Tonights modifications / jobs list:

First wash and a quick polish.

Double nuts on the exhaust mounting and the exhaust clamps. To save my hands when detailing. Those exposed threads are hard on the hands !!

Painted the steering rack inner track control arms with some black paint. The original matt black finish is very light, the threads were already starting to rust.

Installed the tyre sealant etc. bag beside the battery, held in place with a cable tie.

I was going to put copper-grease on them
but maybe painting them is a better idea

I didn't paint the air-filter-cover and am happy about it
would look to much west-african-style

You two where are the

I find the picture loading thing a bit difficult on this site, but I will have a go when I get a minute. Too busy driving and fetteling my M3W right now !! The weather is pretty good just now.

Following your progress with interest. I'm not sure what paint you are using, but on my 4/4 I have used Humbrol Acrylic which comes in gloss, matt and satin black. It is very easy to apply and seems to last really well. I painted my bumper mounts 2 or 3 years ago and they still look fresh.

Bud

I use www.photobucket.com it is free to use, just upload pics from your PC to the website then just copy/paste the premade [IMG] link(s) into your post on the forums!

The paint I used was gloss black Hammerite, it's all I had to hand last night. If thinned a little bit it brushes nicely, I use it for lots of small parts.

Tonights project:

I took some time and carefully set the rear wheel allignment and I now have the drive belt running completely on the pulley. It's right on the edge of the pulley and I still have a small gap between the belt and the tyre (about 2mm). It's fairly easy to do, just slacken the axle and set with the adjusting bolts. Initially I set it exactly even with a vernier as I would on a motorcycle, but the belt was (only just) touching the tyre. I had to set the right side adjustment about 1mm longer. Before I started the belt was running 5mm off the edge of the pulley.

Spanner check on all the fastners, to make sure nothing has slackened off, these machines do vibrate a bit. A note of interest here, there is a mix of metric and imperial fastners (unc & unf) on these cars. Care is needed to use the correct size of spanners.


I have ordered up some M3 threaded inserts and M3 button headed stainless allen bolts. These are to replace the black wood screws
used to secure the rear wheel cover. These will be a more elegant solution. This cover will have to be removed on a regular basis to clean around the rear wheel area.

Great postings, Ivanford, very detailed and interesting.

I thought about this the other night when I had the cover off, I'd be interested to see how it works. I would have thought this was a better long term fix.

Ah, another proper name time.

The body style is known as 'beetle back' and the hinged panel that covers the rear wheel area is called, ta da, the beetle.

In vintage terms, by far the hardest panel to make.