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Nice piece, Mickey!
Thought for the day -- why not paint it exactly the same color as your fan shroud, instead of aluminum?
That aluminum paint looks good in theory, but it rubs off on absolutely anything, and you can't clear over it.
Meanwhile, I'm sure your decklid is going to be up fairly often while you're busy showing the new mill off -- and you'd be able to see the column bracket from the same perspective. ... Kinda ties it together that way, maybe?
(Geeez, I sound like TC!)
Yeah TC, I hear ya. ;)

I actually went at it last night for awhile and started cleaning it up. It's aluminum so I may see how it comes up and just polish it all shiney like to match my shifter box.

Wolfgang,
That looks like it makybe some sort of gasket or bsuhing for the steering column where it goes through the firewall.

I can't seem to find a repro or orginal anywhere. I see them on ebay once in a bluemoon but they always go for more than I'm willing to pay. The one I had on there never really fit properly and looked chincy.

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With the world shut down because of 6 inches of snow (frickin sissy-marys) there wasn't much biz so I took advantage and shined up my bling. All that's left for the interior hardware is the ebrake handle ala TC (forum prick).

On that note - is there much to removing that handle? It looks like it's just the c-clip on the pin and undoing one of the cable bolts.

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  • polishedparts
That clamp looks GREAT ! ! ! !

Just loosen the e-brake cables if you can get away with it, don't take the nut(s) all of the way off, OK?

If you're drilling the handle out like mine, be sure to paint the push button and thin shaft that runs the length of the handle as well, 'cause now they show!
I did the push button in ivory and the thin shaft in a vintage green, they look nice and "machinery based."

Oh, and squirt some silver, gray, or black paint down inside the handbrake as well. The holes will expose a little of the interior of the barrel.
Thanks TC. I'll probably start on the ebrake tomorrow. The release button is currently ivory but I was thinking of painting it red to give it that "don't push this button" look. I can always change it back if I don't like it.

Both the bracket and the shifter box both came up to my liking. They both have a slight patina to them. There are little nicks and dings in the the bracket that give it that vintage look and with the shifter box it was hard to get close to the rivets so they look a little tarnished around them.
I've always struggled with trying to get the car to look nice without having it look "new". It's part of the reason I don't mind having Maaco doing the spraying. I can't say for sure because I wasn't around then, but I can't imagine cars had perfect paint jobs (even brand new ones) back in the fifties. And since my car represents a fifties style car I don't want that flawless paint job. Of course that's me though.
Mickey,

If you're thinking of a red "release" type button, maybe a little touch of diagonal yellow and black "caution" striping wouldn't be out of place on the very last inch of the handle. Nothing to garish, maybe do them as transparent stains for a real aged patina-like look.

Image provided to show you what I mean.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/TeamEvil/N-handle-3.jpg


Just maybe.
Okay, Mickey, I've got it. Nothing else on the inside of your car has the real "old" treatment, right?

Pre-heat the "parts oven" to 250.

Take your emergency brake handle out and strip it of everything, drill your race-ready holes in it and bathe all the little pieces in the red type of Brak-Kleen -- not the environmentally friendly, otherwise useless green can. Air them dry with a blower.

Take ya a can of enamel primer, and spray all the pieces with it, twice, gently, and avoiding runs. When you can touch it, about 15 minutes later, put them on a wire rack in the oven for 30 minutes.

Meantime, get ready with your yellow, black, red and white enamel paint (and your painter's tape).

Take your white -- like Ace Hardware aerosol white -- enamel paint. Spray all the little pieces with it after they've cooled. White will act like a base coat, and when you paint the others it'll really bring those colors out. Cook for JUST LONG ENOUGH to begin turning a very light eggshell at the edges.

Allow to cool.

(more)
Evenly heating the pieces in the oven is a tricky business. To avoid having little burnt lines on the white enamel, you'll want to make a bunch of hanger-things out of coat hangers. Use one that isn't painted, and just make hooks out of the ends; hang the pieces off the upper rack of the oven.

