Shaping 550 Fenders...

@Panhandle Bob - got that covered! I have blue gloves from Autodromo...should be all set!

I have color-matching Latex anti-Covid gloves that I got from Harbor Freight.

For Lane's coupé I have a different box of slightly darker ones I got at Tractor Supply.

It pays to shop around, I guess.

Hey, where’s the Robert update??

He's of somewhere enjoying Anand's car.

@John Schneeman posted:

Hey, where’s the Robert update??

I started a separate thread “The Road to Bremen” to chronicle the collection and return of Anand’s car from Indiana to Fresno. I delivered the car to Anand after I took it to the Highway Patrol for a VIN verification. Upon delivery we sequestered the car in his air conditioned garage because we’ve been experiencing 105-110 degree days here and it doesn’t matter how low the humidity is, it’s hot. Teby filmed the unloading etc and will likely post a short film after the first drive but that won’t happen until it gets to be more comfortable for that first drive. Until then @arajani is enjoying the visual and physical sensuality of the Spyder in his garage. I don’t want to take away Anand’s thunder when it comes to showing off the finest details of this beautiful car so I’ll let him take up that charge. Much like he’s already been doing but now he will control the narrative  

Stay tuned my friends, there will be more. 

Oh yeah....there’s that. (ie. the heat wave)

.....not at all what AZ went through that one year, right @Cory McCloskey? 

@John Schneeman: Sorry for the delay!

As Robert mentioned, the car made it here safely late last week, thanks to @Robert M and his superb driving. What a friend — I have no way to express my gratitude for what he did for me. I’ll keep trying to find a way. 

As for the car, it was a turbulent start. The Texas plate on the car before restoration read “CURSED.” Unfortunately, there has been some truth to that. It took Carey and I over a year just to get the rear engine lid, and encountered every possible hurdle along the way: Broken tank straps, master cylinders that wouldn’t fit, shift rods that wouldn’t work, a seized transmission, two blown generators, rubbing tires, missing J pipes, wobbly wheels, rats nest wiring, etc. 

@Former Member and I decided to make a run in our cars on Sunday morning. We got together at 7:30 am in front of my house (video to follow). Teby brought sage and burned it — he spread the smoke all over the car, so as to dispel any badness! We set off. Not more than a mile down the road, the car lost power acutely. 

Teby being the kind hearted soul that he is helped me push the car to the side of the road (next to my buddy CJ Wilson’s Porsche and BMW stores). @Troy Sloan came to provide sage advice and support. The engine turned over and battery power was good, and there was clearly fuel in the filler. This left us to investigate spark. We found there was no spark and imagined this was an ignition issue, but could not find any obvious fault. The car was towed back to my place thanks to Teby (he has AAA, which I now need!). 

Upon arrival at my place, I found a piece of the trigger wheel on the belly pan and realized what had happened: the hidden trigger wheel I asked Pat Downs to attach to the back side of my 6” Porsche pulley had come loose and broke into pieces. Troy began asking about WHY I had a crank trigger (because a Carrera shroud blocks the dizzy), and how original 4 cam cars were timed (hence the photo of me schooling him with my model)!

Pat being the gentleman that he is has offered to fix it. We won’t need to pull the motor, but it will be a job. Robert will take him the car this weekend and we’ll get it sorted. After that, my friend Hans Huber will change the torsion bars to these HD ones — with the hopes that we can raise the car slightly in the front  (terrible rubbing with the left front wheel thanks to an offset beam). I think my link pin front end is feeling a bit sloppy, so that might require a rebuild too.

It has not been a gratifying first week of ownership, but as @Stan Galat has said, these cars need us and need to be cared for. That’s part of ownership with vintage air cooled cars. While I am quite simple minded about the approach to the inner-workings of these cars, I am happy to continue learning, as long as I get to surround myself with these high quality people who tolerate me as their friend. 

@arajani posted:

I am quite simple minded about the approach to the inner-workings of these cars, 

Malarkey.

You're one of the least "simple minded" people I know. You'll get this sorted. 

Damn! That's crazy. Did the piece that flew off do any damage to the engine compartment or anything else around it as it let go?

Beautiful car! You should be really pleased with the outcome.

Ted

@Stan Galat — I’ve got a long way to go! Being in medicine and caring for critically ill babies, the mantra is: “Primum no nocere.” This results in people being overly-cautious with everything — those who are overconfident are scolded and seen as dangerous. That is in contradistinction to working on your car: experiment and see what happens. If you break it, you can have someone else fix it. 

I still cannot totally break free from my medical mentality. I am also incredibly OCD, so the tough of damaging something is unthinkable. I’m learning to get over it with the help of @Robert M and @Pat Downs.

@TRP - no real damage — just a couple of scuffs on the firewall! Not great, but better than engine damage!

They call that patina!!

