AirSpeed VW Community Forums
General Forums => Member's VW's => Topic started by: owdlvr on December 09, 2011, 12:10:14 PM
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I suppose it's time to start a project thread for my 1971 1302. The project has been called the "not so secret, secret project" for the past six months inside my circle of friends who have known about it. It's taken a while to get going, more then a couple of cars to find the right one, but I wanted to ensure I had a project thread which was moving forward at a rapid rate instead of sliding down the thread list for months at a time. Initially this thread will move at lightning pace, as I get the Airspeed forum caught up to where my build is actually at...and then it will slow down to a daily update pace. I'm committed to a minimum of one hour a day on it, and progress is incredibly rapid.
One of the biggest issues with my '69 project car was the fact that I essentially daily-drive the car, and thus could never set it aside for the time needed to really do it up properly. True, we had a tonne of fun with the car, but to get it to "the next stage" would have required taking it off the road for at least 6 months. Six months without driving an air-cooled? No way!!
So, the hunt for a new model began. For reasons which will eventually become obvious, I needed to get a Super Beetle for the next step in my bug evolution. The 1303 had quite a number of positive elements which should have put it in the lead as "the car" to buy…and indeed I looked a number of them…but the truth is I cannot STAND that dashboard. I almost went for one of the fiberglass 911-style dashboards to make it passable, but in the end it just wouldn't work for me. It had to be flat dash, and thus a 1302…preferably a 1971 model!
Since finding a solid example of a single year of beetle isn't the easiest of things to do, I naturally started by simply finding a floor pan. While re-doing the pan I figured I could look for a solid body. And hey, having a spare pan (if you can store it) is never a bad thing!
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One spare '73 pan, ready to go under the knife.
-Dave
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I truly hate spot welds…but everyone likes photos. So while I complain about the detail work…here's some photos :)
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Well, that's a heck of lot easier! Sandblasting won't pull up the seam sealer unless you really work at it...thus, I simply took off the stuff I have to and left the seam sealer I don't _need_ to remove.
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Four hours of blasting, 200lbs of crushed glass, and it's not quite finished yet! Pretty funny sweeping up an inch-thick layer of sand off the shop floor at the end of the night though.
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...just in case, no I wasn't blasting it in the same garage as the '66 mini!
-Dave
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Grinding and Sandblasting on the spine are now complete. I've started welding up the various holes and spots that require attention, but in doing so discovered a more significant problem. I knew the tow-hook area was rough when I started on the pan, but blasting and grinding revealed that the problem is deeper then I first thought.
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To the right of the tow hook you can see two nut inserts, with a channel between them. For non Super people, those nut inserts are for the sway-bar brace, the channel for the sway bar. Simply patching the holes isn't enough, not to mention the channel should look straight, like the other side:
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…No photos, yet, but I managed to source out a complete frame head. I think I'm going to section in just the corner/parts I need. If I was going to swap the full frame head I would likely go with a reproduction unit, but would still have to Jig the whole assembly before cutting it apart. In the meantime though, I couldn't resist doing a test fit...
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Well, further progress on the pan. I gather this looks incredibly boring, but there is 4-8 hours of work between posts! haha. No photos of the various welded bits, but I did get around to cleaning the paint of the pans.
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Started doing some fitting to get them to sit where they need to be. I'm actually quite happy, the front portion of each side is within 1/4" of where it needs to be, and the rear is within 1/2". A bit of trimming and tapping with the body hammers tomorrow and I should be welding them in. Once that's done, I have a few more tricks I need to worry about and then I will be able to paint the pan.
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-Dave
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I love Cleco's...mind you, I should have bought 10 more and it would have been perfect.
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Pans are now welded to the chassis...onto the next item! Only 64-billion more items to go :P
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(Pan was flipped upside down for the final weld points)
-Dave
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I acquired this donor front end from Rob and Art and the secret AVR used parts stash.
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Well, turns out the donor frame head had one little problem, at some point one of the bolts must of snapped, and the fix was to simply weld the sway bar mount to the frame head.
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My original plan was to do a big section of the frame head, leaving me lots of mounting bolts and measuring points to work from. I assumed that I could just separate the halves at the spot welds, and weld in a nut from the back for the mount...but once I ground off the sway bar mount I discovered it was already hacked up pretty badly. Onto plan B! Well, truthfully I didn't really have a plan for how to get around it, and probably started cutting with the angle grinder far earlier then I should have. But sometimes you get lucky, or I'm just improving. It took me one big cut and two fine adjustments to get it to where I was happy.
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It's not perfect, but only because I had to leave a little bit of the crunched sheet metal on my pan in order to keep the mounting nut. As far as the front suspension should be concerned though, it's all lined up. Unfortunately, that's where the good news ends. Normally I use POR15 for projects like this, but a number of factors had me switch to Zero Rust for this pan. Brush marks with POR15 disappear and it dries with a hard glossy shine. Zero rust, it would seem, dries in a semi gloss, and with the worst brush marks I've ever seen. I only did the top of the frame head and rear suspension mounts, but I'm gutted. All that work for it to look like this:
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Really, once the car is together no one is going to see this stuff...but it's going to be a long while before that happens. With the hours I have in so far, it sucks to have it finish like this.
…a few hours pass…
So…Up at 8am, off to the parts store, and I'm happy before noon. Getting some pinholes with the POR15, which tells me the garage is too cold. But I've cranked the heat and it should smooth out enough to make me satisfied. Let that be a lesson...stick with what you know!
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-Dave
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For a while...white beetles were multiplying like mad at my house. When this photo was taken there was a third in visitors parking.
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...and then back to the pan. With the semi-gloss black paint dry, I was able to seam seal the bottom of the pan.
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And then tonight I laid down a coat of POR15 Silver. It's brushed on, and silver never looks good when it's brushed. Lots of track marks, brush marks and uneven silvering...but that's okay. I originally wanted to have the Pan finished in Silver, everyone does black, but realized with the first strokes that it wasn't going to work out. The main reason for the silver, though, was to ensure I get a full coat on everything. I started with bare metal, painted black and then went over the pan with a trouble light the next night. Any silver showed where I had missed with the black and I could touch up. Now that the pan is silver again, it's the same process tomorrow night...but this time looking for black areas. Once I'm convinced I've got a full two coats on the pan, I'll finish up with a third. I think I'm going to go Gloss Black. Three coats of POR15 should be damned near bulletproof.
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-Dave
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Sigh. After I decide that really, a Porsche 901 gearbox isn't in the budget equation for this year, and paint the pan...Geoff lets me know he has everything (box, shafts, mounts, shift linkage) available for the project.
Probably still not "in the budget". But budget is also time related, so maybe I just don't drive as early as I'd like and go for 5 speeds...
-Dave
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:bravo_2: Woot_Emoticon
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Looking good Dave! Keep the thread going and maybe I'll get some inspiration myself!
Andy
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This is going to be a very cool car! can't wait to see it grace the pages of the Magazines!
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Oh hey, Look! A 1971 Super Beetle!
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Here's the beauty of it all...it's virtually rust free. In fact, it's as rust free as you can expect to buy for a steal. The one spot that I think it has should be super easy to fix and something I was going to need to cut-up anyhow.
I think the guy I bought it off of almost cried when I told him I was going to paint it. You can still smell the current paint job curing on the car.
-Dave
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The dry sump tank for my oil system arrived. Fairly impressed with it, though the finish on the outside is a little rough. Meh, I can live with it. I do think I'm going to upsize the feed fitting, still haven't quite sorted out the feed and return line sizing yet. My bigger problem is figuring out how I'm going to setup an oil-level on the tank. It's going to be remotely mounted, accessible for cleaning and oil changes, but pretty much inaccessible on a day-to-day basis. The Porsches all have an oil-level gauge, similar to a fuel level gauge...but with the internal baffles I'm not sure that idea is going to be easy to implement. The other option is to do catch-can style tubing on the outside, but that just screams leak potential to me. Thoughts? Ideas?
I've looked into Motorsport fluid level gauges, and while I can certainly get something I'm hoping to not spend $400 just on a sender!
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Now this is a nice score. 5.5" width Sport rim! Rally car tires will fit on it, and the swap meet guy says he's got another four for me. Seriously big score, I've been looking for a set of the 5.5's close to home for a long while. The new project needs to run on Factory wheels, the reason for which I'll reveal later.
And now I'm working on how I'm going to fit the oil-sump tank filler. I'd really like to go with a Newton Flush Fill Valve, but have you ever priced one out? Lets put it this way, for the cost of one Newton Flush Fill cap I could buy a bladder'd fuel cell. Don't need a bladder? Well then that will cost you only half as much as the valve. Geesh, I just want a locking flush mount :P Apparently the Newton valves will flex slightly for curves, but I'm not 100% sure that I've got a flat enough surface.
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Anyways, back to the garage...
-Dave
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Front suspension 1st cleaning stage...
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And the beginning of my rear suspension setup. I'm ditching the torsion bars and going with a rod-end for the pivot. Currently working with some steel to put them into double-shear, figuring it out as I go along. It has to all fit under the fender and clear the main body, but at the same time be easily removed for swapping out the Rod end. The Audi Rally car taught me that rod-ends are not necessarily a long-life solution to suspension applications! I haven't yet decided if the second plate will bolt on, or be welded to the first plate for the double-shear. Need to go back to the books and do some reading before I make a decision. The rear shock mounts will get braced with a Kafer-Bar to take the increased load of coil-overs, and that will give me a suspension setup which allows for easy rear-end ride height adjustment. Much easier then rotating torsion bars at least. The downside is losing a relatively simple suspension setup with naturally progressive action.
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-Dave
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Alrighty...back for a rather lengthy post.
First off, remember that rare sport wheel from the post above? Yeah...this one, not so valuable any more.
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Basically, I F***ed up on the tire machine. Rally car tires are super, super, super stiff. And while I have mounted hundreds on alloy wheels, I've only ever mounted one a onto a steel wheel four times before. If you don't get the bead down enough on an alloy wheel, the machine just stops. On a steel wheel, apparently, it bends the *&$#!!! out of the wheel. Took two of us to eventually get the second bead on, and then my buddy Gord got the rim as round as he could with the hammer. Guess I know which one will be my spare! (sigh)
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But you have to put these things behind you...I mean, yes I destroyed a rare wheel, but this is a race car project...quite frankly I'm more then likely to bend all four in the first 100km of an event anyways. Such is life, move on. And with that, I had an incredibly productive day today out in the garage. I finally managed to get the '69 out of the shop, which meant I could pull the new '71 into the shop. I started on the rear, pulling each fender, the running boards, glass and finally the front fenders. This particular car has a pretty heavy (for a Bug) application of undercoating, and I spent much of today scraping it away to see what surprises lay underneath. Let me tell you, this was a TREAT compared to doing the same thing to an Audi. May I never have to scrape one down again!
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Right-side rear quarter...rust FREE. Not a mark in the whole thing.
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Engine Bay, some light surface rust on the right 'shelf'. Nothing a wire-wheel won't remove.
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Right-side front quarter...rust FREE. Not a mark, except for some transfer from the rusting bumper mount.
Now, I haven't scraped off the undercoat on the passenger side heater channel, but I did spot-check the usual rust locations and found nothing but solid German Steel. I can't actually be this lucky could I!?!
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Well, not quite. The Left front quarter shows some very minor damage on the front by the apron (there's minor bondo in there), but three of the fender bolt nuts pulled out, which me a little wary for the rest of this side.
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There are a couple of odd holes behind the front strut. The lower hole looked like it was punched through and then seam-sealed over, and there's no rust. Very odd. Above this spot, but not visible in the photos, are two rust holes that are coming from the other side. They originate somewhere under the fuel tank (which I haven't pulled yet) so there is a surprise or two needing some attention. The photo on the right, however, shows the lower seam at the rear of the front fender. This is a well known rust spot, and I usually assume a beetle is rusty here. This car has some minor surface rust, which I believe is from me scraping the spot when I went to buy it a month ago!
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Oh, here's the two rust spots coming through from the fuel tank area.
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Moving back, it starts to get worse. The bottom of the heater channel has some holes, and some surface rust. Rust here, though, doesn't start from the outside...it comes from within. One of the running board mounting holes has significant rot around it...but the worst is in the rear. Even if the mid section can be patched, the rear most 8" of the heater channel needs complete replacement. I've asked one of my buddies who builds show-winning and magazine bugs whether or not I should patch or replace the entire heater channel.
Other then that, no surprises so far. A bit of bondo in the rear fender, and the underside shows the hammer marks where it was pounded out. Not quite sure what the damage was (it's very odd to damage a fender inboard of the tail lamp but nowhere else)...but no worries, it's fully reusable.
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I've also started planning out the various items I need to cut the body for before paint. My buddy Gord, who builds the Subaru Canada rally cars, came over to discuss the roll bar options with me. Neither of us were fans of the rear-stays that came with my bolt-in roll bar, so we've agreed that he'll need to make some new ones for me. He also figured out a way to move it back another few inches to give me some more room. We'll add a cross bar and a harness bar into the main hoop. Fortunately, though, the main hoop in my kit is quite tight and will be useable.
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I've also started to mock up the Accusump, Dry-Sump Tank and Oil Cooler. I think I'm going to set the car up with a "summer mount" and a "winter mount" for the oil-cooler. The winter mount will actually double as a heater for the inside of the bug. Packaging space for everything, as always, is a problem. Originally the drysump tank was going to go on the passenger side, but it needs to be sunk into the luggage floor. You can't do that, as the starter is in the way...so now it goes on the left. Then, since it's on the left, there is no longer any room for the Oil Cooler under the car...which means moving it into the car. Now the space where the Accusump was going is taken, so the musical chairs continue. Hopefully I don't get kicked out of the car before everything finds a space!
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-Dave
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Alright, so allow me to show you why I haggled the price down below $2k:
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The luggage area is just a wee-bit rotten. Now, normally this might concern you as a buyer...but if you're like me, and realize you'd be cutting the luggage area for the Dry Sump tank, you just don't care. Now, I've always wished my white bug had just a little big of extra room in the engine bay. If it had, say an extra inch, my Breather tank wouldn't be rubbed by the carb, I could probably actually reach my arm in to bolt up the motor easier and I might even be able to adjust the carbs with greater ease.
If one inch would be good...wouldn't more be better? Awww heck, lets just make some room...
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I haven't quite finished cutting out all the bad metal, but when I'm done tomorrow I'll have a clean slate for the firewall and the luggage area. The plan is to move the firewall in by 3", and adjust the luggage area to suit.
-Dave
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Holy crap Dave, you dont waist any time do you. This thing is looking super cool. Cant wait to see more of your progress.
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haha. Well, I'm working on getting you guys caught up on the project. I figured I would wait until the car was back from paint before I started posting about it.
I started the project September 1st...but as Rob says I'm not "growing any moss". Already in the reassembly stage on the painted car. Should have you guys up to date by the end of the week. At which point, there will be shorter mostly daily posts on the project.
Originally I had intended to drive the car down to the DVKK Christmas Party, but some work related issues had me slam on the financial brakes for a bit. So at this point I'm aiming for end of January, so I can race it in Feb.
-Dave
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Why do work related issues always have to get in the way?
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Why do work related issues always have to get in the way?
'tis quite annoying. But I'll survive.
Started getting my Arts and Crafts on...
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...and when I could no longer handle it, started working on the removable apron, which will make pulling the engine so much easier. I'm pretty sure the apron was welded on by a guy who was told he'd lose his job if he didn't smarten up. There are TWENTY-ONE spot welds per SIDE!! Unreal. But now at least I can easily pop the apron on and off for pulling the motor. My friends who have done it say it's their number one favorite modification.
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The road-race guys just use the pinching force of the fender bolts to hold their apron's on, but I'm not entirely convinced thats going to do it for the way I use my car. So I'll likely work out a bolt-on solution in the next few days.
-Dave
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Regarding the Apron, I haven't welded it up yet but I'm going to go with 1/2" tabs and some M5 bolts or hinge-pins and posts (think hood pins) all from the face of the apron. The Huebbe brothers, who rally a '69 in the Rally America Series, said the one thing they wished they had done with their removable apron was have it removable without having to deal with fender bolts. In a stage-rally service, you only have 20min to fix whatever needs doing, so every second counts!
Back into the garage for yet another evening. Fire wall was cut out, then I ran it over to a friend's shop to put the two 90deg bends in it. Once tacked into place I instantly understood why Volkswagen ribbed the heck out of the factory firewall. Can anyone say "steel drum"? Not sure that dynomat alone will help it, but at the same time I only have it tacked in so we'll see how it is once welded in completely.
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From there I worked out the side rails, and did some problem solving on the Oil-cooler mount. The overall plan is to have as much of the luggage-area floor removable, as it gives great access to the starter, clutch adjustment and the one engine bolt that is a pain to get to normally. I also figure that it should make reaching the 6-miles of oil lines and fittings I plan to install a little easier. In addition to moving the firewall in by 3", and the removable floor panels, I've also decided to move the luggage floor up by about 3". Its going to cause me some problems as far as the dry sump is concerned, but will give me more space above the transmission and Kaefer bar that I'm going to be installing. This in turn will make the oil-cooler mount much easier to problem solve. It's a trade off, with the Dry Sump, but one that seemed like a good idea this evening! And, really, I can always sink it back down if I have to (even just a portion of it) which I figure is easier then trying to raise it up down the road. At the very least, it will look better ;-)
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Overall it was a pretty long night in the garage, with what feels like so little to show for it. Ah well, on the plus side I think I'm "over the hump" in regards to the firewall modifications. Once again picking up some pace and motivation to keep moving forward.
-Dave
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I'm ly going a bit overboard on the detail, fit and finish considering its going to be a race car. I really do believe it needs to be done "perfect", and then you go race it and worry about the gaps as they open up.
The nice part is I'm not really putting this together blind. Most of the changes, ideas or modifications come from issues I found with my White car, or things I had on my Audi Rally car that I miss. Every once and a while I stand back in the garage and remember that I could very well wrap this thing around a tree come Feb. But then, if I just built it quickly to get it running I'd never be happy with it. We might bend it down the road, but it sure as heck is going to start off perfect!
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...so my days this week have been wake up, work for the day, walk downstairs to the garage and Cut/Grind/Weld/Grind...yawn. Not much to write about! I can say, however, that the firewall is finally "in" the car. I've got a gap to work out filling on the driver's side, but otherwise it's fully welded. Pretty sure my garage has been in a permanent haze of smoke for the past week. In the first photo above, it does look weird like I made it from two pieces, but the bottom piece is on an angle, joining the rear engine seal piece to the new firewall which is set in by 3". Just a strange photo angle.
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With that pretty much complete I started in on the luggage area again. It was a super productive session that solved a whole pile of problems. I started out in the back luggage area welding the last support piece for my luggage floor. I have a bad habit when welding of only wearing my left glove. I'm right handed, always work in those blue nitrile gloves, and just seem to prefer welding without the big heavy glove on my trigger hand. Well, that habit will be stopping as of tonight. After the support was welded in, I turned to get out of the bug and where did put my ungloved hand? Yeah, right on the piece I just welded. I have a nice 1"x2" blister on my palm to remind me about wearing welding gloves now :P After losing an hour and a half to first-aid and pain, I gauzed it up and headed into the garage. Kind of ironic that I spent the entire night having to work with a welding glove on that hand, as the padding helped!
Welding up sheet metal, is starting to seem kinda boring...so I figured "Hey, lets cut more out!"
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That hole was filled with a nice little 90deg shelf.
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Which gives me just enough clearance that I can get the dry sump tank mounted. It's tucked away for daily use, but still accessible for cleaning...and I can use the filler system I've been planning. It just sort of hit me tonight on how to do it, and the result was this. With that sorted I was able to work out which side the oil-cooler will go on (passenger, behind the dry sump tank). I'm going to run a dual NACA duct in the passenger side window, which will be ducted down over the oil cooler. This will give me the fresh-air flow I need, most likely without the need for a fan. I've ordered an oil cooler and fan combo, however, but I can always leave the fan off. Should I decide in winter I want to use it for some cabin heating, it's as simple as having the fan push air into the cabin, through the oil cooler (obviously NACA duct will be removed in this case). But as I just sourced a working pump for my gas heater, I'm likely to install it in this car and not worry about the oil cooler for interior heat.
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The final piece of the puzzle is the Accusump. I've got to buy a little bit of steel tomorrow, but I think I'm going to set the Accusump in where it's sitting now. I can run the valve to behind the e-brake, and remote the gauge in a spot where I can see it before engine shut down.
Locating the whole oiling system has been giving me stress and headaches for days, so it's nice to suddenly have it all fall into place. The Dry Sump shelf *might* end up interfering with a modification I have planned for the new floorpan, but I took a gamble on this one. With it located where it is I should be able to squeeze in the factory heat ducts, and clear the pan modification...if I can't squeeze it in, I'll have to move the shelf 1" to the left and lose the factory heat.
It might seem odd that I'm worried so much about heat. I've talked about using the oil cooler, retaining the factory heat and installing a gas heater. Well, I have lots of options for ice racing in the winter and plenty of fantastic winter rallies...which means this car should see lots of winter! My fully caged Audi quattro, which had factory heat but no carpet/headliner/insulation was just borderline acceptable rallying through the early hours of a winter morning. A happy co-driver makes for a good finish...for whatever reason they seem to hate freezing cold drafts ;-)
I have a few more welds needed to fully seal off the firewall, plus I have to make the floor for the luggage area. But the starter, hard-to-reach engine bolt and clutch adjustments are all easily accessible now.
-Dave
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I actually think I might be more stoked for this project then I ever was about my Audi Rally car. It's so nice starting on the car from scratch and doing it "all right" from the beginning. The next steps were started by capping off some sections of 1" square tubing...
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Which was quickly massaged into the rear sheetmetal, welded in and voila! Accusump mounts :)
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I still need to finish a few welds in the back seat and seal off some gaps, but I'm starting to feel a little burned out on this part so I needed to move elsewhere to keep the stoked level going. I popped off the front hood, measured around a bit and started welding after what felt like a good hour of angle-grinding. So far I've burnt out a Princess Auto Angle Grinder (Harbor Freight, but in Canada) and now my Mastercraft unit is starting to sound like the bearings are going. But who cares, I'm making progress!
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The bar does have the added benefit of really tying the front end together, but I'm not sure that I'm close enough to the factory suspension bracing to really make a "strut-bar" like difference. I can certainly make the front end move quite a bit just by grabbing onto the bar though. Moving the bar anywhere else would have meant the hood wouldn't close due to the tire, or using a bent bar instead of straight one. I also need to be concerned about the Drivers-side strut top as the Gas Heater mounts right in around that area. I haven't measured or mocked up the gas heater yet, so I could still have an issue. From memory it's the intake pipe that will be a problem, as well as the 180deg elbow...but I figure I can find my way around both of those if required.
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As you can see the front hood seal strip has clearly seen better days. No idea how this one got as bad as it is, or why someone would repaint a virtually rust-free car and not repair this first?
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A chisel makes quick work of the spot welds, then it's simply a matter of wire wheel and grinder to clean it up. As suggested on here, I'll run with a Mexican beetle front hood seal, which eliminates the side channels...but I'll need to replace the strip just below the windshield.
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I started in on those small rust spots I found in the front inner fender...and quickly decided I may have found this beetle's secret horror story. poking around in the rusty holes I couldn't figure out where under the fuel tank they could possibly be going...until it dawned on me, it's not the fuel tank. A very uncomfortable while later, and I had discovered the other side. Took a while to remove the seam sealer, wire wheel as much as I could and then finally sandblast...but here is:
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How it rusted out here, I don't think I'll ever understand. Unfortunately, though, the water has worked it's way down and I believe I might find some horrors in the heater-channel when I go to separate the body from the pan. For now I'm going to repair the large holes up top, and leave the bottom ones for when the pan is separated.
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I spent maybe 60 seconds with the spot sand blaster under the dash. Needless to say, this is a messy job!
...and, after a few days of thinking about it...I bought that Porsche trans from Geoff.
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Mmmmmm...Dogleg first gear :)
And what's this? Oh, it came with shift rod (modified for VW already), mounts, shifter and axles? Why yes, yes it did.
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S-C-O-R-E.
Of course, it's not all cherries. I have to cut up and weld sections on my previously finished and perfect floorpan in order to make it fit. But sometimes sacrifices need to be made!
-Dave
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I think I have a theme for when I'm getting bored or losing motivation. Cut more out!! :)
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Each engine bay side now has a gaping hole, for which I will make bolt-on panels. It's no secret here why these are important, as they will allow me to change #1 and #3 spark plugs without removing the carbs, and also allows me to access the backside of the carbs should I ever need to. More space for working is never a bad thing.
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I finished welding up the firewall, can't see any gaps with the light on the other side, so I think I'm finally golden. I was also talking to Mark Huebbe, who runs a bug in the Rally-America Series. The one comment he had was that he wished they had made his removable apron work without having to touch the fender bolts. So I also weld these tabs on to mount the removable apron. I'm kind of torn on this one as I'm totally guessing on width, etc. I've seen other race cars with Dzus fasteners similar to my tabs, so I gotta be close...but I really don't know if I have 1/2" on each side, 1" on each side? I do know the fan shroud will pass through them no problem at all, but obviously the carbs won't. Thing is, the carbs wouldn't pass through unless I cut the entire back off baja style, so I don' think it really matters much in the long run. The way I see it, I can always cut the tabs down (or off) after paint. Will wait until the engine is installed, body work is all together and then I will drill the apron and tap the holes for bolts. This way my apron is definitely not coming off in an unplanned fashion!
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The last thing I want to do to the apron is trim along the blue line I've drawn. My theory is that it will be faster/easier to get on and off the car...perhaps not needing the fender bolts to be loosened, but unless I cut the entire lip off, the fender bolts would still be an issue? So do I cut right at the edge (potentially ugly), leave a bit of space like I've drawn or just accept that you've got to loosen three fender bolts plus the four bolts I plan for the front face? Hmmm...decisions.
-Dave
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Hmmm...doesn't look like much eh? But the seven hours to get here were pretty crazy. I've never done a heater channel before, and it's a significantly challenging piece, so I called up Geoff and hired him to give me a hand. I've had a driver's side heater channel kicking around the garage for eons, so I didn't even think about checking it before he arrived...just confirmed it was still in the corner. Well, who would have thought that that a Super Beetle channel is different from a standard Beetle? Oops! Thankfully Geoff is a master when it comes to sheet metal work, and we both agreed modifying the channel I had was better then the four hour round trip to go and get the proper one.
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Geoff also had the fun task of sorting out the sheet metal above the Napoleon hat. Once you start cutting out the rust on old cars, you just have to keep going until you hit good metal...or the car is gone. Thankfully he didn't have to dig too far.
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With the heater channel repaired I managed to squeeze out a few hours this weekend to continue attacking the rest of the jobs on the car. I was never really happy with my engine bay access panels, but unsure what to do about it, until Geoff suggested I make some frames for them. I've welded the frames in on both sides, and dressed the welds after the photo. Now I've got good looking holes, and they strengthened up the rear end quite a bit. Now I just have to drill some holes and weld in some nuts for mounting the removable aluminum panels.
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From there I decided to stitch-weld in the rear body mount, and also the rear bumper mount. It takes very little time to do, and should increase the overall strength by a good margin. Tonight I will start attacking the front end, then its time to put the car back on the pan so I can finish cleaning up the rear apron area.
...some time passes...
All the areas requiring grinding for the roll bar installation have been completed, and I managed to stitch-weld the front suspension area. The factory used a tonne of seam sealer up front, and it was super tough to get it all out. The welds aren't nearly as neat as the ones I did in the back, but I'd get halfway through a bead and hit a bit of seam sealer between the two pieces of metal. Ah well, it all gets covered up anyways!
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Following that, I put the body back on the pan. Tomorrow I've got to finish up the rear apron area, weld in the hood seal mounting strip, and then clear out the passenger side door. Still need to figure out how I'm going to load the body onto a trailer with no front suspension.
(it turns out two guys can just wheel it up like a wheelbarrow)
I dropped the car off at Rocket Rally for a roll-bar installation, so while that was being done I hit up a couple of other minor tasks.
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I decided to get aggressive on the apron cut...here's hoping it works out :P hahaha.
Also worked on the engine decklid a little bit, adding some cooling.
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Dropped off the car at 5pm on Friday, and the roll bar was done by noon Saturday!
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and now I'm off to trailer the car to the media blasting spot...
-Dave
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Whew...lots of driving this weekend. I've moved the shell about 2hours away from my house, where I'll be doing the sand blasting and then the guys will be painting the car for me. Normally I would just crash on a couch, but ended up driving back and forth for the weekend. Got a fair bit of blasting done on the shell. All four wheel wells are done, got the first pass on the front trunk area and most of the engine bay done. Will need to go back on the engine bay with a bit more light so I can see what I missed. Still have to do the inside of the car, which is going to suck.
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I've got glass in my eyes, my hair, my ears...ahhh the fun of it all.
-Dave
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The front apron on my 71 is actually in poor shape, and not really replaced well. We debated about swapping it, multiple times, but have (for the moment) decided to leave it. A show judge would dock me marks, but if the hood is closed you can't actually see the damage. Probably a shame not to just buy the part and put it in there, considering all the work I'm doing, but I can almost bet money on the fact that I'll be damaging and repainting the front apron within the first 6mo anyways. Might as well wreck this one before replacing it. (from experience, I've done the '69 one twice...and I don't even gravel rally it!)
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First day back in the garage, after lying on my back for a week. Last weekend while unloading the car for sandblasting I pulled all my lower back muscles. Normally I don't complain, and just work through it, but this time was bad enough that I couldn't sleep and ended up at the Doctors for some pretty hefty pain meds. A week spent lying on my living room floor and working upside down on my iPad has been interesting...
My back is still recovering, so I haven't picked up my floorpan from storage yet. Instead I'm scraping the gravel guard out of the inside of my four fenders. FUN! haha. One of the front's has been hit and has some damage, one of the rears has been hit. The other two seem clean. The repairs are pretty well done, and I expect we can improve upon them even more so. I'll run these fenders as I believe them to be original German units.
Managed to get 3 of 4 fenders done before I started feeling it in my back and decided to call it quits. Gotta save up my healing points for this weekend...when I have to go and sandblast more :P
-Dave
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Back was feeling ok on Friday night, so I finished the last of the fenders, then drove down to the shell on Saturday morning. After a day and a half of blasting, sweeping, sifting, blasting, sifting, sweeping, etc. etc. (repeat, at nausea)...anyways, the shell is DONE! Everything else is now the responsibility of the painters :)
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Gear up for safety! :P
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Looking a little cleaner now eh?
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But have no doubt, this is messy, messy work. I'll paint a car in my own garage, but I am so darned glad I didn't have to blast the car in my garage ;-)
Don't expect the paint to be done too quickly, it's a friend deal and there are customer cars in front of mine. They'll be tidying up the things I revealed through blasting, and getting the rest of the car ready as their able. In the meantime, I've got a more then enough work to do on the pan and engine.
-Dave
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Had to take a couple of weeks off for travel, but will be back at it this weekend. The paint guys etch-primed the bare metal shortly after I posted the pics above, to keep it from flash rusting. Apparently the shell is getting sanded and seam sealed today, as well as spraying the undercoat inside the fender wells. Guess I really need to get my pan out of storage and get cracking!
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-Dave
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The boys were working hard today and managed to seam seal the whole body, weld up any spots I opened up sandblasting and sprayed the gravel-guard undercoat in the fender wells. Sounds like they managed to give most of the body its first sanding as well.
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Based on their emails I figured I'd better get cracking on the pan, so a buddy and I picked it up from storage today. Amazing how quickly the mess happens. Started planning on how I'm going to fit the 901, and will probably end up with a tonne of questions.
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First off, none of the 901 threads show this piece attached to the side of the trans. What is it, how do I remove it?
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Will probably remove the angle adapter, but leave the gear inside...just in case I need it later for speedo or rally computers. Selector shaft seal needs to be replaced though.
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Are there any options for the reverse switch besides a $90 Porsche part?
-Dave
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Awesome build thread and great pics wish I had a enclosed garage to work on my bus .Will be checking back often ,Keep up
the hard work : )
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Thanks for the props guys...has been fun, and frustrating! haha.
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Frustrating day with the Porsche Trans, but I'll get it figured it out. I've read the various "how-to's" that are out there, but have found them to be somewhat lacking in details. Surely the Bug5atspeed products would make this quite a bit easier, but it's well outside the budget I have left to complete this. I'll try and detail out my solutions should someone in future be looking for threads on 901 installs.
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Factory VW transmission (and, I believe, the Porsche 915) has some flat sections in the lower corners for the motor mount bolts. The 901 Porsche trans? No dice...
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I've flipped the transmission upside down in this next shot to show the Beetle transmission mount on the Porsche Transmission...will need to adapt the beetle Urethane mounts to fit to the metal mount.
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First up is removing this piece off the bell-housing. I suspect, but have no real idea, that it's for a clutch release spring. Regardless, it's in the way and gets removed. Didn't bother taking a photo of it all cleaned up, but basically you need to remove all the material from the rib to the bolt hole, leaving the lip around the bell housing like the rest of the transmission.
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From there, it was onto modifying the Urethane mounts. This stuff flies everywhere with a carbide cutter, and melts and drips when you use a metal cut-off wheel. Sure hurts when it lands on a pant leg!
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...and now the scary part. Drilling the case of a Porsche Transmission.
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...eventually you end up with this, which isn't perfect. Ironically I can't seem to find a photo of anyone else's 901 install, so I'm not sure if other people run with the mounts stressed like this, or came up with an entirely different solution. I can't, however, leave it like this as I know it will fail prematurely. I'll have to pick up some sheet urethane and start working out a spacer-type solution. Ideally the urethane would run along the metal mount touching for the complete radius...but I don't think I can set it up for this to happen. It's really driving me nuts that I also won't have an "off the shelf" solution if the mounts fail or wear out.
Once I solve the mount shape issue, I'll have to then sort out the bolt-heads inside the bellhousing. The bolt heads interfere with the ring gear, so the common solution is countersunk allen head bolts. I'd like to see if I can come up with something a little stronger, but I'm not quite sure what yet. The current thought is a metal strip inside the bottom of the bellhousing, to which studs will be welded to. Need to talk to a buddy at the rally shop to see what he thinks.
-Dave
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...Exhausted from a tonne of driving today, and no further progress on the 901 install. But I did get to drop in and see the shell, and bought the paint today!!!
Looking good in primer...will likely be in paint by the end of the weekend.
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-Dave
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...it gets better :-)
Lorne and Gerry Frose, from GLI Autowerks, are the guys who did all the body work, primer and have been painting the car. They sent me these on Saturday:
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I'll update the 901 install before the day is out.
-Dave
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Alex at Bugat5speed(us) was kind enough to help me out on the 901 install. He emailed me a solution he had used, which got me thinking about a possible solution for myself. Enter the $30 empi solid mount kit. Because the lower cross member is supposed to be used without mounts on the T1 trans, it gets me a whole lot closet to where i need to be.
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I am concerned about the urethane mounts failing, and may still end up with a Bugat5speed aluminum mount setup. At least the way I've done this I should be able to swap out for Alex's mount relatively easily. The final version of my mount required some cutting, bending, welding and then moving the frame horn holes to get everything exactly where I wanted it to be. My input shaft now sits 1/16" higher then the Type-1 transmission, with the mounting flange for the engine in the exact same spot fore/aft.
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It's a whole lot easier working on the pan upside down...not sure if/how you would do a Porsche transmission swap with the body on the car. It would suck, I can say that much! With the 901 Trans being 1"(ish) longer then the VW transmission, and my decision not to move the engine back at all, I've had a lot of cutting to do in the torsion bar area. Thankfully I'm using coil-overs...but I'll never be able to go back!
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Started on my front mount, which will be done in the factory rally car style. This requires just a short plate, and two regular transmission mounts welded to the frame rails.
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Volkswagen was even kind enough to include motorsport mounting brackets in the regular Type-1 transmission cross member. You just have to cut away all the metal bits that aren't for racing ;-)
In order to weld in my new mounts, however, I need to remove the speedometer gear assembly from the nose-cone of my Porsche Trans. Having no factory manual, and not being able to figure out exactly how it's being held in...I started to think about removing the nose cone. Alex's 901 install write up talks about removing the speedometer drive gear inside the nosecone, and I need to do the shift-selector seal anyways...so it seemed like a good idea.
Not so much now.
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My first issue is that the nosecone didn't separate from the intermediate plate, first the intermediate plate separated from the trans case. I suspect this means I'm in for a bit of a tear down if I want to ensure that my transmission is leak free, the paper gaskets won't be much good now. No photos tonight, but I've got the nose cone off now and will start dealing with this tomorrow.
-Dave
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Well, I couldn't find anything about the proper way to yank it all apart...so I just made it up as I went along :-)
I still remember the first time I ever did a clutch and flywheel job on a car, it was about ten years ago on my Audi quattro. I was so nervous about such a 'big and scary' job, I called in my friend Eddy to give me a hand. (well, actually to do the job while I watched/helped). When it comes to vehicles, the inside of a transmission was my "final frontier". It's the only part of the car that still scares me to touch. I can build and rebuild motors, tear apart anything else, but a transmission? Those always seemed complex and scary. Plus, the factory manuals usually list about 17 different specialty tools you have to have!
Well, I have to say, after laying out the insides of the Porsche transmission in my garage...they're no longer scary. In fact, I'm kind of disappointed I don't have the parts or funds to rebuild the syncros and gear stack on this one...just look at it sitting there, crying out for a full tear down ;-) A full transmission rebuild is in my plans for the next year, just out of plain curiosity!
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Getting into the Porsche 901 wasn't so bad. I suspect there is an ideal gear to have selected when one goes to dismantle the transmission. Mine was in an unknown gear with the main shift rod dislodged. Once I pulled the gear cluster out halfway, I was able to move the shift rod around enough to pop the whole unit out of the transmission. I did almost need three hands to do it, but eventually I got it.
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My gear stack checked out about as well as I expected. The first gear syncro teeth are in poor shape, which I expected from reading so many threads about the 901. Fifth gear is worn as well, but the others look relatively good. The pinion gear looked quite good so I wasn't going to bother pulling the diff. Instead I figured I'd do a quick check through the input shaft hole. As I was rotating the diff around one of these two pieces came into view...(battery for scale)
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That would be the remains of an input shaft seal. Apparently at some point in this transmission's life someone drove an old seal into the transmission instead of removing it properly. It also explains the metal fragments I found on the drain plug!
Needless to say, I decided I would empty the case and clean out anything and everything.
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Reassembly is fairly straight forward. I followed another thread which said to put the transmission in neutral. It was a relatively easy job getting the gear stack in, and I was pretty sure I checked the main shift rod before moving forward. What I should have done, however, was also check each of the other shift rods to ensure they were still in neutral. Either while sliding the gear stack in, or while putting the nose cone on, I managed to select reverse gear on the transmission. The main shift rod was not in the correct spot though so once it was all buttoned up I had reverse, or a locked up transmission when selecting 'any gear'. I realized I was getting two gears at once, and popped off the side cover/support. From there I could see reverse was selected but the main shift rod wasn't in the right spot. Took a bit of finesse, but I managed to get it shifted back into neutral and sorted without cracking open the transmission again.
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At least now I can use continue to modify my pan to fit and then I'll decide whether or not I want to do a full rebuild on the trans. I will probably run it as-is for a bit, so I can see how I like the gear ratios with my engine. If I'm going to do a rebuild I might as well make sure it's got the ideal gearset!
-Dave
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If you haven't already bought the juice, you should use Swepco gear oil. The P crowd swears by that stuff for the Porsche designed synchros.
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well done dave, crazy going ons! sadly letting member of another club not only to see the car, but to work on it, even before your own members have seen it, wow! thank goodness the 70's are over! lol
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well done dave, crazy going ons! sadly letting member of another club not only to see the car, but to work on it, even before your own members have seen it, wow! thank goodness the 70's are over! lol
you sure have been kept in the dark............on more than one statement above 8)
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Reeeeeally? Guess that's why I no longer try lol good work dave still
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Nice work Dave. Thanks for sharing and giving me some motivation to finish my car up.
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Thanks for the props guys.
Tough week, though, I haven't touched the car since Monday. I've been out in the back country working on a car commercial, having worked in TV before it was pretty funny to "bridge the gap" between realistic operations and TV dreaming.
If you haven't already bought the juice, you should use Swepco gear oil. The P crowd swears by that stuff for the Porsche designed synchros.
I haven't pulled the trigger on gear oil yet. All my Audi / VW boxes run Motul Gear300, but I've definitely read about the early Porsche boxes working well with Swepco. I may just put the Motul in for now, and if it doesn't work well swap to Swepco. I swap my transmission oil 3-6 times a year when racing a car, so if Gear300 works it's going to save me significant $$$.
Back to catching you guys up...
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Had a pretty productive night in the garage. Second night in a row that I've gone in at about 5pm, found myself really hungry only to look up and realize it was now midnight!
Started off by grinding away all that POR15 I had laid on the pan (sigh). From there I welded on the mounts for my front transmission mount.
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They allow me to use the urethane transmission mounts, or factory beetle transmission mounts, to secure the front end of the transmission to the pan. And with that sorted out I moved onto closing up the gaping holes in my floor pan. Originally I was going to use a CV joint boot as a seal, but that turned out to be too large. I figured a boot from a power-steering rack would be perfect, but turns out I don't have any kicking around anymore. In one of my bins, though, I did find a brand new set of balljoint boots. It's a perfect fit, but will be a PAIN in the butt to deal with at a later date if I use the wire clips. The wire clips will ensure a full seal though. Hmmmmm...
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Behind the boot, holding it on to the sheet metal, is a .5" section of 1.25" exhaust tubing. Just enough to hold the boot on. The boot is pretty stiff, so I may only use a wire clip on the pan side and let the shaft slide in and out of the boot.
Tomorrow I will seal up the torsion bar housing, and then tear it all back down to paint it. I have a couple of items to finish on the actual transmission, then I can finally flip the pan over and sort out all the other issues. I still need to move the accelerator cable and clutch tubing coming out of the pan, solve the clutch release arm hitting the frame horn, finish modifying/sealing the speedometer gear and then I can move onto rear suspension.
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Feels like I'm picking up momentum again, as I near the completion of the transmission swap.
Trans mounted:
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But had to deal with the Clutch cable tube (yellow) and Accelerator tube (blue). I knew from other forum posts that they were going to interfere, but with my trans being further forward then most...it's a bit extreme. From the camera angle it looks like the clutch tube is close, but it's just an illusion, the bowden tube wouldn't fit on it. The accelerator cable, is a definite problem!
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Cut the sheet metal around the tubes, lightly bent them into a new position, and welded a new plate on. Simple simple, but yet another job that needed to be done. Oh, and here's a future problem, the bowden tube is 3" too short. I suspect I'll be making a custom bracket to use the shorter tube.
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And, finally a lick of paint. Tomorrow I hope to flip the pan over and start working on some topside issues. With the body done at the painters, I'm on a time crunch to get it picked up.
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So the last step on the transmission was to determine how I was going to hold the bellhousing mounts in. Initially I wanted to avoid the countersunk screws, but after considering a few options determined that they really are the way to go. Only problem? My countersink bit was broken on the last job. Small town Squamish doesn't have a whole lot available at ten to six on a saturday...but Home Depot did have these...
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...yes, that does say wood and plastic. Aluminum is soft, right? :P
A bit ugly on the first go, but after cleaning up with a stone they worked fine.
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And with that, the pan is right side up and ready for me to move on. From here on out most of this post is for archive purposes...should someone be searching for help on their own 901 install.
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One of the things I was finding tough to plan was how I was going to do the shift rod. This isn't a well documented part of the swap, I suspect because everyone's transmission is going to end up in slightly different location fore-aft. The transmission I bought came with a modified 911 shift rod which was in a notchback (supposedly), but the bends were way off for a beetle pan. I also really wanted to use the Beetle shift rod as I'd have better (and more affordable) shifter options. So with that in mind I started off on the shifter. I knew I needed to remove the bushing mount temporarily for setup, which means grinding off the pan finish. If I have to grind a bit, might as well grind some more...so I cut a big access hole to make life easier.
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There are six spot welds holding in the bushing bracket / shifter mount
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From there I propped the beetle shift rod up in place, and then measured how much "drop" I would need at the back of the shift rod. To bend the rod I used a propane torch to heat it until it was red hot, and bent it over a section of exhaust tubing. The shift rod will still crimp, as you can see in the photo, but I just welded tabs over top when I was done. If I had a second factory shift rod, I actually would have started again, putting the bends closer to the middle of the rod. with the bend as far back as I have them the rod was hitting the heater flap cable tubes.
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With the bends correct, I moved onto the length. You'll need to decide if you're going with the Porsche shift coupling, or the beetle shift coupling. I actually think the Porsche one is a better unit, but with my transmission pushed as far forward as I have it, I'd need to cut out the VIN to be able to put the one I have in. Thus, I went beetle. A quick weld on the end, and I was done...ish. I could get 2/3rd no problem, and while I could get into 4/5 it was binding against something. Turns out it was the tubes for the heater flaps under the rear seat. Well, I'm not planning on using those...so out came the tubes, which in itself was a royal pain the ***.
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following the tube removal, I still couldn't get 1st or reverse. Something was hitting the shifter...and when I finally found it, well lets just say incredible. How did I by chance just happen to leave this little tab? My cut and sheet metal work went through half the welds holding it in. Ever try and use a die grinder inside a tunnel? Not fun!
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Thankfully I can now hit all the gears...though it did seem to require a bit too much muscle for my taste, using the stock beetle shifter. Tomorrow I'll work out what else is binding in my setup.
...porsche trans, not a 'quick' project!
-Dave
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Ugh, what a frustrating day. It started off well enough, modified the clutch release fork to fit the car...and got that dialed, but from there, it all went downhill. I knew there was something binding up in the shifting, and figured it would be a relatively straight forward process for eliminating the issues. The weird part was I could get 1st, 3rd and 5th no problem, but reverse, 2nd and 4th were binding something fierce. I tried a stock VW shifter, my 'proto' short shifter and then made up a handle that I could attach right to the end of the transmission to use my hand. At one point, I was soooooo close...
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But 20 minutes later, this was my garage:
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yup, tore the transmission down a second time...and confirmed the problem:
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We didn't actually measure how bad it was out, but after the first big pull to straighten it we measured it at 80 thou out. No wonder it was binding. Guess this gearbox was dropped at some point! Anyways, with that fixed and the transmission back together I spent the evening resetting the shift linkage, re-welding the bushing support in and confirming that it was all dialed. I'm was actually about 1/4" short with my shift rod, but that was easy enough to deal with since I was welding a bunch of the stuff in. Got it all done around 8pm, just in time for a late dinner. Just one last job, the shift rod bushing below the shifter.
Oh crap. Complete brainfart.
That bushing is replaceable with the stock setup, you simply pull out the shift rod, slide the bushing in and replace the shift rod. However, once you put a Z bend in the shift rod for a Porsche trans...no dice. That left me with a major dilemma. Leave the bushing missing, and deal with a rattling shifter...or yank it all out and start over. Can you guess what I did?
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Of course, putting the bushing in meant the assembly didn't move around enough to actually slide it into the tunnel. One more heater control tube sacrificed itself in the name of progress, and I could just get the assembly in through my large access hole. Then it was back to testing, adjusting, testing, adjusting, and finally welding. My transmission tunnel has suffered badly, and I'll need to run either carpet or the rubber mats (kind of my plan anyways)...but I can now say that I have all the gears and a reverse lookout.
An entire day spend on shift linkage!!!
-Dave
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A friend on the German Look forum comments...
What a fight with the shift rod!
My plan is to fit two shift rod bushes. The stock one at the front and another (stock) at the rear end of the tunnel, set at the correct height for the gearbox selector rod. Then cut the shift rod in two places (between the bush locations) and fit two universal joints. This would give a more accurate shift without a bent rod flapping about inside the tunnel.
A bit late for that suggestion but if the current set up doesn't work that might be an option.
I think the front bush setup is worth a try as I agree with Ricola's analysis and so did the rally engineers. However, I'd check the mounts annually (use a pry bar to check the stretch) and expect them to need replacing periodically. The rally car had modest amounts of torque compared to a big Type4 but the drivers did a lot of engine breaking as the brakes were cooked most of time (which stretches the mounts).
Funny you should mention that Bruce. Ideally, I think the dual-universal joint system is the way to go. When I initially measured the drop I didn't think 3.75" was 'so big', but by the time you bend the rod and put it into the tunnel you realize just how tight it really is. When I was redoing the shift rod for the 3rd time on Sunday I actually pulled a steering shaft and it's joints out of a box to see if they might be useable in this application. Unfortunately too big, so I need to go and find some smaller ones.
For the moment I believe I have a well working shift system, but it's really hard to evaluate that while sitting on a bare pan! I've decided I will go with carpet or rubber floor mats, instead of a bare tunnel, so that leaves me the option of cutting into the tunnel down the road to improve on this. For now I've tack-welded my access hole shut, and will search out another VW shift rod and bushing support for improving it at a later date (if this doesn't work well as is).
I've also been thinking a lot about the front bushing setup for the trans. If this were a typical street car where you build it, and then it's "done"...I'd probably be quite concerned. In fact, I think I'd be redoing the system since failure is likely to occur way down the road at an inopportune time. But, I'm not building a street car. With my race cars I have a system where before and after each event I go over the car from bumper to bumper. It's put up on axle stands and all fluids are flushed, all mounting points checked, major component (engine, tranny, suspension, brake) nuts and bolts are checked. I average one event every 3mo, so I think that is probably a good enough window to discover a problem. With my Audi, after the first season I had a good record of how long things like rod ends and upper suspension mounts lasted. So after the first year I just rotated those parts out on a shorter window...whether they needed it or not. At $20 for two mounts, I think I can afford that here! :-)
The other thing I've been thinking about is the skid plate. I know I need to protect the nosecone / shift rod on the transmission, so there might be an opportunity to build in a 'failsafe' when we do the skid plate. I tossed this plate on just to see the coverage / get an idea. The real one will involve lots of trimming, etc. But for visuals, this will work as a start:
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I'm thinking if I design the mounts for the skid plate well enough, I should be able to place this left over urethane piece I have in between the skid plate and the front transmission mount:
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If the mounts fail, the nose of the trans would drop and rest on the urethane and skid plate vs. hanging off the shift rod.
I still need to think this through though. In order to be effective the Urethane mount needs to be within 15mm of the transmission...but that means the skid plate needs to be strong enough it won't bend up INTO the trans. So, maybe not a good idea...but a start!
-Dave
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Dave really diggin the thread.
What are you making the skid plate out of? Haven't decided what material to use yet as the baja won't see real extreme use but I still want some protection.
That is interesting all of the troubles with the shift rod, I still have a bit of an issue with the old reduction box in the baja as I can't get it set up for 1st gear properly. Hoping to sort the setup once the car is running. It will go into first but only after putting it into reverse,frustrating, hoping to have it sorted out once I get the car running............
Andy
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Oh, and here's a future problem, the bowden tube is 3" too short. I suspect I'll be making a custom bracket to use the shorter tube.
Check into the bowden tube for a gay-window Bus. I believe they are longer than a Beetle tube. Geoff should know.
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Bay window uses 72 up t1 bowden tube
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Dave really diggin the thread.
What are you making the skid plate out of? Haven't decided what material to use yet as the baja won't see real extreme use but I still want some protection.
That is interesting all of the troubles with the shift rod, I still have a bit of an issue with the old reduction box in the baja as I can't get it set up for 1st gear properly. Hoping to sort the setup once the car is running. It will go into first but only after putting it into reverse,frustrating, hoping to have it sorted out once I get the car running............
Andy
Hi Andy,
At the moment I'm not sure what the skid plate will be made out of. On my Audi the front plate was 6061, while the rear plate was 7075. We were re-straightening the front plate pretty often, but Audi's have the engine mounted in front of the front axle...so they nose into everything.
For the bug I intend to drive it over to Rocket Rally and let my friend Gord decide where the plates should go, and what they should be made of. I'll be doing that in late Jan/early Feb I hope. 5mm thick steel was used on factory cars, but I suspect Gord will probably go with 3/8" aluminum...what grade, I don't know.
-Dave
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After seeing that link...I'm going to have to do the universal joints! But, I'm waiting. It works now, must get car driveable...then upgrade the shifting later ;-)
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After a few days of little to no work accomplished in the garage, it was time to get cracking and get something done! Started by making some pipe...
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Then I made some holes...
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...made some modern art...
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and finally started working on the car ;-)
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Having removed the torsion bars from the rear, I bought a rather simple "coil over conversion kit" which I knew I would be modifying for double-shear mounting of the rod-end. What I didn't realize is just how much modifying I'd be doing. For starters, the entire rear suspension was going going to be held on by 4 M10 bolts on each side, in single-shear fashion. I didn't think it was very strong, and the offroad Baja guys confirmed they shear the bolts off. The pipe we turned down on the lathe ended up being welded to the back of the mounting plates. These pipe sections are a tight fit into the torsion tube and should hopefully serve to transmit the load to the torsion tube instead of the mounting bolts.
Once I lined up the plates to the suspension arm, it quickly became clear there were further issues. The plate sits a full 3/4" over from where the mounting surface is supposed to be. I considered cutting the welds and bending the plates, but for now have opted to make aluminum spacers to sandwich in between. The guys at the local rally shop are away for an event, so I had to cut some quick spacers in my garage. Eventually I'll go back and make some nice ones on the mill.
Not pictured in the photo above are the extra plates I made for double-shear mounting of the rod end. But here is one side mocked up for testing:
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I'm going to order some grade 8 studs to thread into the torsion bar housing, and then the final step will be to make four spacers for the outside plate on the lathe. The studs will allow me to secure the inner plate with a nut, slide larger spacers over top and secure the outer plate with a second nut. This should, in theory, be stronger then just a long bolt with spacer. And hey, can't overbuild your suspension mounts! After a mockup of both sides to ensure everything fit, I tore it all down and gave it a coat of POR15...which is still drying.
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Between the fab work and fitting that was pretty much all I accomplished today, outside of mounting the trailing arms. A good clean of the shop was in order...and then I remounted the shifter, having repainted the tunnel last night. Looking at the spindly little stock shifter, I couldn't help but miss portions of my prototype shifter. After a couple of cuts I think I've managed to keep the best of both worlds, eh?
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-Dave
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For the coil overs I'm going to start with a pair of the QA1 units, since I can completely change the valving. But I've also been looking at a set of Bilstein units...just not sure about getting them to fit.
Will those trailing arm spacers clear a wide wheel?
As for the trailing arm plates...truthfully, I'm not sure if they're going to clear...but I suspect they will. I am only running two widths of wheels on this car, 4.5" wide and 5.5" wide...which gives me more clearance then pretty much everyone else here! (on the German-Look forum) My rear brake kit arrives on Tuesday, so I'll finally be able to bolt up the wheels and confirm. Based on how my 6.5" wheels fit on the '69, I'm taking an educated guess that I'll be fine. If not, I'll cut the welds on the spring-plate replacement, bend them, and reweld the tube which mounts the rod end.
Now...you might be asking yourself, 4.5" wheels??? All this work for factory width wheels!?!
Well, I think the project has moved far enough along and is moving fast enough that I can finally let the cat out of the bag...
...
...
...my hood and engine lid were finished today. Gerry and Lorne Frose were able to match the satin-black look I wanted.
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...and a few weeks ago I started on the decals...
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:D
My car will be a visual replica on the exterior shell, but interior and everything under the skin will be my own interpretation, setup for the events and driving that I will do. I've been super stoked about the idea since early summer when I decided upon it.
...for those of you that don't know what I'm doing yet...here's the documentation I was able to score off a great guy in Europe. He's been plenty helpful.
