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Hai

1962 Porsche 356

November 27, 2012 in Cars, Hai's Cars

Found my dream project over Thanksgiving weekend. I’ve been searching for a 356 for along time and Saturday morning Josef Murphy sent me a FB message I couldn’t resist. Made the call and looked at it that morning. Got the ok from the wife and it arrived on Monday. My plan is to get in running and figure out the mechanical kinks before the restoration. Spent Tuesday working on the electrical and engine. I was able to get it started and out for a bit. Still need to do a complete carburetor rebuild and timing. More to come.

 

 

Porsche 356 from Hai Truong on Vimeo.


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joemur

Tearing into the top!

July 17, 2011 in '70 Bug Convertible, Cars, Joe's Cars

I finally pulled the trigger and tore into the top.  I’m sick of only driving in fair weather.  I got 2nd place in this year’s Bug-In for the 2nd time, and so the thinking is if I finally finish the top and interior I might get a 1st place next year, and therefore I can acquire a new project!  Luckily I have a portable  A/C unit that I can run in the garage, it’s been in the 90′s with tropical dew-points.

Dissecting the top actually went very fast, with the exception of stopping to take pics at every step.  There is a lot of folds/tacks/ties/measurements that I will need to recreate, and not a lot of information out there for do-it-yourselfers.  I did acquire a CD-ROM that walks through the process, which will hopefully answer any questions that come up when it’s time to reassemble.  The closest thing I can compare the precess to is carving a turkey, with a box-cutter in place of a carving knife.  There are a million rusty staples that break in half instead of pulling out.  The padding is made of some type of horse-hair material that turns to dust when you touch it.  Also the “wood” bows are actually a sad sort of Fiberboard that easily rots away.  Lucky for me it appears the front header bow is the only one that can not be reused.  Other repairs that will need to be done before building it back up are a broken intermediate bow weld, and possibly welding new header bow mounting plates to the front rails.  There is a lot of rust, and depending on how it looks after sand-blasting, it might need new metal, or just a good coat of POR-15.  Next step will be talking to Atom’s sand-blasting contact, and having Atom look at the bad metal and give me advice.  This might be my best chance to learn how to weld.

 

 

 

 


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joemur

July 4th roadtrip

July 6, 2011 in '70 Bug Convertible, General Information, Joe's Cars

Sarah and I used the three-day weekend as the perfect excuse to go on the baby-moon vacation we’ve been waiting for (last chance to get away before baby #2 arrives).  The weatherman gave a favorable forecast, so we even got to take the bug.  The top is still undone, so only a fair-weather car.  We picked Lanesboro as a destination because I’ve heard the Root River valley is a great drive, and Hwy 61 is known to be a good drive.  On the way down we got to see the only covered bridge in MN, over the Zumbro river in Zumbrota.

Just south of Rochester we stumbled upon an awesome cycle shop;  Wheels Unlimited, specializing in Norton/Ducati/Cagiva/Husky.  The shop was closed, but the owners noticed us in the parking lot and let us in to check it out.  What a shop!  The bikes lined up were amazing; a Wankel engined Norton, a John Player model Norton, a Commando, and this Ducati.  Along the wall were tons of dusty NOS Norton parts.  These guys have been there for years, and it should be a destination for any Norton lover.  This shop would make a great destination ride, just make sure to call ahead and verify they will be open.  I get the feeling they keep flexible hours.

Another half hour past the shop we descended into the Root River valley, and got to our lodging, the James Thompson House.  The owner of the house used to have a $125 bug when they were in college, and later commuted 160 miles daily with a 2000 TDI Beetle.  Another guest at the inn told us about his baja-bug he used to drive around the desert when he was based there in the military.

We came back home via Hwy 61, and found a ’61 single cab for sale on the way.  We spent a half hour with the owners, and almost convinced ourselves to buy it.  It had 58K original miles, and period correct 40hp stale-air engine.  There was no rust in the usual spots, just faded paint and deteriorated rubber.  They even fired it up for us, and claimed it was ready to drive wherever it needed to go.  I got home and informed my brother that his dream-bus was found.  He quickly sized up the available space in his garage, and hit the road to go check it out.  I’ll post a follow up if (when) he gets it!

 

 


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Hai

The VW Food Bus Story: Painting

May 27, 2011 in MotorHuggerTV, Volkswagen Bus

This spring’s temperatures have not been very helpful for trying to paint the bus. I needed it to remain at least 60 degrees in my garage for 16 hrs for the clear coat to cure. This last Wednesday and Thursday was decent enough to try to push it through with the help of some heaters. I hooked up the gopro and got most of it filmed. The battery ran out a few times but I got most of it. We got 3 coats of each paint and clear on. Next: painting the roof and assembly.

Painting the Bus from Hai Truong on Vimeo.


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Hai

The VW Food Bus Story: Bondo, Sanding & Priming

April 16, 2011 in Volkswagen Bus

After welding on the new panels, we were on to getting the bus body straight.  We pounded, stretched, and shrunk the metal  as straight as we could, but ultimately we still had a lot of bondo to do. Atom and I spent the end of summer putting on bondo and sanding it off. Not a fun thing to do on hot days. The days were well rewarded with “Beer O’clock” in the afternoon and a “Sun Downer” of whisky to close the day off.

We were hoping to get it done for last fall but things got a little more complicated. My son, Khanh, came 6 weeks early and time spent on the bus dropped to zero for about month. Once Jess and I were on some what of a rhythm, things were back on for the bus one day a week. I realized there was no way it was going to get done in 2010. Our plan was to get the bus at least painted by winter.

We finish the bondo and sanding and setup my garage as a painting booth. The plan was etcher, epoxy primer, high build primer, block sanding, sealer, paint and clear. I spent may days running back and forth to Welle Auto Supply in Columbia Heights. The guys there really know what their doing and are a great help.  Primer went on easy but the block sanding was not fun at all. Finding all the highs and lows took a lot of time and many beers. We finally finished block sanding in December but it got too cold in the garage to paint. We would have to wait until we can hold a temp of 65-70 degrees to paint the bus. So things will have to wait until spring hits. The current status of the bus that its primed and ready for paint. We hoping to have it painted by the end of the April, temperature permitting. Then the kitchen install and inspection.


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