0011 Christmas in Tasmania

31st December 2019
0011  We drive to Tasmania for Christmas

Sophie & Emily arrive

As were boading our flight home in Perth, literally as we were stepping off the walkway through the door of the plane, Janet's phone rang - And it was a message from son Nick in the Netherlands so she immediately knew the twins had arrived !  Janet walked on into the plane as if on a cloud, and when the flight attendant chased after her to see her boarding pass, I knew he had no hope of succeeding, so I hurried after him to reassure him that she was with me, and that I had a copy of her boarding pass for him !!   Needless to say, Janet didn't sleep a wink all through the night on the way back to Brisbane.

0010 A few days in Perth

18th November 2019
We go to Perth for a few days.

Unfortunately a good friend and work colleague from my Perth days died a while ago in the USA where he recently lived, and his wife arranged a Celebration of his Life in Perth for all his family and West Australian friends.  This was scheduled just before we were due to set of to Tasmania, so was good timing for us, and also provided a good opportunity to catch up with Damien and Meisha and the kids.  So Janet & I flew over there - My first ever flight on Virgin !   A virgin on Virgin, you might say !

0009 The engine comes back

15th December 2019
Lots of things to do before Christmas !

Engine returns

Two days after my heart attack on the 20th October, I got a call from Gary at Conti Motors up near Bribie Island - "Your engine is ready for collection" !  I knew he wanted me to pick it up as soon as possible, so as soon as I could arrange a trailer, I set off up to Gary to pick the engine up and bring it home.  It was just over an hours drive to get there.

Once we had loaded the engine onto the trailer,
Gary told me all the things he had done - Basically it was a new engne.  He had fitted new main bearings to the original crankshaft, new conrods, new pistons, new heads.  There was also a new camshaft that should be slightly better than the standard one, and everything was cleaned up nicely.  He has also tapped a thread into the block so I can fit an oil temperature guage, as being an aircooled engine, it is most important to keep an eye on engine oil temperatures as you have no radiator or water temperature to monitor.

0008 Rear axle & more painting

0008 Rear axle and more painting
17th November 2019
In which Clementine goes for a (small) outing !

Sealing seams

Dirty interior light

Once I had my fine pitch bolts for the LH front steering arms, I got the
LH side back together and finished off the rest of the steering. All the original seams around the car are sealed with old material that after 49 years has gone hard and was crumbling, so I had to chip it out wherever I found it.  New seam sealers are totally different, more like a silicone, and relatively easy to apply with a gun, and this has to be done for all seams, to re-waterproof them, and ensure they will last for another 50 years.  The inside around the footewells was done, as well as the rear wheel arches inside the car where about 4 panels all meet.  Also cleaned up the little interior light which was all rusty, corroded, and filthy, but a couple of hours with WD 40, toothpicks, ear buds, and other similar fine tools soon had it (almost) as good as new.  Hard to buy now, better to recover the original German VW parts wherever possible. Tested it on a battery, and all working properly !

0007 Stuff starts coming back

0007  Stuff starts coming back
31st October 2019
Starting to run out of space !

No sooner had I returned from the hospital than the phone started ringing with people telling me parts were ready for collection !   I had to wait for a couple of days as I was not allowed to drive at first, but I really feel as though I am making progress as new and refurbished parts pile up !  Mick called me from Northside Transmissions to tell me the gearbox was done, Adam called me from Affordable Power Steering to tell me the steering box was done, and Bearing Services called to tell me the new Timken front wheel bearings were in.  Now I just had to collect them, and also continue dropping off some of the other parts like the generator and starter motor.

0006 A slight delay

0006 A slight delay.
22nd October 2019
Giles has a heart attack !

So on Sunday the 19th October, I woke up and felt a little uncomfortable in my chest - Nothing major, just like a bit of indegestion.  As I had enjoyed a few beers and some yummy empanadas with good friends the night before, I put the discomfort down to that, and literally tried to "burp" the feeling out.

