Dave's 1971 1302 Not-So-Secret, Secret Project Build [Archive] - Page 3

owdlvr

January 13th 2016, 20:43

Tried to post this in Off-topic, but I guess I need moderator approval in there. So! when in doubt, toss it in my build thread:

I've been looking at the Germanlook Button in my bookmarks tabs for months, knowing I need to comeback but always without enough time to really explore all the threads I've missed since taking a hiatus...but, I do really intend to get back involved.

I think it's probably been a good solid two years since I was actively checking daily, about that time I was done with my full-time employer and embarked on turning Classic Car Adventures, my hobby business on the side, into my full-time gig. 2014 was spent planning an 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, two of which are a minimum 3-day drive from where I live just to get to the start location, was a bit crazy to say the least!

...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 the German Look 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

Anyways, hopefully some of the 'old crew' is still kicking around, and I'm looking forward to reading up on any projects which are being worked on...

-Dave

http://www.classiccaradventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/CCA-FB-382x600.jpg (http://www.classiccaradventures.com)

Steve C

January 13th 2016, 21:42

Good luck with new venture, with your attention to detail that you show with your car I'm sure the business will be a success

owdlvr

January 14th 2016, 04:25

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.

http://www.eisparts.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/drain%20box%20pic300.jpg

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.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1453/24371042875_5193deb0d1_c.jpg

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!

http://tiltonracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/60-1100-500x500.jpg

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.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1505/24370901255_9391e8040f_c.jpg

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…

owdlvr

January 14th 2016, 04:34

Good luck with new venture, with your attention to detail that you show with your car I'm sure the business will be a success

Thanks Steve! So far, it seems to be going pretty well :P

owdlvr

January 22nd 2016, 05:10

So the clutch project is going to need a milling machine...and, realistically, it’s going to take a couple of test parts to get it all correct and working. I mean, true, I could painstakingly measure and model the inside of the bell housing, but it’s faster to make a part, revise it, and make a new one. So…I kinda went overboard on “the Christmas bonus”...

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1587/23815510003_c652d7bea1_z.jpg https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1614/24359862251_8aa59cc6f7_z.jpg

Okay, its not a ‘real’ mill, but rather one of the smaller “Mill/Drill” machines. Table size is 33”x8.5” and its got a 1.5hp motor in it. At 650lbs, it’s about the largest machine I can get and still realistically move. Plus, it’s the perfect fit in our garage, any larger and it would be a pain to squeeze in there. So far I’ve found it to be quite capable, even using a 3” facing mill was no problem at all. True, I won’t be taking ¼” of steel off in a single pass, but do a number of light passes and it works just fine.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1456/24452592631_84bb09379e_c.jpg

The Tilton slave cylinder finally arrived, and I sat down at the computer to remodel the adapter using some thoughts I’ve had while waiting. My original design couldn’t fit the 0.150” clearance they spec between the bearing and clutch fingers. If I swap out the studs holding the clutch guide tube with button-head hardware, however, I can do even better.

I suppose I should mention at this point that I’ve never actually been trained on a mill. My high school didn’t have a shop class, and while I’ve borrowed a buddies once or twice it’s always been for a specific modification to a pre-built piece. Turning a chunk of metal from the store into a finished part is totally new. I’ve used a lathe a fair bit, made a bunch of parts there from scratch, so I did have some knowledge to work from, but not a lot that was mill specific. I think it’s much easier now a-days, especially with the You-Tube. Not sure how do something, there’s a video for that!

After working out the part design, I worked out what I think are the most logical steps to make the part, ensuring the front and back both end up “on center”. First I had to make a pallet to go on the rotary table, something big enough that I could bolt the parts, and a jig to. Then I made a simple jig to hold the part after the first flip.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1553/24452592751_99070417bc_z.jpg https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1587/24508741906_b5fe02a403_z.jpg

And then I started machining the “bottom” of the adapter. The bottom, or bell housing side, integrates the clutch tube mounting shape into it. Originally I was going to make the part to fit over the factory clutch tube, but I figure I’ll just machine in the necessary bits. The backside will be done in two stages, first the main steps, then the part is flipped for front-side machining. Then it will be flipped one last time for some final work on the back.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1479/24167159659_4a9b1e97a3_c.jpg

...will make more chips tomorrow.

-Dave

Clatter

January 22nd 2016, 22:37

Stoked to see your operation with the annular throw-out!

Are you _sure_ there's enough room for the throw-out when fully compressed?
A hard measurement to get..

Wally performed a similar operation with his G50.
Dig through his build thread.
Using a Passat throw-out IIRC..

There's also a thread on the transaxle forum about this, too.
None used the Tilton AFAIK, however.

I chickened out on my 923 trans.
(street car)

Excited to see how this works out.
Glad to see you back..!

owdlvr

January 23rd 2016, 02:49

Stoked to see your operation with the annular throw-out!

Are you _sure_ there's enough room for the throw-out when fully compressed?
A hard measurement to get..

Honestly? No.

It's a very difficult measurement to get, and the Tilton is damned thick. I did have a few tricks up my sleeve though. First off, I found a "clutch depth measuring tool" at the PRI show. I took photos (which I can't find at the moment) and was able to reasonably duplicate it in the shop. Well, I think. hahaha.

I was also smart enough to disengage my clutch cable without touching the adjustment (one benefit of the Porsche arm). This meant with the engine out I could manipulate the clutch arm and get a visual of "about" where my bearing sits. My Porsche clutch guide tube has some wear marks from the throw-out bearing, which I was able to confirm are in "the right spot". I was able to compare wear marks on my old throwout bearing and my newish (2yr old) one to the marks on the guide tube, and confirm where the "clutch action" was occurring. That measurement matched up almost exactly to my measurement on where the pressure plate fingers *should* be from the bell housing. So with all three measurements coming up within the same tiny area, I figured I had to be pretty close.

Wally performed a similar operation with his G50.
Dig through his build thread.
Using a Passat throw-out IIRC..

There's also a thread on the transaxle forum about this, too.
None used the Tilton AFAIK, however.

Funny enough, in all my research for this I never thought to check the Germanlook forum, instead focused on the Porsche forums. There is lots of G50 info, and plenty of options out there...but very little on the 901 trans, and even less on the early 901 trans. Tilton DID have a Porsche 901 throwout bearing setup a few years back, but it was for the later 901 gear box that has a different bolt pattern and clutch setup.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net-364-1298399908.7.jpg

I also think that I'll end up milling two initial adapter plates. The first one is the plate I *think* is correct, which will help me work out where I need to clearance the plate and/or the bellhousing. The second plate, which is actually the first one I'll try, is going to be designed to slide snugly over the factory guide tube...but not actually "bolt in place". If I do it right, I should be able to bolt the engine in, and using the clutch lever arm hole slide the bearing forward and back to confirm I have the needed 0.100-0.150" clearance. Either that, or I'll find out I've really messed up and have a very expensive paperweight!

I chickened out on my 923 trans.
(street car)

Excited to see how this works out.
Glad to see you back..!

Thanks! Sorry to be gone so long.

-Dave

owdlvr

February 24th 2016, 02:06

So, completed the machine work on my Version 1 adapter piece. Actually finished that up back in January but got swamped with other projects.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1694/25226985565_398e38d468_z.jpg

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

fahrvergnugen

February 27th 2016, 12:28

Hay Dave.

I made this, and it seems to work.
http://www.keversite.nl/fotoalbum/fotos/140550.jpg
http://www.keversite.nl/fotoalbum/fotos/140547.jpg
http://www.keversite.nl/fotoalbum/fotos/140549.jpg

It's a Porsche 914 gearbox with an Opel Vectra thrust bearing. the mounting bracket is 5mm

owdlvr

June 23rd 2016, 19:59

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!

http://andrewsnucins.ca/photographs/4681/clients-full/

This year, for our Hagerty Silver Summit in Colorado (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.

http://andrewsnucins.ca/photographs/4607/clients-full/

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.

http://andrewsnucins.ca/photographs/4700/clients-full/

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!

http://andrewsnucins.ca/photographs/4769/clients-full/

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

owdlvr

June 28th 2016, 12:43

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

owdlvr

February 15th 2017, 16:38

...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, 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.j pg?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

The house was also being sold with the lot next door, which has a gravel driveway to access the shop in the back of the house. It also has three large carports and a storage shed on the lot. I managed to scoop all of this up for less than an apartment would cost me in my old town. True, I'm on an island and ferries are crazy-expensive to get on and off ($80 one way)..but it's a BIG island, and anytime I have to travel off the island it will be a business expense.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/684/32018026996_a122382f92_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.

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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.

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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.j pg?oh=21ed5e2d0649cb9652fda2b70095e73a&oe=5932815A

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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.j pg?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

Yogie

February 16th 2017, 04:01

Congratulations on the new house. Looks like a great workshop for you as well.

Yogie

H2OSB

February 17th 2017, 18:51

Love your car Dave. Makes me kinda like Super Beetles ;)

owdlvr

February 18th 2017, 03:16

Thanks! I have to be honest, even after four years it still brings a massive smile to my face every time I see it.

------

Well, this evening has been less than successful.

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.

Onto the engine build! Pulled my new main bearings out of the box, modified them for better oil flow from the case, and THEN realized that I had the wrong ones. Doh. Got sent 1st cut crank, standard case. When what I really needed was Standard Crank, 1st cut case. Oh well, can't blame my buddy...I read the box and thought "that looks odd" but didn't double check them. Same error, both ends of the transaction.

So the engine build is currently on hold until the new bearings arrive. The guys are going to see if they can't get them on a Sunday delivery for me. No worries, we'll move onto the fuel tank and pull that so I can thread on a new outlet and get ready to setup the AN fuel lines. Except, nope.

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://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.

Well, I guess sorting the fuel system will have to wait a little longer.

At this rate I may have to go back to building furniture for the house tomorrow...

-Dave

*edit* I remember a few years ago there being some surge tank discussion on here, and did a quick search to see what I could find. Might spend sometime thinking about going with a surge-tank setup instead of an adapter for the tank drain...

Joel's setup in 2010:
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/boostedbug/Subaru%20conversion/subi_conv370.jpg

Manic's setup:
http://www.germanlook.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=3487&d=1284403588

owdlvr

February 19th 2017, 01:32

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
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-Dave

owdlvr

February 23rd 2017, 03:18

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!
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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.
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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

owdlvr

February 23rd 2017, 14:11

This was an fun surprise to wake up to. Issue 51 cover car! Makes me wish I had:
a) washed the car that weekend
b) installed the rally computer instead of leaving it at home
c) borrowed my buddy's seats which are in much better shape!

I had no idea it was going to be shot for the magazine, about 15min before we left to shoot the car I was emptying a weekend's worth of "running a car show" crap, and fast food wrappers. Oops.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2042/32259083153_711e53b3fc_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/R9CewR)LetsPlayVWsCover (https://flic.kr/p/R9CewR)

chug_A_bug

February 23rd 2017, 23:43

Congrats...

owdlvr

February 27th 2017, 01:15

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:
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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.

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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

Wally

February 27th 2017, 15:09

Nice job!
You will LOVE the annular bearing mod, I'll guarentee (sp?) it!

owdlvr

March 6th 2017, 03:49

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
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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

Wally

March 6th 2017, 15:53

Nice job!

owdlvr

March 9th 2017, 02:06

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 bolts. Bloody hell! Pulled the motor, ground down the bolts, and suddenly it dawned on me; I never considered the starter.

Sh**.

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. I've lathed down the mounting surface of my starter as far as we possibly can, and I get 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***.

Ahhhh...I guess I need to find someone who knows a whole lot more about rebuilding starters than I do, to find out if a longer axle or tooth is possible on my starter, or if one of the aftermarket "high-torque" starters can be modified to fit and work.

-Dave

owdlvr

March 9th 2017, 03:14

A quick chat with Joel tonight after some googling, and I think I have my solution. The 83-86 Vanagon starter has a 10mm deeper pinion depth, so if I buy one of those and lathe it down like my beetle starter...I should be good to go. Will pull the beetle starter tomorrow, and put the motor back in...again.

:P

-Dave

owdlvr

March 10th 2017, 03:10

Hopefully the third time is the charm. 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.