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What you're looking at is the 1971-1973 "Factory" Rally Cars. When the super beetle was launched, the Austrian importer of Volkswagen (Porsche Austria) was looking for a way to improve the sales of the Beetle. Known as the "Salzburg" cars (town they were built in) they built a number of rally cars, and ran the Austrian Rally series as well as some selected European events. They ran until the gas crisis of '74, when the Austrian government postponed all rallying in the country. Most of the cars went on to be rallyX cars (which pretty much destroys cars in Europe).
-Dave
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Grrr. One of those nights in the garage!
The rear disc brake kit arrived. All my rear wheel bearings arrived. The seal kits, etc. etc. Grease up the bearings, drive the inner wheel bearings in and go to the ziplock bag for the snap rings. Aww crap, the snap rings. Yup, those were missing when I tore this car down. Not a common part carried by the parts houses, not that it mattered when I discovered the problem at 9pm. I've got a VW part number, but ETKA doesn't list the sizes.
I have found a few references that the 944 is the same size, and from there I was able to figure out the snap ring size. Crossing my fingers I can order a pair in tomorrow...going to be super chapped if a pair of missing snap rings keep me from picking up the body this weekend.
-Dave
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Terrible photo...but I finally found a suitable snap ring and was able to continue moving forward. The first job, though, was to clean up! Moving from job to job and getting stalled on each partway in was causing the garage to get far too cluttered. Not easy, or enjoyable, to work in this...
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But once cleaned up I got the main components of the rear brakes installed on both sides, and rebuilt one of the axles. I have been avoiding the axle rebuild for as long as I possibly could...I think between trying to get the circlips off, and that grease getting everywhere...it really is my least favorite job in the garage. I swear if new axles came packed with grease I would just order them ;-)
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One of the things I didn't like about my double-shear setup was the fact that I would have a single bolt holding both plates on. I've found some grade 8 studs which will allow me to secure the first plate, and then second plate once I lathe up some spacers. While it's all on the same stud, that extra nut makes a big difference.
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The new mounting system also gave me some time to think about, and narrow the spacer a little bit on the mounts. I did have 3/4" between the trailing arm and 'spring plate', but now have that down to a 1/2".
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New speedo/rally computer sensor ring:
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...and I thought I'd try out the Empi short shift kit, just to see if it would shorten the throws a little bit. Since my shifter setup is using the Type-1 shifter and rod, it was an easy retrofit. Definitely shortened the throws, without making the lateral movement vague. Should work out well. I also stuffed two of the stock springs into shifter. They bind a bit when pushing down for reverse or first, but now when I go into first there is enough spring pressure to snap the shifter out into neutral, and thus second is easy without grinding. Well...theoretically. Won't really know until I get to drive it!
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On the bad news side of things, I had to cut down the carbon shaft I'm using for the shifter...I've cut this particular piece three or four times...wouldn't you know it, this time it started to delaminate. I was meaning to buy another one, which matched the weave of the shift knob...but I guess I really will have to now!
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-Dave
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Looking Great Dave... So we going to See the Body with the New paint Sitting on that Sexy pan by Sunday ;)
what are you going for the engine you Staying with the Spec of the Rally car or just going Balls out...lol
Chris.
I actually pulled the 1776 engine out of my 1969 beetle before I sold it. That will be my primary engine, for the next little while since this project ran out of money about...oh...two months ago? :P I've also got a 1600 I'm building up with every trick I can think of, mainly for our club's "stock motor challenge" drag night, but also just in case my Beetleball record falls. Then I'll have a stock motor to go back and reclaim.
There is a type-4 engine in my storage unit, I picked it up last summer knowing that eventually you guys were going to pull me into a turbo setup ;)
Loving the rally themed livery. Going to look sweet. Are you planning on running a Kafer Brace in the rear to help support the shock towers/ bracing the frame horns at all?
Yup, I've got a Kafer brace, but haven't even mocked up the brackets. I figure that these are 'relatively easy' to install with the body on, and I have far too many other important things to nail down first. In order to keep the stock heat, though, I'm going to be running a 3-bar setup. Definitely risky, especially with rallying. Might switch to a 5 bar setup and sort out a solution for the heat. The car will have a gas heater, but they're so on or off it's not ideal in the fall/spring when you just need a bit of heat to keep the navigator from whining too much.
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Today has been a pretty long evening/night/morning in the garage. So many hours, in fact, that I'm really having trouble remembering what it was I accomplished.
There was rebuilding the second axle, installing brake pads, checking clearances, bending brake lines, discovering my clutch cable won't work, hating my bent brake lines and redoing them...anyways, the list goes on.
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Test fit one of the rally tires on the chassis. Plenty of clearance for the suspension, lets hope they clear the fenders!
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Shortly after dinner time...which reminds me, I forgot to eat dinner. Anyways...I was about to head to Vancouver to borrow a trailer when I called in my buddy Scott to take a look at three of my problem areas. I showed him a couple of issues with the clutch cable, and we discussed the double-plating of the suspension mounts. By the time I got back from the trailer mission, about 2 hours later, Scott had the following ready for me:
Clutch cable adapter and adjuster, in Stainless Steel.
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Spacers for my suspension mounts...
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And finally, a Bowden Tube extension. Now I can use the factory 911 bowden tube mount, and the factory beetle Bowden Tube. Not 100% this is going to work for me, as the bowden tube does have a fairly significant "s" bend...but if I'm lucky this will keep me from making a custom bracket (which would likely route the tube in a similar S)
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So the suspension now has grade 8 studs, set into the chassis with red loctite and an M10 nut. From there I placed the spacer, my second plate and then a second nut, this time with blue loctite. the setup with a stud should be much stronger then just a single bolt with a spacer. If I start tearing these off, I've got much bigger problems!
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Pan is dropped on the ground, still needs rear shocks so it's resting on the bump stops. From there I went looking for front suspension parts...I really hope I can find the steering box, because so far I've had no luck at all. I seem to recall the best time to put it in is while the body is off the pan. Found two bad ones, but not the good one.
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Well, off for a few hours of shut-eye, then tomorrow it's off to see the paint job!
-Dave
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Long story short, trans hits the body so some massaging is necessary. Decided it was easier to bring it all home vs. Working on it in someone else's shop while they have other work going on.
I'm so stoked on the paint....but so exhausted from the last few days. Car can stay on the trailer tonight!
-Dave
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For the last few days, as friends have been asking how it's going, I reply with "I'm at that stage where nothing fits"...so the body not fitting on the pan was pretty much exactly what should have happened. Turns out I need more clearance for the transmission (somewhat expected) and more clearance on my suspension double-shear plates. Also not sure if I got enough blue into the paint choice. There should be a hint of blue in Polar Silver, but I didn't want too much. Might not have done enough, but it's too late now! Blue tints are incredibly difficult to photograph as well, so in some shots (like the first) it looks perfect...in others, and real life, it's far more white-silver. Not complaining, just keeping record.
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The satin hood was apparently quite tough to get "right". They bought some product that was supposed to make the paint satin, but when mixed to spec it was definitely gloss black. It's a custom mix now, so don't scratch it :P
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Hard to believe that's the same beat up apron which was on the car when I bought it.
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I'm planning a full headliner, so no need to clean/paint the roof area.
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...probably should have fixed that radio slot, but was planning on a Carbon Joe Dash...oops!
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Problem area.
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...should fix the problem :P
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QA1 DS402 rear coil over shocks. Wish I had the funds for the double-adjustable (rebound and compression separately), but at some point you just need to admit that you're bleeding way more money then you can realistically afford to. And, while there are a bunch of threads on the GL forums about fitting these...let it be known that it's far more of a B**ch then anyone has made it out to be!
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A lot of clearencing of the lower shock mount was needed...
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Not sure why I'm going to need spacers here, and others haven't. I wonder if there is a difference between the Type-1 arms that I'm using and the 944 arms that other people seem to be using.
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...and I had to offset the lower bolt by quite a bit as well. I'm definitely not happy with the bolt or the amount of material I removed. BUT, it will hold to move the car around and get the pan bolted up to the body. Down the road when I can get it onto a lift I will weld in some support and a better mounting solution.
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I'm almost ready to start fitting the body! Just gotta go return this trailer, and prep the lower pan gasket.
-Dave
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I actually enjoyed a coffee in the garage the other day, just walking around and looking at the body/paint job.
Didn't get much done on the car yesterday, was working later then normal and then off doing some coaching work. Instead of some garage time I put in an hour on the decals I'll need for the car. Doesn't look like much for an hours worth of work, but by the time you sort out the files, and do the layers it takes a while! Finally figured out the roof decal, it's the old Raiffeisen Bank logo. Ran out of vinyl before I could do the stripe or the windshield decal. I'm considering paying a shop to do the stripes, just because they're so hard to lay straight on a curved body surface.
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-Dave
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...well, after two late evenings at work, I got back to the bug tonight. There is some positive news...the car is no longer resting on top of the sawhorses with the pan below...but instead resting on axle stands, mostly bolted to the pan:
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The problem, and one I wouldn't suggest any of you repeat, is this particular body and pan combination are meeting for the first time. First time? Yes, really. And yes, that's after paint! :-) Due to the way the project progressed I haven't actually had an opportunity to have this particular pan and body together in the same room. To make a long story short, they have both been bolted to a different body or pan...and THOSE two were bolted together at one point. So if A and B fit, and B and C fit...then A should fit C? Nope!
Front bolts up no problem, four frame head bolts and the four bolts in the front of the heater channels. Under the rear seat 3 of four bolts are no problem. Passenger side heater channel, no problem. Driver's side heater channel...no dice. Now, I know normally one might need to pull out the die grinder and adjust things an 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch, but in this case my d-side heater channel is almost 1/2" too wide at the rear corner. Hmmmm.
As the night progressed I was able to massage 4 of the 9 heater channel bolts in, with #5 just about ready to go. The die grinder on a bare pan/body isn't exactly quiet so I figured I should stop before the neighbours complain. The last three bolts (moving rearward) are going to be the tough ones. Might be pulling the body off to put some new inserts in.
-Dave
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hahaha...I think this might be the longest I've gone without an update. Three whole days :P
Friday and Saturday were basically spent prepping items for installation. Painting parts, finding baggies of nuts and bolts...basically boring tasks in the garage which must be completed. But boring tasks lead to quite productive Sundays...so here we go:
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Front suspension, steering box, tie-rods and related kit are all in the car. Also finished up the brake lines, brake master and various grommets. If I had the front calipers (which I sold with the '69) the brakes would probably be bled and ready to go. I must say mounting up all the suspension pieces from new is a fun "which goes first" puzzle, the sway-bar to control-arm nuts being the toughest of the bunch. It was all relatively smooth, just had to come up with a good method for compressing brand new urethane bushings!
One thing I'm not too stoked on is the upper strut mounts I've got. The left-side bushing is sitting all the way forward while the right-side sits center-outside. The old factory VW mounts sat perfectly centered, so it's a case of aftermarket replacement units just not being made as well. These ones do have a sealed bearing though...so you win some while you lose some.
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I have marked out the car for the gas heater. I've got to cut holes for the intake, exhaust and cabin ducting. The VW Eberspacher installation book includes the templates required, which I've printed out and confirmed to be dimensionally identical to what the book says they should be. As you can see, however, the template doesn't exactly "line up" with holes. Its supposed to be used on a "built car" (dealer install), but that shouldn't change anything that I can think of. There is a *bit* of wiggle room in the brackets, but not much. Haven't cut any holes yet...not until I know I can get it right.
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I also managed to get the pedal cluster installed, as well as the heating controls for the standard heater boxes. I've got the shortest VW clutch cable in the car now, and based on the length I think this one might work for me. Will need to setup the clutch fork and adapter tomorrow to see.
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...and finally, proving that I'm probably going a bit insane...I went around the car and painted all the bolt heads which weren't acid-dipped and painted before assembly. Can't have rusty items showing through on a perfectly new paint job!
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Pretty rad that if I needed to I could bolt on the wheels and roll the car around! Next up is the gas heater cut-outs, steering column, and then the headliner. I'm going to give a one-piece headliner install a shot myself. I figure the Porsche trans internals scared me before I opened it...and it wasn't bad. How terrible could a headliner job really be!?! Worst case, I do a horrible job and waste the cost of a one-piece headliner. Best case I end up with something passable for now :P But at this point I don't have the budget to pay someone to do it. So rather then hold things up for the sake of headliner, I figure it's worth the chance.
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-Dave
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Doesn't look like I got much done tonight...but cutting holes for the gas heater isn't something you rush! The exhaust and heater outlet holes are cut, but I didn't realize I don't have the correct sized hole saw for doing the heater intake hole. Will have to work that out later this week.
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Originally I planned on installing the steering column as well, but one look at it's less-then-perfect finish, and I knew I couldn't do it. So stripped it down and it's currently drying. Will be a few days until I can get back to the car unfortunately.
-Dave
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Well, I've been out in the back country working on a car commercial so I haven't been able to touch the car since Monday. Got about an hour in last night, so not much to report.
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Steering column is in, and I did pop the wires in properly after the photos. Went in relatively easily once I tore apart two columns to make one smooth working unit. A bit choked that the turn-signal and ignition switch unit looks so worn...but hey, gotta start saving some money somewhere!
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I got the top boot on and sitting properly, but can't get the bottom boot to stay "in the groove". I can manage to wrestle it up and get it to stay...but after a couple of turns of the steering wheel it pops off. Come to think of it, I've never seen a car where it isn't popped off!
Tips? Tricks? Secrets?
Next up, I was thinking, would be the headliner. Unfortunately "Ivory" actually means "brown-ish"...so I'm going to have to return this headliner and source out a white one. Will probably delay the project to after the holidays :(
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-Dave
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and now the Airspeed Forum is caught up. Don't expect super-rapid progress in the next 2.5 weeks, I'm house & dog sitting across town so I can't just walk downstairs and start working :P
-Dave
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Great project, keep up the good work.
A trick I did for installing my headliner was to stretch it out in place in the car, then put a couple of quartz lights inside overnite, keeps it pliable and I could stretch it more to eliminate the remaining wrinkles the next day. I used brush on contact cement (2 coats - applied after getting the headliner in place), a hair dryer and lots of bulldog paper clips to keep it in place while the glue dried. If you have any old magazines see HotVWs Jun 1987, Sept 2007, May 2001, VWTrends Jun 1984, Sept 2004, Aug 2002, Hope this helps.
Randy
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great work dave! keep it up...this car is going to be badass when it's done!!
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Thanks! I just wish it would be done NOW so I could drive it! :P Winter sliding is so much fun, and I fear I'm going to miss most of it.
Since I now have to wait to source a more white headliner...I entered wiring harness hell:
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I'm taking the best bits from two '71 harnesses and a '72 harness. Once I've got a good stock harness I'll start pulling it apart to graft in the various extra circuits that I'm going to want. I anticipate progress to be slow over the next few days...
-Dave
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When my friend Paul and I were installing the headliner on my 63 ragtop I thought, "How hard can it be?" but it turned out to be one of the most difficult things we ended up doing on the car. That being said, we were dealing with a three-piece headliner and not a one piece like yours. It shouldn't be a problem for someone who has faced as many tremendous challenges the way you have. Great job! Can't wait to see it all together.
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Awesome project!! Nice work! Just the making of this article alone would be overwhelming to me.
Its funny , when you first posted this project , I thought of the salzburg cars (though I couldn't remember
what they were called) . I eventually found them on you tube again. Very cool!
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A little vid...............
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac96nslFOg4
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awwww yeah! Can't wait for extreme oversteer :P
So tonight was back to the wiring harness. The following should not be undertaken by those who can't read a wiring diagram!
First off, the harness that was in the car was badly hacked by a previous owner. Bad crimp connectors and replaced segments of wire everywhere. I knew I had better sections in other harnesses, but to be fair and honest I don't have a good complete harness. One Harness, for example, has the left-side headlight and horn wiring cut off (likely for a good reason, but I don't recall). Another harness is cut on the driver's side (again, probably for a good reason)...and then there are usual frays, splits, etc.
When in doubt, cut it out!
First off is the outer protective sheath...
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If you're not careful to ziptie or tape the wires as you pull it apart, you'll quickly end up with a mess of wires that you can't put together and have fit the car. So it's important to tape 'em, especially any spots where wires split off from the main grouping.
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...if you're lucky, the donor harness you're planning on using doesn't look like this:
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...or like this. I'm beginning to think my car was in a flood at some point. HOW did the inside of the harness, halfway down the heater channel, get wet enough to both still be wet...and growing mold? Nasty, pass me another pair of gloves.
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Despite fears of some horrible moldy death, I forged ahead. The left side headlight wires were replaced with a second set of right-side wires, as they were in the best shape. The horn wires were extended, And a couple of wires were swapped out in the main loop that goes down the A-pillar. It's amazingly slow work that required cutting apart three harness just to make one good one. At one point I was thinking about how a new harness would be so much easier...but then remembered I would be cutting all the sheathing off a brand new one, so it really doesn't matter. I was going to start on the "dash area" of the harness, but after a few minutes I realized that I would need to mount it into the car first to see where all the wires go and what I would be able to clean up. It's such a rats next as it sits, I can't see an easy way to clean it up (out of the car).
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I think the harness is now ready to be dropped into the car tomorrow. From there I'll start adding the wires and circuits I need, taping and moving wires into and out of the factory harness as I go. The headlight wires, for instance, will no longer go to the factory fuse box but will need to go a set of relays I'll be installing. Once I've got the whole harness (including my additions) taped up in the car, I'll pull the whole thing out and use expandable wire loom to cover the wires. Now I just need to find a 6-relay holder that will fit in the area I have in mind :P
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-Dave
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This is how a project gets built in time! Work day job all day then work all night on the project, sleep ...who needs it!
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Sleep is for the weak! :-)
Admittedly I only managed a couple of hours in the garage last night...just too tired after last weeks Car commercial. But even an hour a day knocks off items and gets the project moving forward!
-Dave
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So if I'm honest, I wasn't really feeling into wiring tonight. The car is across town since I'm dog & house sitting...and, lets be honest, wiring isn't exactly the most exciting option out there! But, I have a rule about spending an hour a day...so over to the shop I went. Arrived before 8...and after I started, ended up wiring until midnight before I noticed the time. After some help from the motorgeek forum I found the relay mounts I'm going to use, and decided that my relays will get mounted to the front face of the fuel tank support, underneath my 'strut bar'. It's the most logical location for 2/3rd of the relays that I'll be putting into the car. These include the fuel pump, headlight and rally light relays. Since there isn't a "clean" spot to put my dash-related relays I'll drop those down there as well.
With that decided I was able start reworking the front half of my harness. First off, I ended up removing the stock headlight wires completely. Since everything will be relayed I only need to run two trigger wires from the fuse panel, and they can be relatively light gauge wire. After those were removed, I started adding wires in. Most of what I ran could have been done with 22ga wire, but I tend to only keep 18ga and larger around the garage. A little overkill, certainly heavier, but I'll survive.
Wiring added:
Lights
- Low beam trigger wire
- High beam trigger wire
- Rally light 1 trigger wire
- Rally light 2 trigger wire
- Rally light 3 trigger wire (future upgrade potential)
Fuel Pump
- Tach Signal wire
- Selection switch wire x2 (fuel pump selector switch pump 1 or 2)
Rally Computer
- Power feed x 2
- selection trigger wire x2 (allowing me to choose between ignition switched power source or direct battery power source)
Dash
- Oil light trigger
- Oil light power
- Gen light trigger
- Gen light power
- Turn Signal indicator trigger
- Turn signal indicator power
(The above allow me to use any gauge combination I desire, and still have working warning lights)
Other
- Spare wires for future additions x2
- 4ga power wire direct from battery
- 4ga power wire from fuse box (ignition switched)
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So looking from the bottom up...the first two loops are the turn signals, L&R. The next loop consists of all the new wires I've added, which will end up hidden under the spare tire. The next loop after that is the "Mid harness" which goes to the Voltage Regulator. Above that are the wires that will make up my switch panel. I think I'll end up putting it where the stereo would normally go. And then there is the fusebox and the wires for factory switches.
Here is the harness being test fit into the car:
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My relay mounts will be in on Thursday, and by then I'll have decided on the circuit breaker mounts. Definitely will need to find a "wiring cover" for the 1302 (or make one), as the behind the dash area is going to still look like a complete rats nest. Especially once I add in all my gauges!
-Dave
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Alrighty...shop only got some of the bits in I needed, so didn't end up going as far as I hoped tonight.
Relay mounts are in, bolted up using three RivNuts.
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Then started organizing the wiring that will go into it. These wires are passing through from the back, and will be marked so that I know where to trim the length. Only three wires on this end actually need to be identified as to their purpose. The rest just go in one big bundle to the same spot so it doesn't really matter at this point. I ran wires for the factory headlights, and then realized I'm out of 12 gauge for the rally lights. Ah well, just add that to the list for tomorrow!
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With everything I could do there complete, it was time to move on. I don't want to move onto the rest of the harness until I have the front dialed, as this helps me keep the ever-changing diagram straight in my head. There is a hardcover notebook that is getting all my diagrams and thoughts, but working on harnesses for me requires a flow, and so the front needs to be finished first.
For the moment I've moved onto figuring out what I'm going to do with the dashboard. My original plan was a Carbon Joe dash, and while I had one ordered I haven't heard back regarding it. So I'm working on the back-up plan. My Stewart-Warner gauges seem to be perpetually "coming soon", so I'm really at a loss for what to do. The factory Salzburg cars were just a stock dash with a tach bolted to the top and some TAG-Heuer rally clocks on the glove box door. Audi factory rally cars from the early 80's seem to have a dash made up of whatever was lying around the workshop. Mostly VDO gauges, but not always, and most certainly not all matching each other. I checked the gauges I have...and mismatched pretty much sums it up...
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I trimmed the factory speedo hole to fit the Porsche Tach, and if I'm going to run a stock dash pad that's definitely my first choice. Now I just need to decide if I'm going to pair it with the Stewart Warner, go with a VDO set or Autometer Sport-Comp...then, of course, I need to figure out where to put them! At the very least I'll be running a Rally Computer, Tach, Oil Pressure, Oil Temp, and Fuel level. I may add a speedometer, volt meter, and air/fuel gauge. Just gotta figure out what fits, and is readable while I'm driving.
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-Dave
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More progress...but not as much as I hoped (wiring always seem to be that way). The harness is complete to the regulator & battery, 3/4 complete to the engine bay and just needs to be covered in Techflex. So far I've added 540ft of wire and more circuits then I care to think about at the moment. Should have the correct size Techflex tomorrow, and could hopefully finish this up before Christmas morning. Mind you...each time I think I'm getting close I think of a few more things I need to do :P
Here are some detail shots of how the Techflex looks when I'm done with it:
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-Dave
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Finally getting near the end of the front half of the harness....Had to do an emergency run to the city for more Techflex, but made it 10min before a supplier closed for the holidays. Eeek, almost got stopped for a week! In case anyone needed further proof that I'm insane...
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I also couldn't get heat shrink into a couple of spots. So I'll be using Silicone Fusion tape tomorrow. The harness is ready to go into the car, the last bits to be TechFlexed are the headlight wires, but I'll need to pop the fenders on in order to figure out the length. So with that I moved on to other items. Heat reflective fiberglass tape on the fender (under the gas heater)...
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And then this new plate.
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A few rubber mounts...
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...and we've got a new mount for my fuel pumps and the secondary fuse box.
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That's basically as far as I got. The fuse box I ordered in was basically crap, and I refuse to use it. I did a quick trip around the automotive suppliers in town, as well as a stereo shop, and didn't find anything that I thought would be useable. The Audi's have a fuse strip that separates out of the standard fusebox, which I thought might be useable...but then I started looking at the factory VW fusebox again. Hmmmm...flip that sucker upside down, and it could be perfect. The factory cover should pop on.
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I need to sleep on it. There are lots of reasons the ceramic-style fuses suck, but I tend to keep the terminals clean so it shouldn't matter. Anytime I've run into a "should I / or shouldn't I" problem, I try to look at it like the factory engineers would have. This is a fairly elegant solution using what is available on hand...exactly as the factory would have (for proof: see transmission mounts).
Still need to take a good nights sleep I'll know whether I like it or not. And I suppose in the long run it's fully upgradeable to an ATO-style box down the road.
-Dave
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Haven't done much work on the car in the last couple of days. Something about a big holiday and family dinners and such ;) I did get the front half of the wiring harness back in, and insulated against heat near the gas heater. Kinda like the look of it installed, but this part of the project is taking waaaaaaay too long. I will need to mount a fender to do some measuring before I can finish up the techflex on the front.
(https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm8.staticflickr.com%2F7031%2F6579557679_dfbcdf25de_z.jpg&hash=b2d8eb8fa2695c8933249a93f7b017bc08b06741) (https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm8.staticflickr.com%2F7170%2F6579557087_b747dfb987_z.jpg&hash=3db9ecfc078ea2b64c85f00dc98b259d172b2cdc)
...relay and fuse panel are in. I still need to figure out how I'm going to label the fuses so I remember what controls each circuit...and not really sure what I was doing when I put the labels up. Somehow I missed the first and last relay labels! Will have to cut another couple off the vinyl machine tomorrow.
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The fuel pump wires will need to be completed after I get a couple of the Rabbit fuel pump relays, and a second pump. For now I'll move onto the dash portion of the harness and slowly work my way back. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
-Dave
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I think in keeping with the spirit of the build you should label your fuses and relays in german. Why make it easy on you? :41:
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is that a ford relay i spy? forshame dave! the more i watch this thread the more i think you're setting a new standard for a quality build! this things awesome!
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is that a ford relay i spy? forshame dave! the more i watch this thread the more i think you're setting a new standard for a quality build! this things awesome!
haha, yeah it is a Ford Relay. The ford relay is SPST (single pole, single throw) as opposed to the SPDT (single pole, double throw) relay that is normally sold as an "Automotive Relay".
With a SPDT relay (the usual Automotive Relay), when the circuit is switched the relayed power is live on two outlet tabs. This allows you to use one relay to switch on both high beam bulbs, for instance. The SPST relay, on the other hand, has one outlet tab live normally, and when the switch is applied the output moves to the other tab. So in my case, I'm using this for the Rally computer. Normally the rally computer will be powered by an ignition controlled source. Thus, when I turn the car on or off the rally computer will turn on or off as well. In a rally event, however, this isn't ideal. While fueling, or if the navigator causes the driver to stall the car, you want the rally computer to stay on regardless. Thus I have the ford relay setup so I can move to "battery power" for the duration of a rally event.
In a more "normal" Volkswagen application, I might use the SPST relay to control two electric fuel pumps. Normally pump one would always have power, but if it were to fail moving a switch on the dash to "pump two" would move the output to a second fuel pump. It's extremely rare for a relay to fail, so in a street car this would be a reasonable setup. Since this is a race car though, I'm building it for full redundancy :)
Thanks for the props on the build...it's been moving so slow this week I'm feeling like I have to drag myself into the garage to start.
-Dave
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Well, it's been a long week of work...but none of it on the Beetle. Whistler over Christmas break isn't exactly "time off" for any of us who work there. More like "All hands on deck"! At work we have a Hagglunds BV-206 (google it) which has been taking up a lot of my time. Ford engine, Mercedes transmission, BMW distributor, Audi plug wires....it's a virtual United Nations of construction. Anyways...I'm off topic, and finally got back to the Bug today.
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...I managed to snake the wiring harness through the factory holes in the heater channels. It wasn't easy, but I got it through. My seat rail is jammed up against the heater channel, which means running even a factory harness down beside it would be almost impossible. I might cut the seat rail, lay the wires and re weld it back in...or I might route the wires under the seat and simply cut some access for it. Haven't decided yet.
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From there I moved onto the fuel tank. In order to make sure all the dash and trunk bits are going to fit, I need to get the fuel tank into the car...which means refinishing it. In order to refinish it, the first step was to sort out the fuel sender. The aftermarket senders are a wee bit different then the Super Beetle versions:
(https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm8.staticflickr.com%2F7164%2F6618076059_4889a91480_z.jpg&hash=b2a60c415db97f430ba66022083f5f72d3a9e428) (https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm8.staticflickr.com%2F7150%2F6618076371_de7e9f9545_z.jpg&hash=4bf8aaf23d393a2bd156674f464b78b177cb5890)
So I started slowly stripping down the VW unit, as I compared it to the Stewart Warner unit I'm going to be using....
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...and, after a little while, I had this:
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The factory Super Beetle gauge has two floats, which after playing around I figured our are required to get a proper reading at both full and empty. Trying to sort out a way to make it all work with the aftermarket gauge was going to be relatively futile. Or at least, far more engineering then a fuel gauge should require! With my short float I should show "empty" well before the tank is actually dry....so it's somewhat reflective of a reserve left, but it does have a very accurate "full" reading. That may come across as backwards...but really I could run without a gauge at all, simply knowing how many miles between full and empty. This adds a bit of security :P
With that finished, I prepped the top half of the tank, and took care of the finish. Tomorrow I'll paint the bottom half.
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I've also moved onto the dash. With Carbon Joe AWOL, I've had to go onto plan B. I'll be using a factory looking dash, and giving it the "Audi Factory Team" look. Cut some panels for around the speedo hole, and a lexan panel which fits into the radio trim. Ideally I'd like to fit the Rally computer on the far side of the glove box, but I'm going to have to wait until install the dash to check clearances.
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Until tomorrow...
-Dave
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I ran my wiring through the window post and the roof channel, goes right into the engine compartment (well it did on my 61, cant say for sure on your car)
Make sure you grommet those holes!
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I can't remember what year they changed the wiring route, but early cars go above the doors, later cars (at least '69+) follow the heater channel. If I tried to run mine on the early route, I'd run out of length somewhere around the rear 1/4 window ;)
And...don't worry, there will be grommets and/or cable holds to ensure it doesn't move and rub through. None from the factory though!
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Well, the bottom of the tank is coated...so in a day or two I'll be able to install that and move some bigger things forward. But for now, it feels like slow detail work. I am getting things done, but not the massive steps forward I was enjoying before! :P
First up is the new "radio panel". It will house various switches and the oil temperature gauge. (Fuel gauge installed just for sizing). The switches across the top will select stock high beams, rally light 1 and/or rally light two when you hit the factory high beam switch. I can run any combination of auxillary lighting, but they're all ultimately dipped just like your factory high-low system. The bottom three toggles are for fuel pump 1/2, Air/Fuel Ratio left back or right (sensor selector for the gauge) and rally computer power source. The long switch next to the gauge is a rotary switch, I just haven't trimmed down the post or installed the knob. This will serve to control which sensor is displaying on the oil temperature gauge. I plan on having multiple sensors so I can see oil temp just as it leaves the engine, as it goes into the engine and also in oil tank. The rotary knob allows me to have up to four different sensor locations, but only one gauge.
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I've cut a spot for the speedometer, and four more smaller gauges (two beside the tach and two in the glove box door). Some paint finishes up the panels. The car will end up with a Speedo, Tach, Oil Temp, Oil Pressure, Air/Fuel Ratio, voltmeter and a Fuel Gauge. Where I'll mount each gauge specifically...hasn't yet been determined. Well, except for the oil pressure gauge. That will go where both co-driver and driver can see it.
(https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm8.staticflickr.com%2F7019%2F6625946405_7e152ef18b_z.jpg&hash=6b8beb96f62f3ed1228bd229b9d7169765623c9e) (https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm8.staticflickr.com%2F7164%2F6625607783_ac05933a36_z.jpg&hash=0f7b7085268be993588de976b4657a6434d9dfed)
The new gauges will all be the current Stewart Warner Performance style, which you can see new in the boxes on the left-side. Due to the factory dash setup, I've chosen to keep the Porsche Tach...but that black rim just wouldn't do, would it? Enter new silver bezel. When I first painted it, I instantly hated it. Almost taped it up to paint it black right away. Once I had it installed on the dash though, it was an instant success. Oh yeah, I got the dashboard mounted as well. Should be installed for the final time.
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Doesn't seem like much accomplished, considering the time it took!
-Dave
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Build is going super slow the last three weeks...but house sitting, dog sitting, Christmas and having to drive over to the shop will do that! I should be back to my usual program, and low sleep hours, come friday. Tonight I could only get an hour in on the car. In that time I managed to install the switch and gauge panels, including putting the random gauges I have into various spots to check the fit. Had to make a couple of more adjustments to the metal dash, but otherwise everything is a good fit. Should have all my new-style Stewart Warner gauges by the end of the month...but visually, it's not looking too bad now. At the very least I can sort out the wiring for each of the panels and then swap out the gauges later.
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-Dave
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Very nice work! You young guys sure can work fast.
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Yeah I can't pull the night shifts anymore I need all the beauty sleep that I can get!
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That dash is fast!!! It's going 65 standing still!
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Awesome progress for sure!
Found this on thesamba.com
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Man, cant fall behind on this thread. Spent my entire lunch break catching up on your car Dave. I love the novel you are writing on it. Car is looking great. Keep up the good work.
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Came across this blog about the salzburg rally beetle today:
http://thesalzburgrallyebeetle.blogspot.com/
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enjoy
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Came across this blog about the salzburg rally beetle today:
http://thesalzburgrallyebeetle.blogspot.com/
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enjoy
are those 46idas?
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The author of that blog, Joao, and I have exchanged plenty of emails he's actually the one who sold me the magazines. Unfortunately he's decided not to build his replica.
As for the carbs...theyre off a Porsche 904. Geoff would know the exact carb.
-Dave
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Looks like even from new those damn valve covers leaked. That case reminds me of a economy rebore job, sprayed gold.
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Strange that they said they used 46 IDAs, when that carb is a later 48 IDA.
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More inconsistencies. The text and title for this pic says it is a 914 5 speed.
One can clearly count only 4 gears. That's because it's not a 914, but a Beetle Type 1. The diff is Type 1 too.
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More inconsistencies. The text and title for this pic says it is a 914 5 speed.
One can clearly count only 4 gears. That's because it's not a 914, but a Beetle Type 1. The diff is Type 1 too.
True. Yet photos of the completed cars clearly show a 901 box installed in the car.
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A few posts back, when I first bolted up the steering column, I mentioned how it was the first "used" looking piece I was using on the car...but budgets have to be adhered to (at least, once you've spent 4x as much as you planned!). A guy of the Germanlook Forum sent me a PM, and shortly after a package, at no cost, for the project:
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Guess I won't be using a used ugly turn signal lever after all!
Thanks Germanlook Chris!
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Started on wiring up the dash today...it's incredible how long it takes to do it correctly. Managed to wire up the fuel gauge, air-fuel gauge, rally computer, speedometer and the radio panel of switches. Yes, that was almost a full-day's work.
Glove Box started:
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Detail of the Anderson Power-Pole connectors I prefer for inside use. They can be assembled like Lego, and labelled with a micro-sharpie. I only need to label them for while I assembling each half (usually on different days). Once I key the connectors so they can't be assembled incorrectly, panels can be installed and removed without ever messing up the wiring.
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Glove box gauge details:
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From the normal view, all of the wires are tucked away neatly and hidden. Hard to see in the second photo, but the stock glovebox fits perfectly. I've lost a bit of interior space, of course, but can at least use it for holding the insurance papers and other vitals.
(https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm8.staticflickr.com%2F7166%2F6658000189_812dac0f22_z.jpg&hash=4d5d331a768f3f6a7098f1e2bb6767e0cf477c8d) (https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm8.staticflickr.com%2F7156%2F6658000317_b228af25f0_z.jpg&hash=62ef70449c941f359f1b1da4d96eac860cbb0223)
The underside looks odd in the photo, but actually looks clean and neat in person. The connectors under the dash are for the rally computer. It needs to be removable for use in other vehicles and/or if I park it somewhere that it could be an issue.
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Under the hood remains clean as well. The black wiring harness is for the rally computer, the connectors peeking out are for the gauges. Again, everything is modular and removable should repairs or future modifications require it.
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And here is the panel that sits in the radio slot. As you can see making it removable requires a bit of time ;-)
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-Dave
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Nice work man!! this stuff is very time consuming to do Woot_Emoticon
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Thanks! Occasionally I just want to "get it done"...but I know taking my time will make it so much easier to diagnose down the road. Considering the fact that I'm doing all the wiring without the battery or any testing, I'm either really really good...or insane :P
No photos tonight, as it's just more wires and connections. I've got the switch panel in the radio slot wired up to the relays in the trunk, speedo and tach 100% wired in at the dash (just the speed sensor to mount) and most of the modular panels powered and grounded. After that I started going through and labeling wires to make tomorrow night faster. With the techflex having to go over each wire, it wasn't realistic to label them as I built the harness. What I did do, though, was to bundle the wires by end location. Now when I'm trying to figure out "where does that wire go", as soon as I find that one wire in a cluster goes to the regulator (for instance) all five in that cluster go to the regulator. This cuts down the hunt-and-find factor, but considering there were 15 wires going to the relay panel...it doesn't necessarily make it quick!
I hope to get the rest of "my" wiring finished tomorrow, so that I can start installing the factory switches and their associated wires. There is going to be a LOT to stuff in behind there, and I'm not 100% sure it will all easily fit.
-Dave
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Holy crap I'm reaching the end!!
All of my switches and gauges are wired and hooked up. Started installing the factory equipment tonight, which is a nice milestone to reach. A little confused by some of it, as the wiring connections I have in the car don't match the '71 wiring diagram...will be a bit of a puzzle I think! Warwick was in the garage working on the Mini tonight...apparently I talk to myself with a running monologue of wiring diagrams and connections as I work. Never noticed it before, but definitely do it when I'm wiring. Odd.
Photos tomorrow, added my LED Gen and Oil lights, but screwed up the location. You RHD guys would be fine with them where they are, but for us LHD folks a switch blocks the warning lights. Hmmm...might have to install a couple more just to be safe.
-Dave
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Now, keeping in mind that this is still a work in progress, I have wires not yet trimmed or hooked up in this photo...but still I think if you've owned enough beetles, you just accept that there is no way the behind-the-dash wiring won't look like a rats nest :P Add a bazillion other wires and I think I'm going to have a very hard time making this look "neat". Even with zipties and/or wiring loom, I will definitely need to work out a wiring cover of some sort.
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Got the headlight switch, emergency flasher switch and gas heater switch all in. Gas heater will need a few more connections, in the '69 I just ran my own wiring...for this car I'm going to want to figure out how the factory did it. I must have spent 45min going through boxes and baggies searching for the "good" dash switches with their perfect labels and diagrams. 45min, that was, until I remembered that those pieces are still installed on the '69, and it was sold!
I have discovered a few issues with the factory wiring. Each of the cars I've torn apart to build this one were all '71's. At some point in the last five years I must have dismantled a '72. Bits from that car must have been in my wiring box, because they've found their way into this car. The fuse box, for instance, is a '72. Took me forever to realize this, and thus instantly solve why one circuit had no "feed" power. A '71 box bridges the first three terminals, in '72 they bridge just the first two. Doh. Wiring, it would seem, is also a mix of '71 and '72...which is bound to create a headache down the road. Especially since I've hooked up everything as though it were '71, until I discovered a few things were '72 and "wouldn't work". They are small changes, like wires that join together at the fuse box instead of a junction in the harness...but just different enough to drive me bat-shit-crazy when I have an issue down the road!
Does anyone know what the Brown/Blue wire coming out of the steering column is for? It's on neither the '71 or '72 wiring diagram, and I can't for the life of me figure out what it might be for.
The last issue is one I mentioned the other night. With the 914 Tach and an aftermarket speedo, I've lost my factory warning lights. I wanted them somewhere visible, preferably not behind the steering wheel. I got the bright idea to get bright LED's and tuck them in with the brake-light warning switch. If done right it would be kind of factory-esque, with all the warning lights in the same spot. Initially I was going to remove the brake-light warning lamp all together (pretty sure I can tell when I have lost half my brakes!!) but didn't end up removing it for some reason. I drilled out the car and popped two high-intensity LED's into the panel. Tough to take a photo of them and show the intensity, but here is the location:
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Now, I did this entire install from the passenger side of the car. Silly me, I never thought to check if they'd be visible from the Driver's seat. :P I will have to wait until I have a seat in the car again, maybe I get lucky, but I somehow doubt it. Pretty sure the lower LED is blocked by the fan switch!
To finish the dash wiring I need my wiper install kit (grommets, etc) and a windshield squirter. I'm off coaching for the weekend, so likely won't update the thread until Monday night.
-Dave
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Does anyone know what the Brown/Blue wire coming out of the steering column is for? It's on neither the '71 or '72 wiring diagram, and I can't for the life of me figure out what it might be for.
Surf First. Post after. This would be unused on a T1...mental note, bring iPad down to garage when wiring.
-Dave
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Back to the bug tonight, after a weekend away. The new headliner is spread out across my living and dining room, so hopefully it will start smoothing out a little. In the meantime, it was down to the very cold garage for a little bit of work. Much of what I accomplished is the sort of thing you don't really see, but there's a few bits...
First off, the windshield washer jet, wiper motor/linkage and wiper switch are all installed and hooked up.
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Next up was the fuel tank. Too bad you can't see all the work that went on before the tank went in! The gas heater fuel hoses needed to be run, as well as the gas heater pump electrics. Since I was running the wires for the pump, I took the time to finish up all the connections on the fusebox side for the heater. You'll just need to trust me that everything under the fuel tank is as detailed as above the tank. All the lines and wires are secured using mounts and zip ties...good and safe, but it will mean I have to remove the tank when I swap the gas lines in two years. (Safety item...all soft lines are replaced every two years minimum)
Once that was done, I laid some foam-tape around the edges of the fuel tank mount, and dropped it in. Tomorrow I will secure the pump, as I decided both the tank and gas heater mounts needed a fresh coat of paint. Also visible in this photo is the passenger side defrost and heat ducting. I remember the duct being a complete PIA to pull out of the car, and I've read more then a few posts on The Samba saying how difficult they are to get in. Honestly, I don't know what all the fuss was about. It was dirt simple! Pull the dash vent out, slide the duct into place, put the dash vent back in which secures both. Took me 30 seconds, and I was expecting 30min! I will need to figure out where I hid the driver's side piece though...as it's apparently not in my garage.
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I haven't decided if the trunk will get carpeting or not...so I had to make sure the fuel gauge wires looked good...just in case ;-)
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And the last thing I got to was the fuel door release handle. The one on the car was broken (and painted silver) but taking them apart isn't a simple job! They don't like to separate from the cable without something breaking. I broke one cable, one handle and one retaining clip...so it took 3 assemblies in total to create one good part. But its installed, so I'm happy.
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Time to move onto some different jobs, I think I'll need to wait until the rest of my Gauges arrive in order to finish the dashboard. No sense in mounting stuff I'll just need to remove to swap a gauge in.
-Dave
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The last couple of days haven't been as productive as I had hoped they would be. A combination of really cold temperatures and other jobs meant less time in the garage then I had hoped. I did manage to finish all the stock dash switches, which turned out to be more challenging then I expected. Note to self, next time I stuff a bazillion wires in behind the dash...put the fresh-air knobs in FIRST
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Then, following that I figured I better test to see if the gas-heater would actually fit the car. This is the first time I've had a chance to see it was even remotely close! Thank goodness it appears that everything is going to work just fine.
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...and I started on the fuel pump plumbing. Unfortunately one of the T-fittings didn't come in, and I mucked one of the straight hose ends. No worries, the shop will have replacements in tomorrow and I can finish this up. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to make those tiny short fuel lines! I thought -8 lines were fun to make, but the smaller -4 lines are a real chore. I'm not 100% the configuration I've chosen will work (since only one pump will be powered at a time)...worst case I'll need to put a one-way valve in-line.
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On the bad news front, I'm having a really tough time sorting out how I'm going to deal with running the wiring harness beside/under/around the driver's seat. When I got frustrated with that I moved on to the rear portion, and quickly determined that I'm either a) going to need to buy a harness or b) build one from scratch. The engine & taillight portion of my harness is just brutal. I've got a few days off the bug planned due to work commitments, so hopefully I can come back on Saturday with a fresh perspective and attitude!
-Dave
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Well the fuel pumps ended up being an interesting challenge. Turns out when I ran the fuel line for the gas heater, I pinched it under the fuel tank. Had to remove the tank and everything in the way to fix the problem. I'm fairly glad I found it now though, otherwise I'd have been really confused as to why the gas heater wasn't working! Once the problem was fixed, I went on to finish the pump and line mounting...
Pumps for the engine are in...
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And so is the gas heater pump. Apparently camouflaged after I painted it black :P
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With that done, I figured I better mount the gas heater for real, and see if I was going to have any other issues. Pretty glad that I did. Needless to say, the exhaust pipe wasn't going to work out in it's current configuration.
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After a bit of fettling with the mounts, the exhaust pipe and ducting, I managed to get it in with everything looking "factory".
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The heat shield, though, required some trimming. I may have trimmed off a bit too much, but I have 3 or 4 of them and was wanting to ensure I had left space for straps, etc. I'll leave it for a day or two to make sure I'm happy with it, and then refinish it so it looks new again. On the exhaust pipe, I will need to make the "foot" piece that goes into the end. Unlike my last car, though, I'm going to make this one when the car is on the ground with a tire on it. Maybe it won't rub on attempt number two :D
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With much of the trunk finished I started to think about the wiring harness again. Must be the new heater I bought for the garage, but suddenly things started to make sense and fall together. First up, I determined a routing for the main harness that would keep it off the floor (out of the wet), and away from the seat track rubbing it. I still have to run the seat ontop to make sure it's going to be perfect, but I'll do that before going to sleep.
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While I was moving stuff around to come up with the routing, it hit me that I should just get the rear engine-bay & taillight portion of the harness finished. I sat down with the three sections I had, slowly pulled them apart and made the best harness I could. Then, using some of the leftover I extended the wires near the regulator so that my engine-bay section can be joined to the main section out of sight. With the routing sorted I was able to start finalizing the rear section. The techflex section is for the speed sensors and oxygen sensors, and I'll start running the rest tomorrow.
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The engine bay section is on stand-by until I can buy the correct heatshrink for it. Everything I have left in house has hot-glue inside, so I've got to find some that will remain flexible once it's shrunk. None of the tail-light segments I have are really worth saving, so I'm going to have to come up with something from scratch. About all they are good for is making sure I have the wire lengths correct.
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Probably the best part, though, is feeling like I'm out of the slump I've felt for the last couple of weeks. Bring on Sunday!!!
-Dave
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I have been enjoying reading about your build, the car looks great. I just picked up a copy of the Dec issue of Ultra VW which has an story about the car that you are replicating in it.
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Thanks! I'm gonna have to go grab a copy I guess :-)
The build is a tonne of fun, not as fast as I'd like, but still fun.
Annnnndddd...here's today's progress.
Rear harness ready to be installed into the car:
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...and as you can see, wiring can be a rather messy project!
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Shortly thereafter, I managed to get the harness squeezed in past the dreaded foam, and then hooked up on the inside to the main harness.
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And with the wiring harness well on it's way to completion, I figured I should start on a job I've been avoiding for a little while. The headliner.
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Now, in the back of my mind I had always planned on installing the headliner without any of the padding. It's just race-car building habit, and with all the weight I've gained in wiring and electrics I'll happily take a few ounces here and there. It is, however, a decision I might live to regret. On the B-Pillars, I did need to pad the clamps as it was clear they were going to tear into the vinyl over time. A fleece blanket sacrificed a few scraps, and the fear of tearing was eliminated.
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Without any padding, getting the B-Pillars wrinkle free is a serious challenge. The issue at the top is the mounting plate for the assist-straps, and can't really be avoided. At the bottom, it would seem it's more a case of my lack of experience vs. any real issue with the car or headliner. Trying to work out how to stretch the vinyl, and glue it down, is a challenge probably best fought with experience.
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I did manage to eliminate a bunch of the wrinkles and waves up top, and a few down below. For whatever reason I missed taking photos of them though. Moving on to the Passenger side, you'd think the experience of the driver's side would help, but now everything is in mirror image! The top detail shows the main reason why I might change my mind on the padding...any of the "left-over" padding from before is going to show through as bubbles. 'Course, if I start padding now...that might make the b-pillar section look even worse. Hmmmm....
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After completing the two pillars I decided to call it a night. Slow and steady is going to win the Headliner battle.
-Dave
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Great progress, Dave! :clap:
I look forward to seeing this thread nightly.
The old glue from the headliner in mine was hard enough I used a scraper then sanded it down with 80 grit and that seemed to fix the show through. Careful use of a hair dryer on the vinyl helps stretching it a lot. Good luck.
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Rarely do I think about paying someone to work on my car...but wow, would I every consider it now! Headliner isn't impossible, but it is damned difficult! I'm still not even sure I'm going to keep it. There is one spot on the B-Pillar that really annoys me, and now that I've done more I'm not sure I'll be happy with it. On the one hand, it's turning out way better then my '69 headliner ever was...and lets be honest, at the end of the day I'm taking this car racing. BUT, and this is a big but, I'm not convinced the level of craftsmanship on this part matches the rest of the car. From day one I wanted a car that was finished to "magazine standards...and so far, the headliner isn't doing it for me. Gotta sleep on it, and I'm going to finish the job to the end. I mean, I might as well assemble the car before I decide it's all gotta come out to be redone. Waves I see right now may settle out, or end up hidden by some piece of equipment I haven't installed yet.
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I did decide this afternoon that installing the headliner without any padding was going to be a waste of time. The C-Pillars would be so challenging to have look "right" I just couldn't wrap my head around it. Living in small town BC doesn't leave much in terms of shopping options at 6pm, so I came up with the best thing I could find. It's polyester, so it won't rot, and the thickness is about right. Having no record of what the padding shapes looked like, I used a combination of google and common sense to come up with something reasonable.
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First up is the 'rear window' section. Wow was that a challenge! It's a simple piece of vinyl for crying out loud, why did it almost beat me!?! :P So, overall it's not _bad_, and I'm not really sure how I would have pulled out the slight wrinkles around the corner...so I can live with those. But the top bar has two waves in it, due to the padding underneath. The bottom ends aren't even (due to the padding not being exactly the same)...and I discovered what happens if you hit the vinyl with too much heat on the lower right. Hmph. For the moment I haven't decided on what I'm doing with the firewall (Dynamat, carpet, bare?) so I'm not yet sure what I'll do to fix any of the issues (if anything). I was mildly discouraged at this point, but figuring that I'm in this far, I pressed on.
With the rear quarter panel sections I discovered a new and interesting problem. Nowhere in my head did I think about the fact that I've moved the firewall in by 3". This headliner piece, which already seemed complex enough to mount, was going to need to be modified to accommodate. I went slow, reeeeaaallly slow. But in the end, I'm actually pretty stoked with how good its looking. There are some big waves/wrinkles in the far right that would normally be hidden by the rear seat back. Not quite sure what I'm going to do, but the "under window" piece is technically long enough to go over this part.
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With that completed I decided I really didn't want to be up another hour to do the passenger side. One one hand I'm starting to feel comfortable with the job, but on the other hand when I'm tired is likely when I'm going to screw up really badly.
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Before heading to write this, though, I decided to install some Dynamat on the roof. Initially I wasn't going to, mostly due to adding yet more weight, but then I thought about it and realized I would have to do a whole second headliner if I ever changed my mind! With that, I tossed in three strips of Dynamat. When doing a panel, you actually don't have to cover the whole thing (despite what Dynamat might tell you), but you do need to do enough to make sure you stop the panel from resonating. Just how effective is it?
http://www.youtube.com/embed/YH0bwv1henY (http://"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH0bwv1henY")
I'm knocking on the panel with the same force.
-Dave
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Well, there are good days...and bad days. And sometimes they occur on the same night in the garage!
First up, the bad news...cracked the paint, on the roof...from the inside. Long story short, I slipped while massaging the area around the rollbar. It was a stupid mistake, but one I can't take back. Of course, you just know 6 milliseconds before I did this my brain said "wait, you should move that...nope!" :P
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On to the good news! You know the best part about race cars? They have sponsorship decals. hahahaha
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The passenger side C-Pillar portion went in relatively easily. Its funny how much you forget just with a night of sleep. Do I pull here, and glue there first...or over here? It mostly went okay, but I have bigger waves in the front lower portion that are visible. I'm starting to relax a bit about the overall look, I mean...at the end of the day its going to look good. And, quite frankly, a couple of ripples in the headliner aren't going to slow me down any :P
After a big shop clean, I started on the main headliner section. I can see how this would be challenging in a normal car. With the roll bar, it's super annoying! To make it more interesting, the roll bar just happens to be right where a headliner bow is. Awesome.
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So far I've managed to get the rear section pretty tight, but once you get to the roll bar I'm having difficulty getting the material to pull tight enough forward.
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And here's where I've left it for the night. Now that I'm able to get some tension on it, I got the garage up to 20deg C, and will let it sit overnight. Perhaps that will help creases to relax a little. If I'm honest, I really wish I had a friend who did interiors to come help finish it. With the roll bar its just a bit trickier then I'm comfortable with, considering the challenge I found the other parts to be. But no such friend exists...so I guess I'm on my own!
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-Dave
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A good way to start off is by putting the headliner in a dryer for a minute of so to help it strech and get the creases out. Use the heat gun or hair dryer to work those out as you go. It will strech and fit much better.
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Keep going ur doing a great job . I love all the detail pics . PDT_Armataz_01_37
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Hmmm...not sure how I'm feeling about this tonight.
I had a good chat on the phone this morning with a Gary (G-Dog), and got some good tips via PM from Randy (tikitime)...so I was feeling better about continuing. Went down to the garage around 7:30pm and started practicing with the binder clips, pulling and testing and sorting out exactly what I had to do in what order. Took quite a bit of time to get myself sorted, as I kept getting extra material showing up in the front corners. After a while I got that dialed, and could repeat the steps successfully without any major waves or issues. With the front still clipped up I hopped out of the car and practiced going down the side to the rear. It went super easy, I dialed it in on the first try. I then did a perfect repeat, and declared myself ready to go. Unfortunately, in hindsight, I made my fatal error when I got out of the car.
I dunno about you guys, but when I'm in the car working, I have a habit of getting out of the driver's side. (It's the door I always use!) In doing so, I did my side-practice down the driver's side of the car, since it was right there. The practice went so easy, I figured it was time to do the job for real. Everything went relatively smoothly up front, outside of messing up the B-Pillar fold on the driver's side, the whole side went quite well. I'd call the driver's side a pass. Moving on to the passenger side, though, and instantly I knew I had a problem. In the end, I've figured out that the roll-bar has something to do with the issue. I know the roll bar was closer to the passenger side of the roof then the driver's side, as I had to clearance the interior body panels to even get the vinyl past it...so there is something different going on. I suspect when I pulled the headliner forward and glued it to the windshield, the roll bar was giving me a false impression that I had it pulled tight enough.
Well, crap.
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Ultimately, I suspect it's all coming out. But that's my "just walked up from the garage to download the photos" impression. I'm going to assemble the car right to finished before I decide whether or not it needs a full replacement. There is still lots of stuff that needs to go into the car that may hide it. Roll bar padding, reading lamps, etc. Once the car is assembled, if it bugs me, I'll pull all the glass, the headliner, and have it redone. No sense in freaking out about it right now...either it needs to come out, or it doesn't. At the very least, I gave it a shot! haha.
-Dave
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Dave your doing an awesome job and don't get to hung up about the headliner as your always going to be your own worst critic.
Once everything else is in the car you are going to be the only one to see it and if your cool with it it's all good.
Looking awesome!
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Yup. I'm going to relax about it for now...move on, and decide if it's getting swapped out down the road. For now, I'll suck it up and keep going! :D
Tonight was a quick night the garage, gotta get up early tomorrow for a Seattle trip. Back when I mounted the front brake mounts, I wasn't a fan of the bolts that I had. But I was potentially needing to roll the car around, so I tossed 'em on anyways. Since tonight was going to be a quick night, I popped off the rotors to swap them to proper hex-head bolts.
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With done, I mounted the calipers...
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And finished off the last of the brake lines.
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Tossed the gas flap door on as well, since I've almost kicked it off the stairs a thousand times :P
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I probably had time to bleed the brakes, but I have a rule about never bleeding a brake system for the first time before bed. My Audi rally car taught me that one...with a leaking fitting inside the car :P Always bleed at the start of a session, so you can check it carefully at regular intervals to ensure there are no leaks!
