Boogie Opel GT Van

Pretty much my dream stable in 1978.

Via Matthew Bowne's Flickr

Treasure

For some inexplicable reason, I thought it would be easier to replace the door weatherstripping if I removed the interior door panel. Don't ask. I don't want to talk about it.

Found this little morsel inside, which succinctly answers why the door won't stay open on it's own.  One day I am going to remove a door panel and pull out a Beretta 9mm. How many pine needles until then? Maybe I should leave a Beretta in there. Would certainly improve my chances of finding one. A ziploc full of cosmoline with a handgun floating like a Hirst.

At least the turbot is in focus.

Re-Wiring the Big Beam

Crimp, solderless connectors have a well deserved bad reputation. Whenever I lift a hood and see a yellow crimp on a piece of 18 gauge stranded, I think, better get home before dark!

I am an advocate of solderless connectors BUT you have have a set of Vacos. Smashing the plastic is not enough, you need to leave a deep dimple.

Maserati Jumpsuit

 

Having trouble dialing in those mismatched sidedrafts? Probably because you are dressed outside of factory spec. 

Maserati Jumpsuit on eBay, no relation

Relentlessly Plastic-y

Whenever I buy a project car, I start a milk crate of take off parts. Every chrome plated interior sheet metal screw goes into a jar, that lives in the crate, as at some point I will either find it's home or a similar loss elsewhere will require the same sort of screw. It can be a bit of a burden e.g. if you replace spark plug wires, do you keep the old ones?

The door map pocket poses no such dilemma. It is total and catastrophic failure. Short of 3-d printing a new one, this is an salvageable situation. Under engineered, certainly, but the amount of plastic in "modern classics" means they sort of dissolve all at once. The vacuum line junctions break at the exact same moment that the map pocket falls off which is the same instant that the plastic trim holders disintegrate.

The door map pocket is satisfying in that succinctly answers whether to keep it. It is true garbage.

(Should I make a replacement pocket from wood? Guess I better keep the plastic one for a template...)