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I've got a Vanagon 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 Vanagon starter will work, or if I need to find another solution. 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 want to go play!!!

-Dave

Clatter

March 11th 2017, 09:34

lol, when your biggest stress in life is your project car, you're probably doing okay...Right? hahaha.
-Dave

Look out, though...
Once the nest is built, it's very common for the female to come into reproductivity!:D

I fought some of the same issues with throttle linkage rods.
Bends can work themselves out with use unfortunately..

Might just bite the bullet and get a sync-link?
CBs hex-bar comes with it's own set of issues..

Did you look at the Web-link that CB sells, to flip a carb 180' and use the other side?

Also wondering if you are 100% sure you want to run the fuel lines through the interior of the car?
I heard some sanctioning bodies frown upon this..

Love your work here.
Just beautiful..
I'll go crawl back under my bridge now.:)

owdlvr

March 11th 2017, 19:55

Look out, though...
Once the nest is built, it's very common for the female to come into reproductivity!:D

I fought some of the same issues with throttle linkage rods.
Bends can work themselves out with use unfortunately..

Might just bite the bullet and get a sync-link?
CBs hex-bar comes with it's own set of issues..

Did you look at the Web-link that CB sells, to flip a carb 180' and use the other side?

Also wondering if you are 100% sure you want to run the fuel lines through the interior of the car?
I heard some sanctioning bodies frown upon this..

Love your work here.
Just beautiful..
I'll go crawl back under my bridge now.:)

Easy fix for the first point, I'm single :P Could probably change that if I spent a little less time in the shop though...hmmm.

I figure with the flex now built into the linkage, especially on the 3/4 side, I'll be adjusting the bends more frequently than if the rods were simply straight. Sync-Link is definitely an option to consider, and one I'll look into as the season progresses. Having been a mountain biker for so many years, the idea of cables in sheath in such a hot area combined with the dirt and mud my engine bay sees at least a few times a year, makes me think it won't be a maintenance free option on my car.

The weblink is interesting, but it essentially focuses on changing the spring from the back of the left carb over to the front, so that the loads on the throttle shaft are equalized. Don't think it will help me too much here.

As for the fuel lines, yeah I'm quite comfortable running them through the cabin. It's a pretty common thing to do in Rally, and our sanctioning body simply requires that there is a metal shield between the fuel line and the passengers of the vehicle. In the case of a stainless-steel braided line, because the rubber line is actually fabric reinforced, the stainless braid is considered to be a metal shield by *most* scrutineers. That is changing, however, and the latest build we've done (a MK1 Escort) required a literal metal shield between the co-driver's legs and the fuel lines. In the case of my car, I'm careful to anchor the lines *(just* enough that they won't move about in an accident, but should the car crush or deform they'll have some movement so they don't fail. Most of the lines in the car appear to be 3-6" too long, but it's accounting for movement should I manage to fold the thing in half.

-----

Managed to get a large number of small items crossed off the list last night, and added the annual layer of POR-15 to the interior floorboards. I'm still fighting the issues I had from the original build, but about 80% of the original paint has been peeled up and replaced. No idea what happened on the initial prep, but any of the areas hit with a new coat over the last four years seem to have the bullet-proof finish we expect to have from POR15.

I'm off to the mainland today to go and visit my buddy with his big lathe, we'll cut down a new starter and hopefully I'll have that dialled in. A missed ferry means I'm taking the risk that the SR18X that's at his house will work, and it's hitting the lathe before I get a chance to measure the pinion depth. Live dangerously, right? :P

Hoping to be pressurizing the oil system on Monday, but I suspect it will be Wednesday, once I'm finished a course I'm taking. I'm only 15days behind my original plans for all the pre-season work...

-Dave

owdlvr

March 13th 2017, 13:23

https://aa-bap-us.resource.bosch.com/Assets/large/0986016377PHFRWHCO0000NA_lg.jpg

The starter fun continues. I got my SR18x in stock, and it definitely extends the exact same amount as the 17x I'm currently using. Currently on hold with Bosch technical support to see if they can come up with anything, but at the moment we may have found a solution with the SR25x. One of the local parts houses as warning note in their system that it should only be used on Vanagon model vehicles, and not the beetle/porsche/etc the system says it will also fit. Their internal note says it's 10mm longer and won't work in the other applications. Bingo, that is what we need! Hoping to confirm with a Bosch service tech, and the SR25X will be here tomorrow.

...getting closer? Maybe?

-Dave

Clatter

March 15th 2017, 23:06

Whatever you, don't hit it with a hammer, though..! :-)

owdlvr

March 24th 2017, 01:10

Well, time for an update!

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.
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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?
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2867/33460278672_e50e7e4438_c.jpg

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

owdlvr

November 27th 2017, 19:56

Oh hey! It's only been March since I last posted? So happy to see that Germanlook.net is backup and running. I have a bunch of stuff to post, though I'm not sure how good I've been about taking photos. Will start posting tonight or tomorrow, after organizing what I've got. Changes are coming this winter too...I keep stripping more parts out of the car.

https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/23509341_10159478291625468_9189418885544082007_o.j pg?oh=8be80788a9624a73c611773e9aef85fa&oe=5A9D7C84

-Dave

rioprelude

November 27th 2017, 20:28

Good to see your posts again Dave!

owdlvr

December 7th 2017, 02:17

Alrighty...time for a quick run down on the summer.

The fuel injection system was running splendidly, and I was looking forward to another awesome Hagerty Spring Thaw in the car. The actual event weekend ended up being a gong show. The night before the event, while doing some tuning, I lost all fuel pressure. Diagnosed it to be the pre-pump filling the surge tank. Popped a new one into the car while my guests enjoyed the pre-event dinner, and was ready to go. The next morning an avalanche took out the mountain road we were supposed to use, so I had to do a last minute re-route. While driving on the re-route we lost fuel pressure again, on an intermittent basis.

If we had been on the original route, instead of one that took 4 hours longer to get to the hotel...
If I had just stopped, breathed in and out for five minutes to think about it...
If i had another twenty minutes at the side of the road, without stressing about the event...

Alas, I did the responsible thing. Limped the car to a buddies place, rented a car and hosted the rest of my event. Literally 20min after we picked up the rental car it dawned on me. "There must be a problem with the fuel tank pickup." Another 15min and I said to Greg, my co-driver, "I know how to fix it. I simply need to swap the fuel lines around so that the engine is drawing from the gas-heater pickup." In my car it's separate, and located at about 1/3rd above the bottom of the tank. We'd have to fill up more often, but it would have allowed us to use the car for the event. On the way home, we stopped at the car, I spent 15min swapping lines around, and the car drove flawlessly. Sigh.

Some diagnosis upon getting to my shop, and I found some things I expected...and one thing I did not!

The filter showed some dirt, as I anticipated it would...
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4554/25014677218_2c53259413_z.jpg

The tank outlet appeared to be plugged.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4248/34638377340_7f796efa7b_z.jpg

But this seemed odd...
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4267/34638377020_921c86ce99_z.jpg

What are the chances that a little rubber bumper which fit perfectly into my fuel tank outlet would do just that. I think it was Joel that identified it as a bumper off of the fuel gauge sender. I mean, really. Unbelievable. Hopefully my new filter setup will prove to be problem free!
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4567/25014675318_cc41b217e6_z.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4197/34638376850_3104294bd4_z.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4272/34638092120_0abc87b643_z.jpg

My fuel setup now has a backup pump, already plumbed to the gas heater inlet, ready to go should a problem resurface.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4563/25014672818_596ca36ef8_c.jpg

The rest of the summer was a blur of adventures...although most were without the Rally Bug. I acquired a ’67 MGB in a crazy L.A. to Canada adventure, and the ’58 beetle has been doing a lot of miles here on the island. Not wanting to leave the Rally Bug feeling left out, however, it was redemption time on my Fall event the Hagerty Fall Classic.

http://www.classiccaradventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/CCAFallClassicprv__014rdc-600x400.jpg
Fortunately this time around the car was flawless, and it was a perfect way to close out my motoring events season. The Rally Bug crossed 210,000km on the odometer since being finished, which is pretty remarkable in 4.5 years. The fuel injection setup is wonderful, the hydraulic clutch is fantastic...but the car does need a bit of a refresh in spots.

I'm getting a very slight front end vibration, similar to the Super-Beetle-Shimmy, but too early to tell. I found the steering damper bushing had failed, and made up a new one using Urethane. One of my wheel/tire setups vibrates less, but no amount of rotating seems to solve the problem. Not finding anything obvious in the front end, I figured I’d just do a full rebuild come winter. The other main annoyance is the pedal cluster. After 200,000km, many of them not gentle, it’s showing the fatigue. The brake pedal pin snapped off it once in Colorado, and now the accelerator pedal setup keeps breaking. It’s worn out, and needs replacement.

Back when I did the hydraulic clutch conversion, the hardest part of the whole operation was getting the factory pedal set bolted back in with the Saco clutch master cylinder. It was brutal. The job was so bad, I promised myself that when the pedal set has to come out of the car next, if the body is still on the pan, I won’t put a stock pedal set back in.

Well…winter has started. First job was to put the car up in the air, and start stripping off everything that I new was going to be changed, upgraded or refurbished. The front suspension, front brakes, rear brakes, stock pedal set, and clutch master cylinder are all out of the car.

Tomorrow I’ll catch up on the work I’ve been doing…

-Dave

owdlvr

December 7th 2017, 02:44

Actually…before I do that, I should tell a story from the Hagerty Fall Classic.

If you’re not aware, or don’t remember, I run three-day driving events for people who own classic cars. Yup, that’s my job. Seriously. The Hagerty Fall Classic is my September event that happens in Washington and Oregon. This year we had to move the event due to Forest Fires, and instead ran in B.C.

Now, when you run classic car driving events for a living, you’re always concerned about the driving styles of everyone who attends. There have been accidents in similar events in California, and a part of me always needs to worry about people who are driving in a manner which may earn them a citation. And thus, truthfully, I haven’t really driven the Rally Bug hard in a couple of years, as I’m usually setting the example…and the Rally Bug gets out to less events per year than it used it.

So, I moved the event North due to Forest Fires, which meant a number of guests couldn’t attend. We were a smaller event, made up of friends and clients who have been doing my tours for years. Warwick, my buddy with whom I started Classic Car Adventures, was attending this year…having taken a number of years off due to the growth of his other business. We haven’t driven twisty roads in classic cars together since I think year two or three…and this was year nine for CCA.

At one point on the event we hit Warwick’s favourite road in all of British Columbia. He was leading, I was on his tail, and things got a little spirited. Not dangerous, by any stretch, but we were having fun. Officially, should any one be reading this for non-entertainment purposes, all of our driving was strictly legal. But yes, we were having a blast. Later in the day, we hit my favourite road in the province, one which Warwick had never driven before. This time I was leading, and the joy of showing a great car buddy my favourite road may have influenced my right foot a little. We started in a group of cars. My Rally Beetle, Warwick’s Mini with a 1250cc engine, a Porsche 356 replica running a 2332cc vw engine, a Lotus Super 7 with a Hyabusa motorcycle engine and a Jag E-Type. At one point we passed the two Porsche 911s on the event…and soon it was just Warwick and I. At the end of the road was a restaurant, and we stopped for coffee while we waited for everyone to join us.

It’s been far too long since I drove the Rally Bug at it’s full capabilities. Every shift, every corner, every line, every bit of the drive up our mountain road was in the zone and perfect. I got out, having throughly enjoyed myself, and realized I had awakened my love of the Rally Bug. Later, John in the 356 replica was chatting with me. “Dave,” he says, “I’ve known you for 6 years and I have never heard your car run like that. I always thought it was a bit of a heap. It never idles right, it always got coughs and sputters in weird spots…it’s because you never drive it! Opened up like you had it, it sounds incredible and runs unbelievably!”

I hear, when the story is told around campfires, the Rally Bug was seen to be just beyond the traction circle in every corner…it’s driver peering out the side windows as much as the windshield. Legend speaks of dual webers screaming at full throttle. But you know what they say about campfire stories? They’re all highly exaggerated for the benefit of law enforcement.

On that drive heading up the road, I remembered why I built the car the way that I did. All of its annoying issues are only annoying if you try and drive it like a daily driver. Drive it the way it was meant to be driven, and it all makes perfect sense.