@arajani just think of your car being in the neonatal stage and that it has all the surfactants it needs and you should be fine  

You'll get past this quickly, Anand. I used Mario Vellata's(thedubshop) wheel(for Bernie Bergmann shroud) and hidden VR sensor, is that what you have? 

I ended up tapping the trigger wheel with 10-32(or maybe 5 mm metric, don't remember) and running hex-head bolts through the aluminum pulley. My pulley is from JayCee, dry sump size of 5". They are secured with both lock-washers and blue Loctite. I'm hoping that's enough. Maybe I should use red, and you should too.

@arajani you are exactly the kind of physician parents are grateful for. In my experience, these sorting out problems are short lived, while being frustrating. To my great dismay, I have had to be towed home twice during the last 6 months. The problems were found and solved. Yours will be too! Thanks for sharing your adventure with us.

Mike

Funny, Mike. Why do think I bought a truck and enclosed trailer. Nobody needs to know if, why, or when it gets used........

@Michael Pickett — thanks for the kind words of encouragement! We will get it sorted — I’ll post more photos as we go along! 

“...Primum no nocere...”

Thanks for reminding us about that, @arajani .

I'm printing that out in 40-point type and taping it to my tool chest.

I feel for you, @arajani. Sympathy and empathy.

Also trying to work out how a crank trigger wheel could break like that, given that nothing even touches it in normal operation. 

Ain't sorting fun?

@Sacto Mitch - not a bad idea!

@IaM-Ray - nice one! 

@DannyP - yep! The trigger wheel was from Mario. Just need to find a better way to secure it! Sounds like your method works-I’ll let Pat know!

@edsnova - oh yeah. What a ball! What’s worse: I’m working 80 hrs a week and it is 111 outside. So working on the car myself is a no-go. I wish I had more time and ability to sort this stuff and the ability to achieve instant results. If that happened, I’d be happy!

@Robert M and @Former Member came over to get my Spyder out of the garage on Friday. The problem was, we had plans to re-do our driveway and front yard. Our concrete guy had an opening, so he came over early. Timing wasn’t ideal — there was no way to get Robert’s trailer backed up over the dirt (and trench) in front of my garage. So at home it will stay until the new driveway is poured.

In the meantime, I had my buddy Ben Mastro come over. He did some SERIOUS paint correction to my car and got rid of nearly every last tiny scratch under my harsh LED lights. Glasurit paint has this issue — it is super soft and not ideal when it comes to scratches (my 64 slate grey coupe was also shot in Glasurit and had the same issue). 

I also polished my steering wheel, emblems, the gauges, plexiglass and the latch covers with my Adam’s Micro Swirl killer. OCD therapy for my soul.

Once the driveway is all set and dry, we will push the spyder out and get it to Pat Downs. From there, I’ll adjust the suspension and also re-wire the car. 

Nice polishing tool. Looks like it really cleans things up!

What product did you use on that polisher?

@IaM-Ray: on the metal, I used Adam’s 2 step metal polish. It is a liquid and does not cake up like Mother’s does. These pictures were after the first step only! For the paint, we used a Rupes 1.5 inch yellow pad for cutting with Katana (from Auto Envy — a local detail shop in Fresno). We then used a Rupes White pad with Radiant (also from Auto Envy) — it is a really fine jeweler’s polish. I sometimes will make multiple passes and dilute it with distilled water to bring out more and more shine. 

At least you aren't obsessed Anand.

@Panhandle Bob: I go into my garage every night to see the car because I am still in disbelief. @chines1 created an amazing example. Now if only it was drivable...

I totally understand this attention to detail and the desire to “get a world away from work”, although I was always one to go for mechanical fabs or building things rather than detailing paint.  OCDedness and patience are sometimes mutually exclusive, at least in me.

The car is looking terrific, Anand.   Can’t wait to see photos of your SEG once you’re out on the road with it.

Anand, you DO understand that if you drive this car on public roads, the tire treads are going to get pretty dirty, right?

This is a consequence of thoughtless drivers who refuse to wash their tires after every drive. It's not like in Marin County, where there are fines for driving with dirty tires.

You may want to look into keeping two sets of tires - one for driving and one for display in the garage. Mounting both sets on Rudge knockoffs would make switching back and forth a lot easier.

I think there was an article about this in Excellence last month.

@Sacto Mitch: I actually DO have an extra set of tires. LOL. The cleaning is fun since I can’t drive it — but I’m ok with the tire thing. I’ve got ways to clean them 

@Gordon Nichols: here’s the only SEG photo—my first run with @Former Member — minutes before the trigger wheel died. 

Sorry Anand, I couldn't resist.

I've been kind of obsessive about the Speedster, too, even though it isn't a tenth as nice as that jewel of yours. I finally did relax a little after the first half dozen paint chips made me realize it's a losing battle trying to keep it 'perfect'.