Don't wait too long after you see the first piece begin to turn that eggshell color -- this is one of two trips into the oven for the white parts.

After the handle is cool again, take the blue tape and mask off everything more than a hand-span back from the button. Spray what you haven't masked, the part you'll actually grab with your hand, yellow. Let it dry.

Meanwhile, paint all the pieces (that AREN'T the handle itself) red. I'd suggest taking the pivot at the end of the handle apart, and really having a bunch of pieces. It'll look SICK when it's back together.

Take the one-inch tape, and keeping the pattern consistent and the tape one inch from itself, spiral it back to where the rest of the handle is masked. Spray the yellow handle part you can still see through the spiral with black. Let it dry for a minute, but not too long.

Remove all tape. Return all pieces to the oven until the white begins to turn a little off-white, then begin to monitor it all closely. This is not an exact science, but total cook time for the white paint ought to come to about 40 minutes before it'll start to look good.

The white on the parts will turn eggshell when they're done. It's a very antique white, like you've got on your steering column, or like an old ivory. Very nice effect. The yellow and black will harden and look like they should in an old car, but they'll not be discolored.

The enamel red will turn about like oxblood, or like an old Tonka fire truck. It's the perfect color. The stem, now visible through your holes in the handle, will be red under white.

I re-worked an old 1950s Tonka fire truck with Ace white and red for my son Morgan. This was the exact technique, and it hasn't shown a scratch yet. He was four when I did it, and he's 10 now. It looks antiqued, but tough. No rust at all.

Trust me when I say people will look at the rest of your car for a couple minutes, but that brake handle will grab their attention. Short of buying one of Dario's, TC's holes and a cool paint job might be "the thing."

You won't run the risk of boogering it up with clear-coat, either. It's baked enamel. You don't have to clear it at all.

Hmmm? Whaddya say? Just for you, my friend, I create this:

That looks awesome Cory! I like it!

I just got done F'ing up my brake handle though. I think the piston in the drill press has a loose bearing because the bit was floating like crazy. No matter how much I tried I couldn't get it to go through both sides evenly so one side is 'OK' and the other side the holes aren't even close to evenly lined up.

I may just buy another handle and try again. Maybe this time using Cory's technique.
Mickey, for round two, take the new one, clamp it gently in a vise and use a ruler and a pencil down both sides. Use a center punch to mark the spot you intend to drill; the center punch will make enough of a ding in the metal that the bit will bite.
Very important to make the marks on both sides and drill BEFORE painting.
Try this with the one you dorked up. Take a ball-peen hammer and rest the round end in the hole. Take a slightly heavier hammer, and repeatedly tap the flat side of the ball-peen one until you dimple inward the hole you've already drilled.
The resulting concave shape will add strength to the overall handle, and look sweet besides.
Form follows function. Drill both sides according to the marks you make; don't try to drill all the way through and hope to get them even. As you've experienced, patience carries the day.
Good luck, and I really do hope you order another and try it. They're pretty much free, compared to everything else you've done.

I'm off to Kenya tomorrow; see you guys in a week.
Mickey,

If you buy another handle, make sure that it has the short pin on the top side that the handbrake cable cross piece centers on. Lots of used handles are missing the pin and only have a pointed nub left in it's place. This isn't really too good . . .

Check the photos of my handle and you'll see the pin quite clearly. You want a handle with this pin still in place ! ! The chromed aftermarket versions don't have it, you'll have to look on TheSamba for a good used one.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=733507

I'll drill the holes for you if you wanna just have it set to me, when you but it.