My love for the Rally Bug was definitely rekindled.

-Dave

owdlvr

December 8th 2017, 12:38

And now for the current projects...
https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/23509341_10159478291625468_9189418885544082007_o.j pg?oh=8be80788a9624a73c611773e9aef85fa&oe=5A9D7C84
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.$

https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/23550410_10159478291860468_3124350318058717735_o.j pg?oh=a2fd3d6935a474d26c37942feb07a16b&oe=5AAE8C0A

https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/23467092_10159478291750468_255043960200843798_o.jp g?oh=eb331999151cdf3cd11976cb986b5cd2&oe=5AAB5B38

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.

https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/23467384_10159478311820468_5701922787763201798_o.j pg?oh=cadec102061322bd6b8e37168ac6487b&oe=5AACFB4C

...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!

https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/23415383_10159478311880468_7243705997439145637_o.j pg?oh=99d057e7b88a3e7218aae123fc17dae6&oe=5A650790

That photo shows me milling 0.75" out of the space between the clutch and the brake pedal. I did mill all the way through making my pedal set two pieces. Of course, I had to mill out two new mounting holes for the clutch pedal at the same time. 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.

https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/23509317_10159478311970468_7098991259597940758_o.j pg?oh=a252ef345ebfc8f6b86dce1aecfee1d8&oe=5AAC9A84

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

owdlvr

December 8th 2017, 14:03

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.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4736/27140470629_bbda2452e5_c.jpg
http://tiltonracing.com/wp-content/uploads/Tilton_600-Series_3-Pdl_FloorMount_Forward_linkage-mech-discl.jpg
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.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4557/27140470699_7c28eb7964_c.jpg
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.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4690/27140470739_67e0b6f546_c.jpg

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.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4523/27109608479_4588365392_c.jpg

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.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4530/27109335889_1c77a4c678_c.jpg

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!
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4561/38884915561_1b3783ce1a_c.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4560/38169346384_564290056f_c.jpg

Pedals in, lines plumbed, brake light switches sorted, and the dead pedal has been modified for best fit.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4522/27108254359_b06ba63367_c.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4528/24020073117_cdf9c6b69e_c.jpg

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 ****pit of the car is pretty damned busy and this was the best choice.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4538/24021365177_03f0a8d048.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4529/38169319094_4b55a8ae00_c.jpg

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.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4529/38884931581_06fb7da53f.jpg
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4583/38884928331_72311f6041.jpg

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 ****pit.

-Dave

rioprelude

December 10th 2017, 21:32

Very nice work as usual! I need to look at upgrading to the Tilton pedals when I get back on my project. Let us know, how they work out.

owdlvr

December 13th 2017, 02:00

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.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4572/38884878371_f5d3b6c6c3_c.jpg

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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...

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4581/25013602708_31ff392ea6_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/E7nfCd)
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4522/38884858531_c65001ee43.jpg

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.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4563/38884852461_fdbf34d9cc_c.jpg

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...

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4581/37998157275_cc1f7fc7a9.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4553/25013587188_574aae0265.jpg

"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!

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4536/25013592458_1eca18e5a1_c.jpg

...alas, we end there as I head off to Big White Rally in Kelwona.

-Dave

owdlvr

December 29th 2017, 21:00

Ugh. Its going to be a full month before I get to work on the car again. I don't even have a list of things I could be buying while I'm gone!!!

This is painful...start updating your threads, I need to live vicariously through other projects.

:P

-Dave

owdlvr

March 18th 2018, 03:10

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.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4776/27002181978_846172c394.jpg
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.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/798/26000469917_3f5a2ec112.jpg
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!

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/808/39978629025_1be9009b44.jpg
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.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4794/39978628375_04ab9b6c0f.jpg
Extended the brake light harness, since the switches are now inside the cabin, in front of the shifter.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/811/39978627315_cc3c0fd0c6.jpg
Suspension has been re-installed, with all new bushings…simply because I was in there.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4785/40831090052_7cdea6d26a.jpg
Hmmm…it would seem this box was not the correct set of wheel studs. Where the heck are my 25mm studs!?!

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/784/40831090722_77f533526d.jpg https://farm1.staticflickr.com/806/27002181518_9cb46c5bd8.jpg
And taking care of some details…trying to freshen it up a little.

-Dave

Wally

March 18th 2018, 03:43

Great report Dave! Sounds like great fun what you do for a living!
And thanks for the tour tips. If I ever get to the US, I have some good musea to go and visit now :thumbup:

owdlvr

March 19th 2018, 02:19

Great report Dave! Sounds like great fun what you do for a living!
And thanks for the tour tips. If I ever get to the US, I have some good musea to go and visit now :thumbup:

haha, occasionally I'll get asked by long-lost friends on facebook "What exactly do you do for a living?!" My job certainly never feels like a job. Hard work, yes. Enjoyable, absolutely!

Continued tackling the list of things to do on the car today, the major points that might be of interest were:

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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.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/787/39083502730_a4e65217db_c.jpg
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

ckuhns

March 20th 2018, 14:35

Stoked to see you back working on it. I really love that car. I really should start a thread on my Super.

owdlvr

March 22nd 2018, 01:02

Stoked to see you back working on it. I really love that car. I really should start a thread on my Super.

Yes, yes you should. Don't think many guys have the KW suspension stuff, so your feedback on it would be awesome.

----

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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.

-Dave

owdlvr

March 24th 2018, 02:07

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!

-Dave

Steve C

March 25th 2018, 19:07

Hi

I used door pull handles from a bay window as my my door pull handles, I'm pretty sure the same one is used on the roof area of a 1303 as a passenger grab handle.

https://au.vwheritage.com/211867161b-interior-door-pull-handle-black-vw-spare

Steve

owdlvr

March 26th 2018, 01:15

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

volkdent

March 27th 2018, 12:16

Turned out really nice! Very clean. How was the weight compared to stock door panel?

Jason

owdlvr

March 27th 2018, 14:32

I didn't weigh them, but it's significant. The two panels were lighter to hands than one factory panel, and that doesn't even include the armrest or all the clips and rubber bits.

They are going to be coming off for the addition of "pockets", because the Rally Bug has zero storage anywhere. I definitely did use the door pockets, especially on the co-driver side, so I need something that's accessible from the driver's seat for things like wallets, pens, etc. When they come off all see if I can get a scale out for comparison.

-Dave

owdlvr

March 29th 2018, 12:37

Doh! Had the door panels off again tonight, and I totally forgot to weigh them. Sorry about that.

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

owdlvr

March 30th 2018, 15:03

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Back together and ready to go? Here's hoping!

-Dave

DORIGTT

March 30th 2018, 23:34

I was under the impression the floorpans in our cars wouldn't allow those sexy pedals to fit!

owdlvr

March 31st 2018, 00:31

Your impressions would be correct. You'll need to go back to see how much of the front bulkhead I had to cut out to make these fit. The pedal set I really wanted to use (Tilton's 600-series, master under foot), won't fit without cutting away significant portions of the heater channel on both pan and body.

This old(er) set of Tilton pedals are less rigid than the current generation, but ever-so-slightly narrower, which allowed me to make it work. Keep in mind that I also cut them into two pieces and narrowed the distance between brake and clutch to make it work. The washers underneath are D-shaped, not round, and You install one pair of bolts, and they hold the nuts for the second set of bolts. Have to use Allen heads, they are that close.

Lots of work, but I got 'er in there!

-Dave

Hulken

April 1st 2018, 14:12

What thickness are the ABS door panel?

owdlvr

April 2nd 2018, 02:14

1.5mm, or 1/16"...can't remember if this stuff is sold in Canada as metric or imperial thickness. But they're so close it probably doesn't matter.

-Dave

owdlvr

April 3rd 2018, 00:08

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.

-Dave

owdlvr

April 4th 2018, 01:29

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

owdlvr

April 9th 2018, 17:36

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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

owdlvr

April 16th 2018, 02:25

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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. Items which can't be completed before the Classic Car Adventures' Hagerty Spring Thaw get moved to the long-term list.

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.

owdlvr

April 20th 2018, 00:38

Finished off the list, with the exception of the foot plate, and took the Rally Bug out for a shakedown. Rally computer works, steering shimmy is gone, the various electrical upgrades are all functioning and it seems that the fuel injection is working as anticipated, now that the exhaust leak is sorted.

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After this image was taken, I washed and waxed it...and then took the '58 out for a spin. T'was a good day!

-Dave

Wally

April 20th 2018, 13:04

Awesome picture!

owdlvr

June 20th 2018, 14:24

I suppose I should update the Rally Bug thread…

On our Spring Thaw event in April, the Rally Bug was essentially flawless. It’s running quite rich, and I thought I’d have time to play with the tuning before / during the event, but truthfully didn’t. The organizer spends too much time stressing over the actual event, so there just wasn’t time to breathe and play with the tuning. Despite an excessive fuel bill, the car ran flawlessly throughout the event. Hosted 89 cars, 181 people for dinner each night. As the event progressed, I noticed it was harder to start first-thing in the morning, but didn’t think too much about it, as it’s an issue that seems to have crept up since switching to fuel injection.

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Following the Spring Thaw, it was home for a very fast turnaround before loading the car onto the trailer for Colorado. I made some adjustments to the brake bias, changed up the tools and spares package, and headed onto a long road trip south. This would be the real test of the fuel injection system. Could I go from Sea Level to 6,000ft (and 11,000ft on mountain passes) without problems?

After 5 days of driving and being a tourist, I finally arrived at the unloading spot for my trailer. Fired the bug up, with significant difficulty, and took it for a spin. Whoa was it terrible! Since switching over to fuel injection, it’s never run well if cold…but this was something else. I wiped the map, started with a completely fresh map, and started retuning the car from the very beginning. I spent a full day working on the map, and when it was finished the car ran quite well. So well, in fact, that I would argue it was becoming fuel-efficient! Amazing what will happen if you spend some time tuning, instead of trying to do 2min sessions every once and a while :P

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The first two days of the Colorado adventure were flawless. We started in Grand Junction, went over the Grand Mesa and then into Gateway Canyon, where we turned south to Telluride. Highway 141 through Gateway is one of my favourite roads of all time…you might know it from The Grand Tour Jaguar Episode (hint, when they leave the resort stealing all the toiletries, that’s Gateway Canyon Resort). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlPhIy7Te18

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From Telluride we went up and looped through Moab Utah, before heading back into Grand Junction for the night. Day two continued to be flawless, so much so that Ross, Jacob, Erik and I decided we’d take the Fiat and Rally Bug on an off-road adventure. We went over a mountain pass, about sixty miles, on a gravel excursion that definitely wasn’t in the official route book!
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As we hammered away on the gravel, which was quite washboard-y at times, I was worried about flatting the high-performance summer tires, bending a rim, or what-have you. I much prefer gravel on proper tires! We had a rock take out the O2 sensor for the wideband tuning and Fuel-Injection…but not to worry, the rally bug has a second unit installed “just in case”. We switched over to sensor B, and continued our drive. The Fiat dashboard rattled loose, the air filters on both cars were filthy, and both cars noticed a few running issues on the other-side. No worries, a bit of clean pavement should clean them out!

Day three didn’t start nearly as well as I had hoped. In fact, the rally bug wouldn’t start at all. We swapped coils, we changed fuel maps, we tried starting fluid…nothing. Finally I tossed a tow rope on it, and go the sweep truck to pull me, just to see if we could get it to kick over. In less than 10ft of tow, it fired right up. Hmmmmm….that’s weird. Whatever, it’s running, the organizer is an hour behind, and we have to get to the finish! We hit the road, and I put my foot down to catch up. Along the way we passed a Datsun 1500 which had a battery/engine fire. They were okay, and cars behind us would have the spares they needed, so we pushed on. At the mid-morning stop, the car started on a quick bump-start, but sounded “off”. I was stressed, and it sounded like it was running on three cylinders. Rev it up, and it cleared up, and the computer showed good fuel numbers…so run with it!

At one point we lost the signal from Oxygen Sensor B, but as the fuel map was quite well developed at this point we simply switched the computer to run off the map only, with no adjustments.

