Russell C

https://www.slixx.com/ Main page opens up, but when I click on anything, same blank page result: Service Unavailable HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable.

Got a large metal file? Try sharpening the edges.

Who can forget where the outlaw widebody supecar craze started? "Koenig Specials Ferrari BB: Remembering the 650-HP Tuning Legend From the 1980s" https://www.autoevolution.com/news/koenig-specials-ferrari-bb-remembering-the-650-hp-tuning-legend-from-the-1980s-212589.html

Sorta. But what's driving the prices up really boils down to a dozen or so guys over the last 5-6 years who have oodles of dollars and no sense to inquire deep into the sales history of the rigs they are buying or question the sellers assertions of them. I'm the current caretaker of the ancient blazerchalet.com website (it was given to me back when I owned Chalet #1747, I've never had the time or cash to update the site), and I've been tracking the sales of these since 2005. When guys don't do background research on these, they fall for lines like the one seen in the current eBay auction of Chalet #1683 who claims much of the rig is original when in fact it had significant (and incorrectly done) restoration back in 2009-'10. Many, including that particular one, just shift from one classic car dealer/flipper to the next, with jacked up prices each time, often with unsubstantiated assertions made about the rigs. Guy last summer claimed my former rig was a "barn find" when it absolutely was not, going clean back through at least 7 owners back to when I sold it in 2010.

Never heard of it. Quick search in Youtube turned up this account which has collected many episodes, this one will show the list off to the side when you click on the "Watch on Youtube" option:

There actually is the 3D print file out there https://hum3d.com/3d-models/chevy-blazer-chalet-1976/ , but whoever drew it made the mistake of placing it on a shortbed Chevy pickup rather than the unibody Blazer, and had to stretch the camper unit improperly through the window area to make it fit. Correcting the 3D print file would be the first hurdle, but the next one would be to figure out which of the three kit versions is the most accurate starting point for a buildup.

Counter opposite of my "irk" over in the other thread on vehicle obsolescence / unavailable OEM parts for 37 year old cars - rather than put in a potentially dicey used fuel supply line in my 1:1 daily driver, I had it rebuilt at an industrial hose service with a new central flexible section that could handle the pressure of my car's fuel injection system. It actually re-installed easier than when it came out today, and now my car starts and runs fine again, no gasoline leaks. Feels great to have a fully functional vehicle.

All true, the fierce AZ heat not helping things one bit. Valiantly on the search** to see what guys who rebuild these are using for new fuel supply lines .... ** new development edit: local AZ VW scrapyard guy / MkII enthusiast referred me to an expert shop specializing in rebuilding A/C, hydraulic & high pressure fuel line hoses. Score!

"Irk continued" on the increasing rarity of of decades old watercooled VDub parts, but your reply here qualifies as a "what pleased you" thing I should post when I have time at the other thread. Thanks!!! Irk today will be the removal of the line, although it is not in a difficult spot on the engine to reach. Will email the Orchid Euro place minutes from now, found heritagepartscentre yesterday, but a zip through their web pages turned up no results. Will try emailing them, though. Final irk might be the love that these vintages of VWs demand, but they give plenty of driving fun even in their advanced ages when kept maintained. (FYI, been meaning to join this VW owners site, emergency mandated it, Intro post here / part plea here, for additional networking opportunities.)

Vehicle obsolesce, Part II. There's been a trace of a gasoline smell underhood of my '86 VW GTI for a while, exponentially worse today, where I could finally clearly see it. The forward flexible section of the "fuel supply line" that is grafted onto the hard line going into the fuel distributor has a crack that now leaks under pressure. I assume it is a somewhat flexible inner plastic tube protected by an outer rubber covering, because back closer to the firewall, I see a crack in the rubber cover and a shinier bit below in the crack. Clamping the forward section's cracked leaking area where it goes into the hard line doesn't stop the leak one bit. Problem is, I've searched for a couple of hours far and wide across the internet and haven't found anyone selling a used one. Left a message with one of the south Phoenix VW junkyards that's been good to me over the last decade, will have to try again tomorrow to catch a live person there. Really shouldn't drive it with it leaking that much, but it may be an uphill struggle trying to locate a fuel line. CIS-e fuel injection, in case any of you have one laying around or know someone who does ....

