The Family at Arctic Circle Cruise Night

Well, I was looking at JC Hackitts web site and found this picture at the Arctic Circle cruise night last month.

If you look real close in the background you can see the whole family. I think we all just finished eating ice cream cones at the time. Dixie looks really interested in something. I promised the boys we would take the bug to a cruise night when it was up and running. Maybe next thursday we will go.

Camping and the Bug

As most people know, our Family loves to camp. I have come up with a way to go camping and enjoy the bug. It saves money on gas to boot. I just need to find one of these trailers and we will be all set.

Well, School is about out for the boys and I see a long summer with lots of potential. Hopefully work doesn't go crazy so we will have some weekends to go camping. It may not be in the bug but I am sure it will be fun. Dixie is dying to go to Yellowstone and with any luck we will make it there this year.

We drove up to Magna and got some pictures overlooking the valley. The only thing that would make it better is if there was a sunrise.

The bug has bugs on it!

Well, its been awhile since we posted. The bugs been running good and has been a great car to go back and forth from work in. It has bugs all over its windshield! Its getting 28.7 miles to the gallon and I am hoping it will go up. I just need to quit hot rodding it around. It goes good on the freeway and has lots of pep. It is hard to get a jack underneath it. This picture shows the dilemma.
I have to drive it up on some 2x4's and then lift the front some more to get the jack under it. Now that the front end is done we shouldn't have to jack it up much. Here is a picture of the inside.

It is pretty much stock and has an older radio with one speaker behind the dash. It plays good and seems to fit the bug so I will keep it. I have never been one to spend money upgrading a stereo.
Here is the engine and the new distributor and carb that we rebuilt.


We need to spend a Saturday and install a engine seal and do some cleaning to it. The next upgrades the bug will get is an exhaust system (so it won't sound like a stock bug) and new bumpers. The bumpers on it now are really rusted and look bad.
That will be down the road because there are other more important things to spend money on at the moment. If you see us on the rode give us a honk.

Legal for the year.

Well, It seems like it was a long time coming but the bug is legal and on the road. Today I took it down to Russ' Alignment and had the front end aligned. They did an excellent job and did it fast. I highly recommend this shop if you need an alignment. I used to go exclusively to Val's alignment. The reason I took the bug to Russ' is because they can align lowered bugs and do it regularly. Come to find out Russ and Val used to be partners. No wonder I liked them.

I had the safety and emissions done also. I was worried about the emissions test but it passed with flying colors. So, it has new plates and can now be seen on the street. Watch Out!



We went for a quick spin tonight and ended up at The Great Salt Lake. It was fun and it drove great. Dixie commented about it being bumpy. I finally told the family that it may be to low because after I filled it with gas I couldn't get the jack under it. I had to drive on some 2X4's to be able to get the jack under it. Oh well, it looks good.

Sitting Pretty

Well today we lowered the back of the bug and its now sitting perfect. Here it is before. (Well before the back was lowered but after the front was lowered.)



And here it is now. This is the final adjustment, so it is where it will stay.



I have to give credit to Dixie, She has been a real trooper through all this. I still can't believe she hasn't called me an idiot for going through all this trouble just to lower the bug. We had a brake light problem that I had to get her to run out every half hour to see if they were working. They are working now and its running good. It even has enough power to burn out with!


Here is the proof. Ha Ha,

Dixie drove it for the first time and didn't seem to mind it. She did hit the dip in the round about kinda fast, so we went bouncing over it. Now its time to get it aligned and then Safety and Emission tested and then we will see if it makes a good commuter car.

On the ground and running.

The bug is on the ground and running pretty good. I was hoping it would be a little bit lower in the front and we still need to lower it a bit in the back but it will do for now. Heres how it looks right now.





Heres all the front suspension installed in the car and the brakes also.







Dixie got a sore leg because we had to bleed the brakes. It took lots of brake pumping because all the lines and wheel cylinders are new. It stops a lot better now with the new front brakes. Someday we will have to put new ones on the back.



Last weekend I got the stomach flu so I didn't get anything done on the bug but this week, I was able to get the engine running great. I finally tore off the carb and rebuilt it. The inside of the float bowl looked like the it had sat in the bottom of the ocean for years. It took lots of soaking and scrubbing with some strong carb cleaner to clean it out. I wish I would of taken some pictures but I didn't. It idles great now and runs awesome. The Family loaded up in it tonight and we took it for a spin around the neighborhood. We got it up to 60 and we didn't get the death wobble like we had before. If I can get the time this weekend we are going to install the other running board, the front shocks, lower the back end, put the front bumper back on for safety inspection, and fine tune the engine so it will hopefully pass emission testing. The rush is on to get it done before gas prices get to much higher. Here is a before and after picture.

Clean, Clean and more Clean!

Well we are at the point where we are cleaning and painting all the components like brakes, spindles and other parts. This is the part that I really hate. I am not into the small details, I like doing the bigger jobs. I have to admit that it does make everything funner to install and it makes everything look so good, but talk about BORING! When I was building my nova right after I got home from my mission, My friend Vance did all that work for me. I would tell him its good and he would laugh then spend another couple hours cleaning and painting. I miss that because I just can't talk Dixie into doing it for me. Oh well, the boys seem to like it so we will keep at it. Here are some of the latest pictures.






If there are any Volkswagen guys following this blog you probably laughed at the way I installed my sway bar. Yes the clamps are upside down. You will be glad to know I did fix them and put them on right. If anyone asks me, my story is that that helps them go on easier if you install them upside down first. Maybe I will start a new trend. Ha Ha






Last thing for today is a little bragging about my garage. I have rearranged it and I have to say, I really love it. I have different work stations depending on what I am doing, and for some reason, I have lots of room even with the kids bikes and scooters. I have added an island in part of it. I like being able to get around all 4 sides of it and I end up doing most my work there. I have been using my solvent tank and it has worked like a charm. I think Dixie is going to move the couch out to the garage to spend some quality time with me and the boys.