An hour and half down the road, we pulled over to help some guys who had made a wrong turn. A waft of smoke passed the car as we did, and I pulled over expecting to find I sucked a valve cover gasket or something and had some oil burning off the exhaust. Instead, I was greeted with shouts from the other car saying “Flames! You’re on FIRE!!” Whoa! Jumped out, ran to the back an instantly knew what happened.

Yes, there were 8” flames coming out of the rear apron/under the fender, and I couldn’t blow them out, but it wasn’t fire extinguisher worthy. “water, get me a water bottle!”. I put the fire out, and assessed the damage. An exhaust gasket had burned out, and we spent an hour and a half ejecting hot exhaust right against the apron. Burned the paint, the the engine seal, the fender welt, and all of the wiring to 02 Sensor B. Oops. We removed the offending parts, zip-tied the engine lid up, and hammered onto the finish! None of this waiting around for a tow :P

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1764/41113806650_83133bd21c_c.jpg

About 35min down the road we started to see an oil-stream on the highway, and turning the corner found our friends in the Fiat on the side of the road. I guess our gravel excursion had loosened the drain plug, and they lost all the oil out onto the highway on day three. Noticed/saved it before any engine damage…and after we all searched through our spare parts, a thermostat was found that fit…and it was refilled with oil to continue to the finish!

Since returning home from the Silver Summit, I’ve been battling the Rally Bug to find the no-start issue when it’s cold. I identified a weak spark, and started to chase down the possibilities. New coil, cap, rotor, plugs, plug wires, pertronix…and I finally hooked up the computer controlled ignition system to see if I couldn’t chase it down. I’ve tried everything! And then, it hit me…Dave, when was the last time you checked the valve adjustment? The car has done roughly 20,000km since the last valve adjustment. Uh, oops. You know, compression is a pretty important part of the whole combustion sequence.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1784/41114431150_300dc40bd9_c.jpg

Yeah, so I’m an idiot. But the car runs WONDERFULLY now. I’ve spent some time tuning it on my sea-level tune, and it’s now at the point where you simply start the car and it idles right away. I’ve leaned it out a little, and between fuel tuning and spark tuning I’ve found more power and better fuel mileage.

Wally

June 20th 2018, 14:41

Great story, tnx!

owdlvr

July 19th 2018, 14:23

Went down to Victoria BC for the VW show in mid-june. Hilariously, the Rally Bug won best late model beetle, even thought I hadn't really cleaned it. I only entered for the parking with group, but I'll take it!

The Rally Bug thanked me by dropping a valve seat on the way home. Sitting at a traffic light idling, and all of a sudden the valve train started making horrific noises. I pulled into the gas station next to the light, popped the 1/2 valve cover and found #2 intake with about 1/4" of play. Presumably I dropped the valve seat, and hadn't yet broken off the valve head...I mean, I would anticipate that a valve head makes a lot more noise! Truck and trailer were 2.5 hours away, so basically 8 hours round trip to get the truck and trailer, come back for the car and get home. Well, the head is garbage right? Readjusted the valve, considered the likely possibility of grenading the motor before getting home, and then decided to go for it! The last thing I did was to select a VERY rich tune, and lock out the tune so it wasn't reading the O2 sensor, just running off the map. It was rich enough to burn the eyes of my buddy behind me as we drove :P

After getting home at 8:30pm, I drained the oil and pulled the motor. Valve seat confirmed, don't know if I did any piston damage. Carnage photos tomorrow night once I pull the motor apart.

The next day...

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/834/43267191652_4d78e19412_c.jpg

Sadly, the piston got the kiss of death from the valve seat. That's my last set of forged German Mahle pistons. I have a new set of pistons and cylinders on the shelf, but they are cast units. Sad Panda. The new heads will be CNC ported and shaped, as my usual head guy who hand did this set isn't available in 2018. Since I will need to spec the combustion chamber size, I installed a new piston and cylinder and measured it all up. The cylinders are a slightly different length than my old ones, and the cylinder heads will be slightly different as well...so I'll have to do all new pushrods and valvetrain geometry on the rebuild.

If your valve train ever makes horrible noises, and you decide "I can limp it 2.5hrs home from Victoria", be sure you're making an educated decision. I knew the moment the seat dropped the head was garbage and the piston was likely done too, and so I figured it was worth the risk. Not sure if you can see the aluminum melted all around the valve seat from combustion gases escaping up the intake. It's in the parts washer tonight...will be clearer when clean.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/844/42412716305_099e2c3b14_c.jpg

Unfortunately my end play (crank movement forward and back) was out of spec. It wasn't a shim problem, the thrust bearing has pounded out the case .005". So tonight I tore the whole motor down to a bare case so it can head to the machine shop. That's a two and half hour job with cleaning 50% of the components, and measuring everything before disassembly so I know what's in spec and what needs to be replaced. It'll get new main bearings, new cam bearings and maybe new lifters...but everything else is in spec. I'm super, super tempted to switch to an aluminum case (vs magnesium)...but the $900usd is NOT in the budget. My engine building friend says they run hotter as well, so we'll repair the magnesium case.

New heads, new intakes, and new pushrods all ordered from CB Performance. Of course I CNC ported and matched everything, so it should be a little quicker out of the box once it's back together :P heh heh. You can't blow up parts and NOT upgrade!?!

-Dave

owdlvr

August 29th 2018, 18:52

Well, a quick update. Got it all back together using new bits from CB and had the car running in time for the Great Canadian Volkswagen show. When I first assembled it, it sounded like I had an exhaust leak. Small pop at idle. Swapped out the gaskets, and took it to the show. For the most part, it runs great. But I get a pop like a plugged idle jet *just* when the butterflies are opened ever so slightly. So, if you're coasting off throttle, and add just a hair of throttle, it will pop. But not always. Maddening, but I haven't been able to figure out if it's timing, fuel or a simple exhaust leak. Some of the pops will show a flame out the tailpipes at night, but not all of them. Always fun.

https://www.alanuyenophotography.com/img/s/v-3/p3015470548-4.jpg (https://www.alanuyenophotography.com/p853951891/eb3bc6dd4)

https://www.alanuyenophotography.com/img/s/v-3/p3014206807-4.jpg (https://www.alanuyenophotography.com/p592663184/eb3a92557)

-Dave

Clatter

September 7th 2018, 01:46

Thanks again for taking the time to write all of this up..!

Looks like some real fun.

Are you -sure- you don’t want to ditch the VST exhaust for a proper header?
It might not look the part, but should make (way) more power and not cause leaks.
Did I not see two stacked gaskets there where it leaked?

Again,
Thanks for showing us how it’s done.
I did that Telluride run summer before last,
Albeit in a camper bus loaded with family..

owdlvr

September 7th 2018, 14:09

My issue with a proper header is the look. One of the key parts of this build, for me at least, is the fact that externally it is a pretty good visual replica of the factory rally cars. I mean, obviously I've taken liberties and it's true the exhaust looks nothing like a stock muffler (that they used on the factory cars)...but it is[/] much closer in look than a header system. To be fair to Vintage Speed, they have taken [i]very good care of me with this build, and I abuse the crap out of his products. Before I started feeling guilty about it, they were sending me a new system every 6-8mo because I'd put so many dents in them with rocks. The systems are beautiful, but I think the flanges should probably be thicker for a user like me who removes the exhaust system often. Eventually my flanges end up slightly curved, due to over-torquing, and I start to blow out gaskets. On the particular one that blew above, I had meant to weld that connection up but didn't find the time before leaving for Colorado. It's now welded up on both the #2 and #4 connections, so you remove the muffler and stubs off the rear of the engine in one piece. You are correct in that I'm using two gaskets stacked down below, also a factor of a couple of cut and weld modifications I made to the lower flanges. The current exhaust system on my car is actually made up from least-damaged parts from a few systems I've used over the years. Its either the J-tubes or the muffler that came from a unit I used with heater boxes, and the other are non-heater box units. I had to do a bit of creative welding to join the two together into a non-heater box system. The double gaskets, if I line them up correctly on install, last indefinitely.

When I use the Vintage Speed systems on street beetles, they seem to last forever without any problems. Given that the muffler is the lowest part on the rally bug, it's not surprising that it's less than perfect on gravel roads and rallycross events!

I often think about putting a CSP Super Competition system on the car, but even with all the publicity the car has had...no deals are available. $800 euro is a big price tag on a system I can't be sure will take gravel racing any better than the Vintage Speed systems.

Ironically, I quickly solved the popping issue. I didn't line up the double gaskets correctly when I installed them after the rebuild. Popped in a pair of new ones, and it runs like a champ. Finally have the sea-level tune to a point where I don't have to clean the tailpipes after a short drive. Getting better and better!
https://scontent.fyvr4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/40581433_10160725607195468_7373229958304366592_o.j pg?_nc_cat=0&oh=c42b9cee64c9e64b8369f3e950eee5fa&oe=5C295ACA

Missed it by -><- that much!
https://scontent.fyvr4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/40756122_10160725607460468_5959399485502128128_o.j pg?_nc_cat=0&oh=b7a46bae983a88004967e20b49196dfd&oe=5C1F9BD1

-Dave

owdlvr

July 3rd 2023, 20:25

Hmmm...not sure what happened between 2018 and today, probably a fair bit, but we'll toss up some new updates to this thread as of this week.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52996966233_ef9c986709_c.jpg"

I haven't used the Rally Bug at all in the last few years, and I've begun wondering why I'm still keeping it around. On the one hand, I don't ever want to sell it...being my first _real_ build. On the other hand, it's taking up a whole lot of space if I don't use it. With two weeks at home, I figured I should at least pull it out of the house garage and determine what it is that keeps me from using it.

1) The brakes aren't setup correctly - it feels like you're pushing on a brick wall, which means the master cylinder sizing isn't correct. I need to swap smaller masters in.
2) It's far too soft and wallowy in comparison to the German Look and the '58, and lets be honest...I'm going to be using it 90% on the street if I start driving it again, so it needs to become a little more fun for that.
3) It's hot, and loud inside.
4) Lastly, when I was cleaning up the shop from my March madness, I rediscovered the 16" wheels I had planned to put on the car...and that's the real reason I pulled it out of the garage. Lets see if we can't at least solve the first two on the list at the same time?

A set of backup struts were torn down for their spindles. This allows me to keep the Gravel setup for the front, in case I want to switch back for some reason.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52996859200_e7b10cf41d_c.jpg

Pulled the pedal assembly out of the car, which on this particular car is not easy. I had to split the clutch pedal off of the brake and gas just to squeeze it all in. Much swearing is involved with removal of the pedal cluster, which probably would have gone twice as fast if I had just called Bob to give me a hand. My arms are *just* long enough to reach both sides of nut and bolt on either sides of the floor through the door opening.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52996864900_8657102e4e_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52995890882_0444d0605f_c.jpg

New rotors were prepped in Porsche and other patterns...
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52996858320_d6c81dec73_c.jpg

...and then I basically waited for UPS, Fedex and DHL to deliver more bits.

After getting very creative in the shop (safety third!) in order to assemble them. My new front Maxx Struts were put in the car. I bought these from memory, without paying much attention, because I remember them being threaded like a standard coil-over. Turns out that was the "Maxx Extreme" setup, which doesn't appear to be available anymore. Hmmm. Whelp, toss it in the car anyways, and see where we sit.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53020863721_74c74998da_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53021251220_84055ac8f4_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53021251220_84055ac8f4_c.jpg

Tell me you built the car ten years ago in one picture...
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53021250915_5253089190_c.jpg

Pedals wrestled back in.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53020281052_3354ee8d30_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53021028664_468313ff04_c.jpg

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3D printed bearing caps...and then, after realizing the struts allow for a tonne of water and stuff into the trunk, 3D printed ABS strut top covers. What did we do before 3D printing??
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53021027919_3d77d11fa6_c.jpg

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Tires mounted. Because I'm not sure how much I'm actually going to use this car, I put the cheapest set possible on it. The red German Look and the '58 both need new tires this summer, and they'll get proper rubber. If I start using this car more, I'll quickly swap it over to some quality rubber.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53020279987_31bcac5111_c.jpg

Right. Forgot the "trim the balljoints" step. Sigh. I really should do these things more often so I don't forget.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53021346348_d166333dcb_c.jpg

That hurt. It only hits the wheel once the car is lowered to the ground, and I totally forgot to check given these are 16" wheels and not 15's.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53020279482_cb043a3d04_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53021248680_b421f8d511_c.jpg

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Given the brake dust, I'm going to presume that the brakes are bedded-in well! :P
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53021247835_89208aab89_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53021345433_9cc2de0331_c.jpg

These wheels are pretty special. They are 16" by 5.5" wide wheels, off of Travis Pastrana's Subaru rally car. They were used for winter rallies, and when the team was selling off wheels, one of the guys grabbed the set for me because he thought they'd work well on the Beetle. Now that I've got them on the car, I'm not sure I'm sold on the Gold. Thought I'd love it, I might actually hate it. Will need to run them for a while to see if they grow on me.

