Dave's 1971 1302 Not-So-Secret, Secret Project Build

[owdlvr]

I suppose it's time to start a project thread for my 1971 1302. The project has been called the "not so secret, secret project" for the past six months inside my circle of friends who have known about it. It's taken a while to get going, more then a couple of cars to find the right one, but I wanted to ensure I had a project thread which was moving forward at a rapid rate instead of sliding down the thread list for months at a time.

One of the biggest issues with my '69 project car (http://www.germanlook.net/forums/showthread.php?t=10319) was the fact that I essentially daily-drive the car, and thus could never set it aside for the time needed to really do it up properly. True, we had a tonne of fun with the car, but to get it to "the next stage" would have required taking it off the road for at least 6 months. Six months without driving an air-cooled? No way!!

So, the hunt for a new model began. For reasons which will eventually become obvious, I needed to get a Super Beetle for the next step in my bug evolution. The 1303 had quite a number of positive elements which should have put it in the lead as "the car" to buy…and indeed I looked a number of them…but the truth is I cannot STAND that dashboard. I almost went for one of the fiberglass 911-style dashboards to make it passable, but in the end it just wouldn't work for me. It had to be flat dash, and thus a 1302…preferably a 1971 model!

Since finding a solid example of a single year of beetle isn't the easiest of things to do, I naturally started by simply finding a floor pan. While re-doing the pan I figured I could look for a solid body. And hey, having a spare pan (if you can store it) is never a bad thing!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5260/5579682735_f72244cbf8_b.jpg
One spare '73 pan, ready to go under the knife.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5103/5583813311_ab691e1074_b.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5183/5583814371_375298d9ea_b.jpg

I truly hate spot welds…but everyone likes photos. So while I complain about the detail work…here's some photos :)

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5104/5584067235_b267072388_z.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5146/5589109941_4a0d9c7683_z.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5103/5589700918_c2fcc889cb_z.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5227/5589110091_cf495321e0_z.jpg

[Steve C]

Hi

I agree the 1303 dash is a pain, but for any high speed work the curved windscreen model is much more slippery than a flat screen model.

Steve

[owdlvr]

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5269/5605494542_1c6746fa92_z.jpg

Well, that's a heck of lot easier! Sandblasting won't pull up the seam sealer unless you really work at it...thus, I simply took off the stuff I have to and left the seam sealer I don't _need_ to remove.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5147/5605495066_543fdb2665_z.jpg

Four hours of blasting, 200lbs of crushed glass, and it's not quite finished yet! Pretty funny sweeping up an inch-thick layer of sand off the shop floor at the end of the night though.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5224/5604913277_f94f62728e_z.jpg
...just in case, no I wasn't blasting it in the same garage as the '66 mini!

-Dave

[Joel]

Hey Dave, good to see you started a thread on it, coming along nicely.

[owdlvr]

Thanks Joel! Good to finally "get it out" somewhere ;-)

Grinding and Sandblasting on the spine are now complete. I've started welding up the various holes and spots that require attention, but in doing so discovered a more significant problem. I knew the tow-hook area was rough when I started on the pan, but blasting and grinding revealed that the problem is deeper then I first thought.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/5610264983_b5c0b00435_z.jpg

To the right of the tow hook you can see two nut inserts, with a channel between them. For non Super people, those nut inserts are for the sway-bar brace, the channel for the sway bar. Simply patching the holes isn't enough, not to mention the channel should look straight, like the other side:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5306/5610265969_9ee03fb0d7_z.jpg

…No photos, yet, but I managed to source out a complete frame head. I think I'm going to section in just the corner/parts I need. If I was going to swap the full frame head I would likely go with a reproduction unit, but would still have to Jig the whole assembly before cutting it apart. In the meantime though, I couldn't resist doing a test fit...

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5146/5608592244_802fcc386b_z.jpg

Well, further progress on the pan. I gather this looks incredibly boring, but there is 4-8 hours of work between posts! haha. No photos of the various welded bits, but I did get around to cleaning the paint of the pans.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5147/5617924153_6f8b3d492c_z.jpg http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5110/5617924235_e187eee78c_z.jpg

Started doing some fitting to get them to sit where they need to be. I'm actually quite happy, the front portion of each side is within 1/4" of where it needs to be, and the rear is within 1/2". A bit of trimming and tapping with the body hammers tomorrow and I should be welding them in. Once that's done, I have a few more tricks I need to worry about and then I will be able to paint the pan.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5184/5618508678_a3880b1d9d_z.jpg

-Dave

[owdlvr]

well, back to the pan.

I love Cleco's...mind you, I should have bought 10 more and it would have been perfect.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5264/5623077669_3b0b311a94_z.jpg

Pans are now welded to the chassis...onto the next item! Only 64-billion more items to go :P

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5223/5623665774_0da551ac34_z.jpg
(Pan was flipped upside down for the final weld points)

-Dave

[dub_crazee]

nice work :)

[Humble]

You got my attention! Nice work on the pan so far. Are the 1302 and 1303 pan halves the same other than the seat mount?

[owdlvr]

Yeah, this one is actually going to be quite a bit of fun. I decided I wasn't going to do another car that I was driving at the same time as building, and it definitely feels way better knowing I can take the time to do it right the first time. Kinda tough to stay motivated when you walk downstairs and see just a huge mountain of work and a list longer then my white boards can handle...but once you start cracking on an item the work tends to flow pretty easily.

Years ago while doing a rebuild on my Audi Rally car a friend of mine noticed I had stalled out and implemented what is now known around here as "the one hour rule". Every day you have to spend a minimum of one hour in the garage, and you can't 'bank hours' (ie two hours today, skip tomorrow). You don't even have to touch the car, but I can tell you that sweeping and just sitting there gets boring real quick. So you start on something small and then suddenly it's 1am and you've plugged away for 6 hours.

1302 and 1303 pan halves are exactly the same, except for the seat mounts. I'm not 100% sure what changed up front on the frame head with regards to the steering box vs. steering rack mounts, but the '73 pan I have is identical to the '72 and '71 pans I have with the exception of the seat mounts.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

I acquired this donor front end...
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5023/5610866502_ff4b62e952_z.jpg

Well, turns out the donor frame head had one little problem, at some point one of the bolts must of snapped, and the fix was to simply weld the sway bar mount to the frame head.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5221/5625789853_00fbc6ce0e_z.jpg

My original plan was to do a big section of the frame head, leaving me lots of mounting bolts and measuring points to work from. I assumed that I could just separate the halves at the spot welds, and weld in a nut from the back for the mount...but once I ground off the sway bar mount I discovered it was already hacked up pretty badly. Onto plan B! Well, truthfully I didn't really have a plan for how to get around it, and probably started cutting with the angle grinder far earlier then I should have. But sometimes you get lucky, or I'm just improving. It took me one big cut and two fine adjustments to get it to where I was happy.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5070/5625884825_eb21cff330_z.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5110/5625789923_373cfcdfdb_z.jpg

It's not perfect, but only because I had to leave a little bit of the crunched sheet metal on my pan in order to keep the mounting nut. As far as the front suspension should be concerned though, it's all lined up. Unfortunately, that's where the good news ends. Normally I use POR15 for projects like this, but a number of factors had me switch to Zero Rust for this pan. Brush marks with POR15 disappear and it dries with a hard glossy shine. Zero rust, it would seem, dries in a semi gloss, and with the worst brush marks I've ever seen. I only did the top of the frame head and rear suspension mounts, but I'm gutted. All that work for it to look like this:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5228/5626378412_b28a184b44_z.jpg

Really, once the car is together no one is going to see this stuff...but it's going to be a long while before that happens. With the hours I have in so far, it sucks to have it finish like this.

…a few hours pass…

So…Up at 8am, off to the parts store, and I'm happy before noon. Getting some pinholes with the POR15, which tells me the garage is too cold. But I've cranked the heat and it should smooth out enough to make me satisfied. Let that be a lesson...stick with what you know!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5269/5628587782_319ac28313_z.jpg

-Dave

[owdlvr]

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5048/5642422976_b079a3dc39_z.jpg

...and then back to the pan. With the semi-gloss black paint dry, I was able to seam seal the bottom of the pan.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5061/5642657464_8c42cd3c5a_z.jpg

And then tonight I laid down a coat of POR15 Silver. It's brushed on, and silver never looks good when it's brushed. Lots of track marks, brush marks and uneven silvering...but that's okay. I originally wanted to have the Pan finished in Silver, everyone does black, but realized with the first strokes that it wasn't going to work out. The main reason for the silver, though, was to ensure I get a full coat on everything. I started with bare metal, painted black and then went over the pan with a trouble light the next night. Any silver showed where I had missed with the black and I could touch up. Now that the pan is silver again, it's the same process tomorrow night...but this time looking for black areas. Once I'm convinced I've got a full two coats on the pan, I'll finish up with a third. I think I'm going to go Gloss Black. Three coats of POR15 should be damned near bulletproof.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5270/5642625184_edc9d00902_b.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5264/5642667204_2f39863bc5_z.jpg

-Dave

[Steve C]

Hi

That repair turned out well, not many of my supers still have their tow hooks, usually cleaned up some obstacle.

Steve

[NO_H2O]

Nice work.

[owdlvr]

Sigh. After I decide that really, a 901 box isn't in the budget equation for this year, and paint the pan...a buddy lets me know he has everything (box, shafts, mounts, shift linkage) available for me???

Probably still not "in the budget". But budget is also time related, so maybe I just don't drive as early as I'd like and go for 5 speeds...

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Here's a fun one. Between my roomate and I we ran out of space in the garage for a couple of weeks. So, move the freshly painted pan into the living room!

Please excuse the mess, we were in the middle of organizing a 3-day classic car event…

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2332/5701171277_377315e100_z.jpg




Oh hey, Look! A 1971 Super Beetle!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6066/6047377138_494a46c5f9_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6078/6046828987_f381325641_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6088/6047378150_cb1a1edce4_z.jpg

Here's the beauty of it all...it's virtually rust free. In fact, it's as rust free as you can expect to buy for a steal. The one spot that I think it has should be super easy to fix and something I was going to need to cut-up anyhow.

I think the guy I bought it off of almost cried when I told him I was going to paint it. You can still smell the current paint job curing on the car.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

The dry sump tank for my oil system arrived. Fairly impressed with it, though the finish on the outside is a little rough. Meh, I can live with it. I do think I'm going to upsize the feed fitting, still haven't quite sorted out the feed and return line sizing yet. My bigger problem is figuring out how I'm going to setup an oil-level on the tank. It's going to be remotely mounted, accessible for cleaning and oil changes, but pretty much inaccessible on a day-to-day basis. The Porsches all have an oil-level gauge, similar to a fuel level gauge...but with the internal baffles I'm not sure that idea is going to be easy to implement. The other option is to do catch-can style tubing on the outside, but that just screams leak potential to me. Thoughts? Ideas?