-Dave
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How come you don't have any race car holes in the brake rotors?
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Well...
a) Drilled rotors crack...unless they're cast with dimples.
b) Drilled rotors generally sound terrible.
c) A non-vented rotor would benefit far more from slotting over drilling.
As for why I haven't slotted them...now that would be a good question! ;-)
My last race car was an Audi 90 quattro, heavy car...definitely under braked. The '69 bug, in comparison, had great brakes and didn't boil over with spirited driving. If I find any issues, first step will be slotting the rotors on a mill., followed by cooling ducts.
-Dave
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Good job on the headliner for someone who has never done one before. A steamer will get most of those minor wrinkles out. PDT_Armataz_01_37
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So I've manipulated the light levels to make sure it shows up as bad as possible to the camera. Doesn't look this bad in person. BUT, this should give us all an idea of what _I_ see when I look at it.
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I'm over it, it's okay now. I mean, really, who expects to do an amazing job on a headliner first try?! haha. I'm looking forward to moving onto more fun things like oil lines, mounting fenders, and finishing the car :)
-Dave
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Car is looking great Dave.
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Thanks!
If anyone wins the lottery it seems I'm held back more by finances then by time in the garage :P haha
Didn't get a whole lot accomplished this weekend. I got a phone call from a buddy that my boxes were starting to pile up in his shop...so Saturday was "drive 12 hours and pickup my parts all over the west". Unfortunately it would appear that some sponsors like to send really big boxes for only 1 small part out of an order of 5 parts! Sigh. Today I opted to actually use my Ski Pass for the first time...probably a good call seeing as I live 35min away from Whistler, and haven't been yet :P
But never fear, I did make it into the garage for a couple of items.
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First up was installing the fuel filler inlet. It's a bit of a mental puzzle figuring out how to get this thing in! I distinctly remember removing it after the fuel tank, and with the nipple still installed. Of course you can't get it in the car that way...took a bit to figure that out. But, now that it's in (just need hose clamps) the whole process seems really simple. Remove nipple, slide through quarter panel from the outside. Done! I do need to buy a new fuel cap, though, this one is looking a little ratty.
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When I went to finish the job, I was reminded on why the aftermarket often sucks. Factory breather setup on the top...aftermarket replacement parts down below. Yeah, that ain't gonna work. Time to see what Samco has in the universal hose selections...
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I also made the attempt to reinstall the fuel sender with the required O-Ring. I know this isn't going to be an easy job, but any suggestions? Perhaps I just need a second person...one to push down, and another to tap the sender around to lock it in place?
The fuel pump relays required a bit of modification. They come with the power terminals wider then a standard .250" connector...which is what my relay mounts use. A quick few minutes with the angle grinder sizes the terminals to the width I need. The relay mounts did require a bit of modification for the "K" terminal, which is the one that takes in the tach-signal. With these relays, as long as the tach is providing a signal the fuel pumps will run.
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And finally, I closed up my garage session tonight with the last two pieces of the headliner. The under quarter windows are done, and I can officially call my headliner installed!
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...Time to stop with these mini-jobs and get back to some heavy hitting nights in the garage that cut the list shorter and shorter :)
-Dave
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I'm going to go into withdrawal when you finally finish your thread, we should almost start a pool to see who gets the 2000 view of this thread!
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Hahaha, from where I sit it feels like this thread is never going to end! :P
I wonder if I can get bonus points at the GCVWs for keeping everyone entertained over the winter? hahaha.
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Man, what a roller coaster night of frustration.
I started off by bleeding the brakes, which should have gone relatively easy. I've got Russell Performance Speed Bleeders on every corner, so with long sections of clear tubing you can bleed the brakes single-handedly. To start the process I always crack one front and one rear caliper, to ensure the master cylinder can push fluid through both circuits. Within moments I could hear fluid hitting the front pan. "That's odd", I thought, "Its usually not that quick." I walked over to the front corner, and fluid is leaking everywhere. Initially I didn't panic...I probably forgot to tighten a fitting or something. But scanning for the source quickly turned to panic and annoyance. How could I possibly have a brand new caliper leaking at the seam between halves!?! I'm mopping up fluid, trying to find tools to remove the caliper when it dawns on me...these calipers have two bleed nipples (to be used on either left or right sides). Um, where is the other bleed nipple?
Ah yes, when you take a nipple with you to the store to ensure you buy the right speed bleeders...PUT IT BACK! :P
With that done, I continued to bleed the brakes. The fronts came up quickly, and easily...but the rears, just would not bleed. I needed to wait until I had someone to work the pedals so I could see what was going on. With that, I moved on. As you can see the handbrake cables I have are quite a bit longer then ideal. When I put the same rear brake kit on my '69, I had the same issue. But the cable housing measures out correctly. I could spend time trying to find ones that are the correct length, or I could fix what I have.
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First step, cut off the end ball, and remove the cable and housing from the car.
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Next up, I use a cable crimp on each cable. These are crushed on using my vice, and then I solder the housing for extra measure. With that done, you simply reinstall in the car. The clamps hold to the use of the parking brake, and my final step is to heat-shrink the end of the cables so that they don't fray. Its not the most elegant solution, but it's functional. :)
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Funny enough, I've never actually owned a beetle with a properly installed E-Brake boot. Seems they're always torn in some fashion. I highly doubt the Empi one fits properly, and I can't seem to get it to 'snug down' to the tunnel. But I figured I would try the silver out. I won this at the first GCVW show I attended four or five years ago, and I remembered thinking "When am I ever going to even think of using this in a car!?!" Funny enough, it fits the theme of this one :P
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With the brakes completed as far as I could get them, I thought I'd quickly toss the battery into the car. I'd really like to know how I had this thing mounted in my '69 beetle...because it sure doesn't fit this car! The first problem was base...I knew that would be easily solved by finding the additional pieces Optima ships with the battery...but finding them in the garage was another story. Once I finally tracked them down, the battery fit under the "lip", but there was no way I could bolt it down. A bit of time with the angle grinder and one of the plastic mounts...and it was finally mounted. FAR too long for something as simple as the battery!
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Thankfully my buddy Scott stopped in, so that meant the two of us could do some 'two-man' jobs. We started on the fuel level sender. I now have the O-Ring, so it's just a simple matter of pressing down and tapping the sender home, right? Okay, seriously. I swear we spent an hour on this. It's been greased, boiled, what-have-you, and will NOT go in. I'm going to have to find the measurements and check that the O-Ring packed was the correct size, because this is ridiculous.
We did, however, manage to bleed the brakes relatively successfully. They aren't perfect, but with all the fluid I ran through we were getting to the end of my stash. Letting the brakes sit for a few days isn't a bad thing either, so hopefully I can get the last of the air out in short order. At least I know there aren't any major issues with any components, and outside of my bleeder mistake, all my fittings were leak free from the start.
To finish the evening, I went back to my wiring. At least I know that's usually successful! I was busy working out the battery cut-off solenoid, along with starter and alternator wiring, when I discovered a new problem. My Autostick starter doesn't fit the Porsche gearbox. The diameter of the mounting face is off. Sigh. You can just see the space between the upper lip and the transmission, but suffice it to say I'll be either working the starter in the lathe, or working the trans to make it fit.
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Ah project cars...always fun eh? :P
-Dave
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I'm going to go into withdrawal when you finally finish your thread, we should almost start a pool to see who gets the 2000 view of this thread!
You should get in the garage and finish up your own project.
iagree
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The first problem was base...I knew that would be easily solved by finding the additional pieces Optima ships with the battery...but finding them in the garage was another story. Once I finally tracked them down, the battery fit under the "lip", but there was no way I could bolt it down. A bit of time with the angle grinder and one of the plastic mounts...and it was finally mounted.
Had the same problem when I put my red top Optima in my car. Lucky for me, I had the dimensions of the stock group 42 battery with me at Costco when I was buying the Optima. I knew it was too narrow, so I ended up stealing the little booster bracket from a yellow Optima. Suprising to learn it doesn't fit the yellow one either!
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Having bought a yellow-top, it includes three adapter pieces which do help quite a bit...but still required hacking up the adapters to work!
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For the last week or two I've been feeling more and more frustrated every time I work in the garage. It had gotten to the point, last night, where I considered that I may need some time off to relax and make the car fun again. Regardless, though, I needed to clean the shop today. After a clean of the shop, I was thinking about that darned fuel sender, and thought to myself "If I could get that in, perhaps it will change my attitude." Some suggestions on the German Look forum gave me a reason to think it might be possible. But first, I had to clean off the grease we used last night.
And, that was the turning point.
So, should you be reading this thread wondering why you can't get your damned fuel sender in either...allow me to solve your problem. You see, weeks ago, when you prepped your tank for paint...you probably quickly cleaned it since you were giving it a quickie paint job. Perhaps you neglected to remove the old seal before painting the tank? Hahahaha, yeah, that's right. POR-15 sure is 'tough as steel' once it dries! :P Funny enough, once I peeled off the old sender the new one (with gasket) just slid right into the tank.
The whole thing was quite funny to me once I realized...and was just the thing I needed to change my attitude around. And with that, I kept working.
Starter wiring harness assembled. I haven't fully heat-shrunk it as I may make some changes.
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Remote battery cut-off solenoid installed and wired. You get a healthy "thunk" when you twist the battery cut-off switch on the dash :) The wiring going over to the regulator hasn't been locked down, as I anticipate I'll have other wires crisscrossing the area once I put the oil tank in.
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With the battery wiring sorted out, I moved back to the regulator and took care of eliminating it for the alternator conversion I've planned on. You might wonder why I took the time to wire up the whole regulator and then remove it...but it was a simple case of needing to confirm I had the three wiring harnesses sorted out correctly before I started making changes. The unconnected wires heading towards the bottom of the photo are the various wires that have yet to be connected to anything.
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The next step in the wiring is hooking up the various sensors I'm adding. Before I can wire up the speed sensors, I need to mount them. I had originally worked out a mount for a single sensor, but later decided the rally computer and speedo should each have their own sensor. Thus, I had to weld up a new mount for two sensors. This will mount onto the side of the transmission off the diff-cover bolts.
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...and, since i had the welder out, I finished off the exhaust pipe for the gas heater. I'm pretty much ready to mount the front sheet metal (hood and fenders), but will wait to see if I can fill my time until the hood seal arrives. I suspect its easier to install without a hood in the way!
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Lastly, I figured I would leave it as a "good night", and quit while I was ahead. ;-)
-Dave
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Great thread Dave!
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Well done Dave , looking sharp, and the DVKK logo will look good on this car
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Thanks guys! Yeah, its a fat chick...but at least its a well-thought-out fat chick :P
Well, since I was down in Vancouver tonight (getting voted into the DVKK!) it wasn't a long night in the garage. I have a rule that says a minimum of one hour per day, and you can't bank any hours nor can you make them up. So, even though after driving back to Squamish I was more interested in visiting the couch, into the garage I went!
Wanting to keep myself relatively clean, I figured with the battery hooked up I could start checking and trouble shooting the wiring that I've done. I did have to do some work to do on the front fuse panel...at some point I forgot to bridge the fuse blocks so that half the fuses were powered by the ignition circuit and the other half are powered directly from the battery. Once I diagnosed and fixed that, it all went relatively quickly.
- Warning lights, working.
- Fuel pumps, working...but wow are they loud. Definitely going to need to rubber mount them (even though the panel they are on is rubber mounted)
- Rally computer, powers up on either the ignition or battery power (selected via switch).
- Gauges that are wired in all power up.
- Gauge lights working.
- Gas Heater powers up, and the pump works.
So with that, it was onto the speedo and rally computer sensors. After mounting them, I had to make the wiring harnesses. These have connectors on them just before the harness enters the inside of the body, that way if I'm pulling the transmission for any reason I don't have to take the sensor mount off. I probably would, so I don't damage the sensors, but you never know!
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Tough to photograph due to the flash, but the rally computer is pulling numbers off the sensor, and so is the speedometer.
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By the time it was all said and done, it was a good two and a half hours in the garage. Those techflex harnesses aren't the fastest thing to build, that's for sure. Tomorrow I'll be starting on either the Kafer bar, or the oil system.
-Dave
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As it turns out, tonight I started on [both] the Kafer bar and the oil system! First up was the Kafer, or rear truss, bar. This will tie in the upper shock mounts together, and to the frame horns, adding some strength and support for the coil-over conversion. The stock shock mounts aren't supporting the loads, just the damping, so a bit of strength is a welcome addition!
The upper shock mounts required grinding away some of the body, and I'm afraid I'm getting used to the smell of fresh paint being abused. Probably not a good thing! With space made above, it was onto the lower mounts. Here I found a fairly big issue. When building my transmission mount I totally forgot to take into account the truss bar mounts, and have created a bit of a problem. Sliding the truss bar mounts in between the trans mount and frame horns isn't going to work, as it will push my trans back and stress the mounts. I was going to weld them behind and up-high, but the way I double layered the metal on the trans mount means that would be a whole lot of welding and work. Combine all this with me forgetting which frame horn bolt was the one with iffy threads...and it was a challenging evening.
When I fit the Porsche transmission to the frame, I did so with the floorpan upside down. Thus the "left side" frame horn bolt was the one with damaged threads. Now, of course, the floor pan is right-side-up, but my brain was still thinking "left". After cross-threading the frame horn insert, I spent quite a bit of time dismantling things before I could cleanup and repair the threads. Missed the closing hour of the industrial store in town, so the truss bar remains half finished until I can buy some hardware. I'll end up bolting on the lower mounts, which wasn't my initial preference but will leave me with plenty of options down the road. Everything is just hanging out in the photo below, I'll shoot proper photos tomorrow once it's finished.
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With that project stalled, I moved onto the oil system. Much like wiring, it's a good idea to have a map of where you're planning to go!
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With my plan finish, I started by mounting up the tank. With the tank in place I can start visualizing where everything is going to go in the car, so I can start sorting out the fittings. I'm trying to plan ahead so I have the correct fittings at the correct time, without a need to reorder every night. Now is also the time to decide if things like the oil filter mount need right or left ports, or whether the accusump valve should go "here" or "there". The seat goes in, the seat comes out...there is plenty of movement and scribbling on paper, but not much to show here in photos!
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My head was really set on getting the truss bar finished so that I could "move on" to other projects. I tend to find when I get significantly stalled, and the hour is getting later, I revert to doing silly little jobs that are usually out of order. When I found myself thinking about running the Air-Fuel gauge wire, I knew it was time to take a break!
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...and really, there is always time for Top Gear ;-)
-Dave
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You should cut the corners of the bracket that's welded to your floorpan. See where they are digging into the case of the battery? Mine did exactly the same thing.
Then I think you need to figure out a way to prevent it from sliding sideways. Block it in?
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Oooh...good eye! Look at that nice little mark on the left side from the '69 too.
With my modified mounts in the back, you can shake the whole car on the axle stands by grabbing the battery. This puppy isn't moving anywhere. I'd take photos, but I haven't painted the nut that holds it down yet ;-)
-Dave
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Since my initial post about the rear truss brace, there has been a flurry of discussion in my thread over on the German Look forums. The highlights over the past couple of days:
Your arrangement looks suspect from the photo. The tranny strut should not connect to the crossbar as again this will put the bar into a bending stress. Without the forward strut to the trailing arm mount the load from the tranny strut will apply a bending moment to the upper damper bolt that is only 10mm diameter. This load is cyclic and expect the bolt to fatigue especially as a rally car will flex the frame horns unmercifully. The position of the tranny strut on the crossbar accentuates the bending moment. Because of the geometry, the forged damper strut will also be put in lateral bending.
To me the Kafer cup bar having the attaching points inboard from the shock bolt reduces the triangulation affect that your trying to achieve.
the kafer brace that you have on your car is a poor design, sorry. if your running coil over rear then i would strongly sujest you run a 5 bar brace as the loads that will be fed into the top shock mounts is going to be very high. i would brace the top shock mounts like the class 11 Baja cars do for peace of mind. you dont want to be bending or braking them.
After giving it about 30seconds of thought from the original couple of posts I realized the bar was a no-go, and would need to be reworked. All of the points that were brought up were correct, and I would have to take care of them. That's one of the points of having build threads like this...find and solve the problems before they become permanent! Another set of eyes always helps. Initially I thought I'd bolt up the bar for now and fix it once the engine is in, but then realized the oil cooler would be in the way, and the easiest would be now while I have lots of space. As a matter of reference, a 3 bar kafer bar setup includes the main bar going between the top shock mounts, and two rear stays that go between the frame horn ends and the upper shock bolts. A 5 bar kafer bar setup adds an additional two bars going from the upper shock mount to the trailing arm mounting area on the Torsion bar housing. This fully triangulates the upper shock mount. In a coil-over application the 5 bar setup is ideal, but does mean that the factory heating system cannot be used. When I was in the initial planning stages for the car, I found more then a few track-racing guys using big spring rates and 3-bar setups, so I figured I would be relatively 'okay' with a 3-bar setup. Since I'm putting the engine in now anyways, for testing, we'll see what we can make fit.
So I got a bit of time in on the car today...but not nearly as much as I had hoped (isn't that always the way). Much of my day was spent chasing around the various things I would need for the truss bar job...steel tube, hardware, heater boxes, my borrowed jack that never returned...etc. Regardless, by the time I started the hours were disappearing fast. First up was bolting on the lower mount, which as soon as I had done so a second flashing red light went off which I hadn't thought about. The entire thing is build in single-shear. Single shear is, to quote Carroll Smith, "criminal". Hmmm...its going to be quite tough to turn this mount into double shear. Not impossible, but significantly challenging in my garage.
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Eventually I decided the best course of action is to set the whole thing up in single shear, with the parts clearing the engine and heater boxes, and then figure out if I can modify the mounts for double shear. With the necessary bits in hand, I was lacking in just one thing...someone to help me lift the engine onto the jack. Hmph. I figured i might as well mock up one potential tab, and then I at least have a starting point when I slide the engine in. With this tab, both rod ends would mount to the same ear on the shock bolt spacer. I can easily get the one rod end in double shear down the road, not quite sure how I would do the second. Sorry, apparently I forgot a more detailed shot.
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I figured before I wasted any more time playing with mounts that didn't fit, I'd simply wait until I had a hand with the engine before going any further. So I worked on some less important jobs, like mounting up the clutch release arm, and attaching the custom bits my buddy Scott made a while back. If I'm putting the engine in to test the brace clearance, might as well setup the clutch pedal too! This will, of course, require some new engine mounting studs...but I have a Type-4 block in storage that may have some installed. Will have to check tomorrow.
I did manage to clean up and revive the old gas-breather hose. With some trimming I later removed any cracks at the end and popped it into the car. Now all I need is that really small breather tubing and the fuel tank will really be done for once.
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The side vents for the car that I have are pretty dry-rotted on the plastic. The aluminum rings are good, but the plastic is not. I figured I should try and find a way to make them look presentable, and since I had time waiting around, today was the day.
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First up, the vents were given plenty of heavy coats of Plasti-Dip from a spray can. This doesn't smooth out the plastic, but it does give it a uniform color and maybe, if I'm lucky, prevent further try rotting.
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Once fully dry, I ran around the aluminum trim part with a razor blade, and started peeling. The beauty of plasti-dip is it's rubbery and flexible, and thus can be peeled off later on.
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Original vent on the right, plasti-dip vent in the middle, peeled vent (with bad aluminum ring) on the left. You can see in the middle how the plastic is still very rough...but I suspect from anything further away then a few inches, you'll never notice it mounted on the car. With the test units working out so well, I've sprayed down my 'good' set of vents.
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I also started working on the turn signal switch finally...
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...but got interrupted by my buddy who came by to help lift the engine. With that down, I'm good to go for the Truss brace tomorrow. I hope to get a significant dent taken out of the job before I have to go to sleep. Probably could have done that tonight, but we instead decided to head down to Vancouver for some very, very loud noises...
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It was a tonne of fun being 12 again...but when you're in your thirties you get to buy seats five rows from the front! :P
-Dave
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Whew! That was an interesting Sunday.
So the day started off relatively simple. Engine off the stand and ready: check. Heater boxes? check. Jack up the motor, slide it in and....wait, why won't it slide on? Hmph, splines are lined up...I know a Type-1 clutch disc fits the 901...so why is this not sliding on? After a checking a few things, I finally popped the clutch disc off and slid it onto the splines. "Ahhhh, there's your problem!" Time to clean the corrosion out of the splines...
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Once the corrosion was cleaned out, I lubed up the splines with graphite and everything slid together like butter.
While I'm here, and have photos, what's the thought on this clutch disc? There are a couple of minor chips around two of the rivets, but otherwise just glazed. I'm thinking it's probably reusable...but now would be the time to swap it out if its not.
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With that, it was on to making the truss bar mounts. This took a fair bit of time, testing and tweaking, and test fitting some more. Both the left and right rear truss bars extend off the upper mount about 2" before the eyelet bolts on. I did buy the material necessary to make longer bars, but the angles just mean I'm going to be interfering with the heater boxes. The mounts I made are 5mm plate, and while the photos don't show it, they were later boxed to make them as strong as possible.
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The top bar going across between the two shock mounts is going to be replaced today with a piece of 1" chromoly tubing. The threaded ends from the current bar will be cut off, turned down on the lathe and welded into the ends. Once I get the final engine and heaterboxes (might could use a replacement) in the car, I hope to do the same with the lower bars as the chromo should be stronger overall. Now, with all the fears of snapping my upper shock mounts off, I did start to look at the potential for the forward facing bars. I really don't think there is any possibility of sending a couple of bars down to the torsion tube with the factory heat. What I could potentially do, however, is run a set of bars over to the frame horns, just above where the parking brake cables exit the frame horn. I'm not sure there is enough benefit to warrant putting them in. The bars would essentially be running Left-Right, just going down to the frame horns instead of all the way across. They would be in addition to the other three, so I anticipate some benefit...but is it enough?
Last step for the weekend was to triple check everything clears, even thought I had been checking as I worked. Here's the clearance with the suspension under full compression. Some of the photos show the bump stop just touching, but I did jack up each side until the bump stop compressed enough that I was lifting the car and engine.
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While checking the clearances I discovered a gross miscalculation i had made while setting up the coil-over shocks. A problem which had me Googling and surfing for potential solutions for quite some time. When I installed the shocks I knew I would need to reinforce the lower shock mount, and modify it to fit the shock eyelet better. I remember at one point Geoff said to me "are you sure the shock will clear the CV boots?" to which I replied yes. Apparently I didn't check it closely enough!
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You can clearly see at full compression there is no possible way that CV joint is going to survive. So this presents two major issues for me. 1) what the heck am I going to do for a solution, and 2) if I messed this up so badly...what else did I screw up? First up was about 3 hours of surfing, both in the Germanlook Forums, and the Class-11 Baja forums to see what solutions I could find. Class 11 used to require that stock lower mounts were used (guys would cut them off, and reweld them to the control arm) but the rules were later changed to simply requiring the shock be mounted to the trailing arm. Now they box their trailing arms and mount the lower eye to the top, and the upper eye inside the car on the cage. Well, that won't help. Fortunately on the GL forums I found a New Zealand race car that solved the issue by putting all new mounts on the bottom, and then for the really trick piece, used center-driveshaft CV's to solve the clearance problem. Some time spent with cardboard, running the suspension up and down and lots of measuring confirms that I will be able to solve my issues in a similar manner...but I'm going to see if I can't get the car on a lift to make it easier.
Knowing that there is a straight-forward solution to my problem, I was able to return to the garage with an objective mind. I started at the front of the car, and literally went over the car from front to back inspecting and rethinking every job I've done to date. Nothing was left without scrutiny, everything was moved throughout it's full range of motion...double and triple checked everything. Thankfully I didn't find any other mistakes! Well, at least mistakes that I can recognize at the moment! :P Whew!
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So I ended my Sunday going back to the books to see if I could come up with some ideas on how to change this bar setup over to double-shear. For a couple of the mounts I don't think it's going to be too big of an issue, but four of the six are going to be quite challenging. Now that I've missed the best winter TSD rally, and I'm likely to miss the ice racing series, it does relieve a bit of the stress. The first couple of months with the car are definitely going to be testing, which does leave me some options. The weakest link is now the hardware, mounted in single-shear. I'm thinking I may run the bar as is for a month of testing, where I can go hit the forest roads near home, and immediately head back to the garage. Any weaknesses in the truss setup will show up as bends in the hardware first, followed by breaking them. should the hardware show signs of problems, I'd likely order a whole new bar setup (Lanner's). If it doesn't, I could then double-shear it as a spring project before any summer gravel events.
Part of me thinks this is a great way to confirm that I either need, or don't need, a 5-bar setup. My thinking is that if the 3-bar setup is shown to have issues, I'll need to ditch the factory heat in favor of a proper five bar setup. The other half of me figures I'm missing out on the opportunity to just double-shear it all right now when it's easiest :P
At least it's starting to look like a car and less like a shell...
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-Dave
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Alrighty...Kafer bar is torn down, new upper bar has been made, spacers for my shocks (to eliminate the stack of washers) have been made on the lathe...and everything is painted and drying. Photos tomorrow once I get it all installed in the car. It's one of the rare bits which isn't painted all one color, thought I would see what it looked like tomorrow and make a decision. Finished up installing the new turn signal switch (thanks again Chris!) and then traced down all the wiring for it to make sure it's working correctly. A short night, and off early to bed while the paint dries.
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-Dave
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Well, I got the entire truss bar installed...still in single-shear. I'm going to leave it for now, and revisit the truss bar once everything else is done. I've got a pretty hefty deadline looming over me for a car that has no doors, glass, engine or oil system! Tough to photograph it quickly before bed though...
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With that done I gave the brakes another bleed, extracting more air out of the rear. The pedal is still sinking about 2.5", so I have more to go. Dropped the front of the car as low as I can get it, and we'll do a two-man bleed in a day or two to see if that doesn't solve it for good. With the brakes getting better, I was able to setup the pedal stop. But that in turn had my head going for a bit of a loop...
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The clutch pedal seems to be deeply inset in comparison to the brake pedal. I checked Bentley, and confirmed that I was correct in the setup. Neither the brake bleed nor the clutch cable adjustment should change the static position of the pedals. But, this was vastly different then my last bug. I called up the new owner of the '69, and had him check the garage. Yup, the clutch pedal on that car was about .5" higher then the brake pedal. Hmmmm, that's odd. Fortunately I save all the rusty factory parts until I'm sure whatever replacement I've chosen is a viable solution. Out came the old pedal cluster and I confirmed that the clutch and brake pedal really should sit like this. Makes sense, I seem to think that cars are generally setup so that the first pedal you hit is the brake...
On to the next project! I had to sell my Carbon Joe rock guards with my '69 Beetle. Well, they're on loan...until Scott decides to repaint or replace the fenders. So, combine one part fender, with two parts matte black vinyl...
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Layer #1:
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Layer #2, a bit harder to do!
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...but the hardest part? Duplicating it on the other side. I'm close...not close enough that they match, but since you can't ever see both at once...I think I'm close enough :)
Nice to see the paintwork matches the vinyl though! In person it's almost perfect.
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I was going to mount the rears up tonight...then I realized that mounting fenders to fresh paint late at night is probably a recipe for disaster. Better to wait for tomorrow.
-Dave
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None of my cars have staggered pedals like that.
My guess is a worn pedal stop bracket, or the tabs on the pedals that hit the stop bracket are worn.
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Hmmm.
New set of pedals, stop plate didn't appear to be bent or mangled. Will pull the stop plate out tomorrow and check it...hoping to avoid pulling the pedal cluster, but will if I have to. Here's the German set I pulled out of the car. You can *just* see the nib of the brake pedal stop down by the clutch pedal stop, so the angle is a touch exaggerated, but on this set the clutch would sit back futher as well.
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Either way...needs some more investigation.
-Dave
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I'm not sure if I mentioned it in the thread or not, but as I was loading the body shell onto the trailer for paint...I tore all the muscles in my lower back. Of course, the next day I dropped the car OFF for paint...which meant unloading the shell again. In the process, I managed to drop the back part of the body off the trailer. Oops! We knew instantly that we bent the back part of the engine bay...but, Gerry and Lorne of GLI straightened it out the mess for me.
Now for the bad part.
After getting the car home, I had it up on the steel saw horses to fit the rear shocks and then attach the pan. In the time that the body was resting on the saw horses, it was slowly bending out back. Enough so that I actually had measurement points and was working feverishly as it was bending an 1/8" an hour. Come rear fender time...I knew it was going to be a problem. Initial fit was like so:
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Now, at first glance you might not think this is so bad. But all the fender bolts aren't even in yet, and you can see the ripple that was starting about 3/4 of the way up the engine bay edge. You can sort of make out how the body splayed out at the bottom, and bent inwards further up. To fix it, I needed some specialty tools...
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What's that? A piece of aluminum barstock, two bolts and a scrap of aluminum plate aren't a specialty tool? In the hands of an expert (or, in this case a complete nutter with no sense of bodywork what-so-ever), they are the perfect solution. Simply pull, bend, flex and mangle the bodywork until you think you've done enough...then double it...and finally mount the fender to check your work. Alignment after the first try:
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Now, we could probably get that just a little bit better. In fact, if you were Geoff and saw these photos you'd probably insist that we get this a little bit better. But sometimes, playing it safe and not going any further is smarter. Why?
Because Race Car.
;-)
Moving on, we add some fender beading...a bit of frustration over the exact order to tighten the bolts to snug up your fender and make it look as absolutely straight as possible...stand back, and enjoy the view.
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Tomorrow I'll mount up the other fender, and then perhaps mount a rim and tire to see if the gravel tires I already own will even fit. Oh sure, that might have been something to check before I painted the car...but where is the fun in that!?!
-Dave
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as always Dave, very nice work and update!
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Really great build thread and your motivation is inspirational The new Volksworld has a build up similiar to yours with lots of carbon fiber bits Blue in color .Can't wait to see yours finished : )
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Hmmmm...I'm going to need to pick that issue up. I think I may know the car, if it's the one I'm thinking of it has the carbon dash I was supposed to get. Sigh.
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Well, 3 of 4 fenders are mounted. Seriously, I never thought these would be so annoying. Trying to get the fender beading perfectly even, smashing my knuckles when the wrench slips...etc. I might just leave the big blood smear under the front fender! (kidding). It would have been four fenders, but I snapped off one of the fender nuts on the front driver's side. ARGGG!! I hadn't got more then 4 or 5 threads into it, put maybe 5lbs of force on it and snap! spinning away. We replaced any of the ones I snapped off removing the fenders, so this one must have been on it's last legs and/or had something in the threads. Getting the bolt out was a fun experience...
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Once I was done free-handing the hacksaw blade, it was onto grinding and welding...mere millimeters from where the fresh visible paint would be. Welding that close to fresh paint is ultra scary...but it's done. Waiting for paint to dry so I can't mount up the fourth. Once the black POR15 dries, I'll paint on the silver.
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Following Fenderama I tested the rally tire out back.
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I only have one of the 5.5" wide sport wheels at the moment, and it's the ET26 version. Porsche 914 wheels, which look identical, were 5.5 ET40. That will move me in a nice 14mm, which should still clear everything no problem and give me the clearance on the fenders I need. Thinner rally tires are also an option, but I own four of these (two are brand new) so if I can use them even better. Gravel will still destroy the lower few inches of the fender, but perhaps with mudflaps and a trick that a friend Bruce has for me...we might solve that problem. Well, for the rear at least.
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The rear apron is currently a problem. The opening I have is 28" wide at the bottom. My rear apron? 30". Hmph, guess we bent things more then I thought! I'm going to wait until I have the rear bumper mounted. I anticipate that will stretch things out to the correct width and I can then see if I can get the Apron in.
Tomorrow it's off to do a parts run, and then I'll have more things to play with this coming week.
-Dave
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Saturday started off as most seem to, on a parts run! This week it was off to AVR for a round of VW specific parts. Universal items like wiring or hardware I can usually pickup in town, but when it comes to items specific to the bug, or european, all my stuff comes from AVR. Is it bad that they have a shelf just for me? :P This is all worth mentioning, because Rob (the R in AVR) has been especially helpful in the build. Case in point, the oil cooler. I think he ordered in two different units, before I finally settled on the one I was going to get, and that was in October. Between then and now I think I've called or text messaged about 3 or 4 times for exact dimensions, bolt mounting measurements, etc. The sort of things you can't get online, or without the package in front of you. Even this past week he was pulling it off the rack yet again to triple check the thickness and confirm our numbers were correct. If Rob and I had been faxing blueprints back and forth, we couldn't have made it fit better!
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While I was AVR I also took the time to look at another pedal cluster they had in stock. With it out of the car we confirmed that yes, something was wrong, and then quickly realized what it must be. After getting home I pulled my stop plate, and sure enough it was worn just-enough to cause the issue I'm having. 30 seconds with the grinder, and I got it exactly the way I want it. It's hard to see, but I've set it up so the clutch pedal is just a hair behind the brake pedal which will help me out when left-foot-braking. On the brakes side of things, I found a brake light switch (rear) was weeping just a tiny bit of fluid, I suspect this was the mystery air source, so I tightened it up, rechecked every fitting, and will bleed once again this week.
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I then did some dishes! Well, not exactly dishes...more like oily and dirty used AN fittings and oil lines. It's probably better that we call them "dishes", since I used the kitchen sink! I will need to buy a tonne more oil fittings, but at least I can reuse the ones I've got from the last car.
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One of my more dreaded jobs was the hood seal. On the '69, after the fresh paint, I must have chipped off half the paint on the hood seal channel. I was determined to not destroy this car, and while it took a long time, I did manage to get it installed without even a scratch. I do find the three 'nubs' on the aftermarket seals to be generally pretty poor. The driver's side on this one popped in no problem, but the passenger side just didn't want to stay in. Out came the high-strength weather-strip adhesive. Its basically super sticky contact cement. I'll need to clean up the bit you can see in the finished photo, and also figure out how to get some of the 'waves' out of the hood seal. Once I had done the top, the front apron section went in super quick...so now all I need is the Mexican style seal for the hood, and I'm laughing.
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I did spend a while creating really nice Flextech wiring harnesses for the front turn signals, and even connect them...then I realized the early style lights I'm using, were wired totally different then the US-Spec big turn signals the car should have. Doh! I managed to redo one side, but will have to finish up the other tomorrow. With all four fenders now mounted, and the beading in place, it was starting to look a bit like a car. Now, however, it really looks like a car! Amazing what a hood can do.
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I think I've got the gap pretty even as well.
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I cannot WAIT to drive this thing!
-Dave
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Wow, where has the week gone?! My best friend is back in town, after being gone for six months, so I haven't been getting as much work done on the car as I would like. A sacrifice I'm willing to make though :-)
I have got a bit of time in on the car, but not a lot of exciting work done. When I originally ran the speedometer sensor wires, I knew I was going to need to run a second run though to transmission area. I was able to make up the second harness I needed, and drop it in.
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Almost immediately after running the wires through I realized I had forgotten one. Doh! I considered pulling out the harnesses and adding a few more wires to them, but then realized I would probably end up one wire short down the road anyhow. With that, I figured I would put a third set in, with three times as many wires as I anticipate needing. When in doubt, build for expansion!
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Also worked on making some of the harnesses I will need to install. Oil cooler fan, oil fan thermostat and reverse light switch.
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...and bought the bits I need to make the turn signals work in a late model. Should be back to regular work after the weekend!
-Dave
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So far all of my 'untested' wiring has been working according to plan...without any trouble shooting. I did find one bad ground, which turned out to be corroded wire under the insulation, but I caught that before doing any testing. There was a pause for a while when I was diagnosing an errant circuit that was terribly confusing. Everything checked out from A to B, but the circuit wouldn't work. I tested, retested and retested again. Then I realized the kill switch was off. Oops!
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The oil cooler and fan are now mounted for what I hope to be the last time. It will basically boil down to whether I can get the wrenches in on the AN fittings or not. With that, I wired in the relay for the oil cooler fan, and the two switches. There is a thermostatically controlled switch on the cooler outlet, and a manual 'on' switch at the dash. I actually ended up using the factory defrost switch for this feature. I also took the time to wire up the reverse-light switch and it's relay. Putting the car into reverse gives me a nice click at the relay, but without any taillight wiring I can't confirm it's 100% yet! Both of these circuits required fuses in the back seat area, which will be annoying to get to. I used ATO fuses, and bought the kind that light up when their blown. I figure this way I'll have a good visual indicator of the circuit. Quite hard to photograph, but the LED announcing a blown fuse is quite bright! (not that you can really tell in the photo below!)
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I bought a set of EMPI front turn signals for the car, since the North American '71 sized units aren't accurate for the replica. Rob warned me the quality on the lights left a lot to be desired, but I really only need these to last while I find a good set of original ones. I had used them on my '69...for the black-out look, but w-o-w are these ones bad! Ill fitting rubber, ill fitting plastic...ahhh the joy. Got them all installed and sorted so they looked okay, and then realized I had a big brain fart. '71 wiring is quite different, and these would need to be modified. I had to cut the original bulb housings out, replace them with 1157 bulb housings, rewire for 3 wires (not two) and then reinstall them in the car. Between running around buying parts and actually doing the work, this wasn't a quick project. Pretty silly for something i might pull off the car next week!
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-Dave
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Wiring, done properly, takes forever :P
Managed to get the front headlights and horn wiring finished. Also got the rally light wires 90% finished and tested. I'll need to mount the Lights to the bumper before I can finalize it. Due the changes I've made to the factory headlight tubes aren't an option, and small town Canada doesn't have a whole lot of options for grommets!
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...but after a while, the wiring is done and looking clean. Driver's side sure is a lot busier with all the rally light grounds too!
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For some reason I can only find one headlight bucket that's not rotten, so I need to wait until I get another next week. Just need to do the fuel tank breather lines, install a trunk release and I am done on the front trunk...whew!
I also spent some time tracking down my brake fluid leak. I was losing a small amount of fluid up front, and thought I had solved it last weekend with the brake switch. Made me quite annoyed to find more fluid under the car this morning! It would appear its leaking at the rear inlet, between the white plastic bit and the rubber. I might get lucky, and it might just be the way I had the lines ziptied. When I cut the ties the lines moved and it seemed to relax things a little. Couldn't find any fluid after a half hour, cross my fingers!
-Dave
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That's a good tip...too bad I'm done! hahaha. Ended up doing a shorter day in the garage, but managed to finish off the electrical system and test everything. There are a few outstanding items, like my gauges which haven't yet arrived from Stewart Warner, but all circuits are ready for plug and play, and everything has been tested.
Here's what my rear taillight harnesses look like. You can see the grommet on the left hasn't yet been sealed, but the one in the fender has a pretty good seal on the fender grommet. The headlight grommets are done the same, and of course I've done both the body and fender side at all four corners.
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I'm not a big fan of grounding through light housings, at least not on a freshly painted car, so I chose to add ground wires that connect to a fender bolt on each side. The fender bolt nuts were all cleaned out with a tap, so I'm confident they're going to ground quite well.
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And with that...it's time to move on to the next big phase of the project! (well, tomorrow at least :) )
-Dave
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Couldn't help myself, and after a break ended up back in the garage mocking up various parts of the oil system. I may have run into a problem with my oil temp sender though. My plan has always been to run three sensors: One in the engine replacing the pressure relief valve, one in the tank and one at the outlet of the oil cooler. The theory being that I can then see engine oil temp at the engine, engine oil temp at the tank (required for warmup), and what the temp of the oil going into the engine is. I want this third sensor as it gives me more info on what's going on, and will allow me to diagnose any issues with the oil system, cooler size, etc down the road. This third sensor, though, is going to be a problem!
Here's the temp sensor. Sorting out how to put this at the end of the oil cooler is the trick.
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Russell Performance has part #670350 which is a -8AN fitting with a 1/8NPT take-off, normally used for fuel pressure...I figured I'd see if it might be helpful. Now, I should note that I ordered this before I actually looked at the oil temp sender ;-)
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Obviously it's not going to work just threaded in...
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So, through a series of insanely complicated adapters...one can make it work. But this isn't ideal. It's heavy, has five sets of threads that could leak...and, lets be honest, ugly!
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But, it does get me thinking. With the sensor so far out of the oil stream I also have to consider whether or not the data collected will be worth anything. Russell Performance has this fitting, which I might be able to modify on the lathe to make work:
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I'll have to call tomorrow and find out the I.D. and wall thickness of the part, to see if it's thick enough to cut down and thread for the sensor. Otherwise, I might have to eliminate this one from the system.
-Dave
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Tonight it was back to work, and to start off with...back to the lathe.
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What I ended up making was a temperature sender bung and dipstick tube for the dry-sump tank. Hopefully I can convince my buddy Gord to TIG weld them into the tank tomorrow, and then I can pop that back into the car.
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From there it was onto the car, and the next major phase of construction. I finally got the metric Nutserts that I ordered in. They took three weeks to get here, but when they finally did the counter guy at Acklands-Grainger actually drove them 45min North to my house! The nutserts allow me to mount things where I can't reach the backside for a traditional nut, and where I don't want to wreck the paint with welding. So, at this point that probably means the whole car! The ones I order are shown to the left. With the serrations I've never had one spin out me, but always match material (steel to steel, aluminum to aluminum) so that if I ever did have one spin, I could probably tack-weld it to solve a problem. On the off chance you haven't installed these before, and decide to get some, don't buy the "special tool". The next size up nut (so the bolt passes through) and two washers is all you need to install them.
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With the Nutserts in, and the swaf vacuumed up I was able to mount the Accusump for the final time.
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With that mounted, it was time to start thinking about the lines and Accusump valve. I wanted something a little more accessible this time round, but also something that would remind me about valve #2 which will be the oil-tank cut-off valve. CanNOT forget that one! Here's where I think its going to go. With the valve in the closed position (as in the photo) the handle totally interferes with the parking brake and is definitely annoying/noticeable. When in the open position, however, it will lie down flat against the tunnel and be completely out of the way.
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In order to continue the Accusump lines, and then make the mounts/tie downs for the valve, I need to know where the Oil Cooler Thermostat is going to go. The Accusump line will Tee into the outlet, which goes to the engine, so I have know where that will line up so I can put the bulkhead fitting in. Making oil lines like this is one part being able to think in 3D, and two parts having a tonne of fittings on hand. You want to be able to try different degree fittings, and then switch it all up and re organize. The problem, of course, is that as you start building lines you start eating into you stash of fittings! Fortunately I had enough to figure out that the combination of a 45 and 90 will allow me to get the lines right into the thermostat without binding up the lines. Even though this is all well hidden under the car, at least I know it will be neat and orderly!
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I was going to keep going, but realized that I'm missing one fitting I need, so I might as well wait until tomorrow...
-Dave
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Alrighty, so I mounted up the valve for the Accusump. In hindsight I wish I had mounted the Accusump in front of the driver's or passenger seat, thus allowing for only one line and the valve right at the sump. The problem with that, however, is that I need the leg room for long trips and I usually mount the fire extinguisher in front of the passenger seat. Oops! Oh well. The valve mount is a little "industrial" compared to the rest of the build, but I'd need to turn up some mounts on a CNC mill to improve it. That's out of the budget, so this will have to suffice! The E-Brake needs to be applied to close the Accusump, but if I tweak the handle just a little on the valve it will clear regardless. Closed and Open:
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The long line is growing on me, especially since I was able to make it match the tunnel lines. It hasn't been anchored down yet, but will be once I have the line to the engine run as well.
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In order to do the line from the valve to the engine, I needed to mount up the oil cooler and thermostat, to see where the line was going. I made and attached most of the lines outside of the car, which made them a lot easier to get properly torqued down.
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Without a temp sender solution, I did the next best thing. I've got the adapter fitting installed, and simply capped off the hole with an NPT plug. If I sort out a temp sender, I can simply add it in. And if not, I only put in one extra fitting for no reason ;-)
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And the maze begins! The "third line" going up and over is the Accusump to Engine line. This one is short, as it's only going from the bulkhead fitting to the tee.
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By the time I had reached this point, I had pricked my hands with stainless steel needles enough for one night! Back at it tomorrow :)
-Dave
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nice job Dave!
running this shit is fun :smiley_confused1:
I have an accusump for my oval.....trying to find a home for it to hide...... will probably go under rear seat. I'm gonna set mine up on a pressure switch and soleniod I think?
not trying to criticize but if I were you id switch those 90 degree fittings out on the cooler to straights (or 45's) and straight hose ends....you will be able to get the angle into the t-stat and flow a hell of a lot better!!! hard 90's like that are super restrictive (not sure exact # in -8 but probably equivalent to 25-30 feet of hose per fitting?)
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nice job Dave!
running this shit is fun :smiley_confused1:
I have an accusump for my oval.....trying to find a home for it to hide...... will probably go under rear seat. I'm gonna set mine up on a pressure switch and soleniod I think?
not trying to criticize but if I were you id switch those 90 degree fittings out on the cooler to straights (or 45's) and straight hose ends....you will be able to get the angle into the t-stat and flow a hell of a lot better!!! hard 90's like that are super restrictive (not sure exact # in -8 but probably equivalent to 25-30 feet of hose per fitting?)
A signficant point of posting a build thread is to have people save me from stupid mistakes before they become permanent! Trust me, I appreciate the thoughts. For the oil cooler, the 90degree fittings are 1/2" (Basically -10) which neck down to -8. Somewhere (I suspect in a Carrol Smith book) I had read that a hard -8AN fitting is equivalent to about 7.5' of hose...and figured I'd be "basically okay" with the up sized 90.
Thoughts?
I can switch it out for straight nipples and full-flow hose ends, but that does create a packaging concern for me. It will push the thermostat valve over by about 6-7 inches...which means the oil hoses are going to begin interfering with the electrical. A solve-able problem, but one which boils down to the whether the larger 90's are "good enough".
Regarding your Accusump, are you aware of the negative aspects of the electric solenoids? They are slower then a manual valve to empty, and significantly slower to fill. The solenoids are recommended for applications where the Accusump is intended for pre-startup-oiling only...though you have to read through the lines on Canton's site to determine that. I did speak at length with Canton before ordering mine and he did specifically tell me that on the phone.
Ironic really, since I just talked myself into the fact that _I_ should be using an electric valve...now that I have a dry sump setup. :P Josh I have the remote cable kit: https://www.cantonracingproducts.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=24-506 (https://www.cantonracingproducts.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=24-506) which I won't be using on this bug. Let me know if you want to borrow it for mock-ups. I'd want it back, for future projects, but you could use it for mocking up if you choose to go for a manual valve.
-Dave
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hard 90's like that are super restrictive (not sure exact # in -8 but probably equivalent to 25-30 feet of hose per fitting?)
the 90degree fittings are 1/2" (Basically -10) which neck down to -8. Somewhere (I suspect in a Carrol Smith book) I had read that a hard -8AN fitting is equivalent to about 7.5' of hose...and figured I'd be "basically okay" with the up sized 90.
Thoughts?
I recall in Smokey's writings that he once measured a 5psi loss through one 90º fitting.
Whatever loss you have is dependant on the flow rate. The greater the flow, the greater the loss. So if it's in a place where you're trying to jamb a lot of flow through, you'll have higher losses.
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...why do I get the feeling I'm going to be rebuilding half my oil lines? :P
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Progress for today seems small, but these things take a while! I got the Accusump line from valve to bulkhead and from bulkhead to thermostat finished. Then I moved onto the feed line from tank to bulkhead, and mounted the oil-filter mount. This mount will get swapped out for a freshie, but for now it will serve well to setup the hoses. More lines tomorrow!
-Dave
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I don't think ive ever looked up actual AN fitting losses, just relating to my trade stuff (HVAC) gas, refrigerant, air etc. nothing likes turning hard 90 very much....... on the cooler you will be flowing through most of time, id want it unrestricted.
looking at this pic again seems if you put straight fittings in and switched top hose to a 45 end and spun both 180 from where bottom one is pointing now.....you would still be able to flex hose into stat? maybe put the fan switch onto stat?
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I realize solenoids are very restrictive, I was looking into a full flow version but cant find one in DCV. really I was more concerned about dry starts and really like the idea of auto operation cause sure as shit id forget to operate ball valve :banghead: thanks for the offer on the remote kit, I may end up going that route......if I do I'd probably make my own with an oval hood release .....hey new idea use choke knob in factory hole in dash.....or since i'm not using heater knob behind ebrake thanks for getting the hamsters going in my head :1rij:
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While I have to admit I really wasn't feeling pulling the oil cooler again, it's better to do things right vs. getting them done. My bigger problem was the fact that I've drilled and mounted two bulkhead fittings that rely on the thermostat being in the same place. So, first job was to make a "pattern" of the setup:
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And after a bunch of time playing with fittings, hose and more then a little colourful language...I got it all setup in a relatively close fashion. Flow through this setup should be significantly better I would think.
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It was quite close to not working out...this is the hose I had to make for the oil filter return. 4 more millimeters and it wouldn't be going together!
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There was one additional advantage to changing the setup, I was able to move the Accusump return T to the bottom of the thermostat. This will give me more clearance between the fitting and the panel, which I'm glad to see. On the left is the old setup, and on the right is the new setup.
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Finished up the rest of the oil lines inside the car, except for the oil tank breather. I haven't decided what to do about the breather setup yet, so I'll deal with that one a little down the road.
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...and just in case you're wondering how I'll change the filter...
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Geoff has already commented on the risk of mounting the filter in the car, and subsequent oil-showers, but I always use Bosch, Mann or Mahle filters and have never had an issue with failures. Might have to box it in just be sure though!
-Dave
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that looks 100% better! :rockon: (sorry for causing more work for ya)
You do some killer work man.....car is bad ass!!!!!!
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Thanks! Glad to get it fixed and done right ;)
Well, not a lot of work being done on the car this week. Had a bit of an accident on Sunday pulling the engine out of the car. As I was pulling it back to clear the transmission it started to slip off the jack, and I lunged forward to get it. Possibly saved the motor, but slammed my forehead into the back of the car. Still not sure what I hit. I remember cleaning the knocked-over brake fluid off the floor, but then I'm standing in my upstairs bathroom wiping the blood off my forehead. No idea how much time passed.
Will be taking at least another day off before I go back to it.
-Dave
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Was back to the garage for a bit this evening. Started off with a bit of painting.
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Following that I moved onto a project which I started on Sunday, but didn't get the chance to complete. It began with some cutting carving of a fan shroud...
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In hindsight, I wish I had started with a fan shroud that was in better shape. It wasn't until I removed all the paint that I discovered this one has more waves then the ocean during a tropical storm. From the get-go I figured it was a 'test piece' to figure out exactly how I wanted to do this...but in many ways it's ended up close enough to be useable, but just far enough gone that I don't think I can. The photographs I have from the original Salzburg cars shows that they were likely quick workshop jobs and not meticulously tig welded items of beauty. BUT, while mine may be appropriately 'period', it's not exactly matching of the rest of my work.
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I'll cut the filler down tomorrow and give it a coat of primer to see how bad it really is. Maybe its useable...maybe it was a practice piece!
-Dave
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that looks fun, but refresh us whats the snorkles for? pumping air to your helmets? :laugh:
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This is so cool Dave. I'm enjoying all your posts. Keep up the good work! :o)
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Grrr! Photos would have been AWESOME!
Did another parts run yesterday, so today was a productive garage session. Started off with a relatively easy job, and popped the headlights into the car. I'm using an original Hella bucket on the one side, and mounting it took less then two minutes including polishing the headlight ring. On the other side, however, the original unit was far too rusty. I gather only the Taiwanese versions are available on their own. Now, in fairness I wanted to order something without lens/reflector/bulb since I already have H4 Eurolights...but had I ordered with these parts I could have got an original Hella part. But I went cheap...and wow is it cheap! The headlight is in, true, but if I need to change the bulb you have to pull the WHOLE bucket, not just the reflector/lens.
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With the fan shroud in primer, the flaws become a lot clearer. Left side has a bunch of issues which are 300% better then they were..but still terrible. The right side, though, is where I created the disasters in metal (big holes). Thankfully its looking not too bad! The factory cars needed the shrouds cut this way to clear the Porsche 904 carbs...I'm just doing it to look authentic ;-)
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And a splash of red...
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Of course, I got all the way to this point before I realized just how painfully obvious the left side weld is. Um, was I grinding with a concussion...how do you miss that!?! Sigh. I had a good idea for hiding/covering some of front issues...but that won't help here.
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With the fan shroud drying, it was on to a more interesting custom project. A few weeks back Geoff had mentioned that VW had a little-known accessory for protecting the inside of the rear fenders from gravel. Turns out Bruce owns a set and after a few emails back and forth they're now mine. The fender liners snap into the rear fenders, and are a little challenging to remove. This particular set is for an early car with the towel bumpers. The dark strips on both are from the tire spray, and the black marker marks are from where Bruce was going to need to cut them to fit a 73+ rear fender set. At first I was going to just going to snap them into my car, but I think the real value in these is the ability to use them as a pattern and not to destroy them with just one car. I also wanted to make a few changes to them, which would permanently wreck them...and, well, they're green. ;-)
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So, I started to get my arts and crafts on with bristol board and some 1/8" LDHP plastic. I had the sheet left over from my last rally car project, so it was rather convenient!
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After a bit I had test pattern number one. The slot was my plan for installing it with the taillight wires already installed...but later decided it was just easier/cleaner to remove the wires and pop them back in.
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Pattern one test fit, you can see it's not pressed up tight against the fender at the top, which means it will be sucking in a lot of sand/gravel and road crap:
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So made a few changes to make it sit tighter, added a couple of features, and the final piece is right here:
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Inside the three holes I installed some bolts so that the ends are facing out towards the inside of the fender. I'm going to use these bolts to install short urethane mudflaps so that they hang down below the lip of the fender. That should protect the fender from the usual sandblasting that destroys the bottom lip. The final one I made here is tight...so tight it took me probably 10 minutes to wrestle it into the fender. I'm not sure I could get it out of the fender, but since it's finished I guess it doesn't matter...until I need to clean the crap out from behind it! Whoops!
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The driver's side has been made, I just have to pick up the hardware and pop it into the fender tomorrow. On Monday I'll pass by the rally shop and see if they have any sheet urethane
-Dave
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ohhh so the snorkles will still allow for the heater boxes duhh, guess i should have thought about that one a little bit more, sorry
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Didn't accomplish too much yesterday. I got the other fender liner in, but it doesn't fit as tightly as the first one. Can't decide if I should leave it removable for now or make another one that is so tight I can't remove it...
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I was having an issue bleeding the brakes, and couldn't get the rears to stop sucking air in. Eventually found the problem with a grommet on the Master. Rob instantly offered a no-charge replacement, which was quite unexpected. I had painted the case with POR15, so I wasn't expecting a replacement, this was a nice bonus for sure! With the new master swapped over and a bleed done one-man, I already have more pedal then I did before. The pedal rod is adjusted correctly, as is the pedal stop, but I still have a fair bit of movement before any pedal pressure. Probably 2" worth. Will need to bed the pads in and two-man bleed it to make sure it's ready to go.
Finally got around to swapping the carbon fiber so it matches the shift knob...
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And cleaned up the shop a bit (for which you don't need photos :P)
Tonight will be a night off, and then back at it on Tuesday.
-Dave
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Dry Sump tank is back from welding, and back in the car for the final time. Other then that, I spent some time on Warwick's Mini and didn't accomplish much else! I did spend most of the time I would normally spend in the garage working on confirming all the needed parts to finish the car. The goal is to have the car ready for alignment in two weekends, which means having the engine installed, rear suspension mounts finished and all the other stuff needed to get it trailer worthy and running weight.
I am going to have a few issues moving forward though. One of the required items is a BMD serpentine pulley system. So far its the only system I have found which keeps the correct ratio between the crank pulley and the alternator pulley. The dry sump pump requires a 5.25" or smaller crank pulley, which then requires a much smaller alternator pulley if you want to have the same fan speed and cooling as a stock setup. Lots of lower crank pulleys available, but only the BMD system includes a well sized upper pulley. Problem? BMD isn't going to be building any for about three weeks.