The initial test drive was just "okay". There is still air in the rear brake line, due to the hydraulic hand brake, but I cannot remember for the life of me what the trick to bleeding it out was. A buddy suggested cracking the fitting on the handbrake (high point) work the pedal, and then bleed the rear brakes. That definitely helped, but it's not great (yet). The left-front corner also rubs on the tire. I have to figure out if it's sitting lower on the right front, or if the fender is rubbing. Left-Front always rubbed before the right side, so I suspect I just need to massage the fender a little bit.

Lastly, I'm not happy with the rear setup. I lowered it as far as I could go without changing up the limit strap setup - but it's not low enough. Going to have to play with that as well. Nothing like leaving it all until the last two nights before Volksfest! :P

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53021345323_db0328af2c_c.jpg

-Dave

wouter1303

July 6th 2023, 02:49

keep up the work! As long as you have time for it between all those trips you are making ;)

owdlvr

July 6th 2023, 14:41

You ever hit one of those moments where you discover you're an idiot?

Back when I swapped out the rear calipers from single piston sliders to dual piston (same as the front) I started to battle a brake-bias issue. Keep in mind that I also swapped out for the dual-master pedal box, moved the brake switches inside above the tunnel, and a few other brake-related modifications. I knew the brake bias was going to be an issue, but should be completely solvable with master cylinder sizing and the balance bar. I was not prepared for the gong-show that transpired.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53027800308_2e577a4216_c.jpg

Removing the pedal cluster from the car is a bit of a nightmare. Back when I put it in, I was a much tighter budget. I used a cluster I acquired by doing some fab work on a friend's rally car, and had to modify both it and the car to fit. But in order to swap master cylinders, I have to remove the pedals which is basically a two-person job. Over the course of a few weeks I swapped master cylinders two or three times, I added a second bias valve to further lock out the rear, I tried everything. Eventually I just accepted that the brakes were like pushing on a brick wall (masters too big) and that I had 'workable' bias unless it was wet...in which case, heads-up! The back end is coming around unless you're paying attention!

With the German Look well sorted, and the '58 Beetle equally well-sorted, I pretty much stopped driving the Rally Bug due (in part) to the brakes being awful. The fact that it's 220F inside the car, probably factored in too. Well, the German Look is currently in Denver. The '58 Beetle is in Toronto, and I'm all the way on the west-coast of Canada without a running Beetle. It's also been enough years that I really want to start driving the Rally Bug again.

I pulled the pedals, as posted here, ordered another set of master cylinders, and popped it all back in. I absolutely have the right master cylinders this time. Pedal travel is ideal. Bedding in the brakes, though, the rear wheels came back covered in brake dust and the fronts had nothing. Hmmm. Okay, so my previous bias setup which seemed to be 'okay' in the dry is way off with these new masters. Dial in more front bias, max out the extra proportioning valve, and...well...it's barely passable. Definitely still rear biased, but only slightly. Braking the car feels like it's under-braked, which shouldn't be the case at all. I've spent a week away from the car, continuously using that 15% of my brain that does nothing, trying to solve the problem. I played around with the suspension last evening in the shop, and noodled some more on it. Nothing is making sense, why can't I get enough front brakes?! Resigned to swapping back in the single piston sliders on the rear (and playing "whats the right master cylinder" game again) I went to bed. About an hour later, it hit me.

I've never actually labeled my master cylinders (until last week). I've always set cars up with Clutch, Front, Rear, Throttle. If you always do it the same way, it's pretty hard to mess it up. HOWEVER, suppose you then immediately go into two brake switches, and then a couple of curly-brake lines into the tunnel or other areas. Is it possible, somewhere down the line, I connected the wrong line to front, and the wrong line to rear? For the past five years, anytime I've pulled the car into the shop to try and solve the problem, I've simply put the front line back to the same brake switch, and the rear line back to the same brake switch.

I'm an idiot.

Last week's bias adjuster:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53027800283_3239c4790b_c.jpg

The bias adjuster now:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53027484674_98c1a4bab9_c.jpg

I have literally been dialling in maximum rear bias for the better part of five years, because I never checked to confirm the knob was still labeled correctly. Sure enough, spun the knob fully the other way, and the bias-bar bearing is full front. Sigh. On the plus side, the car will probably stand on its nose tonight :D

owdlvr

July 7th 2023, 02:57

Going to test your latest modifications? Better put on the best T-shirt you have! The 2023 Classic Car Adventures t-shirt features my German Look Beetle...

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53026733152_62e008cd69_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53027657968_36292d70a7_c.jpg

Sadly, the parts I ordered to level out the stance won't arrive until after this weekend's VW show...but we're getting closer to being ready. Brakes are excellent, now they are balancing out correctly. Gotta check for an exhaust leak and an oil leak tomorrow, but otherwise good to go.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53028959140_41b6cacf1f_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53028743514_0d8bbb1b23_c.jpg

-Dave

owdlvr

July 11th 2023, 02:31

On the way down to the Volksfest show, I noticed the tach needle would occasionally jump, like an electrical issue or spike. The Rally Bug has always run pertronix inside a 009 that has a roughly two-year habit of causing this sort of issue. Where pertronix usually dies instantly, in the rally bug it gets 'noisy' for two weeks and then dies. I carry points in the glovebox, but figured I could limp it home or swap them when it died completely. Now, keep in mind that I had a 40min wait at a ferry and then a 55min wait for a highway closure. I had plenty of sitting time to swap out to the points.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53037162797_049727e34a_c.jpg

Of course, by this point the famous double exhaust gasket temp-fix had also blown out completely...so orange flames shooting out the tailpipe become a standard 'feature' :P The exhaust leak causes the fuel injection system to go full rich, so the combination of randomized spark, and fuel injection computer completely confused, made for a bit of a rough final leg home. Got home, popped the distributor cap, and...would you believe it? Damned thing is running points. They had simply closed up, a quick adjustment and the ignition is stable again. Whoops!

As for that exhaust leak, the double gasket obviously isn't working...so I needed a new solution. Step one...draw up the part.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53038163460_0ac6979413_c.jpg

Second step, pull out the CNC Plasma cutter...
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53038225478_22036e3e68_c.jpg

Clean it up a little...and this should be good to go.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53037739116_1c6384a2b4_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53037926689_9f71cf7b3a_c.jpg

Basically, instead of running a double gasket I'm simply just going to run the steel flange as the gasket...and the little bit of leakage that will occur I'll compensate for. This exhaust system only has to make it to the end of the driving season before my 'next plan' kicks in...so the band-aid fix is just fine. Besides, how else am I going to keep those sweet blue-flame backfires on decel? :P

owdlvr

July 16th 2023, 13:58

Finally got the rear ride-height to be where I want it:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53044863680_0740f295ac_c.jpg

Which creates a whole 'nother world of problems. When I did the coil-over conversion, the suspension was setup to work best at stock ride height and more, for rally. Setting it up this low means there is a disproportional amount of suspension droop available, and not enough travel for bumps. The spring rate, which was technically always a problem before, is also now a much bigger problem. I need something in the 325-400lb per inch rate at the beginning of the stroke, but 600-700 at the end of the stroke. Normally one would just buy a progressive spring, but they don't make them in the short spring height I have available to me. So I started thinking about stacking two springs, and what springs I would want.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53044968458_6f589eaf51_c.jpg

Now, given that the red spring is 8" long, and they make 4" springs, it seems like a simple conclusion. Put a 350lb and a 700lb spring in the 8" space, and call it a day? I bounced the question off of a couple of racing buddies of mine, and then spent the last two evenings going to spring-physics classes with links they send me on the internet. Spring physics get absolutely brain bending.

If you stack two springs in series, you don't get a curve that starts at the lower spring rate and finishes at the higher rate. Instead, you actually get a single linear spring rate that is wildly different than you anticipated. Stack a 4" 350lb spring ontop of a 4" 700lb spring, and together the two will act as though they are a linear 233.3 lb spring. The top springs is multiplied by the bottom spring, and that is divided by the top spring plus the bottom spring, to arrive at your linear number: (TSxBS) / (TS+BS) = Spring Rate. In our case (350x700)/(350+700)=SR -> 245000/1050=SR -> SR=233.33

HOWEVER if one of the two springs reaches coil-bind, then you'll have the non-coil-binding spring acting at is 'normal' rate. So if we could make a 2" tall 350 spring, and a 6" tall 700 spring, at some measure of stroke the 350 spring would coil bind (ie: compress fully) and you'd go from a 233.3 linear spring rate to a 700lb spring rate. Hmmm...

In offroad racing, this is done by something called a crossover ring. This ring threads onto the shock body inside the springs. The spacer that is between the two springs cannot slide past the crossover ring. So as the springs compress, eventually the spacer will hit the crossover ring essentially stopping the top spring from moving any further -> now you have a bottom spring acting on it's own, thus it's now acting at it's labeled rate. So, put the 350 spring on top, with a crossover ring inside, and the 700lb spring on the bottom. The suspension will have a 233.3lb spring-rate until it compresses enough to have the spacer between the two springs touch the cross over ring. At this point it will transition to a 700lb spring rate. Moving the crossover ring up and down changes where the spring-rate change happens. We're getting somewhere now.

Now, I happen to know a 233.3lb spring rate is going to be much too soft to start with, as the car sinks to the bump stops on 300lb springs. So we need something in the 375-400 range to start. How the heck do I find a combination of springs that will do that? Wouldn't you know it...there are handy spring charts where someone has already done the excel math for you. Simply scour the chart to find a combined rates in the 375 range and...

aww crap. A 600lb and 1000lb spring combo will do it! I suppose I could put the 1000lb spring on-top (presuming I can get one in 4" length) and lock it out with the collar to end up with a 600lb rate? But I honestly don't know. This is the point where you call your friend Ray, of Trial Engineering. Before moving to Canada Ray worked as a suspension engineer for a very prominent World Rally Championship team. Everyone has a Ray, right? ;)

Fortunately for me, Ray enjoys a good noodling session. He also explained to me the problem with using crossover rings, or planning on one spring coil-binding. The transition between combined rate and single rate isn't so much a 'transition' but more of a stair-step. So, in our original example you go from 233.3lb to 700lb rate almost instantaneously. Not a significant issue on a long-travel off road impact (think jumps in Baja) but potentially significant on a road car. You don't want to be setup and halfway through a tight mountain corner, suspension loaded almost to the crossover and then hit a compression. It could cause some handling issues.

Ray needed more info, so the suspension came apart for measurements once again:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53043892192_545d7a3201_c.jpg

The spring length as measured with the car at rest, along with wheel-to-fender distance. The suspension was reassembled without spring, and I cycled through full droop full compression taking measurements of the wheel-to-fender gap. All these numbers were sent to Ray, who started on some calculations. First off, he figured out the ideal starting spring rate for maximum comfort and compliance, while still holding the car off the ground at the desired ride height. He then used my ideal maximum rate (based on questions he asked about the cars handling in rally) to figure out what the ideal finishing rate would be.

Then he came back with some suggestions on modifying the car. I have way too much droop, and not enough travel. Raising the car 30mm would be ideal, which is hilarious because I just spent two weeks getting it DOWN 30mm! The bump stops are trimmed as much as they can be, and the shock is dangerously close to nearing bottom-out. So, my only other option is to move the lower shock mount. This will reduce the droop, but allow us to trim the bump stop further for more upper travel.

