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Good morning

Link to the report? Maybe thats' why Josh Gates has a special next Wednesday on the Discovery Science channel at 8PM Eastern.

CaddmanQ, it was all swamp gas.

Even over desert areas where there are no swamps

Say it with me slowly.

S-w-a-m-p

G-a-s.

That has been an official statement for literally decades now. Government isn't just suddenly getting retarded. They're just continuing a long legacy of trying to out-stupid the ones before them.

I'm just glad a spaceship hasn't landed at the white house and ask to speak to the leader.

Dear Lord, how embarrassing would that be.

That was a joke buddy. It came from the Babylon Bee or The Onion but I can’t remember which.

I should’ve given credit, so people didn’t go running down the streets naked, like after the war of the worlds broadcast. :rolleye:

Sometimes I see it like this buddy:

The dog never barked.

In the famous tale Hound of the Baskerville’s, The hound never sounded the alarm because the perpetrator was his friend.

We are all still alive here doing what we have been doing for a whole long time because nobody’s bothering to put a stop to it.

Because of how ridiculous it has been in the past, I don’t think they’re interested in that. Assuming that they exist.

So if they exist, I am assuming a disinterested sort of benevolence on their part.

The other way I look at it is this: Many People have been fooled.

Just like there are lots of guys building outlaw hot rods and outlaw motorcycles, I think there are people building outlaw flying machines of various types.**

Some of these may be used to distract our guys from other drug smuggling activities going on.

Since the popularity of UFO-scare media, I expect that some have been built to purposely feed such alarm.


**I don’t believe they necessarily have people in them. That may be one reason they can seem to violate the rules. There’s no one inside the damn things.
 
Good morning Mossberg Owners.

I don’t have anything special planned for today but I’m going to I’ll do some work on my aquarium plumbing and I have been working on the SS again.

How this car works is that the VW front axle is extended forward 13 1/2 inches, & the foot controls move rearward 18” Then the shifter & seat moves back over 20”. The seat position drops 6”, but more if the suspension is lowered.

Unfortunately the frame was rusty and frame repairs/mods were 100% amateur work. Look at what happens when you try to weld on top of hidden rust:
6D43CB24-275B-45DF-8D93-3C9016EA0B52.jpeg
Here, Six or 7 welding rods was evidently not enough. LOL That “fillet” goes to 11/16 in some places.
83B1CDCD-87CB-4164-8B20-496BAF2C78E4.jpeg
Doesn’t appear there’s much fusion to the floor pan or even the rusty old flange itself.

There was lots of unrepaired rust too. These were just pinholes until I went after them with an ice pick and cold chisel.
200D50DF-79FC-4B5D-B8B5-11FE81875DD9.jpeg
Anyhow the whole floor is going to have to come out from the firewall forward. At least. Fortunately, I am not doing a “correct restoration” and I can do any kind of structural improvement I want.

Lots of perforation opened to reveal serious rust…
08F85E52-7F52-41BE-A926-E3B619819313.jpeg
This is the base of the stock Volkswagen front firewall and also the mount for the brake master cylinder. I could bore you with other pictures of rust but you guys get the idea: this will be a major chassis rebuild.
 
Good morning Mossberg Owners.

I don’t have anything special planned for today but I’m going to I’ll do some work on my aquarium plumbing and I have been working on the SS again.

How this car works is that the VW front axle is extended forward 13 1/2 inches, & the foot controls move rearward 18” Then the shifter & seat moves back over 20”. The seat position drops 6”, but more if the suspension is lowered.

Unfortunately the frame was rusty and frame repairs/mods were 100% amateur work. Look at what happens when you try to weld on top of hidden rust:
View attachment 25309
Here, Six or 7 welding rods was evidently not enough. LOL That “fillet” goes to 11/16 in some places.
View attachment 25314
Doesn’t appear there’s much fusion to the floor pan or even the rusty old flange itself.

There was lots of unrepaired rust too. These were just pinholes until I went after them with an ice pick and cold chisel.
View attachment 25315
Anyhow the whole floor is going to have to come out from the firewall forward. At least. Fortunately, I am not doing a “correct restoration” and I can do any kind of structural improvement I want.

Lots of perforation opened to reveal serious rust…
View attachment 25316
This is the base of the stock Volkswagen front firewall and also the mount for the brake master cylinder. I could bore you with other pictures of rust but you guys get the idea: this will be a major chassis rebuild.
If it weren’t for the crazy stupid prices going around, I would suggest making a new ladder style frame from some 2x3 tubing..lol, but I’ve seen other work by that previous “welder”..013524EE-B5B0-4A10-9314-AA3F3D10C5E6.png
 
My guy only had a buzz box and some sticks. If he had a MIG he could’ve made a real mess.

I am fortunate that he did not find more things he wanted to repair.

The rear frame structure seems OK. That’s where the serial numbers are, so I should keep that part. That’s important if the state of California won’t allow me to license this car for some reason and I end up selling it in Nevada or Arizona.

If I build a new frame, here in California I will have to qualify for a “special construction” permit, and that gets me into a State issued serial number and, a whole lot of smog laws I don’t want to address. There is also a lottery to get a permit and they only issue so many per year. I think it’s only 600 cars in a state of 40,000,000 people.

But if I can keep the stock frame, or enough of it that it appears to be the stock frame, and it has the stock numbers, it’s possible I can get by without a whole lot of trouble.
 
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Fortunately my guy only had a buzz box and some sticks. If he had a MIG he could’ve made a real mess.

