The Vert aka The Dust Collector

[OldSkoolVWLover]

[Lnzbug]

[jazzcat]

that is sick

[Billsbug]

HA! That is 2 cool!

Best matte paint I've seen on a water cooled VW. Can u actually shift with that awesome, but mile long, shifter?

[OldSkoolVWLover]

Originally Posted by Billsbug

HA! That is 2 cool!

Best matte paint I've seen on a water cooled VW. Can u actually shift with that awesome, but mile long, shifter?

Bill, that was a garage made engineering feet. I will have to take some pics, in reverse the top of the beer tap is right up on the driver side visor.

With a shorter knob on it it isn't that bad (was designed with a shorter air cooled rosewood knob on it). The beer tap adds about another foot to it, but it functions just fine... it is actually easier to shift because the lever is SOOOO long, it just creates a longer throw but with less effort. It does get me some looks though, and the wife still won't drive it....

[jazzcat]

Originally Posted by OldSkoolVWLover

Bill, that was a garage made engineering feet. I will have to take some pics, in reverse the top of the beer tap is right up on the driver side visor.

With a shorter knob on it it isn't that bad (was designed with a shorter air cooled rosewood knob on it). The beer tap adds about another foot to it, but it functions just fine... it is actually easier to shift because the lever is SOOOO long, it just creates a longer throw but with less effort. It does get me some looks though, and the wife still won't drive it....

i didn't even notice the shifter

i am soooooooooo doing that to the beetle..i have wanted to find a beer tap for it for a while but had fears of hitting the dash in the top three gears

[FineExampl]

I think i love this car.
The matte finish...the ridiculous shifter...the Ronals...omg

[scarabY2k]

I love your car. That matte finish is too cool. What kind of paint is that? The steering wheel is my next favorite. I'm in awe

[OldSkoolVWLover]

Originally Posted by scarabY2k

I love your car. That matte finish is too cool. What kind of paint is that?

Rustoleum Satin Black.... I freakin love it.

[SMG]

Lower it.

[SMG]

LOL! I just realized you're the guy who gave me such a hard time about my stubby mirror mod. Hypocrisy at its finest.

Originally Posted by OldSkoolVWLover

so what you are saying is.... the glass is different than stock, and is not adjustable to normal seat positioning for a LHD car. Being that you have to move because the glass cannot be adjusted properly would mean there is reduced visability.

Ohh BTW, with a factory mirror, you should still move your head to check your blind spot. Moving you head just to check the mirror would be REDUCED VISABILITY.

[OldSkoolVWLover]

not really hypocrisy at all... my car is completely safe to drive.

as well, my point to you was not of the mod but of ensuring people knew that it was reducing their visibility (you would know this if you read the quote you just quoted me as saying). IIRC your argument was that your mod didn't reduce visability.... I never said that about my car.

Originally Posted by OldSkoolVWLover

so what you are saying is.... the glass is different than stock, and is not adjustable to normal seat positioning for a LHD car. Being that you have to move because the glass cannot be adjusted properly would mean there is reduced visability.

Ohh BTW, with a factory mirror, you should still move your head to check your blind spot. Moving you head just to check the mirror would be REDUCED VISABILITY.

since you brought it up I figured I would quote my first post in that thread... to explain to people who may not have seen the thread that my position was completely in the form of total information for anyone reading your thread and attempting the mod.

Originally Posted by OldSkoolVWLover

anyone who does this be sure to know that the mirror will not be properly functional when using glass from a RHD car. So if you actually use your mirrors, this will throw you off. Just wanted to throw a warning out to anyone who may think there is no difference between the glass setup.

and your response....

Originally Posted by SMG

It sucks that more people on here aren't true VW people and are just NB people. If you spent any amount of time in the VW show / meet scene you would understand where I am coming from.

From the posts in here it's obvious that this forum is almost all 'Beetle People' who have no idea about why I'd do this mod.
....

My car in no way is a daily driver, my car rarely leaves the garage (hasn't moved in about 11 months and has seen under 200 miles in the last 2 years). Also my car has a larger than stock rear view mirror to give a wider view to help compensate for the lack of a side view mirror.


I would never encourage someone to modify something that reduces safety. In your thread you encouraged it without letting them know they were reducing their own visibility.





ohhh yeah, and it is lowered.... but you should know that since you know everything else about VW's.

[scarabY2k]

Originally Posted by OldSkoolVWLover

Rustoleum Satin Black.... I freakin love it.

That Rustoleum Satin Black must come in quart cans, right?

[OldSkoolVWLover]

yup.... mixed down with acetone or mineral spirits.

I used to use acetone, but I am liking the way it sprays a lil more with the mineral spirits. Sprays super nice out of an HVLP gun.... cool thing is you can pick up a rattle can for a small touch up or small project where you don't want to have to mix paint.