I've looked into Motorsport fluid level gauges, and while I can certainly get something I'm hoping to not spend $400 just on a sender!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5226/5617924425_f7ed3bfddc_z.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5061/5618508866_57ff835a85_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6208/6101938430_9708da63f3_z.jpg http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6197/6101390577_b7db796b24_z.jpg
Now this is a nice score. 5.5" width Sport rim! Rally car tires will fit on it, and the swap meet guy says he's got another four for me. Seriously big score, I've been looking for a set of the 5.5's close to home for a long while. The new project needs to run on Factory wheels, the reason for which I'll reveal later.

And now I'm working on how I'm going to fit the oil-sump tank filler. I'd really like to go with a Newton Flush Fill Valve, but have you ever priced one out? Lets put it this way, for the cost of one Newton Flush Fill cap I could buy a bladder'd fuel cell. Don't need a bladder? Well then that will cost you only half as much as the valve. Geesh, I just want a locking flush mount :P Apparently the Newton valves will flex slightly for curves, but I'm not 100% sure that I've got a flat enough surface.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6067/6101391199_bd0c9809a8_z.jpg
http://archive.newton-equipment.com/A36NSL1%20images/A36NSL1new_r7_c8A36NSL1new20T_f2.gif

Anyways, back to the garage...

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Front suspension 1st cleaning stage...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3474/5692535444_20a8b73eca_z.jpg

And the beginning of my rear suspension setup. I'm ditching the torsion bars and going with a rod-end for the pivot. Currently working with some steel to put them into double-shear, figuring it out as I go along. It has to all fit under the fender and clear the main body, but at the same time be easily removed for swapping out the Rod end. The Audi Rally car taught me that rod-ends are not necessarily a long-life solution to suspension applications! I haven't yet decided if the second plate will bolt on, or be welded to the first plate for the double-shear. Need to go back to the books and do some reading before I make a decision. The rear shock mounts will get braced with a Kafer-Bar to take the increased load of coil-overs, and that will give me a suspension setup which allows for easy rear-end ride height adjustment. Much easier then rotating torsion bars at least. The downside is losing a relatively simple suspension setup with naturally progressive action.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3041/5692535372_6b2772e8ba_z.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3131/5715327748_c3b6b441f6_z.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5101/5701170329_643b47f2fe_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6076/6101390905_d3915d4776_z.jpg

-Dave

[Kafer_Mike]

Here's a fun one. Between my roomate and I we ran out of space in the garage for a couple of weeks. So, move the freshly painted pan into the living room!

Please excuse the mess, we were in the middle of organizing a 3-day classic car event…

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2332/5701171277_377315e100_z.jpg

Makes a way cool coffee table... ;)

[owdlvr]

Alrighty...back for a rather lengthy post.

First off, remember that rare sport wheel from the post above? Yeah...this one, not so valuable any more.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6159/6157945494_da7dc2a45e.jpg

Basically, I F***ed up on the tire machine. Rally car tires are super, super, super stiff. And while I have mounted hundreds on alloy wheels, I've only ever mounted one a onto a steel wheel four times before. If you don't get the bead down enough on an alloy wheel, the machine just stops. On a steel wheel, apparently, it bends the *&$#!!! out of the wheel. Took two of us to eventually get the second bead on, and then my buddy Gord got the rim as round as he could with the hammer. Guess I know which one will be my spare! (sigh)

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6178/6157946932_9081235c73_z.jpg

But you have to put these things behind you...I mean, yes I destroyed a rare wheel, but this is a race car project...quite frankly I'm more then likely to bend all four in the first 100km of an event anyways. Such is life, move on. And with that, I had an incredibly productive day today out in the garage. I finally managed to get the '69 out of the shop, which meant I could pull the new '71 into the shop. I started on the rear, pulling each fender, the running boards, glass and finally the front fenders. This particular car has a pretty heavy (for a Bug) application of undercoating, and I spent much of today scraping it away to see what surprises lay underneath. Let me tell you, this was a TREAT compared to doing the same thing to an Audi. May I never have to scrape one down again!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6195/6157382187_2d958e7dd1_z.jpg
Right-side rear quarter...rust FREE. Not a mark in the whole thing.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6182/6157360783_3a44bf81bf_z.jpg
Engine Bay, some light surface rust on the right 'shelf'. Nothing a wire-wheel won't remove.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6063/6157901682_90b33d2c95_z.jpg http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6082/6157358723_8caea60bf6_z.jpg
Right-side front quarter...rust FREE. Not a mark, except for some transfer from the rusting bumper mount.

Now, I haven't scraped off the undercoat on the passenger side heater channel, but I did spot-check the usual rust locations and found nothing but solid German Steel. I can't actually be this lucky could I!?!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6084/6157901776_5aab183e2c_z.jpg
Well, not quite. The Left front quarter shows some very minor damage on the front by the apron (there's minor bondo in there), but three of the fender bolt nuts pulled out, which me a little wary for the rest of this side.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6073/6157358971_eca9870805_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6207/6157901966_e202ae0230_z.jpg

There are a couple of odd holes behind the front strut. The lower hole looked like it was punched through and then seam-sealed over, and there's no rust. Very odd. Above this spot, but not visible in the photos, are two rust holes that are coming from the other side. They originate somewhere under the fuel tank (which I haven't pulled yet) so there is a surprise or two needing some attention. The photo on the right, however, shows the lower seam at the rear of the front fender. This is a well known rust spot, and I usually assume a beetle is rusty here. This car has some minor surface rust, which I believe is from me scraping the spot when I went to buy it a month ago!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6075/6157902046_6c813890f0_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6180/6157359231_4028d9599b_z.jpg
Oh, here's the two rust spots coming through from the fuel tank area.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6063/6157359465_ecb283f1f9_z.jpg http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6081/6157359289_f7b8566260_z.jpg
Moving back, it starts to get worse. The bottom of the heater channel has some holes, and some surface rust. Rust here, though, doesn't start from the outside...it comes from within. One of the running board mounting holes has significant rot around it...but the worst is in the rear. Even if the mid section can be patched, the rear most 8" of the heater channel needs complete replacement. I've asked one of my buddies who builds show-winning and magazine bugs whether or not I should patch or replace the entire heater channel.

Other then that, no surprises so far. A bit of bondo in the rear fender, and the underside shows the hammer marks where it was pounded out. Not quite sure what the damage was (it's very odd to damage a fender inboard of the tail lamp but nowhere else)...but no worries, it's fully reusable.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6081/6157360699_eaf92c3498_z.jpg

I've also started planning out the various items I need to cut the body for before paint. My buddy Gord, who builds the Subaru Canada rally cars, came over to discuss the roll bar options with me. Neither of us were fans of the rear-stays that came with my bolt-in roll bar, so we've agreed that he'll need to make some new ones for me. He also figured out a way to move it back another few inches to give me some more room. We'll add a cross bar and a harness bar into the main hoop. Fortunately, though, the main hoop in my kit is quite tight and will be useable.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6156/6157328849_921c06dd29_z.jpg

I've also started to mock up the Accusump, Dry-Sump Tank and Oil Cooler. I think I'm going to set the car up with a "summer mount" and a "winter mount" for the oil-cooler. The winter mount will actually double as a heater for the inside of the bug. Packaging space for everything, as always, is a problem. Originally the drysump tank was going to go on the passenger side, but it needs to be sunk into the luggage floor. You can't do that, as the starter is in the way...so now it goes on the left. Then, since it's on the left, there is no longer any room for the Oil Cooler under the car...which means moving it into the car. Now the space where the Accusump was going is taken, so the musical chairs continue. Hopefully I don't get kicked out of the car before everything finds a space!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6198/6157871726_2d805a3f08_z.jpg

-Dave

[70Turbobug]

Looks great! I wouldn´t put the oil cooler inside the car,though.I don´t think it would be very effective because it only has amibient air to cool it instead of a stream of fresh air passing acorss the core.You could use two smaller coolers or a mesa type under floor cooler.A friend of mine also used his oil cooler as a heater it wasn´t effective at all whether for heat nor for oil cooling,so he relocated the cooler to the front of the car and installed an electric 12 volt heater from an RV catalog.

[owdlvr]

Interesting thoughts. I think I have the airflow problem worked out, once I fab it in you'll see what I mean. I did figure it would work for heat, the beetleball guys have their oil coolers hooked up this way for winter events. Hmmm...will rethink that one, and probably install a gas heater.

-Dave

[dub_crazee]

i am REALLY enjoying this thread - keep the pictures coming! shame about the rim - i bet a few choice words were used! the shell looks insanely solid for a fat chick - good find!

[owdlvr]

Alright, so allow me to show you why it's a sub $2k car:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6210/6160757119_1b1cde766f_z.jpg

The luggage area is just a wee-bit rotten. Now, normally this might concern you as a buyer...but if you're like me, and realize you'd be cutting the luggage area for the Dry Sump tank, you just don't care. Now, I've always wished my white bug had just a little big of extra room in the engine bay. If it had, say an extra inch, my Breather tank wouldn't be rubbed by the carb, I could probably actually reach my arm in to bolt up the motor easier and I might even be able to adjust the carbs with greater ease.

If one inch would be good...wouldn't more be better? Awww heck, lets just make some room...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6192/6161295212_53643ae0da_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6061/6161295322_f47a6873b2_z.jpg

I haven't quite finished cutting out all the bad metal, but when I'm done tomorrow I'll have a clean slate for the firewall and the luggage area. The plan is to move the firewall in by 3", and adjust the luggage area to suit.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

i am REALLY enjoying this thread - keep the pictures coming! shame about the rim - i bet a few choice words were used! the shell looks insanely solid for a fat chick - good find!

Thanks!

Yeah, that rim really hurt. I've been looking for a good set over the last two years, finally find a perfect set of five...and do that. Could be worse though, could be the car! haha.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Started getting my Arts and Crafts on tonight...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6154/6168006663_95015ca21f_z.jpg

...and when I could no longer handle it, started working on the removable apron, which will make pulling the engine so much easier. I'm pretty sure the apron was welded on by a guy who was told he'd lose his job if he didn't smarten up. There are TWENTY-ONE spot welds per SIDE!! Unreal. But now at least I can easily pop the apron on and off for pulling the motor. My friends who have done it say it's their number one favorite modification.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6167/6168006355_f3b5240c75_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6178/6168543182_0957dc584b_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6152/6168543274_9661391e57_z.jpg

The road-race guys just use the pinching force of the fender bolts to hold their apron's on, but I'm not entirely convinced thats going to do it for the way I use my car. So I'll likely work out a bolt-on solution in the next few days.

