one thing that i can depend on

SOUND SYSTEM!!!

Since the original door cards in the Ami had already been cut for speakers and i like music...
i decided i needed to install an absurd system.







I custom built the "head unit" to run and charge an ipod, there is a standard ipod cable wired to the car battery with rca line outs. the line outs are split to 3 line level control knobs to control my front and rear channels along with a subwoofer. all five speakers are coming from a single 5 channel kenwood amp with crossover control. My front speakers are a set of 5.5" kenwood components with an in-line high pass filter. In the rear is a pair of kenwood 3 way 4x10" speakers and in the trunk is a pioneer 10" subwoofer in an enclosed box with the amp and a capacitor mounted on it. By using this speaker configuration and amp along with three separate line level controls i can simulate having basic audio controls. I can adjust the crossovers to send more highs to the front and all the lows to the sub so i can manipulate the  bass and treble controls by adjusting the relative volume of those speakers i get the same fader control to the front and rear channels but what i do not have is a balance adjustment. That's not all that important since the cabin is so narrow. Between these basic controls and the built in eq settings on the ipod i think i am getting very decent audio quality.

I enclosed the line level controls in  a plastic box that i designed and built in solidworks and then printed the part on a dimension 3-d printer in black ABS. I adapted the controls to run correct ami6 knobs along with a proper on/off switch and a later model oil pressure warning light to indicate power on.


driver's door

passenger door

view of the rear speaker box and subwoofer

chevron details on the ports.

under the back seat

in the trunk

I am very happy with the project it looks and sounds very clean...it's also very loud.




the new emblem installed

alternative air strikes again

Both Tamara in the super beetle and Kim in the ami8 took trophies at the whiskey cafe tonight. Also present were, the ami6 and Ron Straub with his amazing Tatra 603 (air-cooled v8), more pictures after i get them off the camera but for now here are the happy winners.






more images from the show:

the winners





the whole crew


playing with some funny lenses










other stuff

Alternative Air!!!

This weekend we attended the All air-cooled gathering at the swim and sport club in Flanders, NJ.
It was a fun show with a lot of great people, thanks to the
Central Jersey Volkswagen society for organizing the show.


Kim met us at our house at 7:30 so the ami6 and ami8 could travel together.



The view from the Ami8


on the fun and winding road in to the SSC


When we arrived the organizers didn't know how to class us or where to put us, so they had us park in the Corvair coral, fortunately the only corvair in attendance was parked on a trailer in the vendor area. Our class was later changed to "Alternative Air"



we happily accepted the company of a Honda 600 and a fellow citroen owner with a GS in to our new class.



Although our class was small it was still exciting to see the Amis take first and second (6 first, 8 second)




I guess there were a few other interesting cars at the show.

some early




some late



some fast


some slow


some clean


some dirty


some things


and

some WTF?








more pics

bathtime

i gave the paint on the ami some much needed attention and used a clay bar to clean 30 years worth of french dirt off the car then wash and wax, then polished all the metal and treated the rubber.




I even cleaned the engine compartment

mounting the coil

This weekend i wanted to get rid of the ugly yellow Harley Davidson coil that was violating the engine compartment of my Ami 6 but when i dug through the box of parts that came with the car i found that i only had 1 functioning coil mount. Normally i would have used a bunch of high tech software and machinery to clone the piece. But it was a holiday weekend and i didn't feel like putting on shoes and driving to the office so i made do with what i had in the garage.



oh no, only one functioning mount


first i carved out a crude mold from a chunk of wax


then i poured in some two part resin


the resulting part was not pretty


but with a little carving, sanding and massaging i was going to be able to get pretty close


the original mount



the home made version


mounted and inplace


after getting the coil in, i wanted to check the points gap and set the timing.
It's nice that the points are located conveniently behind the cooling fan.