Vehicle obsolesce, combined with wacko inflationary prices. Took my daily driver 300k+ miles '86 VW GTI to the same mechanics' place I've been going to since '97-ish, my CV boots on one axle split from old age, and I don't like fixing that sort of thing myself. The longtime employee I've known there since 2002 bought the shop from his boss, and told me the basic reality today was that from jacked up building rental and other rising costs, he was going to have drop most of the time-consuming, barely profitable work on old VWs (taking no new customers of old ones, but courteously doing work for legacy customers like me). To keep viable, he can only take work on newer technowonder VWs. My bill was $309 parts & labor for a new axle with new boots on either end, cheaper than replacing only the grease-spitting outer boot and cracking apart inner boot. Other car there was an '09 2009 diesel Jetta Wagon with a blown turbo and other decaying bits, looking at a $4 grand repair estimate .....

Always wondered what was in the pointy end of an old CRT television set. Now I know. And since I've been kicking around the idea of doing a jet car / hover car sorta like our MCM forum man Daxman has built, I have another victim right at hand for a second turbine-like engine to go in one of the currently unloved glue bomb bodies I acquired several years back ….

Nice! Got that same kit many years back. The weakness I have for these is my current daily driver '86 GTI with its 300k+ miles. I was thinking I'd one day do a replica of it, but with my preferences of upgrades such as the larger side windows / mirrors placed further forward on '87s & up. Also 5-spoke aftermarket wheels. And maybe syncro AWD. (would do the same on my 1:1 if I could afford it - taking donations, just be sure to make the checks out to "Cash" ?)

I resemble that remark!!

For a few moments, I thought the wheels out of the old AMT Pete 359 or Pete cabover might be the answer, bit potentially a bit too small in diameter. But when I looked close at the wheels in my ancient IH 4070A that I put the Pete cabover wheels on, that raised lugnut circle was there, just not as prominent as the Freightliner ones. Did a quick search for the AMT Autocar tractor that had the 5 hole front wheels - same raised lugnut circle area. Haven't paid a lot of attention to the aftermarket turned aluminum wheels market, I wonder if someone makes the proper set, or has made them in the past.

You mean the AMT LN or LNT 8000 conventional? I'm wondering if anyone has effectively sliced that surround area off the front of the hood to use for a cabover ...

Thanks all! The one deciding factor for the slant to the driver's side was the curve of the original (+ one more pipe) Red Baron kit headers. Build thread here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/177430-gsl-common-kit-29-roadster-with-gm-slant-engine-prototype-you-never-heard-of/

I sure had fun at the GSL contest, and at least got the chance to mess with folks' minds one more time on the number of cylinders I put in my engines. The backstory here is that I originally intended to put this GM slant 7 prototype in a fantasy prototype of a Dale Earnhardt NASCAR, and had started on it a couple of years ago with a different block. But then it dawned on me that it would be better out in the open in the Revell '29 roadster, rather than where I'd have to open a hood to show it. Not stopping there, however, I thought it would be one increment more fun to have a "what if" build that Tom Daniel might have done if he'd chosen the '29 Model A instead of a T-bucket for his Red Baron design, and if he'd included the little triplane as something that would resemble a quarter or 3rd scale radio control plane that could be loaded onto a platform out back. More likely Tom Daniel and/or Monogram would have maybe used the same slant 6 that's found in the Horn Toad kit, who knows? Here, lets just say I still lose track of all my fingers when I count up how many cylinders I want in my engines. Since the Revell roadster had capped exhaust headers that dumped into underside pipes/mufflers, this was a great excuse to create a cap over all the pipe ends (thin polished aluminum) rather than hollow all of those out! It still needs a couple more details - a better spear for the helmet, a little radio control box to sit next to the magazine on the back, a bungee cord to hold the plane tail to that big post, and maybe I'll eventually locate an original chrome helmet top that's in much better shape to replace the so-so one here. Enjoy!