-Dave

[Kafer_Mike]

On the removable apron, I've seen guys run an extra fender bolt between the existing two fender mounting points. They drilled a hole and welded a nut on the backside of the inner fender well, and added a corresponding thru-hole to the edge of the apron and fender (if that makes sense). In addition to the "pinch" of the existing fender bolts, the thru-bolt won't allow the apron to blow off. And the apron can still be removed without removing the fenders...

[Steve C]

Hi

Bad luck with the wheel, can you get another rim fitted to the centre?

Steve

[owdlvr]

Regarding the Apron, I haven't welded it up yet but I'm going to go with 1/2" tabs and some M5 bolts or hinge-pins and posts (think hood pins) all from the face of the apron. The Huebbe brothers, who rally a '69 in the Rally America Series, said the one thing they wished they had done with their removable apron was have it removable without having to deal with fender bolts. In a stage-rally service, you only have 20min to fix whatever needs doing, so every second counts!

And Steve, regarding the wheel, I could indeed get another rim fitted to the center, and might still. But for now it will work fine as a spare...once the budget stabilizes in the new year I'll look to repair it and powder-coat all five.

Back into the garage for yet another evening. Fire wall was cut out, then I ran it over to a friend's shop to put the two 90deg bends in it. Once tacked into place I instantly understood why Volkswagen ribbed the heck out of the factory firewall. Can anyone say "steel drum"? Not sure that dynomat alone will help it, but at the same time I only have it tacked in so we'll see how it is once welded in completely.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6176/6171671232_13c7d646e9_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6155/6171671344_bdf5570d2b_z.jpg

From there I worked out the side rails, and did some problem solving on the Oil-cooler mount. The overall plan is to have as much of the luggage-area floor removable, as it gives great access to the starter, clutch adjustment and the one engine bolt that is a pain to get to normally. I also figure that it should make reaching the 6-miles of oil lines and fittings I plan to install a little easier. In addition to moving the firewall in by 3", and the removable floor panels, I've also decided to move the luggage floor up by about 3". Its going to cause me some problems as far as the dry sump is concerned, but will give me more space above the transmission and Kaefer bar that I'm going to be installing. This in turn will make the oil-cooler mount much easier to problem solve. It's a trade off, with the Dry Sump, but one that seemed like a good idea this evening! And, really, I can always sink it back down if I have to (even just a portion of it) which I figure is easier then trying to raise it up down the road. At the very least, it will look better ;-)

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6177/6171671490_459fc9fc91_z.jpg

Overall it was a pretty long night in the garage, with what feels like so little to show for it. Ah well, on the plus side I think I'm "over the hump" in regards to the firewall modifications. Once again picking up some pace and motivation to keep moving forward.

-Dave

[Steve C]

Hi

It probably too late now, but I had a hatch made to cover my motor and the sheet metal guy made 2 very shallow diagonal folds in it which made it much more rigid.

Steve

[evilC]

Tack some wire sheathing for plastered walls (the stuff that looks like a shallow top hat section) as a cross on the panel. The sheathing is ~20g and galvanized, so it will be light and durable. that should take some of the drumming out of it.

[Mikey]

Looks great!! Very detailed for a race car. :goodjob:

[owdlvr]

Thank you! Yes, I'm definitely going a bit overboard on the detail, fit and finish considering its going to be a race car. But I really do believe it needs to be done "perfect", and then you go race it and worry about the gaps as they open up. The nice part is I'm not really putting this together blind. Most of the changes, ideas or modifications come from issues I found with my White car, or things I had on my Audi Rally car that I miss. Every once and a while I stand back in the garage and remember that I could very well wrap this thing around a tree come Feb. But then, if I just built it quickly to get it running I'd never be happy with it. We might bend it down the road, but it sure as heck is going to start off perfect!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6157/6174349624_2e509c9d40_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6165/6173823069_68a3362202_z.jpg

...so my days this week have been wake up, work for the day, walk downstairs to the garage and Cut/Grind/Weld/Grind...yawn. Not much to write about! I can say, however, that the firewall is finally "in" the car. I've got a gap to work out filling on the driver's side, but otherwise it's fully welded. Pretty sure my garage has been in a permanent haze of smoke for the past week. In the first photo above, it does look weird like I made it from two pieces, but the bottom piece is on an angle, joining the rear engine seal piece to the new firewall which is set in by 3". Just a strange photo angle.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6178/6173823261_5f178bbd0d_z.jpg

With that pretty much complete I started in on the luggage area again. It was a super productive session that solved a whole pile of problems. I started out in the back luggage area welding the last support piece for my luggage floor. I have a bad habit when welding of only wearing my left glove. I'm right handed, always work in those blue nitrile gloves, and just seem to prefer welding without the big heavy glove on my trigger hand. Well, that habit will be stopping as of tonight. After the support was welded in, I turned to get out of the bug and where did put my ungloved hand? Yeah, right on the piece I just welded. I have a nice 1"x2" blister on my palm to remind me about wearing welding gloves now :P After losing an hour and a half to first-aid and pain, I gauzed it up and headed into the garage. Kind of ironic that I spent the entire night having to work with a welding glove on that hand, as the padding helped!

Welding up sheet metal, is starting to seem kinda boring...so I figured "Hey, lets cut more out!"

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6167/6176790919_8fd748bcba_z.jpg

That hole was filled with a nice little 90deg shelf.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6176/6176790989_20df2eb1e7_z.jpg

Which gives me just enough clearance that I can get the dry sump tank mounted. It's tucked away for daily use, but still accessible for cleaning...and I can use the filler system I've been planning. It just sort of hit me tonight on how to do it, and the result was this. With that sorted I was able to work out which side the oil-cooler will go on (passenger, behind the dry sump tank). I'm going to run a dual NACA duct in the passenger side window, which will be ducted down over the oil cooler. This will give me the fresh-air flow I need, most likely without the need for a fan. I've ordered an oil cooler and fan combo, however, but I can always leave the fan off. Should I decide in winter I want to use it for some cabin heating, it's as simple as having the fan push air into the cabin, through the oil cooler (obviously NACA duct will be removed in this case). But as I just sourced a working pump for my gas heater, I'm likely to install it in this car and not worry about the oil cooler for interior heat.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6158/6176791111_82de3c2241_z.jpg

The final piece of the puzzle is the Accusump. I've got to buy a little bit of steel tomorrow, but I think I'm going to set the Accusump in where it's sitting now. I can run the valve to behind the e-brake, and remote the gauge in a spot where I can see it before engine shut down.

Locating the whole oiling system has been giving me stress and headaches for days, so it's nice to suddenly have it all fall into place. The Dry Sump shelf *might* end up interfering with a modification I have planned for the new floorpan, but I took a gamble on this one. With it located where it is I should be able to squeeze in the factory heat ducts, and clear the pan modification...if I can't squeeze it in, I'll have to move the shelf 1" to the left and lose the factory heat.

I do realize that it might seem odd that I'm worried so much about heat. I've talked about using the oil cooler, retaining the factory heat and installing a gas heater. Here in BC where I live, I have lots of options for ice racing in the winter and plenty of fantastic winter rallies. My fully caged Audi quattro, which had factory heat but no carpet/headliner/insulation was just borderline acceptable rallying through the early hours of a winter morning. A happy co-driver makes for a good finish...for whatever reason they seem to hate freezing cold drafts ;-)

I have a few more welds needed to fully seal off the firewall, plus I have to make the floor for the luggage area. But the starter, hard-to-reach engine bolt and clutch adjustments are all easily accessible now.

-Dave

[Joel]

What I had planned on doing to hold my apron in was weld in sheet metal like a washer where the cut outs for the fender bolts are so it was locked in place by the fender bolts but I found the pinching effect worked so well I left it that way.

These days I have a fibreglass apron which has enough of a lip there the fender bolts pass through it.

[Mikey]

After the support was welded in, I turned to get out of the bug and where did put my ungloved hand? Yeah, right on the piece I just welded. I have a nice 1"x2" blister on my palm to remind me about wearing welding gloves now :P After losing an hour and a half to first-aid and pain, I gauzed it up and headed into the garage. Kind of ironic that I spent the entire night having to work with a welding glove on that hand, as the padding helped!

You're not alone. A couple of weeks ago I was welding on my on the aluminum water lines for under my ghia and right after I took off my gloves I noticed they weren't straight. So I laid my left palm only a couple of inches from the weld. SURPRISE! It's hot too.

Keep the pictures coming!

[owdlvr]

...oh, I'm not stopping! I actually think I might be more stoked for this project then I ever was about my Audi Rally car. It's so nice starting on the car from scratch and doing it "all right" from the beginning. The next steps were started by capping off some sections of 1" square tubing...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6158/6179805597_e3f46198bc_z.jpg

Which was quickly massaged into the rear sheetmetal, welded in and voila! Accusump mounts :)

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6177/6180331856_8e1627255f_z.jpg

I still need to finish a few welds in the back seat and seal off some gaps, but I'm starting to feel a little burned out on this part so I needed to move elsewhere to keep the stoked level going. I popped off the front hood, measured around a bit and started welding after what felt like a good hour of angle-grinding. So far I've burnt out a Princess Auto Angle Grinder (Harbor Freight, but in Canada) and now my Mastercraft unit is starting to sound like the bearings are going. But who cares, I'm making progress!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6152/6179805887_797e58eeef_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6174/6179806127_9d751d0dbd_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6156/6179844531_e4c2a4fa3e_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6162/6179806363_7992635735_z.jpg

The bar does have the added benefit of really tying the front end together, but I'm not sure that I'm close enough to the factory suspension bracing to really make a "strut-bar" like difference. I can certainly make the front end move quite a bit just by grabbing onto the bar though. Moving the bar anywhere else would have meant the hood wouldn't close due to the tire, or using a bent bar instead of straight one. I also need to be concerned about the Drivers-side strut top as the Gas Heater mounts right in around that area. I haven't measured or mocked up the gas heater yet, so I could still have an issue. From memory it's the intake pipe that will be a problem, as well as the 180deg elbow...but I figure I can find my way around both of those if required.


http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6151/6183525535_6ab4f0bfa1_z.jpg

As you can see the front hood seal strip has clearly seen better days. No idea how this one got as bad as it is, or why someone would repaint a virtually rust-free car and not repair this first?