0005 Dirty work

0005 Dirty work
19th October 2019
Dirty work start of front suspension

Inside floor getting painted

With the engine gone for a rebuild, it was time to start work on the rest of the car.  I had already been working on the inside, so I continued with that to get it finished, and before long the two under coats of red oxide and 2 top coats of anti-corrosion paint were on, and it looks great.  I did find three small rust holes down in the lower corner of the passenger footwell - It is in the air vent where the heating / cooling circulates on a VW, and often causes

Small rust holes in side of footwell

rust problems due to the heat / cold cycle which can end up causing moisture, which can lead to rust.  But this is relatively simply fixed, and I plan to insert either fish oil or Penetrol (or another similar rust inhibitor) into any hard to get at or hollow places on the car, which will help keep any re-occcurance at bay.  In many of the photos you will also notice a silvery or rust-like line along many of the seams between panels, or notice a crumbling product that looks terrible along these joins.  This is in fact an original joint-sealer compound that is applied to all cars to seal the seams fully, and had just age and is crumbling away.  Thus when I remove it, it leaves an unpainted line along the seam. Once all the rust spots are treated, I will use a modern seam sealer (Sikaflex 227) to re-seal all the joints before painting over the top.

0004 Engine and gearbox go for a rebuild

0004 Engine & gearbox go for a rebuild
6th October 2019
Still so much to do !!

Working on engine in trailer

Having got the engine out last week at CCC, I got the engine-less car trucked home, and then hired a 6x4 trailer to get the engine home.  I originally spoke with Peter Walshe at Custom Vee Dub, and was planning to use him to rebuild the engine.  However, for over a week I have been trying to contact him by phone, and no reply, and he never called me back.  So I started looking elsewhere. One place up on the Sunshine Coast sounded good, but was too busy for several months, so I eventually contacted Gary at Conti Engines near Bribie Island, and he agreed that he could help me.  I had two days to get all the excess panels off the engine before taking it up to Gary, and returning the hire trailer.

0003 Work begins on Clementine

0003  Work begins on Clementine
27th September 2019
So far so good......

Clementine

The last 2 weeks have mostly been spent working on Clementine, with a view to trying to get the engine out and under repair ASAP, stripping out the interior to find out how bad any rust is, and to locate the source of the terrible rotten smell in the car, and to start working out what parts are required to get the car mobile so I can use her.   A lot of time has been spent finding out where the best aircooled VW workshops and parts suppliers are located, and talking to people to learn about what I have here, and what is possible.  2 weeks work - And I am still smiling !!

0002 So we went to China !

0002  So we went to China !
12th - 25th May 2019
It's a BIG country, with a LOT of people !

Our Chinese tour before P2P

I was due to be in Beijing for the start of the 2019 Peking to Paris on the 30th May.    The car had been shipped from Australia to China in March - So after 2 years of work, I had nothing left to do !   Now, I have never really wanted to travel to China - No reason why not other than the fact that there are other places I would rather visit, and I can't afford to go everywhere on this planet.  Nor am I into group tours, but since I had nothing else to do, I looked at possible tours in China, and when I found one from Wendy Wu that finished in Beijing on the 26th May,(most tours seem to start in Beijing and end in Shanghai), it was obviously meant to be.  And it covered the main tourist "attractions" - Yangtse River cruise, and the 3 Gorges Dam,; Pandas; Terracotta Warriors; Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall.  Sounded perfect - So in early May, off we went.

0001 Time to change direction

0001  Time to change direction
6th September 2019
Peking to Paris is over - What next ?

Olivia & Evelyn in Hobart

This blog is not intended to be all about VW's, even though I am going to start by documenting the rebuild of one.  I am now 72, and having been really busy for the past few years, I am now wondering where I am headed over the next 10 years - Or hopefully more !  So this blog is intended to just be a way to document the future, and my thoughts along the way .  We have grand children (currently) in Perth,

Nick & Hayley in Almere

Hobart, and near Amsterdam (+ twins on the way !!), and know that visiting them quite frequently will figure prominently in our travels.  I also have some
                                                        outback trips I would like to do in
                                                        Australia, (Janet doesn't really like

Damien & Poppie in Perth

sand and camping !! )  so I am keeping my 2008 Toyota Landcruiser camper so I can complete them.   I envisage some extensive and exciting drives around Australia, often visiting friends and family en route, some Euro travel to Amsterdam and UK, possibly some classic rallying, and maybe anther trip to Alaska (I love Alaska !!), and one really big trip I would love to do - To Antarctica, but not on a normal cruise ship - but on an ice breaker !  So in 10 years time, I will look back and see whether I managed to do any of it !     But lets go back to the present.