Running behind on this thread, we had a big unavoidable family function happening right after I returned from Salt Lake City which wrapped up finally yesterday. Last of the WIP photos, which shows the muzzle flash reducer (?) at the end of the Spandau machine gun barrel that I machined out of aluminum, compared to the complete 3D printed barrels that came out of the GasPatch Models 1/48 scale kit. My barrel itself is a length of polished aluminum rod, and the gun was spray painted with a really old can of Dutch Boy chrome silver, which turned out quite shiny. And finally, I did put in a linkage from the transmission to the steering column shifter sleeve bracket just beyond the firewall. Under Glass link here:

Loading ramps located / bolted down on the flatbed, stop / loud pedals installed after the 'carpeting' was laid down (a skinned layer of light gray cardboard that resembles short pile carpet), dash / steering column done with shifter / turn signal levers, brake lines installed along with most of the fuel line. A fuel filter will be installed at that terminus, and then the rest of it will be installed when I have the body in place. Bare Metal Foil on the transmission flywheel cover, to resemble the aftermarket polished stainless steel ones. Counting my blessings that I managed - in advance - to create a flexible throttle cable from the carbs to the firewall that snaps in place every time. Unfortunately, time is short, so I must concentrate on getting this project done to be ready for the Thursday morning flight up, so no more time for WIP photos 'til I return next week., and then the Under Glass separate thread. Which part are certain about?

News to me as well. Does that have something to do with the recent movie, or some other new interpretation, or an old TV show dream sequence episode?

Gettin' there. '29 roadster kit alternator with machined aluminum pulley installed, kit crankshaft pulley painted and installed, machined aluminum fan pulley installed, and they actually line up right. Never cared for all-in-one pulleys/fanbelt plastic assemblies in kits since I crave the look of more scale-appearing belts and belt grooves in the pulleys. Finally got around to using the TJ Models spark plug wire I've had forever, this color works well for the deep dark red engine color. The plug wire boots is from some electrical wire insulation, cut into teensy sections which fits really snugly over the TJ Models wire. Also, folded my Snoopy in half and cut around the image perimeter. This worked out easier than I originally guessed. You'll see ……

Gettin' there. Color on the frame. Before gluing in the aluminum foil headlight reflectors (to get rid of the deep dark eye look of the Revell '29 roadster kit headlight buckets), I needed to temporarily locate the units on the frame to be sure the height was right for the wire brackets that go into the buckets - a touch of super glue at those points inside the buckets makes 'em permanent. The bulbs are heat-stretched clear sprue, with just a bit of extra heat waved in at their ends to make them flare out into bulb shapes. Added bits of leftover adhesive-backed aluminum strips to the edges of the "wood" platform. That aluminum material came from the aerospace nameplate place I used to work at. Cuts with an X-Acto blade and the industry strength 3M adhesive makes it stick very well to the edges. The dotted ribs are thin strips cut out of a dimpled pattern adhesive back Triple A chrome mylar bumper sticker. Fuel tank permanently superglued in at the front of the platform. Aiming to have the roadster body in its final red color by tomorrow. Got the final white coat on the dash, ready for the application of the "Red Skull" style gauge cluster 'decal' that I mentioned in my Feb 8 post. Sideview mirror has been rattling around in my parts box unused for a decade+. Permanent throttle linkage on the carbs, along with a two-into-one wire fuel line temporarily pinned in here. NY state license plates in their frames. Bonus points to anybody who can ID what TV show car those came from.

Nice work! Magazines for me. Didn't click on the link within this page, but it appears the plans for these are still available: https://protected.hostcentric.com/rqriley/minihome.html

Nice! Seen the movie a few times on cable TV, but your build had me wondering what the back plate said. Got a screengrab from one of the Youtube clips of the deer chase scene. I should have guessed, he 'borrowed' the car straight out of a fictional dealership.