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6162/6183527045_c66663bd5a_z.jpg
A chisel makes quick work of the spot welds, then it's simply a matter of wire wheel and grinder to clean it up. As suggested on here, I'll run with a Mexican beetle front hood seal, which eliminates the side channels...but I'll need to replace the strip just below the windshield.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6151/6184049318_2b4b94dccc_z.jpg
I started in on those small rust spots I found in the front inner fender...and quickly decided I may have found this beetle's secret horror story. poking around in the rusty holes I couldn't figure out where under the fuel tank they could possibly be going...until it dawned on me, it's not the fuel tank. A very uncomfortable while later, and I had discovered the other side. Took a while to remove the seam sealer, wire wheel as much as I could and then finally sandblast...but here is:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6171/6184047858_c6399f1198_z.jpg
How it rusted out here, I don't think I'll ever understand. Unfortunately, though, the water has worked it's way down and I believe I might find some horrors in the heater-channel when I go to separate the body from the pan. For now I'm going to repair the large holes up top, and leave the bottom ones for when the pan is separated.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6180/6184047062_a3ee8ddca1_z.jpg
I spent maybe 60 seconds with the spot sand blaster under the dash. Needless to say, this is a messy job!

...and wait, what's this??

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6020/6193776103_1de3d08ccb_z.jpg

That, my dear friends, looks like a Porsche 901 5-speed gear box, as found in a 911. Mmmmmm...Dogleg first gear :)

And what's this? Oh, it came with shift rod (modified for VW already), mounts, shifter and axles? Why yes, yes it did.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6175/6194293284_44dab8bc7e_z.jpg

S-C-O-R-E.

Of course, it's not all cherries. I have to cut up and weld sections on my previously finished and perfect floorpan in order to make it fit. But sometimes sacrifices need to be made!

-Dave

[chug_A_bug]

Dave Love the car.. love that it's going to be one of my FAVORITE CARS..... A RALLY CAR :)
can't Wait to See more keep the pics coming and will keep ya Motivated.

Chris.

[owdlvr]

Thanks Chris. This is definitely going to be a fun car when I'm finished. I should probably start saving for paint every 12 months though :P Stone chips suck! I think I have a theme for when I'm getting bored or losing motivation. Cut more out!! :)

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6022/6197227808_e1be64c0e1_z.jpg

Each engine bay side now has a gaping hole, for which I will make bolt-on panels. It's no secret here why these are important, as they will allow me to change #1 and #3 spark plugs without removing the carbs, and also allows me to access the backside of the carbs should I ever need to. More space for working is never a bad thing.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6177/6197265314_72f43f9517_z.jpg

I finished welding up the firewall, can't see any gaps with the light on the other side, so I think I'm finally golden. I was also talking to Mark Huebbe, who runs a bug in the Rally-America Series. The one comment he had was that he wished they had made his removable apron work without having to touch the fender bolts. So I also weld these tabs on to mount the removable apron. I'm kind of torn on this one as I'm totally guessing on width, etc. I've seen other race cars with Dzus fasteners similar to my tabs, so I gotta be close...but I really don't know if I have 1/2" on each side, 1" on each side? I do know the fan shroud will pass through them no problem at all, but obviously the carbs won't. Thing is, the carbs wouldn't pass through unless I cut the entire back off baja style, so I don' think it really matters much in the long run. The way I see it, I can always cut the tabs down (or off) after paint. Will wait until the engine is installed, body work is all together and then I will drill the apron and tap the holes for bolts. This way my apron is definitely not coming off in an unplanned fashion!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6165/6196713215_90a430c517_b.jpg

The last thing I want to do to the apron is trim along the blue line I've drawn. My theory is that it will be faster/easier to get on and off the car...perhaps not needing the fender bolts to be loosened, but unless I cut the entire lip off, the fender bolts would still be an issue? So do I cut right at the edge (potentially ugly), leave a bit of space like I've drawn or just accept that you've got to loosen three fender bolts plus the four bolts I plan for the front face? Hmmm...decisions.

Thoughts?

-Dave

[chug_A_bug]

just put it in primer and Vinyl wrap it.. maybe cheaper, easier to patch the rough Spots yet saves the good spots
just like a Real rally car... ;)

Chris.

[owdlvr]

Even though I have a Vinyl Cutter (and thus a supplier for vinyl at wholesale rates), wrapping the car is actually more expensive then simply painting it.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6148/6200494829_d33528ea43_z.jpg

Front suspension is removed, and the pan has been separated from the body. At this time I have chosen to leave the insulating foam VW sprays into the C-Pillars for sound insulation. My car shows no rust due to the foam, and I even found paint under some that I removed. Leaving the foam, however, does cause one problem...the wiring harness. I plan to pull and replace the harness, but it is held in TIGHT by the foam. So far no luck removing it...I don't even want to think about replacing it!

034Motorsport does have bulkhead connectors that I could use to pass some of the wires through my firewall, but not the heavier gauge Alternator wires. I've inquired whether they can get some high-amperage connectors, and that will solve my problem in a round-about way.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Had to take a few days off the car, and I totally forgot to take photos tonight. But still making progress. The body is a completely stripped shell now, and I've drilled out all the spot welds on the D-side heater channel in anticipation of swapping it out tomorrow. Originally I was just going to patch the rough sections, but once I put the wire wheel to it, the heater channel just looks like swiss cheese. I've got a friend who's done plenty of them coming up to give me a hand...this is my first channel replacement and I'd like to be sure my door opens and closes when I'm done!

I doubt I'll get much more done this weekend...but I am getting sooooooo close to moving it to the paint shop.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6038/6232150959_60f00d4177_b.jpg

Hmmm...doesn't look like much eh? But the seven hours to get here were pretty crazy. I've never done a heater channel before, and it's a significantly challenging piece, so I called up a friend to give me a hand. I've had a driver's side heater channel kicking around the garage for eons, so I didn't even think about checking it before he arrived...just confirmed it was still in the corner. Well, who would have thought that that a Super Beetle channel is different from a standard Beetle? Oops! Thankfully Geoff is a master when it comes to sheet metal work, and we both agreed modifying the channel I had was better then the four hour round trip to go and get the proper one.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6235/6232169963_389ab983ea_z.jpg

Geoff also had the fun task of sorting out the sheet metal above the Napoleon hat. Once you start cutting out the rust on old cars, you just have to keep going until you hit good metal...or the car is gone. Thankfully he didn't have to dig too far.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6092/6232170873_163211ae43_z.jpg
With the heater channel repaired I managed to squeeze out a few hours this weekend to continue attacking the rest of the jobs on the car. I was never really happy with my engine bay access panels, but unsure what to do about it, until Geoff suggested I make some frames for them. I've welded the frames in on both sides, and dressed the welds after the photo. Now I've got good looking holes, and they strengthened up the rear end quite a bit. Now I just have to drill some holes and weld in some nuts for mounting the removable aluminum panels.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6044/6232672226_e71ba3982d_b.jpg
From there I decided to stitch-weld in the rear body mount, and also the rear bumper mount. It takes very little time to do, and should increase the overall strength by a good margin. Tonight I will start attacking the front end, then its time to put the car back on the pan so I can finish cleaning up the rear apron area.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Well, all the areas requiring grinding for the roll bar installation have been completed, and I managed to stitch-weld the front suspension area. The factory used a tonne of seam sealer up front, and it was super tough to get it all out. The welds aren't nearly as neat as the ones I did in the back, but I'd get halfway through a bead and hit a bit of seam sealer between the two pieces of metal. Ah well, it all gets covered up anyways!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6019/6236901850_205a234d57_z.jpg

Following that, I put the body back on the pan. Tomorrow I've got to finish up the rear apron area, weld in the hood seal mounting strip, and then clear out the passenger side door. Still need to figure out how I'm going to load the body onto a trailer with no front suspension...

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Well...hours of grinding, welding, grinding, fitting, etc. etc. etc. are finally finished. I have about 2min left (welding on the hood seal strip) and then the main shell is ready for the roll-bar installation. I'll be bringing the shell over to the rally shop tomorrow evening.

Awwwww yeah.

Also made some quick covers for the engine bay doors. I need to change them up slightly, but as I was bolting them on I couldn't help but think some carbon or other exotic panels would be much more fun. For now I'll just use these and do something interesting once the car is actually back together.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6220/6241925784_ff8e3f5413_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6050/6241925690_ce563450c0_z.jpg

-Dave

[chug_A_bug]

Looking great Dave... Can't wait to See it caged :)


Chris.

[owdlvr]

Well, won't be a full cage...just a rear hoop, harness bar and likely a cross-brace (undecided). We started talking about door bars, but that just leads into the question of "why aren't you fully caging it". I've done the daily-driver with a full cage, and just want to avoid it for now. So, 4pt hoop and if I decide later to build into a full cage we'll do that down the road.

...sigh, gotta wait until 5pm to move the car. The anticipation of having the shell out of my garage is awesome, like the first big stage complete. Of course, I still have to prep the fenders, so not totally finished the body portion.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6179/6247941336_91c91d4084_z.jpg
Well, I decided to get aggressive on the apron cut...here's hoping it works out :P hahaha.

Also worked on the engine decklid a little bit, adding some cooling.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6170/6247418751_c5a6773c28_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6052/6247418637_14d97ebd59_z.jpg

...but really, I was most excited to find out that my roll bar was done before noon today!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6108/6247940940_662cd03926_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6237/6247418321_ba16164d31_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6152/6247940698_28e9ac8459_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6099/6247418077_e99615e4f6_z.jpg

and now I'm off to trailer the car to the media blasting spot...

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Whew...lots of driving this weekend. I've moved the shell about 2hours away from my house, where I'll be doing the sand blasting and then the guys will be painting the car for me. Normally I would just crash on a couch, but ended up driving back and forth for the weekend. Got a fair bit of blasting done on the shell. All four wheel wells are done, got the first pass on the front trunk area and most of the engine bay done. Will need to go back on the engine bay with a bit more light so I can see what I missed. Still have to do the inside of the car, which is going to suck.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6214/6252450497_fffab2a520_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6220/6252450799_9d69e37c29_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6164/6252981550_030996b5ce_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6227/6252452287_ffc1478c38_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6037/6252982152_fcee5dc7e8_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6099/6252452693_d3a23475d4_z.jpg

I've got glass in my eyes, my hair, my ears...ahhh the fun of it all.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

The front apron on my 71 is actually in poor shape, and not really replaced well. We debated about swapping it, multiple times, but have (for the moment) decided to leave it. A show judge would dock me marks, but if the hood is closed you can't actually see the damage. Probably a shame not to just buy the part and put it in there, considering all the work I'm doing, but I can almost bet money on the fact that I'll be damaging and repainting the front apron within the first 6mo anyways. Might as well wreck this one before replacing it. (from experience, I've done the '69 one twice...and I don't even gravel rally it!)