Commercially available springs are compared:
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For now, Ray thinks he has found the best of the worst-case scenarios. One solution is to combine a progressive tender spring with a longer linear spring, planning for the tender spring to reach coil bind. The downside is how the car may handle at the transition. The second option is to simply get a custom spring wound in the desired progressive rate, not sure what that will cost me. The third option is to combine a shock extension with a custom lower spring perch to get me more room for mounting an off-the-shelf progressive spring which is (currently) too long to fit on my shock. OR I take these rear arms off, mount up a spare set of factory arms with mounts, and look at what setups you guys are using on your lowered German Look cars. My current setup uses 2.5" inner diameter springs, but I believe some of you are using shocks with 1 7/8" springs, which allows you to use the factory lower shock mount (just moving the hole lower).

Definitely more research to be done here.

owdlvr

July 31st 2023, 16:27

In lowering the car, we've discovered a unit problem due to my custom rear end. It was only ever built to be 1/2" lower than stock, to 2" higher than stock. In it's new lowered position, I have tonnes of droop travel, but run out of travel on compression. New shocks allow me to move 20mm of droop travel into compression travel, which is significantly better (and actually causes us to need to map out the ideal springs again). Yes, we're at the point where there is value in moving 20mm of suspension travel around. Who would have thunk?!

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One of the items I've been meaning to address for a long while is the wear in the oil pump. Shortly after I built the car, Bugpack was purchased by Empi and dissolved. The drysump oilpump that they made, disappeared along with the Bugpack name. This is slightly more than a minor inconvenience, because the body of the pump is all aluminum...which means it does wear. None of the other drysump pumps are interchangeable without me doing new oil line configurations or more. When a stock oil pump wears against the cover, you can polish them up on some glass with sandpaper. With a dry sump pump, which is actually three pumps stacked together, it becomes a little more challenging.

Mine has worn to the point that the scavenge (removing oil from the engine and back up to the tank) occasionally will stop scavenging at idle. This fills the engine with 12L of oil, and then goes to zero oil pressure. Not an issue if you're driving, it scavenges just fine above 1,100rpm. But I haven't been able to leave the car at idle unattended for a long time. Taylor and I are are going to do an event in the car this summer, and having 12L of behind you at 220F in the summer heat is less than comfortable, so swapping over to wetsump while I work on the drysump oil pump seemed like a win-win solution. As it turns out, it would be rather frustrating for a day and then a win-win-WIN solution.

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A good opportunity to snap a photo and note that this motor is running an FK-8 cam. I should probably dig up all the motor specs and put there here in one post.
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The Rally Bug engine bah has always been dry as a bone. So dry, in fact, that the rear sheet metal rusts out and has to be painted every so often. This is not a trait that the German Look or '58 Beetle share. At random intervals, and in a totally mind-bending makes-no-sense manner, they will spray oil all over the engine bay off the crank pulley. Sometimes it's a light bit, sometimes you are mopping up the engine bay at each driving day end wondering how it could possibly be that bad. It's so weird, I drove the German Look beetle for a day and had almost no oil, dad drove it the next day and had to mop up all the oil in the engine bay by lunchtime! It seems to make zero sense. So, imagine my frustration after swapping the Rally Bug to wetsump, and coming home from a test drive to see this:
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Over the next few days I did high-rpm highway run tests, low speed city tests, mixture tests. When the oil comes out isn't consistent in time or quantity. Even weirder, the back of the pulley is almost completely dry. Whereas on the '58 and German Look it will be soaked. Comparatively speaking, it mostly drips/runs out of the Rally Bug, but sprays all around in the '58 and German Look. The drysump pulley is significantly smaller, 5" diameter, vs the stock size that the other engines run. And very quickly I figured it out...On my wet sump engines, instead of hanging an extra sump below the engine (as is typical for VW's), I'm using a 1.5L or 2.0L Accusump. It essentially holds pressurized oil ready to feed the engine if the pickup starves. So while whipping around sustained twisty corners if all the oil ends up in the cylinder head, the accusump keeps sending pressurized oil into the engine until it uses up it's 1.5-2L capacity. Typically an Accusump is set at the idle-oil pressure of an engine, or the minimum pressure you want to see. I've always set mine to 20psi. Enough to keep the bearings alive in a full-starve situation, but should have little bleed down at idle. Turns out, at 20psi I'm probably emptying the Accusump at idle, waiting at a red light. My current theory is the oil level rises high enough to become an issue inside the case, resulting in oil pushing past the crank pulley onto the tin. If the only thing I changed was drysump to wetsump, it can't be blowby or other engine issues. So let's try a sandseal to see if that will work? Rob Frose overnighted a sandseal setup from AVR, and I went to work fitting it to the car. 250km of high-revving, 20min of idling, and any other test I could throw at it...dry as a bone. Guess I need to order some sandseal setups for my other engines :P

My ignition issue I was experiencing on the way to the show and back had gotten worse, so I decided to swap out my CB Blackbox setup to the Magnaspark II that I'm running in the other cars. I got 85% through the swap when I found the damage in the wiring harness I use with the blackbox (user error) and the likely problem. I was already 85&% done, so I decided I would just continue with the swap. The last step is to change out the ignition mapping with the fuel injection, which was going to be a problem. The laptop I have for the car, which runs Windows XP, has had a drive failure. By some sort of miracle, I actually backed up the files and maps I had a few weeks ago. Miracle number two? I actually got the CB software running on my Macbook using Parallels and windows 11. The only problem is the mac won't recognize the cable conveniently ziptied all through the car, and I am going to have to replace it. Swapped the ignition settings, and all my problems are gone. The only issue is the map I was using is right-messed-up due to trying to tune around ignition problems, and forgetting that I have to recalibrate the throttle position sensor at every map change. Who knows what that poor computer has been trying to compensate for. So I loaded in the last known good map from a couple of years ago, and will have to work back towards a more efficient tune. I did some mileage tests on the now current-map, and then decided I would note it somewhere on the car since I seem to be forgetting more about it than I remember. Gave myself a 5 litre window too.

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Lastly, I've been thinking about that upcoming trip with Taylor...and where we're going to put camping and weekend gear. Even just a little extra storage space would be nice. The battery area always seemed like such a waste of space, and I had a spare aluminum cooking sheet...so here we go. Extra luggage capacity! I think once I decide to learn composite constructions, re-doing this in Carbon might be one of my first projects.

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owdlvr

October 23rd 2023, 03:03

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Gawd this car looks awesome. :P

Having finally pulled it out of mothballs, Taylor (my girlfriend) and I took it on the Classic Car Adventures Rush to Gold Bridge. This event is a mixed tarmac and gravel event, which goes to a different destination or challenge each year. This year we went to Bella Coola, a very remote mountain town in British Columbia. To get there, you have to take Hwy 20...a significant stretch of which is still gravel, despite it being the only road in and out. Until 1953 the highway ended 137 km (85 mi) from Bella Coola. The Government considered it impossible to make a road to Bella Coola. Residents fired up a Bulldozer (brought in by barge) and built the rest of the road themselves. 70 years later, and the road is still single lane in sections and descends 43 kilometers with switchbacks and zero guardrails or other safety items. Perfect for a classic car event! :D

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The event was going incredibly well, all the way down to Bella Coola, and up the hill the next morning. We filled up with fuel at the top of the hill, strapped lunch to our manifolds (seriously) and made our way an hour down the road to a park where we should find lunch hot and steaming in the engine bay. For the cars that strapped lunch to the exhaust manifold, it was perfect. For cars that mistakingly strapped it to the intake manifold? Well refrigerated! Fortunately we had a BBQ waiting at the lunch spot to heat up everyone’s lunch :P

About 200km from the fuel stop, however, and the Rally Bug ran into a slight issue.

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While a couple of cars went down the road to find some fuel, I started to think about how I could have possibly ran out of fuel about 200km from our last gas station stop. I remember putting the nozzle in the car, and being stressed about making sure everyone stopped to put their lunch on the manifold properly. I remember taking the nozzle out of the car, and the fact that the gas pump didn’t give me a receipt. But what I couldn’t remember is whether I was sure I actually filled the tank. Did the pump click off right away, and I just assumed it was full? Hmph.

After a road-side rescue, we filled up at the next gas station and went for the last gravel leg, a roughly 300km trip on gravel. We were running behind for dinner, but while driving I came up with a second theory besides just “I don’t know how gas stations work”. The Rally Bug has two wide-band 02 sensors. One works with the fuel-injection computer, the other a gauge on the dash I can read. When we lost the gauge on the way up the hill, I thought nothing of it. Given how long the car has been in mothballs, could be a wiring fault or a sensor failure. After a while, I realized that rocks could have taken out the sensor…wait, what if it took out the sensor for the fuel injection computer too?

But the car was running sooooo well…

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…until it wasn’t.

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Taylor and I got to camp in the middle of nowhere on a forest road. Coffee made by the camp stove, ‘charcuterie’ of snacks, 4 hours of no cellphone or radio while we hoped our friends could find us with fuel. It doesn’t sound that bad, but when we looked at the map before they left, we all agreed it should be “about an hour” before they’d get back with fuel. We did make it out of the woods, and the next morning I confirmed that both 02 sensors had major dents from rock hits. I know back when I was running the car regularly it had shields on the 02 sensors…so where did they go?! Hmph, a mystery for another day.

Limped it home, burning 2x the fuel it should (and probably washing the cylinders down).

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Into the shop for some post-event maintenance!

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-Dave

Wally

October 23rd 2023, 03:32

Tnx for the great write-up!
The gold wheels look awesome btw.

owdlvr

October 24th 2023, 14:40

The list of items to tackle is vast, but when you read through it not exactly difficult. Swapping out a new fuel cap, for instance, super easy.

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Made up some replacement metal 02 sensor shields. These are only needed for use on gravel roads, I've never damaged a sensor otherwise, but clearly needed on gravel roads! Material is something I got from DCI Performance in Australia, but can't seem to find it on the website anymore. Need to figure out what it is...as I've used the last of it!

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These next two images, grabbed from my IG stories, pretty much says everything...

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Digging into it, it would seem that I had no less than three sets of power wires run from various spots in the car to where the Rally computer mounts. I expected two, because I used to run a Brantz rally computer, but swapped it out when it stopped functioning correctly. The Helios unit here was supposed to be a temporary mount, which may explain wiring setup number two. But then, there was a permanent set of power wires (complete with wire loom) that really confuses me. Why didn't I pull the temp set out? There were two sets of sensor wires too. One was running to a speedometer cable-run sensor, that was only half hooked up, and the other to the GPS speed sensor. My Brantz is definitely the preferred rally computer, but as it has to go back for repairs I cleaned out all the wiring and set this car up to simply use the Helios unit on the GPS sensor. From a rally perspective, this isn't ideal, as the GPS sensor occasionally takes some time to find a satellite after start up and you lose distance when driving through a tunnel. Since I don't really use the car for TSD or performance rallies anymore, just the Classic Car Adventures tours, it's "close enough".

Cleaned up, and moving to deutsch-style connectors.

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The tail lamps on the car have had issues over the years. The right tail lamp is famous for losing the running lamp, which was simply a matter of epoxying the bulb holder into the metal reflector. But on our last event I would (apparently) lose the left tail lamp at times, and then the right. But never the two at the same time. I've been sitting on a set of LED tail lamps for a few years, having not swapped them over because I prefer the authentic european lamps with the orange turn signal. Alas, the wheels are no longer Salzburg appropriate...so time we lose the tail lamps too. Popped the new ones on...

