Non-update update: Merklin is still waiting to hear from the hotel. When we left it last year they agreed to move all reservations up as needed, but nothing is as-yet confirmed. I will let everyone know when I know.

Assuming we still have a functioning republic.

Happy 2021 to all within earshot.

Building them is only half the fun, Todd! When you’re done, remember to enjoy the ride for a while.

Gotta keep the faith. MG TDr forever!

Update:

Yeah, eventually I gotta up my game.

Making an aluminum half tonneau for the Spyder out of a scrap piece of .050 5052.

CAD was first…

Here’s a shot of the real-deal part I lifted from Type550.com:

and as installed on the car I’m copying:

I made a second model out of masonite and them traced it on some scrap lumber I had in a rack hanging from the ceiling. Some of this…[Read more]

Looking good. I just spent the day welding and, man…yours are better.

Happy Thanksgiving, Jack.

Vicenc! Good to see you on here. How’s Montse doing?

Sent the pics to Rare Car Network magazine (fka ReInCarNation fka Kit Car Builder) which may or may not still do a print edition.

They ran ’em.

Most of our VW-based cars have mounted tank mounted too high for this to work.  It’s feasible only if the tank is way down low on the floor, as in the Duchess, which has a custom fuel tank.

Welcome to the group Dennis.

Spyder debuted in public over the weekend at cars & coffee in Hunt Valley on Saturday morning and Annapolis on Sunday.

People seem to be interested…

You can set camber by loosening the nut on the ball joint and turning the eccentric with a channel lock. You also need to set camber first, then toe. Changing the camber will change the toe-in, but changing the toe will not affect camber.

Oh! All this only after ride height is set. The ride height affects camber and toe!

Crash’s advice is spot-on. I run about .5 degrees negative camber on my car (spec is 0) and it’s good. I also have one set of caster shims in place, so the caster is about 3-4 degrees. Stock Bugs came with less than that, to keep low speed steering easy, and it gets worse: typically, any VW whose front end is lower then the rear will lose enough…[Read more]

It’s really fun to drive, Dale. You should come up and I’ll let you take a spin.

Been sorting the Spyder for a few months now. It’s running strong and tracking straight, stopping short and sounding delightfully loud. On Tuesday I revved the engine to 6000 rpm on a highway entrance ramp, and it seemed to like that. The dyno slips with these engines (I have one for a sister build, not this engine per-se) indicate they made peak…[Read more]