Build: Zippy the Wonderbug

[Maddel]

An historic event has occurred. Sound the horns!

Fantastic - Zippy's engine sounds great!

Now for the Horns...

[schwim]

[Super_Randy]

ok, so the pans functional. when's the body and interior going to match?

[schwim]

ok, so the pans functional. when's the body and interior going to match?

Functional, hopefully not too long. Virginia allows "antique" tags which don't require vehicle inspection. It's intended for cars that only drive rarely, like Sunday drives or to car shows. I'm going to do the welding along the pan mating surface like heater channels, front cross panel and lower rear arches then I'm going to smush him back together and tag him. If I can do that without anyone inspecting him, I'm just going to start driving him and I'll do small jobs on him when time permits.

I just don't have the time to restore him and don't know when I'll ever be able to due to all the real life shit I'm having to do to make the apartment for the kids legal. There's an end in sight, I just don't know when it will happen. Then when that's done, there's all the stuff that we wanted to fix on the property even before we knew about the issue with the apartment. I've decided I'd rather drive Zippy now in any condition rather than wait for the Utopian time line required to restore him and drive him. Literally, the only panel on Zippy that isn't rotten or crunched is the roof. Absolutely every other piece would require restoration or replacement and I don't have it in me to do all of that before I get to drive him.

[Maddel]

That is incredibly fantastic!
Congrats to this milestone.

[schwim]

That is incredibly fantastic!
Congrats to this milestone.

Thank you sir, I'm over the moon about it. It was the high point of recent years.

I found during the drive that really the only thing that needs tending to the pan assembly is the gas pedal assmbly. All of the important parts are worn to the point of causing it to bind. I did a little tinkering with it but the issue spans like 5 parts so it would require some non-replaceable parts to fix. The guys on the Samba pointed me to an aftermarket solution made by one of the members and I've got that coming. Once that's installed, I'll try it again and see if anything else needs tending to before the big sandwich.

Once I'm ready to do that, I'm going to make the front and rear aprons removable as it will make everything so much easier to work on. Both the front and back have been hit and are beyond repair so I don't feel bad about cutting up good metal to do it. That will allow me to pull it in, work on a bit, bolt it back together and still have a whole car and not just parts strewn across the property.

Speaking of parts strewn across the property. I went to grab the 5 mil fuel line from where I stashed a ton of the parts in an old kids play house located on the property. I was run off by hundreds of European hornets so had to spend the day evicting them. This bad boy was left under my rear seat cushion after the battle.

[Super_Randy]

kill it with fire!!!

you could just buy this, it's already done. https://www.oldbug.com/fmj.htm

[schwim]

you could just buy this, it's already done. https://www.oldbug.com/fmj.htm

I super duper love FMJ but man that's a lot of money. It's been up for sale for a really long time, hasn't it?

[Super_Randy]

idk if its still for sale. i found that link on the samba, couldn't find the car on oldbug.
i noticed the engine has been changed sense it was built. but still asking $32,500 isn't bad for a pre Compound, early DBK, Pip built car. hell it's not even that bad for a 51 split.

[schwim]

Today, I sorted the accelerator assembly out. I had the tube/spring installed incorrectly so I sorted that out at the carb, added a bowden tube between cooling tin back plate and chassis and installed the X-Celerator kit that's sold on the Samba classifieds for converting the pedal to a roller. It operates super smooth now.

I also changed out the oil drain gaskets and screen and pulled the pulley to get to the oil pump. I've got some gaskets on the way and will put that back together when they arrive.

I took the fuel pump apart to make sure the diaphragm was good, cleaned it up and reassembled. I'll reinstall that with new hard copper lines and hardware.