The Cal-look Lounge

Hi,

I parked this in my garage 5 years ago and walked away from the scene, I'd become disillusioned and tired of spending my life wrenching on a car.

Then this week, it came on strong and I decided the bug deserved better and needs to be driven.

Have had to find some 145s, and I need to service it, bleed the brakes, and flush the fuel system (a nice job  ;)) But I reckon the motor will be running this weekend, its 1776, 010 dizzy, IDAs, nicely massaged heads with 9.5CR all tied to a nice CR box to propel it  :) Strangely I can't remember half the stuff I did to the car, bits keeping coming back, like today I remembered I put type 3 rear brakes on it!

Oh well, I've spent far too long reading the forum today, you guys have some seriously nice cars, I've located an old club mate, but more importantly the car will be rolling down the street within the next 10 days ;D ;D ;D

whoops err the pic came out huge, sorry  :-[

nice Paul,

Glad you found your way back to the cal look scene.  Hope you'll enjoy your car again!

Dem

paul i only dug out the feature of that car in the old pre ultra mag the other day.lovely car and a stonker btw.good to see youve got your mojo back ;) will be great to see it out and about.looks very similar to gyles looker on here even the colour.is there much to do or battle scars from the garage era paul? all the best barry

Looking forward to seeing it in the countryside, welcome back.  8)

Welcome to the lounge Paul,do you have more pics of your car?
And,keep us updated.

Hi,

well I've spent the night working on it, fuel tank out cleaned and new filters fitted, new battery and it turned over so Saturday it's oil change, quick strip and clean of the IDA's and then will you all please cross your fingers and hope another cal looker crakles back to life!!! Also ditching the herrod helper. The brakes will need a bleeding, but it everything seems OK  :)

Thankfully it has survived it's garage days well, the smell inside is nice 5 years of coco mats has really given it a good smell!

I haven't got many pictures of it, but will grab some pictures this weekend, I also have to video it running for some mates in Dubai, I've already had the lecture on crank fired fuel injection and how I should ditch the 010 and it's bakelite cap and the 48's  ??? ???

Already been looking at some tuning sites, I dunno, maybe it will have some bigger this coming year  ;D ;D But at this moment I just wanna get it running again.

Have also been rummaging through some photo albums, will post up some pictures of some stuff as I scan!!

Mat, do you have any club decals left?? I still have my dash plaque and tee shirts, and the plates have club name. Max always said I'd come back!

Thanks for the pics Paul,looks like a nice looker you have.Have fun with it.
(ps,from what year is the bug?)

Only 5 years?? What a rookie!  ;D ;D

I parked mine in 1983.  :D

But seriously the Cal-look bug never leaves.

Nice paul! Glad to see the itch hasn't gone away....

Hi Paul :)  Things moved on alot in 5 years havent they :)

cheers richie,uk

Yeah things have moved on, you got stupid fast  :D I have some pictures here of your car pre turbo I found last night, can scan them and put them up, couple are at Santa Pod

'Tis a small world though, took my BMW for a service in Rickmansworth, got talking old BMW's mentioned I had a old cal look bug, next thing is the guy is talking about your car and how you had a 'workshop' down by him  ::)

It's a 1971 1200, with '67 doors, and a '70 decklid, also wears a 1200 decklid badge :)

To sucker-punch the odd Porsche?

 ;D

Richie,

Where can I get the suspension set up around North London??

cheers,
Paul

OK spent yesterday working on it, added fuel, and started the fuel pump, turned it over and over, nothing, then the starter motor died! Let it rest for 10 minutes and tried again, the IDAs popped and the engine coughed. It sounded promising, then at the next flick of the switch it burst into life! It sounded so great, IDA's, straight gears and turbo muffler, it all came flooding back!!

Only problem I have is rear brakes are dead, so rebuild the type 3 drums, thank god I don't need to deal with the big nut on the axle I love the type 3 hub for maintenance. So parts shop in the morning and the brakes will be sorted one evening!

