More VW

I got the big MIG sorted and was progressing rather smartly until the switch on the gun became intermittent. I took the gun apart and the switch looked good but one of the wires feeding it looked like it might have been the cause. Rather than waste a bunch of time troubleshooting the thing, I thought I'd just put on the new gun that I picked up about 20 years ago. After about a two hour search, I found it about three feet away from the welding machine. Since it's a Tweco gun, I was looking for it in a yellow box. Instead, it wasn't in a box but was under some other cables and cords blending in - perfect camouflage. Obviously didn't save any time there, but I got it swapped out and everything is working as it should be except that I need some contact tips. I'm running .024" wire and all I've got are .035" tips. I'll pick up some tips, a spare insulator and gas cup next week some time. Probably should get a small roll of .035" wire while I'm at it and then get in the habit of removing the wire from the machine when not in use and throw it in a plastic bag with some of the vapor stuff to keep it from rusting.

The new floor pans come in two pieces on the Super rather than the one piece for the regular Beetle. They also don't meet in the middle, hence the extra piece of metal you can see welded in in the top photo. They also don't have the exact same contour as the regular Beetle. When I swapped out the pans for Cuzzin Rick's Dune Buggy project, I kept the seat mounts thinking I could use them on mine. I had already made some up but I hadn't put the "ears" on them for the track on the bottom of the seat to lock into. Now that I've got the floor pretty well tacked together, it looks like I'll be better off using my homemade mounts. They fit the floor much better, they look good, even though they won't be seen much, and I can probably use the pieces off the stock mounts for the track saving me some work there. 

I was a little disappointed in not being able to finish the passenger side floor due to the welding machine malfunction but that's what I was looking to find out. Hopefully, it won't be too much longer and I'll have everything up and running likes it's supposed to be. It'd be nice if I could get to a place where all I had was normal maintenance on the tools and equipment, rather than having to fix something before I can fix something. I'm afraid I'm a little spoiled having the school shop at my disposal all those years. Of course, I had to maintain all of that equipment plus a lot of other stuff as well. But it was nice being able to work on the VW yesterday without any interruptions or worrying about what some dumb-ass high school kid was up to while I was inside the car.

All I had was Lotty the "straw boss" looking on. She doesn't say much but gets into things like a high school kid does.

Enjoy your holiday and remember those who gave their lives for our freedom.