(05-06-2011) Paula's new wheels

Today, Paula got her new wheels installed. Took a while to get them refinished, but I think they turned out pretty good.

(04-12-2011) Wheel refinishing

Spend the evening refinishing a wheel, just to get an idea of how they would look with a polished lip and a gun-metal grey center. Not too bad, but the wheel could have used a bit more sanding before I painted. The finish is a little rougher than I would have liked. The wheel still needs clear applied over the whole wheel (polished lip and the center).

(12-11-2010) The Beetle shows it's colors

Flash and I first put manual locking hubs, brake pads, packed the wheel bearings and flushed the radiator on my truck. Then we replaced the oxygen sensors and did a little seat repair on my GTI. Finally we got the old Beetle started and then we did a little playing with some spray paint on the door. The logo on the car is from Hack a Day, one of my favorite sites on the web.

(11-29-2010) Rear seats in the 911

Finally got the hardware to mount the rear seats today. I couldn't wait to get them installed.

(11-05-2010) Time for a timing belt

Flash and I did a timing belt, water pump and accessory belt job on my car this weekend. It was a chore, but I'm glad it's done. Ready to go for another 100K miles.

(10-18-2010) 914 engine swap

Flash and I worked on swapping the engine in his 914. The engine swap itself took most of a day, but it was a good time and learned a lot about the car in the process. We broke a shift coupler in the process, and so we're waiting on it to arrive from Germany. Hope to see it back on the road soon.

(09-18-2010) 911 Update

The 911 has been down for a while because of charging issues. This weekend it got a new alternator, a new battery, new battery terminals and a bit of a rewire in the battery compartment. I don't have a voltmeter, so I can't tell how well it's working, but so far it seems to be charging just fine.

(08-28-2010) Signal Light wiring complete

Today I wired up the signal light sequencer board and gave it works great. It has a potentiometer to change the amount of time for the red and green lights, and yellow is always 5 seconds. Now that it's all working properly, I can get to work cleaning and restoring the case.

(08-22-2010) Signal Light

I found an old signal light at the swap meet this weekend. I just did some wiring, cleaned the lenses and tested it. It still needs to be really cleaned and painted, but I think it will be cool hanging in the shop.

(05-29-2010) Blondie update

Poor Blondie, after 221,000 miles she needed some attention. Her water flange had broken and needed replacing. An easy job, once you figure out where the coolant is coming from. Time will tell if I got all of the leaks, but I she's ready for another few miles.

(04-17-2010) Josh wins his first race!

Josh won on his first time out. Congratulations, Josh!

(04-28-2010) Virtua Racing update

Last night I spent a few minutes working on the Viruta Racing machine. I adjusted the brake potentiometer on the player 1 side, and now the machine is fully playable without any problems. Now, I want to clean up and restore the machine - but for now it's great to just be able to play the game.

(04-23-2010) WOOT!!! Virtua Racing DUAL!!!

Tonight I finally got the DUAL part working on the Virtua Racing cabinet - before it had been a strictly solo experience. Lots of tweaking to do to fix a few problems, but it's a lot of fun as it is.

(04-03-2010) Josh's car

Flash, Josh and I put graphics on Josh's stock-car. I think it turned out pretty good. Good luck with the racing, Josh.

(03-26-2010) Goose approved!

Goose finally got to try the kart out for the first time. He had a good time, until he bit his tongue while driving. Oh well, live and learn.

(03-24-2010) The Dragon is Loosed!

Today I finished up the kart and even took it for a couple of quick test laps around the house to make sure everything worked. Then I pulled it back inside and put it to bed until The Goose comes to give it a try this weekend.

On other fronts, I've been working on the Virtua Racing machine, trying to get both sides of the game working. So far no luck.

(03-12-2010) It's not finished!!

Goose was none too happy that the kart wasn't finished, as you can tell by the fine Pakistan steel he wielded against me. I was able to manage a stay of execution by promising to finish the kart soon. :)

(03-10-2010) Seat for the blue dragon

Made a seat bottom for the blue dragon last night. I now know why I don't do upholstery work for a living. It's definitely not a great job, but it will work for this old kart. I have the seat back cut and ready to stuff and cover. Soon it will be down to putting the motor back on and having some fun!

(03-08-2010) The Blue Dragon

I made some graphics to the go-kart using the vinyl cutter.

I also go the stuff for the seat today, but just didn't have the time to make that happen.

(03-06-2010) Ol' Yeller becomes Ol' Blue

Saturday I spent sanding and grinding and painting my son's go-kart. It's still a $25 go-kart, but it looks like it could be worth almost $50 now.

I still need to make some new seats and repaint and install the motor. Hope to have it ready for next weekend when The Goose (my son) arrives.