J
jimbihari
Guest
I'm sure many of you are already on your way to Celina, and I hope to
see you there Saturday afternoon where I'll pick up some parts from
Hugh and hopefully get to videotape the luggage and engine
compartments of some of your cars to hafve for reference. I'll be
giving my brother, his wife and 3 boys half a dozen DVD-R copies of
the Celina 2003 video to bribe anyone who will give them a ride in an
Amphicar. Hopefully by September I will be able to give them a ride.
I stopped by my painter's shop and he has my Amphi up on a rotisary
stripped down to bare metal. Some pinhole in the lower rear quarters
but not too bad. I'm having my car painted red. I'd read some posts
from this forum about paint and that interior sealer that Billy
recommends etc. My painter is going to order the red color paint on
Monday and he said I should take one last survey of what brand of paint
everyone used for the color layer or any advice about what brand not
to use. I think he said that the one brand folks had recommended is
not supposed to be for underwater use, but maybe they always say
that? So that's what I'll be bugging folks about on Saturday.
That and looking to see if I can how the water throttle cable hooks in
though I got some really excellent pictures from John of that.
By they way, do folks ever tow their Amphicars with a tow bar?
I know with normal old rear wheel drive cars the transmission had
to have a rear pump or your weren't supposed to tow it long distances.
Is the Amphi towable whithout a trailer? I heard one person in 2003
(I forget who) say you should never use a tow dolly with an Amphi.
Why is that, are they too short to be stable? I'd assume it'd have to
be put on the tow dolly backwards with the rear wheels off the ground.
I've been thinking of creative ways to install my license plates since
I don't think my car ever had plates and I didn't want to drill any
more holes in it to mount the plates. I figure I can make a bracket
that attaches to the front bumper bracket for the front but for the
rear plate I was thinking of using a bag of 50 neodynium magnets.
When we first bought these magnets for our class back in the early 90s
they were $40 for two tiny magnets. Now you can by a bag of 50
neodynium magnets (about the size of 1/4 washers only twice as thick)
for about $20 from www.teachersource.com. I had 3 bags of them
sitting around so I put 50 of the magnets around the perimeter of my
license plate and a few in the middle and stuck them to a piece of
painted sheet metal (from an old dryer) at my Dad's house. Other than
the fact that the tips of my fingers were almost cut off when the
plate slammed against the sheet metal and there was no adjusting the
position once you get the plate within an inch of the metal it is to
stick to, I think it might not be a bad idea. Sure, 4 screws might be
a better idea, but....
I tried hosing the license plate off the dryer sheet metal, tried
pulling it off, but I think I might need to get a crow bar and probably
bend the plate all to heck to get it unattached (those magnets were
cutting my nieces and nephews fingers when they snapped together)
I thought I might put a thin layer of plastic over the back of the
magnet covered plate before I let it snap against my Amphi. I wonder
if repeated waves would start to slide the magnets. I'm not sure that
they rust being neodynium. They sure are strong and I don't know how
I'll get my IMABOAT plate off of that washing machine sheet metal.
Maybe a fire hose would do it?
Jim Bihari
see you there Saturday afternoon where I'll pick up some parts from
Hugh and hopefully get to videotape the luggage and engine
compartments of some of your cars to hafve for reference. I'll be
giving my brother, his wife and 3 boys half a dozen DVD-R copies of
the Celina 2003 video to bribe anyone who will give them a ride in an
Amphicar. Hopefully by September I will be able to give them a ride.
I stopped by my painter's shop and he has my Amphi up on a rotisary
stripped down to bare metal. Some pinhole in the lower rear quarters
but not too bad. I'm having my car painted red. I'd read some posts
from this forum about paint and that interior sealer that Billy
recommends etc. My painter is going to order the red color paint on
Monday and he said I should take one last survey of what brand of paint
everyone used for the color layer or any advice about what brand not
to use. I think he said that the one brand folks had recommended is
not supposed to be for underwater use, but maybe they always say
that? So that's what I'll be bugging folks about on Saturday.
That and looking to see if I can how the water throttle cable hooks in
though I got some really excellent pictures from John of that.
By they way, do folks ever tow their Amphicars with a tow bar?
I know with normal old rear wheel drive cars the transmission had
to have a rear pump or your weren't supposed to tow it long distances.
Is the Amphi towable whithout a trailer? I heard one person in 2003
(I forget who) say you should never use a tow dolly with an Amphi.
Why is that, are they too short to be stable? I'd assume it'd have to
be put on the tow dolly backwards with the rear wheels off the ground.
I've been thinking of creative ways to install my license plates since
I don't think my car ever had plates and I didn't want to drill any
more holes in it to mount the plates. I figure I can make a bracket
that attaches to the front bumper bracket for the front but for the
rear plate I was thinking of using a bag of 50 neodynium magnets.
When we first bought these magnets for our class back in the early 90s
they were $40 for two tiny magnets. Now you can by a bag of 50
neodynium magnets (about the size of 1/4 washers only twice as thick)
for about $20 from www.teachersource.com. I had 3 bags of them
sitting around so I put 50 of the magnets around the perimeter of my
license plate and a few in the middle and stuck them to a piece of
painted sheet metal (from an old dryer) at my Dad's house. Other than
the fact that the tips of my fingers were almost cut off when the
plate slammed against the sheet metal and there was no adjusting the
position once you get the plate within an inch of the metal it is to
stick to, I think it might not be a bad idea. Sure, 4 screws might be
a better idea, but....
I tried hosing the license plate off the dryer sheet metal, tried
pulling it off, but I think I might need to get a crow bar and probably
bend the plate all to heck to get it unattached (those magnets were
cutting my nieces and nephews fingers when they snapped together)
I thought I might put a thin layer of plastic over the back of the
magnet covered plate before I let it snap against my Amphi. I wonder
if repeated waves would start to slide the magnets. I'm not sure that
they rust being neodynium. They sure are strong and I don't know how
I'll get my IMABOAT plate off of that washing machine sheet metal.
Maybe a fire hose would do it?
Jim Bihari
