Alex's 63

Alex bought the 63 , after speaking to us , we told him what a top car , with plenty of potential it is .

He bought the 63 in for Randy to have a look at a few areas , including putting the car back from solid mounts to CB Rhino mounts , remounting the oil cooler , fitting new oil lines and a thermostat , sorting out the tatty tinware and rusty mild steel exhaust , plus general tracking and setting up of the car , plus a few other areas that required attention .

The main reason Alex's car came in , was to rectify problems with the oil lines . A couple of them were Jubilee clipped on , and one of them ran right across the exhaust header , touching it for about 2" .

Alex's 63

This is how the engine looked when we took it out , the tinware had been sprayed satin black , but the origional cad plate had not been keyed up , so the satin black was flaking off everywhere .

Alex's 63

The gearbox , a full tilt Transwest box , had been solidly mounted to the car . I have tried this on a few club cars , and it causes lots of problems if the car gets driven regularly and over long distances , as many of the club cars do . the tinware tends to crack from vibration , along with other problems . So we refitted the gearbox with CB Rhino poly mounts , I have been using these on club cars with much success .

Alex's 63

Alex's 63

Also , although the car had been solid mounted , it only had a nosecone solid mount , a surefire way to break the nosecone of the gearbox . Randy fitted an intermediate mount , this will have the rubber blocks replaced with polyurethane blocks , that I am having made in the same sure-hardness as the CB Rhino mounts .

Alex's 63

This is what vibration does to aftermarket fan housings , this is not the first time I have seen this either . When we lifted the fan housing off the engine block , the air directing vanes were laying on top of the barrels and cylinder heads , not good .

Alex's 63

To stop the aftermarket fan housings falling to pieces , we carry out some strengthening procedures . Randy adds spot welds to the poorly spot welded in vanes from the back side of the fan housing . He also extra spot weld the outside rear joining edge , as I have seen this come unwelded in extreme situations .

Alex's 63

More reinforcing welding .

Alex's 63

We weld the 2 dog house ducts in place , so the go on all i one go with the fan housing . This rectifies the bad fit of the pattern pieces , an guarantees the hot air from the cooler doesn't get sucked back into the fan . Randy carried out this work on the fan-housing .

Alex's 63

The inside of the fan-housing , also gets welding reinforcement where the vanes can break away . When the fan housing has been powder-coated , we Sikaflex ( a structural poly sealer ) the outside edges of the vanes to the front side of the fan housing ( the side you see ) . We Sikaflex the front side , as distortion with welding is a problem on the front side . You don't really see the rear of the fan housing , and with the cooler scoop and doghouse pieces , it has more structure to handle the welding without too much distortion . The front on the other hand tends to warp very easily when welded , being a large sheet of pretty thin steel , so the Sikaflex secures the vanes with no distortion . This was one of the Late Great Mark Herberts ideas .

Alex's 63

More welding reinforcement .

Alex's 63

Randy replaced the old fuel line , which had been crushed in a few places , with a new one .

Alex's 63

Oil cooler , with spacer rods that I have made , ready to fit . Note the anti-vibration rubber blocks have been used .

Alex's 63

The gauge and MSD wiring had been just draped across the gearbox , running very near the exhaust . I ran it though some protective conduit and secured it to the boot floor .

Alex's 63

The oil cooler had previously been screwed to the luggage floor with self tapper screws , bending the cooler in the process . So Randy remounted it , on the aluminium spacer rods that I have made . He also used the rubber anti vibration blocks , as they weren't fitted the first time . The spacer rods will allow more air circulation , well more than it being screwed up hard against the boot floor anyway .

Alex's 63

Randy gave the engine bay the once over , removing the tar board tags , and giving it a fresh coat of satin black , as it was getting a bit faded and scratched . He also fitted a VW Speedshop breather tube , that Keith our polisher had done his magic on . The car had previously run a cheapo BugPack breather box .

Alex's 63

Keith , our polishing man , gave the manifolds the once over .

Alex 63

I got Keith , our metal polisher to give the super shine treatment to one of VW Speedshop 1 3/4" headers , it looks luurvly .

Alex's 63

Alex's 63

I had to rectify a few problems with the engine . The engine runs CB Street Eliminator heads , in 44x37.5 valve size . These have the exhaust valve moved over slightly , so in order to get the rocker arm in the correct place on the lash cap , it is required to turn the rocker shaft end-cap the other way around , to allow the rocker arm to be shimmed much further over . I did this , here is a pic of how one was before correction ( the others were like this )

Alex's 63

Another thing I rectified was the incorrect fitment of the oil filler neck baffle .

Alex's 63

Ready to go in . We had the manifolds polished , to finish the look of the engine . The freshly powdercoated tinware looks a great improvement too .

Alex's 63

The car had been fitted with a Kennedy Stage2 pressure plate , and an RLR Black Magic disc , a surefire gearbox wrecker , so I replaced it with a new Daiken Heavy duty disc .

Alex's 63

Alex's 63

All fitted , just a bit more to do , then fire her up .

A Photo For St Patrick's Day

Neal Anderson , last year ,photo taken in Port Stewart , with his Oval Rag-top . He took the car back to his homeland for his Sisters wedding , and to take some of his buddies from home out for a blast .

Large's 66

Nearly time for Wop Wop !

Large's 66

Large's 66

Large's 66

Large's 66

Large's 66

Large's 66

Large's 66

Large's 66

Large's 66

Large's 66

Large's 66

Large's 66

Pete's 66 getting there...

Don't worry not all of the club cars are being sold off! Pete's 66 is back from the trimmers and ready to be finished off. A quick spy shot... and what's this no chrome trim and one piece windows!!! Can't be a cal look car in the Greenhearts surely!

Another JG54 car SOLD!

Max's 64 2110cc IDA Kab also sold a few weeks ago. We hear that another car is waiting in the wings to replace the space in Max's garage. Looking forward to it.

The GT Cruiser has gone...

Last night Tim's 63 was driven off into the sunset by it's new owner... a sad day indeed. Some great memories attached to that car!