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The current plan is to purchase the BMD kit when it's available, but I do need to come up with a solution in case they are delayed. The first event I have to run is April 27-29, and I'd like to get some shakedown done beforehand! I've called everyone who makes, or carries, a dry sump sized pulley on their website. Finally found a CB performance one which can arrive on Friday. That really hurt since Rob at AVR called me yesterday and asked I might need anything from CB performance...I said no! The CB pulley is a V-Belt style pulley, which does lead to the next problem: Pulley ratio.
I'll save you all the math and figures, and state it simply:
Stock alternator pulley diameter: 4.25"
Required pulley diameter to keep the proper fan speed: 3.30"
Required pulley diameter to keep the ratio I was using: 2.94"
Available pulley's in 3.3" or 3"? Zero.
The Porsche 356 pulley, which is a straight bolt on, is 3.75", which at least gets me closer. I'm also going to consider putting my current serp-belt upper pulley in the lathe to cut it down into a pulley with a v-shape grove. It's currently 3.75", and I think it has enough meat on it to get me down to 3.5" and shaped for a V-Belt. The only problem with that idea, is I have no way to tension the belt. I wonder if ghetto-rigging the serpentine belt tensioner to press against the back side of the v-belt is an option. Not pretty, but at this stage I'm looking for emergency-situation functional!
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One of the advantages of the CB pulley is the fact that its an aluminum pulley bolted to a steel center section. In theory I could have a serp-belt pulley machined and setup to bolt onto the center section. I could quickly turn down the upper serpentine belt pulley that I have now, and end up with a ratio that is almost dead-on the stock one. Problem is I suspect that having a crank pulley machined up quickly is going to be overly cost prohibitive, and I won't be able to maintain the serp-belt groves in the upper pulley.
Come to think of it...I could just run the event with a standard oil pump. Geesh, why didn't I think of that this afternoon?
-Dave
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Hey dave...
So I use both the CB dry sump pulley 5.25" and the 356 and my cooling is doing fine... so if you really needed to in a Pinch it does work just fine.
Chris.
Well that's good news! Today was a bit of a crazy day on the dry sump side of things, I was looking into how I would cut a proper V-Belt groove into a pulley...should I need to make one on a lathe, when I stumbled upon something far cooler. I found the tooling bit used to cut serpentine belt grooves into pulleys, and a bunch of the engineering info regarding minimum radius, minimum tolerances, etc. required for the pulley design. I was stuck on making the keyways on a lathe, but sure enough one of my books had simple directions on how do that. Technically I could make my own serpentine belt setup, an idea I was heavily considering until I got an email.
My dry sump pump isn't finished in production yet, so it won't ship for my weekend parts pickup. At first I was a bit demoralized. I've been going hell-bent-for-leather on this car, and making sure I don't take any short cuts or "have to go back to fix that" before the car hits the road. But then I started to think about a new car, a mandatory event at the end of April, and (in the words of Eric Bana) the fact that "a new race car never feels good out of the workshop." Suddenly I realized this was a good thing.
The stress is gone! I can focus on getting the car ready to run the Spring Thaw, and then pull it back into the garage to do the final engine setup.
...problem is, I couldn't do much else besides think tonight. I've run out of parts, or jobs to do until I get parts. It's going to be hard waiting until Saturday night!
-Dave
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have You seen this?
http://www.offroadvw.net/tech/wes/fan.html
btw awesome project
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still killin it on your project dave, great work alot of thought sure is going into this car, and that is SUCH a change, sure hope you can keep it clean enough for when the magazine cameras are around!! they will also have alot of build shots to include too just to prove how well thought out this car is!
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Thanks Kev! It's definitely come a long way, eh?
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The most fun I've had with this car so far though, was at GCVW 2011. More then a few forum members here looked at me real strange when they found out the '71 super with the saggy back end and really bad respray was mine. And why the #@$! was it actually IN a club tent...yet alone entered in the show!?! I knew exactly what it was destined to become, and it was totally worth getting the odd looks and polite questions about the car. At that stage I think there were only three people who had any idea of what I was thinking of doing with the car.
The only reason I hadn't stripped it down was because I needed a stock motor for the SMC, and the morning of the show I realized it would be pretty funny down the road if I entered the car and parked it like it was something worth looking at.
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Today was a good day! After finishing the headliner a few weeks back, and commenting on here that I might have to rip the headliner out and start over, Gary sent me an email. "Don't rip the whole headliner out, that's totally fixable." Really!?!
It took a few weeks before Gary was able to come up, but he arrived this morning to work some magic. He took a walk around the car, mentioned that it really wasn't that bad and easy to fix. For the most part I did an alright job, except for one rather funny error. You know the door post pieces? Yeah, totally put the plastic bit in backwards. No wonder the door pillars looked nothing like my '69! :)
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Gary pulled down about half of the headliner, and tore out both door pillar pieces. Some of the back section was pulled up in places...and then he got to work. The results are awesome.
Before:
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After:
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Before: (A-Pillar hiding creases)
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After:
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Before:
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After:
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So, as you can see...totally worth getting an expert in!
Thanks Gary!
-Dave
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So the Motorsport CV-Boots came in this weekend, which meant some fun installing. The units I used are made by GKN, part number MSJ6002. They do require some modifications to use, but not nearly as much as I initially thought. The bolt circle is about 1-2mm smaller then the VW units, so to use them you will need to open up the six bolt holes slightly to to have them fit. The CV bolt plates will also need to be modified. Otherwise, they fit no problem :P
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In my case, however, the first one was almost a 3 hour affair. I knew the bolt circle was wrong when I ordered them, but by the time they arrived I had totally forgotten. I pulled the axle, swapped teh boots and proceeded to reinstall. Everything was going quickly right up to the point where I started putting bolts into the new boot. I could get the first couple in, but then they just wouldn't go in. Took a few tries/minutes before I remembered the bolt circle problem. Pull the boot back, drill the holes out (with a step-drill so they are still round), clean out the chips, regrease, and try again. This time I could get three bolts in, but then they still wouldn't fit. I was sure I was going to strip the bolts. WTF!?! For the next try I slid the boot up the axle and started putting bolts in without the boot. Again I could only get three bolts in. Obviously it's not the boot...but what!?! The axle was already installed in the car and I eliminated the only new part in the equation. Hmmmm. Took a break, had a coffee, and still couldn't think of it. I was working on figuring out whether it was the same three holes I was having issues with, or if they were moving around when it dawned on me...
I bought six new CV Bolts as I could only find three for this last joint. The stub axles have been painted with POR15, and thus there must be some paint in the threads. After running a tap through all six holes, it all slid together like butter. Three HOURS to deal with one boot!
Modifications required to the bolt plates:
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The second boot was done in mere minutes, since I knew all the tricks...and the clearance between these and a regular CV boot is pretty incredible.
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With that done...I moved onto other items. Had the heater going in the shop so figured I would lay some plasti-dip while it was warm. Before and after on my rear-view mirror. I just couldn't leave the dry-rot on the plastic as it was, eh?!
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And FINALLY the gauges needed to finish the dash! Well, most of the gauges. Still no air-fuel gauge, and still no LED light bulbs...but at least all the holes are filled! I'm missing half the photos for the moment, so on a later post I'll explain how I get the lighting color I love without the LED bulbs. The beauty of my system is you can get any gauge to light up any colour you want, without LEDs, even the factory VW or Porsche gauges.
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With the oil-temp gauge came the oil-temp sender I needed for the oil tank. Installed and wired up!
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Below is the "available in Australia only" VDO temperature sender. I searched high and wide for this, including calling VDO North America, but couldn't find one anywhere. One of the Germanlook Beetle forum members in Australia, Steve, checked with his shop and sure enough they could get one down-under. A huge thanks to Steve who took the time to pick one up and mail it out to me. This one is going in the feed line to the motor so I can see the temp of the oil going in (post filter and cooler). Sits one-thread into the oil passage, so I figure that's probably okay.
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Would have gone further on the car tonight, but it's Supercross and my living room is packed with buddies. Bumpers tomorrow morning!
-Dave
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Amazing how many hours I spent in the garage today to feel like nothing was accomplished! haha. Just one of those days I suppose. Got some stuff sorted out, some stuff half sorted out, and then hit a major decision I've got to make about the car. First, some successes...
Started on the rear quarter window, for the passenger side. Initially I was hoping to do popouts on both sides, but I realized that replacing the glass with lexan wouldn't allow the popout to pull closed. So, lexan and fixed for the first side! I opted for 3/16" lexan, which is a little heavier weight then I would normally use for racing, but this particular window needs to be pretty rigid. On my last rally car we used 3/32"! Hmmm...that hole isn't stock?
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Neither is this one...
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But the shape and size are right, and fit the seal! But man, was that ever a pain in the butt to get in there.
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On the first go for installation we didn't get very far, maybe about 1/2 the way around before there was just no hope of going further. The only other windows I've ever installed (of this style) were the old quarters in my '69. I was reusing the old seals, and they just popped right in. Did I make the lexan too big (even though it's dead-nuts the same size as the glass)? A few texts to Rob over and AVR and I knew the secret. Why I didn't think to soap and lubricate the seal...I have no idea. Once we added a bit of soap and water it popped in fairly easily. Not like butter, but easily enough.
The "fuel" cap is actually going to be the filler for the oil-tank as getting into the back seat is going to be a pain. I'll be swapping out the standard cap for a locking one, but otherwise that's the plan. The NACA duct will deliver moving air to the oil cooler, but I still have to box that in. The black lip around the NACA duct hides the cutout in the window, but I haven't decided if its going to stay. It's plasti-dip, which means it's removable if I choose to down the road.
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One issue I did have, is that this all fit with no problems while flat on the bench. Installed in the car, though, and it appears the window is a touch 'too big' and flexing in towards the interior. The odd part, however, is that against the factory glass I couldn't have gotten the size any closer. Not sure why it's bowing in like this.
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Tossed a quick seal into it for now, and will probably re-adjust and play with it later to get it all fitting perfectly.
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While i had the plasti-dip out, I decided I'd take care of the pop-out window that I'll be using on the Driver's side of the car. Yes, I'm fully aware that I'm going to have completely mis-matching windows Left to right...but the airflow provided by the pop outs is just too good to give up. And, I challenge you to look at both sides of the car at once! ;-) The popouts do, however, have a wide aluminum frame that just won't go with the rest of the car.
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So with a bit of plasti-dip, we eliminate the silver aluminum in a non-permanent manner! It still needs to cure some before I can install it, but I much prefer the look over the original. Might have to plasti-dip the aluminum trim around the door windows as well.
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And with that, it's onto the decision making part of the build. Before I had even started the car, I acquired these four Bosch 220 rally lights. In a lot of ways these were the ultimate starting point for the car. They're great rally lights, justify all the Bosch sponsor logos on the car and they're pretty close to period correct. The problem, however, is they aren't *quite* right. The factory cars used Bosch Knick 180's, not the larger 220s. The size difference is significant. I've seen cars with both the 180s and the 220's, and while both look good, the 180's are definitely more proportional to the car. You can fit four 'inside' the headlights, while four 220's require overlapping of the headlights ever-so-slightly. And then there is the mounting. Factory lights were drilled through the front bumper, take a look at the mount for the 220's (off a Mitsubishi Colt Rally car). That's some serious mounting to keep them from vibrating!
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In the shop, between my roomate Warwick and I, we have three Bosch 220s, one Bosch 220 case without lens, three Hella 4000's (same size dimensions as the 220 but with way better mounting setup), and 6+ Piaa 510(?) series of lights. The Piaa lights are the same diameter as the Knick 180's were. Here's the back of a 220 and the back of a Piaa 510 for size comparison:
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There are so many reasons to run the Piaa's over the Bosch lights. In addition to the ease of fitting them, they're lighter, will shake less, I can decide on the beam patterns I want, and when I break them, parts are readily available. I own a vinyl machine, so with the right covers I could very easily make them "Bosch" lights. This should be a no brainer. Hell, the rest of the car sure isn't a "replica"! But a hard choice to make when the Bosch lights are right there...
In the meantime, I started working on the mounts for the rally lights. I won't need to decide which lights I'm going with until tomorrow night when the tabs get welded on.
-Dave
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Alrighty! Back into the garage, though this time I think the post is better if I start with the finished product first, and then show the work behind it:
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Some nights I think my roomate and I should open up a rally shop. The PIAA lights mounted to the car? Yeah, those came out of our "spares" collection :P Two of the lights were used on my '69 beetle, one is brand new, and fourth is a light that was on his Subaru but gave up it's lens to the gravel gods. So, if I simply get a replacement lens for the lamp, I have four. Looking at the photos though, they seem small. Don't get me wrong, they "suit" the car, and I'm not going to change out for the larger set. They just don't scream "80's Group-B Rally Lights!!" like my previous Audi did :P
Throughout the mounting process I was continually thankful I decided to run with the smaller 6" lights, vs. the 8.5" Bosch 220's. Fitting these was enough of a pain-in-the-butt that I wouldn't want to try the 225's. The factory cars all seem to be drilled right through the bumper, but I have no idea what they did 'inside' the bumper to take the weight and keep the lights from shaking. Mounting rally lights requires two basic steps: 1) The lights must be 300 times more secure against vibration then you think they should be. And 2) make the lights removable if possible. There is nothing worse, and more tiring, then lights that shake and vibrate while running off road. The strobe effect is distracting and tiring. Removable lights means you don't risk wrecking the lights during the day, and thus blowing any chance you had at night. With that in mind...
Lights follow the curve of the bumper/front of the car...
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...but are not actually mounted to the bumper. I used 1" tubing, and some heavy-duty angle mounts to make a vibration-free setup.
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Beginning of bar fabrication:
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Mounting plates tack-welded on for testing. The two outside lights were relatively easy, but the two inside lights needed to be moved back towards the rear of the car slowly bit-by-bit to clear the front bumper. Eventually I had to notch the bar (pretty heavily) to ensure that I would be able to get a socket in to adjust the lights. I don't anticipate this will add any vibration issues though.
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With that done I cut down the plates to the smallest footprint possible, welded them on fully, cleaned up the corners and gave it a coat of POR-15. Based on the photo above I just realized I probably left a weld too close to the bolt hole, so I'll need to clean and dress that tomorrow and repaint. Once it's dry, mount the lights and finish the wiring.
I still had some time before bed, so I took to finishing up some items in the trunk. With the fresh air box mounted, I needed to find a way to join the box to the defrost ducts. Eventually I decided that some aluminized jute padding would probably do the trick nicely...which it does. Problem is it looks like crap! Instead of that space-age look you think it's going to have...it just looks, well, cheap. I know the factory used plastic tubing on the inside, but none of the bits I had fit very well. On the plus side, tonight was the first time I have ever turned on a working Fresh-Air fan that I remember. WHOA!! there actually is some serious defrost air flow! Definitely did not expect that.
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-Dave
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Alright, I can't find a photo of it but I think we can all agree how your "first car" effects your automotive choices for years to come. The first car that I bought happened to be a 1989 Audi 90 quattro, a car which I still think has the best factory dashboard of any car out there. Even 23 years later the dash is still timeless. One of the best features, for me at least, was the night-time illumination. It was this warm red/orange. To this day I can't buy a car with a dash that lights up green. In my Audi Rally car I used Stewart Warner Gauges and their red LED lighting. It was good, but quite red. When I built the '69 Beetle I needed a way to get the dash to light up my preferred red, but with a mix of bulb types due to the VW speedo and Porsche tach. Anyone who has ever used the rubber "boots" that ship with aftermarket gauges knows they go white within a few weeks of use. Some testing resulted in a simple solution...
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Two coats of Tamiya clear acrylic will give you an even light in the color you choose, keep going with the coats to get the color deeper and deeper. The clear Tamiya paints are available in a whole load of colors, so anything is possible. At night, my Bug lights up pretty well even across all the different gauges I have.
Finished up the wiring for the rally lights tonight. Everything was setup waterproof, but a lot of the wires were visible, so I went nuts with the techflex. Chances are it will get all nasty and I'll be cutting it off in a year...but until then it looks fantastic! :P The wiring is virtually invisible, except for the one loop coming from under the apron up to the light bar.
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I've got a replacement lens/reflector coming for the broken unit, but looking at this photo it seems I might need to pickup some high wattage bulbs to replace the yellow H4's in the factory lights!
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Some buddies dropped by, so we were able to toss the pop-out window into the driver's side. What a pain these stupid things are to install, eh? I do have the hinge cover, I just don't have the correct screws to install it :P
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Also this evening, I worked further on the hood lock/latch setup. Last night I had the lock working, made some adjustments and promptly locked the hood shut with no possibility of getting it open. After popping out the spare tire access port, I got the hood open. A few more tries tonight and I ended up with a perfectly working hood latch and lock system. I popped an emergency pull cable in, routed into the front fender. When my buddies showed up I was demonstrating for Scott, who bought my '69, what a factory lock system actually works like (non existent on his '69!). Went to open the hood and the handle in the glovebox broke. ARRRGGG!
That's it. %$#! the factory lock, I'm just going to install a set of these to ensure the hood doesn't fly up.
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-Dave
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Tonight was a quick night, I was in Whistler all day for work and then down in Vancouver for a DVKK meeting. Put my minimum hour in on the car, and called it quits. I spent the first bit going around the car and touching up a number of tiny details I have been meaning to get to. Little things, that you'd probably never see, but bother me! I think I'm in danger of becoming a perfectionist.
Example? The razor I used to put the cut-line in on the plasti-dip before lifting off the paint wasn't brand new, so in a few spots it didn't pull on a perfectly straight line. A little plasti-dip brushed on tonight, and I'll cut a new line and pull off the excess tomorrow. Yes, proof I've gone insane.
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With various little jobs done, I figured I should tackle the rear bumper and apron. I knew this wasn't going to be a simple bolt on affair, you may remember I dropped the body off a trailer and the rear apron opening is 1+ inches too narrow now! With the right-side bumper bracket bolted on, you can see how far off the left-side holes are:
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Using a rather dangerous combination of two pieces of wood and a damaged scissor jack, I managed to spread the bumper apart enough to get both sides bolted together...
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...but it's not done yet. For starters, the bumper is slightly shifted to the left and covers more fender on the left side then the right. Normally one would simply loosen the bolts and shimmy the bumper over...but in my case it's currently acting as a stressed member of the rear bodywork. Loosening the bolts without something holding the body spread apart would be a dangerous affair! The second issue is the rear apron opening.
The rear apron WAY closer to fitting now, so much so that I'm confident I'll be able to make things work, but it does need adjustment. I'm about 1/4" off at the bottom now, so I think I need to shim the bumper mounts away from the body. This is going to mean removing the bumper, shimming the mounts, stretching the body, attaching the bumper and then testing the apron. Again and again until it fits! Once that's all done, I have to figure out how to center the bumper!
In the end, I don't know if I'm going to end up with a removable apron or not. Depends on how close I get it, and how easy it will be to remove. At the very least, even if I have a removable apron I'm not going to be able to remove the bumper. At first thought it seems like "well, whats the point"...but I suppose engine pulls will still be much easier.
Let this be a lesson kids: Don't drop the body off the trailer. (but you probably knew that already.)
-Dave
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A short time spent in the garage, before F1 qualifying, but a very productive and satisfying one. For starters, I got this to fit:
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The rear apron isn't perfect, but its at least in the gap! Started off by notching the left bumper bracket mount a little to try and stretch things over. Managed to cut the distance needed by another 1/8". I was off just a little bit, but far enough that there was no stretching or sneaking it in. Hmmm...what to do? Occasionally, when working on a car, a little bit of violence is allowed. I put the apron on my lap, gave it a good shove in the right direction on the left side, and then a good shove on the right. Oh hey, look at that, fits!
The best part though, is that I'm going to be able to keep the "removable" feature I intended. I've popped two of the riv-nuts / bolts in, but will need to mark (pray) and do the lower two without the bumper on. This means I've got to be quite accurate, as there will be no testing possible between marking and the first test!
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Occasionally one should leave the garage on a good note, and thus start the weekend nice and fresh. Lets hope no one needs to "use" these decals during the Spring Thaw next month!
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-Dave
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Hmmm...this is why I update the thread every night I work on the car. It's Sunday, my last update was Friday before bed, so surely there is a tonne to update! I checked the camera, and I have only two new photographs. Geesh, I was down there for two days...what did I do!?!
I did finish up the rear apron mounts, which required stretching and releasing the rear body structure a few more times. I've got the bumper pretty even left to right, and the apron pops in and out easily (as long as you leave the bumper attached) so I figure that's probably going to give me enough access and clearance to make pulling motors easy enough. Then this morning I tore it all down again so that I could paint anywhere I cut or drilled through to bare metal.
I finally got around to cleaning up all the wiring above the transmission. With the changes to the oil cooler routing, and a change I made to the oil-cooler fan, some of the wires were too long. The rest of them were just popped in temporarily waiting for everything that could end up in the way to be installed. All were hortened where appropriate, and then mounted and cleaned up. Tomorrow I'll pickup the aluminum I need to make the cover for this access hole, install the rear windshield and then the "back seat" area is finished. That will allow me to move onto mounting the belts and seats.
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The next major step is the engine. My dry-sump pump still isn't ready, but I have to run the car for The Spring Thaw April 27-29, so I figure I better get something together and give myself time to sort out the car! So, I reassembled my 1776 with the 26mm standard oil pump and some new tin. I'll run the engine with my Kadron carbs until after the Spring Thaw, and when I switch over to the dry-sump oiling I'll switch over to a set of IDF carbs.
You might be wondering about the red fan shroud, and questioning my taste in clown-car engine tin colors...but there is a good and valid reason for it! Once I switch over to the IDF's I'll switch over to the Salzburg style shroud I made and painted. Problem is I only have one set of generator backing tins. My theory was the engine would look worse with a black shroud and red backing plates then it does with an all red shroud combo. But, if I'm honest, I really do hate it! It's everything I can do not to pull out the paint and make it black :P
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Hopefully I can find some lower mounting studs in the the length that I need. That's the hold up now for installing the engine and determining the location of the fuel pressure regulator and crankcase breather box. Of course, that does lead me to a new problem...I haven't really determined my crankcase breather setup, or even where I'm going to pull from. Something like this will make the line routing the cleanest with the Kadron carbs:
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But these seem to be far easier to obtain on short notice, and while it will be a pain with the Kadrons, it will likely be much neater with the IDFs.
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Hmmm...
-Dave
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I've got the proper studs coming from Porsche, but its going to be a week or two before they arrive. So, in the meantime, I'm working on other items that are needed to install the engine. Everything at this stage is taking twice as long as it should, because I'm needing to plan ahead. Everything I drill a hole for is permanent...so it needs to not only work with the engine as its but more importantly, it needs to work with the engine I build with IDF's and the Salzburg-style shroud.
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After a bunch of testing and measuring I finally determined the positioning for the crankcase breather, fuel pressure regulator and oil pressure sender.
Fuel pressure regulator (still need a fitting and a new gauge), and oil pressure sender. I won't be able to fit the Stewart-Warner sender in the same spot I had the Autometer sender as the body size is larger. I had done a remote sender on Connor's mustang, so I had all the -3AN fittings and lines on the shelf...so tucked this one out of the way with a left-over Coil bracket.
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On the crankcase breather side, I decided to reuse the Moroso unit I had, instead of getting one of the rectangular box styles. For now I'll run both the valve covers and crankcase into this one unit, but when I hook up the dry sump system I think I'm going to mount a second one right beside it. I tend to forget about checking them for oil, and would rather not end up with a huge mess. The oil tank will be running a fairly high level of oil, so better to play it safe since I have the real-estate. I did realize that I own a 3/8NPT tap from modifying oil pumps, so made up a crankcase breather that I can use for now. I'm tempted to cut the threads deeper on the part, but the threads were cutting odd and I'm not really sure what type of aluminum it is...played it safe for now.
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And lastly, the stud problem. With the proper Porsche studs coming, I figured I could mount the engine using bolts. The only reason I didn't, its the need to guide the engine in using just the input shaft on the transmission. So, some Audi engine bolts sacrificed their lives to become temporary engine studs. Cut threads aren't ideal, and leave a major stress riser right at the base of the last thread...so I'll swap these out as soon as I can. For the moment, however, they should work.
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-Dave
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A few weeks ago I was doing my usual bi-weekly parts run to AVR, hanging out and chatting with Rob. We were going over the list of items left on the car, and prepping the order schedule based on how quickly I thought I would get there. Rob's often watching out for sales from his suppliers, or trying to stay a step ahead of me on the parts list. Often I'll text him to say "can you add X" to my shelf, only to get "was already there" back. As we went through the list, Rob asked me a question I had been dreading for weeks. "What are you going to run for an exhaust?"
I have a bad habit of always leaving the exhaust system to the end, and usually as an afterthought. I cut my career teeth working for Vibrant Performance, an exhaust manufacturer. It's just ingrained in me to not worry about the exhaust and make something at end of a project. Well, Vibrant was over seven years ago for me...and they don't make any Beetle exhausts! Rob and I started chatting about all the options, and price points, and then he asked me if I had seen the Vintage Speed systems. AVR just started carrying the line, and so far they've been stoked on everything they've brought in. There wasn't an exhaust in stock, but he piqued my interest for sure. Then Rob offered me the contact information for Mr. Lee, and suggested I show him the project. Well...less then 18 hours later I had a reply from Mr. Lee, and in three days I had two boxes arrive on my doorstep.
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Now, I could tell you as an enthusiast that in person they are incredible. But as a person who used to evaluate systems for a living, these systems are phenomenal. The workmanship is so far and beyond anything else I've seen for a VW, it's incredible. Hand TIG welded as well. Take a look at the detail photos:
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As I'm planning on using heater boxes, the system ships with these flanges, that you can either weld to the heater boxes or use with factory clamps.
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Now, you may have missed the fact that I said two boxes arrived to my doorstep. Vintage Speed and I discussed my current engine setup, and the engine setup I plan on running after my dry-sump pump is ready. The Sport Muffler was the obvious choice for the current setup, but would my new build benefit from using the Superflow muffler? Normally it's reserved for larger displacements then mine, but I'll be running high-revs for long sustained periods. "Well," he said, "why don't you try both and decide which works better for your setup." And so, sitting in my living room distracting me from work all day were two incredible exhaust systems! For the moment I've installed the Sport Muffler, and SuperFlow muffler will go to AVR this weekend. No sense in me storing it on a shelf when everyone here can put their fingerprints on it :)
To get the motor in, I've got to take care of some more details. First up was the breather system. I spent a bit of time on the phone with Kroc, and decided that I'm going to try venting the case, cylinder head 1/2 and not cylinder head 3/4. I had 3/4 vented previously, but I'm shortening my lines significantly and worry about filling the breather with oil. Instead of a breather I'm going to go with a drain from the head back down to the sump. Darren was great for sorting out what and how to do it now, so that I wouldn't need to change as much when the dry-sump system arrives. Crankcase breather, now tee'd for 1 valve cover, and the case. I'll redo the fittings with my final engine, this is just what I had lying around. The lower hose is terminated just inside the fender area, all it does is allow me to drain the tank if needed.
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Fuel regulator is in with more Russell fittings and hose. I'm going to leave the outlet hose as factory cloth until the new carbs are installed, at which time I'll move everything over to Russell fittings and lines.
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I think I'm getting addicted to them actually ;-) Here's the -3AN line I'm using for the remote oil pressure sender.
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Fast forward a whole bunch of time later, and we have an engine installed with an exhaust system. The engine took a few hours, and the exhaust system took less then 20min. It's such a rare experience with this build to have something that just bolted right up the first time! I am also pleased to report that our home-made clutch cable bits and the shortest factory clutch cable seem to have given me a working clutch. Well, the feel at the pedal is "right", so hopefully that equates to working when I get to drive it.
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Its far from being ready to start though. I need to run oil lines, breather lines, make a 3/4 head drain, swap out the oil filter mount and THEN I'll be ready to start it. Closer, but still a long way to go!
I did finally solve a question tonight that I haven't been able to answer since I first discovered it. My e-brake cables were much too long for the car, as are the heater control cables. So much so that I can't hook up either without modifications. When I told Rob, he was surprised as they haven't had any issues on the shop cars...which use the exact same parts! Sitting in the car, as well, there is something "odd" and "wrong" with the way it feels. I thought maybe I was using the passenger seat and it was setup on the mounts differently, but that wasn't it. Then today, it finally dawned on me. I think 1973 is the year they moved the e-brake handle and assorted bits further back in the car? I started with a '73 pan, but as I welded '71 style pans into it I always just tell Rob the car is 100% '71. Whoops.
I have to say, the two best modifications I've done to the car so far is the removable rear apron, and the "weber doors". The combination of both made the engine install so easy. You can reach everything!! I will never take a bug to paint without doing both of these...well, unless it's a factory resto. Then, and only then, will I drop the weber doors. The removable apron though, that is going to stay!
-Dave
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im confused on the exhaust, how are the paper pipes going to hook up to the heater boxes now dave?
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Pretty simple actually. You use one long piece per side, and go direct from the fan shroud, through the breastplate and onto the heater box. The photos make it look like there is no clearance, but there is tonnes to do it. The Vintagespeed exhaust system comes with the fiberglass wrap already installed, which keeps the paper tubes from scorching.
You can't burn them though. Vic, Rob and I were trying to light them on fire last summer at AVR and the black paper ones don't burn.
-Dave
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Well, that didn't last long.
The motor is coming out!!
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Back last year when I was researching dry sump systems and options for the Type 1 beetle, I evaluated as many different options of Dry Sump pump as possible. Most people using a dry sump setup in a bug are Drag Racing, so there was very little information out there regarding daily-driver and race style setups. When I could find information, all of it was clear...the Bugpack pump was reliable and long lasting. Issues were non-existent (as far as the internet was concerned), which these days is a pretty positive indicator! What sealed the deal, however, was the Huebbe brothers in St. Louis. Here are two guys who have been rallying a Beetle for years in the US. Mark and John's dry sump system uses the Bugpack pump, which was what sealed the deal for me. The fact that they just won their class at the WRC Mexico event using the pump is icing on the cake!
Rick at Bugpack was pretty excited about my car when I showed him the photos, he was clear it would be a while before the next run of Dry Sump pumps were ready, but he wanted to help me out and ship one up to Canada as soon as they were. With the Spring Thaw coming in less then 40 days, I figured I would dry sump the car after the event...not wanting to setup a new system so close to an event. So, as we all know, I installed the motor last night...the whole top half was ready to go. Today, however, John my friendly UPS driver showed up claiming "gee, more car parts! What a surprise."
You wouldn't actually expect me to sit around for a month knowing the dry sump pump was in house!?!
So, first it was off with the exhaust...then the crank pulley, then the tin and finally the oil pump.
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The Bugpack pump has two stages, one scavenge and one pressure stage. The gears are huge on both, and the scavenge stage allows you to choose from two setups. You can either use the factory pickup (in which case you plug one port as I have) or use an external pickup such as Autocraft unit. In this case you would plug the internal pickup hole in the pump, and attach your external feed to the port I've plugged. Just in case, for archival purposes, you can't use both the internal pickup and the external port at the same time (for example scavenging crankcase via factory pickup and a valve cover via external port). If you do, as soon as one of them sucks air the other pickup won't pull anything.
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So moving from left to right we have Inlet from the tank in furthest from the case, blocked port not used near the case. On the Left side there is pressure side out furthest from the case, scavenge back to the tank next to the case. The Russell fitting is my pressure return back into the case (after passing through a filter and the oil cooler).
I've sized up all the oil lines needed for the pump install, and will make those tomorrow. Technically that would be it, I could put the exhaust back on get ready for the next part of the project. But halfway through the day, after he saw the photo of the pump I sent him, Rob was calling me with some crazy ideas. Looks like the motor is coming right out of the car! :D
...anyone want to buy a Powdercoated Red shroud? Used for 24 hours, never run :P
-Dave
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so how does the crank pulley clear that oil pump?
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so how does the crank pulley clear that oil pump?
That problem is solved like many others...throw money at it! hahaha. A 5.25" or smaller pulley is required to clear the pump. In order to run that size pulley and still maintain some fan speed for cooling you either need to run a Porsche 356 generator pulley, or better a BMD dry-sump serpentine belt system. They've sized the upper pulley to match the factory ratios.
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Well, it's been a long weekend of ups and downs...but progress is certainly happening. Friday I finally cleaned out the car and the garage enough to get it on it's wheels for the first time. It was a good moment, quickly followed by the realization that it was going to be a bad moment. The 300lb springs that I selected are _waaaay_ soft. The car was lowered dry with no engine, no seats, no doors and only one piece of glass. The rear suspension still sags through half of it's travel. Bumping the preload up gains a bit, but they're very clearly too soft. Initially this wouldn't seem like a big issue, I mean they're coilovers...buy another set and swap them in! That's the whole idea. Problem, though, is that I'm already tight for clearance. Each heavier spring will be thicker, and thus cut down on my clearance. Will see what the rally shop has for springs that can be borrowed for static rate testing. I'm going to lower the front a few inches and see if I can find a happy summer setup for testing and actually dialing in the suspension on the car. Too early to panic, but late enough to realize I have a bunch of work ahead of me!
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With car on the ground, and tonne of sunny weather for the weekend, I realized it would be the perfect day for a drive. Hmmm, can't drive the car. So, trailer it!
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Okay, well, that isn't the full story. I actually the car back down to Chilliwack to GLI Autoworks. Lorne and Gerry have been storing the doors for me while I work on the car, and I've been waiting for the rain to stop long enough to get the car down there. While they mounted the doors, Art from AVR brought out "the magic rope" and helped Rob and I to install the rear window. The front windshield was popped in almost before I noticed, and things were just trucking along. It was team affair as we installed seals, chrome trim and the vent windows...mostly done by Lorne and Rob if I'm honest...but I did a good job of stealing spare parts from their personal garages and the shop to replace stuff that I've lost in the shuffle :D Rob and I finished the door latches by heading to their family farm to 'borrow' more parts from the company parts cars. With it getting dark I hit the road for the 2.5 hour drive home.
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Today I started by finishing off the doors. I can officially state that I hate U-Channel felt. I've hated it for some time, if I'm honest, but always thought it was because the '69 one-piece windows used iffy aftermarket felt. Nope. I think U-Channel felt just sucks in general. I'm sure there is a trick to getting it all nice and even, without looking like a wavy boat, but after longer then I care to admit I decided to accept it for now. You can only remove and reinstall it so many times before you wish for a convertible! I finally remembered how to get the glass back in, and the regulators are...um...acceptable. I'll be scouring swap meets this year for a good pair of used regulators. To his credit, Rob told me to wait until I had a good pair of used ones! Door panels come in this week, and when they do I will do the plastic on the doors and finish them up.
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With the doors as finished as I can make them, and my fingers raw from all those stupid clips and stuff, I figured I would go back to prepping the engine and car for some power. Oil filter adapter has been replaced, which seems like nothing mentionable...except all the interior oil lines are finally 100% finished.
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Russell fittings had a fuel bulkhead fitting (670860) that ships with two teflon washers and a lock nut. On the '69 I used barbed fittings and standard rubber hose for the valve cover vents, and it was always a pain. Fitting the valve cover for AN fittings, though, was definitely an afterthought on my part. Found this fitting at my local auto parts store, and sure enough it works no problem. I'll need to run the engine around the clock once I have a crank pulley back on, but with #1 at TDC the fitting is clearing the valve springs/rocker/etc. And hey, if it ends up interfering...I'll just cut it down :P
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Before I went down for the doors, Rob and I were talking about the list of things I needed to get the car running and how that differed from the list of things I needed to finish the car. After counting the number of engine pulls I was planning Rob put together a bit of a surprise pack when I arrived at the shop. That plan about pulling the motor later for carbs? Yeah, lets just do that now.
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So my late afternoon / evening was spent pulling the carbs down and blasting out the passages...then reassembling. The engine was stripped, and my "Salzburg" style shroud installed. I keep looking at it knowing it's just such a quick hack job, but everything I've seen/read about the factory cars was the same. I'm torn on it for now, but could re-do it down the road. Warwick was working on his mini and just laughed at me. "When the engine is the in the car, you're never going to notice" Hmmmmm....
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Having never done a hex-linkage before, man is there a tonne of little parts eh?! I did have to shorten the hex bar a little, which I knew was a possibility. A quick zip over to my buddies lathe and I was back on track...I thought. As soon as I had the length right I discovered it interferes with the Alternator strap. Had I left the strap stock, no problem, but the powder coating added *just* enough to the piece that the hex shaft was hitting it. A quick trip back to the lathe and I've got it clearing.
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Still have some work to do before it's ready to pop back into the car...but I'm starting to feel like I can see a finish line ahead.
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-Dave
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Bitchen!!
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Woot_Emoticon
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good work dave (and the frose boys)!!
keep banging that s#!t out...you're getting close now!!
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So when I went to the shop tonight I thought to myself "I'm going to get the engine back in"...heh heh, yeah right. I started off by taking care a couple of details, and they snowballed and snowballed until all I had done was deal with details. The problem with details, is they take so freaking LONG!!!
First up, was mounting the coil. Should be simple, but the fuel-pump block off plate I'm using isn't flat. That left an angled gap right around the center of the photo below. Technically the hole doesn't matter, as the case is sealed by the gasket and plate...but should it fill with dirt and crap it could get into the case if I ever remove the plate:
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Eventually I determined a grommet would take up the space and ensure that a good seal was made. With that, the coil project was done.
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So up next, I trimmed engine tin to fit around the pump. Just a 'slight' bit of trimming required :P
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With that, I moved onto oil-tank cut-off valve. For whatever reason I had always planned on mounting this below the car, even though it would be incredibly annoying. I was having difficulty deciding where exactly to put it, so I asked Mark Huebbe to send me a photo of his. He's got a Beetle that he rallies in the Rally America series. As soon as I saw his placement it was like a bell went off. Why didn't I think of putting it in the engine bay!?!
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The valve, fittings and line are all very close or touching the tin. I am concerned about the potential heat factor and was thinking of possible solutions when it dawned on me. Vibrant Performance recently started carrying a new line of thermal products, so surely they would have something that would work? A quick phone call, even though it was 11:30pm, and I should have the required stuff coming by mail tomorrow. Gotta love good connections! Getting this to fit correctly required pulling off the pulley tin, yet again. I think that was probably the fifth time this evening alone. The worst part is I will still need to take the whole motor down to the point where I can take off the cylinder tins...in order to install a bolt for mounting the valve! I think I'm going to get lucky on the feed line, though, as I should be able to use the factory hole for the reverse lights to pass the oil line through from the tank to the valve. I'll confirm as soon as the engine gets remounted in the car...if not, another bulkhead will go in near the right-side carb.
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I then moved on to the breather system. I mounted up my second breather tank, removed all the lines and fittings from the first tank and then started reworking the whole system. Once I had it about halfway ready, I realized that I really needed to raise the one breather by about a half inch. With it already touching the top of my firewall, that wasn't going to be a simple task! Yet another detail to find a solution to...
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With my new resized filter, everything fits exactly how I had imagined it in my head. Full sized filter on the right, shortened filter on the left.
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Breather line for the tank was then added through the firewall, and now the system is ready for the engine install. I should be able to disconnect the breathers easily with a stubby wrench, but I'll need to get the engine in to be sure. Add another item to the "check this" list!
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Somewhere in the middle of all this I found myself sitting in the back of the car, probably tightening up a fitting or two, and realized that I could pop in a fuel filter and finish the fuel connections by the frame horn while I was there. Fuel system is now connected from the tank all the way to the regulator. No photos, it's just a filter ziptied to the speed sensor bracket!
It was about this point in the late evening that I realized I should begin tearing the motor back down. The garage, however, is a complete disaster with tools everywhere. I took a step back, thought about where to start tidying up, and then realized that would make a far better lunch-break project tomorrow during the work day. Besides, it was midnight and I still hadn't eaten dinner! I'll clean up the shop at lunch, and then be ready to start fresh at the end of the work day. Carbs off, motor in, oil-lines and breather lines completed. That's the goal for tomorrow...bonus points if I get the carbs back on :P
-Dave
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Started off this evening by stripping off the bolt-on oil sump (Good Riddance!!) and returning the pickup/cover to factory spec. I was considering tearing the whole motor down to get to the cylinder tins when I realized there wasn't enough room between the tin and the head fins for a bolt head anyhow. I really shouldn't be allowed to powdercoat my tin...I grind, cut and weld on it _after_ powdercoating! :P I'm pretty sure I'll be able to put the heat-shielding in while the motor is in the car, so I'm not going to wait around for it to arrive.
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I had to wait around a bit to get a hand lifting the motor off the stand (the one thing I can't do solo). So in the meantime, I prepped the oil lines. Thankfully I was planning ahead when I had the motor in the car the first time, and had pre-measured the lines. I also made notes about where I would need heat shielding or other protection. So basically I just had to follow my own instruction sheet! The heat shielding is relatively obvious, but the other shield is simply left-over Flextech from the wiring harness. These two lines pass really close to a number of electrical connections so my hope is that this will keep them from rubbing through anything.
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Once the motor was on the ground, I wasted no time in getting it into the car. I then wasted no time getting the motor OUT of the car, so that I could install the forward tin piece :P The motor then made its way back into the car. Fortunately I hadn't bolted it in the first time!
The oil lines quickly followed the engine install. I ran the scavenge and pressure-out lines like I had them on my '69, below the exhaust pipe. The feed back into the engine goes between the two exhaust pipes. I did some head measurements on the '69 with the temp gun and this routing should be fine with the heat wrap in place. I'm thinking I may end up cutting the other two lines shorter to run them to though here as well, to keep them from hanging low. Will sleep on it (eventually!) to decide what to do. The photo does make it look far worse then it is, they hang about 1" lower then the heater box.
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With the motor in I began making the rest of the crankcase breather lines. My spool of Russell -8AN line was getting to be very short, and I was starting to think I was going to run out of line. The crankcase lines are quite tight in a number of spots...and I won't lie, dropping the engine is going to be a bit annoying with all the oil and breather connections to deal with.
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At this stage I was about to call my night a success, finishing all my goals, when I realized I had missed one line. There was still no oil-tank-to-firewall breather line....but there was no oil line material left in the box! All I had was about a 12" section on the floor, the final scrap. Unbelievably, it was 1/2" longer then I needed. One cut and a couple of fittings and the lines are done! Sixty-Five fittings, adapters or hose-ends make up the entire oil and breather system on the car. Popped the right-side carb on the engine to confirm all my lines clear, not quite sure how the ignition wires are going to work, but I'll solve that problem tomorrow.
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-Dave
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Liking your build Dave. Not much of a rally guy but the attention to detail is top notch. Russel fittings isn't going out of business with you around. ;)
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I can't wait to see how much I've skewed the Lordco Squamish inventory. They're going to end up with a whole wall of -8 fittings that sit until I build my next project! haha.
Today I zipped down to see one of the guys off the Germanlook Forum to borrow the heavier springs he offered for testing some spring rates. Since I was halfway there, I also zipped out to AVR for a coffee (thanks Vic!) and to pickup some more parts. Outside of a few odds-and-ends, and the final rear spring choice, I think I finally have everything I need to finish the car.
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I was absolutely bagged from the past week and hours of driving, but once I woke up from the couch I did my mandatory hour in the garage. Got the carbs on, the linkage in, electrical and fuel lines hooked up before I ran into a problem. CB Performance lists on their website "This pulley will clear all dry-sump oil pumps." What they forgot to mention, however, is that you may not be able to install the fan belt on all oil pumps. Sigh.
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Okay, so not a huge deal in the shop. Pop the pulley off, slide the belt on and reinstall. As a roadside repair that means waiting for the pulley to cool, hoping you can wiggle it off and reinstalling...not ideal. Will have to check to see if different belt manufacturers use a thinner belt design. Will definitely be getting a serpentine belt system though!
-Dave
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if you can manage to squeese it on the pulley it may be fine?.. i think it would be level or even sink in abit once its on.. not to sure.
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I started to tackle the last dry-sump issue (I hope). The BugPack pump is long enough that standard exhaust systems won't fit, but a few cuts later...and it fits like a charm.
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Hopefully I can get one of the guys at the Rallyshop to TIG weld it back up for me this weekend. Still deciding on whether I'm going to wrap the muffler or not, it's still pretty close to the oil pump heat-wise.
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On the fan belt side of things, I opted to just pop the pulley off this time and mount the belt. I've only every had one fail, on a car I bought with a ratty belt, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't plan for the possibility while I wait for a serpentine setup. Not sure what the plan is at the moment, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. Sqeezing the belt on isn't going to happen, I gave it a good shot in ideal conditions! Can't turn the pulley down (belt rides right on it's outside edge) and can't machine the oil pump. The solution might be as simple as trimming a few teeth off a belt and taking it easy until the hotel. Not elegant, but it's such a remote possibility, on a setup that is temporary, I'm not sure another solution is required.
Moving to the interior for a change of pace, I popped on the rear interior panels and started on the cover for my access hole. Really not happy with it at the moment, I wanted to avoid a million bolts holding it down, but the seal I've used is so thick it distorts with the few bolts I've used. Might go back to the drawing board on this one.
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And then it was back to the engine...I finally got around to buying high-flow heater boxes, though I will admit to buying the cheaper version. At this point saving dollars wherever possible is a good thing, and Rob and I figured I've fabricated enough at this point that I could fix any issues I encounter. First up was removing the flanges off the one end.
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...I think I found the dollar savings :P A few tweaks and I was able to get the brackets working. One on, one to go!
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-Dave
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Started off by making the pieces to patch up the clearance hole I made in the exhaust. A friend at Rocket Rally is going to TIG weld the pieces in for me, and if I'm lucky he won't need to use any filler rod. Here's hoping my parts are a tight enough fit!
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No problems at all with the second heater box...though I did manage to bolt it all up to the car before I realized that I forgot to cut the flange off the rear-end. Oops! Fortunately a sawzall made quick work of the flange and I'm ready for the muffler when it comes back from welding.
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While I was under the car, I took the time to swap in the springs that Eric loaned me. They're a 550lb spring, but about 1.5" shorter then the 300lb springs I removed. Lowered to the ground, after a rough pre-load adjustment, the 550's sit about the right height for a "stock setup". The length of Eric's springs do let me max out the suspension height, but I'd be at the absolute limit of of the coil over threads. They have, however, served the exact purpose I needed, which was to figure out a starting point. I'll need to buy a longer length in 550, and I intend to do some crunch math tomorrow to determine the wheel rate on the car and why I was so far off with the 300's.
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With the rear sorted, I figured I should adjust the front a little.
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Nothing really special here, just a 1" 'lowering spring' which should probably get me to the ride height I wanted to start with. Again, the whole purpose of running standard-type springs up front is to give myself some resemblance of a starting point that I could work from for matching up the rear.
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So here is the car sitting on the ground "dry". There's no fuel, oil, belts, seats, apron or decklid. But it does have all the glass, engine, etc. Sitting dry it's a great "rally height", which means wet I should end up a little closer to a street height. That also tells me that wet, I have some latitude for getting it up higher. I mean, it's all speculation at this point but it feels way better seeing it sit in a way I was expecting instead of scratching my head figuring out what the heck I messed up.
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I figured I would end on a good note, and called it a night. LOTS of little jobs to accomplish this weekend, as well as that big job of lower shock mounts to be done at some point. I'm using outside help on that one, so I'll just work on knocking down the to-do list over the next two days.
-Dave
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i powdercoated my heaterboxes on my baja. 10 years later and they still look the same. there, now you have something to stew on sign0151
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When are you going to mount the polished Fuchs? You_Rock_Emoticon
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I know you're not going to want to hear this, but those manifolds will not survive.
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They are the same as what I have on my car, they're junk! The bottom flange will break off unless you reinforce it. 3 of the 4 ends of the flange have broken on mine at various times.
Find some 3mm Al sheet. Cut 45º right angle triangles about 1" long on the two short sides. Then weld one on each side of the nut holding them to the heads.
Resist the urge to pile up weld, it doesn't work.
Sand the bottoms on a flat plate with a sheet of 120 after welding.
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Thread progression awesome : )
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C'mon Bruce! Keep up! You couldn't have told me this three days ago when I was in "assemble motor" mode? Geesh.
;-)
Thanks for the tip. Might pull them off before Spring Thaw to modify, but for the moment going to get things running / tuned / sorted. That sounds like a good weekend project for the near future though.
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Today started off as a bit of an odds-and-ends days. I was working on the heater box cable linkage when I got the call that Nick was over at the rally shop. I loaded up the wheels and tires that have been in on the car, and took care of flipping the tires around (so the overspray from previous paint job doesn't show) as well as solve the slow leak in two of them. Rusty rims were attacked by the wire wheel and all seems to be holding air now. Not that I plan to use these wheels and tires, but so far Lorne hasn't had time to dig up the rims I'm getting from him and tire-company-which-will-remain-unnamed hasn't jumped on board with some fresh shoes for the car. So, for the moment, it will have to hang out on these.
I also mounted up one of the spare 15" snow tires I have kicking around. By law where I live you have to be running snows (or carry chains) until April 30th, so when I get the car on the road I'm going to need something for while I'm out doing shakedown runs. A 195/55/15 looks hilarious on a 4" rim...but not exactly safe. Will have to see what else I have hiding in the tire and wheel collection. Might be time to break out the original German Sprintstars!
While I was playing with tires, Nick was welding my exhaust (and swearing my name). I guess the only stainless I could get in town was causing him fits as it was a bit thin. Good thing he's had my sandblasting cabinet for six months...otherwise I might owe him an even bigger favour :P With the exhaust welded up, tires ready, and the heater box cables hooked up I then moved on to sorting out the other "under car" items I need to deal with. The starter was wired up, one transmission leak was "solved" and another mysterious leak found...but still mysterious. I'm getting a clear-yellow fluid with no smell weeping down the side of the transmission it takes over a week to form any thing even close to a drop-sized amount on the bottom of the transmission. It would seem to be coming from the reverse switch seal, as that portion is wet but not immediately above it. The weird part, though, is the transmission fluid is red...and this doesn't smell at all like trans fluid. My initial thought was brake fluid, but all the fittings and lines on the rear are dry. Very odd.
Leaving that alone, it was time to hook up the heat between the engine and the body. The '71 came to me with these terrible black plastic units which obviously won't fit with all the stuff I've crammed in under the car, so I began stripping it down to it's core to determine what I might be able to build to suit the purpose.
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I was thinking of taking the plastic core, and simply wrapping it in heat wrap, when I found stainless steel corrugated pipe in one of my many parts bins. Dad had given these to me years ago when I bought the '69 (and promptly stole as many parts from him as possible). I remember him mentioning that he used to use similar stuff in the engine bay for heater tubes. (Must have been those whacky 80's). For what I needed though, they'd be perfect.
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I didn't want to leave them just as the bare metal, as I do know that the airflow right out of the heater boxes can be incredibly hot. No need to risk melting any wiring when I have a spare roll of exhaust wrap kicking around. Finished heater duct, ready for install:
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While I had the exhaust wrap out, I took the time to wrap the portion of the muffler that close to the oil-pump. I definitely didn't want to wrap the muffler, as this stuff retains moisture and frays, and looks like crap after a while...but at the same time I'm so close to the oil pump I think anything I can do to help with heat is a good idea. I'll get rid of the hose clamps once I figure out where I put my stainless safety wire.
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I figured that mounting up the exhaust was going to be a breeze, but then discovered a problem I hadn't thought of. When I ordered the exhaust with Vintage Speed I was running standard heater boxes, but after seeing the quality knew I just had to uprate them to high-flow boxes. The problem was that Vintage Speed had sent me the flanges I originally requested, which were for stock sized pipes. A few cuts with the angle grinder, about 6 on-and-off fittings of the muffler, a little welding...a bunch of grinding...and I had flanges mounted to my heater boxes.
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Muffler and rear tin installed:
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...and with the rear apron and heater hoses:
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I have to say, I am soooo stoked on the body modifications I did. Between the firewall move, the Weber doors, access panel and the removable apron I can't pick my favourite...they are all so awesome. I can't believe I worked on the '69 for so long without any of these mods. I don't think I could own a modified Beetle without them now. That month of cutting, welding and grinding was 100% worth it! Case in point, I pulled the plugs to prep the car for building oil pressure. Took me 30 seconds, and one long spark plug extension. True, I have the wheels off so it's easier, but that would have been a bear of a job without the weber doors.
Where were we? Oh right, oil pressure. Well, for whatever reason I decided to prime the fuel pumps first. 10L of fuel went into the car (no leaks!), but my fuel pump wiring isn't working as planned. Pump one is working fine, but doesn't shut down without a tach signal as it should. Pump two has an issue at the switch, which is new as I know I had the pump working when I was testing the dash. Regardless, #1 was pumping away and I was working on solving number two when I realized it was getting really smelly in the garage. "Hmmm, has the fuel gotten to the back already?" I could hear air bubbles working their way out of the system as I walked back, only to realize that no...those are airbubbles being worked out of the #4 intake runner as the left-side carb pukes fuel everywhere.
Yeah, float level? Not so correct.
With that fixed, I have a surprisingly well-sealed fuel system! The fuel tank breather still needs finishing (just an 8" hose at the moment) but otherwise it's leak free.
I filled up the oil tank, oil filter and tossed a litre in the case-sump to help prime the scavenge stage of the system. I started priming the oil system and realized a few things. First off, this was going to take a while due to all the lines...and secondly, if you're contemplating a 901 swap...do the starter modification now before you install it. My starter doesn't engage the teeth properly every time, so until I mill .100" off the front face of the starter I'm going to sound like a jalopy every few startups!
Priming the oil system sucks. On a stock 1600 build you might have to hold the key for a total of 30 seconds to prime the pump and the engine...but I have like 30ft of oil lines and accessories. This isn't going to go quickly! The whole time that poor motor and its bearings are riding on assembly lube and/or oil-film. I usually begin by undoing the outlet on the oil pump so that I can go in 10sec bursts until oil is being pushed out the pump. Then I attach the pressure line, and disconnect it at the next fitting. Again running the engine in short bursts until I can see oil. I do this at every fitting, every stage, for the whole oil system. Things like the accusump and oil cooler are disconnected (and their fittings capped) until I can reliably build oil pressure. It takes forever, but at least I can check each fitting for leaks as I go.
About an hour ago I finally built up pressure in the engine with everything but the Accusump lines attached. With it being so late, I figured that my neighbours would probably appreciate me packing up for the night and installing the plugs tomorrow. I have to run down to Vancouver at some point, but hopefully I will still have time to shoot a video of it firing up. Not bad for seven months work!
-Dave
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This forum needs more build threads! ;-)
Alright, where was I? Oh right, Saturday night I went to bed with the oil system primed. I slept in a bit on Sunday, then headed down to the shop to fire things up. I had to button up the top half of the motor, and deal with a few little issues, but soon the time came to turn the key for the first time. I held by breath, pumped the accelerator twice and promptly ground the starter gear into the flywheel.
Crap.
I am fully aware of the issue that the starter only engages about 1/3 of the flywheel teeth width, but other porsche-box swappers seemed to have neglected to report the fact that this means you'll likely be grinding the starter on a number of attempts to start. Okay, mental note...pull starter so that material can be milled off the face. I turned the key a few more times before it finally launched itself into mesh, and the motor fired right up!
There is that moment of elation, where you realize it's finally happening, you're close to driving, you blip the throttle twice (always twice...why is that?), walk to the back of the car and see a nice puddle of synthetic forming on the floor…
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Turns out I forgot to tighten one of the oil lines which is close to the exhaust, almost impossible to get a wrench into...but after a few choice words I managed to get it tightened up.
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I fired the car back up again, with the intention of letting it warm up enough to start bringing the oil up to temperature, and shoot a video of the car actually running. I couldn't quite place it, but the engine "sounds funny". It's got a strange hollow sound to it, and there was definitely more noise to the engine then I think there should be. Problem is the bottom end hasn't been touched, so it should be fine...unless I managed to flatten the cam while priming the oil system? Either way, I had to leave the car as is and run some company errands for Classic Car Adventures. On the way to Vancouver I called Mark Huebbe in Missouri and talked with him about his dry-sump engine, which is the closest in setup to mine as I can find. No strange noises from his, and certainly no 'hollow" sound. He's run his dry of oil a few times, and the bearings (checked months later) always look perfectly fine...so he did calm me down a little!