Good to see it (and you) back!

I remember your car from the members section of cal-look.com. I always though it was pretty cool with the herrod helper and ercos. Sounds like you're plugging along well. Post some pictures when you get the car rolling again.

Paul,I always ued Rob@ protune,they were in barnet now moved to Potters bar,he is a friend of Marcos

Cool you got it running again

cheers richie,uk

Thanks Ritchie will check them out  :) them seem ok found your's and Marco's cars in the gallery!!

Doesn't sound like it's going to take long to get it back on the road. Must have been handy having somewhere to put the tea whilst sorting the motor.

 :)

Pulled the Herrod off the car  ;)

I actually quite liked it!  ;D

haha cheers Mat! brakes are proving fun but tonight they are done!!

Paul

Personally I'd have played with all the nipples! Good going Paul, I don't know what got you fired up again but however / whatever COOL!  8)

Did you have a kite crash?  :P

See you soon then.  :)

I climbed too many mountains, bagged almost everything I want in the UK and Alps, although the Himalaya are still calling!  ;) The kiting left me with a smashed back, and the mountain biking has left me destroyed shoulder! The bug never tried to kill me, well........
I just saw the car in the garage, then I was having a clear out, found a pile of Hot VWs, started telling the GF about the bug, the days down at Max's and hey ho here we go again!!!

You wouldn't want me playing with your nipples Mat, vice grips attached tight and smacked with a hammer after a good soaking in brake fluid! Still that only sounds like our trip to Amsterdam, after VW Euro  :o

Saw the guys in my local GSF again this morning and they just said it's like the last ten years never happened with me back in daily for service parts!

I keep saying it, but, it will roll this weekend! I'll have soon replaced everything on the brakes :-\

See you soon

A friend did his shoulder in in the Himalayas, got it reset locally and then had to have it broken apart again when he got home as it had fused back in the wrong place.  :o


Any luck?  :)

Wrenched until late Friday night, started early Saturday to get the MOT and the brakes still had air in the system, so bleed again, went and found a garage that could mot in the afternoon, and then bled the brakes again to be sure. Went to the garage, all work stopped as mechanics asked questions, the owner was gobsmacked by me running IDA's on the road. PASSED!!

So I drove him home, I'd forgot how great a VW can sound.

The gf came round, and was stunned by the bug and shocked by the sound, so we went out. She'd never been in a Beetle, never mind a tuned one. So we cruised a few roads and headed out to a dual carriageway, took out a Maserati of some type! She was hooked. Today we cruised out to a local country park, people looking at what made all the noise, girls smiling  ;) at the lights! Took out a Merc, and then had some real fun, let the kids in the hot hatch who'd been pointing at the lights get a lead before I really punched it! Oh yeah I love this car!!

It looks like this nowadays, hasn't aged bad in the garage! The ones in daylight feature 5 years of dust too!! It's all shiny now!

Oh yeah my neighbours didn't quite know what to make of it, as I tuned the carbs on a quiet Sunday morning  ;D :o 8)

Good looking car Paul  8).

Thanks  :)

Mat, I tidied out some boxes of gear I found in the garage found 5 NOS bakelite dizzy caps for the 010, and some black ones! Was I expecting a rush on these!

I remember how 'exciting' finding a few of these in Holland was, almost as exciting as the nightlife in that town, village, puddle or whatever it was! 

:D


 8)

Remember those pancakes!! No wonder I raided the cheese shop in Amsterdam post enjoying some combustibles  ;D

So Ali bought me the Cal Look by KS a few months back, and I've just reread it, I found out the original bible from the 90s, VW Books just delivered me "California Look: Complete Bible", I've been rummaging through Hot VWs I kept in a box!

Now, looking at a new side exit hidden exhaust system, and have a Hurst roll control sat here needing fitting. Four weeks ago I had a old cal look bug in the garage, now look at me!  ;D ;D ;D