On the road but just not as cool.

So I was able to get Ed the bug back on the road. He isn't as low as he was, but he is low enough for now. I am planning on saving up my money and buying or making a narrowed adjustable beam. I wanted to get Ed going before the summers gone so I fixed a beam a friend gave me and I opted to save money and not install adjusters into this beam. It will work for now though. The beam needed some love. The tops of the shock towers were rusted out so I grafted in the tops of Eds bent beam. I figured it was good to have part of Eds beam installed on this new beam. Here's how it worked out in pictures. Here are both the beams on my toolbox. I have already cut out the donor pieces from eds old beam in this picture.

Here you can see the rust issues the new beam had. I looked at a lot of different ways to fix it and decided my best option was to remove the section I have marked out and weld in a new piece.

I used a cut off wheel and then cleaned it up with a rotary file. It turned out great.

Here is the new beam cut, fitted and ready to weld.

Here is the piece I am grafting in. It fit well. I cleaned it up a little more and beveled the edges so the weld would penetrate well.

 I talked my buddy into welding it for me again. He's always willing to help as long as I buy him lunch. That's a cheap price to pay for good welds.

I stripped the new beam and prepped it for paint. I wanted to powder coat it but didn't want to deal with the mess of any left over grease in the beam when I heated it up to 400 degrees.

Here is a shot of the beam with the new metal grafted in and painted. It works great. I could of grinded down the welds so everything was smooth but I think welds are like scars. They add character and show how things have gone in your life.

 Here is the beam with 2 coats of primer on it.

 Here is the finished product in satin black. I think it turned out really nice. I kinda wish I would of put in adjusters now though. Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20.

I rushed to get the beam installed so I forgot to take any pictures. All I can say is it was pretty hot. Ellie can prove that by her Popsicle. She was there with me a lot of the time.

 So now this is how it sits. I cruised it down to Russ' alignment. Russ' alignment is the best in the valley. I wouldn't think about taking any of my cars anywhere else.

So all the cars are up and running and there is still some time this summer for relaxing. OK maybe not, Dixie has mowed the grass for the last 3 weeks so I guess I need to take over that job again. Anyways, if you see Ed on the road anytime soon, give a honk and wave. Until next post, keep cool for the rest of the summer.