When I returned to the car, I figured I would ignore the engine momentarily and instead work towards getting the rest of it ready. I was planning on an alignment Tuesday, so started working on the rear suspension. Through a series of strings, measurements, 3D modelling and lots of scribbles on cardboard I thought I was getting a good grasp of the rear suspension alignment. Math was never my strong point in school, so sorting this out was one of the more challenging aspects of my build! By Sunday bed time I figured I had the rear end either somewhat close...or so far off it was to be laughable.
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Monday started with a 4am run across the border to grab some parts I had shipped to Blake, back in time for work. Warwick had also returned home on Monday, so while he was gearing up for working on the Mini I figured it was a good time to get a second ear listening to the engine. From the very beginning I figured it was my mind playing tricks on me, and that fear of destroying something while priming it. I honestly think I get this every time I setup a new build! I fired it up, grinding the starter a few times in the process, and Warwick confirmed that it "doesn't sound bad at all. A little 'clackety', but not 'gonna blow up tomorrow' bad". Hmmm, clackety is probably the valve adjustment. Duck an ear into the fender and sure enough 1/2 is sounding quite loud. I did a quick valve adjustment, even though things were a little warm at this point, and as soon as I did all sounded normal. Ah yes, 24 hours of torture because I can't remember what a Volkswagen should sound like!
The odd part is that I was sure I checked the valves on #1 while it was on the stand. If I _did_, then I most likely have an issue where the cam is going flat or similar. But I do know for a fact that I did not do a valve adjustment on all four, and even said to myself "I might as well do that when it's in the car"...so there is a very good chance they were just "in need" and there were no problems. Will have to adjust them cold, and then keep track if they are changing at all.
With that, I moved onto swapping out the springs. I picked up a set of Eibach 550’s in an 8” length, an they’re a perfect fit.
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Yesterday was Alignment Day…or so I hoped. I did drive the car out of the garage and onto the trailer, which I have to be honest brought a huge smile to my face. It came off the trailer and onto the rack with no drama. OK Tire in Squamish was pretty incredible about the whole thing. I explained the issues with the rear end, and he agreed to three setup and alignments charged at the end based on the time it took the boys. We would need to measure, then take the car home to change the rear end, measure again (thus giving me a baseline of “two turns equals X degrees) and then go home for a final measurement change.
Off to the gas station for the first time!
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Once I got the car on the rack it was apparent that the first thing I would need to do is fix the fuel leak :D Fortunately it was a quick hose clamp, for the gas heater and NOT the one found buried under the tank!
Grant at OK Tire called me about 30min after I dropped it off to say “come and get it”. The rear end was so far out it would have to come home. -2.2deg of camber on the left side, -0.8 on the right. 0.18deg positive toe on the left, 0.30deg of negative toe on the right. Well shoot, I didn’t even realize camber was that adjustable on the rear, how would I fix that!?!
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Thankfully Bruce Tweddle’s post on TheSamba was readily available on my iPad, and the camber adjustment was easy enough. I dialed in back end of the car over lunch, and brought it back at the end of the day. We tossed it up on the rack and found that I had fixed the left side, but gone way too far on the right. That’s when Grant came through with the best news ever. “I don’t have another car booked on the rack, if it won’t take too long just fix it here.”
We jacked up the rear, pulled the tires and in less then ten minutes we had adjusted and checked the suspension twice. I’ve got .06deg negative toe on both sides, and -1deg of camber on both sides. I left the guys to dial in the front, but thankfully caught them before they had finished the camber adjustment. The factory spec calls for .2 to .8 positive camber! Uh yeah, sorry guys but I’m not doing that! We dialed in a half degree negative and I’ll see how that works out.
…and that’s where it sits right now. I can’t drive it because I still need to tune the carbs, and fix the lower shock mounts on the rear. The 50ft between the trailer and my driveway were quite exciting though. My shifter setup works perfect for going from dogleg 1st to 2nd without catching reverse, but that’s about all I can report.
- The starter grinds
- The clutch feels HORRIBLE (needs additional return springs for sure)
- The throwout bearing is noisy (oh weee, another engine pull)
- …and I think I found a few other issues. But hey…
IT DRIVES!!!
Also had to dial in a few things for weatherproofing the car (it was raining yesterday). So Monday night saw the addition of the engine deck lid, some ducting for the oil cooler, door handles and a few other odds-and-ends.
I kinda wish I could run without a license plate! Mounting the decklid did reveal an item I forgot to pre-plan for. The license plate light has no wiring, and no where to connect it! Whoops.
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With the plate installed. The plate sits on ¾” spacers to allow for airflow. You can see the green tape in the corners, I can’t find a way to adjust the decklid so it doesn’t hit here. Might just use 3M stoneguard to protect the paint.
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The oil lines are actually tucked up quite high, this is temporary with zipties but now I know where to put the proper clamps.
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Oil cooler ducting. I have a tube of really nice proper racing duct, but unfortunately it’s just long enough for one side. It’s the high-temp silicone hose type for brake ducting, so I think I’m going to reserve it for front brake ducts should I ever decide to add them.
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But really, you all came here for videos. So here’s a couple of startup/idle vids.
#1 is Monday night, you can hear the valves clattering. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH-Q6ZtgXbw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH-Q6ZtgXbw)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH-Q6ZtgXbw[/youtube]
#2 is today, quick start up…needs some tuning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLRz--T2FZo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLRz--T2FZo)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLRz--T2FZo[/youtube]
Eventually I have to return Geoff’s trailer to Vancouver…so I’m going to see if I can rope either he or Darren into some carb tuning ☺.
-Dave
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insane !!!!
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Awesome sounds good all that hard work and inovation is almost ready for a good test ride, Way to go incredible motivation .Can't wait to see it in person : )
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So tonight started out really well. I began by finishing the assembly on the rear suspension (putting my double-shear plates back on) and then while I was in the wheel-wells installed the rear mudflaps and O2 sensors. The bungs are placed for great readings, but are a little bit exposed. I suspect I might go through a couple of sensors! haha.
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I was going to hook up the accusump to the oil system, but before doing so though I'd check the oil level in the tank. My night pretty much went to crap right at the point where I turned the flashlight on. The oil was right up there, but I couldn't see the screen that helps remove air bubbles. Um, what? It took a second to register, but the oil was full of microscopic glitter particles.
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Even now, three hours after discovery I don't know how to put the feeling into words.
I ran a clean magnet thorugh the oil and picked up nothing, which means it's more then likely aluminum from somewhere. I pulled the drain plug, which is magnetic, and it had virtually nothing stuck to it...just a bit of black particles that are so small they're virtually grease. I've seen more in regular oil changes then this.
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One option was to flush the motor and oil system twice with some cheap 5wt30, and then refill with my usual oil. Run it until it was good and hot, and then see if there are any particles. That's a big risk. I have to believe that whatever is causing this problem is only going to be more expensive the longer I leave it. I made the call to pull the motor, knowing that tearing it down means I'm very likely to miss the Spring Thaw event we run. By midnight I had the motor ready to come out, just the four mounting bolts are holding it in now. Since the oil was cold, though, it's taking a long time to drain out. I'll leave it until after work tomorrow as that should make the whole job a lot cleaner and more enjoyable.
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I did learn a couple of things that give me some hope that it may not be too catastrophic. The oil in the 3/4 head is clean and I can't see a single particle with a naked eye and bright light. The oil draining out of any of the post-filter lines that I've pulled is perfectly clean without a single particle that can be seen with a naked eye and bright light. So far I have only found nasty oil in the dry sump tank, and the engine sump. This could mean that the vital engine bits were actually receiving clean filtered oil...at the very least, I know that the oil line going into the engine had clean oil in it. So from a "find the problem" perspective i simply need to follow the oil passages from start to finish until I find a bad part. Then, figure out what else it damaged down the line.
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The Spring Thaw, my car's debut event, is April 27th-29th. I'm so hooped. I've blown engines before (even did one on the Thaw!) but I co-organize the event, I can't not make it! It's not the damaged engine, it's not the time, it's not the teardown and rebuild. If there is anything this thread could prove it's that I'm not scared to do the work! It's a bit of stress over the time crunch, but really it's the knowledge that I've really stretched the financial lines getting the last assembly stuff finished. There is just no more room to squeeze.
Getting the engine ready to pull was good, gave me a way to spend time and not think about anything but dis-assembly steps, bagging and tagging. I have this funny feeling tomorrow at work is going to be a really tough day to get through.
-Dave
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good luck buddy,.. hope it all works out!!
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I was in the same place with my project a few times, you will get it figured out and it will be badass in the end!
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Good nights sleep and a clear head will help to sort it out. It will probably prove to be miniscule in the end but better safe than sorry.
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Well, that was anti-climatic.
Before you look at the detail photos keep in mind this engine has somewhere between 50,000 and 75,000 miles on it. Hasn't been opened in all that time. I didn't start tearing the engine down until about 930 tonight, but once you get going it tends to go pretty quick. Pulling the heads off revealed nothing but a lot of carbon. The engine was definitely running rich on the kadrons! Pistons, cylinder heads and related items were all in perfect condition. The rings look great, the skirts have some wear and light scoring but the cylinder walls still have complete cross-hatching on each of them with no signs of wear. The piston-pin bushings in each rod still have cross-hatching in them. So far, things were looking good!
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I pulled the oil pump, and each of the additional stages looks perfect and brand new. The "inside the case" portion shows some chatter marks under one of the gears, and the hole for the drive shaft shows some strange scoring and marks. It's possible the metal came from here, but it's just as possible that metal from elsewhere is what caused the damage. I'm going to try and refurb the housing with lapping compound, etc. If not I'll have to get a new housing for this section.
After the pump I pulled case apart, and discovered that I apparently use "lube-a-lobe" lifters! I've read so much about how bad they are, but thankfully each of mine look fantastic.
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The cam bearings, however, have seen better days. I'm now starting to understand why some of the chips in the oil clearly looked silvery and aluminum-like, while others had a distinct yellowish color. I thought that I was going to find the timing gear bad, but instead it could have been copper sparkles.
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The cam surface shows some matching wear, but definitely no where near as bad as the cam bearings:
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Rod bearings all look perfectly good, and the main bearings show even less wear.
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So at this point, I don't really have a smoking gun. At the same time, however, I have a relatively easy fix on my hands. I suspect that this is a combination of some swarf left in the tank after drilling and welding in two bungs, the oil pump chatter and the worn cam bearings. Can't really be anything else...?
At the very least I need to swap out the cam bearings. I'm going to do the crank and rod bearings as well, since I'm already in here. Otherwise I'm going to clean it, button it up and make sure I flush the tank and lines extremely well. I'll run some cheap oil for a day to flush the system, and then replace it with my usual 5w40 synthetic.
-Dave
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..... I apparently use "lube-a-lobe" lifters! I've read so much about how bad they are, but thankfully each of mine look fantastic.
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I disagree. The one second from the top is about to start flaking off, like Scat lifters eventually do. I highly recommend you replace them.
What is your cam? Springs?
You must use double thrust cam bearings when you put it together. If you are re-using the cam, check it for straightness. I suspect it may be bent. Do you have access to a lathe?
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...that should be intake #3. I'll pull it out and take another photo for discussion sake. Cam is Engle W100, I have access to a lathe and based on the bearing wear I had already thought to check that it's straight. I'd have to check with Darren what I'm using for springs, he set the heads up for me.
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The day started off early, loading the bug onto the trailer with my friend Gord. Gord is shop foreman at Rocket Rally, and a wizard when it comes to fabricating. Long ago I roped Gord into 'helping' me do the lower shock mounts...which is to say he works, and I watch :P
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After discussing the options and taking into account the things I thought were important, Gord went to work on cutting off the lower shock mounts and starting fresh. While he was working on suspension, I took advantage of the rally shop's automated parts washer, and prepped all the engine bits for reassembly. A couple of hours later and I had clean engine bits...and a bug with an finished rear suspension setup. We even managed to sort out the limit straps as well. I'll need to lathe up some spacers to go on either side of the rear shock, but that will be a super quick job I can leave for another time. Gord did have another design done up which wasn't a complete box, the lower section was closer in, and then they opened up on an angle. Definitely looked better, but swapping springs was similar to the stock mounts which required much manipulation of the suspension arm, shock and some swearing. With these mounts the springs are super quick and easy to change....so I went with the more useable design. I'll get photos with the springs installed soon.
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One of the lathe jobs I wasn't going to tackle on my own, was the starter. Swinging one of these around in a lathe is not for the faint at heart! We took a total of .125" off the mounting face of the starter. It could be a bit thin, but then it's a $40 starter from Autozone. If the ear snaps off I'll know to to do just .100" next time :P
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The plan for the evening was to assemble the engine. Rob actually opened AVR on a holiday to get me the bits I needed to do this. Amazing. I think I was laying the crank in the case when I realized that this job takes a whole lot longer then I remember with all the measuring and checking! I readjusted my plan to become "assemble the long block" before bed. Had an issue with the cam thrust bearing, but that was just a matter of polishing down the thrust portion on some glass. After mating the case halves I discovered two of the main studs needed some cleaning up on the threads. This was done very carefully with the engine all protected in plastic and paper towel. After spending the time doing that, I was highly considering just getting the short block done! I snugged the cam-plug bolts down okay, and grabbed the torque wrench. I now know why the cam plug leaked on this engine for the past year. I didn't make it 14ft-lbs before the stud stripped out of the right-side case half.
Un.
Freaking.
Believable.
The engine is now disassembled once again, and tomorrow I'll have to get a helicoil kit and set a coil into the case half. Then, after cleaning out all the swarf and crap, I can return to the job I was doing earlier this evening! Here is the stud, and next do it are the nice threads that should still be a part of the case!
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-Dave
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What doesnt kill you just makes you stronger Dave. Ive been there more times than I care to remember. Keep up the great work on a killer car. Cant wait to see this machine in person.
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Speechless your tenacity and talent is amazing wish you were my neighbour would love to give you a hand and then maybe with your help : ) my bus might see some progress. LOL I really have no excuses now I need to make some progress . By the end you will know that car inside out GO DAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :1rij:
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Thanks guys! Definitely feeling more positive after today.
I gotta say though, it's a good thing I'm a bit of a pack-rat for parts and had a spare case kicking around. I had to pull out one of the main studs to drill the helicoil...wouldn't you know it, the threads galled up on main stud! Had I not had a spare case, I'd have been down another day while I found one.
Well, I'm bagged after a full day of work in the garage. Engine is rebuilt and ready to go in. This included the helicoil, swapping out two main studs, blue-printing the dry-sump pump and all the usual engine build items (endplay, checking deckheight, etc. etc.). New shock mounts are now sitting in wet paint...so things are looking up again. Can't wait to find out what the next disaster is! hahaha.
-Dave
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shame about the engine issue. i'm sure it'll be sorted soon though... the rest of the car looks fabulous. good work dave!
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Well, I've been hiding a bunch of updates on Airspeed as I wanted to surprise the club at our monthly meeting. Now that its over...time to catch up!
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Not much point in posting photos at this stage, since I've now been here at least twice before! Engine is back in and assembled completely. Rear apron and deck lid have been reattached. I managed to remember the 3M clear-tape, so hopefully the decklid won't wear through the paint at the corners. I did the very nerve-wracking oil-system priming last night, which always feels like it's taking forever. Really hoping the assembly lube does it's job!
I didn't get the oil system primed until 12:30am, so after setting up the fuel pressure double checking the floats and doing a few other jobs, I opted not to wake up the neighbors.
I need to torque down the CV joint bolts, install the crush-panel (for lack of better term) to the front frame head, install some running boards and the car can come off the axle stands. The running boards are probably going to need a bit of work, AVRparts.com gave them to me a few weeks ago. Apparently they were returned due to "not fitting", but I don't know anyone who buys non-VW running boards and expects them to fit perfect! Good for me though, they were free :D
...then it's onto the interior, where I need to finish the heating system, install seat belts, seats, the carpet portions I'm going to use and sort out what the plan on the floor is. I was going to leave it bare, but getting in and out of the car when your shoes are wet is like trying to walk across a skim of wheel-bearing grease! I might cut my new carpet kit, or cut a set of OE rubber mounts. All I know is that I don't want to cover the transmission tunnel at this stage.
The thread-extending gnome did make a visit to the garage last night, however. I was in the trunk fixing *something*, when I decided to fill the washer fluid system. A few moments after pressurizing it there was washer fluid spraying everywhere! Turns out one of you jokers put a couple of pinholes in my washer fluid line...but it was a quick, if not wet, fix.
-Dave
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AUGH!! Don’t you just hate when you write a whole post and then hit the wrong button and close the window? DANGIT!
Alrighty…well, I guess I must have started with yesterday evening. I began by torquing down the axle CV joints, and finishing up the wiring for both of the Oxygen sensors. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to see a difference between the left and right bank, but it appears that there is enough gas flow past the sensors that they aren’t reading a mix between sides.
For the past week it feels like I haven’t stopped. The monthly meeting for the VW club is tomorrow night, and I’ve been going hard-at-it to try and make sure the car is ready for a “launch” at the meeting. It was going to be smooth sailing until I found all that metal in the motor…from then on, it’s been a serious touch-and-go mission. It seems that each day I start with a text to my friend Geoff saying “dude, not going to make it” only to follow up at about 3 in the morning with “well, maybe!”
I did get the car fired up last night, but I’m still not happy with the noise level. The valves sound too noisy, which is not good because I’m sure I adjusted them to loose-zero while the motor was on the stand. 100% positive this time! I had a couple of buddies listen to the car and they think it’s fine. I’ll check the valves again tomorrow morning (car has been running today) and go from there. While the car was running my friend Scott stopped by to see it. He’s a side-draft weber guru, so I figured having him do the initial tune was better then me! He dialed in the idle by ear, which should be enough to get me in the ballpark. He also noted that the return springs that come with the kit bind near the end of their travel, I’ll need to move the springs to actually pull the plates fully closed every time.
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With the engine running and the final details mostly taken care of underneath, I was really tempted to take the car out for a burn around the block! But there are no seatbelts and from the very beginning I wanted to drive a car into my Garage in September, and then drive a finished car out of my garage when it was done. As much as the driver in me said “go”, the responsible part of me said start bolting more parts on.
I had bought an EMPI carpet kit for the car, and figured it was time to go about fitting it. Some people are going to cringe when they see that brand name, but I’ve found their cheap carpet to be quite durable…and I needed something that I could buy and cut up into pieces right away. After some careful cutting I managed to install all the carpet I intend on using (for now) and did so without making too many errors. The errors I did make are big ones though! No one will ever see or care about #1, but #2 behind the pedals shows up in photos. Doh! The carpet over the heaterchannel on the right side fits perfect and I’m really stoked on it. The left side, however, fits weird. I haven’t sorted out whether it’s the heater channel or the carpet, but these pieces aren’t glued in so I can fix it later.
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Astute viewers of the above photo will also notice I now have seats and a proper steering wheel installed in the car. Turns out I need to swap the oil pressure and volt meter gauge (they’re to the right of the tach). I can see the alternator is charging while driving, but can’t see the oil pressure!
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The seats and belts are killing me. I have long ago over-extended the budget and passed what was “affordable”. I must reuse the seats and belts from my old rally car, and they look incredibly tired…not to mention out-of-date. They’ll work for now, but will definitely be a “replace me” item as soon as I can afford it.
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I finished up the interior with door panels, reminding myself just how much I dislike mounting new door panels. Dear producers of new door panels: this isn’t rocket science…is it really that hard to punch holes in the correct location!?!
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I finished my evening (which, at this point was well into the early morning) by mounting up the running boards.
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The driver’s side fit like a glove and I was really quite happy until I absolutely gouged the @#!$!@ out of my front fender. Chalk that up to working on the car while tired, and pushing too hard to get it done. It’s just visible in this shot…but goes right down to the metal.
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On the Passenger side I’ve got bigger issues. I had to trim some of the inside lip to get the running board to sit low enough, and once I had the front hole wasn’t going to line up. Not that it really matters, there is almost a 1” gap front-to-rear so even if the holes did line up they weren’t going to go together anyways! Eventually I’ll solve this with a new running board, but for a Spring-Thaw fix I might end up putting a bit of the black vinyl on the bottom of each fender and then hiding the gap with some rubber. Photograph the driver’s side please! ;)
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With the details done, this morning it was time for the part we’ve all been waiting for…a test drive! Rather then do a short once-around-the-block, followed by a check over on the car…I figured I’d just dive in and drive to work in Whistler. Ha! Like that was going to happen.
First stop was a trip to the insurance broker, to increase my coverage from “lowest you have” to “um, please replace my whole car if something happens”. On the way over to the broker the oil tank burped a bit of oil out the dipstick hole. Hmmm, that’s a bit odd, maybe I need to put an o-ring or something in it. After dealing with the insurance, and an unpaid speeding fine (oops!) I walked out to the car to find a small puddle of 5w40 underneath the car. A quick check showed no loose lines, but the breather tank drain was dripping. I combined issue one (burped tank) with issue two (draining breather) and quickly realized I had forgot to multiple the heat-expansion factor of the oil. Checked the tank and what do you know, almost at the top! I pulled back into the house, sucked 1 full liter out of the tank and made attempt number two.
I got to the edge of town with no further oil problems, before I decided to head back to home. The air-fuel gauge was registering stoich for both the ½ and ¾ sides, but was showing a little on the lean side as well. I’m running narrow band sensors, and once they heat up tend to fluxuate across such a small range on the gauge it’s often hard to tell exactly what the reading is (vs. a fuel injected car which is constantly bouncing rich/lean, rich/lean). Not wanting to melt down a motor, I whipped the car back home. Tonight I’ll take it out and adjust the air/fuel mix to see if I’m getting a change on the gauge and pull some plugs to compare gauge to real-world measurement. Once I get it dialed in, the narrow band are great for seeing a problem or a change…narrow band for tuning, though, not so much!
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Having driven the car for a good 35min today I did learn a few things. First off, the car is far more “race” then I initially planned. It’s bloody loud, harsh in the rear end and requires some lightning precision to shift the 5-speed well. It sounds funny, terrible at times and there are noises I don’t recognize that shouldn’t be there. In the words of Eric Bana “a new race car never feels good straight out of the workshop.”
So my current list of complaints are…
• There is a bad bearing in the Porsche trans. When I lift off the throttle you can hear it, and it goes away as soon as you’re on the throttle. Type-1 trans do that as well, and go for years just making noise. Will have to research the Porsche boxes and hope they are the same! For now, I will just keep my foot in it :D
• The oil tank isn’t fully sealed, and the inside of the car smells like hot oil. Now, this one could simply be due to having the cap open a number of times…or it could be I have to add an o-ring to my dipstick. I think I saw oil vapour wisping from the cap at one point, but I didn’t look too closely. Sealing this up will be a priority. Either that, or I need find a woman who thinks Eau-de-synthetic is the best cologne you can get.
• No 5th point on the seatbelts. I hate four point belts (and their dangerous). I haven’t welded in the plate for the 5th point yet, and will have to do so asap. I can’t handle driving the car without the Anti-submarine strap. Heck, you can’t even tighten the seatbelts! Very annoying.
But on the other hand, I actually drove the car more then onto a trailer! I have officially entered the “debugging” stage, vs. the “building” stage!
...oh, and I missed the best part. With the new motor setup, 165-series tires and the stiff rear suspension, the car is just dying to slide the rear-end around in the dry. It's going to be a total handful in the wet, I'm sure, but should be a lot of fun while I slowly dial in the sanity!
-Dave
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I got home from work last night, warmed the car up and took it for a cruise. I got the idle jets sorted out, and then confirmed that it's a bit lean on the mains. After consulting with my buddy Geoff, I hand-drilled the mains and popped back out for a test. Exhaust tips are darkening up, and I think I'm good to drive it some distance now. I can at least get it to the club meeting!
Now, I could drive it down as-is...but that's not really finished is it? I fired up the Vinyl machine, and about 10min later fried the motherboard. AHHH!! A couple of hours were spent troubleshooting before I determined it was terminal, and came up with an other solution. I hand cut the stripes, which is why they're a bit off on the white! Once my machine is up and running I'll have to redo the stripes. Based on the photos I have of the factory cars, the decals were laid by the guy who swept the floor...with one eye closed. So I've taken some artistic liberties with them!
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The rear engine lid stripe got a bit too much heat, and will definitely need redoing.
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Took me until about 2:30am to get it done...but I can't believe I OWN ONE!! (even if it's not quite genuine!)
-Dave
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So I definitely have some spring tuning to do. With the 300 lb springs and no damping my car sunk through most of it's travel. Even with the preload cranked I'm not sure I could get it up to ride height...though I admit to not trying it. The 550's hold the car at right height with just a slight touch of preload, but I will admit they are too stiff. You can feel the rear end wanting to go on dry tarmac, but it's fully predictable and I haven't actually slid it yet...in the dry. When the road is wet, however, it's a complete handful. Like, Porsche 930-widowmaker, handful. I'll be honest...it's a tonne of fun, until you suddenly find yourself looping it on a Vancouver city street without even trying...in traffic. Yeah, not my proudest moment :P
My brain was screaming "don't lift!!!" ...but my foot had already started coming off the pedal.
Now, keep in mind I'm on an older pair of 165 series tires, so that definitely adds to the problem. Bump compliance in corners isn't great though, so I do need to soften the springs a little. I'm going to try 450s next, and then from there move to progressive setup with tender & main. I probably should put the 300's back in and crank up the preload to see if it will support the car. Would certainly make it far closer to the front springs which are rather soft right now.
-Dave
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:whoo: Awesome job Dave! Car looks excellent. Are you running single wire or heated three wire O2 sensors?
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Hells yah Dave. Nice job. Car looks great and done in timely fashion too. :band1:
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Bravo, well done Dave.
I've enjoyed and envied this thread and car.
Now we hope to hear about the great adventures you take it on!
:whoo:
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Fear not! I haven't abandoned this thread...I just merely took some time off the car to do some coaching and get the Spring Thaw ready!
There is much to be done still, and I have a couple of deadlines looming that require some fast hard work...but I figured for a few days I would enjoy it. At about the 500km mark I noticed I had a slight leak of oil out the front of the engine case. The cam seal always leaked on this engine, so I was less concerned then perhaps I should have been. At 700km I noticed a slight oil smell coming from the car when I stopped at a light, by 750km it was dripping oil consistently. Hmmm. Drove it back home (trailers are for wimps) and by the time I got there she was smoking oil off the muffler. Hard to see in this photo, but the 'fogginess' of the lower half of the photo is caused by oil smoke.
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By now I knew that it wasn't the cam seal, but rather the flywheel seal. I have 5w40 all over the bottom of the car, or as I like to think of it "rust protection" :P Regardless, the motor needed to come out...so last night I popped it out. Took me two hours from the time I drove into the garage, which is long by bug standards but pretty short considering all the stuff I have to deal with. A good bit of that time was spent finding tools i have yet to put away properly!
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Hmmm, yes, it would seem we've found the problem.
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When I called my local parts store to see if they could get me a seal for the morning, she was surprised to find they not only stocked them...but she has sold one or two per year for the past few years. Doing some mental math, that pretty much sums up my engine pulls/flywheel seal sagas exactly. Thats when it hit me, I always install the first seal "flush with the case", and end up having a leak. I go back, put a new seal in to the step and it solves all my problems. Maybe this note will stay for next time?
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All buttoned up by 12:30am and ready to go. I have a few other items I need to take care of while it's in the garage...but I could have driven it to work today if I wasn't working from home.
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-Dave
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Dave, your a machine. Engines out, fixed, and back in in two hours. 12:30 nights. Thats what you call gettin' er done.
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Hmmm, yes, it would seem we've found the problem.
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Is that rustyness on the splines?
If it is, next time the engine's out, you should hit it with your wire toothbrush to clean away as much of the rust as possible. Then smear grease all over the splines. This will help gearchanging a lot.
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Indeed! I had to clean out a fair bit of rust on the splines due to the trans sitting for a long time. Install #1 used powdered graphite for lubrication but I switched up to the tiniest amount of corrosionX lube I could use.
-Dave
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Well, 300km on the new seal and holding fine (knocks on wood).
Drove the car down to a Vancouver Swap meet this weekend. Before heading down I needed to mount up the club badge onto the car:
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I had planned on just hanging out at the swap for a couple of hours, keeping my wallet firmly in my pocket. Sadly, that didn't last long. Geoff found me a 1302s badge, which I paid way too much (in my mind) for. Hard to negotiate when you so obviously have the car that needs it parked 100ft away! I'm such a cheapskate that $20 for a much needed badge seems like the worst spend I've had on the whole build. Forget the ridiculous spending I did on the wiring harness...this one hurts! haha.
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I was picking up a set of 4.5" wheels from Rob, but then one of the guys rolled into the swap with a full set of 5.5" sport rims and tires in his stash. Two of the tires are dated 1980, and while all four have the molding nubs still installed they aren't exactly a set I would trust to drive on! A deal was made, and I soon found myself trying to figure out how to stack 4 rims with tires and 4 bare rims into a car which will has no storage space or room. Out came the passenger seat, in went the gear, and then I layed the passenger seat on top. Thankfully I still have my ratty old seats, so fear of dirt is non-existent! One more tire and wheel combo, and two rims are still go be loaded in:
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I've managed to find time to mount up the rally intercom, into the only spot available in the car. Without the belts on I can easily reach the volume knob, but once strapped in the location is useless. Sort of a pain, but there is no room on the trans tunnel which is reachable, and I'd have to extend the wires by quite a bit to mount it under the dashboard. This will just have to do. I trimmed out the wire length and resoldered on the ends for a clean installation. Also wired in an output line for interior video, and and input line for the iPod. When cruising and not racing I can listen to tunes (mono, in one ear only), or while shooting video the camera gets a feed of what's being spoken between the two seats. (hopefully not "OH &^$%!!!!!" :P ) Last thing to do for the intercom system is repair/replace my headsets. The Peltor intercom requires dynamic microphones, and I have passive ones currently.
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I keep tossing the GoPro in my laptop back to shoot some video, and then promptly forget that I have it until I'm down the road strapped in and unable to move. Speaking of which, I also welded in anti-submarine belt mounts this weekend. There was much debate over whether I should put my mounts to the floor or mounts to the seat mounts. The proper way to do it is with plates welded to the floor, and a bolt going through the floor and plate. But that assumes that you also have your seats properly mounted to the cage / floor. I've got my seats mounted to factory sliders...so, it's a bit of a grey area. Technically if the seat breaks free the belts should hold me and the seat in place. Eventually I decided that I'm in a '71 Volkswagen Beetle with just a 4pt roll bar. If I've managed to hit something hard enough that my seat mounts have broken free, I'm in a whole world-of-hurt that makes the anti-submarine strap mounting far less of a concern. With that, a 1" seamless tube was welded across the bottom of the seat mounts and the straps are now mounted to that.
Even though the tires are old, and likely unsafe, I couldn't resist mounting up the wide sport rims to check out the look. They've got 205/70/15's on the back and 165/15s on the front. It's a terrible combo that rakes the front end of the car and just looks...wrong.
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So I'm in tire juggling mode between now and my Spring Thaw departure on Thursday. The 165's I had on 4" wide hub-cap rims are being mounted to the 4.5" sport-style rims today. They'll go onto the car tomorrow morning, and should have that "narrow period" look that match the rest of the car. The wide sport rims will have the 80's cal-look tire set removed and my 205/60/15 track tires will be mounted. Not 100% sure these are going to fit on the front of the car, but tomorrow night late I'll mount them up to see. They'll totally ruin the period look of the car, and it's probably far too sky-high for wide track meats (no adjustable suspension on the front yet)...but they will be safer and more fun for 1200km of pavement rally/touring. If I'm not sold on the look, the narrow sport-style wheels will get coat of poor-mans-chrome (silver spray paint) and get remounted on Thursday morning.
Sleep, who needs sleep?
-Dave
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so dave, did you and your new big girl make it to the thaw? i know you like photos so please fill us all in!
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Wow,
What a few weeks it has been. I'm sorry I haven't been updating the thread as frequently, but the moment the bug was "ready" I had to go into emergency car-prep and organizer mode for our Annual "Hagerty Spring Thaw Classic Car Adventure". This year Warwick, my business partner, and I were pushing the limits a little too closely. First up was the Bug, a whole brand new build which required three unplanned motor pulls and the unplanned tear down to replace the bearings. That set me back by at least a week, which meant helping Warwick out was becoming a problem. On Warwick's side we had his '66 Alfa Romeo Duetto which needed rear brake work. The left rear caliper was locking up so I tore it off and rebuilt it. Oddly enough the same problem continued. Alfas are famous for needing a flex line replaced to solve rear axle lock up, but the strange part was it was only the left side that was a problem. Never-the-less, the car was put up on axle stands again so I could do the rear flex line. Following that the brakes released properly (odd) but it had to come in a third time for a full brake bleed. I guess once we free'd up the rear the air in the front became apparent!
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With the Alfa ready to go, we focused on Warwick's '66 Austin Mini. With just three days to go before our event it still had no interior, a new motor puking oil, no brakes, no doors, no hood and no engine lid. First up was fixing the motor. When the engine was built one of the oil-galley plugs was pulled to clean out the block from any machining. The galley was threaded and a bolt installed with gasket and sealant. Unfortunately the 75psi of break-in oil pressure was pushing oil past the threads at an alarming rate. Different sealants were tried, and then finally as a last-ditch effort before pulling the motor I pulled out the tubes of Permatex Cold Weld (JB-Weld's competitor). I hate to use cold-weld on a new motor, but with the event fast approaching we were running out of time. 12 hours later, Warwick and I both crossed our fingers as he hit the starter. Sweet! No oil leak! I then made him a temporary gauge holder to house an oil pressure gauge, Audi Voltmeter and coolant temperature gauge. A spare Stewart Warner tach was popped onto the dash so he could monitor his break-in and ensure he was running at different RPMs on the way to the start. Warwick was working on the car 18 hours a day. His buddy Martin was putting in daytime hours and I was working evenings. All along the two of us were pausing to do last-minute event items such as hotel changes, meal confirmations, cancellations and wait-list entries. It was a crazy blur!
At some point I managed to have my buddy Gord swap the 165-series tires from my hubcap style rims over to the late-model super rims. Still 4.5" wide, but more in the style I prefer. There were plans to refinish them before the Spring Thaw event, but those were quickly shelved with all the other crazyness going on.
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Thursday afternoon (April 26th) came, and while I worked on final changes with our entrants Warwick hit the road in the Mini to break it in on the way to our start location. He made it about 40min down the highway before calling me to say the car had died. Diagnosis procedures were relayed over the phone and via text as I loaded the car and raced down to help him out. In the rush to leave I managed to completely forget any tools, and thus planned to do the 1200km driving adventure with no jack, no wheel wrench, and no tools or spares! I did have a clutch cable, but that was going to be pretty useless without any way to install it :) By the time I had arrived Warwick had diagnosed the problem as the coil, and soon after a fellow Mini buddy dropped by with a spare. Off we went to prep the start! Well, actually I went to the hotel and started drinking beer with some of our Entrants while Warwick hit a buddies shop for a late night alignment, fuel pump repair and the manufacture of rear wheel spacers to stop the rubbing. Nothing like finishing the car at 11:30pm the night before!
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With the morning came 73 classic cars, 148 people and the start of what has turned into the fall event of the Pacific Northwest. Our Fourth Annual Spring Thaw started in Hope BC, travelled to Sun Peaks on night one, from Sun Peaks to Penticton BC on night two and then back to Hope for the finish. The event attracts everything from cars you wonder if they'll make it, all the way to very expensive and rare european machinery. Amazingly all entered vehicles managed to make it to the first night's hotel stop...which is a first for the event. The bug was running flawlessly, though I will admit to driving it much easier then I have in previous years. I decided that I really didn't want to be the "Hard Luck Award" winner, which is given to the team which has a catastrophic failure during the event. Much of the first day was spent playing on the roads with a friend's 356. Dave recently installed a new motor and was also "being easy" on the car with a self-imposed 4500rpm rev limit. By the end of the day it was clear both of us had to flip our mirrors if we were the one leading...the car in the back was clearly pushing the rev limits higher and higher!
My co-driver had bailed for the Thaw with relatively short notice, and with the craziness of the weeks before I never got around to inviting a new one. So, Ernie jumped in the right seat to take care of map duties for the weekend. He was pretty quiet the whole time, but I have to say he was about as accurate and useful with the directions as my regular co-driver!
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Day two was a day of swapping cars between myself and Duncan's TR7. I've always wanted one, as dad had a project TR7 when I was a kid, but have never had the opportunity to drive one. At first I realized you should never drive the cars you dream about...coming from the bug the TR felt like it was floating all over the road...but soon settled into reviewing the car on it's own, instead of comparing it, and came to enjoy it quite a bit! Duncan and I also worked on tuning the dampening for the rear suspension on the beetle. Having a second set of eyes to see what the car was doing and comparing it to what I was feeling inside was a huge help. We've dialed out much of the widowmaker handling and the car is becoming quite predictable under throttle and when sliding.
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Day two also saw our first catastrophic failures. Warwick's Alfa blew out it's centre driveshaft bearing while his mom was driving, and was the only fully-terminal issue for the whole event. The car was towed to a local town, where one of our entrants offered the use of their enclosed garage for as long as required. Tucked away safely, Sue and Lorrie began jumping into the back seats of whatever classic cars they could. On the Spring Thaw, no one is left behind! Gerry Frose, who painted my bug, also had a big failure on day two. His 1980 Rabbit decided that the inner CV balls would look far better bouncing down the highway as opposed to inside the joint where they could be useful. Parts and tools were acquired from 2 hours away, and while rather sunburned, they managed to get it together and even beat me to the hotel (via a shortcut) for night #2.
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Day three for me was rather short. Someone on the organizing team had to skip ahead to greet guests at the finish, and since I haven't done it on the other three years it was my turn! I left 15-30min before the first cars were out, but that didn't keep me from watching my rear view mirror the entire time on the first road. I always warn guests on the day three driver's meeting that the brake pedal is going to be a little longer today, and my car was no exception. Going deep into the corners had double meaning on this run! Ultimately, however, the car performed flawlessly and it was a short while later that my co-driver and I were able to enjoy our first meal of the weekend. It didn't last long though, like all my other meals on the weekend it was quickly interrupted by organizing duties. Cold food taken in bites over a period of hours...that's the eating habits of an organizer!
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Following the Thaw the week has been a whirlwind. I wrote down a 34-point list of things I needed to prep by Friday night. Connor spent much of the week crossing the items off the list with me each evening...and the local Rally Shop, Rocket Rally, filled in the blanks during the day for me. I think we un-mounted and mounted the equivalent of 20 tires over a three day period! Some of the major highlights of the week:
Rally Tire rims painted, Pirelli tires mounted.
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Hand Brake lever handle completed by my buddy Scott.
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Spare tire strap was sewn, and finally installed.
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I fixed the stripe on the engine lid. It took 4 tries to lay without bubbles or tears...but then promptly split the next morning!
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And the big one was seats and belts. I needed a non-ratty set for the weekend, and time was running short to work out some options. I ended up calling another ralliest in town, Brandon, and asked to borrow his seats and belts. Took two nights to modify my seat mounts to fit the wider seats...but the interior is looking far better. Sorry the photo is so dark, meant to take another in the morning and forgot.
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With that, I packed the car and prepared myself for waking up at 3am...
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My alarm went off at 3:00am this morning. It took until 3:30 before I finally shut snooze off for good, and by 4:00 I was on the highway south of my hometown. Crossing the US border was shockingly easy this time around. The guard didn't even open my passport, simply asking "do you race this thing!?!" I replied with a "not yet, but after the photos are done I will be." She didn't even ask me where I was going, or for how long, just a "have fun" and I was in the U.S. The drive down was through the rain, and when I arrived in Lynnwood it was off to find a do-it-yourself coin wash to clean the car for the second time in 13 hours.
Now, I suppose I should pause for a moment to explain that "washing the car" to me usually means some dish soap, a sponge and the hose...and done as quickly as possible. About a year ago I switched to proper car washing soap, only because it was on sale, but drying to me has always been either air-dry or with a beach towel. Quite frankly I've never owned a vehicle with a finish nice enough to care.
But here I was, bringing my car to Northwest Auto Salon, a buddy Blake's detailing shop. NWAS is regularly voted Washington's top detailing shop, and every time I'm there its jammed with Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porsches and Classics. Blake's shop, especially the back storage shops, and his neighbour Cat Exotics are the places to be to find the weird, rare and wonderful. LM002? Two colors to choose from. Diablo? pick your model, flavour and color...they are all here. Countach? Do you prefer early no-wings, or late crazy 80's style? It doesn't really matter, as they are all represented in multiple choices. That's just the Lambo selection! Anyways, you can imagine that bringing the lowly beetle is a bit humbling. Not to mention that any vehicle I've ever driven there has been embarrassing...at least on Blake's scale. Now, he did start off with cheap Audi 4000's and rust bucket Audi-90's, so he's paid his dues. But take his Riviera for instance, you can't find a flaw on the entire car...and trust me, I tried!
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Before Blake arrived I washed the car, polished the bumpers and tail pipes, cleaned the wheel-wells and swapped the street tires over for the rally tires.
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When Blake did arrive, he was quite impressed with the build...which, for me, is like getting approval from someone like Jay Leno. To have Blake, who deals with insane cars on a daily basis, check the car out and show genuine enthusiasm was pretty rad. My wash job was even determined to be acceptable, though apparently the Chamois I used is no longer "in style" and I need to switch to microfibre cloths for drying. My windows, however, were a complete and utter failure.
I own seven different metric wrench sets, but seem to think that blue-shop-towels are all you need for detailing a car. Blake whipped me through window-detailing 101 and taught me the techniques for crystal clear windows, right to the edge of the rubber. I had no idea that one would need three cloths, special steel wool and the eyes of a hawk to do the job right...but after seeing the finished product I'm totally sold. There was no time to move onto other lessons, so Blake matte-waxed the hood and engine lid to remove water spots, and I vacuumed out the inside of the car.
Another friend, Andrew Holliday, showed up...and the car was rolled back into Northwest Auto Salon's photo studio. Blake gave the car one final check under the lights...
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...the curtains were closed and Andrew went to work.
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The rest of today's story will need to be told at a later date, but the important part for now is that "the studio shots" have been done. I no longer need to worry about stone chips, thus the gravel tires will be used this week! Not quite sure where yet, but I am definitely getting out for some testing :-) For now, however, I'm completely bagged. 17 hours after I left this morning, I am back home. Almost fell asleep on the highway, had to pull off and sleep at a Starbucks for an hour. Following the nap I had a double shot of Espresso followed by a double-shot Mocha while driving. Needless to say, it's sleepy time.
-Dave
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nice work!!
i love to detail also,.. next time i'm up let me at her !
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right on dave!! kudos and congrats on completing a great build. what an accomplishment!!
and now that the shoot is done...go get sideways and beat the piss out of it (oh yeah, and i'll pre "pics or it didnt happen" that statement right now!) :laugh:
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Looks like you made it out the other side, glad it's going to get dirty again. I didn't see you between Penticton and Keremeos but saw a lot of the other Spring Thaw cars drive by our school bus whilst we were on a garage tour. A lot of models I haven't seen since I left the UK. Stoked to see a Renault 16. By the time we got to the end of Green Mountain Rd, the pads on the rear disc brakes on the bus were actually on fire.
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I have been lurking on this thread for a long time now. . . . . . speechless.......wow man! Incredible!
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Thanks Guys!
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I'm super stoked and happy with it so far. Having the shots done this weekend by Andrew means that I've now got free reign to play with the car. Stone chips? Not a big deal now! The car does handle significantly differently from the last bug, so it's going to take some testing before I'm comfortable sliding it on Gravel. Sunday I swapped the seats back to my own, and prepped it for some gravel playing on Monday eve. A last minute group in whistler meant switching it back to street tires, and a day on the mountains until 11pm. Sigh. Probably won't get out on the gravel tires until Sunday :(
On the plus side, however, I am allowed to post this teaser shot!
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-Dave
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gnarly !!!
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:13: :13:
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Great pictures, and Awesome finished car Nailed it : )
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Ooh, I will take a look at that for sure!
So a project is never finished...I haven't been happy with the power level of the car, especially when accelerating from a standstill. The car is just slower then my white '69 was, both in acceleration and top speed. I attributed the top speed both to the massive ride-height and it's resulting instability with crosswinds. (aka part car, part my fear level)...but the acceleration just doesn't make sense. I finally had a chance to look at it last night and discovered a simple issue which is possibly causing the problem. A key step when setting up new carbs/engine? Yeah, that would be determining if you can get full throttle with your pedal. Adjusted now to get to about 80% of the stops on the carbs, will need some reengineering to figure out how to get the last 20%, but I'll try it today on gravel and see how it is.
The other item I'm not fully sold on is the shifting. I tossed this in another thread, and it originally comes from a PM I wrote, but without having to retype it, I think it makes sense:
I'm using a stock bug shifter with EMPI aluminum short shift kit and then a custom carbon knob and custom carbon tube over the stock shift shaft. If I pull the knob and carbon tube off, it's 100% stock VW Beetle...even the lock out plate. I did double up the lockout springs (using two stock ones), and the shift rod is a cut-and-weld mix of stock beetle, steel tubing and Porsche shift rod.
I have a shorter-then-stock-beetle throw going forwards and backwards, but what feels like "stock" throw going side to side. It's easy to figure out where all the gears are and works quite well...most of the time. The problem is the Z-bend in the shift rod. This makes the side-to-side action somewhat vague at times, and appears to bind occasionally. A quick wiggle of the shifter in neutral sorts everything out and the gears become easy to find again, but this doesn't help much if you're on a race track! I believe I have some more R&D to do before I'm 100% happy.
My reverse (and 1st) lockout works well, but I need to build a single-spring that is heavier weight. The two springs occasionally bind and don't allow the shifter to snap up, thus the lockout "sticks on". If you're not careful it's easy to select reverse instead of second. I have learned that if I go into first, and the shifter snaps-up immediately, everything will be okay. If I don't hear the snap, I have to be super careful.
On the catching reverse front, instead of second, even when the shifter snaps up it's possible to 'rub' reverse on your way into second. I had a chance to talk to a couple of 901-Equipped Porsche owners, and the problem is found in those cars too.
Bottom line is that I have fully sorted out perfect shifting yet...I'm currently considering going back to the stock beetle shifter shaft (small diameter) and adding a "gate plate" and tower above the transmission tunnel. Imagine a Ferrari shift-gate-plate, but mounted on a 4-post tower. That should eliminate miss-shifts if it were precisely machined. Possibly ugly, but I will try and find the photo of a factory Audi rally car that used one. The other option is to go with two universal joints in the Z-bend so that when I move the shifter left and right the shaft rotates at the transmission as it should. Currently it rotates and "swings" due to the hard Z-bend. Going universals, however, would require between 2 and 4 mounts welded into the trans tunnel which could be a challenge with the body on.
So shifting is another item I'll be looking into after I get back from two-weeks away.
-Dave
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Well, finally got the chance to try out the tires and suspension setup on gravel. Rear suspension is pretty good, though I will probably swap out to a progressive spring as I've been thinking. Front suspension on the other hand could be a little stiffer. I'm loving the weight transfer under braking, but needs to be just a hair stiffer to match the front. The gravel tires, however, are awesome! To date I've always bought used tires for RallyX, and I can totally understand the difference between a fresh set and one that has been used for a few stages. The fresh blocks are square, and cut into the gravel like a track tire sticks to tarmac. Corners where I've nailed good sliding shots on a used set of tires were simply a matter of carving around the turn like it was tarmac. Gotta love when the performance of something is so good, it becomes boring!
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I did toss the GoPro into the car, but I have to be honest and say the videos are too boring to watch. While doing some testing on the forest roads I have closest to the house, the tires don't even slide around corners until you're into the triple digits. Once you do get them sliding it's not even something you could pickup on a video. I'm going to need to find some tighter corners that require pitching the car in order to make a video that's interesting!
One thing is for sure though, these tires are going to take their toll on the paintwork. The light specs you can sort-of see on the fender are stone chips. That's 30km of gravel running...yikes.
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-Dave
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That looks like a lot of fun! Would love to see video :great:
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Well, tis been a while. Worked on a few minor details over the weekend to try and adjust some issues. First up was grounding each of the temp senders to their own ground, I was getting some flaky readings or the feed-sensor dropping out, and the individual grounds seem to have solved that problem. The feed ground is a little messy, but I'll get in there again next weekend to make sure it's shrink-wrapped and permanent now that I've confirmed it's working.
My F150 was stolen, and recovered. But in the process of the body shop replacing all the locks and repairing the doors, they messed up the interior light. Battery was discharged and charged enough over the course of the week that it was 100% dead. Wouldn't even hold a charge for an hour. As I'm not sure if the problem is 100% solved, I stole the deep-cycle optima from the Bug since they can be discharged flat a number of times without damage. I tossed in a Honda S2000 battery I have kicking around, and Ziptied it in for emergency use :P I figured I would get around to swapping it back soon, but then realized a RallyX is next weekend and I was more likely to show up at tech and then remember I haven't swapped the batteries! A metal-on-metal mount was made for the Honda battery. It's ugly, but will pass tech!
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I've also been working on the cooling. The NACA duct flows too much air past the oil cooler, and running on the highway I can't actually get it up to 200deg running temperature. The thermostat I'm using to bypass the cooler still lets a small amount of oil pass through, and this is clearly a problem. A couple of tests with cardboard (blocking the duct) allows the car to come up to temperature...so a solution needs to be found! I honestly don't understand the aerodynamics of the duct well enough, but I know I need to keep the boundary layer intact as much as possible past the duct. This piece of lexan seems to be doing the job so far, might need to make it a little larger and/or adjust the shape.
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Once I've got the shape/setup figured out I'll then swap the bolts out for Dzus 1500 fasteners. They will allow me to pull the panel at any point when the heat is getting to high for the fan to control. (Hot day at the track perhaps?).
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I was up doing some gravel testing for the panel (high revs, long stints), which also highlighted another issue I need to deal with. The oil-level in the tank is quite sensitive, and it seems when I have it too high it will burp out of the dipstick tube under high-heat/revs! Will need to o-ring or otherwise seal the dipstick tube. Tough to see the top of the tank is all coated in oil.
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...and, speaking of testing. Here's some proof that the car does indeed move under it's own power. I goofed on the front-mounted cam, and wasn't going to post a vid. But hey, if I keep waiting until I have a perfect one I will never post anything! :P
http://youtu.be/k7yPrwBifGw (http://youtu.be/k7yPrwBifGw)
-Dave
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Nothing wrong with that vid. It was cool to see the drifting angles etc. It all looked very composed in the cabin.
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NICE!!! that angle is super cool to watch wee_hee
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I wish I had the front view working so you could see the road. Gives you a sense of how much pitch there is before the corners vs. after. But glad you guys enjoyed it. I've borrowed some other GoPros to add to mine, so the next one should have an edit of four views.
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Well,
Started cracking down on the various things I need to address before rallyXing the car on the 24th. First up was swapping the Oil pressure gauge with the Voltmeter. Let this be a lesson to everyone, before installing everything else in front of the dash (wipers, airbox, etc.)...put the steering wheel in and make sure you can see everything! Now with them swapped I can monitor the oil pressure without the need to look, and I can see just enough of the voltmeter needle to know if it's charging or not.
With that done, i decided to investigate why Fuel Pump #2 wasn't working. It hasn't worked since the first day I put a battery to the car. I recall testing the relay and all the wiring I could reach, and determining at some point that it had to be the wiring right up at the switch. Since the dash was apart I pulled it all out, and found the switch and wiring to be fine. Hmmmm. Testing all down the line I eventually discovered I bought a $30 dead fuel pump relay. Hmph. Tossed a regular relay in for now (which doesn't have the tach-input feature) and Fuel pump two was working properly. Sweet. Stuffed everything back in the dash, put the airbox back in, did a few other things and triple checked it before leaving the garage. Fuel pump two not working.
Hmph. Guess I'll be going back to deal with that tomorrow night :P
I decided since I'll be working on it tomorrow that I might as well drive my F150 for a day, and put the bug up on Axle stands. It will give me a good chance to look everything over after playing the gravel for over an hour on the weekend. Good thing I did!
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My first thought was that I must have blown a Motorsport CV boot. But upon closer examination it would seem that my catch can drain came loose and the oil was being picked up by the airstream from the tire. The drain is right against the inside of the fender wall, and will need to be changed. The oil tank was slightly overfull before I hit the gravel, and I knew the catch cans were going to need draining...but I guess the bug decided to drain them a little earlier then me. Unfortunately it's all over the brake caliper:
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And the inboard brake pad is wasted.
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I've got the brakes and rotor cleaned up, but will need to check to see if I have any rear pads for the car. I know I have spare fronts, but not sure about rears.
...on the plus side, at least I have something to do?!
-Dave
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Well, AVR has brake pads in stock...but I really don't want to drive down just for a set of brake pads. Especially since that means I would have to drive my Ford. Ugh.
So, what I did next comes from the "not recommended" and "historical" section of your library. Back in the earlier days of motoring, when brake linings were riveted to the shoes and a pain to replace, it was accepted practice to clean a pair of oil-soaked brake shoes. The problem being that brake linings are porous, so simply wiping them off isn't enough. First step is to clean them with brake clean, to get the major surface gunk off. Then, using white-gas (called Naptha or camping fuel in Canada) you clean the pads a second time. Once that's done the pads will look new, with some light oil staining. Now the fun begins. Pour some white gas on the pad, wait about 5 min for some of it to soak into the pad...light it up and stand clear!
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As the white gas burns, it draws the oil out of the pad like a candle wick. Repeat the soak/burn step about 4 more times. This next photo was after the second burn. You can see the pad is clearing up, and also that it had cracked during the burn. Oh, you thought this method was foolproof? lol.
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Regardless...what I have is set of pads which are usable for the couple of days until my new set arrives.
uh, not recommended as a permanent solution...but does work for a roadside fix!
-Dave
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I'm getting closer to sorting out a solution for the temperature issue. Cutting off a portion of the forced-airflow through the duct has helped quite a bit. Here are the three sensor readings after 45min at 120kph: (Engine at front pressure plug, Bottom of tank, , Feed into engine)
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All sensors the same brand, but I on the next oil-change I think I'm going to need to pull them and confirm they all read exactly the same at 100deg C. The engine temp reading lower then the feed could be a product of the location, the case temp or the sensor. At this stage I'm most interested in the feed temperature, and so it would seem that I have a bit of trimming to do on my cover plate. I should also order in some of those Dzus fasteners pretty quickly.