FP
It's funny you mention that pin TC. I noticed mine is a little bent and I thought what a MF'r it would be if it broke while straightening it.
I think I may have a solution to the handle screw up, but it'll have to wait until I try it out first. If it works I'll post pics, if it doesn't I'll be sending you a handle in the next few weeks. ;)
Mickey,
It's interesting that you mentioned a "too perfect" paint job.
There has been much discussion on other forums about a "better than original" restoration. It is believed by some, including me, that the original car had many small flaws in both fit and finish.
Most of these cars were hand built. Yeah, they went down an assembly line of some sort. But there weren't any robots on that line.
I'm sure the cars built on Fridays and Mondays were less desirable than those built on Tues. - Thurs.
Plus, once you put a quota on anything the work will reflect.
Putting the originals together was a job, not necessarily a labor of love.
Those "nose hair" spottings on some Vintage paint jobs are probably closer to reality than we think.;)
See. Terry gets it. I don't mind having a paint job that looks like a guy did it on a Monday with a touch of a hangover.
I LOVE to see cars with beautiful paint jobs. For me, with my car, I just want it to reflect it's era. When I tell people that one of the final steps will be paint thety ask who's doing the paint? When I tell them I'm going to have Maaco spray it they look at me like I'm crazy! "It's such a beautiful car! Why are you going to het it painted at Maaco!?" I try to explain but they don't understand.


BTW - Check out the ebrake handle from that Abath on the other thread. Heh heh.

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Hey TC I just emailed the seller on Samba. Can you email me your address again so I can have him ship it to you? I tried a few things and I don't think I'll be satisfied unless it's perfect. (I mean it sits right out there for all to see, especially me!) So I'll be needing it to look all nice and perfect and such like yours. No need for anything but the holes, I'll take care of the rest when I get from you. Thanks, Mickey
Email sent, address given. I'll drill the holes in the same position/same size as the ones on my handle, Easy Peasy.

I think that I might apply a little caution if you're gonna run with Cory's idea. As you said, the e-brake is going to be right out there for all to see, you don't want the thing lookin' like an ol' "Biggie Sized" candy cane that been lodged between the seats . . .
Mickey,

I've been bothered, for some time now, about your steering wheel adapter . . . it's just God-Awful. Even painted "bathroom fixture" cream, it's honestly an anathema compared to the rest of your current interior and what you still have planned for it.

If you ever decide to remove the wheel and adapter, I'd love to try improving it for you. The minimum would be to lathe off those silly groves running around it. Fashion a nice slight taper from wheel to column and leave it in a sweet brushed finish. If your steering wheel has the Momo five hole pattern, I can help out with another style Momo adapter, even trade. Might even be able to pry something out of Bob for you.

Lemme know when you finally get sick and tired of that thing . . .




FOruM PriCK
You're on TC!
I've contacted IM about getting some sort of adapter that looks more original and they couldn't really help because my car is so old. I've looked and looked for something better and concluded to only way to get something proper would be to redo mine or have one made. Neither if which I have the means for. It would be damn near impossible for me $ wise not to mention finding someone to do it.
I'll send you some pics so you can see exactly what it is and we can go from there. I'll pay you or trade you (those old Solexs maybe?) for your work.
I'll have the interior out for paint in a few weeks so maybe then?
Hmmm... TC, I may need similar services. My steering column includes the turn signal/headlight flasher switch, the emergency flasher switch, and the wiper switch, so it'll never look completely original. Even though I've converted most of the other interior stuff to ivory, I plan to leave the steering column black so that it isn't so obvious. However, the cover for the adapter is a black plastic accordian thingy that just doesn't go with my fancy-shmancy custom wheel - see pics.

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Lane,
You can buy a Billet adapter for your wheel. They come in two lengths (I think), I have the deeper one. I used to have the same adapter that you have and I couldn't look at the rubber cover so I got rid of it. I went with the deeper one because I liked the wheel further from the dash.

Check JEGS.

http://www.jegs.com/i/Grant/470/5565/10002/-1
Lane,

Unless you really like the wipers up on the blinker housing, I'd run something more like this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/TeamEvil/smoothhead2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/TeamEvil/smoothhead1.jpg

Essentially a stock blinker switch housing with the wiper switch blocked off, some smallish holes drilled for looks, and a nice tan finish that matches your dash padding color. It's a neat and simple alteration, costs next to nothing, is SO much easier than switching everything over to the EARLY Beetle mechanism, and still looks kinda vintage and unique. The wiring change needed is to simply move the wiper function to a stock Beetle dash switch, Easy Peasy

Rather than use that bright ivory, I'd do the dash knobs in the same gloss tan, and do the steering column and wheel adapter (whichever one you end up with) in gloss black.