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6034/6265161721_0bbf1b14b3_z.jpg
First day back in the garage, after lying on my back for a week. Last weekend while unloading the car for sandblasting I pulled all my lower back muscles. Normally I don't complain, and just work through it, but this time was bad enough that I couldn't sleep and ended up at the Doctors for some pretty hefty pain meds. A week spent lying on my living room floor and working upside down on my iPad has been interesting...

My back is still recovering, so I haven't picked up my floorpan from storage yet. Instead I'm scraping the gravel guard out of the inside of my four fenders. FUN! haha. One of the front's has been hit and has some damage, one of the rears has been hit. The other two seem clean. The repairs are pretty well done, and I expect we can improve upon them even more so. I'll run these fenders as I believe them to be original German units.

Managed to get 3 of 4 fenders done before I started feeling it in my back and decided to call it quits. Gotta save up my healing points for this weekend...when I have to go and sandblast more :P

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Back was feeling ok on Friday night, so I finished the last of the fenders, then drove down to the shell on Saturday morning. After a day and a half of blasting, sweeping, sifting, blasting, sifting, sweeping, etc. etc. (repeat, at nausea)...anyways, the shell is DONE! Everything else is now the responsibility of the painters :)

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6043/6275610368_4883172cac_z.jpg
Gear up for safety! :P

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6103/6275032785_7c081c439b_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6109/6275032853_97e4820571_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6117/6275557656_c6f0665401_z.jpg
Looking a little cleaner now eh?

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6219/6275557778_ff693f51be_z.jpg
But have no doubt, this is messy, messy work. I'll paint a car in my own garage, but I am so darned glad I didn't have to blast the car in my garage ;-)

Don't expect the paint to be done too quickly, it's a friend deal and there are customer cars in front of mine. They'll be tidying up the things I revealed through blasting, and getting the rest of the car ready as their able. In the meantime, I've got a more then enough work to do on the pan and engine.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Had to take a couple of weeks off for travel, but will be back at it this weekend. The paint guys etch-primed the bare metal shortly after I posted the pics above, to keep it from flash rusting. Apparently the shell is getting sanded and seam sealed today, as well as spraying the undercoat inside the fender wells. Guess I really need to get my pan out of storage and get cracking!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6214/6312836421_a2bb7590a0_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6118/6312836455_7708de43f6_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6104/6312836477_80d59f3d66_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6232/6312836559_b3f6f43741_z.jpg

-Dave

[owdlvr]

The boys were working hard today and managed to seam seal the whole body, weld up any spots I opened up sandblasting and sprayed the gravel-guard undercoat in the fender wells. Sounds like they managed to give most of the body its first sanding as well.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6113/6315843779_479c241587_o.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6060/6317054434_f42f604604_z.jpg

Based on their emails I figured I'd better get cracking on the pan, so a buddy and I picked it up from storage today. Amazing how quickly the mess happens. Started planning on how I'm going to fit the 901, and will probably end up with a tonne of questions.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6106/6316960602_7d176f4eb4_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6053/6316502665_c12e0a8e67_z.jpg
First off, none of the 901 threads show this piece attached to the side of the trans. What is it, how do I remove it?

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6238/6316960988_904700f51d_z.jpg
Will probably remove the angle adapter, but leave the gear inside...just in case I need it later for speedo or rally computers. Selector shaft seal needs to be replaced though.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6107/6316442419_8806bf44de_z.jpg
Are there any options for the reverse switch besides a $90 Porsche part?

-Dave

[ricola]

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6053/6316502665_c12e0a8e67_z.jpg
First off, none of the 901 threads show this piece attached to the side of the trans. What is it, how do I remove it?


That's an intermediate piece for the accelerator cable I believe. Just remove it and plug the hole in the case with a bolt and suitable sealing washer...

[owdlvr]

Ah, perfect! Thank you.

More photos of the shell...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6234/6319810765_5b4a32748a_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6213/6319812505_2d0e94aaba_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6213/6319814307_c59fafc55a_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6031/6320337262_ee60a9076d_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6097/6320339306_8907c209f4_z.jpg

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Frustrating day with the Porsche Trans, but I'll get it figured it out. I've read the various "how-to's" that are out there, but have found them to be somewhat lacking in details. Surely the Bug5atspeed products would make this quite a bit easier, but it's well outside the budget I have left to complete this. I'll try and detail out my solutions should someone in future be looking for threads on 901 installs.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6060/6319907429_7eaaa3e495_z.jpg
Factory VW transmission (and, I believe, the Porsche 915) has some flat sections in the lower corners for the motor mount bolts. The 901 Porsche trans? No dice...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6052/6320428770_3ce2e182e2_z.jpg

I've flipped the transmission upside down in this next shot to show the Beetle transmission mount on the Porsche Transmission...will need to adapt the beetle Urethane mounts to fit to the metal mount.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6109/6320428980_c9c888648a_z.jpg

First up is removing this piece off the bell-housing. I suspect, but have no real idea, that it's for a clutch release spring. Regardless, it's in the way and gets removed. Didn't bother taking a photo of it all cleaned up, but basically you need to remove all the material from the rib to the bolt hole, leaving the lip around the bell housing like the rest of the transmission.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6100/6320429100_9691438f66_z.jpg

From there, it was onto modifying the Urethane mounts. This stuff flies everywhere with a carbide cutter, and melts and drips when you use a metal cut-off wheel. Sure hurts when it lands on a pant leg!
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6051/6319907817_2dfaaf2551_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6232/6319907977_28df65155b_z.jpg

...and now the scary part. Drilling the case of a Porsche Transmission.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6233/6319908147_ab478ef0be_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6097/6320429714_419f6cb5df_z.jpg
...eventually you end up with this, which isn't perfect. Ironically I can't seem to find a photo of anyone else's 901 install, so I'm not sure if other people run with the mounts stressed like this, or came up with an entirely different solution. I can't, however, leave it like this as I know it will fail prematurely. I'll have to pick up some sheet urethane and start working out a spacer-type solution. Ideally the urethane would run along the metal mount touching for the complete radius...but I don't think I can set it up for this to happen. It's really driving me nuts that I also won't have an "off the shelf" solution if the mounts fail or wear out.

Once I solve the mount shape issue, I'll have to then sort out the bolt-heads inside the bellhousing. The bolt heads interfere with the ring gear, so the common solution is countersunk allen head bolts. I'd like to see if I can come up with something a little stronger, but I'm not quite sure what yet. The current thought is a metal strip inside the bottom of the bellhousing, to which studs will be welded to. Need to talk to a buddy at the rally shop to see what he thinks.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

...and minutes later.

Might have found the solution in dub_crazee's build thread (http://www.germanlook.net/forums/showthread.php?t=10377). Also made me realize I wasn't thinking about the outer diameter of the bellhousing. Once mine was all bolted up the bolt spacing on the mount tightened slightly, but was still okay. In the example below, there are aluminum spacers between bellhousing and urethane mount, which I think would allow me to keep the spacing 100% correct. Hmph, makes me kinda wish I hadn't ground up those mounts.

http://i591.photobucket.com/albums/ss352/PanelKraft/Our%20Vehicles/Project%20German%20Look/DSC01538.jpg

-Dave

[Bug@5speed(US)]

Dave
This alex from bugat5speed
Send me an email, may have some alum blocks laying around
VR
Alex

[hugovw1976]

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6052/6247418637_14d97ebd59_z.jpg



What size did you use?

[owdlvr]

Those are 1.75" holes. I would have preferred smaller, but a buddy owned the tool in that size. Price one out, and you quickly decide to use the one that's free!

Alex: You'll have mail momentarily.

-Dave

[Kafer_Mike]

Here is another article on the conversion. It appears they used heavy duty VW mounts...
http://www.aircooled.net/gnrlsite/resource/articles/porsche5spdconv.htm

[owdlvr]

Here is another article on the conversion. It appears they used heavy duty VW mounts...
http://www.aircooled.net/gnrlsite/resource/articles/porsche5spdconv.htm

Except you'll notice that his 901 case has the flat sections for using those mounts successfully. I've got a fully round bellhousing which is requiring some tweaking.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

...Exhausted from a tonne of driving today, and no further progress on the 901 install. But I did get to drop in and see the shell, and bought the paint today!!!

Looking good in primer...will likely be in paint by the end of the weekend.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6019/6331349322_8616b1a019_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6215/6331349288_820b6c1cbc_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6110/6330594435_3fd628146e_z.jpg

-Dave

[al_kaholik]

Looking good

[ferfre007]

muy buen trabajo, como se debe!! exitos (good work)

[NO_H2O]

Very nice!

[owdlvr]

...it gets better :-)

They sent me these on Saturday:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6218/6345502612_11eb31d76f_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6057/6345502644_28e963cc5c_z.jpg

I'll update the 901 install before the day is out.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Alex at Bugat5speed(us) was kind enough to help me out on the 901 install. He emailed me a solution he had used, which got me thinking about a possible solution for myself. Enter the $30 empi solid mount kit. Because the lower cross member is supposed to be used without mounts on the T1 trans, it gets me a whole lot closet to where i need to be.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6223/6347006892_95d9051978_z.jpg

I am concerned about the urethane mounts failing, and may still end up with a Bugat5speed aluminum mount setup. At least the way I've done this I should be able to swap out for Alex's mount relatively easily. The final version of my mount required some cutting, bending, welding and then moving the frame horn holes to get everything exactly where I wanted it to be. My input shaft now sits 1/16" higher then the Type-1 transmission, with the mounting flange for the engine in the exact same spot fore/aft.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6096/6346256623_8180d3a2ea_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6211/6346256661_c9934b80cf_z.jpg
It's a whole lot easier working on the pan upside down...not sure if/how you would do a Porsche transmission swap with the body on the car. It would suck, I can say that much! With the 901 Trans being 1"(ish) longer then the VW transmission, and my decision not to move the engine back at all, I've had a lot of cutting to do in the torsion bar area. Thankfully I'm using coil-overs...but I'll never be able to go back!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6234/6346256725_e905e14430_z.jpg
Started on my front mount, which will be done in the factory rally car style. This requires just a short plate, and two regular transmission mounts welded to the frame rails.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6235/6346256703_7b95afa287_z.jpg
Volkswagen was even kind enough to include motorsport mounting brackets in the regular Type-1 transmission cross member. You just have to cut away all the metal bits that aren't for racing ;-)

In order to weld in my new mounts, however, I need to remove the speedometer gear assembly from the nose-cone of my Porsche Trans. Having no factory manual, and not being able to figure out exactly how it's being held in...I started to think about removing the nose cone. Alex's 901 install write up talks about removing the speedometer drive gear inside the nosecone, and I need to do the shift-selector seal anyways...so it seemed like a good idea.

