Well, it's been a very busy summer for me, but I finally got around to getting Pearl back on the road.
You may recall that late last Summer I installed a pair of wide-adjustment front ball joint eccentrics that I received from Jack Crosby. Everything installed great, but after you get them in you have to get the front end re-aligned and I simply ran out of time before we bugged out for the Beaufort place. When we got back to New England (sadly, Pearl had to stay in Massachusetts - it's a long story) I decided that 12-year-old tires were probably at the end of their road so they got replaced with a set of new Michelins and THEN I was going to do the alignment.
I made the appointment for a Monday and the day before that my 91-year-old Mom fell and broke her hip, putting all automotive things on the back burner for the past month+ while we did the hospital and rehab dance. She's progressing well, btw.
So, last Monday I had another appointment for an alignment at a place where an old-time (late 1960's thru 1990's) VW mechanic (Paul) now works and got there early - even trailered Pearl over there and had her unloaded by 7:30am. I had talked with Paul before I made the appointment and knew that he knew what needed to be done, and he was even up on caster shims and why I needed them!!
So I took a morning off from "Mom stuff" and dropped off the car, but Paul was out sick that day so the shop owner says: "Well, Tony can do it - He's really good with VW's!"
I go out to meet Tony. He's young. Very young. Like, in his mid-20's.
He has tattoos everywhere.
He has a Mohawk hairdo, with shaved sides.
I wonder if he has ever sat in an early Beetle, much less worked on one.
I am frightened.
I walk over to meet him and he says: "AWESOME CAR, MAN! It's IRS and fiberglass so it must be a replica, so what's underneath??"
THAT gave me some pause, so I replied; 'It's a 1969 Beetle Sedan, Sway bars front and rear, Bilsteins and the rear shock towers are joined and braced.'
"COOL! You running a Kafer Brace?"
'No, it's only got a 2,110. Didn't think I need one.'
"Yeah, cool.....I had to add a Kafer to my 59 sedan, but I'm running a 2332 and a turbo and it kept hopping on hard launches"
Now I'm warming up to him, so I told him what I needed and why, showed him a baggie with a few extra caster shims of two thicknesses and asked if he could align it.
"SURE, Man! How much more caster you want over stock? It's been lowered a lot, so I would add another 2 degrees or more if it were mine. Might even go to Type 3 specs for the rest but you have a type 1 beam with stock spindles, so maybe not. "
Mind you, all this is coming from a guy who wasn't even born when these cars were built. In the end, he had the car for about 3 hours (including two road tests - one for the alignment and another after he re-straightened the steering wheel "to make it perfect for ya!" He told me after he got out the second time that it was "real hard to come back to work with this car. Must be hard for you to put it away, too!"
Sure is...... The alignment was PERFECT. My low speed steering heaviness is gone, she's stable up beyond 80 and finally, FINALLY, my vibration is gone at 65-70, probably due to getting rid of those POS Continental tires for a set of Michelins.
Went back and gave Tony a big tip AND a case of Sam Adams Summer Ale.
I like his Mohawk, too.
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