-Dave
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Well that was an interesting weekend! To date I've done about 100km worth of testing up on the local forest roads here in Squamish. Switching from an Audi quattro (All-wheel-drive, massive amounts of front end weight ahead of the front axle), to the bug is quite the challenge. I've been getting used to it up on the mountains, though I have to be honest it occasionally catches me out...let it get away from you and it will just spin regardless of what you try :P
Sunday was a local RallyX event though, so it was up at 4:30am and the three hour drive to Hope BC. Unfortunately I didn't wake up to my alarm, and woke up at 6am. Whoops! Lets just say the bug gets real light up front at speed, and I will be starting to look at front spoiler options :P Made it in time for registration, and even early enough to end up tech'ing the other cars. The course we've got out in Hope is pretty tight. Depending on the configuration you can get up into second gear, but it's down to first for most corners. Considering I have the 901 gear box with dog-leg first, and a pretty heavy lockout, dropping down into first gear isn't the easiest proposition. I made the attempt for the gear change on a couple of runs, sacrificing some syncros along the way. After a couple of laps I decided the time lost hunting for first wasn't worth the gain made in second gear along a short section. This, of course, was mostly irrelevant seeing as I was mowing down cones with almost every run. With low momentum I just couldn't get the car to transfer weight under braking, resulting in understeer into corners. When it would transfer it would grab so hard I'd end up taking out the inside cone. Mostly humorous, but frustrating as I wasn't correcting my errors for future runs. Definitely need more play time in the tight stuff if I'm going to do well in RallyX in this car. Oops, isn't that one of the things I built it for? :P
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For the afternoon the course was reversed, increasing the overall speeds significantly. For RallyX, however, the 901 as I've got it set just isn't precise enough for the 2-1 shift. Second gear really would have helped coming across the mid section, but I ended up just wailing off the rev-limiter in first. The back section was my arch-nemesis, a missed gate in run one...the same cone mowed down in the next 3 or 4 runs. For the last couple of runs I stopped caring about the back half and just focused on enjoying the first half where the speeds were higher. Figures that on the final run I finally cleaned the afternoon course with no penalties :P
While I wasn't able to link up a single run to my satisfaction, I did have some great "segments" where I was able to pitch and flick the car exactly the way I had planned. Essentially the stuff I had practiced on the forest roads was dialed...now I just need to back it down to some tight stuff and get re-learning for the Rear-Engine 2wd setup. Either that, or I need to find a larger venue so the courses can be faster! I'd love to try the car out on some rally-sprints, where the gear box wouldn't be an issue and you could really work the car over a longer, quicker, section.
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As you can see, the course was pretty wet...and the mud accumulation was incredible. After the morning runs...
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...end of the day was a bit worse...
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Rob was commenting on some different Tin he has to seal up the engine bay better. I think I'm going to take him up on the offer.
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Pretty sure this is the first DVKK badge to be treated this way...
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So, last night I figured I should start taking care of the cleaning process. I posted this photo up on Facebook with the question "this is normal, right?". #1 comment was the fact that "No Handwashing" definitely means no removing the tires and putting the car on Axle-stands!
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...40min of pressure washing later, and I have *most* of the mud off the car. Seriously, the stuff was like concrete. Thankfully a buddy works at Sea to Sky carwash, so I had a semi-sponsorship last night!
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I'm not sure how I'm going to get it out of all the fender lips, but I won't leave it in there as it will just hold moisture and cause the fenders to rust. I guess you could say "stage one" of cleaning is complete? I anticipate an other 3 or 4 evenings to get the car clean. One to wash the body with soap and water as per normal, one to work on cleaning out all the fender lips and any missed areas on the underside, one to clean the engine bay and a fourth to clean out the interior. Racin' is hard work! haha
I did have two casualties this weekend while racing. The car performed absolutely flawlessly, and was only hindered by my driving talent and the gear selection. There is something satisfying about tearing the car on the rev-limit knowing you're just running it for exactly what it was built for. Back off? heck no! I may consider trailering the car to the next event, only because there is such limited space for carrying the four gravel tires. The bakelight heater outlet was casualty #1 from loading tires in the back. As we all know, the body needs to be removed if I'm going to replace this. For now I think I'll epoxy the parts back together! (and shhhhh...don't look at those welds)
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The second casualty was on the Accusump. Kind of hard to tell, but the tire slipped back and crushed the pressure gauge. The gauge is bent back, and the face is broken. Accusump seems to be working fine still, but I'll need to swap out the gauge for piece of mind.
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At the end of the event I was second in 2wd class, and 5th overall. The field was small, however, and based on my driving I have work to do before I would be "happy" with my performance. But honestly, who cares? I built the car to race it, and I was out racing it. That in the end is the important part. I was having a blast, and will look upon all of it's new stone chips with satisfaction. I've now got 6,300km on the build and will be busy scouring the Pacific Northwest for other events. Maybe a track day next so I can avoid the week of cleaning?
-Dave
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First off... you have 12hrs to post a "Clean" pic of that emblem with a newspaper showing todays date or your outa the club!
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{
I may consider trailering the car to the next event, only because there is such limited space for carrying the four gravel tires. }
Spoken like a true DVKK member muah hahahahahahahah!!!!!!!!
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buy some "spray wax" after you have cleaned all that mud off , spray that stuff under your fenders and any where else next time you go to wash her it will be easier to get the crud off ,.. you should give her a full wax , then the crud comes off real easy,.. i know you don'y like to detail,. so the next time i'm upand we have time i'll do it ,.. i actualy find it relaxing !!
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buy some "spray wax" after you have cleaned all that mud off , spray that stuff under your fenders and any where else next time you go to wash her it will be easier to get the crud off ,.. you should give her a full wax , then the crud comes off real easy,.. i know you don'y like to detail,. so the next time i'm upand we have time i'll do it ,.. i actualy find it relaxing !!
Yeah, that was something I thought of right after the first lap :P I'm thinking about using SC1 on the inside of the fenders. Works great on motorcross bikes, but I'm worried about the "silicone" portion...always avoided silicone around cars.
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Maxima SC1 Silicone Detailer
High gloss SC1 Clear Coat is specifically formulated for the Powersports industry. SC1 coats plastic, fiberglass and painted surfaces. Makes the clean up process easier - excellent for use on M/C and ATV fenders to prevent mud and dirt from adhering to plastic. Sc1 dries completely and is water resistant, leaving a long lasting luster without attracting dirt and dust
...But in other news, I'll fully take you up on the waxing offer!
-Dave
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Well, not much progress in the past few weeks. I've been traveling for work, so the car has been resting in the garage. I've currently got Redline MT-90 in the transmission, but it needs to be replaced with Motul Gear300. I've noticed the Redline gets worse the hotter the trans gets, and I've always had great success with Motul. Just can't buy it here in small-town Squamish. Anyone have a Lower-mainland source for Motul fluids?
In the meantime, I've been making a list for the next stage of development. Some of the items are ridiculously simple, like the radio antenna delete plate, and others will be more complex (like the skid plates). While I do love the "sport" style wheels, and they are definitely my preference, they aren't correct for that "period look". The factory cars ran 5.5" wide hub-cap style Porsche wheels:
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So I figured I better pick up a set.
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I was hoping to sandblast and powdercoat them, but my friend's shop is currently "clean" for painting, and not messy for blasting...so the wirewheel, hand sanding and spraybomb will have to suffice for now. Once you run any wheels on gravel the finish doesn't last anyways, so powdercoating is really just lazy not better. Of course, the wheel purchase means I'm going to need to buy more gravel tires. As the set I have are narrows for use on the 4.5" wheels! These wider wheels would be perfect for my A032r's...but that kind of defeats the purpose of making the car fully period looking. Hmmm, maybe I'll just have to buy another set of them :D
-Dave
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Looking better in silver...
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-Dave
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i'd say powder coat is way better for wheels. my bajas rims were coated 13 years ago and the only damage is where a sharp piece of tire machine put a nice polished edge on the bead. heck, water still beads on them when i give it a wash every other year! that being said, if powdercoat starts to chip, it was a shoddy job. a proper powdercoat job will never chip, at best you can maybe "mash" it off with a sledgehammer. it will still gouge and scratch and mar up just like good ole paint. i'm not saying this to dispute you dave, its just i know there is a lot of hack job powdercoaters out there.
fyi, to get that water beading thing without ever waxing, you need to clear the powder with "tiger drylac" (german powdercoat company) and have it applied with a "tribocharging" gun, not the electrostatic " corona" gun. only tiger makes tribo compatable paints. the difference between the guns is the corona gun adds an electron to the paint molecule, and the tribo removes one, as it gets its static charge through the friction in the paint. the paint lays down WAY smoother this way
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i should also add that now that i no longer have access to near free powdercoating, i just opt for fake tremclad shot through an old primer gun!
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When run on a rally car, even powder coating doesn't hold up long. I have quite a few Audi wheels to prove that! Any of my non-gravel wheels get powder coated, usually, but I figure with gravels the old tremclad saves my wallet down the road.
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Despite a lack of posting here (Summer will do that to a guy), I have been tinkering with the bug on a weekly basis. One of the main things that bothered me was my lack of working headsets for the intercom. Peltor transit headsets are about $290 a piece, and the quality leaves a lot to be desired. Most rally folks won't loan them to buddies for events when not used, as they are so well known for breaking. The Peltor intercom, however, is relatively cheap and bulletproof. Go figure. I've tested a lot of broken Peltor headsets over the years and when it's not user-error breaking the cables, it's always the microphone that fails.
A few years ago I did make up my own intercom headsets, but I could never get the microphone circuit to work properly. The FMT110 intercom, which I own, requires a dynamic microphone. Even with piggyback circuitry I couldn't get the electret mics I had working. For the most part I didn't worry about it, as my last car wasn't so loud that you needed them to talk to each other. The bug, however, is pretty loud inside. To make matters worse, Mom was coming out to visit last week...so I needed a solution! A pilot friend brought me over a bin of broken airplane headsets, and after a day of breaking, testing and soldering...I combined about 8 different headsets, and some bits from radio-shack to create four good working headsets which are compatible with a Peltor Rally intercom. Success! I picked mom up in the airport, and we spent the week using the bug able to simply talk to each other instead of yelling. Once I dropped her back to the airport (5 days later), I started on the hit list for up coming events.
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As you can see, the events are coming up fast...and there isn't much time between them! I'm going to start with a High Performance Driving Event on August 9th. I've done quite a few back east, but due to the length of time and record keeping I'm considered "beginner" status out West, and will need to start fresh again for Track & Lapping events. I still haven't sorted out a good stiff Tarmac setup for the car, but I figure even if I run it as-is, that's going to be more fun then not running the car at all! Following that, it Classic Car Adventure's mixed gravel/pavement event the "Rush to Gold Bridge". Should be a good and dusty time, which I poorly planned when setting the dates. Why did I plan a dirty gravel event that ends just FOUR DAYS before the Great Canadian VW show?! I'm going to have to pull the engine and the interior just to clean it in time. Eek!
The hit lists for the events is starting to pile up too:
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But no worries, I'll get it all done!
As a start to chipping things off the list, I tried to take care of the big chips I put in the B-Pillars. The match isn't bad...and I actually think when this is dry it will be passable.
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-Dave
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Such a good weekend!
A buddy of mine does snowboard, mountain bike & outdoors films/videos, he and I have been talking about shooting the bug since it was a project in my garage. We've bounced around different ideas, but still haven't gotten around to doing anything. This past week, Taylor sweetened the pot the little with the addition of a RED Epic Camera. As if that wasn't good enough, his friends from Sea to Sky Cable Cams were looking to do some testing with a rally car. Hmmmmm....
Taylor's current demo reel. (http://vimeo.com/31620957)
Sea to Sky Cable Cam's demo reel. (http://vimeo.com/44619341)
For those who don't know what an Red camera is, think the Porsche GT3 of the camera world. It shoots in 5k, and super high frames per second (super slow-mo). To give you an idea of the quality...
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Can't really turn down an opportunity like that!
Started off in the garage. David prepping a shot.
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Later, Taylor setting up the Red as a POV cam. A wee bit bigger then a GoPro :P
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Cable Cam rigging...
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I won't have the video for a while, but will be sure to post it up once Taylor's had a change to edit something for me. In the meantime though, I did lap after lap of the section of road we had set aside. "faster", "slower", "can you put the car here?", "more show-ie", "that was great...we nailed it...better do it again just in case". Now I remember why I avoid video shoots! haha
One of the lines required getting close to the raspberry bushes. They ended up all down the side of the car.
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iphone pic...I think
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The road section we were working on was less then a half km long, with 6 corners and an uphill section. It was top of third gear type of stuff, though I was making it 7 to 8 corners for the runs they wanted it more "showy". For some of the shots I wasn't running it end to end. So as you can see, a lot of laps and takes to get all the shots they wanted to get. I'm not complaining, getting to play on a closed road at full bore is worth every second!
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At one point in the early half I smoked a big rock, and following a large bang was sure I flatted the driver's side tire. We stopped, jumped out and my tire was fine. Hmmm…as I was going around the front side, my buddy Taylor (who was 'co-driving' at the time) says to me "pretty sure it's your side", yup no flat on his side either. Remember all those to-do lists I wrote down in my notebook, crossing off items as go? There was one item on the front suspension that I didn't do, and figured I would catch in that "check all the lists" step before running. Cotter pins on the sway bar ends? Based on the fact that the passenger side one didn't have a pin, and the driver's side had spat it's parts all down the road…I'm gonna guess I missed that step! Only part of the car (beside the rear axles) where I didn't replace everything with nylock nuts and/or safety wire. A quick zip home (in a friend's truck) to get some spare bits, jack and axle stands…and we were on our way to a backwoods repair. Ever try and compress/jam those stupid things together in the middle of nowhere? Yeah, not wanting to do that again! Other then this potentially disastrous event, the car ran flawless all day.
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Today, it was all about clean up, damage assessment and check of all fasteners to ensure I hadn't missed anything else. I washed the car twice, first at the coin-wash to pressure wash as much dust and dirt off as I could, and then a regular hand wash upon returning home. The inside was filthy, even the dust had dust on it.
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Once the interior was cleaned out, I started on the damage assessment. The paint on the wheels took the expected beating and chipping.
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And the raspberry bushes left me with some passenger side stripes that I'll need to polish out this week. Hard to photograph on a silver car, sadly not hard to see in person though!
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The gravel road isn't a polished prepared "loose surface" road designed for road traffic. We were using a logging access road, so the stones are bigger. Sometimes much bigger. But hey, gotta use what you got! The rocks do take their toll on the car though...
Slight dent on the driver's side rear fender...
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Slightly larger dent on the passenger side rear fender. Kinda wish I had made that flap just 1" longer! The rock has completely crushed the lip of the fender and pushed it out about 1/4".
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The muffler is saying "make the skidplates dumbass!"
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About this time I was thinking to myself "why don't I build track cars?" And then I removed the wheels. Seems I might be switching to alloy wheels sooner then I had anticipated! This is the passenger rear wheel:
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The passenger front has one small dent/flatspot on the inside edge. In true rally fashion, however, both driver's side wheels are 100% perfect. Why anyone chooses to be a co-driver I'll never understand. Now, initially I was a little down on myself for doing this, as i have to go find a replacement. But then I checked the wheel and it's holding air to the exact psi I had set it to. My friend Gord has repaired a number of rally wheels (steel and alloy) using a special tool, so really this shouldn't be so bad. I grabbed my copy of Gord's special tool, and went to work. Good as new! (or in this case, good enough :P)
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The engine bay is starting to look quite scruffy, but I have a gravel rally event before our local VW show..so I figure I'll do the full detail after that. For now it was just a quick clean to get the main dirt out.
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I did decide to do an airfilter cleaning, as they showed some signs of needing it.
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Car is now cleaned, checked and ready for work tomorrow. Just need to pop the re-oiled air filters back on.
-Dave
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that's cool dave! it's going to be a great vid and i love the fact that you continue to beat the piss out of this car! ;D (cant get the demo reels to work tho).
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i love this s#!t...totally reminds me of my younger years on denman island spending days getting sideways in the dirt in my first car, a 71 super.
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You can't feel too bad about the scratches and dents when your getting out and using the car for what it was built for. Great thread Dave.
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Agree on all the above! Can't wait to see some RED footage.
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Thanks Guys.
I wanted to at least make it through GCVW's with a "new" car...but I'm the only one who's really going to see all the flaws. Well, me and anyone who reads this :P
Demo Reel links fixed.
-Dave
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those dents and sratches were earned !!
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...At Rocket Rally getting the rear skid plate fitted for this weeks Rush to Gold Bridge event.
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-Dave
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Did you make your own or use one of the "classic style" ones?
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Welded in proper mounts on the frame horns, and then mounted one of those plates as a temporary solution for the weekend. The plate is much further forward protecting both my trans and engine from stone throws. But, lets be clear...that steel plate is only good for further stone-throw damage. It is not a proper skid plate for impact damage like bottoming out or hitting a big rock.
Once GCVW is over I'll have a 7071 Aluminum plate made which will protect the car from rally-type impacts.
-Dave
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It will be too late by then. ... :72:
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Whew! What a weekend.
The CCA "Rush to Gold Bridge" was our first stab at a mixed gravel and tarmac event for classic cars up here in Canada. The formula works well in California, where the events are well attended and popular. Up here, however, we have some work to do! A total of 6 cars made the start, but that was just fine by us. We modified the route throughout the weekend to suit the guests we had. Saturday was shortened due to heat, and Sunday we split into two groups with some cars going for the smooth gravel route, while others braved goat-path-like sections of road to claim they conquered a famous 4x4 only mountain pass. For this particular event, I left the gravel tires at home so that our guests wouldn't feel like their cars were about to die on the event. I could keep the sliding controlled enough for street tires, right?
We began in Hope BC, and after about an hour of paved twisties and canyon views, turned off to catch a ferry. This ferry, though, wasn't like your normal car ferry. This one is a reaction ferry, it has no motors and uses the current of the river to move back and forth between the two banks. An overhead cable holds the ferry and the two guys working the boat simply tilt it one way or another in the current to push across. At least if it sunk, I would have a chance of floating!
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8297/7829539986_044ededab4_c.jpg)
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8446/7829541472_cdc363b147_c.jpg)
From there it was incredibly twisty gravel all the way to Lillooet. I have never driven a road which required so much steering movement, without a pause in between for straight sections. Toss in a little sliding action, and my hands never stopped moving. Rarely do I find myself happy we're stopping to regroup, but on this road I was thankful for the break and the reminder not to get too carried away! I was running without a co-driver, and more then a few turns were marked "Triple Caution!!! hairpin, exposure with large drop to the outside". I think one of the instructions for a corner we wrote was "Large drop with certain death straight ahead". Have I mentioned it was a blast!?! One of the straight sections:
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8443/7829563816_6e4463f1c3_z.jpg)
It was 40.3 deg Celsius as we were doing this road, and for the time I saw 240F on the oil temperature gauge. It didn't go any further (the whole weekend) and once I determined that my oil cooler fan relay failed, the temps were brought back down to 220F for the rest of the day. Warwick, in the Mini, wasn't so lucky. A couple of overheats had him finishing this leg on the tow strap. Once it was cooled down, refilled with water and an expansion tank jimmy rigged, it ran like a top.
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8305/7829536288_2a7359873c_c.jpg)
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7139/7829536832_b33217e5c3_c.jpg)
Having spent a lot of time with Warwick, we eventually decided that I should probably head to the rest of the group and tell them to carry on. The throttle pedal was dropped, and I went from casually enjoying a few corners here and there to fully setting up and linking slide after slide to try and make up time. I was in a left hand drift when I felt a wiggle...but was already pitching right. Upon returning back to the left, however, I instantly knew what had happened. 'Tis a wee bit flat back there!
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7260/7829567616_48066b75c1_c.jpg)
Let that be a lesson to you: 165/R15's of unknown age, showing lots of cracking in the tread, are probably not the best tires for sliding around on gravel :P Normally I'd have had this fixed up quick and been on my way, but it would seem that I have neglected to purchase and install an important road-side repair tool. And, really, sweep and every other car is carry a jack. Why would I want to? I stood sheepishly by the side of the road waiting for Warwick and sweep to arrive so that they could now go and deliver the 'carry on' message.
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With the flat fixed, it was off again. I met the group in Lillooet and proceeded to pay $50 for a used tire, of completely useless dimensions, to ease my fear of driving 300km home on a steel wheel. For the afternoon we ventured the 2.5 hours into Gold Bridge, via the Carpenter Lake Road. The road is mix of billiard-table-smooth gravel and paved sections. It winds up and down the side of the mountain sometimes mere inches from the river, while at other times so high you'd have time to count your mistakes before impact.
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We arrived at the Chilcotin Holidays Ranch tired, dusty and hungry.
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...Tomorrow, I'll recount Sunday. Then the cleanup begins!
-Dave
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Sunday started with breakfast at the Chilcotin's Ranch. We thought maybe they confused our group of 12 for a group of 30 at dinner the night before, but Breakfast proved that these folks simply like to eat! We were fed as though we were going on a 4 day backpacking trip and this would be the last meal we ate. I'm not complaining, anytime I can eat a whole pig-worth of bacon I'm game! Following breakfast, a quick tune and check over on the cars was completed before we departed.
"yup, looks like the engine is still there"
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8438/7829590852_5ee8230781_c.jpg)
For the Sunday run, our group split up into two. The Mini and 356, which were sporting rather low clearance levels, chose to head out the way we came in. The rest of us were going to brave the Hurley River Pass road, a 4x4-only, summer access road which is not recommended for classic cars. How bad could it be!?! Warwick, the other photographer on the event, was in the Mini so that means most of the day's photos are without my bug.
First stop was the bustling gas station in the town of Bralorne...
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7269/7829596662_bf8624060f_c.jpg)
And then off to check out some of the abandoned Gold Mines in the area.
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8295/7829600196_78662c7910_c.jpg)
With the sight-seeing done, we were off! Being the adventurous types, we agreed as a group that we shouldn't take the "main" Hurley River Road, but instead venture down the 20km Bralorne short-cut. It's essentially a Goat-Path through the woods in some sections...but we were all in rally cars. Well, everyone except Bruce and Greg in the lowered Volvo :P. To say I was driving gingerly on these rocks would be an understatement!
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8443/7829603238_4423c7d602_c.jpg)
Once on the main Hurley we found the road to be wide, in good shape and relatively quick travel. I was averaging about 60kph, which allowed for dodging the odd hole or sump-tearing section of granite sticking out of the road.
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(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8283/7829604788_b1ac143302_c.jpg)
The group made it through to the end, with only a minor exhaust pipe issue hampering the progress. After a couple of hours on the pass, we descended into the town of Pemberton and met up with the rest of the group.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7277/7829607920_aeb487f8df_c.jpg)
It was a quick zip down the highway to Squamish, where we finished with the traditional (for me at least) Campfire Grill smoked BBQ.
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Upon arriving home, I took quick stock of the Bug. The interior is so dusty and dirty the passenger seat is looking brown. There is dirt and dust caked on the headliner, and the whole underside of the car still looks like I just went racing in the mud at that RallyX. The Great Canadian VW Show is this coming weekend, which means I need to get the car back to looking as close to "new" as possible. After a quick body wash, it was up on stands to clean the wheel wells and suspension.
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I guess, like I have many times with this project, I got a little carried away next. Out came the creeper, and I scrubbed all the dirt and such off the bottom of the floor pan. I'm pretty sure my neighbours think I'm insane...washing the underside of my car in the driveway. The worst part is you can see I missed some spots, which means I'll be getting soaked again later today when I roll back underneath. Can't do a half-assed job, right?
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While the car was in the air, I thought it was high-time I took care of the rather sad looking state of my rear fenders. The vinyl has been chipped through pretty good by the rocks, but at least it's protected the paint somewhat?
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Well, peeling off the vinyl reveals that there is more damage then initially meets the eye. The passenger side was even worse, with large chucks coming out of the paintwork. Oops!
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New vinyl covers most of the damage, in photos it looks fine but when the light hits it right you can see the divots underneath. At the end of the day though, one has to accept that fenders are replaceable, and this is a bloody race car not a show queen.
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For the front fenders, I've always had a problem with the front right and where it meets the running board. In the following photo you can see the dark patch where I've had to cover the factory running board hole which didn't line up at all.
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Both front fenders now sport a black vinyl treatment, which matches the rear and hides the error.
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So now I have to deal with the front trunk, the interior, the engine bay and all the body lines and door jams. Oh, and a wax of the silver paint...and matte wax on the black to remove the watermarks which are impossible. yee haw.
-Dave
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Great to see your beating up the car and having fun!
If you ever want to do a sold 3-5 days of off road driving check this out, your car would be almost perfect.
http://www.wabdr.com/Map
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Oooh...that looks like fun. Hmmm, Classic Car Adventures Washington chapter.
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Got the inside stripped down, cleaned out and a fresh coat of paint laid down on any of the areas which needed it. Man that was dusty/dirty. Might have a problem with my seats for the weekend. I borrowed a friend's seats back in April for the studio shots, and was planning on borrowing them again for the Great Canadian Show. Well, it turns out they might not be available...so I'm off to my backup plan tomorrow. If that doesn't work out, I need a backup to the backup plan, and thus scrubbed my current seats like they've never been scrubbed before. Turns out, they are still black and I got most of the staining out! Now I just need to figure out how to cover/hide/fix the tears, and I have a useable back up plan. Too bad I forgot the "before" photo...
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While the seats and battery were out, I started thinking about what I was going to do for a battery. My Optima got moved to the truck, and I've been using a Honduh battery for the last little while. It's small, light and fires the car up every time. Too bad it says Honda all over it. Wait, i own a vinyl machine! Bosch it is, in fact, lets make it a small german racing battery :P
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Wheels are still off, night number two on Axle stands in my driveway.
-Dave
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While the wheels are off ya may want to use some wax-grease remover to take the glue off that heaterbox where the JP group sticker was action-smiley-060
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I'm not gonna lie, pulling the motor now is a complete %#!@%!!!. So many lines, extras, etc. and then every nut and bolt is caked with dry dirt so they don't spin by hand, you have to use a tool for the entire length of the threads.
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8425/7837286366_9c38e9c61d_b.jpg)
The reason for pulling the motor is to make for easy cleaning, and to accomplish a few upgrades as well. As you can see, cleaning is definitely needed!
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8445/7837286468_4d8831a655_b.jpg)
There is even dirt/mud inside the bell housing!
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8307/7837286558_03ac943e30_b.jpg)
I started playing with Vibrant Performance's new heat shielding product...
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7106/7837286666_2f79be67ca_z.jpg)
...and finally protected the feed line to the pump from heat.
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8437/7837286896_221fe9d5e4_z.jpg)
Fell asleep posting this at 4am, but engine is almost cleaned and ready to go in.
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8442/7837286782_a7122e009e_z.jpg)
And the engine bay is looking much cleaner. Trans area is insanely dirty. Might have to accept defeat on that one...just no time left!
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8427/7837287018_ea14bae57f_z.jpg)
-Dave
p.s. heaterboxes are glue free.
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Great thread Dave. Look forward to checking it out closer at the GCVW when you've got the wheels off and mirrors underneath it.
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BYOM.
(bring your own mirror :P)
-Dave
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Well, this is what the car looked like at 1am last night, except the rear apron wasn't installed.
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At 1:01am this turned into the motor-clean from hell, as I went to go rotate the motor to TDC so I could check the valve adjustments. Motor wouldn't turn, locked solid. WTH? E-brake, off. Trans, neutral. WTF. I was already pretty tired from the previous nights early morning, but with time running out before the show I had no choice. The motor was stripped, dropped and checked again. Once the motor checked out okay, I discovered someone hadn't tightened up the countersunk trans mount bolt enough when he adjusted the transmission mount. Sigh.
Back in when the motor, and the carbs, and the wiring, and the oil lines. Now I just need to adjust the valves, change the filter, prime the oil system, add the spark plug wires, swap the distributor and I'm good to move onto other parts of the three-page list.
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Went to bed at 4:45am, considered staying up to watch the sunrise but the 3 hours sleep was probably a good idea.
-Dave
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Well, the night before the big Great Canadian VW show weekend was spent chasing down all the little details that still hadn't been finished about the car. Some of them were small, like actually installing the antenna plug instead of the spot of silver vinyl which had been covering the hole.
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Other items, however, were a little more serious. As you can see, my seats are very tired and worn. I bought them used out of a National rally car, after it had been flipped upside down in a pond. That was 10 years ago...they've lived in my Audi 90 quattro rally car, the '69 beetle and now the Salzburg tribute. They've been my daily driven seats for about 8 of the last 10 years, so they're pretty tired.
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The image above is after I used a full can of Upholstery cleaner on each seat, which helped greatly. Gone were the coffee stains, ground in dirt and other issues. But remaining were the tears. I called various rally buddies, but couldn't get a set of seats to borrow on short notice. Hmmmm...would iron-on patches work?
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Surprisingly, yes they do. Sure, it's not perfect, but the tears are no longer screaming out to me like a flashing red-light.
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The last step was to trade out my worn-out belts for a loaner set from the Rally shop. The flash here is playing with the colours pretty badly, but you'll just have to trust me when I say everything is a nice uniform black now. The astute viewers might be wondering why the FIA tags are missing...lets just say these belts were "well used" in a shell that no longer exists ;)
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The show weekend wasn't without it's problems for my car, however. I dropped it off the axle stands on Friday, to drive down to the drag racing night, and discovered I had no clutch. The clutch pedal worked, I had resistance, but it wasn't releasing the transmission from the engine. I couldn't get it into any gear from neutral. But if I shut the car off, put it in gear and started it with my foot on the clutch it would start and idle. With no obvious solution, and no time to fix it, I just drove the car down regardless.
I didn't run the car at the drag racing night, partially due to the clutch issue but more due to the fact that I drove down on my Pirelli gravels and didn't really want to destroy the tires on the strip. Not to mention the wheel/tire combo is pretty damned heavy. After the drags, when I went to leave, my leg was hit with burning metal as I turned on the headlights. WTF?
Three, yes three, fuses blew all at once. I had no tail lights, no brake lights and no dash lights. Sigh. With no light at the track to fix it, and no spare fuses, Geoff followed me to the hotel and made sure I wouldn't get hit on the highway. Once there I pulled the tail lights apart and discovered I had vibrated both bulb holders out of the back of the housings. That explained the lack of lights, but why the blown fuses? Eventually I discovered a fresh-air hose (which was aluminum) had shifted, been crushed by the hood hinge and was resting against the back of the fuse panel! Yikes.
Other then that, it was trouble free for the rest of the weekend. I never did determine what the problem was with the clutch. As the weekend progressed, the problem started going away and by the time I drove home it was perfectly fine. I've had the car up on stands, checked everything (without pulling the motor) and can't find any reason for the error. It's not good, but it's also not a problem I can diagnose at the moment.
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The other day driving to Whistler I noticed the oil temp was running about 20deg higher then normal. Cycling through the various senders I also realized that the oil feeding into the engine was 30deg higher then the oil in the tank. That was definitely a bit odd, so I decided to investigate further.
In my efforts to increase the clearance between the oil lines and the ground, they now run far closer to the exhaust pipes, and my best guess is the feed lines are picking up a significant amount of heat from the exhaust:
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Out came the exhaust wrap, and some aluminum shielding...
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Today's drive to Vancouver had the oil temperatures back to normal, with all three sensors showing matched readings. Guess I found the problem :P
-Dave
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Nice work once again Dave.
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great work!
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Well, I continue to use the bug as much as possible! Over the past two weekends I've done 3,496km on the bug...plus whatever I drove during the week. Last weekend I did half of that in just 30.5 hours, including sleep, while I setup the route for Classic Car Adventure's "Fall Freeze Adventure".
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The event itself was just over 1400km, but with the start 5 hours from my house, and the finish 3 hours away, the kilometers added up pretty quick. Prep for the event was supposed to be pretty simple, but quickly escalated into a long list of to-do items. First up, was tearing out the front suspension to figure out why the front strut was loose. A broken top spacer (likely caused by a loosened strut cap) was swapped out and everything put back into place.
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I also decided not to risk another event without a jack, having had to wait for Sweep to arrive with one on the Rush to Gold Bridge. A temporary mount was worked out, and later this week I'll figure out how to make it permanent in the car. It would be easy if I was willing to wreck the paint with welding...
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I was doing work on the rear suspension and ended up removing the skid plate. I was curious to know what the relationship between engine/oil heat and the skid plate would be, so I left it off for the first weekend of driving. Interestingly there was a significant difference. With the skid plate the engine reaches operating temperature much quicker, and runs between 200 and 220 deg F depending on how hard you're pushing the engine. I was seeing temps as high as 240 before I moved and insulated the oil lines (as per a previous post). Pulling the skid plate results in oil temps 15-30deg cooler, depending on the ambient air temperature. More testing is required to determine if I will need to change the plate shape, but going into the colder weather I don't think I will worry about it until spring.
I also took care of some more simple items, like grip tape on the floorboards.
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The Sparco seat has funny story. The last job on my list of preparation was to swap out one of my Cobra Imola2 seats for a wider seat. My dad was flying in from Toronto to co-drive the event for me, and I knew my seats would be uncomfortable for him. On his 60th birthday I called him up and told him he needed to go "race seat shopping" to find one that fits! A Sparco seat list arrived in my email box, and I went and snagged one out of a buddies rally car. Only after I had it all fitted, did I actually read the list that dad sent me. "Sparco Corsa - too tight (nasty!)" Well, crap. I ended up doing an emergency run down to Vancouver to borrow a Pro2000 out of another buddies rally car. By the dimension charts they are almost identical...but hey, whatever makes Dad happy. On Thursday I picked him up at the airport and we made our way off to the start location in Kamloops. I was pretty sure dad wasn't going to survive in the car for the whole weekend, it's bloody loud inside and he was commenting before we even left the airport! To make matters worse, the intercom stopped working Thursday night as we neared the hotel. I bought a butane powered soldering iron, foam earplugs and hoped for the best!
The event started with about an hour of 'normal' roads, nothing too twisty, or where it was twisty it was populated so speeds are heavily controlled. Soon we were out into the unpopulated areas, and as the first set of twisty corners were fast approaching, I figured it was a good time to test how well Dad was going to do as co-driver. I lifted, so that we were dropping in at about 60% of what I would have normally done, and without brakes drove into the first corner. "Uh, David, these things do roll."
First corner, fail.
Second corner, onto the gas and drop it in faster...maybe Dad will be impressed with the cornering ability of the bug build? (Dad has owned over 30 beetles, but all of them bone stock)...."daaaVID!!"
Second corner, fail.
I drove conservatively until our lunch stop, where I proceeded to swap the Driver's seat for the Passenger seat so that dad could take a turn at the wheel. I figured that since I had driven all the roads the weekend before, it was easier to just let Dad drive at a pace that made him comfortable vs. trying to convince him I was being perfectly safe. He drove for some of the afternoon, and when the noise was finally too much he jumped into one of the other entrant's BMW 2002. I took the opportunity to jump into John Hinde's 2010 Intermeccanica Roadster, and instantly realized that my next bug is going to need a 2.3L engine like Johns!
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Dad and I finished up day one together in the Bug, and were having a quite a bit of fun by the end of the day. I was text messaging my best friend from the passenger seat, and they're pretty funny:
3:30pm
45km into dad driving and he's starting to get comfortable with the car. "Don't lift! It will corner at that speed" ... "Whoa, it sure does."
3:45pm
60km into his stint and he's finding the light side of the limit. 'Oops, that was a bit too fast.' (as we go wide towards the center line)
4:15pm
"Dad, I think you're one of us now". 'That didn't take long, did it?!'
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I left the seats as they were for day two and day three. Dad lives on the other-side of the country and hasn't driven any of these mountain roads before. Day two was full of left foot braking, and discovering just how well a beetle can handle. By day three, dad was dropping into corners and making ME grab for the 'oh s%&# handles'! It was an absolute blast. He was pretty impressed with the build, and the bug held up trouble free. And, really, what better way to spend a weekend with your father???
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Checking the oil level in Greenwood BC
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About to test the traction circle...
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Father and Son driving team
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The group lined up on the Kootenay Lake Ferry, morning of Day 2
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Group dinner at Tin Horn Creek winery
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Dad/John with the bug
-Dave
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What a great story and way to spend a weekend with your Dad!
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Nice Dave !!
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I think you spend more time on your posts than I do working on my car. Amazing reading. Thanks.
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Great stuff ! thanks for posting it all.
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Good times! Great read Dave!
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Last weekend I was digging through Jimz Volkswagen parts collection when he showed me these. Wouldn't take a penny for them, even though I tried. I was (and am) super, super excited about them...they'll display quite well with the car for those times when I'm forced to park somewhere ;-)
Thanks again Jim!
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-Dave
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Rad !!! .., i have i few old oil cans
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The operating temperature of my setup is heavily influenced by air temperature, skid plate, traveling speed and/or oil cooler ducting. One downside of my situation is that I haven't built an absolute race car, nor have I built a street car. The setup is initially quite sensitive to air temperature, and flow through the duct over the oil cooler. I'm starting to get a good feeling for the relationship between the two, and thus have different 'block-off-plates' for the duct opening in the side window. Once I mounted the skid plate, however, the block-off plates became unnecessary as the engine runs hotter and thus becomes fully controllable (temperature wise) by the oil cooler and fan combo. The hot summer days we got at the end of August, however, were causing oil temps of 240 when I was really pushing it. I anticipate I'm going to want a couple of skid plate options available to use. A solid plate, whenever possible for maximum protection, and a second plate with more airflow for the hotter days. Going into winter, though, I think I'm going to need to look at installing an oil-tank heater to speed cold weather warmup!
And, speaking of warmup, I started working on dialing in some items for winter today. The stock heater linkages were interfering with the Kafer bar setup, so the first job was under the car to shift things around, bend a bit of the stock heater linkage and confirm it all worked. No photos, as I think I've put enough of that area in this thread already! Following that, it was onto the gas heater where I simply had to adjust the ducting, and add some foam to try and stop the cold air blowing around the ducts into my lap. The air-conditioning was nice in the summer, but it's getting a little chilly in the mornings now!
You might, at this stage, think I've got more then enough heat in the car...and you're probably right. I've had my racing seats in my daily driver for the last 9 years, and ever since I popped them into my Audi I've missed the heated seats. I always thought about putting elements into the racing buckets, but it almost seems like blasphemy. A few weeks ago, when I was on the Fall Freeze, I was thinking about how nice heated seats would be on a sore back, and how much I loved it driving home from skiing. I suppose the 3500km in two weekends helped me remember what a sore back was like! As luck would have it, Geoff was selling some heated seat kits when I returned home...well, why not?
But first, we must do a temporary install on one seat to see if I really want to do this...
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The elements were laid into the seat for initial trimming. On this first install, I'm going to install them behind the padding instead of right under the cover like a traditional seat. Traditional seat covers, whether fabric or leather, are usually fairly heavy. The covers on my race seats are almost t-shirt thin. The foam padding, before you sit on it and compress it, is only about 1/4-3/8" thick...so I believe the heat should pass through. If I get a bit of warmth, but not good and hot, I'll try the elements right under the cover. But for now, this temporary fitting requires no holes sewn.
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This probably isn't FIA approved...but the switch is convenient to reach, and subtle enough to not be noticed.
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I thought this would be funny to post. Not my usual wiring standard! Since this is a temporary test, I left the kit wiring harness intact. If I decide to keep the warmers, I'll trim the harness down to it's bare minimum, mount it to the seat frame properly and put in a nice connector. When finished you won't be able to see any wires except for a short piece going from the floor up to the seat track. At the moment I wired the seat heater into the reverse light circuit, since the relay was right behind the driver's seat and I can go without for a day. Tomorrow morning should give me a good test to see if I'll keep 'em.
-Dave
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You might, at this stage, think I've got more then enough heat in the car...and you're probably right. I've had my racing seats in my daily driver for the last 9 years, and ever since I popped them into my Audi I've missed the heated seats. I always thought about putting elements into the racing buckets, but it almost seems like blasphemy. A few weeks ago, when I was on the Fall Freeze, I was thinking about how nice heated seats would be on a sore back, and how much I loved it driving home from skiing. I suppose the 3500km in two weekends helped me remember what a sore back was like! As luck would have it, Geoff was selling some heated seat kits when I returned home...well, why not?
But first, we must do a temporary install on one seat to see if I really want to do this...
(https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm9.staticflickr.com%2F8048%2F8099114560_213620db77_c.jpg&hash=1aa4504dca073dfa05ad05503300f577aa953441)
The elements were laid into the seat for initial trimming. On this first install, I'm going to install them behind the padding instead of right under the cover like a traditional seat. Traditional seat covers, whether fabric or leather, are usually fairly heavy. The covers on my race seats are almost t-shirt thin. The foam padding, before you sit on it and compress it, is only about 1/4-3/8" thick...so I believe the heat should pass through. If I get a bit of warmth, but not good and hot, I'll try the elements right under the cover. But for now, this temporary fitting requires no holes sewn.
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This probably isn't FIA approved...but the switch is convenient to reach, and subtle enough to not be noticed.
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I thought this would be funny to post. Not my usual wiring standard! Since this is a temporary test, I left the kit wiring harness intact. If I decide to keep the warmers, I'll trim the harness down to it's bare minimum, mount it to the seat frame properly and put in a nice connector. When finished you won't be able to see any wires except for a short piece going from the floor up to the seat track. At the moment I wired the seat heater into the reverse light circuit, since the relay was right behind the driver's seat and I can go without for a day. Tomorrow morning should give me a good test to see if I'll keep 'em.
-Dave
I run the exact same set up in my 914. I will install them in every old car I ever own from this day forward. An added bonus is it keeps the female passenger happy which is great for the Spring Thaw.
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Couple of minor updates...
Forgot to post up the pedal set a while back. I do a tonne of left foot braking, and have always loved a larger middle pedal. I mounted these up a while back, but forgot to post some photos. The angle cut lets my size 12 shoe escape the gas pedal for those times when I need to heel-toe.
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I also decided to man-up this week. I have no fear of anything mechanical, but tuning the carbs still makes me lose sleep. I guess its like my last frontier...I can get 'em running, and do some gross adjustments, but I set 'em up rich to avoid melting down the motor. Time to step up my game!
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...course, fitting this into the bug is going to be interesting. Innovate's first instruction is "zip tie the LC-1 under the car..." um, no. That's not going to work.
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Oh hey, I think I'll install a gauge, shouldn't be too big a deal!
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The first 15min...
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An hour later (not exaggerating), and the harness is through. Stupid foam.
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Tucked up beside the carb, away from the rocks.
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And, somehow, it would appear I forgot shots of the dash. Whoops.
-Dave
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hahaha. that's awesome.
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Well, now that I'm back from SEMA and mostly caught up I figured I would actually tackle the tuning of the bug. With the wideband hooked up I'm far less worried about blowing up the motor, so I poured a glass of wine, hooked up the laptop and pulled out the screwdrivers. I just getting started when something caught my eye, something I would have never caught without the Weber doors. Seems my 3/4 accelerator pump cover lost the pivot pin. Crap! Where am I going to get a replacement for that?
Oh wait...what's that on the Colt?
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Spare, genuine, Weber parts! Fortunately Empi's Chinese suppliers are good 3D photocopiers, and the Weber pump cover popped right on without problems.
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With that, it was back to tuning. The way the carbs were originally setup up (by ear, and rich). I was running at 11.5:1 at idle, dropping to 10.5 under full load. In other words, very rich! With the Wideband I was able to set up the sitting idle at 13.5:1. The result of which means when I'm driving around town I'm seeing anywhere from 13.5-14.5 under partial throttle/loads, and then going to a 12:1 ratio under full load. WOW what a difference. I seriously should have done this months ago. It's crisp, any of the running issues or quirks are gone, and it's got significantly more power. Took a buddy out in the car (who's been in it lots) and after a single pull on the highway he was asking about what new parts I had put in the engine.
Of course, now that I have a Wideband setup, I need to figure out how to protect it from gravel...
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Vibrant Performance & DCI Heat Shielding to the rescue. Technically I'm not using the product as designed, and I will need to build something a little more robust down the road...but Totem rally (snow and ice) is this coming weekend and I needed a quick fix to last a few days. This material is rock solid with the curve, and even my ball peen hammer wasn't making a mark. That pretty much tells me it will be folded around the O2 sensor by the end of the weekend, but probably won't allow the sensor to be damaged :P
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I picked up enough of the material to protect the exhaust wrap on the muffler as well, but will wait until after the weekend to re-do the wrap. Snow tires should be here tomorrow, and I can finish packing the car for the event. I won't be racing this one (I'm event steward) but at least I will get out for some fun roads and winter sliding.
-Dave
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I think this might finish off your project nicely Dave! ;)
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http://www.airriders.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=22880&sid=477c591957100fc3ea497af5ecb12503
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Well, Totem Rally didn't exactly work out as planned. The event started out well enough...I had great drive up, and Saturday was a tonne of fun. The morning stages were mostly gravel due to warmer temperatures, but as we climbed up in elevation we got to see some colder temps and 'old snow'. The car started to feel 'right', and I was getting used to it on the slippery stuff which was a relief beyond reliefs.
See, I swapped from super-stiff sidewall summer performance tires to snow tires, and then immediately left on a five hour drive over the Duffy Lake road to the rally start. The entire trip the car felt like it was trying to kill me. You'd turn the wheel, the car would turn in...followed by the sidewalls flexing and then it would REALLY turn in. Horribly unpredictable and near deadly before I wisely calmed down.
But yes...by mid-day Saturday, I was back to getting along with the car on all surface types.
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Saturday afternoon was a blast. Mud, gravel, a bit of snow and then a "late on transit" night time blast through mud and ice with the odd fallen tree. Fun is seeing a downed tree, hitting the brakes and having to do the split-second determination of whether a) you lost all brakes on the car 'somewhere back there' or b) that's ice, not water and you have no grip. Oh yes! B. Quick, adapt! Alas, a stage later and the fun was over.
The last two stages for the day were cancelled due to multiple road blockages. I came upon the rally group as they gathered at a bridge, and stopped the car. I left it idling as I got out and walked four cars down the row to get the latest update. A brief chat, and walking back to the car I noticed the air had a lot of exhaust vapor. Wait, "is that my car making all that smoke?" OH #$%!!!!!!!!! It is! We're talking blown-motor, can no longer see the cars parked around me smoke-show. I jumped in, oil-pressure light was on, and shut it off just as my brain registered the 0psi on the oil pressure gauge.
Checked the oil tank, it was completely empty. Checked under the car, as best we could with flashlights, no major oil leaks that we could find...though the skid plate was coated oil. I filled the oil tank with the 5L extra I had and started the car. After about 20 seconds, the oil pressure light went out and 20psi popped up on the gauge. (this, for the record, is normal procedure when filling the system from dry). While the procedure determined the oil system was working, there was no diagnosing where all the oil disappeared to. Thus, I had sweep rope-tow me 40km to the highway, where we dumped the car. From there I had a 14 hour towing adventure with borrowed vehicles and dropped the car off at the AVR farm like a surprise present.
I met the guys who owned this Mercedes about 10min before they offered to loan it to me for an overnight towing adventure...a bit nuts on their part, but I wasn't going to complain!
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Getting the car on and off the trailer, however, required some creative techniques.
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That was two and half weeks ago, and finally last Friday I was able to pickup up the car and bring it home. Driven hard, and put away wet, this cleanup was going to suck. It started with a $10 trip to the car wash, where I thought I had gotten most of the mud off. Once it was on axle stands in my garage, however, I realized how much more mud there was...
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So, a second wash in my garage...and then the floor...and then I could start on tear down.
Yeah...that's probably not a good sign:
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I'm seriously thinking of switching to track racing. This is just brutal :P
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Now, I suppose at this point I should mention the magical beast which is my oil system. See, when the motor blew deep in the woods of Lac La Hache we found no oil in the tank, and added 5L. When I pulled the car off the trailer, however, the tank was overflowing onto the floorboards. The breather tanks were overflowing into the engine bay and the actual engine had half a dipstick worth in it. Now I have all the oil I was missing, PLUS the extra 5L! After some thought, it seemed pretty clear the scavenge stage of the oil pump must have failed and it was no longer removing oil from the engine. Once the system had pumped all the oil into the engine, there was none left to pull from the tank and thus zero oil pressure. The heads would have been stuffed full, and thus we get the massive smoke show.
But here's the trick shot. The BugPack oil pump is 100% a-okay:
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So what happened? And why did 'it' fail, and then start working again (as evidenced by the pump emptying the engine and overflowing everything else)?
So far I've managed to disassemble the entire engine and I've found no clues. The pistons and cylinders are perfect, the main bearings look like they're barely used. The rod bearings look like they've been run for about 20min, the cam bearings are basically new and the lifters and cam are also perfect. The pickup is tight, and clear. I still need to test the line from the pump to tank, but that's not a very likely failure point. It's a total mystery. At this stage I'm going to have to reassemble and simply not leave the car idling without being in the driver's seat.
On the plus side, my heads are beginning to show the 65,000+ miles they have on them. The combustion chambers cleaned up nice, but when I pulled the valves for a cleaning I found two guides with lots of play and one guide broken (with bits missing) in the exhaust port. The heads are going to visit Darren (K-Roc) for a much needed 'refresh' while I continue to clean the mud and oil off of every component from the front bumper to the rear bumper.
Track racing seems like it would be a whole lot cleaner...
-Dave
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I don't know how you do it man! It's like a full rebuild after every time out....that's gotta get a bit old!
Strange about the oil issue...I hate it when you have to chase intermittent problems that come and go as they wish :41:
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I don't know how you do it man! It's like a full rebuild after every time out....that's gotta get a bit old!
Initially I was super frustrated about it, but when you see things like how much mud was on the cylinder heads...it's probably a good idea to be pulling the motor after any muddy event. I don't think I want to be pulling the engine down to a bare case though!
Strange about the oil issue...I hate it when you have to chase intermittent problems that come and go as they wish :41:
Yeah, that part...not going to be so much fun :P
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Engine is reassembled and ready to go in tomorrow after I get some help lifting it off the stand. I ended up getting the wrong exhaust gaskets for the muffler to pipes, so I'll probably be making a set of four tomorrow. Fun!
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I re-wrapped the exhaust again, for the third time. Every time I hit gravel it tears the wrap and start little flaps of wrap hanging down from the muffler. Thus, this time I decided to do something about it.
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The metal sheet is aluminum heat-shield from DCI Performance Products in Australia. Trimmed to fit, it should make a nice stone guard to keep the rocks from tearing up the heat wrap.
...and in place:
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it's going to be a smoke-show for a while after start-up, the muffler has a nice coating of oil inside all of the internals. I tried to clean it out with some degreasers, but doesn't appear to have been too effective. So tomorrow I'll figure out gaskets, hopefully install the motor, and start cleaning the interior mess. Should fire the car back up on Wednesday if things go to plan.
-Dave
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The motor has been back together for two weeks, and I've put almost 2,500km on it. So far the engine has been trouble free, and I'm even letting it idle for short periods while I walk away. I guess you could say I'm testing my luck, but so far there hasn't been any problems.
The current oil setup, including the fittings, was modeled after the Huebbe brother's setup. They've been stage rallying their car without oil issues for a few years now, which is why I figured it was the safest way to go. I have been looking into new fittings on the pump, however, as they do look pretty restrictive. Only the fittings on the pump are the steel industrial units, everything else is a proper aluminum -8AN fitting. The steel fittings on the pump are the same fittings the Huebbe's and I have used without problems (until now)...but at this stage I should be tweaking everything I can.
Upon reassembly I obviously measured everything, once again, but this time found one item which I had missed on previous builds. The magnetic drain plug was long enough to be touching the screen. While it *shouldn't* cause a problem, with heat I suppose it's possible that it could have reduced the opening gap for the pickup. Next time I have the engine apart I plan to cut the pickup on an angle to reduce the chances of a occurrence. For now I've tossed a washer in as a spacer. Sometimes the quick fix is just as good.
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A new issue, which is probably related, is that the Accusump stopped holding pressure. Now to be fair, I think this was an issue prior to the big failure...but I broke the gauge on the Accusump months ago and haven't fixed it. In order to swap out the gauge I needed to remove the Accusump, so I was simply waiting until an oil change with some time. Over the previous months I've noticed it was slowly leaking down pressure, like if I left the car for a week or more it wouldn't have the pressure to pre-oil. Without having the gauge on the unit I couldn't tell if it was the ball-valve leaking down, or an issue with the Accusump. Once installed with the new gauge, I quickly determined it was leaking down. Within a couple of days of use, it wasn't holding any pressure (or indeed building pressure when the engine was running). A few emails to Canton Racing and it was agreed the internal seals on the piston were probably in need of replacing. Considering I've been using it daily, not really surprised.
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The Accusump isn't designed for user-servicing. Canton requires that all units are sent back to the factory, except for a few teams who do refurbish their own. I was given the go-ahead, and a list of mistakes to avoid. But first, one has to create a key to get into the secret vault...
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With that done, I popped open the Accusump and immediately found the problem. The first thing they check when rebuilding these units is scoring on the cylinders. If the cylinder is scored, the unit needs to be replaced...and I won the bad-luck lottery. Obviously the Accusump ate some hard particles at some point, which I suppose isn't surprising considering I've roasted a couple of motors with it. The score marks are also on "the bottom" of the cylinder with respects to how I had it mounted, so the particle(s) were probably settled on the bottom and then caught up in the seals.
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A few emails back and forth with Canton, and I'm going to need a new Cylinder. Since they don't sell refurbishment parts, that's going to be a challenge as I missed the production run for the year. Hmmmm. They're looking to see if they can find a cosmetic blemish unit, and in the meantime I've decided to clean up the scoring marks. While waiting for the correct sized O-rings, I figured I would try the closest-fit from the local industrial shop, just to see if I'm wasting my time. In went the O-rings, in went the Accusump and voila! Holding pressure...for a while. Interestingly it's now holding oil pressure, but not holding pressure on the air-side of the chamber. I suspect with the proper sized o-rings it will all work as planned. Might make it without a new cylinder after all!
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Also started on a new project for the car, I've been getting tired of 'bouncy tach', and tore apart a spare Stewart-Warner performance Tach to start playing around with sizes. It's going to take a bit of work to get it to fit/work in a 914 Tach housing, but i have some ideas on how to make it work.
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I also spent some time tuning the gas heater this week. I was having some issues with it cutting out, or taking a long time to fire up. Through adjustments to the flame switch I think I've finally got it running close to factory spec. It now runs continuously without cutting out, which is great. I should be getting just a bit more heat out of it, but my fuel pump adjustment is maxed out. That's the Achilles heel with using a gas heater these days, the pumps aren't available new and everyone I have is just slightly under the factory spec for output.
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-Dave
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Does your heater have the remote pump under the car, or mounted right on the heater?
I've got to get my heater's pump working right too.
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Does your heater have the remote pump under the car, or mounted right on the heater?
I've got to get my heater's pump working right too.
I've got the remote (newer) pump under the car. I have at least one or two spare on-heater pumps, but haven't checked their functionality since I prefer the under-car units. I do have a few (6 or 7) spare gas heaters as well.
What's the issue with your heater?
-Dave
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We've had a fantastic December in the area as far as snow is concerned, which has been fun for the bug and I. Learning the switch from All-Wheel-Drive to RWD has been, uh, interesting...but I've got the hang of it for the most part. I have stuffed good at least once, but following a few snowstorms I'm feeling pretty comfortable up into mid-fourth gear. Now I need to transfer it to more slippery surfaces, as I've got 20 days to ice racing!
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Started playing around with the tachometer project, its going to be a little more involved then I anticipated. I need to work out how to remove 3/4" in depth from the Stewart Warner tach internals before moving forward. I think I've figured out how to attach a face-dial, and the Porsche needle will simply need to be drilled out to fit the SW motor.
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On the one hand, my motor will definitely be rust free. On the other hand, an oil leak is never appreciated. Turns out the pressure switch was leaking through and out the electrical connection. Rather annoying, as with the Christmas rush it took a couple of days to figure out that simply tightening things up back there wasn't solving the issue! Finally stopped to run the engine while I watched, and the issue was quickly determined (and solved).
-Dave
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Ice racing? "Cars on ice" ? Looks like they have cancelled this season.
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Cars on Ice have indeed cancelled their season. The rally club, however, uses their track on weekends where they aren't running. I'm a little skeptical that the organizers of this years rally club events have sorted plowing, but participants have been told an ice-report and update is coming this week.
-Dave
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So would it be individually timed laps or door to door racing?
(was going to warn you about getting door to door with the carsonice bunch)
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The rally club always does timed laps, one car at a time as per our Rallycross regulations. I know the Cars-On-Ice series and action quite well, one of my Squamish buddies is involved in the series. Definitely wouldn't be risking the bodywork with that crowd!
-D
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Ahhh. Very cool! Did some ice racing in the 90's in a 71 super. Always wished they would set up some timed lap events instead. That car is no longer with us.
Would street cars be able to run on the ice with the rally club?