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...and promptly had a non-working left running lamp. Keep in mind, it was working moments earlier when I used it to confirm wiring colours for each circuit! Lamp off, electrical meter out, no power to the housing. GRRR. Spun all the ceramic fuses, and it worked. Moments later, it went out. Hmmm. Further inspection determined I have a fault in the fuse box, which is a bit of a fun problem. It's about this time that I started thinking heavily about just tearing the whole car down and rewiring it from scratch. I did my MG Midget last winter, made a whole new harness with deutsch connectors and a modern fusebox, and it's fantastic. No more British electrical issues. This car has had so many patches and additions over the ten years, and I'm not as big a fan of the anderson powerpole connectors as I was when I built it. Also, I know why I went with factory style fuses for the two fuse boxes...but like the wheels, it's time to modernize. I need to pull the windshield wiper assembly if I'm going to fix the pivots, but there is a whole whack of rally-related wiring and connectors in the way. I'm sure when I built the car I thought it was nice and modular and easy to pull out sections...but looking at it now, with 10yrs of wiring diagrams lost to my head. I'm not so sure! The Rally Bug needs to have a 'quick turn around' in the shop this round, as it's the car most ready-to-go for events in 2024. I need to get the '58 in and ready for California Mille, and then I'd like to prep the German Look. After that's done, I can relax a little and consider whether a two week re-wiring job is worth it. So instead, for now, it's going to be clean up where I can...ignore what I have to...and move non-critical items off the list if necessary. I managed to 'fix' the fusebox for the moment, but I'll get a 10A blade fuse ready just in case I have to bypass it :P

It was about this point that it dawned on me. What if, the Brantz rally computer isn't damaged internally...and it was just the flaky wiring on the car? Unboxed it from the repair-return shipment I had prepared, and hooked it up on the bench. Sure enough, darned thing is working perfectly. AND I've just finished modifying the car to use the less desirable Helios! ARRRGGG! Well, I have been considering outfitting all the cars with rally odometers this winter (Taylor really appreciated being able to follow the mileage with the route book)...so I guess I have a Brantz to pop into the German Looker now. Sigh.

Side note...why is it the Rally Bug that is the car that doesn't leak any oil!?!

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-Dave

owdlvr

October 24th 2023, 14:41

Tnx for the great write-up!
The gold wheels look awesome btw.

Thanks! When I first drove the car out and looked at them, I actually hated it. It's taken a few weeks, but they've fully grown on me. Love it now.

owdlvr

November 5th 2023, 13:48

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This is how normal people wash their cars...right?

More on the Rally Bug next week...

H2OSB

November 5th 2023, 14:27

Dave, I love your rally car! Pretty for of the GL too.

H2OSB

owdlvr

November 8th 2023, 03:10

Sooo...that update.

I was out testing the Rally Computer install and the other updates to make sure the car was good for events next year. Took it to a buddies barn, hung out for a while, and then headed home via a nice twisting road near the lake. Coming up over a crest, on a slight right curve, a truck was going the other way. I'm not sure if this came out of the dually tires, or he hit it on the road, but this rock came spinning and flying across the road. I was cutting to the opposite lane when it suddenly dawned on me he could be towing a trailer with no lights. The moment of hesitation meant I wasn't going to clear the rock.

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Let me tell you, the sound was unreal. The engine shut off, and I was sure I was going to find a long trail of oil once I stopped. Checked the road, no oil. Under the car, no oil. The suspension mount, however, took the brunt of it. The passenger side control arm mount is heavily damaged and cracked, the frame head is heavily dented and damaged. It's now an insurance claim...whole frame head has to be replaced. Fortunately Hagerty has been excellent so far. Adjuster called me back within 48hrs of the claim, and damage assessor came by my shop today to assess it. Should know before the end of the week what the decisions are.

wouter1303

November 8th 2023, 04:36

yikes, that was probably scary as hell!
I hope the insurance would cover up this kind of damage, it takes a lot of work.
And maybe some wanted upgrades too in the same time?

owdlvr

November 8th 2023, 22:54

Insurance is going to cover it. That part I don't have to worry about.

I'm hemming and hawing on the idea of upgrades, since I'm going to have to strip the body and pull it from the pan. There are lots of changes I could make to the car to make it more 'streetable'...but then, is that really the Rally Bug? Honestly? At this stage it's likely to just get the unused items removed, holes filled, and maybe a whole new wiring harness. But then the damage assessor was looking at the front end of the Blue beetle and asked, "why wouldn't you put that front end [the iMohr] in it, since you've got to cut it all out anyways?

Hmmm....

wouter1303

November 9th 2023, 04:19

Options, choices, wannahaves and musthaves.....always a struggle. But a Rally Bug is a Rally Bug, not a Street Bug.
So the phrase "Because racecar" might help making choices?

owdlvr

November 9th 2023, 18:24

Options, choices, wannahaves and musthaves.....always a struggle. But a Rally Bug is a Rally Bug, not a Street Bug.
So the phrase "Because racecar" might help making choices?

This is excellent advice. I think I also need to keep it a little true to the original ethos of "replica" with modern materials. It seems a little sacrilegious to eliminate the front struts the factory was so successful on.

owdlvr

November 11th 2023, 15:09

I don't have a settlement yet, but I did get permission to start tearing it down for the repairs...

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Since the body has to come off the pan, I've decided to pull some funds from the Family Heirloom project and repaint the Rally Bug. After three years of winter rallies, and a further 7 years of running, it has a couple of spots that could use it. The paint was acceptable at the time, due to budget, but could be much better. So the plan is for a non-colour change "tape and spray". Being the guy I am, though, I'm going to remove absolutely everything necessary to get a good outside repaint.

The front hood on the car was an accident-repaired hood. Turns out I have a factory original front hood that is perfect (just yellow) thanks to a friend Darren, so the original Rally Bug hood will become artwork in the shop. Interestingly, it turns out I have _two_ spare hoods, three if my other spare still exits at my buddy Rob's house. So I think that gives me a chance to spray full silver body, and a set of black hoods as well. I very carefully asked my buddy Bob, who's a 'stock is right' kind of guy, what he thought about the turn signals on the front fender. To my surprise he replied we have to fill them and go mexi-bumper...which confirms my gut reaction about the choice. As soon as the gold wheels went on the car, it gave me permission in my head to stray from the "Salzburg Replica". Just gotta be sure I can go back that way if I choose.

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Looking a little deeper at the wiring, I've got some challenges ahead. The original harness I built for the car is quite robust...but definitely not built to be modified. I damaged the front rally light harness trying to get it out of the car, apparently I build part of it after putting it through a body grommet. The way I did the Techflex wiring cover I can't actually splice into the harness for modification or repairs without damaging it, and possibly daming the internals. So, my idea of potentially modifying sections of it are pretty much out the window. If I simply leave the wiring harness and tear out anything I've added over the years, I think it will be fine. There's nothing that isn't working correctly on the original harness, although there are some circuits no longer being used. It does also have those original-style fuses which isn't great. I'll need to build a secondary harness for post-build editions, which is probably the fastest/cleanest way to do things. But it does have some negatives. I want to change the switches on the dash, and I need to dig out the gas heater wiring harness, which was (apparently) laid into the car first...under the main harness. I fear disturbing anything in the rats nest is a recipe for disaster.

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Rewiring the entire car, though, is going to be a huge undertaking. I know what I want to do. But do I have the time (and money) to do it?

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Looking ahead, I'm considering at the seat mounts I built 15 years ago (for the white '69)...and they simply have to go. If this was a fully-caged car, it would be easy. A couple of bars from the sill to the tunnel, and the job is done. It's only got a rear hoop, and I want to keep the ability to separate body from pan (especially now) so I need to come up with another solution. I talked it over last night with some race car fabricating buddies of mine, and I think we've got an idea sorted out.

I'm also thinking it's a good time to upgrade/change out the pedal box. The one I'm using isn't ideal, I've had to hack out the napolean hat on the tunnel, and on the front firewall to make it fit. I will have some sheet metal repairs to do on the body, but I'm thinking a different setup might be in order. I messaged Kevin Hale about the one he's using in the Ghia racecar he's building (Ghia Raketenhase on Facebook) and he replied in less than 10min with a video and tape measure showing me all the measurements. His OBP unit won't fit in my car (14.25" throttle pedal height) but they make one that is merely 12" to the top of the pedal. Will be measuring once I'm done typing this to see if it's an early Christmas present for me!

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owdlvr

November 12th 2023, 15:03

Wasting no time...

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It's slightly before this point that things took a bit of a turn for the worse...

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I couldn't afford to rebuild the 901 gearbox when I built the Rally Bug, figured that if it was "bad" I would rebuild it down the road. It's always been rough/notchy getting it into 1st or reverse (common problem) but I didn't think it was was that bad. The Hargett Shifter had developed some play, Mark was going to send me some parts, but it never seemed to happen...lightly clipping reverse would happen occasionally while looking for 2nd. I knew it wasn't great for the internals, but it was not that common. Here's the rub. If this is 300,000km and 12 years on this fluid, it's kinda not the worst. But I think this is only 150,000km on this fluid change.

Regardless, it's well overdue for a rebuild. I've got the tools and the knowledge. The "middle of the road kit that replaces the wear items in the transmission from shifting use as well as the bearings that usually exhibit wear from age." is $1500 USD, or $2k Canadian. Ouch. But this really is the time to do it with the box out of the car. There is a part of me that is heavily considering just popping a 4spd Beetle box into the car "for now". Of course, we probably know that would end up permanent. At least I have a lot of time to consider this one :P

Call it a hunch...but I think the drivers side axle might be just a hair too long? No marks on the axle end though...

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owdlvr

November 20th 2023, 15:16

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Found a few spots in the body that need to be taken care of...plus I snapped off three fender bolts on the left-front corner.

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Bob came over and welded in the turn signal holes. Going to go with the Mexi-bumper setup.

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Still a lot of work to be done here...

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But it's at about this point that I got a bit of a crazy idea, which is probably going to be a little controversial. I'm pulling a fair bit of budget out of the Family Heirloom project to repaint and rewire the Rally Bug, and with the transmission sitting on the floor I started to think about something. The one thing I really want in the Family Heirloom is a five speed Porsche transmission. It's a no-go due to two reasons: a) budget. I'm just not prepared to buy and rebuild a Porsche trans for the car. b) it requires cutting out the torsion bar splines on the inside to mount it where I want it. Thus negating the "can always go back to stock" ethos. Well, I've decided that it probably doesn't matter. Let's be honest, it's never going back to stock while I'm the owner of it! If I were to pull the 901 gearbox and the rally bug, fuel injected, motor for the '75 Heirloom project, it would be the perfect setup for that car. But what about the Rally Bug?

In some ways, I kind of feel like the Salzburg replica has served its purpose. I've had a good 11-12 years of enjoyment of it, it's had all its magazine features, but it's not doing anything more than just being stagnant. Swapping over the Subaru wheels pretty much ended the "replica" part, so can I experiment further?? I was shuffling cars in the storage area of my property, and scrapping some parts cars that have fulfilled their purpose and overstayed their welcome...when it hit me. I have a complete Subaru setup waiting to go in a Beetle. I bought the kit necessary to do either a 2.5 naturally aspirated setup, OR the twin cam WRX setup. As part of the car shuffling, I had the scrapper yank out the engine and transmission of one so I have a 2.5 RS core motor (to go with everything else I pulled from an earlier car). I recently traded my EZ30 six-cylinder to a buddy for his WRX motor...so I've got a turbo option as well.

So, yeah, going to go Subaru in the Rally Bug, thus giving me the aircooled engine/trans setup for the Family Heirloom. Settles the budget issues for me, but totally sets me back timewise! Ha.

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wouter1303

November 21st 2023, 08:09

that was a big plot twist....

72marinablue

November 22nd 2023, 12:43

From a usability perspective you wont regret going Subaru. I have over 3000 miles on my subaru swap now and its makes the car much more livable. It doesn't leak, the factory fuel injection ecu works reliably, and its enough power. Definitely work to have the cooling system installed but in my eyes worth it.

owdlvr

November 22nd 2023, 13:17

72marinablue

November 22nd 2023, 13:53

I need to study your thread and cooling system install for sure. May need to hit you up with specific questions/photo requests.

Happy to share anything you need!

H2OSB

November 22nd 2023, 18:37

@72Marinablue. Are you using the factory ecu?

72marinablue

November 22nd 2023, 18:45

@72Marinablue. Are you using the factory ecu?

Yes I am.

Steve C

November 27th 2023, 19:26

Hi

Welcome to the dark side. If I can help in anyway let me know. I've made a few errors and found better ways to do things over the years.

Cheers Steve

owdlvr

November 28th 2023, 22:37

Hi

Welcome to the dark side. If I can help in anyway let me know. I've made a few errors and found better ways to do things over the years.

Cheers Steve

Excellent!

Currently trying to find good photos of a radiator setup that I can acquire the bits for in North America…

wouter1303

November 29th 2023, 05:51

maybe something like this?

https://www.csp-shop.com/en/brand-shops/cagero-dual-oil-cooler-117-025-168sd-29965b.html

I dont know if it has the amount of cooling surface as needed, but in this way you won't be modifying your trunk/front.