I actually have painted my rabbit with a gloss rustoleum paint and it has turned out real well... it still needs to be jammed and have the rest of the interior sprayed before I can get all the interior back in. It's going tan and blue and is coming together quite nicely.... but is the third car in line out of the three since it is not running right now. The NB and the vert are coming up on being good for the season and then I will get back into the rabbit so it can get to a point where I will have some pics to put up of it as well.

[SMG]

I never said I didn't shoulder check when changing lanes. Anyone who relies solely on their mirrors is going to get into an accident eventually.

And your car could still go a lot lower without being any less drivable.

[OldSkoolVWLover]

It's pretty low, could go a lil lower... honestly the MK3.5 front end kills some ground clearance (plus the Reiger front lip) and the extra reinforced side skirts on the rockers because it's a vert bring it pretty low. I will hit the factory jack points on speed bumps with where it is in those pictures.

It also doesn't look as low with the Ronals on it as it did when I had the 17s on it... the Ronals flow with the current setup better than the 17's did way back when.

The car could go a lil lower... but not a lot without losing a good amount of driveability ... but the next suspension setup will be much different from what is on the car now. I am running the same setup I have had for 5 years when it was still a daily driver. Sooner or later it will get something different but for right now it is low enough and other cars need more attention ($).

The 3.5 is just an interesting car to lower.... suspension and chassis of a MK3... but the vert rockers and the MK4 look front end that brings the front bumper down much lower than a standard MK3 front bumper.

[scarabY2k]

Originally Posted by OldSkoolVWLover

yup.... mixed down with acetone or mineral spirits.

I used to use acetone, but I am liking the way it sprays a lil more with the mineral spirits. Sprays super nice out of an HVLP gun.... cool thing is you can pick up a rattle can for a small touch up or small project where you don't want to have to mix paint.

I actually have painted my rabbit with a gloss rustoleum paint and it has turned out real well... it still needs to be jammed and have the rest of the interior sprayed before I can get all the interior back in. It's going tan and blue and is coming together quite nicely.... but is the third car in line out of the three since it is not running right now. The NB and the vert are coming up on being good for the season and then I will get back into the rabbit so it can get to a point where I will have some pics to put up of it as well.

What size compressor do you have to work your HVLP stuff. Looks like i'll be going that route- i've got the gear; especially now that my mainstay "BULLDOG BLACK" has been discontinued. I did find a jobber that's blowing out his inventory of gallons, so I'm gonna pick up a couple.

Don't know if you caught the article in Hot Rod magazine, but several months back, they did a paint project on an Ford Falcon and painted it using a paint roller and rustoleum white. Man when it was all said and done, that baby was looking nice; quite surpirsing considering it was applied with a roller.

[OldSkoolVWLover]

I've seen the roller jobs... they do look good, I still question their ability to cover properly/evenly. Just due to the shape of the cars vs. the shape of a roller. Plus you get a lil more sanding in the roller job than you would in a completely proper HVLP job. On both my cars I have done no sanding other than prep sanding.... no sanding between coats and no finish sanding. I am happy with them both.


I have a smallish compressor (one some people say can't push an HVLP). It's a craftsman oil-less 3HP 15gal, and the gun I use is a cheapo Harbor Freight. I figure I am shooting cheap paint, might as well use a cheap setup. The compressor was originally bought when I didn't have my own garage to use and was doing suspension work.


In the future I will probably buy a lil bigger, stand up, oiled, Harbor Freight unit. A few guys have been happy with one that was on sale over the holidays. I also don't use my air tools very much (suspension and paint mostly with filling tires in between), so I do not want to pay for a high $ compressor but I would like something quieter with a lil more capacity so it isn't running constantly.





Ohh yeah and sucks that they aren't gonna have bulldog black any more. Just FYI, I use a lot of Rustoleum Plastic Primer, or Dupli-Color high build primer... then whatever color I want to go over top of it. The rustoleum Satin Black rattle cans are good and you may like them for some of your smaller projects. Also the wheels on the NB were primed with a Rustoleum red primer with a gloss black $0.97 a can WalMart rattle can.

[scarabY2k]

I hear ya man. I can get the Dupli-color adhesion promother here in town, but that's in clear. I'll have to give that satin black a try. Even so, That Bulldog in the black spoiled me. the finish of it is good enough to use as a top coat, and the manif. says you can use it as such.

[OldSkoolVWLover]

yeah Bulldog is good product

the dupli-color high build primer has worked some freakin miracles for me that have saved me from extra prep and finish work.

the rustoleum primers are decent when needed, and the rusto satin black can be sprayed over ANYTHING.