Seven years later, it's no longer new, but it still draws the same kind of attention.

Coming back from a drive with my wife this morning, stopped for gas, a woman asked us if she could photograph the car. "That has always been my dream car," she said.

Driving off, I said to my wife, "I never thought we'd ever be driving someone else's dream car."

She smiled a little sheepishly.

"It's my dream car, too."

Can’t wait to hear the sound!

@arajani, great picture of you and your car. Your smile makes it all the better!

@arajani posted:

@John Schneeman: Sorry for the delay!

As Robert mentioned, the car made it here safely late last week, thanks to @Robert M and his superb driving. What a friend — I have no way to express my gratitude for what he did for me. I’ll keep trying to find a way. 

As for the car, it was a turbulent start. The Texas plate on the car before restoration read “CURSED.” Unfortunately, there has been some truth to that. It took Carey and I over a year just to get the rear engine lid, and encountered every possible hurdle along the way: Broken tank straps, master cylinders that wouldn’t fit, shift rods that wouldn’t work, a seized transmission, two blown generators, rubbing tires, missing J pipes, wobbly wheels, rats nest wiring, etc. 

@Former Member and I decided to make a run in our cars on Sunday morning. We got together at 7:30 am in front of my house (video to follow). Teby brought sage and burned it — he spread the smoke all over the car, so as to dispel any badness! We set off. Not more than a mile down the road, the car lost power acutely. 

Teby being the kind hearted soul that he is helped me push the car to the side of the road (next to my buddy CJ Wilson’s Porsche and BMW stores). @Troy Sloan came to provide sage advice and support. The engine turned over and battery power was good, and there was clearly fuel in the filler. This left us to investigate spark. We found there was no spark and imagined this was an ignition issue, but could not find any obvious fault. The car was towed back to my place thanks to Teby (he has AAA, which I now need!). 

Upon arrival at my place, I found a piece of the trigger wheel on the belly pan and realized what had happened: the hidden trigger wheel I asked Pat Downs to attach to the back side of my 6” Porsche pulley had come loose and broke into pieces. Troy began asking about WHY I had a crank trigger (because a Carrera shroud blocks the dizzy), and how original 4 cam cars were timed (hence the photo of me schooling him with my model)!

Pat being the gentleman that he is has offered to fix it. We won’t need to pull the motor, but it will be a job. Robert will take him the car this weekend and we’ll get it sorted. After that, my friend Hans Huber will change the torsion bars to these HD ones — with the hopes that we can raise the car slightly in the front  (terrible rubbing with the left front wheel thanks to an offset beam). I think my link pin front end is feeling a bit sloppy, so that might require a rebuild too.

It has not been a gratifying first week of ownership, but as @Stan Galat has said, these cars need us and need to be cared for. That’s part of ownership with vintage air cooled cars. While I am quite simple minded about the approach to the inner-workings of these cars, I am happy to continue learning, as long as I get to surround myself with these high quality people who tolerate me as their friend. 

It was the sage smoke "blessing" that caused the problem! 

Actually, your smile says it all!  What a beautiful ride she is! 

@arajani you fit in the car very well!

@arajani you need a Hollywood Sports Cars license plate frame for that bad boy.  

@arajani posted:

@Sacto Mitch: I actually DO have an extra set of tires. LOL. The cleaning is fun since I can’t drive it — but I’m ok with the tire thing. I’ve got ways to clean them 

@Gordon Nichols: here’s the only SEG photo—my first run with @Former Member — minutes before the trigger wheel died. 

I had no idea my son’s battery operated 550 Spyder was the same size as the original dimensioned 550’s. 

Hoovies Garage (Tyler Hoover) on YouTube just took delivery of a brand new Beck Spyder roller that they’ll be installing a Subaru Impreza engine in.  Should be interesting to follow as he is calling it “The Most Beautiful Car in the World”:  https://youtu.be/efsLdAGe0cc

Last night was super fun. @Pat Downs and @Former Member came over and took the crank pulley off of my car, which was great. We put the car in first gear, put the parking brake on, foot on the brake and a 2x4 behind the rear wheels. Teby held the pulley with a big screwdriver (poor man’s breaker bar) and Pat loosened it. These guys are incredible. @Robert M was sorely missed — he was with us in spirit (the poor guy finally got a weekend off, so he went to Paso Robles for the weekend!). 

Luckily, the old trigger wheel left an imprint in the back of the crank pulley, so Pat knows exactly where the missing tooth should go. That ought to make finding TDC a bit easier when Pat has to affix the new trigger wheel. 

Once we get the trigger wheel sorted out, I’m going to raise the front end. My wheels are rubbing.

Pat found a fella who will make some custom raised spindles (1”) which I’ll use. I want to get my wheel spaced out so that it looks like this.

Thanks for the post @arajani, but the first two pictures didn't show up.

@Stan Galat — should be updated now!