Untitled - Air Riders VW Club

If you can only take off a couple weekends this summer, these are the two to
get.
AUGUST
August 22, Friday Edmonton, Alberta
Go Carts and Bon Fire
Air Riders meets at Whitemud Amusement Park (7411-51 ave) around 6pm
for go-cart racing and then cruise out to either Kurt's or Fred and Monicas for
a bon fire. Everyone coming will be notified at the park. If you would like to
come to the bon fire only e-mail me and I will let you know as soon as it is
decided.
August 23, Saturday Edmonton, Alberta
BBQ and Cruise
Westside Autos Customer Appreciation/ Air Riders BBQ starts at 6pm
(10010-168 St) bring a dessert or salad if possible and remember to take
home your dishes. Cruise line up starts about 7:45 for a cruise through the
city and down Whyte Ave for the end of the fringe. Some people gather after
the cruise for drinks Location TBA before cruise. PS. Don't stay out too late,
speaking from personal experience, Sundays show is too fun too miss!!!
August 24, Sunday Edmonton, Alberta
End of Summer 6 (the main event of the year)
Held at Potters Surf shop 10336-111 st. Registration is from 9-11, get there
early to park with cars in you same class, spots can't be held without preregistration. Show starts at 11am with events running all day long for children
and adults. This show usually wraps up at 4pm and since it is such a large
show anyone who can stick around and help clean up is greatly appreciated.
We are still looking for volunteers for the day, mostly cooks and kids
co-ordinators, please lend the club an hour to help out if possible. Post
a reply on the forum or see me the morning of the show so I can let
others know. I'll be setting up the food.
August 29- September 1, Weekend Half Moon Lake Alberta
Air Riders Camping Trip, End of summer beach bash
$17.00 a night per camper / tent. Register on the forum under official events.
Hopefully this time Mother Nature will co-operate and we can continue with
the scheduled events.
More details to follow on events as they get closer, keep checking on the
Airriders website. www.airrriders.ca under the forums section, official events
heading.
Meetings are held at Potters Surf Shop 10336-111 St. from 7-9
Wednesdays September 3, 17
Drinks and burgers are available for a fair donation
MY GTI
So here is the scoop, I am the proud owner of a 16v GTI. yet most of
you have not seen it. You will all get a gander at the ugly rust bucket at the
End of Summer Show. It is the project I have most of my money into yet you
would not be able to tell. Here is a list of mods I have done so far and they
are in chronological order. The 1st weekend I owned the car Lanny
"NimbusGTI" and I stripped the car of all the
unneeded crap in the rear of the car seats, carpets, restraints, speakers, and
other unneeded odds and ends. I drove it like this for a day and it was a hoot,
so then I installed an Eibach sport line suspension setup, Groat road never
new what hit it when I was done. I liked the car, It had spunk so to spruce it
up a bit I removed the door mouldings and it started to look better. This is
where I decided to make the car a big project.
So I put in and FK suspension setup last week and plus I have
Sparco seats to go in soon. I broke a lexan window while attempting to pop
it in so I will cut another on and install them when I spray the car. harnesses
soon to come. I have a badgeless grille with 7" rounds plus bad boy grill ( all
will go on after the car is done.) M3 style lights and rear valance will also be
installed later. Big bumpers are on and a homebrew VR6 chin spoiler awaits. I
have tracked down audi handles but I am still looking for cup style mirrors to
fit the old school doors.
I want to get a half roll cage to add to the auto cross effect, shaved
filler, and tow hook recess in the rear bumper. plus a few other tricks up my
sleeve. take a peek at the End of Summer 6 show and let me know what you
think. Give me a few suggestions if you wish and have some serious fun.
Thanks for reading, C U L8R Bill. A.K.A
Firestarter. or the milk drinker
By Jason Kuharchuk
On Sunday July 6th, the Regina Vee Dub Club held their 15th Annual Show & Shine in Beautiful
Downtown Regina and this time I was able to bring out a few more Air Rider members with me this year.
On the evening of July 4th, we all met at the A&W on Whyte Ave to start our trip. Our destination,
Regina Sask. Soon after we all met, we hit the highway, and after a couple of hours driving, we hit the
border-town of Lloydminster to stop for fuel, and (even though not serious) encountered our first set of
problems. After stopping, Kombi found that his starter in the Squareback was a little warm and wouldn't
engage, as well as a little puddle of oil was found underneath Gord's Bus. At this point in time Mike
wanted to replace the bulb for his high beam in his MK IV Golf, and had a tough time getting the cover
behind his headlight back in place. After struggling with that, we fired up the vehicles (we just had to
jump the solenoid on the starter for the Squareback) and headed for North Battleford where we found a
hotel for the night.
