Finally purchased a Vintage Speedster.

Congrats Matt, roll up your sleeves! Might degrease everything with Oil Eater or the like and leak origins are easier to spot. A lot of these cars have waves, can be blocked out.if your in Chicagoland youll probably be in the garage for a while with weather so you can get it sorted.

Welcome to the madness! It looks good from the pic. Wavy fiberglass is either a bad mold or poor paint prep. Stock heat exchangers really limits what can be done to the motor for power output. Al

Congratulations ....That car looks great from whatever distance you took that picture from.    

35 degrees! Cold ride.  I've been driving mine in high 40's and it's cold.  But hey I've got the top down and the heat cranking

Looks cool.

Pete

That was a cold ride.  Bought some duct tape and sealed the trunk hinges as well as the side cutains where they met the windshield.  Stayed ok with Under Armor and gloves.

The car stopped idling about halfway home.  Ran awful below 3000 rpm.  The idle jets were clogged when I checked them the next day.

The car was running about 3500 RPM at 70 mph.  Anyone have an idea what trans/gear might be in here running at that rate?

What size are the rear tires? If they're close to 24 1/2" tall I'm guessing 4.125 r&p with .89 4th gear. Al

Wonder if you were really doing 70. If you have the Chinese repop gauges many of us do, an indicated 70 could be 65.

If you haven't already checked it with a gps, try that before trying to figure out the gearing. Just saying.

And welcome to the mayhem, uh, I mean madness.

Welcome to the Madness, Matt! Looks like you got a nice car to work with. I'm sure you will have a lot of fun with that bad boy! 

Matt-

Glad to see another Illinois guy on the site. Welcome! I'm downstate in the Peoria area, but there's a decent quorum of guys within a few hours of each other who've been getting together a few times a year.

You seem like the right kind of guy for one of these cars-- willing to get a little grease under the nails, with "tempered expectations". The wavy glass is just how Vintage/JPS cars look after a couple of years-- they use the same bodies/molds. JPS does a good job of getting them flat at his shop, but the bodies are "green" and not done shrinking for a year or so. I'm not sure why they don't put the bodies out in the desert for a while to let them cure before blocking and painting them, but they don't.

Yours is probably done shrinking now, so blocking it and laying on some good paint this winter sounds like a perfect idea. There's a bilgillion people in Chicagoland, and a lot of money, so there's probably a body-shop specializing in old 'vettes who knows how to get a wavy body flat (Corvettes had the same problem for a LONG time) nearby. Marty G. or Tom Boney might be able to help in this regard.

As far as the master-cylinder-- you're right, it's a pain. But I guarantee: if it's wet, it needs replaced. Don't screw around with your brakes. If you don't have 4 wheel discs, doing them both at the same time might be a good idea.

ALB (Al) is right-- there's a limit to how far you can get hopping up the engine with stock heater boxes, but I wouldn't get carried away just yet. I've been in this hobby for 13 years, and I've been from one extreme to the other (mild/bad 1776- wild/hairy 2332)-- and while more power is great, the money starts flying out the garage door at a crazy rate right at the 2L mark.

Buying a car is the pointy end of the wedge, if that's your personality (a little OCD, always looking for "more"). It doesn't have to be, but there really isn't a limit to how far you can go if that's your tendency. There's a fair amount of guys here who can attest to these cars being their (borderline) socially-acceptable obsession.

Welcome to the madness.

The speedometers are notoriously "off" by about 5 mph optimistic at and indicated 70 mph. Given that, I'd guess you've got stock transaxle- .89 4th, 4.12 R/P.

Welcome Matt,

With the exception of your passenger side rear view mirror my VS is the spitting image of yours....and, I also have wavy doors.

Being black it's very distracting in reflected light.

Stans' diagnosis of the origins of the problem explains it all.

That's why the first two years of the Blue Flame straight six Corvettes they were always snow white !.....less noticeable flat panel rippling.

Hope you get that boarded smooth and repainted over the winter. You don't want to show up at the Corn Daze in a wavy-ass specimen of Madness 

Thanks for the many welcomes gentlemen.  I do have a body shop that I use that is very familiar with fiberglass.  They said the same thing.  The car needed time to cure.  They called it a parade car.  "It waves back at you".  They also said it would come out perfect with some work.

regarding the speed versus rpm, I checked it on my phone GPS.  Probably still a 4.12?

its going to be near 70 in Chicago today.  Here at day for a ride?  Nope.  Four inches of rain and 60 mph winds.

Way to go, Matt. A fellow midwesterner not afraid to get his fingers cold.

You do realize you'll be getting your invitation to Corn Daze Part Trois from Stan in the mail soon.

Welcome to the sanity.

I get tired of reading 'welcome to the madness'.

Welcome Matt. I'm 45 min north you.  Todays weather was nasty. East Peroia/Washington IL was hit with Tornado today.  I texted Stan and he said he was safe but no power.  The winds are picking up again. Be safe!

Hey Marty, so good to hear that you and Stan 'weathered' it out.

I took refuge in my basement the entire night that Sandy tore through Connecticut...and it was very scary.

At one point I ran upstairs and opened several opposing windows hoping to equalize pressures...and grabbed an entire drawer of documents and a couple of irreplaceable framed photographs....Never again... I hope!