Not so much now.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6212/6347007226_7fb93d1736_z.jpg

My first issue is that the nosecone didn't separate from the intermediate plate, first the intermediate plate separated from the trans case. I suspect this means I'm in for a bit of a tear down if I want to ensure that my transmission is leak free, the paper gaskets won't be much good now. No photos tonight, but I've got the nose cone off now and will start dealing with this tomorrow.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Second issue I have is that the selector shaft has dropped loose out of whatever it rests inside the transmission. Will have to pull the gear stack to do the gaskets, so hopefully I can figure this out easily.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

And here is where I'm at now:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6060/6348521472_8a58e6ce4f_z.jpg

Problem #1
I've knocked the shift rod off/out of whichever detent it was sitting on inside the transmission. I have no idea what gear the transmission is in, or where the shift selector piece should be sitting. (part number 11 in the diagram below). How do I make sure I put this in the right spot?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads18/Exploded_3+4_021290182736.jpg

Problem #2
When removing the nosecone, I unfortunately also had the intermediate plate slide up off the transmission case. I anticipate the paper gaskets have been compromised, so I've ordered a gasket set. I've read up enough to know that I need to measure the thickness and match the new gaskets correctly. But this does mean I'm going to need to teardown the transmission more then I was anticipating. I'm a little confused on what exactly I will need to do here, since I'm not planning on rebuilding any parts.

The tear-down and rebuild threads all talk about locking the transmission into two gears, and removing (or loosening) the pinion-shaft stretch bolt using a deep 30mm socket. What I can't tell, is whether or not this is a required step to remove the gear stack and intermediate plate, or whether this is done because it's easier to loosen the bolt with the gear stack in the transmission. If one is simply looking to replace the paper gaskets between intermediate plate and case, what are steps required to remove the gear stack?

When replacing the gear-stack and intermediate plate into the transmission case, do I need to have a particular gear selected? I seem to think you have to have it in a particular gear for the set to "click in"…but I might be thinking Audi Transmissions.

From another thread:
With all gears in neutral, and the shift shaft in place in the case, I started guiding the assembled intermediate plate back into the case. This was another five handed operation, and a delicate one, since I needed to protect my mainshaft seal when putting the shaft through it (I wrapped the splines in oiled saran wrap - no trouble there). The shift rod had to be guided into place with a screwdriver as it wanted to get loose in there. But eventually everything was where it needed to be and all seemed in order.


From this I gather neutral, but I'm confused about the shift rod…does it come out/in with the gear stack, or does it stay in the transmission case. Based on the fact that all the shift forks come out with the intermediate plate/gear cluster I would have thought the shift rod does too.

Bottom Line
Some basic disassembly and reassembly directions so that I can replace the gaskets would be great. I already have the nose cone, side cover/shift support, reverse switch and rod removed. I have no idea what gear is selected and don't want to make any mistakes moving forward!

Are the paper gaskets installed dry, or with a light coating of aviation gasket sealant?

Thanks in Advance!

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Well, I couldn't wait to find out the proper way to yank it all apart...so I just made it up as I went along :-)

I still remember the first time I ever did a clutch and flywheel job on a car, it was about ten years ago on my Audi quattro. I was so nervous about such a 'big and scary' job, I called in my friend Eddy to give me a hand. (well, actually to do the job while I watched/helped). When it comes to vehicles, the inside of a transmission was my "final frontier". It's the only part of the car that still scares me to touch. I can build and rebuild motors, tear apart anything else, but a transmission? Those always seemed complex and scary. Plus, the factory manuals usually list about 17 different specialty tools you have to have!

Well, I have to say, after laying out the insides of the Porsche transmission in my garage...they're no longer scary. In fact, I'm kind of disappointed I don't have the parts or funds to rebuild the syncros and gear stack on this one...just look at it sitting there, crying out for a full tear down ;-) A full transmission rebuild is in my plans for the next year, just out of plain curiosity!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6111/6352873934_9bbecb5441_b.jpg

Getting into the Porsche 901 wasn't so bad. I suspect there is an ideal gear to have selected when one goes to dismantle the transmission. Mine was in an unknown gear with the main shift rod dislodged. Once I pulled the gear cluster out halfway, I was able to move the shift rod around enough to pop the whole unit out of the transmission. I did almost need three hands to do it, but eventually I got it.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6228/6352129433_2bdcca9c9e_z.jpg

My gear stack checked out about as well as I expected. The first gear syncro teeth are in poor shape, which I expected from reading so many threads about the 901. Fifth gear is worn as well, but the others look relatively good. The pinion gear looked quite good so I wasn't going to bother pulling the diff. Instead I figured I'd do a quick check through the input shaft hole. As I was rotating the diff around one of these two pieces came into view...(battery for scale)

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6213/6352874206_5b3ef33a1c_z.jpg

That would be the remains of an input shaft seal. Apparently at some point in this transmission's life someone drove an old seal into the transmission instead of removing it properly. It also explains the metal fragments I found on the drain plug!

Needless to say, I decided I would empty the case and clean out anything and everything.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6211/6352874248_137b63d74d_z.jpg

Reassembly is fairly straight forward. I followed another thread which said to put the transmission in neutral. It was a relatively easy job getting the gear stack in, and I was pretty sure I checked the main shift rod before moving forward. What I should have done, however, was also check each of the other shift rods to ensure they were still in neutral. Either while sliding the gear stack in, or while putting the nose cone on, I managed to select reverse gear on the transmission. The main shift rod was not in the correct spot though so once it was all buttoned up I had reverse, or a locked up transmission when selecting 'any gear'. I realized I was getting two gears at once, and popped off the side cover/support. From there I could see reverse was selected but the main shift rod wasn't in the right spot. Took a bit of finesse, but I managed to get it shifted back into neutral and sorted without cracking open the transmission again.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6219/6352129679_9f66c06aa8_z.jpg

At least now I can use continue to modify my pan to fit and then I'll decide whether or not I want to do a full rebuild on the trans. I will probably run it as-is for a bit, so I can see how I like the gear ratios with my engine. If I'm going to do a rebuild I might as well make sure it's got the ideal gearset!

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Had a pretty productive night in the garage. Second night in a row that I've gone in at about 5pm, found myself really hungry only to look up and realize it was now midnight!

Started off by grinding away all that POR15 I had laid on the pan (sigh). From there I welded on the mounts for my front transmission mount.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6052/6357316605_816164f00c_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6120/6357318163_0a350b6880.jpg

They allow me to use the urethane transmission mounts, or factory beetle transmission mounts, to secure the front end of the transmission to the pan. And with that sorted out I moved onto closing up the gaping holes in my floor pan. Originally I was going to use a CV joint boot as a seal, but that turned out to be too large. I figured a boot from a power-steering rack would be perfect, but turns out I don't have any kicking around anymore. In one of my bins, though, I did find a brand new set of balljoint boots. It's a perfect fit, but will be a PAIN in the butt to deal with at a later date if I use the wire clips. The wire clips will ensure a full seal though. Hmmmmm...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6216/6357317369_d3f55ede66_z.jpg

Behind the boot, holding it on to the sheet metal, is a .5" section of 1.25" exhaust tubing. Just enough to hold the boot on. The boot is pretty stiff, so I may only use a wire clip on the pan side and let the shaft slide in and out of the boot.

Tomorrow I will seal up the torsion bar housing, and then tear it all back down to paint it. I have a couple of items to finish on the actual transmission, then I can finally flip the pan over and sort out all the other issues. I still need to move the accelerator cable and clutch tubing coming out of the pan, solve the clutch release arm hitting the frame horn, finish modifying/sealing the speedometer gear and then I can move onto rear suspension.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6092/6357317033_d7309459ca_b.jpg

-Dave

[Bruce.]

Nice work and thanks for sharing!

[owdlvr]

Feels like I'm picking up momentum again, as I near the completion of the transmission swap.

Trans mounted:
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6230/6361615851_a401d813d8_z.jpg

But had to deal with the Clutch cable tube (yellow) and Accelerator tube (blue). I knew from other forum posts that they were going to interfere, but with my trans being further forward then most...it's a bit extreme. From the camera angle it looks like the clutch tube is close, but it's just an illusion, the bowden tube wouldn't fit on it. The accelerator cable, is a definite problem!

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6032/6361615533_0b1c348176_z.jpg

Cut the sheet metal around the tubes, lightly bent them into a new position, and welded a new plate on. Simple simple, but yet another job that needed to be done. Oh, and here's a future problem, the bowden tube is 3" too short. I suspect I'll be making a custom bracket to use the shorter tube.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6045/6361615777_dd49387af3_z.jpg

And, finally a lick of paint. Tomorrow I hope to flip the pan over and start working on some topside issues. With the body done at the painters, I'm on a time crunch to get it picked up.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6032/6361615919_56fdb7b380_z.jpg

-Dave

[chug_A_bug]

Looks Great Dave... can't wait to See it all together

Chris.

[wrenchnride247]

Wow! Brave man tearing into the trans. (I hate dealing with them too) Your project is coming along nice!:)

Anyway, I've noticed the mounting points for the nose may be upside down (I know the pan is upside down in pic) Those style mounts are meant to have parts sit on them... not hang by them. The pic didn't show any bolts in the plate... so I may be missing something here.

[owdlvr]

Wow! Brave man tearing into the trans. (I hate dealing with them too) Your project is coming along nice!:)

Anyway, I've noticed the mounting points for the nose may be upside down (I know the pan is upside down in pic) Those style mounts are meant to have parts sit on them... not hang by them. The pic didn't show any bolts in the plate... so I may be missing something here.

So I'm working away in the garage on my pan, having just finished mounting the transmission for the final time, when my blackberry lets me know I have an email. Oh hey, a reply to my thread! ...oh $@%#. You're totally correct. Yes, the nosecone will be hanging on these mounts...and now that you mention it, this probably wasn't the best decision I could have made. Hmmm. I did actually get the idea from the factory cars:

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6046/6367037781_3ea83eb296_z.jpg

I wonder if the factory rubber mounts will be stronger? I can't think of a good reason why I wouldn't be able to just swap them in. The urethane mounts for my nosecone are unmolested thus the dimensions should be identical.

http://images2.carpartsdiscount.com/auto/archive/pictures/60888/600/1/P/738FCAF/vw_super_beetle_1972_transmission_mount_oem_113_30 1_263_113301263.jpg

...so what do we think? Stick with the urethane or switch to rubber?