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Ahhh. Very cool! Did some ice racing in the 90's in a 71 super. Always wished they would set up some timed lap events instead. That car is no longer with us.
Would street cars be able to run on the ice with the rally club?
Yessir, 95% of the entries are street cars.
www.rallybc.com (http://www.rallybc.com)
The Jan 20th date is sold out with a waiting list, but there will be a March date as well. Best bet is to join the "wrca rallyX" page on Facebook (if you're a FB user) as they do post information about registration there.
-Dave
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Dave, what tires and sizes are you running for your around town snow driving? Thanks.
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In previous years I've run the Toyo G02+ in the city/around town, a Yokohama IG20 for ice and the Kumho KW-22 for snow. This year I thought I would change my strategy a little, and go with a single tire for winter. I'm running 185/65/15's, and chose the Kumho KW22 as I expect to race in a good amount of deep snow. If I was anticipating driving on mostly plowed conditions with a little deep snow, I'd run the Toyo G02+ as my winter tire.
If I was back living somewhere that's cold all the time and mostly plowed (like Toronto), ice would be the number one condition and thus I'd have the Yokohamas as my single tire.
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I've been really happy with the Kumho's through the Sea-to-Sky.
-Dave
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Thanks for the.reply. I'm currently running Hankook Zovacs -165/R15 and they seem to be a fairly hard compound despite all the siping. Pretty easy to lock up the front wheels on a slick surface. The tread is very skinny as well. I do not believe there is a soft compound tire available in the stock size, at least around these parts. Maybe I'll need to switch to some 65 series tires to get a more favourable compound. Not a big fan of too wide a front tire on a beetle. You probably have quite a bit more weight up front than I do on the 73 standard so front wheel lockup is not as big an issue.
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really hoping to see some sideways in the snow pics and/or vids soon dave!! ;) :laugh:
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Will hopefully grab some on Friday...
-Dave
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I was invited to check out a driver training center just North of Whistler yesterday, and so popped the car up on axle stands Thursday to give it a "pre-event" check. I was anticipating an issue with the rear wheel bearings on the right-side, and I wasn't "disappointed". The metal washer between the disc and bearing spacer had cut into the seal, destroying the first lip. Dirt then destroyed the second lip and the outer bearing had water/dirt ingested.
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Normally the job is annoying, but not too difficult. Public Service Tip: if you weld all new lower shock mounts onto your control arms, confirm that you can still remove the axle stub before assembling the car for the final time. Oops. Once I pulled the shock out I was able to get *just* enough room to cut away the required material. A mere 5mm was all I needed. With the stub axle free, the job was as per any other Volkswagen. Greasy but easy. Alas, we had incredible amounts of snow in the last few days, and the skid pad plowing went much slower then anticipated. Event postponed...but I'll get out there soon enough. This does mean snow photos/video will need to wait as well.
The Pre-event check also determined that the mud simply never stops. Geesh.
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Back to the tach project. Started with a lot of measuring, and some basic drawings / concepts to figure out the direction I was going to go.
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In order to get the drawings perfect I'm using a combination of Rhino3D, and then exporting it to Adobe Illustrator before finally exporting it to my vinyl cutter. The three steps opens a lot of room for file error, so test cuts are required.
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Once the file was sorted out, various stages of 'look' for the tach dial.
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The new tach will have the turn signal indicator where I can see it, as well as the high-beam indicator and an oil-cooler fan indicator so I can see when the fan is on (either tripped by the thermostat or by my override switch)
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After modifying the internals of the Stewart Warner Tach, and then determining that my original plan of mounting it all inside the Porsche housing wasn't going to work, it was off to the Lathe! Unfortunately, this is where the project sits for the next little while. A slight 'lathe accident' means I'm on the hunt for a new 914 tach housing :P
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-Dave
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Well, rather long since an update. Whoops. Canton Racing and I had been talking about refurbishing my 1-quart Accusump, and after trying a few of their suggestions we determined the damage was too extensive. Lucky for me, however, as Canon Racing loved the build and sent me a little care package:
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Inside was a 2-Quart Accusump, and Canon Racing Products oil filter. Part of the issue with my original Accusump could have been attributed to less-then-ideal filtering, and this new oil filter cuts down to 8-microns. I'm pretty stocked to add this into the oil system.
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Installed and working like a charm. I'm back to pre-oiling before each startup, which I feel much better about.
You may have noticed the paper towel stuffed down beside the heating pipe...had a bit of 'fun' while swapping out the Accusumps. I was undoing the AN fitting on the old sump, sure that the line was depressurized since the gauge said zero. But just as I'm doing the last 1/4 turn my brain asks "what if there is no pressure on the air side, and the piston is all the way against the case?" BOOM! The line released and about 1/2 quart of oil went EVERYWHERE. My jeans were ruined, but only because I worked frantically to clean off the headliner, windows, back of the driver's seat, floor, door cards and everything else. Did I mention I was going to a work Christmas Party (we do ours in Jan) and thought "oh I'll just do a quick swap before I leave."? Oops.
I also got fed up with people who think they're funny at Gas stations, and decided to add a touch of clarity to the roof logo on the car. No more questions or jokes regarding a certain 30's-40's German political party.
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…and then I got a few weeks of trouble free driving before the car started spitting a popping a bit on idle during warmup. I figured I had a bit of tuning to do, but had a couple of busy days at work which included trips back and forth to Whistler. This coincided with my wide band 02 sensor taking a dive, so it was hard to say whether or not I was experiencing a major issue. On day two, I noted a bubble in the paint on the apron upon arriving in Whistler. Doh. Limped it home, cleaned the jets in the carb, checked the timing and then fired it up. Within seconds the apron on the left side was noticeably hotter then the right. Pulled the apron off, and there's your problem!! No wonder the wideband was showing impossibly lean settings at idle!
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The emergency exhaust gaskets I got on the last engine install were apparently really short-life units!
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I knew getting gaskets to fit the Vintage Speed exhaust in my hometown wasn't going to happen. And while AVRparts.com had a set on the shelf, that means they would have a system they couldn't sell until replacements came in. Time to find a better option!
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I've read a lot about Remflex gasket material, it's 100% graphite material, and is often used successfully for pitted and warped header flanges. Could be awesome in this application, as the Vintage Speed flanges are pretty long and narrow, making them challenging to seal if you're not careful. The Remflex is 1/8" thick, and crushes down to 1/16" (but seals long before that apparently). I traced out the flange, and cut out gaskets using a hobby knife and punch for the bolt holes. So far, so good! If the gaskets aren't the reason I pull the exhaust next, they'll definitely be a success.
-Dave
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I've used that stuff, it's good just don't go torque crazy! Been dressing flanges on the belt sander (crazy how un-true they are after getting welded!!) and just using copper silicone on both sides, let tack up a couple mins, mate parts with only a snug then wait a couple hours if not overnight and torque down rest of way.......sequence is very important, skimp on any of the steps and "results may very" ;D
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Whew, long time no post! Funny how that happens when I'm out enjoying and using the car, vs. building it.
A few days after installing the Remflex gasket material, I was heading over the Duffy Lake road on my way to The Thunderbird Rally. I was almost past the point of no return when I smell alerted me to a problem. Yup, burned out number 4 again...and this time it was the Remflex that was 100% gone. Clearly my issues were bigger then just the gasket material. I checked my watch, and was a little over 40min away from the closest town...and it was 4:40pm on a Friday night. Not good! I hammered down the road, and into a tire shop and general repair shop to peruse their gasket selection. I found a few that were close enough, and then hit the local snowmobile shop for a roll of header wrap. A parking lot backwoods repair was done, and I was on my way.
Since I'll forget to update it later, it turns out the issue was not the gasket materials, but that I had overtightened the flange when I last had the motor out and they were no longer mating flat. With the pressure localized on the ends, the gasket would blow out in the middle every time. I have since repaired it and enjoy leak free driving without issues...
For Thunderbird, I was serving the role of "Chief Steward", which is to say that if there were any protests, or issues with the rally I was the guy who would make the final call one way or the other. This also allowed me to checkpoint the rally, and run the whole route without competing. I figured after the last event having a few more 'shakedown' events on the car wouldn't hurt. And, as it would turn out, I was 100% correct. The next morning I was heading off to my first checkpoint, on regularity (stage) one, without a co-driver. I was probably...okay, I was definitely...going too quick. What can I say, I was having fun in the light dusting of snow and loose gravel. I came around a right-hander and saw three yumps which were definitely far too large for the speed I was going. With little time to react I opted for ensuring I didn't end up in the ditch or a tree, car be damned. Coming down off the first one, I was landing on the second. The rear went clean through to the bump-stops, and then I was hitting the third. Instantly I knew there was an issue, but kept the car pointed in the right direction and slowed down until I could pull off safely.
Crawling under the car I was met with a rather interesting sight, which I'll admit took me a few seconds to figure out:
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The observant amongst you might notice that something is missing. I could see the shock body, I could see the spring. I could see the lower spring perch but oddly enough there was no shock shaft joining the upper and lower halves of the assembly! Now, a normal person would probably look at this and think "call a trailer", but rally people have never been accused of being normal. I could see from the way the shock body was wedged, and how much movement it has without a spring, that there was very little risk of losing the spring out of the assembly. The embarrassment of not making the finish of another event was too much to consider, so I jumped in and began to figure out the new handling characteristics.
By the end of day one I was getting pretty comfortable with the car, and I had pushed it enough to know that I wasn't going to be at any real risk of losing the spring. I could take it easier on the gravel sections, and go with a much heavier foot in the snowy sections. By the end of the event, I was thoroughly enjoying myself. Sure, I had heavily damaged my car (who knows what else went with the shock), but it held together and I had figured it out enough to have a tonne of fun driving it. I drove home over the Duffy, which was snowy by this point, and I found that special bond you hope to build with a car. That moment where you can't wipe the smile off your face, that point where enjoyment and experience outweighs the build, the cost, the headaches and everything else. That spot where the car I imagined on paper was finally materializing in experience.
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Of course, one still has to fix the damage.
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Upon teardown of the rear suspension the first thing I noticed was there was no longer any bump stop attached to the trailing arm. My best guess, based on the experience is that I lost the bump stop on the first big hit, which then allowed for the shock to bottom out completely. The shocks haft snapped off right at the lower eyelet, at the beginning of the threads which are a stress-riser. Initially I was concerned that the shock was getting a side-load under full compression, but the missing bump stop (and cycling it through without a spring), points to a simple bottom out failure.
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Both the upper and lower hardware had the faintest of bends in the bolts (visible only when rolled on glass), so they were replaced. The load travelled through the Kafer bar to the right-hand side, where the upper bar mount snapped clean off at the weld. Needless to say, it had to be a big hit! While technically the QA1 shocks are rebuildable, and all parts are replaceable, for time sake I picked up another unit and installed it. The Kafer brace was removed, a new stronger mount welded up, and replaced. Sorry, no photos as I was trying to get the car running for work the next day!
The upper shock body received some damage from leaning against the body all weekend.
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More updates coming, but I think this one is probably long enough…
-Dave
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I call this next shot "why I will never POR15 new metal again"...
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It literally just peeled off the bottom of the floorboards, iphone included in the sweeping up for scale:
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Interestingly enough, any of the "old metal" (spine, torsion bar housings, etc.) which was prepped the same way is fine...can't take the POR15 off with a chisel. So, I let the bare pans 'season' for a day or two and then repainted them. We'll see how this holds up...
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-Dave
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I have had the same experience on "good metal"... Makes me rethink POR15 sometimes.
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I have had the same thing happen with Por. I will never use it again. I use Endura now. It is the same stuff they use on the Oil rigs. Tough as nails.
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I've used endura before, and though tough, man it's a pain to apply. Great when you've got the car separated from the pan, but not an easy fixup for small areas.
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Whew...it's been a while since I've updated, and unfortunately not a lot of photos. I've been distracted, but we'll get to that.
The car was essentially trouble free all of March and April, until two weeks before the Hagerty Spring Thaw. I clogged a jet on the way home from Whistler one day, and despite cleaning it out had some serious tuning issues coming back from a parts run (which is about 2hrs each way for me). The tailpipes were showing lean, the wide-band was showing lean, but the plugs looked good. WTF? I hadn't changed any jets...just cleaned them. I worked on some tuning off and on, but was getting very strange results. I'd change the main jets, but the idle mixture would change. I'd move up three jet sizes (in steps) and the first two would show logical changes while the third would blow the wide-band off the scale in some strange way. This was all happening in the final week before the Spring Thaw. My business partner and I were working long hours to make sure everything goes off perfectly at the event. I'd get an hour or two for tuning, get no results, and have to get back to pre-organizing duties. It was incredibly frustrating.
Finally I decided to go all the way back to the beginning. Well, actually the car decided for me when it blew out an exhaust gasket (again). The car went up on axle stands, and I made plans to adjust the valves, set the timing, start with a set of base jets (by the math), fix the exhaust gaskets and try again. The heads had been fully reworked in November by Darren (K-Roc Heads), so I was really confused why every single valve was tight. I was exhausted, so when I popped on the 3/4 valve cover, removed the paper towel on the heater box and was met with a piece of valve spring…
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Really?
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Darren and I chatted, and we both realized that I have almost 80,000 miles on this set of springs. More then double what either of us would have suspected. While they were fine in November, clearly that wasn't the case anymore. Thankfully Darren had put dual-springs into my heads many years ago, so when the outer spring failed, He offered me his on-car replacement tool, and had a full set of dual valve springs ready for me…two hours away. Good thing too:
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While driving to get the valve springs, I realized my valve adjustment issue. In my stress of organizing and lack of sleep, I had neglected to consider that I have chromoly pushrods and thus adjust to loose-zero, not .006"! Whoops. With springs and exhaust gaskets installed, valves adjusted and timing reset, I cleaned the carbs…finding mud in the choke area which isn't used by the Empi HPMX version. Mud eh? Hmmm. Don't let anyone tell you I'm easy on equipment.
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Well, with that cleaned out I started tuning for lean-best-idle…and still had exhaust popping. Soon a hairline 2" crack was spotted, and off came the apron & exhaust. It would seem that at some point an impact resulted in a crack on the muffler at the #2 inlet (actually on the little pipe sticking out of the muffler to the flange. The resulting movement probably attributed to the gasket failure issues I was having earlier this season. It was 11pm, but my buddy Scott still took it home, welded it up, and brought it back. Killer service, and help from a buddy who leaves for work at 6am. It was too late to tune, but not too late to get a good night sleep.
Amazing how easy the tuning is when there aren't a bazillion other problems causing weird results! Within two hours I had lean-best-idle, idle jets set, mains sorted and the airs figured out. My AFR numbers were spot on everywhere except for a lean condition when cruising at 3000-3200rpm. While I knew Darren and Geoff were going bat-shit crazy with all my calls and texts regarding tuning, I was at a loss. The RPM range said it should be mains, but changing them didn't help and made other things worse. Maybe a combination of Airs and Mains? changing didn't seem to get the results I needed. A final text sent to Darren (with crossed fingers) and a suggestion came back "go one up on the idle jets". I did, and what you know. Running fantastic for the Spring Thaw…with 20 hours to spare!
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So final follow-up on the valve springs. Coil bind was checked for when I originally built the motor, and again in November when I had the heads off. The old springs show no marks of coil bind, and the new springs (same brand/model) were checked and cleared without issues. I am attributing the failure to a combination of mileage, abuse, and a WOT over-rev the other night while tuning.
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I mentioned that I've been distracted, and hence haven't posted much about the work on the car. I actually have some other upgrades and items added to post about, just haven't had the time. I've been playing with a new toy, a 1974 Dodge Colt stage rally car. It's owned by a good friend, and was purchased with a blown motor and tranny. I've been storing the car for a few years (he lives in the states, is a professional rally driver), and he finally said we should get this thing ready to rally. Over the past couple of months we've installed a new motor and trans, I've rebuild the trans, had a dashboard fire, re-wired the whole damned car and finally got it tuned and running. We were out testing at DirtFish Rally School on Monday, and the car is a BLAST. Still need to upgrade the seats, belts, cage and paint...then it's ready for stage rally.
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Here's the thing, when the owner isn't using it...he wants me to Rally it. Stage rally, rallyX, etc. if it's just going to be sitting, it might as well be used. Hmmmm. So basically I now have a full stage rally car in my collection of vehicles. Suddenly destroying the beetle further with gravel is a less enticing idea. I mean, why would I shred paint on the beetle when I can just use the Colt?
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I'm seriously considering working on the suspension this summer, and setting the beetle up as more of a Tarmac-Rally car. We've got our www.classicccaradventures.com (http://www.classicccaradventures.com) events every year, and I'd probably still pop the suspension back up for winter events. The Colt is too damned loud inside for anything but Stage rally.
Thinking Coil-overs on the front, perhaps wider wings (and rubber), a Kamei front spoiler and it should be good. Tarmac rally and track car...???
-Dave
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I've been pretty busy with various jobs and haven't had much time for playing with cars, a problem which is compounded by the fact that I've got the Beetle, the Colt, an Audi Coupe quattro and a new Chevy pickup truck all on the go. The Salzburg Beetle has had some ups and downs over the past while, and I'll try and document what I can.
First up, I finally got around to mounting a co-driver footrest in the car. I had planned on machining up a unit which would have two rails permanently mounted to the floor, and a moveable panel (for different height co-drivers), but the crunch time to get the car ready in time for Spring Thaw meant I went with an OMP pre-formed panel. Of course, I'm not happy with the way it sits...so it will come out of the car soon enough for some changes. Basically, the angle isn't "right", and in order to sit correctly it needs to be trimmed to clear the tunnel and the inner fender.
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Next up, and far more of a fun toy, is my Shift-I progressive shift light. You would think, in a car that is so loud you need hearing protection, that paying attention to the revs is easy. The problem, I've found, is that after a certain point its all just noise and volume...and you can't distinguish well enough between various levels of RPM. I saw this unit at my local race supply shop, and took a gamble. Such a good call! It's fully programmable for RPM range, light patterns, brightness and more. One button turns it on or off while driving, so I only use it when I'm 'having fun', thus ensuring my brain doesn't get so used to it that I ignore it. I've found it gives me two main advantages: I'm finding it much easier to keep the engine within the torque curve and I'm not risking an over-rev when playing in the upper rev limits. The one I bought has four green lights on the left, followed by two yellows and one red. I set mine up so the four greens are progressive, then the greens go out as the two yellows come on, and finally the yellow and red flash as you hit the limit. Incredibly hard to miss...but not distracting either. http://www.ecliptech.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59&Itemid=109 (http://www.ecliptech.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59&Itemid=109)
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On the bad news side of things, I'm still struggling with burning out exhaust gaskets. To say I've beaten the pulp out of the exhaust system would be an understatement. I think most users would look at the condition of my muffler and assume it's only good for scrap metal. I have noticed that the last set of gaskets I blew out were about 3 days after I bottomed the muffler out on something...even though it was lightly. I now suspect that physical damage is starting the process, and it takes a few hundred kilometers for blow-by to damage the gaskets to the point I can hear them. Once I hear the change in exhaust note, or notice the wideband reading leaner, I get about 50km before the gasket blows out completely. The answer, unfortunately, is probably a whole new exhaust system and to extend the skid plate (or skid plate system) back to protect the exhaust as well.
The second set of bad news involves the oiling system. Three times in the past month I've experienced a zero-oil pressure situation where the car will lose oil pressure at idle and then I can't prime the system back up. I end up loosening off oil fitting and cranking the starter over while slowly working the oil through the system segment by segment. The first time it repressurized in relatively short order (about 30min of work), but just this week I lost pressure twice on one day and it took 1 hour and 2 hours (respectively) to get the car back up and running. Really quite frustrating...but thanks to some things I noticed on the second time, I think I have a theory. I have the cold-idle set relatively low on the car, its at about 500rpm, sometimes less. This corresponds to a hot idle of about 1000rpm. At low RPM I don't *think* the scavenge pump is moving enough oil back up to the tank. Eventually on Friday, while I was trying to prime the system, I realized that the tank had less then 1/8th of oil, and the motor was over-full. Hmmm.... I put an extra litre into the tank, took a risk and revved the motor to 1500rpm (with no pressure). Instantly I could hear the scavange oil splashing back into the tank and in less then 20seconds the oil light was out. So, I think the issue is two-fold:
• First off, I'm not watching the oil level in the tank often enough.
• Secondly, the scavenge pump isn't pulling enough oil at sub 1,000rpms
The combination of the two means that there isn't enough oil in the system to allow the car to idle cold at low RPM…and I lose oil pressure. Repressurizing the system from full oil loss takes about 2.5 complete minutes of cranking (assuming oil in the tank, coil disconnected), which I can't imagine is too kind to the bearings. I'm going to redo the venting on the tank which will allow me to run a higher oil level (additional one or two Litres) and keep a closer eye on things.
I am worried about the likely damage I've done to the bearings in the current motor. At hot oil pressure I'm down a full 10psi from where I was two months ago. I now see 40psi at 3500rpm instead of the 50psi I was seeing earlier. It's not low enough to pull the motor immediately, but it's something to be concerned about for sure. It could be the electric gauge/sensor, however. The mechanical gauge on the Accusump used to match exactly, but now they are 5psi different (Accusump being 5psi higher). Again, no emergency...but something to watch for sure.
Back to the Good News! If you haven't already seen the June 2013 Issue of UltraVW, you may want to go pickup a copy. Okay, I'm probably a little biased…but hey, six page feature on my car!
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Stoked to finally have a magazine feature I can give to family and friends who don't speak Japanese or French! Makes oil system issues a little easier to deal with.
-Dave
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Nice man !!!
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Checked out the issue while at the classic, very good coverage!
Not so sure about the pic with the Mickey mouse ears....
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f'n 'eh!! way to go dave!!
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Geesh, this car was new just months ago! It's amazing how things underneath get dirty and corrode. Adjusted the steering box in anticipation of a road trip a couple of weekends ago, and made a note to get under the car with some cleaning supplies and fresh paint soon. The road trip started off as a blast, headed down to the southern border of Washington state, via Mount Rainer National Park and a bunch of other twisty roads. The car was handling flawlessly, despite the heat, until I hit the desert-like conditions of Yakima. The air temperature was a little over 33 degrees, with zero wind. Driving at around 120kph the oil temp was up to 220, and I had to work to keep it below 230F. In hind sight taking the skid plate off before my trip would have been a wise idea, but I was so close to my destination I figured I wouldn't worry too much. I know from past experience that dropping the skid plate will equal a 20deg oil temp reduction, and should probably resolve to create a summer plate with some of the design features of VW's original ones.
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The road trip home, though, was like a story from hell. First bad gas (water), which required overnight carb cleaning in a walmart parking lot. The rear brakes went to metal (seized slider pin) and I roasted the rotor and brake calliper. Then ignition issues, and finally a broken elephant foot adjuster (which I discovered many hours later).
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I limped the car to AVR on three cylinders, and spent a bunch of time diagnosing the problem (being awake for 30+ hours doesn't help the brain to function). Thank goodness Art and Vic were there to help me out between calls and customers! Eventually I borrowed a set of Rockers from Art's drag-car parts stash, a few other miscellaneous parts and made my final two hour trip home.
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And once home, the poor Beetle sat. First off to wait for parts, then to wait while Audi & truck projects were worked on, and then finally because every damned thing I did wasn't working out. The list of things I meant to take care of was rather long, the car after 42,000km was due for some bumper to bumper checks and maintenance. Some things, like the grinding starter, I was aware of…while others (like apparently I have no brake lights!) were pointed out to me on the drive home. While I waited for new rocker arms to arrive, I started picking away at the list.
The brake switch boots were filled with dried mud, and thus the contacts had corroded. Relatively easy fix that, so there was that positive factor. But the next two photos give a much better description of how my last two weeks went.
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Missing from the photos is the brand new brake calliper, that once installed started puking fluid out of the e-brake mechanism…there were other issues too, but I'm afraid I'll end up in a mental hospital if I start listing them off! After breaking the new chinese-rebuilt starter ($40), the only thing I could get quickly was a Bosch rebuilt, at a price tag of $150. True, not bad for a starter…but when you toss them in a lathe and cut a 1/4" off the front face you think about whether or not you want to spend the money! My gosh, why did I not buy one of these from the get-go? All my grinding starter issues are gone, even though I haven't replaced my now hurting flywheel. Not to mention it spins so much quicker the bug starts in less then a second.
After getting the whole motor reassembled, the brakes replaced and bled (twice) I loaded in a bunch of tune up parts (points, wires, cap, rotor, plugs) and fired it up. Holy bag of hammers, Batman! The motor sounded like the crank was split in two, and all the bits were bouncing off each other. Well crap. A few evenings of sleuthing around, and eventually I simply replaced the new rocker-shafts/rockers with the old ones (putting a new adjuster into the one broken one) and everything is silent as a lamb. Same part, same part number, same measurements in every respect. The car likes one set, but not the other. I'm not going to argue, because it's running now!
I figured after a frustrating two weeks, two things where in order. First, movie night:
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and second, a little upgrade today:
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I need to make some mounts today, but looking forward to the front spoiler. Also, my new shifter assembly has shipped…it will probably arrive just in time for the long weekend, and I'll be away in Edmonton. Argh!!
-Dave
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Needed to clear my head tonight, figured a drive was the best way to do it. 150km later, guess you could say I'm enjoying the car again! Stopped up on Cypress for a few night time shots.
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URL for larger images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dhdynamics/9391732268/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dhdynamics/9391732268/) (takes you to the last shot, then just scroll through)
-Dave
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And my new shifter setup has finally arrived.
I ordered the Hargett Performance 901 shifter (designed for a 911). It's going to need modifying to fit a Beetle, and I suspect substantially more modifying to make it fit the way I want/envision it. But it ticks all the boxes for improving the shifting, at least on paper. Will be a few weeks until I can get to installing it, which is going to kill me. I'm off to Edmonton on the weekend, and this is more then a few evening's job!
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-Dave
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wow that thing looks fricking cool!
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nice wine rack too!
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BOOM!
What can I say, today is a good day...
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-Dave
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Ya, I love the Ford Anglia racer too! ;)
Congrats Dave!
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"It takes clean to a whole new level" good thing they can't see it now..... :s_laugh:
Congrats!!!
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Rad !
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Thanks guys!
I'll update more tomorrow about why the car hasn't had much going on in this thread over the last month and a half...but I'm hoping the reason why will be worth photos. In the meantime, I started playing around with a few things tonight. First up, was the Hargett Precision shifter. The shifter is designed to bolt over the-brake handle on a 911, so for visuals the tower begins between the front seats and points forward to the dash. In my case, I want to put the tower starting under the dash rising back towards the seats, as I think it will look visually better. Well, that and the seats are so darned close together in the beetle. The first step is to flip the shift mechanism 180 degrees in the housing, which means drilling some holes.
The Hargett shifter has adjustable stops for the L-R action of the shifter, which are adjusted using two 1/4-20 bolts on the side of the housing. Flipping the mechanism around means drilling two new holes...and the fun task of figuring out where they should be. I measured it up, and then cut two templates on the vinyl cutter. Lining up the holes on the factory side confirmed I was spot on, and then it was just a matter of laying a template down on the other end:
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With that done, I started to figure out where I wanted the actual shift knob to end up. Mounting the shifter is going to require quite a bit of work in the beetle chassis. I'm going to need to create some mounting plates at the front, welding them onto the tunnel to make a flat surface. The e-brake assembly is going to have to be removed, as the shift rod will now travel down on an angle from the shifter to the transmission. The fun part is going to be measuring and figuring out just where the hole needs to be for the rod to pass through the top of the tunnel. I break out in a sweat every-time I start thinking about it!
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The Canadian Rally Season is half-done at the National Level, which means wheels are starting to get scrapped over at the local rally shop. I've always wanted to put a proper set of motorsport wheels on the car, but hate the thought of buying them. I'm so cheap when it comes to wheels! The cheapest way for me to get a set of Speedlines is to piggyback at the beginning of the rally season when the team buys a lot of them. Problem is, I need to buy Subaru fitment. Well, now I have a couple of scrap wheels to play with to work out the fitment. These ones are 8" wide, which is far too wide for the bug. Once I know the widths and offsets available to order, I'll cut the back flange off on a lathe and adjust one to be my 'front' tester, and one to be the rear. I have some long-term brake ideas, and will add this project in with them.
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-Dave
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Well, winter engine build? Hahaha. This is what happens when you side-step the clutch, in error, on the start line of the dragstrip. End of the strip I put the clutch in, and it sounded pretty bad. We diagnosed it as either a loose flywheel or a broken crank...and the car was parked for a month while I travelled for work. Popped it out of the car, found the loose flywheel, bolted it back in and it sounded fantastic. 700m down the road, silence. Seized solid. Main #1 is pretty much welded to the crank, Rod #3 is stiff, the case is trashed. This raises two simple questions...
1) What to build next?
2) How to pay for it?
ha.
-Dave
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ouch!
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Well, I have a bit of an update on my new engine. The case should be cut for the larger cylinders, and full-flowed. My new crank was stolen off the pallet before arriving to it's destination...sigh, so I'll order another one. The heads though, I had planned on reusing from my old motor. NOPE! Darren text messaged me last week "All your valves and guides are toast. 1 cracked, and 1 broken keeper. 1 head cracked. Valve seats pounded out, retainers show heavy wear. Valve float." He then sent another text..."Don't you have a tach?!" Heh heh, well, I guess there will be new heads on the order-sheet as well. Not a bad idea, as I'm going to be upgrading to IDF44's so moving up on the valve size will be ideal for those. I think I'm going to finally get rid of the 914 tach, and look into a better ignition system with rev-controlling capabilities.
While I work out the various engine specs, I'm continuing on with other chassis projects. The factory e-brake has been cut out, as well as the unused heater control lever. I’ve removed the Accusump valve and lines (for now), the Z-Bend shift rod and the shifter setup I had. I’ve also started removing the POR15 from the tunnel. It’s amazing, use that stuff on “used” metal, and I can barely get it off with a grinder and an 80grit flap wheel. Use it on ‘new’ metal (like the floor boards) and it just peels up, as you can see. I’m hoping the surface rust will help it to finally stick!
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I have some personal modifications planned for the Hargett shifter, which won’t improve the performance level at all…but will improve my personal driving experience far more then anything else I’ve done. I managed to rope Stenhouse Racing into giving me a hand, as he has loads of design experience, and a CNC mill. He keeps teasing me with renderings of the shifter…but always leaving out my custom bits!
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I did realize, however, that Colin’s work would allow me to draw up the pieces I need to make mounts for the shifter. I am going to get the pieces water jet cut, and then weld them to the tunnel. The driver’s side will be closed off, while the passenger side will be open so I can reach whatever hardware I use underneath.
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I’ve also started working on the handbrake. I spent a lot of time on Demon-Tweeks trying to find a handbrake I liked, which wouldn’t break the bank. Lots of measuring, scaling, and sitting in the car. Nothing fit the bill. I went to Rocket Rally, and found a horizontal e-brake on the wall which wasn’t being used. YOINK! The perfect example to R&D (review and duplicate) from! I have a bunch of finishing up to do on the handle, but I’ve got enough done that I can print out a drawing, cut it from cardboard and test the height & angle in the car. Problem is, I need my shifter back in order to figure out exactly where it will sit! I'll have an option for locking it on, and I've built in a tab which allow me to run a cable to the factory e-brake cables. I wasn't planning on using the cable e-brake setup, but may have to scale back my plans for the winter and keep the brakes that I have on the car for the time being. The cable setup will be more for 'visuals' and 'legal' vs. very functional.
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-Dave
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I've had some long time "off" of the garage, but puttered around a little bit. While flushing and checking hoses I've come to think that either the scavenge-to-tank or pressure-to-filter line may be disintegrating due to heat. After flushing the lines I found some two or three extremely small black specs, I would have passed them off as carbon but they don't break up or dissolve in carb cleaner. I wish I had done each line into it's own container, then I'd know which one the specs came from. I think the solution is pretty easy, however, as there are just three oil lines that come close to the exhaust. I'll swap those out with fresh, and upgrade the heat protection. Could be the reason for losing oil pressure on bearing #1, but it would have had to sneak its way around the oil filter. Odd, but sort of a non-issue at this stage...replace, replace, replace!
In the meantime, I started working on the shifter mounts...
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Bolted in. I need to make 'sides' which will bolt in separately. For now I have lots of measuring and math ahead of me, to ensure I put the hole for the shift rod in the right spot :P
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-Dave
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Shifter is now working through all gears. I'm waiting on the handbrake install, but once I take care of that I'll strip the interior and paint the tunnel and floorpans again. The throws are longer then I was expecting, but the shifting is unbelievably precise. Having the shifter so close to the steering wheel more then makes up for the throw length. I still have to adjust the side-to-side limits, but in order to do so I will need an engine and the chance to drive it. I opted to pass on the standard steel shift rod, and instead made my own from Carbon fiber. It's lighter and stiffer, and an improvement if my aluminium ends bonded well enough!
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-Dave
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I’ve been spending most of my time lately working on the 1990 Coupe quattro project, but seeing as the pile of parts for the beetle is growing…I best start working on it again! Well, that and I’m sick of working on the Audi.
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A while back I did the design for my vertical handbrake, or rather the ‘first’ design. I know I will need to drive around with it and refine it a bit before doing the finished version, so did a basic outline of the handle for now. The problem is, without being able to physically sit in the car with it, how do you know you’re “close”. It dawned on me, while cutting decals, that I have a relatively smart rapid prototype option right here at home. A quick true-size sticker, and some cardboard and…
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Voila! A test unit that can be tried out in the car. Without having the base mounted it was pretty tough to “try”, but at the very least I figured out I was close enough to send the drawing out for water jet cutting.
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With a few additional bits stolen from a Rocket Rally horizontal handbrake, and a Honda clutch master cylinder, I have myself an inexpensive hydraulic handbrake to try out. The last step was to lathe up the pivot bushings, and drop the handle off with Nick at Rocket Rally for some TIG welding. As soon as I get it back, I can weld in some mounts on the transmission tunnel.
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In the meantime, I’m trying to plug away on a number of the little jobs I never seem to do. I’ve had this idea in mind since before the car was finished, but never got around to it. No time like the present!
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Pull cable and radio antenna, when combined, become an external battery-cut-off switch. Now, I suppose I should mention that when I bought the pull cable there were two options. This one, which is a shorter “front of the car” length cable, and the longer “back of the car” setup which I knew i would have to cut down quite substantially. I was prepared to buy the more expensive longer version, but the shop owner convinced me I was wasting money and this one was long enough.
It’s not.
Well, it is. But only for one cable routing option. It’s not long enough to try various options and ideas and then decide which one I like best. Mildly frustrating, but only because I will never know if this one “is” the best :P Still need to make a couple of bits for it, and then I’ll finish the install.
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The Porsche tach, or rather the way the needle bounces on downshifts, has always bugged me. I have a 3 3/8” Stewart Warner tach doing nothing, so why not have a precise tach in my car? Well, the mounting of a small tach in a big hole is a problem. Last year I came up with a pretty good idea, and then crushed an old 914 housing in the lathe. Oops. I figured it was because I disassembled the tach and weakened the body too much. I recently found I have a plastic-faced 914 tach which has seen better days, so time to try again!
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Step one seems to have gone fine. I now have hole perfectly sized for the SW tach, and keeping the Porsche unit assembled definitely makes it more rigid. Now I’ll just flip it over, and use the lathe to cut the back end off the tach…
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Oops.
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Well, lets just move onto other things then. Voltmeter replaced by cylinder head temperature, using a NOS VDO gauge I found at last weekend’s swap meet. Once I confirm it works, I’ll paint the outside rim silver, and touch up the panel behind it. Installing the gauge was a colourful language affair, since I had to run sensor wires all the way to the engine bay…frustrating when I know I have spares hidden in my wiring harness. Just can’t use them as the cylinder head gauge requires using their wires without cutting. Sigh.
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I did solve the tach problem though. Spent just a wee bit of money and dropped a 5” Monster tach into the dash. I’m planning on taking the car down to the VW Classic show in June, and figure this will buy me some street creed with the Cal-Look crowd. :-) But in all serious, it solved the problem was the closest match I could get to the current gauges and allows me to button the dash back up.
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So I finally decided I need to replace the Throwout bearing which was overdue for replacement three years ago. Have you priced one of these things out before? $149 USD! That’s painful. I recalled reading about an alternative option a few years back, but figured I better run the proper bearing for those first few transmission tests. This year, however, I returned to Google to try and search for the solution. I found it on the 356 registry, or did I? Turns out the 356 crowd converts their throwout bearings to the early 911 style because it shifts better and is significantly cheaper then the original option in their cars! Guess I know why I play with VW’s instead of Porsches! Sigh, alright…I’ll order the expensive bearing.
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Starting to cross things off on the list, which is good. I have to have the car ready and tested by March 31st, as I could be away for all of April. Our Spring Thaw classic car rally is April 25th, and the car MUST be ready for that! At least I’m starting to cross things off…
-Dave
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Are you taking on small sponsors to help pay for your parts?
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Yup! Build definitely wasn't possible without some help, but I'm careful to make sure it's a good fit for both sides.
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Step one seems to have gone fine…Oops...Well, lets just move onto other things then…
i've been there…and i'm sure many others here have aswell! :angel: ;D
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you'll save a bunch of time if you only paint the floors once! ;)
I'm planning on taking the car down to the VW Classic show in June…
awesome!! you're going to love it and i'm sure the car will be well received! :cool:
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hahaha, the POR-15 peels up so quick that by the time I get down to the second "paint the floor", it will need it!
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An odd angular growth has appeared off my transmission tunnel.
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And after a little bit of time its like grand central station down here. Not sure how I managed to make it all fit, but it does!!
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This one is kinda funny, I can remember being 17 years old and wanting to buy ATE Blue so badly but not being able to afford it. Then, in later years, I realized that regular-old-Pentosin was just 20degrees off for a whole lot less money. I was buying other parts last week when I saw the blue on the shelf...hell, I'm 34 now I can afford this! Yes, that's right, I bought brake fluid for the colour. But hey, it made flushing the system super easy!?!
-Dave
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DAMN DAVE! That's a shwackload of shit stuffed into little bag!! fitting so many crucial components is always some sort of compromise looks like you nailed er
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DAMN DAVE! That's a shwackload of shit stuffed into little bag!! fitting so many crucial components is always some sort of compromise looks like you nailed er
Honestly? I lucked out this time. Did the entire shifter and handbrake setup without even thinking about the Accusump valve. I had painted the floor before I remembered what the Riv-Nuts in the tunnel were for. "oops, wonder if this will fit now..." Boom! Confetti. I got lucky :-)
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Cell phone pictures for tonight, but they'll do.
First up, the 'factory' (empi?) bolt for holding my shift rod to the transmission has gone for a walk somewhere in my garage. Not overly worried about it, since it didn't seem to fit the Hagertt Performance universal joint. After cutting the end into a cone shape on the lathe, I realized I wanted to make sure I safety wired the bolt this time. I had the shifter come loose and lost all gears last summer while on a road trip. Let me tell you how quickly your heart sinks when you think you've blown a transmission in the middle of nowhere! Since I don't own a safety-wire drilling jig (and apparently none of my friends do either), I had to improvise:
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With the shifter setup now 100% complete, I moved onto to the oil lines. I’m replacing the three oil lines that pass through the exhaust system, as I believe the rubber lines may have deteriorated due to heat. I’m also taking the opportunity to put the Vibrant Performance Dry-Break fittings in the lines. These allow me to disconnect each oil line without losing a drop of oil, or introducing any air into the lines. I’ve put the Vibrant fitting (black) inside two straight hose ends so I could figure out how long each section of oil line would need to be.
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Before finalizing the assembly, the lower section of the hose was wrapped with Thermalflex Isultherm wrap. The lower section of hose will pass either very close, or through, the exhaust system. I’m not sure which, as I’m getting an all new system from Vintage Speed. The Isultherm wrap is a resin-impregnated ceramic wrap which is good to 1200deg F (650 C). If that isn’t sufficient, I can always do an over-wrap for additional protection.
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Thanks to Rob over at www.avrparts.com (http://www.avrparts.com) I have a perfect-condition fan shroud sandblasted, and ready for modification. The new 2110cc motor will not be running heater boxes, so I’m going to modify a new shroud which will still have the Salzburg “look”, but without functioning heater ducts. We’ll just pretend this factory doghouse shroud was in rough shape, and thats why I’m cutting it up…
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Just seven items left on the To-Do list before the car is ready for the Hagerty Spring Thaw Classic. Okay, one of those items is "build the engine", so it's not like they'll all happen quickly. But still, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Can’t believe I’ve survived this long without the car. I miss driving it!
-Dave
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Looking Great!!
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This has been a pretty big week/weekend. Last week I finished up everything on the to-do list, which was essentially a bunch of little annoying items that are time consuming. The only thing left, besides the motor and related bits, is to paint the floorpan again, on the underside. We had a week of straight rain, so I put it off for some warmer weather. Cheaper to heat the garage then!
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You might notice the "Porsche" name on one of those bags, which simply means these items are priced about 3x more than they should be. Regardless, after almost three years of a rough throwout bearing, I figured I'd best replace it. Also bought new plastic mounts, a nylon cup for the clutch arm and the retainer clamp. Pretty interesting to see what those parts are supposed to look like!
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Got the shroud finished up with fake Salzburg outlets. I had more time on this one, so instead of rushing it I worked on at least making the straight and not warped by heat. No shims required for the generator mounting, which is lightyears better than the last one! I did, however, forget to fill a couple of holes I won't be using. Ah well...
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I'll be running a new Vintage Speed exhaust system, having beat the last one into submission. Just before I went to pick it up at AVR, though, I remembered it wouldn't clear the oil-pump. A few facebook notes to Lucas (Art's son) and he TIG'd in the required modification. I think I messaged Lucas on Thursday, and Rob brought me the exhaust system completed on Saturday! Couldn't believe my luck, because Darren messaged me that he was going to break in my cam/motor on Sunday morning. So Sunday I was at Kroc's shop to hang out, basically be in the way and watch Darren break in my new motor and do a quick setup on my new carbs. After it was all cleared, and cooled down, we loaded it up in my truck and home I went. It's about now that I should probably post some engine specs, but the honest truth is I haven't been paying much attention! Throughout the whole planning and parts acquiring period of the build Darren would call me up and ask something like "So, what cam did you want to run in this engine?" I'd answer with something like, 'well, I haven't thought that much about it...what would you suggest?' Darren would give me his idea, and I'd follow up with "sounds perfect, lets run with that then." The whole idea is kinda funny, seeing as I've so carefully planned everything else out on the car. I'll update the specs on my 2110 at a later date!
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I actually couldn't have cut this better myself! I went slightly wider with my dimensions this time, and slightly deeper. Now I should be able to remove the oil lines with the muffler on (should I ever need to), and the deeper inset should help with the heat soak.
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The muffler then got some exhaust wrap, and the steel shield which keeps the wrap from tearing off due to rocks.
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Being a glutton for punishment, I wrapped the J-tubes as well. And then whipped up some stone shields for those too. The wrap doesn't go all the way to the ends in the photos, as I like to be able to access the exhaust nuts without tearing up the wrap. On the muffler end I actually wrap the rest of the pipe and the flanges once the system is all bolted up.
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CB Black Box is mounted and wired in. Tomorrow I'll pickup the vacuum line fittings I've ordered, and will run the line through the firewall next to the Black Box. I've run out of space to run wires through the factory routing, so a couple of new grommets were added to the car tonight.
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I'll have to finish the engine-side of things once the engine is in the car, which will make doing the wrap or heat-shrink a little bit challenging!
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Ready to go in, hopefully I'll find time to take care of that tomorrow.
-Dave
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Nice work Dave, looking like a rocket ship in there! ;)
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Congrats on the Hot VW coverage (May 2014). Lookin' good!
Oh, and Ultra VW (Apr 2014)
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Congrats on the Hot VW coverage (May 2014). Lookin' good!
Oh, and Ultra VW (Apr 2014)
Wait, wut?! I'm in Hot VW's???
-Dave
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You and your headset on in Hot VW's.... SEXY!
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That's amazing crafstmenship , nice job , sure look forward seeing it out and about at this years shows !!
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so I have been following this thread fairly regularly as my first beetle was a Super and I have a soft spot for them. but there has not been an update in while. come on help me out here.
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my bad now that I have figured out how to work the site, I feel like a tool
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Well, unfortunately the only update is that after some AWESOME miles on the engine...
hahaha, no I didn't blow it up. I had to put the car in storage while I travel the South-Western USA on a 3,000 mile epic roadtrip. Will be back just in time for the Hagerty Spring Thaw Classic car adventure, and I'll post some photos and updates then.
-Dave
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Hi dave thx for all your pics and explanation of your 901 conversion I am just finshing mine What dod you do with the speed drive and gear Ive got the nosecone and just wondering if i should remove the drive and plug and seal the hole ? thx for your advice
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great thread, took me a while it get through it. very awesome.
maybe I missed it, but did that video you were shooting with friends ever make it onto the net? would love to hear/see this at WOT
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Hi dave thx for all your pics and explanation of your 901 conversion I am just finshing mine What dod you do with the speed drive and gear Ive got the nosecone and just wondering if i should remove the drive and plug and seal the hole ? thx for your advice
Hmmm...that was a long time ago ;) Without crawling under my car to confirm, I seem to think that the factory speedometer drive gear assembly interferes with the installation of the transmission. I know I left the drive gear inside the transmission, but I'm pretty sure I cut up the factory drive assembly so that I could plug the nosecone without making it permanent. Coming out of the nose cone is the factory speedometer drive output, through a 90deg system. I simply cut it all back and sealed up the internals so if I ever need to sell the trans I can put a stock drive assembly back in and it's as close to factory 901 as possible.
-Dave
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great thread, took me a while it get through it. very awesome.
maybe I missed it, but did that video you were shooting with friends ever make it onto the net? would love to hear/see this at WOT
Not that I'm aware of, no. In order to match the cable-cam speed I had to drive slower then I'd have preferred, so in the end it looks as though I'm sliding by forcing the car...not because of speed. With the new 2110cc, it sounds way better at WOT then it did before ;)
-Dave
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Thx for the info my drive is not angled like yours its straight so i think im just going to leave it as is I dont think there will be a problem with it spinning I may just put a cap over the drive gear ? thx Al
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I think it's probably been a good solid two years since I was actively checking the forum, Classic Car Adventures had gone from Hobby business to my full time gig, and I was just getting ready to launch a big expansion. 2014 was spent planning the expansion, and putting together my plan for the next five years. 2015 was "the year", and I added events in Colorado, Ontario Canada, and Washington/Oregon. Expanding the business with three new events, in a single year, with each of them quite a distance from home was a bit, uh, nuts!
...but, it actually all went really well. Feedback from each of the new events was very positive, and 2016 looks to have a lot of momentum behind it for my events. Should be a good year!
The rally bug hasn't 'suffered' over the past two years, but it's definitely been neglected in the sense that there have been no upgrades...it has literally just been worked on enough to keep it running for my events. I put just over 60,000km on it in 2015, not exactly sure how many in 2014. Regardless, it hasn't been 'exciting to read about' work, just a hell of a lot of oil changes :P
I did pull the bug off the road for the winter this year, the plan is to go over it bumper to bumper and take care of a few things, including some upgrades. With Classic Car Adventures being my primary income, I've had to put my German Look beetle project on hold...I know some of the items I had planned for it will be going into the Rally Bug instead. Sigh...I've somehow aged a bit and become 'responsible' :P
But, expect some updates coming down the pipeline...
-Dave
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I considered trying to go through my photo library to find some highlights of the past two years, but quickly realized that it would take me forever, and I’d probably never get around to actually updating the thread. So, instead, I’ll simply start from today and if a project comes up that requires some history, I’ll tell the story at that time.
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One such story involves the fairly ambiguous fresh air box seal. From the day I built the Rally Bug, I’ve had a leak I could never find. It wasn’t a big leak, sometimes I’d wash the car and it would have a few drips on the trunk carpet…other times nothing. Sometimes I’d drive in the rain and it would be damp under the trunk, other times nothing. Coming back from our Hagerty Fall Classic event, I hit the biggest rainstorm I’d ever been in. We’re talking 3-4” of standing water on the interstate, and rain just POUNDING down. As I’m considering where I can get off to wait this out (due to 1971 wiper technology) I suddenly noticed my legs were getting wet…REALLY wet. Where is that coming from!?! Oh, it’s only water dripping through the fuse box! I’ve since determined that the seal on my fresh airbox doesn’t actually seal against the hood. So far I can’t figure out why. The seal appears good, the box appears to be at the right height and the hood fits the car extremely well. Ah well, the search for a better seal begins!
Also on the Hagerty Fall Classic, we had some clutch issues. The event began about 5 hours away from my house, and I was almost picking up my co-driver at the Airport when I had the first crunchy shift. “Hmmm, that’s odd”, I thought. The clutch pedal felt the same, but it was as though it didn’t disengage the clutch. Visions of breaking cables, the hook on the pedal and a number of other possibilities filled my head the rest of the way to the start location. As the weekend progressed, things got worse. I adjusted the cable, no help. Any shift was a question mark. Sometimes you’d put your foot on the clutch and it would work like butter. Other times you’d put your foot on the clutch and it definitely wouldn’t disengage…but it felt the same everytime. We finished day two and three with me shutting the car off at each stop, and planned on using the starter to get the car rolling if the clutch didn’t work. The weird part was you’d come to a stop sign, and the car would want to stall with the clutch in. The moment you went to start it, though, the engine would spin freely just fine…even if you never moved your foot off the clutch!?!
We figured it must be the pressure plate failing, but when I finally pulled the motor in November I got a bit of a surprise:
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1678/23744084993_5552f52f37_c.jpg)
So, apparently the pilot bearing failed. Fair enough, I think it’s the same one from when I built the car in 2012. It’s got a LOT of miles on it. Must have started seizing, and eventually failed completely. I presume, from what I’m seeing here, that the clutch was probably working fine, and the bearing bits were keeping the engine connected to the transmission ‘just enough’. Bizarre, but the best theory I have.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1680/24003110689_fca8ea4344_z.jpg)
But that’s a really long around the block story about the next project for the Rally Bug. Adjusting the clutch cable, the fact that over the years I’ve found the 901 to beetle clutch cable isn’t perfect and the fact that I’d like to move to dual masters on the brakes eventually means the clutch cable simply has to go. The ‘big’ project this winter is a hydraulic clutch setup for my car.
Researching it, the early Porsche 901 box I use is going to be a bit of a challenge. I bought the SACO hydraulic clutch kit for a beetle, but quickly realized that I won’t be using it. The external slave would have to either a) be mounted below the frame horn or b) require a bent and convoluted connection to the clutch fork. Couple that with the fact that know the Porsche clutch requires more pull travel vs a beetle setup, and it’s not going to be a simple installation.
So, if its not going to be simple, we should make it even less simple…right? I don’t mind a challenging initial install, as long as once it’s all setup it works and requires little playing with it. Bending linkages just right, figuring out the ideal spot to drill a new leverage ratio into the clutch fork, etc etc. seemed like the external kit was going to be too much work. So, I started looking at concentric slave cylinders.
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A concentric slave cylinder replaces the throw-out bearing, and clutch fork with a hydraulically operated bearing. Once setup, there are no adjustments. It automatically compensates for clutch wear, it feels the exact same from the first shift to the end of the clutch life. There is a Saab unit which is often adapted to transmissions for a cheap(ish) option, but we’ve got a pile of Tilton Racing stuff here for the MK1 Escort project, and I sort of got swept up in using one of those…plus all the dimensions were in the catalog, so I didn’t need to buy one to see if it would work!
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After measuring up the 901 Transmission and related clutch parts, the Type 1 Engine, and using the Tilton bearing dimensions, I came up with the following adapter ring:
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1597/24262817632_7f0cc27dd4_z.jpg)
The ring will require some modifications, as the inside of the bellhousing isn’t flat. What this does give me, however, is all the important locating points and a spot to start modifying from. But, I need the part in my hand…So, bring on the 3D printer. I’ve been meaning to buy one for a few years, but never seem to get around to it. With the technology becoming popular though, I had this one printed for $13 and picked it up the next day.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1484/24262677242_d2e08ff187_c.jpg)
Before I can start modifying it, though, I need to pull the pivot ball from inside the Porsche bellhousing. On most 901 gearboxes this is actually threaded into the transmission. On the Early-Early 901’s, like mine, it’s pressed in. Okay, easy enough, a slide hammer should pop that out. Hmmm, I don’t own a slide hammer. Fine, went and bought one ($150) and discovered the jaws don’t go down small enough to grip the ball. Hmmm…I need access to a lathe or a mill.
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All of this clutch stuff happened pretty much on the Christmas holidays. I just launched the registration for our first 2016 event on the weekend, so I’ve been pretty busy locking that down. For the past 2-3 weeks, though, I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to make the final mount once I modify the plastic version to fit. I don’t have access to good mill, and my skills on a lathe could create the basic disc, but wouldn’t allow me to lay out the bolt holes in an accurate function. Plus the backside has some radiusing on the mount that require a mill, not a lathe. Hmmm… I think I’ve figured out a solution, which I’ll be taking care of this weekend.
To be continued…
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just reading through this thread wow is all I can say
the wiring alone would have lost me
great job
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the search for a better seal begins!
Before you do that, check the drain tube.
When I got my 69 Beetle, it too had water getting into the car. I found the drain hose was partly plugged so that in light rain, the water would get through. But in heavy rain, it would back up and overflow.
When I cleaned it out, it was full of black muck. The remains of dead leaves all rotted away.
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Not a bad thought...though I did measure the clearance with some play-dough (worlds best measuring device for blind clearances!), and discovered there is no possible way the seal is actually meeting the hood. Will explore both options though.
-Dave
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Catching up to update this thread. Basically copying the posts over from the Germanlook forum where the main build thread has been...
So, completed the machine work on my Version 1 adapter piece. Actually finished that up back in January 2016 but got swamped with other projects.
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(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1468/25226988385_65666209ae_z.jpg) (https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1605/25108733552_3f7bd41589_z.jpg) (https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1602/25108735792_c969eff36c_z.jpg)
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1699/24931382850_a50cffa1e5_z.jpg)
…and it was at this point that I realized I’ve screwed up. Somewhere in my initial calculations I carried a one, or something equally silly. Bottom line, there is definitely no where near the space I need to make all this work. The yellow line you can see on the splines is roughly where the face of the bearing is. If you look inside the bearing, you might be able to see the pink dot (or the yellow one close by)…yeah, that’s where the pressure plate spring fingers are with the motor installed. OOPS! I’m roughly 0.585” out. That’s 14.7mm for us metric folk, that is a smoking huge error. I went back and dug up my rough notes, and some how had figured I’d be 0.120” (3mm) short of the space I needed, and figured I could make that up with Rev2 of my aluminum mount. But 0.685…yeah, that’s not gonna happen.
So, back to the drawing board…or Google. First stop, Windrush Evolutions aka WEVO. They make the Porsche 901 hydraulic adapter in gold that pictured in my last post. I believe, from internet searching, that it was originally a Tilton product but ended up under WEVO license/control. Regardless, the WEVO unit is part of their full kit that uses a Tilton multi-plate clutch and custom flywheel. The kit is over $3k USD, and since it’s setup for a Porsche motor not an option. They’ll sell me a hydraulic throwout bearing, but the cost is more than I’ve spent on some vehicles…Porsche tax!