Matt-The pan was wet under my master cylinder and  could't find the leak until I felt under the  brake pedal and the carpet was wet -fluid was.leaking out the back of the cylinder. There are two 13mm bolts holding it. It took me two hours to replace-I ended up jamming a screwdriver into the back of a socket.

The bottom halves of the doors my 2006 Vintage are wavy too-the rest of the body is pretty good and I'm satisfied with the paint so I will leave it be.

Welcome to SOC and good luck with the tub.

Joel

Welcome aboard! I'm in Brimfield about 8 miles northwest of Peoria. Stan and I sort of anchor the SOC presence in the Peoria area so it's great to see someone new in Illinois.

Might as well mark your Calendar now for Corn Daze Trois some time in June here in the middle of the middle and Starved Rock in September. Talk of a James Dean Birthday event across the border in Indiana as well.

There was definitely some tough weather in the area today.  Seems like lots of damage but no one seriously hurt as of this minute.

Thanks for the hint re: the brake fluid leak.  The pan is a 65.  Would I order a 65 master cylinder?

Looking at this motor, how would I be able to tell exactly what it is?  1600, 1776, 1915?

Matt,

Centered just above your gas tank should be a metal plaque (tag) with a Vintage serial number. Kirk will have a record of that build including the engine specs that it was delivered with.

Well, I'll be darn Troy...

I just assumed that every VS was 'adorned' with a handsome 3x4" metal tag centered just above the gas tank...as mine is...which reads:

          VINTAGE

         SPEEDSTERS

      12112 Centralia Rd.

    Hawaiian Gardens, CA

    Serial No.  Date of Mfg.

    11141776    4 27 01

Well, I'll be darn.

I just assumed that every VS is 'adorned with a handsome metal tag centered above the gas tank as mine is...which reads:

        VINTAGE

      SPEEDSTERS

   12112 Centralia Rd.

  Hawaiian Gardens CA

serial no.    date of mfg

11141776     4 27 01

Your guess must be right Troy... Sometime after April 2001 and 2005 Kirk dropped the identification/serial# plaques

Carl:

Mine is purportedly a 2002 and is absent any plaque or other identifier that I have been able to locate. 

I'm beginning to get a real creepy feeling.

Will everyone with a pre April 2001 VS please report as to whether they do or don't have that metallic 3x4" ID plaque?....Thanks

No tag in this one, but the serial number is on the tunnel behind the hand brake.

I emailed VS to try to get some information.  Apparently, without the original owners name. they cannot find anything.

Looking forward to catching up with the Illinois contingent after the spring thaw.

I've a Easter Monday 1999 Model of Kirk's .  Came with a Cali Title and Cali Plates .  If there is a 3" x 4" Plate, I've Missed it totally .  Does have a Winter Jammies Butt Trap Door Flap on Tunnel behind front seat to eyeball the VIN # as mine is a 1968 Frame, no front window ID # like on my 1971 Bug.  Hope this helps, Jim

I have the same setup as you do Jim, for the VIN. 

It's the VIN from the original VW that the pan came from (not serial number) and it is on the tunnel under the flap on all Vintage cars.

anybody in NJ--well ive done nothing but work on my "NEW"  VS since it came 8 days ago from Kirks--runs in the paint-a few chips-spots that were not buffed out enough after removing dirt specs-front rubber grommets around the nerf bars came off-fuel smell from up front-now the rr brake is grunting occasionally while braking---but I love the car and Ill get it all worked out--

Jerry-I am in Woodcliff Lake NJ about 7 miles north of Paramus right off the GS parkway. I have a 2006 Vintage that I bought 2 and 1/2 years ago and have done a lot of work on. If I can be of any assistance my E-mail is drjoelabraham@optonline.net.

Joel

joel--im on lake Hopatcong--

I bought my 2008 Vintage Speedster one year ago and spend two days driving it home from Seattle to Socal.  Temps in WA and OR were in the low 40's ( Yeah, I know not htat cold, but remember I grew up in Socal).  Now I'm prepared, when my wife says she's cold and want the heater on when we go for a drive in the speedster, I hand her the thick fleece blanket that I keep in the car.  Sometimes the old ways are still good.  Congrats on the car, hope you have many safe and enjoyable miles ahead of you.  I did a great motorcycle ride along the southern shore of the upper peninsula of Michigan 5 years ago; it would be a great drive in the speedster.

Pdrvr - your wife will think you are even more awesome if you get her this 12-volt electric blanket. Install a 12-volt charger under your VS dash and plug this in (also use charger for other accessories; phone, map light, etc.)

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Maxs...t-Navy-Blue/10756183

It's all good, my brutha! 

Congratulations, Matt! 

Depending on who built the motor, its size may be written on the front side of the fan shroud near the top.  I also found it faintly written on the block near the base of the alternator stand but it's really hard to see without taking the alternator off.

I haven't had to futz with the brake master cylinder so I'm afraid I can't help you much. That said, the pan's year doesn't necessarily carry over to the year of your brake hardware.  Kirk might be able to tell you which year cylinder you need or you could try taking a photo of it and posting it on this site.  If you do need to replace and bleed the new one, you might have an overall easier time by taking out the gas tank.