-Dave

[ricola]

I'd go with stock factry mounts, they tend to be the best. Don't worry about your install, they ARE the correct way around. Acceleration causes a torque reaction that lifts the nose of the trans putting them into compression, plus you will have the weight of the engine balancing them out statically.

[owdlvr]

Sweet! Good to hear. Will order up some factory mounts and swap them.

So the last step on the transmission was to determine how I was going to hold the bellhousing mounts in. Initially I wanted to avoid the countersunk screws, but after considering a few options determined that they really are the way to go. Only problem? My countersink bit was broken on the last job. Small town Squamish doesn't have a whole lot available at ten to six on a saturday...but Home Depot did have these...

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6042/6368050349_428673e106_z.jpg
...yes, that does say wood and plastic. Aluminum is soft, right? :P

A bit ugly on the first go, but after cleaning up with a stone they worked fine.
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6238/6368051187_e480fb4170_z.jpg http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6222/6368051111_7fb08798c5_z.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6217/6375382249_b3a0cc37d1_z.jpg

And with that, the pan is right side up and ready for me to move on. From here on out most of this post is for archive purposes...should someone be searching for help on their own 901 install.
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6054/6368051031_3a8642ef62_z.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6226/6368050953_5d56b094da_z.jpg
One of the things I was finding tough to plan was how I was going to do the shift rod. This isn't a well documented part of the swap, I suspect because everyone's transmission is going to end up in slightly different location fore-aft. The transmission I bought came with a modified 911 shift rod which was in a notchback (supposedly), but the bends were way off for a beetle pan. I also really wanted to use the Beetle shift rod as I'd have better (and more affordable) shifter options. So with that in mind I started off on the shifter. I knew I needed to remove the bushing mount temporarily for setup, which means grinding off the pan finish. If I have to grind a bit, might as well grind some more...so I cut a big access hole to make life easier.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6223/6368050811_21245098b4_z.jpg

There are six spot welds holding in the bushing bracket / shifter mount
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6237/6368050745_02e85a73d1_z.jpg

From there I propped the beetle shift rod up in place, and then measured how much "drop" I would need at the back of the shift rod. To bend the rod I used a propane torch to heat it until it was red hot, and bent it over a section of exhaust tubing. The shift rod will still crimp, as you can see in the photo, but I just welded tabs over top when I was done. If I had a second factory shift rod, I actually would have started again, putting the bends closer to the middle of the rod. with the bend as far back as I have them the rod was hitting the heater flap cable tubes.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6226/6368050953_5d56b094da_z.jpg

With the bends correct, I moved onto the length. You'll need to decide if you're going with the Porsche shift coupling, or the beetle shift coupling. I actually think the Porsche one is a better unit, but with my transmission pushed as far forward as I have it, I'd need to cut out the VIN to be able to put the one I have in. Thus, I went beetle. A quick weld on the end, and I was done...ish. I could get 2/3rd no problem, and while I could get into 4/5 it was binding against something. Turns out it was the tubes for the heater flaps under the rear seat. Well, I'm not planning on using those...so out came the tubes, which in itself was a royal pain the ***.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6228/6368050471_8a3521c944_z.jpg

following the tube removal, I still couldn't get 1st or reverse. Something was hitting the shifter...and when I finally found it, well lets just say incredible. How did I by chance just happen to leave this little tab? My cut and sheet metal work went through half the welds holding it in. Ever try and use a die grinder inside a tunnel? Not fun!

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6103/6368050545_ba46beb49f_b.jpg

Thankfully I can now hit all the gears...though it did seem to require a bit too much muscle for my taste, using the stock beetle shifter. Tomorrow I'll work out what else is binding in my setup.

...porsche trans, not a 'quick' project!

-Dave

[dub_crazee]

Great progress - you're not hanging around! nice front mount system you have there - not seen somone use stock mounts before! keep the pics coming!

[owdlvr]

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6120/6375382433_3ebd2299fa_z.jpg http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6226/6375382503_3e1408ba39_z.jpg

Ugh, what a frustrating day. It started off well enough, modified the clutch release fork to fit the car...and got that dialed, but from there, it all went downhill. I knew there was something binding up in the shifting, and figured it would be a relatively straight forward process for eliminating the issues. The weird part was I could get 1st, 3rd and 5th no problem, but reverse, 2nd and 4th were binding something fierce. I tried a stock VW shifter, my 'proto' short shifter and then made up a handle that I could attach right to the end of the transmission to use my hand. At one point, I was soooooo close...

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6019/6375382367_e3d358411b_z.jpg

But 20 minutes later, this was my garage:

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6233/6375382303_e7f3c58202_z.jpg

yup, tore the transmission down a second time...and confirmed the problem:

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6226/6347771427_60b83180d3_z.jpg

We didn't actually measure how bad it was out, but after the first big pull to straighten it we measured it at 80 thou out. No wonder it was binding. Guess this gearbox was dropped at some point! Anyways, with that fixed and the transmission back together I spent the evening resetting the shift linkage, re-welding the bushing support in and confirming that it was all dialed. I'm was actually about 1/4" short with my shift rod, but that was easy enough to deal with since I was welding a bunch of the stuff in. Got it all done around 8pm, just in time for a late dinner. Just one last job, the shift rod bushing below the shifter.

Oh crap. Complete brainfart.

That bushing is replaceable with the stock setup, you simply pull out the shift rod, slide the bushing in and replace the shift rod. However, once you put a Z bend in the shift rod for a Porsche trans...no dice. That left me with a major dilemma. Leave the bushing missing, and deal with a rattling shifter...or yank it all out and start over. Can you guess what I did?

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6221/6375382189_7d560a001f_z.jpg

Of course, putting the bushing in meant the assembly didn't move around enough to actually slide it into the tunnel. One more heater control tube sacrificed itself in the name of progress, and I could just get the assembly in through my large access hole. Then it was back to testing, adjusting, testing, adjusting, and finally welding. My transmission tunnel has suffered badly, and I'll need to run either carpet or the rubber mats (kind of my plan anyways)...but I can now say that I have all the gears and a reverse lookout.

An entire day spend on shift linkage!!!

-Dave

[wrenchnride247]

I'd go with stock factry mounts, they tend to be the best. Don't worry about your install, they ARE the correct way around. Acceleration causes a torque reaction that lifts the nose of the trans putting them into compression, plus you will have the weight of the engine balancing them out statically.

Yes, the factory mounts will help... but, what happens when you let off the loud pedal ;) The rear mounts were only designed to "cradle" the trans, there is no internal metal "lock" , only rubber... you know what happens to rubber when you stretch it back and forth enough. Even the stock vertical nose cone mount fails after a while. hate to see the nose hanging on by just the shiftrod... I went through this with my front mount... which is why it took me three tries :)

[Bug@5speed(US)]

Dave,

Looks like you got the inside shift rod sorted, but if you need a replacement, let me know as we carry that item as part of the conversion.
VR
ALex

[owdlvr]

Thanks Alex! We'll see how it does when driving...but for the moment it "feels" good.

-----

Ever have one of those nights where you want to throw the whole project against the wall?

Sigh.

Tomorrow is a new day.

-Dave

[wrenchnride247]

Ever have one of those nights where you want to throw the whole project against the wall?

Sigh.

Tomorrow is a new day.

-Dave

I can totally agree with you on this one ;) (which is why mine is not done)

[Bruce.]

What a fight with the shift rod!

My plan is to fit two shift rod bushes. The stock one at the front and another (stock) at the rear end of the tunnel, set at the correct height for the gearbox selector rod. Then cut the shift rod in two places (between the bush locations) and fit two universal joints. This would give a more accurate shift without a bent rod flapping about inside the tunnel.

A bit late for that suggestion but if the current set up doesn't work that might be an option.

I think the front bush setup is worth a try as I agree with Ricola's analysis and so did the rally engineers. However, I'd check the mounts annually (use a pry bar to check the stretch) and expect them to need replacing periodically. The rally car had modest amounts of torque compared to a big Type4 but the drivers did a lot of engine breaking as the brakes were cooked most of time (which stretches the mounts).

[owdlvr]

Funny you should mention that Bruce. Ideally, I think the dual-universal joint system is the way to go. When I initially measured the drop I didn't think 3.75" was 'so big', but by the time you bend the rod and put it into the tunnel you realize just how tight it really is. When I was redoing the shift rod for the 3rd time on Sunday I actually pulled a steering shaft and it's joints out of a box to see if they might be useable in this application. Unfortunately too big, so I need to go and find some smaller ones.

For the moment I believe I have a well working shift system, but it's really hard to evaluate that while sitting on a bare pan! I've decided I will go with carpet or rubber floor mats, instead of a bare tunnel, so that leaves me the option of cutting into the tunnel down the road to improve on this. For now I've tack-welded my access hole shut, and will search out another VW shift rod and bushing support for improving it at a later date (if this doesn't work well as is).

I've also been thinking a lot about the front bushing setup for the trans. If this were a typical street car where you build it, and then it's "done"...I'd probably be quite concerned. In fact, I think I'd be redoing the system since failure is likely to occur way down the road at an inopportune time. But, I'm not building a street car. With my race cars I have a system where before and after each event I go over the car from bumper to bumper. It's put up on axle stands and all fluids are flushed, all mounting points checked, major component (engine, tranny, suspension, brake) nuts and bolts are checked. I average one event every 3mo, so I think that is probably a good enough window to discover a problem. With my Audi, after the first season I had a good record of how long things like rod ends and upper suspension mounts lasted. So after the first year I just rotated those parts out on a shorter window...whether they needed it or not. At $20 for two mounts, I think I can afford that here! :-)

The other thing I've been thinking about is the skid plate. I know I need to protect the nosecone / shift rod on the transmission, so there might be an opportunity to build in a 'failsafe' when we do the skid plate. I tossed this plate on just to see the coverage / get an idea. The real one will involve lots of trimming, etc. But for visuals, this will work as a start:

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6041/6368050209_2cfc5ecec1_z.jpg

I'm thinking if I design the mounts for the skid plate well enough, I should be able to place this left over urethane piece I have in between the skid plate and the front transmission mount:
http://www.mofoco.com/item_images/empi_9539_vw_front_transmission_mount_urethane.JPG

If the mounts fail, the nose of the trans would drop and rest on the urethane and skid plate vs. hanging off the shift rod.