I am probably fortunate that he did not find more things he wanted to repair.
I couldn’t imagine welding material that thin with arc..I gas welded all the sheet metal/ thin wall tubing on my bike and the little mig I use now can do it with me being the impediment now.lol lots of test welds on what ever I’m welding usually can lead to an acceptable fusion, even on stuff like emt conduit. But medium thickness materials is always the best..
 
Good morning all. We have had rain all night, maybe 3 inches so far. We needed rain, but there is a limit.

Have a great day.
 
...I could bore you with other pictures of rust but you guys get the idea: this will be a major chassis rebuild.

Cadd, maybe it is just my imagination, but it seems the VW going to be a lot more work than you had expected.
 
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I can’t imagine what gave you that impression. Now, about having a wife…..

;)

The truth is that I intended to buy this car and drive a little bit and then tear it completely down and rebuild the whole thing.

But that was just not practical because of the Covid problems and the damage done to the car. Also I kept giving away money to my kids.

By the way, I was mistaken, this guy did have a MIG.
F68E1D5C-0D75-4546-8243-BC3359C10B9F.jpeg
as I work on the car, more examples of this become obvious.

Or at least somebody that worked it on the car had MIG, and I have no idea how many welders may have been involved since 1973.

Back in my motorcycle modifying days I did all the welding with Oxy-acetylene. I had no other equipment available and it was pretty light stuff.

But I have always wanted a MIG welder so we’ll see if I can do any better than the guy that worked on my car.
 
By the way, this is what breaks on your used Volkswagen when your clutch suddenly goes out. This is the hook on the clutch pedal which pulls the cable up the tunnel. It is currently about 1/4 as strong as it started out.

The same thing broke off on my 66 Volkswagen, and I had to do a trooper start and drive across Fresno with no clutch.
CB6EC0DB-515D-45F0-B139-210FDFD4DC3B.jpeg
Of course no trooper has done a trooper start since they invented the neutral safety switch. They just don’t bother to turn the car off at all.
 
I can’t imagine what gave you that impression. Now, about having a wife…..

;)

The truth is that I intended to buy this car and drive a little bit and then tear it completely down and rebuild the whole thing.

But that was just not practical because of the Covid problems and the damage done to the car. Also I kept giving away money to my kids.

By the way, I was mistaken, this guy did have a MIG.
View attachment 25342
as I work on the car, more examples of this become obvious.

Or at least somebody that worked it on the car had MIG, and I have no idea how many welders may have been involved since 1973.

Back in my motorcycle modifying days I did all the welding with Oxy-acetylene. I had no other equipment available and it was pretty light stuff.

But I have always wanted a MIG welder so we’ll see if I can do any better than the guy that worked on my car.
I nub me some gas weldin….8B49D352-9006-4930-81A8-CED81462C50F.png
 
I have burned some stick, and a little MIG & TIG, but not enough of either to have a fine appreciation.

Yet, looking at the bubblegum on my car I could certainly do better with acetylene.

I don’t have to weld anything over 1/8”
 
3E58FE35-378F-487D-9B3C-3545B9334641.png The bead in that first pic was the inside of a gas tank I built for the Triumph. 100% gas welded 16g sheets from Lowe’s…lol. these beads were from my little 110v wire feed on some swing arm reinforcement on that bike when I did my mono shock project. Little bugger lays down flux core, in one pass on 1/4” steel, and more passes on thicker stuff,no problem..
 
Good morning. Cloudy and 72. We had more rain last night, but none presently. The forecast calls for more showers and thunderstorms the next few days. I think we have received about 4 inches since Saturday. Many places around us have had more.

I need to clean a revolver today, get the oil changed in my car, and go to the grocery. Probably in that order, just in case I don't get to everything, lol.

Anyways, you all have a great day.
 
Good morning Mossberg Owners.

It’s another lovely day in the Sunny San Joaquin Valley. Later today it will be 100° but right now is lovely and cool and the perfect time to enjoy morning on the patio.

image.jpg
As per usual I am continually messing around with my cars and my aquariums.

But I have made a huge mess over the past few days and doing such things and I will have to spend some time cleaning up.

You folks all have a fine day, and remember that clean living is its own reward.
 
Thanks. If you do use oxy, it’s all about tip size. If you use the wire feed,clean the hell out of everything including where the ground clamp is. I like the mig because I can use both hands to maintain control of the “torch”. My second hand is literally holding the end of it like a pencil, an inch from the surface of the sun,lol. Just get the feed speed, amperage and gap right on a scrap piece or a hidden area. And I know you already know this, but gas welding is done uphill and arc downhill,while mig doesn’t seem to care..lol
 
IMO the key is to know where the heat is going. You can’t waste the heat, and heat normally goes up.

Toss in a draft and things get fussy.
 
I will be welding .030 old pan to .050 new pan and .060 old tunnel, but the rails will be .140 plate welded to .188 shims, .140 plate, .125 plate, .094 tube (maybe...need to buy it.) .060, .050, and .030. Putting .030 onto .140 may be a challenge for me.

Also I have the .050 metal and I need to flute it or emboss it, or add small stiffeners. I have a lot of thin 1/2" and 1" tube for stiffeners, but fluting would be the elegant thing.

I might get a brake so I can form the flutes, or make a die set and press them. It's a floor pan so little wrinkles would be ok.
 
Usually when I weld thick to thin I end up just running two beads, with the first one being sacrificial. Just a bead on the thinner material with the machine set to weld that, then adjusted up to the proper heat/ speed for the thicker stuff. Basically making the thin thicker.. of course welding with oxy, it can “make” material as it goes since the rod will melt as fast as you can dab it..lol
 
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