Mine hit the seat back but because it’s compressible foam I can still open the hatches by plunging mu hand down in ther, grabbing the “lip” of the seat and forcing it up. A little Armor All or similar on the vinyl makes it slide nice.

OK, friends, here is the new blog documenting my Spyder build.

As some of you know, I already grabbed a low-mileage, high-pedigree engine for the car: a Jake Raby-built 1915 from a Beck Special Edition. Carey Hines then went through the carbs, put in new floats, gussied it up and delivered it to the back of my pickup truck at Carlisle last…[Read more]

Ringo’s dash was my inspiration, and that real TD dash on the ‘bay looks very usable as-is. I’d try to grab that for $100-$200 if I were you. My un-patented “bead cheat” will finish it off for like $20 more.

The 924 gauges are just about 4.25 in diameter, I think–a little smaller than the TD gauges, so if you went with that dash you’d have to…[Read more]

Ringo’s dash was my inspiration, and that real TD dash on the ‘bay looks very usable as-is. I’d try to grab that for $100-$200 if I were you. My un-patented “bead cheat” will finish it off for like $20 more.

The 924 gauges are just about 4.25 in diameter, I think–a little smaller than the TD gauges, so if you went with that dash you’d have to…[Read more]

Dash board is where you really make the car your own. And you’ll be staring at it forevermore so it’s best to design something you can live with the first time.

I am partial to the original TD layout with the speedo/tach in front of the driver on big gauges, and the rest off to the right. If you’ve been lurking here long you have probably already…[Read more]

He’s got the steering wheel on the wrong side!

Years later:

Good on ya, Bill. Sorry we missed you for breakfast this a.m. I got home around 5 and unloaded a whole truck full of Speedster/VW junk and tools and stuff from Alan Merklin. I have his Porsche banner now…

How do the splines look in those, Bill?

I am planning/hoping to roll in Thursday evening. I have to tow Bridget this time b/c I’m picking up the Spyder’s engine from Carey Hines, so there will be some rigamarole involved in getting set up and on the road after work.

The key metric to watch out for is the inch increase in track width, imho.

Generator is rebuildable; usually just needs brushes. But to do it I think you have to take it out anyway and that’s most of the work.

Advantages of the generator: There is a reason you don’t see generators on new cars, man. Alternators give a better charge at lower rpm, tend to run longer, and they’re lighter (though I don’t know what the VW a…[Read more]

Got my sticker today.

Paint update.

Oh crap!

ATTENTION, Carlisle…..Court Yard Marriott Hotel Reservations.  You have just 1 more day….The room block has been extended until Friday the 21st . You will need to call  ” Charity Shreffler”  direct  at   717 458 – 0531

OK. I’ll keep at it.

Here’s the first color coat double-blocked with 600 grit. I kinda like this matte finish. All the kids are wrapping their cars to look kinda like this…

So what do you think, boys? Shoot two more coats and clear it? Or just scrub the whole car with a scotchbrite and call it a day?