Franz, Chapter 2

[BBoudy1215]

after a little bit of this and that,

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we got this

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next it was time to put in the rail's engine. it fought us a bit but we finally got it in there. we took it out for a test run and man was it nice. it was fuser's first engine he built so im sure he was happy to finally use it.

next i was going to try to put the whole rear bumper back on and hook up the reverse lights buts i had to get going to school. my mom was not so happy to hear that i decided to choose my last day spending time on the car and not spending it with her. i guess she thought wed wake up and send the day together befiore i went off to college but that didnt happen. (sorry mom) so i threw on the top part of the bumper (the rust held it on) and hurried as fast as i could to put the old engine in the rail for storage. we tried putting it up once but the exhaust was in the way. so back down it came and i worked on getting the exhaust off. after i di that i looked down at my right hand and saw blood coming from two wounds i had acquired while rushing (i guess i was too busy to notice pain). then we put it back up there, threw on a few loose nuts and i was gone!

i put some clothes in a bag and left for school. turns out i didnt have everything i needed so i was forced to drive back this morning and get the rest. of course i drove Franz both ways. man is he fun as all hell! so worth it. im gonna need fuser's tool bag to finish some things. i am not sure the bolts on the tranny are tight so i need to do that. i also might need to put on the new rear fenders sooner than i thought. i tried to put them in my bedroom at home but my mom was not happy with that at all! so they are tucked nicely into the back of Franz. i need a place to store everything. i was planning on grabbing the rest of Franz's parts next weekend but i dont know where ill put it all. i hope that i can somehow fit the rest of the boxes in Franz and then ill be okay but if not i am in trouble.

Goal for this week: make Franz passable for inspection. i think the only thing i have to do for this is finish reassembling the rear bumper and then get the back-up lights to work. if i get that done this week ill be happy. i might also rewire the starter so i dont have to get out of the car and run over to the passenger side of the car to start the car every time i stall. (i am getting much better about not doing that. i am still new to manual transmissions.) today i manage to drive from Lowell to Arlington and back without any mis-haps. so i am doing better. or so i think.

Fuser, if you can bring me a 15, a 17, and whatever else size thos engine nuts are that would be great! i need to get to ace but i dont have time yet. i also need stuff to wire things. got anything for me?

For now Franz sadly sits by himself in a Umass parking lot. i feel so bad leaving him there. i went out last night to get the plate number and VIN so i could apply for a parking decal and i just wanted to take him for a drive cuz i felt bad leaving him. hopefully a green and yellow bus will soon arrive to keep him company. i hope that busted bearin holds....

Also, when i met a kid at school today who is building a 73 super baja. looks like i have a new friend at school. he mentioned a car show on september 14th in Conn. might go to that. (if Franzy is up to going, he seems to be growing a liking for me but he still has his moods. but lets be honest, he wouldnt be the same without them. i think he is much happier with his new engine tho. he feels... young again)

[BBoudy1215]

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[BBoudy1215]

Whoa! What kind of engineer you looking to be? My school promised big pay checks after graduation too. I got a EE 18 years ago and still kinda use it. Desk jobs get boring after awhile. Congrats on Franz. Now how about less words and more build pictures?

not sure yet. i like civil mechanical plastic and electrical but i cant decide which yet. civil is 1st i think then mechanical but ill figure it out this year hopefully.

[Lotrat]

They say that the heart and soul of a VW is the aircooled motor. Now that you ripped Franz out and he's sitting on a crate, are you gonna keep calling the rest of the car Franz? Doesn't seem right. How about "The Baja Formally Known As Franz"? TBFKAF. Kinda catchy.

[bajaherbie]

judging by the length of your posts maybe you ought to consider a degree in english literature.....



did NLW stamp the franz on the tin or did a previous owner do that?

[namelesswonder]

^Fusername. I did tell Boudy that he doesn't need to keep the name if he doesn't keep the engine. It's his car now, he can call it Franzerina for all I care!

[Sneaks]

...and when fuser said he was getting a blower for the rail...for some reason I thought supercharger, not leaf.

Somehow he'll figure out how to rig it up on that engine...

BTW, David (Stray Catalyst) dropped off a nice case at my house today (was out of town and missed him, grrr). We'll need to get that to you somehow. I'm hoping to get over to AJ's House of VW Madness soon, maybe I can drop it off on the way.

[fusername]

well franzy has taken to living in lowel great so far. we are goingto run ondown to ACE and buy BB his first tools. I 'gave' him a tach dwelll which had been given to NLW's dad to keep franz going, seemed right it should stay with the car. ancient piece of tech, cast metal housing, real glass viewing pane. now its time to buy some combo wrenches, and it will be the start of a real tool box. I think he has an ammo can that needs filling.

hey sneaks, when you gonna be around this week? we want to roar on up your way.

[Sneaks]

got the pm, anytime this week or weekend should be good. I'm not planning on going anywhere far. Might want to avoid Friday cuz of the weather (but you have a history of being in my driveway in a downpour so the choice is yours:) ). I'm just going to be working on buses I think. I am done with your bucket of FI stuff, thanks for letting me borrow them!

[bajaherbie]

i think a hurricane is coming your way.....

[Sneaks]

Yeh, that's what I hear as well. Usually by the time one hits this far north it's lost most of it's fury but it's still pretty wild. I'll take a northeaster any day

[Devastator]

i might also rewire the starter so i dont have to get out of the car and run over to the passenger side of the car to start the car every time i stall.

Have you considered wiring up a FORD starter solenoid to assist starting? I've done this to 5 VW's so far, and it REALLY helps.

[Sneaks]

We think it is the switch. its in my driveway right now, if i have a free minute i might look at it.

[fusername]

so those of you in the know are probably aware of the continuings issues of the fuel guage in franz. it simply never behaved, someties its right, sometimes the needle just sits at full or R, and occasionally it outright lies to you. NLWs dad replaced the whole speedo iirc a whiel back after the needle pulled a houdine and was never seen since. he just turned the car on one day, it popped to 1/2, then swung away out of view never to be seen again. this cured a few problems, but it is still erractic, esp after turning. smeels like a sticky sender to me, but I think bus and bug senders work totally different, so who knows. However BBoudy ended up comeing up with a really good way of fixing the sender.
simply tilt the car to the left, like in a high speed off ramp, and give it a good shake and a jostle, this seems to free up the offending parts and get the fuel guage reading correctly again. We found the easiest way to do this was to get the car up to 55-60 or so, and then while approacing an exit alllow the front drivers wheel to enter the passing lane while you pull quickly to the shoulder. the vibrations from the drum dragging over black top and into the dirt will get the sender moving free as a bird, and as an added benifit it will buff up one side of the drum. however bring a few spare lugs, as only 2 of the ones we recovered were still useable, and the 4th is still MIA. We had been headed east bound on rt 2, the the wheel was recovered on the next exit on rt 2 West, she really had alot of motivation in her i guess.

anyways hopefully this write up helps some of you, bboudy should be along with picutres some time.

[Lotrat]

Here's a link to everything you could ever want to know about the T1 fuel gauge:

http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/htm/fuel_ga.htm

My fuel gauge didn't work when I first got my bug. I pulled the sender and found that half the rheostat coils were gone. I put a new sender in the tank and it only read 1/2 tank. To get that fixed all I had to do was clean all the connections. Copper is not green. It should shine. The vibrator on the back of my speedo was my problem. It's funny to re-read that last line, but it's only held on my a tiny screw with little surface area to make contact.