Steve C

November 29th 2023, 16:28

Hi

My latest radiator is from a 944 Porsche in all aluminium. I have used Audi 100/200 ones in past.

I've used Audi fans with the Audi fan housing which work pretty good.

On the 944 radiator that I'm using now I tried an unshrouded fan which wasn't very good. I'm now using twin 11 inch Spal fans which have an amazing amount of airflow. They came with a fan housing that I needed to trim to fit the 944 radiator.

You can tilt the radiator so that it sits lower and is supposed to make the radiator work more efficiently. You need to use a radiator as wide as possible and seal around the radiator so that all incoming air goes through it.

Cheers Steve

link to fans that I used https://thermofans.com.au/collections/12v-twin-thermo-fans/products/ef3580

owdlvr

December 12th 2023, 17:44

Time for an update! I was off traveling for a friend's wedding, and the shop is getting way too full with multiple beetles exploded...but here we are.

The welding on the body shell is now complete. I have my buddy Bob to thank for that. For some odd reason he really enjoys thin sheet-metal welding. He must be ill or something :P
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While waiting for the 'ok' to run the car down to the body shop, I've tried to start dealing with a number of the items needed on the Subaru swap. I pulled out my bins of Subaru-Swap items, and discovered that I don't actually have everything that I need for the swap. It looks like I (likely) scrapped the motor that came out of my donor, probably when I moved seven years ago. At the time I had one or two running Subarus that I was using as 'daily drivers' so it would have seemed logical. But one of those Subarus, my wagon, is a 2.5i engine with variable valve timing and the drive-by-wire throttle. Neither of which I want in the car. My '05 that we just yanked the motor out of, rats had destroyed the wiring harness in many places...so it's just a good core longblock I can use.

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In doing some detailed research, I need to have the following from the same car: Wiring harness, under dash harness, intake manifold, cam/crank gears, intake wiring harness. Hmph.

In my current stash:
- Wiring harness from a 2002 - missing the "intake harness".
- Engine and intake from a 2005 DBW - missing the intake harness (rats)
- A boat load of rebuild parts and timing belt kit to match the 2005.

This leads me to three options: find yet another Subaru donor to strip, find a parts car / wrecking yard that has the right year/model for me to pull my missing bits from, or just accept DBW and variable valve timing and part out my wagon. Hmmmmm. As I was contemplating this, a guy walked up to me at the car wash in town and asked "Hey, any chance you need a parts car?" Um, yes? So I have a tentative deal on a running, driving, Subaru Legacy. More updates soon!

On the transmission side, I have two transmissions to work with (currently). The first is a "known good transmission" I purchased from a local rally shop, and the second is the one I just pulled out of my 2.5RS Rat-infested parts car. The rally shop transmission is most desirable, because it has the diff-studs that I need for use with the Subarugears parts...so lets open it up! The fact that there are broken parts floating around the centre diff, not a great start...
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We haven't even gotten to the drain plug at this point...but pulling good sized metal bits out of cavities here does not bode well. Sharpie for scale.
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Ahhh, there's your problem. It would appear that 3rd gear has left the building.
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The rear diff casing has a good score mark on it, but may still be okay to swap over into my newer transmission. I may also just take the circlip axle stubs and see if they will fit in the spring-clip front diff. I can't find any definitive answers as to whether this is OK or not.

But onto the second gearbox...
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This one is fortunately clean inside, and has all the teeth where they should be.
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Unfortunately, the speed sensor was damaged, and seized to the case. The whole assembly came out in pieces, and I have to find an exploded parts diagram and manual to figure out how to pull the GOOD pieces out of the parts transmission to put into this one. I also may need to buy a really large tap to clean out the threads for it, because I can't seem to get them clean with a pick and brush, and don't want to damage the aluminum case.

So that's where I'm at. Body ready for the body shop (but haven't heard back that they are good to take it)...can't start on the floor pan because my shop is out of space. And four steps backwards on the Subaru swap :P

-Dave

owdlvr

December 18th 2023, 15:59

Let the case modifications begin! The Subarugears written directions are pretty poor, but his Youtube video on the modifications is quite complete. I'm a read/manual kinda guy, so I find it frustrating to have to pull up the YouTube video multiple times if I need to check something...but alas, I guess I'm old now :P

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With the case ready, it was onto swapping out the pinion shaft, which is actually really really easy with the Subaru transmission.

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The pinion shaft is then shimmed to set the pinion depth. The Subarugears kit includes the tool needed to do this, but you have to buy the shims from Subaru. With two transmission torn down, I had enough shims to get close...but not perfect. I messaged Todd with a photo, asking if 0.05mm was close enough to zero, or did I need to get it zero'd out. He replied to ignore the tool, and simply check it with the "stock shims you took out". Uh, okay? Why include the tool then? Anyways...we'll come back to that, because it's hilariously annoying.

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The next step is to mark the ring gear with grease, and assemble the transmission, torquing the case bolts to spec. You then adjust for backlash, set the bearing preload, rotate the transmission a bunch of times, and tear it all apart. Take a look at where you are at with the grease markings, reassemble and repeat. If (like me) you've never done this before, it helps to dance a tribute to the gear mesh gods, pray, sacrifice a beer on the floor (that may have just been me knocking it over), and any other spiritual things you may think will help the situation. The biggest key, however, is to focus on one measurement at a time and only change one thing in between case tear-downs, so you can learn how each adjustment changes the mesh pattern. Ultimately you need to setup pinion depth and backlash, but changing one changes the other...so don't attempt too many things at once! Three assembly/teardowns later, and if you're doing really well you end up with some patterns like this:

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I thought I was pretty much spot on, but it looks as though my gear mesh is a little loose (pattern too high on the tooth). Thing is, I'm measuring 0.005" backlash, and spec is 0.005-0.007. So if it's not the backlash, that tells me that perhaps I want to be just a touch tighter on the pinion depth. Checked with a bunch of buddies who know these things better than I do, and they all agreed I could run it as is, but maybe try and move the pinion a hair just to see.

So at this point, since I figured I was almost spot-on, I'd ask Todd what he thought. "Looks excellent, but you should move the pinion a touch. We find that 0.45mm of shims is usually the right spec." I'm sorry, what? Why didn't you tell me that five hours ago when I asked about the shims!?! ARGG! I could have had it spot on tonight if he had. I mean, not really that big of a deal. I learned a lot, and I'm very fortunate that the guy who sells the parts replies so readily. Just hilarious considering the time frame. But at that stage, it was 11pm, and I figured I'd be smarter to go to bed and deal with it tomorrow...

-Dave

owdlvr

December 20th 2023, 15:05

Haven't been out in the shop to finalize the transmission setup, time of year and all. But I did hit a major milestone yesterday!

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Wahoo!

H2OSB

December 20th 2023, 20:25

You're my semi-inspiration for planning my soon, future dedicated autocross/track day car. Semi, because it won't be a rally car. Looks great!

H2OSB

72marinablue

December 21st 2023, 18:07

Nice work Dave!

owdlvr

January 11th 2024, 15:35

You're my semi-inspiration for planning my soon, future dedicated autocross/track day car. Semi, because it won't be a rally car. Looks great!

H2OSB

I mean, I won't lie. Outside of the Rush to Gold Bridge, which mixes gravel and tarmac each year, I don't think the Rally Bug is going to see much "rally" after this rebuild. It's basically a tarmac car now, and I'll probably re-think the livery.

----

Stopped in at the body shop right after the holidays. As I suspected, they sort of misunderstood the "tape and spray" quality expectations. But, I know they are balancing the "our shop name is on this job" too.

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The hood, for example, was what I would consider to be a "perfect" factory hood with factory paint. I mean, just scuff that puppy and spray it! Nope. Not flat enough for them. :P

On the same token, they are taking the time to fix the stuff that really should be fixed. Various parts of the shell have been highlighting for blasting, and you can see a bit of the work they've done to repair all the rally-rash on the fenders.

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In sandblasting, however, they discovered an absolute horror I had no idea about. There was a pinhole rust bubble in the front apron, which I knew they would pull out...but that snowballed into discovering this interesting repair. Apparently the front apron was basically bondo...which amazingly never cracked or fell out?! Looks to me like someone backed a trailer into the car, and then did a quickie fix to get it out the door.

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I offered to pull the factory apron off my '73, but the vent area needs a little bit of straightening, and we agreed that the most cost-effective way to fix this would be to simply drop a Klokkercrap panel into the car. With the Kamei spoiler, you see very little of the apron and we're going to be cutting up the front end of the car after paint for the radiator setup. So...it's a smart spot to save a few pennies.

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When I built the Rally Bug 13 years ago, I desperately wanted to put some carbon bits in the interior of the car. I wasn't in the position to afford them, but was going to figure out how to make it happen. At that time, however, Carbon Joe had sort of 'disappeared' and wasn't producing anything. I had missed the boat. A few months back, a Carbon front splitter was posted on TheSamba and I literally pulled the car over to the side of the road and jumped on buying it (for the '75 project). I realized pretty quickly that it was Carbon Joe selling it, and inquired if this was New Old Stock, or was he reproducing. We discussed my interests, quantities, and (if I'm completely honest) told him how much a young Dave desperately wanted some Carbon Joe bits for his first and second builds. So far I've got the splitter, headlight rings and carbon dash from the list of parts I've asked him for. Each transaction has been fantastic, and I can't wait to see the rest of the bits when they show up.

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The fit is incredible, and I think I've decided that this one is actually going to go into the Rally Bug (not the '75 as tested here).

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That got me falling down the rabbit hole of what do I want the dash to actually look like? For the Subaru swap I only need a tach, speedometer, fuel gauge, and water temp...everything else is basically 'extra'. With the carbon dash, I also want to try and 'clean it up' and go with a simple setup, and as few switches as possible. I've been exploring digital dash panels, and PDMs (power distribution modules)...I'd love to fully modernize the cars electrical system. I just don't think I'm willing to swing the budget to make it happen. It starts off looking like $1500-2k, but by the time you actually go and design the system and price it out to the final connector...it's $4-6k CAD. Considering I don’t really do track days, and thus the datalogging side of it is pretty useless to me, it’s a big spend. Probably convinced myself not to do it, in lieu of standard gauges.

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I have started to rethink the floorpan, however, and cut off all the mounts for everything so I can start completely fresh. New pedal box, possibly flipping the shift assembly back around, and figuring out if I want the vertical hydraulic handbrake, or going back to a horizontal unit. I’m also going to completely redo the seat mounts. In the lower left you can see some 3D printed switch panel options, which I’ve been playing around with whether I can make them fit. One is simply a switch box, while the other is a PDM that has a number of additional features that are quite desirable. But $$$$ :P

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If I do go with standard gauges, I will need some switches in the dash. This is pretty much the best option I’ve found so far, in trying to keep the carbon dash looking clean. If I can get the switches to be dual LED (one ring colour when off, a second colour when on) I’m probably going to pull the trigger. But with the body delayed in the paint shop, it’s time to put the floor pan aside for a few weeks while I get the 1958 Beetle and the German Look ready for next year’s motoring.

owdlvr

February 12th 2024, 04:12

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Rally bug heater channels are looking pretty good inside...but the bottoms of each were pretty rotten. Bob and I found a couple of spots, and patched them, but when the sandblaster came out...what was left was swiss-cheesey. It would seem both left and right sides were full of sand...from sandblasting the shell 13years ago. That held water/moisture, and rotted out the bottom and some of the running-board sides.

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Heater channel bottoms in, door gap on the driver's side fixed, cracked hinge on the driver's side fixed...I mean, this was going to be a quick respray, right? I guess at this stage, we might as well fix everything //storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/tongue.png" class="smile" alt=":P

Well, since we're cutting out sheet metal...I should probably feel guilty.

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...and putting new metal in.

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Pedal set has the clutch pedal in line with where it was with the old set, but the pedals are 3" closer to the bulkhead. That should give me enough leg room to compensate for the added height off the floor they will have. Turns out the master cylinders shipped without some needed parts, so this project will have to wait a bit.

...and now we spend the next week working in my office, or cleaning/prepping the house for my family from the east to visit. No shop time for at least a week. :(