-down style of retention--the welder will swing out from the wall if I need it to. Note the steel rule for scale. Not shown is the 2gal Bernard torch cooler under the bench--itself as big as this TA! :eek: As much of my welding involves moving around the weldment, the pedal remains free to be moved around the floor if I have to. I haven't had a need for a hand potentiometer yet.

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Out of curiousity I looked up "tig torch coolers" on zamazom. Would you pick the "Shitturn", "Moreporn" or "Diarrhea" brand? :D


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There are a few different "styles" of TIG pedals. Some pivot at the back, some pivot at the middle, some are raised up off the ground, some have heel stops, some are little toe levers like this one. I'd have to try it so see if I could get used to it. I would build a base to attach to it to raise my foot up a little. I have this SSC-style pedal for my TA185 from SSC--it came with it. This LINK is for the the one that fits the Primewell.

I've seen a number of his videos and they are informative, but every time there is a hand shot I think to myself "go get a manicure before you do a video, man!" :rolleyes: I used to work with a mechanic like that--he would go home with grease under his nails and come in with the same grease under them! :eek: I wonder if his wife would get a greased infection... :D

But anyway, I found it on zamazom and am considering picking one up for my shop--I am liking you a little less for this... :D I'm just concerned that it looks fairly large in the video...

Back about 10 years ago, this TA cost me $1895, on "special". A Miller Dynasty 200 at the time started at $2600 or more with options. This TA was made in Japan and has performed flawlessly. I repurposed an old CRT TV wall mount and use a battery hold-down style of retention--the welder will swing out from the wall if I need it to. Note the steel rule for scale. Not shown is the 2gal Bernard torch cooler under the bench--itself as big as this TA! :eek: As much of my welding involves moving around the weldment, the pedal remains free to be moved around the floor if I have to. I haven't had a need for a hand potentiometer yet.

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Thank you. The ThermalArc is a well respected machine and I’m sure you got good use out of it. In fact it’s one of the machines that I was considering right away.

Regarding mechanics, one of the smartest guys in town runs a scroungy looking shop and I don’t think his coveralls have been washed in a long, long time. But he has a degree in mechanical engineering, and all the other shops send him the work they can’t do.

This is the problem with television: You see the dirt under peoples finger nails for as long as you care to stare at it.

Because of that effect, we will never have a bald president.
 
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