Yesterday I finally got my used dual-port/dual-relieve AS41 VW engine case delivered back from Brothers Machine Shop in California. I dealt with Renato and his brother, they were great. They did a good job and even took the time to answer all my questions over the phone about what to do with the case.
Last Saturday, 10th of March, was the Annual Softball Classic event with the Miami V-Dubs crowd. They call it the "single-most anticipated, ridiculous and looked-forward-to sporting event of the year". So I decided to drive down to Miami in my bug with my beautiful and supporting girlfriend Maryluz, whom I hope doesn't get tired of going to so many VW events :P.
We were not able to stay until the end but did have a great time saying hello to everyone and watching the guys (and girls) hitting, or at least trying to hit the ball. What was hilarious was seeing some of them wearing ladies lingerie, not sure exactly why, but I get the feeling it was some kind of rookie initiation thing... I hope they don't make me do that to join the club!
This past Sunday, March 4th, I drove my '63 ragtop bug up to Palm Beach Gardens Florida to meet Chris Vallone from ClassicVWBugs.com at his first ever VW gathering event here in South Florida. Chris is an awesome dude that has become very popular on Youtube for posting tons of really good VW restoration tips videos. He also runs the Classic VW Bug Shop up in New York where he restores mainly vintage Volkswagen bugs.
Yesterday I went to McNab Foreign Car and picked up the engine compartment rear rubber seal for my 63 ragtop bug and installed it myself at home. The old one was all crusted and mostly gone. The rubber seal was just one whole piece and it was pretty easy to install. First I though I would have to slide all of it in through one end of the mounting channel, but ended up just putting it in bottom first into the channel and then with a screw driver I pushed the top in inch by inch all around the length of the seal, which was really easy to do. What I wasn't sure of was how the two flaps of the seal were supposed to go. I decided to put the lower flap under the engine tin and the top flap over the tin, which seemed to me that that's how it's supposed to go. If I'm wrong let me know! :)
So I finally got my valve spring removal/mounting tool last week and removed the valve springs and valves from the cylinder heads that came out of the used 1600cc dual port engine that I'm rebuilding for my '63 Ragtop Bug. I haven't decided what to do with the cylinder heads yet. I might just try to sell them and get new ones that have already been cut for larger valves and with smoothed out intake ports for higher performance.