The next morning we continued our trip to Regina. The drive from North Battleford to Saskatoon was
uneventful until we were about 10 km away from Saskatoon when Jay 's first problem arose. The
throttle cable broke in Blackie and we pulled off to the side of the road to replace the cable. The new
cable went on fairly easy and we were back on our way. Once we hit Saskatoon, we stopped for gas
and a quick bite to eat. Back on the road, our first stop was to fix Jay's throttle return spring on his car,
as it was to tight, and was worried that it might break the only throttle cable he had left for his car. When
we got to the town of Chamberlain (about an hour before Regina) we stopped to give our cars and us a
little rest since it was a warm day. While we were there, we had a little Tribute to Singer Barry White,
who sadly passed away that weekend, by playing one of his best known songs that Gord happened to
have with him. After that we were back on the road again for our final destination.
Once we hit Regina, we checked in to our hotel, and then a short drive out to Regina Club Members
Larry & Fran Passmore's home in White City where they hosted the BBQ the night before the show.
Once we were there we all met some new people and I saw some familiar faces from the years
previous that I was out there. Also, that is were we met up with some other Air Rider members that
went down for the show. There were ton of people there, and both the driveway and street were filled
with VW's. While we were there, we got to see Larry's beautiful car collection, which included a late
60's Porsche 912 as well as a classic Porsche 356. After the BBQ wrapped up, we headed back to
Regina to wash our cars to get them ready for tomorrow's main event.
Sunday morning we woke up to an overcast and very windy day. We packed up, checked out of the
hotel and headed off to the show. Even though the weather didn't completely co-operate with us, it
was still a fantastic show with about 60 cars entered for display, mainly air-cooled. We met a ton of
people from the Saskatoon Club, as well as the newly formed Winnipeg Club. And as always, the
Regina Club were excellent hosts and made us feel at home.
After the show ended, we started to head back, and that is when the real problems started to begin. It
wasn't more then 5 minutes outside of Regina that Gord's bus started to pop, sputter and lose power.
We pulled over and Gord started to perform quick fixes by adjusting the carbs and timing. We must
have done that a number of different times with really no success. After about two and a half hours of
driving and adjusting, driving and adjusting, we finally made it to Chamberlain (100 km out of Regina),
and decided to let the bus cool down and give it a full tune up. Timing was reset back to its original
position, carbs were re-synchronized and valves were adjusted. It was in the valves that we found the
main source of the problem. It turned out that 3 of the 4 exhaust valves were so tight that the feeler
gauge would not fit in. After correcting them, the valve covers went back on, and Gord took it on a test
run. Once he got back, the bus was running better and we headed straight non-stop for Saskatoon.
Since that, the drive went without a hitch except for me, my car bottomed out on the highway while
changing lanes, showering Jay and Blackie with sparks for a brief moment, but no damage was done
to my car. Since it was around 2 am when we reached Saskatoon and considering that it was around 7
hours since we left Regina, we all were extremely tired and found a truck stop were we retired for the
night in our vehicles. The next morning we were back on the road headed for Edmonton. Our only
stop coming back was in Lloydminster to fill up and then to have a quick bite to eat (BBQ) in the
Walmart parking lot.
The Air Riders ended up doing very well at the show, with most of us coming back with awards.
Vincent Braun took home Best H2O Engine Detail as well as H2O Daily Driver 90+ with the Blue Jetta
IV. Dave took home Best Type 3 Stock with his Squareback. Gord brought home the People's Choice
Award for his blue and white 66 Bus and I received the Award for Longest Distance which I have
determined more as a club award for all of us that attended and have donated it to the club.
All in all, we had a fun time, even though with all the problems we had. I would like to send Thanks out
to the Regina Vee Dub Club for their hospitality, Doug Peters for showing us around Regina and
looking after us, Larry and Fran Passmore for having us over for the BBQ. Special thanks go out to
Trevor and Steve from the Saskatoon Club for all of their help during our troublesome times.
I can't wait to head out to both the Saskatoon and Regina shows next year.
Here we are again, another month gone by and another bunch of shows attended.
Last month I was privileged and crazy enough to make a trip to Regina in one
weekend. This included attending a barbeque and a show and still returning in time
to report to work at 8:00 AM Monday morning. I won't go into details about speed
limits or the braking of any provincial highway laws, but it still took me a few days to
fully recover from an exciting weekend and long drive.
This month I wanted to write an article that was different from the other articles that I
have contributed so far, but as a result of the events of Club VeeDub's "Das Volks"
show in Calgary this past weekend, I am prompted once again to write about a topic
that is prevalent in VW culture. Yes, you are probably getting bored of hearing about
this but once again; I am impressed to write about the bond that owning VW creates.
