In reply to StilettoSS :
Those Pedrini's are hot.
In reply to StilettoSS :
Those Pedrini's are hot.
Haha, I might do it now just because you like them Stampie! When are you getting a Ghia? Like preach said I'm a good car enabler. 
If I do use them, how should I restore them? They weigh next to nothing, so that should help on hills. Here are some already restored (first sandblasted only).
Sandblasted and clear coated:
Honestly this last option looks sexy as hell to me! Thoughts?
Stampie said:In reply to StilettoSS :
Those Pedrini's are hot.
I got a fantastic deal on those as well. Paid $150 for a set of 4.
Fun story as well. Found them around my birthday while on a work trip to CT. Wanted some alloys for my steel wheeled 914 and these were for sale so I bought them. Found out later that these do not really work on a 1974 as they are for '72 and earlier due to hub-centric reasons.
On the way to get them I am tooling up the highway in my Tacoma, music blasting, nice August day. I happen to look in the rearview and see cars swerving all over the place. I though I just missed a deer and they were swerving to not hit it. Ended up being my underbed spare tire.
When I got home from that trip there was a Toyota recall notice in my mail pile about the holder rusting through and dropping the spare. Weird.
In reply to StilettoSS :
Needs these or similar on a set of center caps for the alloys:
In reply to StilettoSS :
I could see the last with body color center but cast/clearcoat where that one is chrome.
That's what we were thinking too. Not to mention I have no clue where locally I could have something chromed. At least we have some good powder coating places and preach has a friend with a powdercoating setup. It won't be anytime too soon, but when we do get them done I will post up some pics 
Are they aluminum, or magnesium? That might change your options.
They are an aluminum alloy, which from what I've read shouldn't be a problem to powdercoat.
StilettoSS said:They are an aluminum alloy, which from what I've read shouldn't be a problem to powdercoat.
Pedrini's are aluminum , 4 bolt Mahles are aluminum , but the 5 bolt Mahle Gasburners (same style) are Magnesium .
What do you do with the power coat in the lug bolt holes , I have heard you want to mask them because the powder coat will crack off and loosen the lug nuts / bolts
https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/914_wheel_types/914_wheel_types.htm
I had my old Audi TT's fat 5's powder coated and they did a fabulous job. No coating in the lug bolt holes, I imagine they mask them off, but that's a guess. They were even able to powder coat the Audi badge in black while the rest was a nice silvery gray. Pic below, but unfortunately the rims are dirty in the picture. 
The rims were pretty rough, but came out nice.
Just took this for a spin. So nice getting in a classic and starting the first try with 2 pumps of the gas.
Running into a problem with the Ghia a few times lately. It will start fine, but if it is still "cold" it will stall at a red light. It appears to be some sort of cold start issue? Not sure how to address this, any insights would be appreciated! It does run fine once warmed up. 
In reply to StilettoSS :
This is a plague with all carburetted cars on today's fuel. Make sure the heat riser works on the air filter. If you are running non stock air filter(s) you just have to live with it. It helps to have 3 feet, but makes you brush up your heel & toe! Ethanol free fuel helps, if you are already running ethanol free you should be able to adjust the choke and fast idle to work, and maybe even work without the heat riser. Trouble is you have a brief time window to adjust before it is warmed up enough to run OK.
If it is the stock engine and carb then it could be that the electric choke is not working properly or is not adjusted correctly. A lot of "summer cars" have the choke adjusted way open when cold. Sometimes it is even un-plugged. I've seen it a lot.
Thanks Turner & Frog, gives me a point to start! It's a good excuse to do some general maintenance too. Going to start today with the valves if I can find the feeler gauges. *sigh*
Thank you two for the back up. I said choke first and see what else the carb was doing, but she also has to do some regular maintenance to it as we do not know how great the builder was. I am being cautious but the guy seems legit in his detail. Plus she may have to lash the valves or something on the side of the road someday so bump the learning curve.
Ran great since we got it in August. She takes it to the store one day and has an issue. We get it home and the symptoms were a cold carb (about 50*) and a flooding issue (1st carb-ed car ever).
I took it for a spin around a 2 mile block and it stalled at the first 2 lights and made the last one when it was green. Idled fine when I parked it.
It's been 25 years since I had a running ac vw. It's slowly coming back to me.
Mrs. has wanted to do this solo since she decided she wanted one. I even walked away when she bought it and said it's a you problem. So glad she bought it and has so much interest in it.
I got to get on my 914 so we can cruise in two Karmann air-cooleds.
In reply to preach :
I love 914s but I think she might be ahead of you with a Ghia. Just saying. Carbed engines do take a learning curve but once you get used to it and it's set up correct they are fine.
Hi all! Getting excited that it's almost time to take the Ghia out of winter storage, yay!
I have a long list of things to do to it, even though it's in great shape for the age of the vehicle. I bought the 7" headlights that someone posted up on the forum for cheap from Toyota, so I will be installing them asap. Also got a few more cosmetic items.
I have a question for all you classic car folks. I am looking to upgrade my lighting (12v system) pretty much everywhere and somewhere I heard someone say this is a good company for classic car specific LEDs. I bought clear front turn signal lenses so I need to get some amber bulbs as well as brake/tail lights. I also need to take a look at the back up lights and see what they're all about. I don't know, they could be LEDs already. Hard to see from inside the car lol
https://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/collections
If anyone has experience with them or any advice I would appreciate it! 
My Ghia is out of storage and made the 2 hour ride home thanks to Mr. preach! She pretty much started right up without assistance, which was a bonus. Now she just needs a good cleaning, a driver's side front wheel bearing, and a general tune up. Pictures to come!
Got my first set of my very own mechanics tools and a tool cart. Put it together yesterday and finished stocking it today.
Took the long way to the beer store today:
Looking like a retro racer right now with the hubcaps off and faded drag race numbers on it. I guess she is into the look as she has not put it back in about a month.
It was not surprisingly fast. Haha.
Dub Shop in Monroe WA can help with that time slip. They have some pretty cool efi kits and turbo and supercharging. That's if the wife want's to go faster. Other than that it look's like a nice little back roads beach trip kind of car.
Started doing a bit of maintenance to the old girl. Of course I am there to help and when I am in the shop pimp shoes happen:
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