Saving the "Rat" - Restoring a 69T

[Wiese]

Awesome story! Keep us updated with your build story please.

One thing to consider is that if the paint is original please do not paint it, but polish and buff it. It may not look as nice as a new paint job, but it will be cheaper and also keep the car original. Man, what a lucky find!

Cheers,
Kay

[naparsei]

If you don't mind (and he doesn't), please PM with Obi Wan's name. I am in Santa Fe, and would like to keep in touch with other longhood owners in NM.
Thanks,
Alex

[privatepang]

Great story so far! I have a b6 A4 and a 75 911s! Loving both as I'm sure you are

[ddinham]

naparsei,
There are a bunch of us here in Abq & SF

Dana

[naparsei]

Dana,
I just never see any! I am in the process of retiring, so I should have more time for P-Car activities, both in Santa Fe and down in ABQ. Look forward to seeing you at some point.
Alex

[kkinzli]

Thanks! Glad you like it so far. The paint is not original. It was sand beige but was repainted to red now faded to tangerine. I am currently stripping paint and hope to have pictures up to the current progress up within a few weeks.

Originally Posted by Wiese

Awesome story! Keep us updated with your build story please.

One thing to consider is that if the paint is original please do not paint it, but polish and buff it. It may not look as nice as a new paint job, but it will be cheaper and also keep the car original. Man, what a lucky find!

Cheers,
Kay

[kkinzli]

Dana,

Thanks for the PM. One of the reasons Pelican is amazing is the support from people like you. As you can see in the pictures I got the headlight trim!

[kkinzli]

I do love both cars! As long as I have at least one of them running I am happy. I have used my A4 as a tow vehicle for a pop up camper, our 16 foot boat and moving a 2500 lb Uhaul to Florida. I have also had the A4 up many jeep roads fishing in Colorado - I have a giant gash in my oil pan covered with JB Weld to prove it! The JB weld has held for the last 140K!!

Originally Posted by privatepang

Great story so far! I have a b6 A4 and a 75 911s! Loving both as I'm sure you are

[kkinzli]

Originally Posted by naparsei

Dana,
I just never see any! I am in the process of retiring, so I should have more time for P-Car activities, both in Santa Fe and down in ABQ. Look forward to seeing you at some point.
Alex

Hi Alex and Dana,

There is a nice group of people that meet in Bernalillo at the Range for breakfast once a month. I think their official name is Sandia 356 Club. Obi Wan is a regular member there. I will check with him if it is okay to send you his name.

[ddinham]

I think you just " spilled the beans". I can imagine who that is.
It is a small world.

If you ever get back to town and need parts or help, let me know.

Dana

[kkinzli]

Once I was back in Albuquerque and using the car as a daily driver I needed to address several things. This included rebuilding the brakes and replacing the front driver side strut as the bottom had become enlarged and it was impossible to align the car.

[kkinzli]

A month after getting to Albuquerque I met my wife at a UNM function. Our first official date was to Satellite Coffee and after I drove her to her car in the "Rat" . She said she loved it as the popping noises from the engine reminded her of Trabants growing up in Budapest. I immediately thought I need to rebuild the carbs! After dropping her at her car I drove about 1 mile before the car unexpectedly died in the middle of Lomas Blvd. I pushed the car into a side neighborhood and tried and tried to get it started. No luck so I had my roomate tow me back to the place I was living at. Upon further inspection it turned out that the previous owner had put Carquest points in the dizzy. These points had been jammed into the distributor and basically exploded and there were little metal particles everywhere under the cap. This was my first experience with points and working on a distributor and I did not have a gage tool. I was able to pick up the correct points at Foriegn Aide (A cool VW junk yard that no longer exists) and set them using a business card. I didn't have a timing light so I just moved the dizzy around until the engine sounded right The car proceeded to run fine without further adjustment for the next 3 months until I got the carbs rebuilt and finally bought a timing light! Through this experience I learned that I have an S distributor

[kkinzli]

During the early summer of 2009 I was able to also replace the speedo cable and rebuild the speedometer. It was not turning over and with some help from Peter Dewitt at Albuquerque Speedometer ( A really nice guy with tons of experience) I had a running Speedometer and Odometer! He was also able to rebuild my Kienzle clock!

[kkinzli]

During this time I also did my first valve adjustment and replaced the old valve covers with turbo covers.

[kkinzli]

I was also able to put the lettering on the back! The license plate is just the coolest coincidence. 696-PGP (Sixty Nine Six Cylinder - Pretty Good Porsche!) Thank you ABQ MVD Express!

[Evans, Marv]

Great work and keep it up along with keeping us up to date. You also have S front calipers & bumper trim - at least on the rear, don't remember about the front right now. I'm wondering if the calipers & dizzy were add-ons. Maybe the car came with S options. Seems like every other person on here owns a '69 (not that there is anything wrong with that). In your early pictures and the underside above, I was surprised it looked like the car didn't have too many rust issues. Have you taken the turn signal and tail light assemblies out to check for rust in those areas? Glad you snagged the car before it sat in that field any longer. We'll all appreciate following along, and you will no doubt appreciate the help & advice you get here.

[kugelfischer]

Excellent story so far! A good friend of mine has a Tangerine '69 T very similar to yours. Really great looking car.
Also, nice score on the S dizzy (and the S front brakes). I'm wondering if you might have an S motor given the red fan shroud. Post up your engine seriial if you aren't sure and the folks here will surely decode it for you.

Cheers

[kidrock]

what a great score, very nice example. I've been reading lately that those steel wheels are becoming very hard to find, I have to believe they have at least an intrinsic value. Do you plan on keeping them on the car, or are you going to Fuchs or Ultralites?

[naparsei]

Originally Posted by kkinzli

Hi Alex and Dana,

There is a nice group of people that meet in Bernalillo at the Range for breakfast once a month. I think their official name is Sandia 356 Club. Obi Wan is a regular member there. I will check with him if it is okay to send you his name.

Thanks for the heads up. I've been once (to Club breakfast - many times to the Range, you can't go there enough times!) with my 356. I'm retiring by the summer time, so I should have more time for fun, instead of all work, all the time.

[JT912]

Are those aluminum front calipers? They look different than others I've seen.