I wasn't sure what I was going to do this past weekend and I made a spontaneous
decision to head to Calgary Saturday afternoon to take in CVD's annual barbeque
and cruise to Cochran for ice cream. As soon as I arrived at Concept-1 I was greeted
with friendly handshakes and nice to see you again's from a bunch of guys and a gal
with funny green and white plates. As it turns out the Saskatchewan clubs were able
to make a showing for most of the weekend. The barbeque didn't get rained out and
the cruise to Cochran was a little wet, but mostly for the VW Thing that didn't pack a
top. It was a great cruise with about 30 Dubs in attendance in various shapes, sizes,
and conditions.
After the cruise we attended the Rusty Cage. It was there that Duff, CVD's
President, told me that I was more than welcome to spend the night at his house if
needed. I wasn't sure if he had checked with his new bride or not but I happily
accepted his offer to crash at his house. The plot only thickened ad I learned that the
Saskatchewan guys were also staying there. Let me just state for the record that
Saskatchewan boys know how to party. In fact, as the saying went that night, we got
our drink on.
To make things interesting, because you have to have a story, as we drove home and
just a block and a half from Duff's house, we were pulled over by the police who
mistakenly thought that Steve's taillights didn't work. When it was explained to the
cautious officer by Steve that his Beetle was running a 6-volt system and that he
hadn't had the time to upgrade it to a 12-volt system, the officer replied with a boorish
"Uh, Oh."
Well, I'm looking forward to what the End of Summer will bring and the payment of a
few debts I owe to some guys from Saskatchewan and the one I definitely owe Duff
and his wife for letting 3 guys roll in at 2:30 in the morning. Somehow, I have a feeling
though that none of them will accept anything as payment. Then again, those
Saskatchewan guys sure do like to party and by the time you read this I may have
already paid my debt in full.
See you at the show
DUBLDWN
"You always DUBLDWN on eleven"
Once you have done a few performance modifications to your VW,
you will always wonder if they made your car accelerate faster, handle better or stop
quicker. Sometimes you may think that your car is faster but wouldn't it be nice to know if
there actually is a difference. There are a few ways to find out.
Some of you may have heard of the G-Tech pro performance meter. It is a
device that plugs into your cigarette lighter and has the ability to measure acceleration,
handling G's and even braking distances among other things. Buying one of these units
would prove a good investment because it would give you the ability to test your car after
every mod whether it is minor or major. The only downfall to the g-tech is that you will
have to find some open road where you can drive flat out. This can be illegal and may
cost you a traffic ticket which is not cheap in any way.
I am planning some major engine mods in the winter. So I thought that
it would be nice to get some baseline numbers for my car before I start my mods. Almost
every Friday Bud Park offers street legals which is a night where almost anybody can
race there car down the quarter mile track. A couple Fridays ago Bill, Steve and I decided
that we should give drag racing a try.
We arrived at the track at around 7 pm. We waited in line for about 30
minutes then we paid our $20 fee and headed to the pits area to do a few last minute
things before we headed to the tech inspection line. The tech line moves very quickly.
Tech is very easy to pass as long as your car is not falling apart. After we pass tech we
head up to the line to start racing. The closer I get to the front of the line the more nervous
I get. Finally I get up to the front of line and follow the instructions of the attendant at the
front of the track. He guides me in the left lane. I had never done this before so I am a little
worried that I am going to do something wrong. In my head I am thinking of a computer
drag racing game that I think is pretty accurate. Thank god the game is accurate. I slowly
pull up to the light and the first staging light turns on so I pull up a little further till the
second staging light turns on. The next thing I know the yellow lights are counting down
then bang, the light turns green. All I can hear is the exhaust coming out of the big
domestic beast beside me. I release the clutch and hammer the gas some how I miss
second gear and my engine screams to 7000rpm. I hit all the other gears and think it may
have been my nerves that made me miss second. After the race I drive back and collect
my time slip. I'm too nervous to look at it. I get back to the pits and take a peek. I just ran a
mid 17 second run.
I head back into the lineup to have another go at it. My second run was flawless I hit all the
gears and end up with mid 16 second times for the rest of the evening. I have still not
mastered the perfect launch method so I think I should be able to break into the mid 15's
in September. It was also very warm that night so maybe a cooler night would yield
quicker times. Racing on the track was a blast. The three of us all had a great time. I will
post some videos in the near future.
When you consider the cost of $20 and the fact that you cannot get a
ticket it is the best bang for your buck. We have decided that we would like to go the track
again before the snow flies. It really is a good way to find out if your mods really did work.
The only downfall is that it does not test your handling or braking abilities. If you are
interested watch the forum for more details. I would love to see a ton of dubs at the track
next month. After the first run all the nervousness goes away. Oh yeah all the muscle car
guys are cool and provide good conversation between races.
Drivers wanted.