Post-fix depression

I notice Dad isn't posting quite as much in the past few days since he proclaimed just about all of his electrical issues as fixed. He said he was almost sad to achieve that because it's so much fun troubleshooting and fixing things.

My wife, of course, doesn't understand this mentality. In fact, every day I learn more about the radically different mindsets between her and me on the Ghia.

We both love the car and have both wanted one since we were teenagers. Lately, I've been feeling guilty that I'm always the one driving it and working on it. Now, I know she has absolutely zero interest in working on it, but I was waiting for her to say, "Uh, hon, when do I get to drive the Ghia?"

So, I would occasionally offer her to take it to work or class or drive it with me riding if we go around the lakes. Last night she finally told me to stop pressuring her and she'll drive it when she feels comfortable with it. I had to get her to explain this concept, "Uh ... you don't want to drive it?"

"No," she said, "My 2000 Subaru drives better and more reliably. I can take it anywhere without stress!"

And then she said something I understand about as well as antique interior decorating: "I just like having the car, I don't need to drive it."

I decided I didn’t need to understand it too deeply, just to the level that it means I don’t have to feel guilty about always being the one driving the car! I can live with that.

But, as Dad can attest, for him and me it’s not good enough to just drive it. We’re happiest when something’s broken on it, we spend time, thought and energy fixing it and then drive it around again to try out the fix.

So, what are we to do now that our electrical issues are nearing completion? Luckily, electrical issues are probably just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to work to do on these cars.

First off, they both need rust holes patched and protected on the underside. Mine even has a few small scratches on the top here and there that show rust and a little bit of bubbling around the bottom here and there.

I’m considering either taking a welding class or getting lessons from a friend and trying my hand at repairing one spot behind my driver’s-side rear wheel. Based on how that goes I’ll decide whether I want to continue doing the rest of the body work myself bit-by-bit or just get an estimate from a reputable body shop/individual and pay them instead.

I’m actually not too concerned about my ability to repair the scratches on the top that I can see. What I really won’t know how to do and am afraid to touch are the ones on the undercarriage. Hopefully the rust I see on the floor pans are only on the very surface and I won’t need to replace those, just sand ‘em down and repaint.

Still, it does seem that “body off” restoration is the recommended route as then you’re certain to repair otherwise unreachable problem areas. I’d also like to really look into the possibility of sealing up the body work to the point where I wouldn’t have to worry about rust even in winter. If I could do that, then this car could be driven year-round and we’d sell the 2nd Subaru. As it stands, we’re a 3 car, 2 person household.

So much for my “peak oil” pontificating. I just classify myself as an enigma and end the debate there.

The next area is, of course, engine, transmission and suspension. I do need a new carburetor and distributor, according to VW Man. And, for a few extra dollars I can replace both of those with higher-performance parts. So, I’m going to do it!

I’ll wait until the snow is actually on the ground and am therefore no longer tempted to drive the car. Then, I’ll start the task of taking the old carburetor/manifold off and installing a dual carburetor and manifold system with linkage bars for the throttles and a new distributor.

My long-term plan for performance upgrades is identical to my approach to mountain bike upgrades: one small change at a time. That’s the only way to keep the post-fix depression at bay. You install one piece of a performance upgrade, try it out, enjoy the new toy and then when it gets old you plot the next upgrade.

It also helps that it’s more affordable that way. I’m being careful that by waiting on other upgrades that I don’t do harm. Sometimes a big dual carburetor setup can overheat your engine if you have the stock muffler, for example. So, I’ll be doing research on all this before starting in on stuff.

I’m going to lurk around TheSamba.com’s classified section and probably get a dual carb setup on there. Someone is selling a used dual Solex Kadron setup for $225 there. They say it’s in good working condition and are getting rid of it because they recently bought a more powerful system.

One consideration to make about the dual carbs is that you’re going big enough to get a performance boost and to accommodate other enhancements in the future such as less-restrictive exhaust and bigger heads. But, if you go too big for the motor you have now that can cause problems unless you upgrade all that other stuff immediately. Solex Kadron keeps coming up as the recommended system for the 1600 dual port motor in my car, so that’s what I’ll keep an eye out for, and $225 is a good deal on them.

So, here’s to a long winter full of patient research and planning to pace ourselves and ensure there will always be something to fix on our cars.