I'd probably change the blinker stalk from that flat/squared off modern one, to something more like this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/TeamEvil/steeringhead2.jpg

And paint the stalk the same gloss black as the adapter/column and the knob the tan to key into the dash knobs.

Not a whole lot of work, but enough to create the illusion of an interior that MIGHT have been, you know?

Maybe?


Who knows . . .


Better than sticking with stock mid-70's components, anyway.
Holy Crap TC!!! You got some serious skills!
Personally if it were me and I could change that 70's stock VW turn signal set up to your set up I'd do it in a second! I went through hell and high water to get my turn signal set up changed. Had I known back then that you had the means I'd of had you do it for me instead of spending way more than I care to say to get my current set up.

I have never understood why people keep that set up? Is it there are no other options or is it doesn't bother them? Why spend money on gauges, mirrors, emblems, etc... that reflect a 356 and then go and leave that horrid thing on the steering column?
I mean no offense to anyone who has the above mentioned set up, or anyone who chooses to keep it, it's all personal preference. I just can't seem to "draw the line" I guess.
Unfortunately my wheel is made to match the Nardi 6-bolt pattern, and JEGS doesn't appear to have anything that'll match. TC, I may look into your suggestion but I would also have to rewire the flashers (that's the short switch on the top of the column. I'm not sure where I'd mount other switches on the dash unless I did something like what Mickey did with the two small ones flanking the tach. Hmmm...

I guess I need to provide a picture of what it looks like now with the ivory stuff.
Lane,

Is the just a flat metal "cage" adapter inside of the rubber accordion boot? Flat round tapped plate at the top to mount the wheel and an universal adapter at the bottom to fit the steering shaft, or is there a solid aluminum core underneath?

Obviously, if there's an aluminum core, just lose the rubber and polish that core nice and sweet, if it's the newer "cage" style, I might have a sweet tapered aluminum sleeve that will fit the bill for you. Whenever I come across an interesting piece of aluminum__ an old paint pot from a spray guy, an automobile AC unit dryer, gauge pod, anything at all__

Whenever I see something shinny, I always grab it up and tuck it into a smallish pocketed flap on my . . . no . . . wait . . . that's what horseshoe crabs do, isn't it . . .

ANYWAY, I do have some cool aluminum sleeves here that just may slide right over your steering wheel adapter and look a WHOLE lot cooler than that big 'ol rubber shock boot that's on there now.

Take some close-up pics, lemme know what's under the rubber accordion, give us a peek beneath that short lil' skirt, will ya ? ! ?!
Lane and Mickey,

Even a totally stock VW blinker housing AND that horribly huge and squared up blinker (and or wiper) actuating arm can be made to look pretty neat with some detailing and such.

For my SC Coupe, I'm still deciding on whether to run with a re-sculpted early Beetle housing and blinker with a wooden or re-worked Beetle "bat wing" steering wheel__OR use the housing below with a drilled aluminum spoked steering wheel with interior matched leather wrap. The car will be silver, the interior oxblood red with gray and oatmeal details. Either choice will just sing, so I'm not concerned yet.

I just thought that a peek at the basically stock, but drilled out housing might show how cool a simple Beetle part can look with just a little attention.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/TeamEvil/housing7.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/TeamEvil/housing6.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/TeamEvil/housing5.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/TeamEvil/housing2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/TeamEvil/housing1.jpg
Hey Mickey_

The e-brake handle just got here, a little rustier than the picture made it seem, but just fine. It still has the little pin on top and it's as sturdy as can be!

DO you want it drilled out exactly like mine? When I marked mine for drilling, the pattern and spacing seemed to make the most sense given the contours of the handle. You might want something different . . .

Let me know, OK. When I hear back I'll start right in on it for you.


ForUm PriCK
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