While I waited for the my solutions to ship (which you’ll read about soon), I hammered along on a number of items the car needed. After four years of running, I seemed to have added quite a bit to the electrical system. Heated seats, oil-cooler sprayer, GPS, Phone connections, second intercom system, interior map lighting (red), interior lighting (white), GPS speedometer & antenna, the list goes on. Problem is, each install was done right before an event with the intention of “cleaning it up later”. Basically, zip-tied on top in a hurry. I had a new electrical system to add, and I’ve reached my limit. It was all torn out, and put in cleanly and properly…
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1648/25185636935_b0e2261bd4_z.jpg)
The newest electrical system is a dash cam setup with front and rear cameras. I don’t live in an area where fraudulent insurance claims (Russian style) is a huge concern, but I’ve always thought I need one. You see, if I ever DO have an accident…who is going to believe me that I was driving responsibly? Thus, dash cam system. Picked up a used Blackvue 5500 system and did a permanent install. All the wires are tucked away and hidden.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1503/25159284056_9ee5e8ff14_z.jpg) (https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1461/24554957074_13994b4672.jpg)
I’ve run out of room for switches on the dash, so the oil-cooler sprayer and interior lighting switch is on the mount for the driver’s seat. Passenger seat has switches in the same location for the red and white reading lamps. The oil cooler sprayer runs automatically with the fan, but I can switch just the liquid sprayer on and off using this switch.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1676/24889999280_b54d3be4fd_z.jpg)
I also tore out the rear shocks and kafer bar, rebuilding as required. Oddly enough, the left spring and right spring were different heights when I pulled them out. So, swapped those out with a fresh pair. One of the Kafer bar ears had cracks in it, so I've started the job of actually rebuilding them all into double-shear mounts. May not be easy to do for each of the mounts, but a good project for later on in the Spring...
And with that, it was back onto the Clutch project. Stop number two on the world-wide-web was much more successful. Kennedy Engineering has a dual-plate clutch system for high-torque applications. Here’s the trick, though: they stuff two clutch plates, and an intermediate plate all into a package that is no deeper than a stock beetle clutch system. Hmmm, that got me thinking. If they’ve squeezed those plates into the same package, the pressure plate must be thinner? A couple of phone calls later, and we worked out that they have a custom pressure plate which is 0.230” thinner than a factory clutch. Kennedy was able to make me one to match the Stage-1 pressure plate I have. So, I’ll use the pressure plate with a single clutch disc by sinking the pressure plate mounting surface 0.230” into the flywheel.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1645/25195089346_f784f3c167.jpg)
Partway there!
The internet is an awesome, awesome machine sometimes. While looking up the Kennedy double-plate clutch system, trying to work out what the trick was (before I could call them), I found out the current system is actually their Generation 2 system. Get 1 used a standard pressure plate, and a 0.500” spacer between the engine and transmission. Hmmmm…a spacer eh? I knew I didn’t want to go with a full half inch, but I also wanted the proper lip to be machined on either side of the spacer if I’m going to use one. Worked it out with Kennedy Engineering that spacer could be made 0.375”, but probably no thinner. So, I ordered a custom spacer to be made up:
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1516/25195088426_23f182dc1d_z.jpg)
So…
0.120 - Rev 2 of my spacer
0.375 - Spacer
0.230 - Pressure plate
———
0.725” -> More than enough space. You know, presuming my math is correct this time. :P
For the moment, however, I think I need to shelve the Hydraulic clutch system. My first event for Classic Car Adventures is the end of April (Hagerty Spring Thaw), followed three weeks later by the Colorado event (Hagerty Silver Summit). I have a lot of work to do before them, with route books and other details! Warwick’s Escort Rally Car is project #1, he’s hoping to race it in early April…and as you can see I have a lot of work to do. I’m concerned I won’t have enough time to setup the pedal side of the equation, test it all, and swap back if it’s not working correctly.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1612/25067367602_39a4f99d93_z.jpg)
Having said that…I can’t stop thinking how quickly I could get the engine and and out to see if there is space. Plus these puppies just arrived. More modifications to be done!
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1566/24590715384_8f1499c052_z.jpg)
-Dave
June 2016:
Not much new to report! With everything I had going on, I've taken a pause on the Hydraulic Clutch adapter. I've got the engine end sorted (I think), but when it was time to do the pedals I realized I really don't want an adapted-stock pedal setup. I've got my eye on a Tilton reservoir-under-foot floor setup, but the price is hefty. Figure about $1k USD, plus plus. So, with that in mind I tossed it all back together with a cable to revisit it this summer. As these things go, it will probably get pushed back to the winter :P
In the meantime, however, I keep adding to the miles on the odometer. Since Feburary I think I've put roughly 8,000km on it...which for me is a massive reduction from normal. Late last year the motor developed a 'strange rattle' that we couldn't source. When I pulled the motor out and found the destroyed pilot bearing, we figured we had probably found the issue. Problem forgotten, winter passes, and finally I tossed the motor in for the season. Hmmm, the sound is back. And it changes, sometimes its far worse than other times. Hmmmm. It sounds like valve train noise, coming from dead-center in the engine case. We've checked the valve lift (in spec on all eight), and we've checked everything we possibly can without splitting the case. If the motor wasn't 2 seasons, and 90,000ish miles old, I would be tearing it down. But life is busy, priorities are higher in other areas, and thus I seem to start every Classic Car Adventures event with "well, if it blows it blows!" And yet, it still runs like a champ.
I am driving it less though. The odd sounds means I'm more likely to take my truck for a trip around town, or even if I'm zipping into Vancouver. Gotta keep that motor together for as long as possible, still have three more Classic Car Adventures events this year!
(https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fandrewsnucins.ca%2Fphotographs%2F4681%2Fclients-full%2F&hash=52b42fe903d38174e05fe80ac40e3d6c4bad44ad)
This year, for our Hagerty Silver Summit in Colorado (http://"http://www.classiccaradventures.com/colorado-events/hagerty-silver-summit/ss-event-info-and-registration/"), my mom flew out to play co-driver. We enjoyed an awesome three days of sunshine and mountain driving, with only one minor mishap the entire time. Coming into the small town of Mt. Crested Butte, where the event's second night hotel was, the clutch pedal went soft for three shifts...and then the cable snapped. Fortunately we were rolling in 2nd at the time, so I just blew a couple of stop signs and drove it into the hotel parking lot.
(https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fandrewsnucins.ca%2Fphotographs%2F4607%2Fclients-full%2F&hash=60794dc0a3cda12e27e910dfcf9df152d356c2db)
That night I discovered I wasn't actually carrying a spare cable, a problem since my setup uses a short one out of a split window beetle. Not going to find one of those at NAPA!
The morning driver's meeting was pretty funny. "Okay," I began, "so today you're all going to wait here in the parking garage while the Rally Bug starts off on the event. We have to blow through all the stop signs, and I don't want to get caught behind any of you. Oh, and while I think of it...do as I say, not as I do. Make sure you drive responsibly!"
We put the car in 2nd (facing down a slight hill), started the car by rolling on the starter in 2nd gear and we were off! I taught mom that coming up to a stop sign she was only allowed to say two things: "Clear Right!" meaning the road was clear to proceed, or "NEGATIVE!" meaning I had to stop.
(https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fandrewsnucins.ca%2Fphotographs%2F4700%2Fclients-full%2F&hash=1e25006ff8d8b663ef36b3dfc4f6d036d2589f99)
Normally, I wouldn't be too worried about driving without a clutch cable. You can easily start a beetle from a dead stop on the starter in first gear, but we had a couple of other factors working against us. The car is normally tuned for Sea Level, not the 5-11,000ft we were driving at in Colorado. I had done a re-jet and re-tune, but depending on the altitude it was hard-starting at times. The battery, as well, seems to be getting weaker in the car. Combine everything, and I just wasn't willing to risk it.
We made it 174mi (280km), before I was finally caught by a red-light. The first restart didn't go so well, but once I figured out the perfect throttle position we were laughing our way through the next two stops. At the surprise of many of our entrants, the Rally Bug pulled into the finish with zero damage. Whew!
(https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fandrewsnucins.ca%2Fphotographs%2F4769%2Fclients-full%2F&hash=690325e6532053cb6b0fcc3ac2f840af3c3637b7)
Now, a wise man would probably toss the car up in the air, tear the motor out and pull it apart on the five days I have home. I've rebuilt complete motors in far less time...but I think I must be getting older. The prospect of the late-night motor tear-downs and rebuilds just isn't nearly as exciting to me at the moment. I mean, it runs currently, right? :P
-Dave
June 28 2016:
Whelp, it would seem that worn lifter-bores are the most likely candidate for the sounds that I'm hearing. Guess I will be pulling the motor soon after all. Not sure whether I should try and build up a backup longblock now, or wait until this one is out of the car. Hmmmm...
-Dave
Editor Note: I didn't end up pulling the motor, and instead used the '58 Beetle all summer and ran the Rally Bug one last time for the GCVW show. Anyone who heard it start up cold probably wondered just what was going on inside teh engine. "clack, clack, clack, clack"...
...and half a year goes by.
Well, I didn't pull the motor in June. At the time I was living in Squamish BC, halfway between Vancouver and Whistler. Housing prices are insane, and while I would have loved to buy a house...there was no hope. About the time I was making my last post, I was looking around at houses for sale in another town (Port Alberni), very similar to Squamish but 4 hrs away on Vancouver Island. The price was right, I worked out that I could actually afford it, and put an offer in. Whelp, there goes the next German Look project budget, my offer was accepted. So in August I bought this:
(https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/14633393_10157536341635468_5677231918139187043_o.jpg?oh=8569fa9a01c0bc3f98b9c8bc64247a53&oe=593DF3A0)
The house came with this out back, but please note two of those 'doors' are white tarps. It's just a bare shell with 2 pads concrete, one dirt. Still, it's an 800sqft shop divided into two halves. The small door has a single bay, and the two larger doors are one big room with a post in the middle.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7605/28147398276_2b008de4cb_z.jpg)
I closed in August, but didn't move until October once all the Classic Car Adventure's events were done. The rally bug couldn't be trusted for the final two events of the year, so I ran my 1958 Beetle on the Hagerty Fall Classic in WA, and my Dad's '79 Beetle convertible on our Hagerty Maple Mille in Ontario. October, November and December were spent finishing the shop. I had the floor poured, doors installed, and then did all the electrical, insulation, walls and painting myself. Turned out pretty stellar, and I'm super stoked on it.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5809/30428501833_6d38336c6f_z.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5806/30868424000_39626fcfe1_z.jpg)
Bay One is the "storage bay", I've got my shelves of frequently used items, the '58, my woodworking bench and left over wood supplies in here. I also build a super-hefty storage shelf above the garage door that's 8 feet wide and 8 feet deep. Currently it's unorganized crap, but eventually I'll clean it out and store less-frequently accessed items. In some ways, bay one is a bit of a wasted space. It would be FAR better to have this room set up either as a "clean room" for building engines and assembly of cars, or as a dirty room where all the grinding, welding and other dirty work occurs. But, despite all the space I managed to stumble into, I have a space problem! I'm using the garage in the house to store my best friend's Audi Coupe Quattro, and I'm no longer keeping a storage unit where lots of my 'crap' that I don't want to throw out would be stored. In a few years, once the budget recovers, I will probably close in and insulate one of the car-ports and move all my storage over there, thus giving me a clean and dirty side of the workshop.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/591/32454599246_e52e024927_z.jpg)
Bay two and three, the larger half of the shop, is where my general work will occur. I've also brought my 1975 Standard Deluxe out of storage...figuring that now I have the space to finally decide what to do with it.
Security Cam shot with all three cars jammed in, while I finished out Bay one:
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/687/32046269086_68dd8d5b1a_z.jpg)
Workbench & Cabinets
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/697/31780798340_fa33a32c63_z.jpg)
FINALLY, this week, I started to use the shop for what it was built for. Pulled the motor on the rally bug and tore it down to find the valve-train noise. Turns out it wasn't a lifter bore, they're all tight and happy. The timing gear on the crank, however, was loose. I've never seen one come loose before, and neither had my buddies. Keyway in the crank was okay, but the key was pretty hammered out. Also discovered that after 92,000 miles on the 2110cc engine, it was time for bearings. Rod and cam bearings all looked worn but not damaged. The crank bearings, however, weren't so lucky. Definitely starved the middle (split) bearing for oil at some point!
(https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/16665735_10158124990445468_3684471032867294324_o.jpg?oh=21ed5e2d0649cb9652fda2b70095e73a&oe=5932815A)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2595/32921792275_c2984c6d8d_z.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/404/32921872125_285b389411_z.jpg)
So, while I wait for new bearings to arrive, I thought I'd go back to the hydraulic clutch conversion...the new adapter is 120 thousands thinner than the original, and so now I just need to figure out what box I packed all the flywheel, pressure plate and adapter stuff into. I know it's around here somewhere...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3825/32921870775_c415fd62f0_z.jpg)
(https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/16602072_10158129937600468_3698864360662323707_o.jpg?oh=abd2a9c6cdf1eb5e33cdeccdb55e4e32&oe=59400F16)
I keep looking at this box on the shelf wondering if now is the time to do it...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/472/32798108491_69ba8dae8a_z.jpg)
-Dave
So yeah, that's why I've disappeared off of Airspeed for a while. Closed on a house, renovated a shop, built furniture for the house, and now I'm finally back into wrenching on Volkswagens. I should really get rid of the old-grandma wallpaper in the kitchen, but that can wait...there is fun to be had in the new shop!
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Island living strikes back!
Turns out the new adapter plate I machined is so thin I need to go from M6x20 bolts down to an M6x12 or M6x10. Hit all the fastener places in town, and as expected no one had any in stock. Ordered some, but they could be a full week before they arrive. Sigh. No worries, I'll move onto the fuel tank and pull it so I can thread on a new outlet and get ready to setup the AN fuel lines...
When I built the car I remember there being quite the challenge to setup the fuel lines to my dual fuel pumps and a gas heater pump, but I had forgotten why it was such a challenge. Seems to me, I was thinking last night, that I could have just threaded in a CB outlet Tee (http://"http://www.cbperformance.com/product-p/6483.htm") and done it very easy. It wasn't until I pulled the tank that I realized why I hadn't done it the easy way. On a 71-73 super you won't find the M18x1.0 outlet fitting that every standard beetle has. Instead, the fuel outlet is a small nipple welded into the tank, and then there is an M20x1.0 drain plug (which appears to be included for the sole purpose of swapping out the in-tank fuel filter). Hmmm.
I can get an M20 to AN adapter, and there is a hole in which to pass it through. Locally M20 to -10AN won't be a problem. M20 to 8AN probably won't be available, but the guys at my old haunt Vibrant Performance list one in the catalog...so maybe I can get one sent out to me. I *think* I can make it work, but tightening the AN hose onto the bottom of the tank isn't going to be fun. 'course, if I was on the mainland I'd just roll over to Rocket Rally and grab what I need from their stock, hahaha.
At this rate I may have to go back to building furniture for the house tomorrow...
-Dave
Was up far too late last night looking at various surge tank setups, woke up today and gathered the parts needed to make a prototype from steel. I find that I usually realize a better way to do things shortly after something is built, so I'll do an aluminium one after I know how, or if, I want things to change. On the top I've got one -4AN to use as an inlet from the Facet pump, there is a second -4AN which I'll use as an outlet from the tank back into the stock fuel tank. The third unit on top is a -6AN for the return line from the engine. I actually put two -8AN outlets on the bottom, at almost 90 to each other, as I wasn't sure which way I'll mount the tank and where I would need the outlet.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3703/32941584386_f1028c0a0e_z.jpg)
On the factory fuel tank, I'm planning on using the original factory outlet strictly for the gas heater. Since I have the drain plug out of the tank it makes sense to clean things up and get rid of the T-Fitting I've been using. I grabbed an M20x1.5 oil pan drain plug, drilled it out and welded on a -4AN fitting. Need the paint to dry before I can test it in the car and ensure it will actually work, but might as well make the bits in hopes that it works out!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2040/32941584516_b99819ddf0_z.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2847/32941584456_613569056b_z.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2090/32941584326_ca2a299117_z.jpg)
-Dave
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did you try TKS on third ave , Ian is pretty good at rounding up metric goodies
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did you try TKS on third ave , Ian is pretty good at rounding up metric goodies
Indeed! They are just down the road from me, but had to order them in for me. The countersink makes them uncommon. I have to go to Nanaimo on Tuesday to pickup my flywheel & pressure plate from balancing, so I'll check Faboury-Metrican in Nanaimo to see if they might have any.
-Dave
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some how i missed the pic of the front of your house. iam only 3 blocks away in the 2600 block. ::)
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lol. Guess you'll have to swing by the shop for a beer then. Easy walking distance...
-Dave
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Ugh. These three lines were brutal to install. So, first up is my new AN-4 fuel tank outlet. Turns out the hole in the body underneath the drain plug isn't actually right below the drain plug. Oops. These are the sort of things I should be checking before I make modifications. Fortunately it *just* fit. The other two lines (Feed and Return) are just short, less than 10" long, with horrible locations for actually installing and tightening. Oh please let there be no leaks...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/600/33017062176_c0bc6007ed_c.jpg)
But it does make the trunk area work out. The two -4AN lines will get 45-deg fittings put on them to make the lines cleaner, but they can always be field swapped later...the beauty of AN lines and fittings. Surge tank leads to the high pressure pump via a screen filter. For some reason I mis-measured the pump initially and planned on -8AN lines for the feed, only to realize the pump needs -10. So there is a touch of adapting going on to the high-pressure pump, but such is life. The -6AN line is the return line. One -4AN line is the feed line from the tank via a Facet pump, the other one is the return to the factory tank.
All of this fits underneath the spare tire, as I have mine mounted on an angle with the top of the tire resting on the strut bar. Although, now that I think about it, it's been a few days since I actually double checked it clears!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/570/32250313633_ea32c730bb_c.jpg)
Feed line comes in just on top of the factory foot plate, which means it's behind my aluminum rally foot plate. It travels down the tunnel to the seat, swaps sides to the heater channel and travels up the back of the car to the firewall. Here it meets a Russell Performance 8" long fuel filter, which is as close to the engine as I can realistically get the filtration.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2932/32683909610_889c833e7c_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2143/32683909090_73a3b1bf5c_c.jpg)
I still need to decide where to punch the feed line through the firewall to make the line feeding the 1/2 fuel rail conveniently placed while allowing for some movement and vibration. The engine bay side of my firewall is pretty busy, so working out the best place to pass the line through isn't going to be easy!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8427/7837287018_ea14bae57f_c.jpg)
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Got back to the car today, and was able to solve a number of items towards the hydraulic clutch conversion. First off, I managed to finally pickup some bolts that will work to mount the adapter plate, so in goes the slave cylinder for testing. As suspected, sliding the motor in without the spacer means the pressure plate hits the bearing before the engine meets the transmission, so I popped the spacer for testing:
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/644/32326355603_b4a0f417fb_c.jpg)
Play-Dough makes the perfect tool for testing gap spaces. Once the motor is on and in place, simply remove it and carefully slice the playdough to measure the clearances. In this case, it's hard to see in the photo, but I ended up with .100" clearance, the minimum needed for the Tilton bearing. Sweet! So the hydraulic slave is now in (for hopefully the last time), and I pulled out all the cable operated clutch bits.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2874/33142216125_34af24334c_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2123/33142215795_324b9683a4_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/764/32326355633_56444a8274_c.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2912/32985386642_91f84c2f91_c.jpg)
Started working on getting the pedals setup for hydraulics, which involved making an adjustable clutch stop, cutting up the tunnel (more than I have already) to allow for more clearance to install the SACO slave, and drilling holes for various clutch lines. Once again I'm waiting for Russell Fittings, hopefully I can train Lordco in my new town to start stocking the sizes I use :P
-Dave
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good luck in training lordco lol .....welcome to the island!
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right on dave! nice to see some updates on the rally beetle...love that car!
also, super hearty congrats on the purchase of your home, thats exciting! and on the island, thats cool!
(https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/14633393_10157536341635468_5677231918139187043_o.jpg?oh=8569fa9a01c0bc3f98b9c8bc64247a53&oe=593DF3A0)
love this pic...
(https://airspeedparts.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fandrewsnucins.ca%2Fphotographs%2F4700%2Fclients-full%2F&hash=1e25006ff8d8b663ef36b3dfc4f6d036d2589f99)
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right on dave! nice to see some updates on the rally beetle...love that car!
also, super hearty congrats on the purchase of your home, thats exciting! and on the island, thats cool!
Thanks! I'm loving it once again, and enjoying the fact that I have some good upgrades going into it. Fuel injection should be awesome for the Denver trip this year, hopefully far less tuning...and no re-jetting!
------
With the clutch sorted almost sorted, and waiting again on more Russell fittings, it was time to turn my attention to getting the engine ready to drop back into the car. The intake manifolds are back from K-roc heads, having been ported and matched to my heads, so the throttle bodies could be mounted up, and the fuel lines and electrical staged on the car. The rear line, rail-to-rail seemed like the easiest place to start.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/621/33279849125_9ca2eacdbc_c.jpg)
Of course, it wasn't until I was finished with setting up the fuel rails, fittings and the first line that I realized I have a problem. The fittings coming off the 1/2 carb would clear a normal firewall, and my firewall is set 3" back so it should have even more clearance...except, I have one of my breathers right near where the fitting will end up. I did some quick measurements, and realized that I was going to have a conflict. So, take it all apart and try again.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2902/32436745224_6c3e6251b1_c.jpg)
The second option is much better, and as with a lot of things I do it seems to take one or two tries before I come upon the solution that I'm really happy with. It's hard to see in the second photo, but the 1/2 side is quite a bit closer to the throttle bodies. It will be clear in some of the photos further down.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3953/33124058512_274039e697_c.jpg)
For the feed and return lines, things are going to be pretty tight. I wanted them to be clean, not running across the engine, or wrapping around the throttle bodies. Russells 180 tight radius fittings will just work, but I'm not sure how I'll get the line in and secure. There is a good chance I may have to remove the air-filter bases every time I need to pull the throttle bodies out of the car. Annoying, but better than running the lines around the bodies.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/673/33238576036_83d85a5af0_c.jpg)
Mounting the throttle bodies also highlighted another problem I didn't anticipate. In order to fit the fuel rails and injectors inside a beetle engine bay, CB Performance essentially flips the intakes L/R. With their preferred bar-linkage for the throttle, this isn't a big issue. With my preference for centre-mount pushrod linkage (Vintage Speed), it causes a problem. See, I need to PUSH the throttle bodies open, and with the throttle bodies flipped they want to be pulled open. No worries, you say, simply flip the ball-pivots to the top? Well, I thought it was as simple as that too. A quick bend to the 1/2 bar to clear the alternator, and I was set...or was I? Turns out the first problem is the 1/2 carb won't open all the way...the bend means on the second half of the throttle travel, the ratio changes and 1/2 opens slower than 3/4. It took quite a bit of playing with bends to get the left and right sorted to be equal. I'm probably going to need to buy a new set of bars so I can bend them once and take the waves out :P
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/680/33124060702_18ff3cf0a5_c.jpg)
Next, was sorting out this mess...
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3679/32896724510_13ee357aa3_c.jpg)
I thought long and hard about how I was going to get the harness from the engine bay into the interior of the car. I was pretty much decided on doing a firewall bulkhead connector, which is basically a weather-sealed multi-pin connector you plug the harness into after installing the engine. On a modern car, when done right, you can pull the motor without disconnecting each electrical connector. After putting some thought into it though, I realized that if I have to pull the Throttle bodies (to clear the body), I'm disconnecting 80% of the connections anyhow...so it's probably better to save the $130 it would cost me to put that trick into the car. Running the wires up over the fender (with the factory harness), isn't an option. I have too many wires in there already, and having removed the passenger side foam on one car...I really didn't want to do it on this one! So, off to the bin of old Audi Harnesses from a previous car life of mine. I found a grommet that looked like it would work, and relieved it from the harness. The CB harness was going to be too long if I'm just dropping it through the firewall, so I cut it and prepped the engine side.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/771/33124060822_5d21b8db63_c.jpg)
I then prepared my workstation for sitting in the engine bay to join the two halves, now shortened, back together.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3735/32465060073_fe5dc7f49d_c.jpg)
And the harness finished. The parcel shelf area of my car is getting a little bit busy these days!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3780/33124060452_4ec3e9fdc0_c.jpg)
-Dave
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Well, Sh**. Got some good practice putting the motor in and out over the last couple of days. Worked out the hydraulic clutch spacing, fuel lines, wiring, etc. Went to go spin the motor...flywheel is hitting the transmission mount bolts. Bloody hell! Of course I have clearanced the counter sunk bolts I use for the old flywheel setup but the new setup is rubbing. The rub was slight, and it probably would have been fine after the first rotation, but in general I don't like to use the ring gear to do the grinding for me :P Have I mentioned the throttle bodies, all the electrical and fuel lines were all hooked up? Pulled the motor, ground down the bolts, and suddenly it dawned on me; I never considered the starter.
To save you from scrolling back in the thread, the early 914 transmission in a beetle means the starter only engages the flywheel by about half the tooth depth with a beetle starter. I've lathed down the mounting surface of my starter as far as we possibly can, and I get a good 3/4 tooth depth engagement. About 9mm of tooth engagement, based on the polishing on the starter teeth. I've got a spacer between the motor and transmission, to give the appropriate space for the hydraulic clutch system, and that spacer is basically 10mm thick. My starter is going to be just spinning in clean air, touching nothing. F-bomb.
Fortunately the German Look crowd all live in wildy different time zones, and a couple of us put our collective heads together for a solution. Since building the car some new threads have pointed out that the 914 starter actually has 10mm deeper pinion engagement, vs a beetle starter. Problem is, I want a self-supporting auto trans starter. One of the guys down in Australia is using a Vanagon starter in his Subaru conversion, and it turns out it should have the same 10mm longer engagement. A quick phone call with Rob this morning, and he scoured the parts books to see what compatible solutions he could find for me. A SR18X should fit the bill, and if that doesn't work an SR25x is the next one to try.
Hopefully the third time is the charm, though I can't shake this nagging feeling that its going to need to come up for something. lol, when your biggest stress in life is your project car, you're probably doing okay...Right? hahaha.
(https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p526x296/17202684_10158247202895468_2291733026140495876_n.jpg?oh=cdf8c6b41fb22911ace1ce24810bd191&oe=596FACAD)
I've got the 18x starter coming tomorrow, and I've measured the Beetle Autostick starter I have in the car currently. Will be able to connect power to the solenoid quickly and determine if the starter will work, or if we need to try the SR25X. Of course, if the starter will work I still need to lathe the front of it off to sit even deeper...gotta love destroying $250 starters so they only work in a single vehicle :P
So many things left to button up on the car before I can get it going. With travel and a course I'm taking it's not going to be this weekend, but the next. I suppose it's good I sold my winter tires for the bug, it's less tempting with the dump of show we got today.
-Dave
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Well, time for an update!
The SR18X is the same as a stock beetle starter, pinion depth doesn't go any deeper. So, ordered the SR25X. Turns out the SR25X does indeed have a pinion depth 10mm deeper than a stock SR18x. So, had I known this when I first did my transmission swap, a stock SR25X is the perfect combination for Type-1 Beetle engine and Porsche 901 transmission. No machining necessary, and you'll get full starter / flywheel teeth engagement. Unfortunately, for me at least, the way Bosch did this is exactly the same way I made the SR17X work...they simply made the nose & mating surface thinner. There is no meat left to machine the SR25x thinner, to make up for my new 10mm spacer.
Hmmmm.
After thinking about it for a while, I went with the only option I knew I could make work. Chris at Hi-Torque starters and I exchanged a number of emails and and phone calls, to ensure that we were on the same page and understood the required measurements exactly. A rather expensive shipping charge later, and this arrived in two days. It's setup to have the pinion depth a full 20mm deeper than a stock beetle starter, which makes it perfect for my current configuration. Dropped it into the car, hit the key and the motor turned over perfectly. Bonus points: All the changes are on the final two plates, so if it dies I can order a standard Hi-Torque starter and swap out my custom machined bits to keep going.
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I spent a few days buttoning up various things on the car, while I worked out getting my Mac laptop ready for tuning. Interior is back in, trunk is back setup, burned up my BN2 gas heater and then installed another one, and finally hooked up the laptop to the ECU. Everything checked out, I loaded my starting map, primed the oil system and started the car. Or, rather, I would have started the car if it actually fired up. I had fuel pressure, but no spark. Solved that problem and then spent two hours trying to work out a no start problem. I had fuel pressure, there was fuel on the plugs when I pulled to check for spark. I had spark, there's obviously air...compression? Check the valve timing, all good. Bad fuel? Drive to go and get fresh fuel...and that's when it dawned on me.
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You see, the carbureted setup had two fuel pups. FP1 was the primary fuel pump, and FP2 was simply a back-up. If the first pump ever failed on an event, flip the switch and keep going. Except, I removed the second pump to make room for the surge tank. I flipped the switch to the FP2 position, shutting off the pump, while I was setting up the initial timing the night before. So yeah, all that time diagnosing the no-start issue, and I literally didn't have the fuel pump turned on. Oops!
With that sorted, I turned the key and fired it up. On the current map the cold start and initial warm-up is terrible, worse than with the IDF carbs. But needing a base of understanding and settings to start from, I worked the pedal to keep it running and got the engine warmed up to the point where it was running off the O2 sensor and the fuel map part that I know enough about. From there I could set the idle on both the idle speed screws, and in the fuel map. Idled quite nicely, and called it a night.
I cut work short today, headed to the shop and dropped the car down off the axle stands. After torquing the wheels, I opened my garage door, put the car in first gear, stood on the clutch and turned the key. S**t. The car crept forward on the starter, not quickly...but enough that I knew the hydraulic clutch setup was not disengaging fully. S***! While I warmed up the engine I considered my options, and weighed the possibilities. After the initial panic / thoughts of tearing it all down, I realized that I may have enough adjustment in the pedal stop I welded in. A few wrench turns later, and I can officially call the hydraulic clutch conversion a success!
Well, time for a road test, eh?
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The fuel map is rough, and the A/F ratios were all over the place in the first 15min. A combination of a couple of tweaks by me, and the "Quick Tune"'s self-learning program saw things improving over the next two phases of the drive. Did some in-town driving, and then up to the Alberni Summit and back. The in-town section on the way home was significantly smoother and better than on the way out. Quite driveable, I'd even take it out on a road trip right away. Some of the drivability issues are definitely the 009 distributor I'm currently using. It drives like the car did on carbs, before I tuned out as much of the "009ness" as I could. No worries, the CB Blackbox is ready to go on the ignition side, so that will help out. I figured I might as well get the car running and somewhat useable on fuel mapping alone, before adding in the ignition side of things.
Sigh...do I have to work tomorrow? Maybe it's "tuning Friday"?
-Dave
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nice work, big changes coming to fruition for the rally beetle, the fi & hydraulic clutch are cool upgrades!
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...up to the Alberni Summit and back...
between port alberni & cathedral grove..? great stretch of road!
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That photo is on "the hump", between PA and Cathedral Grove. Technically just a bit on the PA side of the Alberni Summit...
Took the '58 out last weekend to Ucluelet, another fine driving road. My stipulations for moving away from Squamish were somewhat Unique. Besides the need for a large shop (with sleeping arrangements on site) it also needed to have:
- Great driving roads
- A good hill for engine tuning, preferably about 5min away from the house to allow for 'warm-up'. (but not so far that problems can't be limped home)
- A swimming lake within 15min, no more.
- Wood fireplace
Dave Koszegi was my realtor, didn't even blink at the requests. Considering he's raced Targa Newfoundland and the Canadian Rally Championship, he totally understood the need to look at the garage/shop first, and the house second. :)
-Dave
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Hey Dave , congrats on the shop (with detached house) ! Looks awesome !
Cool updates on the car too
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That photo is on "the hump", between PA and Cathedral Grove. Technically just a bit on the PA side of the Alberni Summit...
Took the '58 out last weekend to Ucluelet, another fine driving road. My stipulations for moving away from Squamish were somewhat Unique. Besides the need for a large shop (with sleeping arrangements on site) it also needed to have:
- Great driving roads
- A good hill for engine tuning, preferably about 5min away from the house to allow for 'warm-up'. (but not so far that problems can't be limped home)
- A swimming lake within 15min, no more.
- Wood fireplace
Dave Koszegi was my realtor, didn't even blink at the requests. Considering he's raced Targa Newfoundland and the Canadian Rally Championship, he totally understood the need to look at the garage/shop first, and the house second. :)
-Dave
yup, the main roads between coombs & ucelet & tofino are great driving roads!! plus there must be some pretty bad ass dirt roads out that way for the rally beetle to get sideways too :cool:
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Rally bug is up on axle stands for re-prep and upgrades. It's done 200,000km in four years, and as usual I have some ideas for improvements. Started stripping it down and creating a list.$
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One of the things I need to change is the stock pedal set. I've done various modifications along the way, but the key point is it has failed twice. One of the failures was the brake clevis pin, leaving us with only the hand brake on a twisty mountain downhill in Colorado. The last modification for the pedals was to convert them from cable clutch to hydraulic, and to do that I stuffed a master cylinder inside the tunnel. It was such a brutal job to get it all lined up and attached, I promised myself the next time it came out I would replace the pedals with a proper pedal box.
Well, the accelerator pedal setup keeps breaking...so out came the pedals.
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...and, this is where the problems start. Measuring out the car, there isn't a pedal box made that will fit. Surprisingly it's not the distance away from the seat, or fitting the master cylinders, it's the width. I always figured it would be squeezing in the masters, and I could use the Tilton master-under-foot setup if needed, but it's wider than I thought and won't fit.
I do have an older Tilton setup with the masters behind the pedals, but it's too wide to fit in the car. I could raise it 1.5", above the heater channel, but then my legs don't fit. Well, as a good buddy of mine is fond of saying, "God hates a coward..." and so, here we go!
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With 3/4" taken out of the pedal set, I can get it just narrow enough to fit the car. A bonus I didn't expect was the ability to fit a proper dead-pedal in, which is nice. With the dead pedal, however, the pedals do end up 1/2" closer to the driver...so I'm going to have to space out the steering wheel and move the shifter and hand brake. It's not the end of the world, but adds to the work level.
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I love a good night in the shop when you lose track of time. Looked up to check if it was dinner time, as I was feeling a little hungry...whoops, it's midnight. :P
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After a couple of nights away from the car, and a BMW M3 track day, I decided I didn’t like where the pedals were going to be mounted in the Rally Bug. I need to find a way to be push them further forward. Things got technical in the shop tonight. Had to print off a full-scale representation of the Tilton 600-series under-foot pedal set...to see how much more space $800 will buy me.
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The underfoot mounting of the master cylinders allows the pedals to be pushed significantly further forward. The trade-off, however, is in width at the firewall. The 600-series underfoot mounting cannot be done in a beetle without significant changes to the heater channel. Since I’m not willing to pull the body off the pan this winter, I decided to save the $800 and make what I have work. The next car I build will get the 600-series set.
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I debated cutting away the sheet metal painted in yellow, to gain another 1/4-1/2” of movement…and then figured 'what the heck?’. Removing the yellow got me some additional space, and then I removed quite a bit more. After the cutting I was able to move the pedal set forward almost 1.5" from where it was earlier tonight, giving me enough space to be comfortable. The green tape line shows where the 600-series gas pedal would be, which is about 1" further forward on the car. Pretty much inline with where the stock gas pedal would be.
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With the pedal spot basically figured it out, it was time to make a plate for the top side, weld on a steel plate on the bottom side, and drill the mounting holes. With the pedals now sitting at the proper level, I had to figure out how to make the accelerator cable work. The setup of the accelerator cable took three different versions before I came up with something that I’m happy with. Presuming you want to use the stock cable, in the stock tube, you have to find a way to make the system pull relatively horizontally, instead of pivoting and pulling down. Next, you have to sort out the pedal ratio, so it’s pulling enough cable through the travel of the gas pedal. You have to ensure that your setup pulls enough cable that you get full throttle…and finally, the whole setup needs to be adjustable enough that once you setup the brakes and have them bled, you can adjust where the gas pedal sits for best heel-toe use…and then adjust the pull, ratio, etc all over again. It looks a bit hokey, but I think this third edition meets all the requirements.
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I moved the brake light switches to the inside of the car, and after this photo tweaked the brackets so that they sit in a cosmetically-acceptable manner.
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The project was paused for dinner, while I worked out how I was going to do a grommet to pass the front brake line forward through the firewall. I can’t use the factory grommet spot, due to the pedals interfering, and I forgot to weld up the stock brake master holes. A wiring firewall grommet was my original plan, but it didn’t fit the brake master hole that well. So, off to the milling machine with the factory brake master!
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Pedals in, lines plumbed, brake light switches sorted, and the dead pedal has been modified for best fit.
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My summit racing order arrived, and I built a bracket to house the brake bias adjustment knob. If I was using the car primarily on the track, I would have mounted the knob in a spot where I could reach it while harnessed into the car. But, with it’s use on multiple surfaces, I’m far more likely to adjust the knob for tarmac, gravel, snow and ice, and leave it after some minor changes. I’ll need to loosen the harness slightly to reach it in this position, but the cockpit of the car is pretty damned busy and this was the best choice.
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My steering-wheel spacer also came in, but it had a weird lip on it that interferes with my quick-release. I don’t use my mill that often, but when I do use it…it’s the best thing ever. Something doesn’t fit, and ten minutes later it fits perfectly.
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I will still need to move the shifter back by about 2”, and perhaps water jet a new handle for the hydraulic handbrake…but when those are completed, I think I’m done the changes to the cockpit.
-Dave
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I will definitely report on them once I've got the car on the ground and running again.
Next up on my agenda is getting the brakes back on, which means first addressing the suspension that's sitting on the floor. It's high time I got around to fitting the Silver Project upper camber plates, as they've been collecting dust on a shelf since before my move. For those of you who aren't aware, these are direct fit for 73+ super beetles, but require some adjustments for 71 and 72 super beetles. The adjustment is to simply open up the large strut tower holes slightly on the body. The strut towers are made from two stamped pieces of metal welded together, and in my case it was just a matter of cleaning out where one layer was slightly skewed from the other. About 2min work with a die grinder on either side, and then some primer and paint for the, now, exposed edge.
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Hmmm...it would seem the bump stops in my winter setup are toast :P
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The local performance parts shop, Lordco, had some Energy suspension bump stops I figured I could make work. Problem though, they don't fit the upper washers too well...
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Nothing a flap disc on an angle grinder can't solve! I forgot to take a photo of all the urethane coating the white wall of the shop...that's going to be fun to clean off.
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After reassembling everything I realized that without the factory bump stops and cover, I was leaving the upper strut seal exposed to the elements. On my winter setup, and plans to hit Thunderbird Rally in February, and maybe some ice racing, this isn't an ideal thing to have! Off to Lordco again, to see what else I can find in the performance department...
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"But Dave," I can hear you saying, "that is an off-road truck shock boot." Ah yes, it would appear that way. But funny enough, if you cut the top six ribs off it, it becomes a VW Part!
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...alas, we end there as I head off to Big White Rally in Kelwona.
-Dave
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I was just over on The Samba, and there's a thread about a guy looking for help ordering stuff from Flat4 in Japan. Another dude says he can help 'cause he lives there, and posted pics of the Flat4 magazine.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8638182#8638182
Very cool.
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haha, awesome!
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Your pedal set up looks cool. Dave
FANCY stuff happening on your car!1
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Well, a contract in January turned into another contract in February, and that turned into an event in March...and just like that, I'm almost three months down on car time :P
On the plus side, thanks to these contracts I've driven some absolutely incredible roads and crossed things off my bucket list. I've driven through Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virgina, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan.
I've visited Barber Motorsports Park (including laps of the track, tour of the museum and a special tour of the museum workshop), BMW club of America's museum, The Lane Museum, Rick Hendrick's private collection, The Corvette Museum, The Amelia Island Concours and the Kennedy Space Centre.
I've been lucky to tour some pretty incredible automotive shops as well. The Creative Workshop in Florida was unbelievable. Wood floors, a hidden dyno, and cars you only dream of. Detroit speed builds some incredible muscle cars of the SEMA-type...but the sneak peak at this year's SEMA cars was pretty exciting. White Post Auto Restorations might be the oldest restoration shop in the USA and four generations have owned/worked/run the place. Duncan Imports is a car-guys dream where the warehouses of cars just goes on, and on, and on. How about a beetle with less than 30 miles on it? How about four of them...from three different decades. Unreal.
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But alas, it means the poor Rally Bug has just sat without me. Having finally returned home, I've been crunching away on it as much as possible. Photos are limited, as I'm trying to get the work done vs. document it.
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Moving the shifter back 2" resulted in some interesting issues. First off, the mount on the transmission tunnel suddenly had a tonne of flex in it. Previously each of the mounting bolts (three of them) were "boxed in", but the move back results in flex I definitely didn't anticipate. Fortunately the addition of two extra bolts, and a 2" gusset welded between mount and trans tunnel resulted in a flex-free install. The carbon shift rod I built needed to be shortened, which was a bit of a pain since I had to rescue the aluminum end I had bonded in originally. Without my buddies lathe, there was no way to whip up a new one. Managed to shorten the rod without shattering it...and then got to do it all over again as I cut it a 1/4" too long!
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With everything installed in place, I discovered a new problem…the shift rod angle is just steep enough that it was hitting something in the tunnel. I ended up cutting out a little more than I wanted, but worked out it was the throttle cable tube (figures, the only one I CAN’T cut out). Ended up having to cut the tube so I could move it, and then weld in a section to keep it inline so the cable won’t get cut.
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Extended the brake light harness, since the switches are now inside the cabin, in front of the shifter.
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Suspension has been re-installed, with all new bushings…simply because I was in there.
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Hmmm…it would seem this box was not the correct set of wheel studs. Where the heck are my 25mm studs!?!
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And taking care of some details…trying to freshen it up a little.
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Fresh coat of black on the bottom of the chassis. I hate this job, but rather then patch some sections that needed it, I cleaned the whole chassis and painted it from front to back.
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Under-dash area is now ready to go, and looking the business.
No photos, but I fired it up after it's winter break and started tuning the cold-idle a little bit on the fuel injection. There's still no fluid in the brake or clutch system, so I couldn't take it out for a real warm-up.
Found a couple of stripped out bolts in the front transmission mount while doing a nut-and-bolt check on the car. Drilled, helicoiled and new bolts installed. We'll see how that goes. It may explain why I've broken one of the kafer bar mounts twice previously, and again before the winter. Welded and reinforced that bracket, so we'll see what breaks next :P
Dealt with some wiring in the front end, and then looked over at the seat you can see in the floorpan photo above. I had a pair of those OMP seats with the headrest in the car for the Retro-Cars shoot many years ago, and the Cobra Imola 2 seat I'm using is looking quite worn. So, after perfecting the driving position after the pedal install, I of course decided to swap the seat out. Sigh. Fortunately I was able to get the seat in a position that I think will work well. Getting in and out of the car with the headrest is going to be annoying, so I doubt this seat will last long!
Retorqued the heads, and checked the valve train. I have some oil leaks which appear to be coming from the headstuds(?), but didn't show up when I started the car and idled it for 20min (after retorquing the heads). I have a sneaking suspicion the engine is coming out after the road test to find the leak :P
Tomorrow I should get my Motive brake bleeder back, and I can get the car back down on it's wheels. Need to do a front end alignment, and then I should be able to road test it.
-Dave
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Top Tip! Before bleeding the clutch and brakes, confirm you actually installed everything tight and correctly...not just for test fitting. If you don't, you'll be figuring out how to pull the clutch pedal with it full of fluid so you can tighten the master cylinder to the mount. Oops.
After bleeding the brakes, I came to the conclusion that I also didn't consider that by doubling the rear brake pistons, I would need a larger handbrake master cylinder. Oops #2.
Having ordered the replacement parts, and them taking a while to get to me on the island...I figured I might as well take it out for a test drive.
First test drive with the car was, to be fair, less than exciting. The clutch is VERY different from my last setup, and I actually think Tilton may have been incorrect with their master sizing suggestion. The pedal travel is very short, so a smaller master cylinder might be needed to get some pedal travel back in the action. The initial brake bleed was pretty terrible as well, but that is somewhat to be expected. I've always found I need to drive the car for a few km and rebleed to get the job done correctly.
After another bleed, the handbrake came back (fancy that), but still has a longer throw than I would like. The foot pedal, however, feels much better!
The first half of the second test drive was better, but honestly not that great. A race car that runs kinda poorly and the controls are all in slightly new places is not the type of experience I was hoping for out of the shop. About a third of the way through the test, however, I remembered that I didn't build this car for puttering around town...so off to some empty highway, where I put my foot down.
OOOOOOOHHHHH, riiiiiight. THIS is when the car is fun! My gosh it's a blast when driven properly. Before destroying the tires I thought I should return home and get my alignment tomorrow.
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Motor oil leak is one of two things...I think. It's either leaking from one of the cylinder studs (at the head end), or the oil cooler seals are leaking...or both. I cleaned off all the oil with brake clean, and after my tests one of the studs is wet. I'll pull the stud, reseal the washer inside the head and try again. You know, presuming I don't wake up to a puddle of oil under the car.
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Changing the seat has created a new problem. I can no longer reach the switches mounted on the side mount...one of which controls the water sprayer for the oil cooler, so I need to be able to reach them!
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Figured I'd make a quick strap so I can close the door and lose the armrest. RS style pulls weren't really possible, since the door panels already have holes...so a simple strap it is.
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Ugh. That simply will not do. Can't have the door panels looking like crap...so it's off to the drawing board!
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Need to head out of my small town tomorrow to see if I can get the material I want for the new door panels I've got planned. On the plus side, it hasn't been dumping oil anywhere!
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My solution for ugly door panels involves some ABS plastic sheet, some climbing webbing, and a couple hours of my time to get it all correct. 911RS inspired door panels!
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No other work completed...the shop was getting to be a disaster so I spent this afternoon cleaning it up and making sure it's ready for the next project. Whatever the heck that might be.
-Dave
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Excellent work Dave! Keep it up! The car must be very fun to drive!
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Oh, it's a blast to drive. Can't cruise around in it anymore though, it really needs to be driven hard otherwise it just bucks and coughs and generally runs like a turd. Get on it though, and it comes to life and is an absolute blast.
Storage in the Rally Bug is a definite problem. There's obviously no back seat, and there is less trunk room than a regular Super Beetle. For the most part, on road trips, I've figured it out...but it's surprising how handy the door panel pockets have become. Even just little things like house keys, wallet, gas receipts, etc. all need a spot. On the co-driver side they've got cell phones, pens, navigator crap I don't really pay attention to. We're gonna need some door pockets.
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Cut some ABS to fit inside the door pockets and keep 'em stiff, as well as some strips to support them on the backside of the door panel. The rivets will hold them in, big flange on the one side, two washers on the other to keep them from pulling through the door panel.
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Three rivets across the top, one in each lower corner (which was fun to install).
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Yup, that will work nicely.
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With the door panels done, I tore out the co-driver seat, drained the rear brake circuit and started working on replacing the hand-brake master cylinder.
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The old cylinder was 5/8 diameter, and is actually a Honda clutch master cylinder. It was easy to obtain and has metric fittings, so I had all the fittings to swap it over to AN fittings. The new master, as you can see, is quite a bit larger. I had to source the 3/4" master from Willwood, and work out the fittings to get the inlet and outlet down to the -3AN sizing that I'm using. Fitting this bigger cylinder under the shifter, above the valve for the Accusump and without hitting the driver's seat is going to be a challenge and a half...
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I had to cut off and grind down the casting corner at the back of the master, taking about 3/8" of material off, but it just fits above the valve for the accusump. Banjo adapters to -3AN look a bit odd with the bends, but I don't have to cut and make new lines, and you'll only ever see it in this photo anyways. Things are TIGHT in here!
I pressurized the system with a motive power bleeder, and bled the rear circuit without issues. I should have remembered to bleed the circuit before mounting the hand brake master, as you can see from the mounting angle it traps air. A quick manual bleed moves the air from the hand brake into the rear line, and a second power bleed empties the system. At this stage of my evening, things started to go sour. The handbrake feels wonderful. It's got a good short stroke, and while it does require more effort than my pre-winter setup, it's not bad. I hit the foot brake, no air, and then a second pump and the pedal started to sink. What?! I pumped a couple more times, and that's when I heard it...the tell tale squirt of brake fluid leaking somewhere. Of course, to find the leak required a couple of more pumps...and that's when I realized...I've emptied half a reservoir of brake fluid INSIDE the Rally Bug.
Funny part about having all your brake lines run inside the cabin. You don't have to worry about rocks cutting them, you don't have to worry about them corroding due to road salt. You do, however, have to worry about leaks! The brake fluid was pooling under the driver's seat, which normally wouldn't be an issue except I had been adjusting the seat belts with the new seat. The 6pt belt extras were lying on the floor, instead of wrapped up and ziptied as they usually are. Sigh. Well, didn't need the last 6" of brake-fluid soaked belt tails anyhow, so I cut em off.
Closer inspection of the leak, however, determined that it was actually a pin-hole, and squirting high pressure brake fluid onto the center tunnel, and was then spraying everywhere like a garden hose. A whole roll of blue towel and a can of brake clean later...and I think the interior is clean :P
Cause? A casting flaw in the 7/16 banjo bolt I bought. The sealing flange, had a nick in it.
-Dave
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thought this kinda shit only happens to me......just had the bail snap off the 5 gallon bucket of anti freeze I was hoisting over full boxes of cleaned and painted engine parts. :1rij: :1rij: :1rij:
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Back together and ready to go? Here's hoping!
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Well, ran out of fuel in the bug today. Was out doing some tuning and spent 30sec panicking as it was suddenly going lean and nothing was making sense. After a couple of brain cells kicked in, the problem was obvious. I ALMOST made it to the gas station too...but nope, pushed the car the last 100m. At least it's light!
I'm off for three or four days of scouting roads for my Spring Thaw event at the end of April. It could get a little interesting, the weather when I left my house looked good, but now they're calling for rain (which means snow on the mountain passes). Could be a "fun" drive, as I didn't bring my winter tires. :P Tires are technically legal, but not something I would choose to drive in snowy weather on a mountain pass.
Ah well, could be worse. Car is setup like it should be on a race track, not a road (little snappy in the front end). Brake bias is much better, but I haven't romped on it to be sure. Might want to sort that before I hit the mountains! Today I sent my best friend Connor a brilliant Craigslist find. His response was short, and to the point...and quite fitting here:
"It's like you have short term memory for stupid ideas."
heh heh.
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I've put a 1000km on the Rally Bug, 800 of which was today. Had to stop for a few items...
Got to the ferry terminal, and realized I didn't have any brake lights. Whoops, guess I forgot to check a rather important item before leaving the shop! A quick run through all the terminals and the lights were back in business.
Next 'feature' I discovered, was after a good hour or two of driving, the car developed an issue where it appeared as though the throttle cable was sticking. Instead of going back to idle, it would rev 500rpm too high. After being unable to find the issue in Hope, I chalked it up to something I'd need to look into and continued on to Kamloops. Coming into my exit in Kamloops I realized I didn't have any engine braking, and may even have some maintenance throttle going into the exit ramp. Uh-oh, this could get interesting. YUP, 1/4 throttle stuck on, can't even kick the pedal back to get neutral. And that's when it dawned on me...
The vibrations while the car was running, caused the throttle-stop bolt to back out. There's two bolts, one for full-throttle, and one for neutral. The neutral one backed out, tipping the pedal forward. A quick stop over to a hobby shop in Kamloops, and I had a 5mm nut to lock it down with. While I was down there, I figured I'd red-loctite the full throttle stop as well.
No photos, my phone bit the biscuit about 2hrs after Kamloops. Just the android boot screen over, and over, and over again. Sigh.
-Dave
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Almost 3,000km of "shakedown" later, and I have another list of items to do to the car. Some of these are large items, based on the drive, and others are little things that I've been meaning to take care of for a long time, but you never get around to it. Moving my dash cam, for instance, from the centre of the windshield to an area that the wipers actually clear would be a smart idea. So...tear the car down yet again.
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One of the big issues identified on the drive is that I'm still too rear-brake biased. I was able to work most of it out, but the balance bar is at the point of binding, so I needed to swap out the master sizing. Front brakes got a larger master, and we'll see how that goes.
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Partway through the drive, the tuning on the fuel injection started getting quite challenging, and I suspected an exhaust leak. A few hundred kilometers later, and I knew I had an exhaust leak. Just wish I had stopped to realize it was blowing right onto the rear apron. The paint was already hurting from similar incidents, but I totally demo'd it this time.
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Stopped in Squamish to get a buddy of mine to slice off some 6061 for use as wheel spacers...
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Started modifying the pallet on my rotary table so that I can finish the wheel spacers. Spent the rest of the evening filtering the aluminum chips out of my bourbon with my teeth...but hey, could be worse. I wasn't cutting/drilling with coolant :P
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Hacking away at the list...should be back on the road in another couple of nights for more testing.
-Dave
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I've worked through the critical items on the list, and have just a couple of regular maintenance items left on the list. There is, of course, the usual collection of "would be nice" items we always seem to end up with.
One of the critical items super beetle fans are all familiar with is the front end shimmy. The Rally Bug has a few light ones now and then, but usually related to the fact that I use balancing beads instead of traditional stick on weights. Occasionally the beads will "bunch up" if you hit a pothole, or launch off a line, and you simply lift the throttle and roll back on to smooth it out. So when I left home for the 3000km shakedown, the light occasional shimmy didn't bother me. I was running a second set of wheels/tires that may not have the correct amount of beads in them either. Post shakedown I was expecting to have to do the idler bushing (only original part left, and only part that doesn't get swapped on a schedule). But nope...alignment shop didn't tighten the inner tie-rod locking collar enough. :-| Yikes. By the time I got home it was loose enough I'm concerned the threads could be compromised. Almost new tie-rod in the bin, and one of my new ones off the shelf is now in the car.
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Oddly enough, it seems I have a problem with one of my brand-new Silver Project upper strut mounts. While working the suspension to pull the tie rod assembly out of the car, and check everything over, I found the passenger spring is binding. Further inspection and it seems the whole pillow bearing binds when a load is applied to the upper strut bushing. If you pop the strut out of the lower ball joint, it all spins smoothly. Pop the lower ball joint in (so the strut is under some load) and it binds. The bearing doesn't want to turn with steering movement. I must have pulled it in and out of the car six times, checking, disassembling, reassembling with different washer combinations and so on. Can't find the actual problem, unless it's the pillow bearing. I milled up a little test adapter and tried to bench-load it a little, and I *think* it gets stiffer, so the bearing needs to be swapped out. These came from Poland, and have the markings on the bearing machined off and replaced with "Silver Project", so I'll have to see if I can get them to tell me what they are.
It would seem under full load (with the weight of the car on the bearing, it works correctly. I’ll need to do some short road tests to figure out if the stock bearings are going back in again until I get this solved. On the plus side, the shock boots I made up at the beginning of the winter tell the full story. As the bearing binds, the boot “twists”, and holds the twist…so diagnosis should be easy.
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I definitely should have paid more attention to the exhaust leak. It was expelling hot exhaust gases directly at the rear apron. The photo is what’s left of the fibreglass radiant heat protector…it’s crispy! Unfortunately it has completely trashed the rear apron paint, so I’ll be looking to get that repainted at some point this summer. It was cracked and a little bubbled previously, but now it’s destroyed. The section where it was hitting has some bondo in it, and that’s all cracked and popped off the apron. POR-15 the damaged inside paint (which was completely gone) and two new layers of fibreglass sheet. Replacing the exhaust with one I haven’t beat to a pulp should probably be added to the list!
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I need a way to store the laptop I use for fuel injection, and have it easily accessible. Toss in the fact that I’ve got a co-driver at the next event, and well the front seat isn’t going to work. Hmm…need some aluminium C-Channel. But I have this old pocket door channel…and a milling machine…
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A quick few minutes, and I’ve got a laptop holding box. Added some high impact foam on the inside of the C-Channels, and some felt to the outside for the “OEM” look. It mounts below the passenger seat, you can just see the laptop (in a neoprene sleeve) sticking out.
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Started working on the footplate panel. Ran out of weekend.
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I wasn't blasting it in the same garage as the '66 mini!tonight started out really well. I began by finishing the assembly on the rear suspension (putting my double-shear plates back on) and then while O2 sensors. The bungs are placed for great readings, but are a little bit exposed. I suspect I might go through a couple of sensors! haha.