I still need to think this through though. In order to be effective the Urethane mount needs to be within 15mm of the transmission...but that means the skid plate needs to be strong enough it won't bend up INTO the trans. So, maybe not a good idea...but a start!

-Dave

[wrenchnride247]

Dave, the universal joints will help and you will need a second mounting point (as you have said) We had to go with the universal linkage on a build I helped with. I'm the one holding the TIG torch ;)

Here's the link... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=375224&highlight=

[owdlvr]

After seeing that link...I'm going to have to do the universal joints! But, I'm waiting. It works now, must get car driveable...then upgrade the shifting later ;-)

-----

After a few days of little to no work accomplished in the garage, it was time to get cracking and get something done! Started by making some pipe...

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6097/6398851175_34f9d78251_z.jpg

Then I made some holes...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6398844665_95f49dca07_z.jpg

...made some modern art...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7161/6398844521_7396852174_z.jpg

and finally started working on the car ;-)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7031/6398844375_2dc99a45a6_z.jpg

Having removed the torsion bars from the rear, I bought a rather simple "coil over conversion kit" which I knew I would be modifying for double-shear mounting of the rod-end. What I didn't realize is just how much modifying I'd be doing. For starters, the entire rear suspension was going going to be held on by 4 M10 bolts on each side, in single-shear fashion. I didn't think it was very strong, and the offroad Baja guys confirmed they shear the bolts off. The pipe we turned down on the lathe ended up being welded to the back of the mounting plates. These pipe sections are a tight fit into the torsion tube and should hopefully serve to transmit the load to the torsion tube instead of the mounting bolts.

Once I lined up the plates to the suspension arm, it quickly became clear there were further issues. The plate sits a full 3/4" over from where the mounting surface is supposed to be. I considered cutting the welds and bending the plates, but for now have opted to make aluminum spacers to sandwich in between. The guys at the local rally shop are away for an event, so I had to cut some quick spacers in my garage. Eventually I'll go back and make some nice ones on the mill.

Not pictured in the photo above are the extra plates I made for double-shear mounting of the rod end. But here is one side mocked up for testing:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/6398844441_c2ca7e072e_b.jpg

I'm going to order some grade 8 studs to thread into the torsion bar housing, and then the final step will be to make four spacers for the outside plate on the lathe. The studs will allow me to secure the inner plate with a nut, slide larger spacers over top and secure the outer plate with a second nut. This should, in theory, be stronger then just a long bolt with spacer. And hey, can't overbuild your suspension mounts! After a mockup of both sides to ensure everything fit, I tore it all down and gave it a coat of POR15...which is still drying.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6398844583_68f45b9f36_z.jpg

Between the fab work and fitting that was pretty much all I accomplished today, outside of mounting the trailing arms. A good clean of the shop was in order...and then I remounted the shifter, having repainted the tunnel last night. Looking at the spindly little stock shifter, I couldn't help but miss portions of my prototype shifter. After a couple of cuts I think I've managed to keep the best of both worlds, eh?

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6118/6398844619_0e95070f9c_z.jpg

-Dave

[fahrvergnugen]

Looks familiar:D good work;)
http://www.keversite.nl/fotoalbum/fotos/91835.jpg
http://www.keversite.nl/fotoalbum/fotos/92365.jpg
http://www.keversite.nl/fotoalbum/fotos/92366.jpg

Paul.

[vw1303]

Hey Dave,

I was also working on my rear spring plates this weekend.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equilibrio/DSC05416.jpg~original
The double shear mod you did looks nice and strong. With the plates you put on your trailing arms is there going to be enough room for your wheels? Also what rear coilovers are you going to run?

[owdlvr]

For the coil overs I'm going to start with a pair of the QA1 units, since I can completely change the valving. But I've also been looking at a set of Bilstein units...just not sure about getting them to fit.

As for the trailing arm plates...truthfully, I'm not sure if they're going to clear...but I suspect they will. I am only running two widths of wheels on this car, 4.5" wide and 5.5" wide...which gives me more clearance then pretty much everyone else here! My rear brake kit arrives on Tuesday, so I'll finally be able to bolt up the wheels and confirm. Based on how my 6.5" wheels fit on the '69, I'm taking an educated guess that I'll be fine. If not, I'll cut the welds on the spring-plate replacement, bend them, and reweld the tube which mounts the rod end.

Now...you might be asking yourself, 4.5" wheels??? On the German Look forum!?!?

Well, I think the project has moved far enough along and is moving fast enough that I can finally let the cat out of the bag...









...


























...















...my hood and engine lid were finished today.














http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7010/6409869369_aa15eacf35_z.jpg

...and a few weeks ago I started on the decals...

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6085/6046827987_8811e647cd_z.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6230/6316960536_e89b3461e2_z.jpg

:D

It will be a visual replica on the exterior shell, but interior and everything under the skin will be my own interpretation, setup for the events and driving that I will do. I've been super stoked about the idea since early summer when I decided upon it.

...for those of you that don't know what I'm doing yet...here's the documentation I was able to score off a great guy in Europe. He's been plenty helpful.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6214/6409927071_b5dd94ea17_b.jpg

-Dave

[72marinablue]

Awesome! I love the video's on youtube of that car, minus the herby soundtrack.

[Mikey]

I like it! :)

[owdlvr]

Grrr. One of those nights in the garage!

The rear disc brake kit arrived. All my rear wheel bearings arrived. The seal kits, etc. etc. Grease up the bearings, drive the inner wheel bearings in and go to the ziplock bag for the snap rings. Aww crap, the snap rings. Yup, those were missing when I tore this car down. Not a common part carried by the parts houses, not that it mattered when I discovered the problem at 9pm. I've got a VW part number, but ETKA doesn't list the sizes.

I have found a few references that the 944 is the same size, and from there I was able to figure out the snap ring size. Crossing my fingers I can order a pair in tomorrow...going to be super chapped if a pair of missing snap rings keep me from picking up the body this weekend.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7163/6435493997_48dc6a0899_z.jpg
Terrible photo...but I finally found a suitable snap ring and was able to continue moving forward. The first job, though, was to clean up! Moving from job to job and getting stalled on each partway in was causing the garage to get far too cluttered. Not easy, or enjoyable, to work in this...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6435493927_8b08450df6_z.jpg

But once cleaned up I got the main components of the rear brakes installed on both sides, and rebuilt one of the axles. I have been avoiding the axle rebuild for as long as I possibly could...I think between trying to get the circlips off, and that grease getting everywhere...it really is my least favorite job in the garage. I swear if new axles came packed with grease I would just order them ;-)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6435493871_dceceaa665_z.jpg

One of the things I didn't like about my double-shear setup was the fact that I would have a single bolt holding both plates on. I've found some grade 8 studs which will allow me to secure the first plate, and then second plate once I lathe up some spacers. While it's all on the same stud, that extra nut makes a big difference.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6435493821_e1d63ab423_b.jpg

The new mounting system also gave me some time to think about, and narrow the spacer a little bit on the mounts. I did have 3/4" between the trailing arm and 'spring plate', but now have that down to a 1/2".

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6435493779_0abee71a11_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6435493743_89f7ec8d53_z.jpg

New speedo/rally computer sensor ring:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7174/6435493591_118766409f_z.jpg

...and I thought I'd try out the Empi short shift kit, just to see if it would shorten the throws a little bit. Since my shifter setup is using the Type-1 shifter and rod, it was an easy retrofit. Definitely shortened the throws, without making the lateral movement vague. Should work out well. I also stuffed two of the stock springs into shifter. They bind a bit when pushing down for reverse or first, but now when I go into first there is enough spring pressure to snap the shifter out into neutral, and thus second is easy without grinding. Well...theoretically. Won't really know until I get to drive it!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7035/6435493679_e79e53aa4b_z.jpg

On the bad news side of things, I had to cut down the carbon shaft I'm using for the shifter...I've cut this particular piece three or four times...wouldn't you know it, this time it started to delaminate. I was meaning to buy another one, which matched the weave of the shift knob...but I guess I really will have to now!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6435493635_dc9cf69334.jpg

-Dave

[chug_A_bug]

Looking Great Dave... So we going to See the Body with the New paint Sitting on that Sexy pan by Sunday ;)
what are you going for the engine you Staying with the Spec of the Rally car or just going Balls out...lol
Chris.

[vw1303]

Loving the rally themed livery. Going to look sweet. Are you planning on running a Kafer Brace in the rear to help support the shock towers/ bracing the frame horns at all?

[owdlvr]

Looking Great Dave... So we going to See the Body with the New paint Sitting on that Sexy pan by Sunday ;)
what are you going for the engine you Staying with the Spec of the Rally car or just going Balls out...lol
Chris.

I actually pulled the 1776 engine out of my 1969 beetle before I sold it. That will be my primary engine, for the next little while since this project ran out of money about...oh...two months ago? :P I've also got a 1600 I'm building up with every trick I can think of, mainly for our club's "stock motor challenge" drag night, but also just in case my Beetleball record falls. Then I'll have a stock motor to go back and reclaim.

There is a type-4 engine in my storage unit, I picked it up last summer knowing that eventually you guys were going to pull me into a turbo setup ;)

Loving the rally themed livery. Going to look sweet. Are you planning on running a Kafer Brace in the rear to help support the shock towers/ bracing the frame horns at all?

Yup, I've got a Kafer brace, but haven't even mocked up the brackets. I figure that these are 'relatively easy' to install with the body on, and I have far too many other important things to nail down first. In order to keep the stock heat, though, I'm going to be running a 3-bar setup. Definitely risky, especially with rallying. Might switch to a 5 bar setup and sort out a solution for the heat. The car will have a gas heater, but they're so on or off it's not ideal in the fall/spring when you just need a bit of heat to keep the navigator from whining too much.

--------

Today has been a pretty long evening/night/morning in the garage. So many hours, in fact, that I'm really having trouble remembering what it was I accomplished.

There was rebuilding the second axle, installing brake pads, checking clearances, bending brake lines, discovering my clutch cable won't work, hating my bent brake lines and redoing them...anyways, the list goes on.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7151/6440966755_a7e0329cf0_z.jpg

Test fit one of the rally tires on the chassis. Plenty of clearance for the suspension, lets hope they clear the fenders!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/6440966801_ae38b9f9b0_z.jpg

Shortly after dinner time...which reminds me, I forgot to eat dinner. Anyways...I was about to head to Vancouver to borrow a trailer when I called in my buddy Scott to take a look at three of my problem areas. I showed him a couple of issues with the clutch cable, and we discussed the double-plating of the suspension mounts. By the time I got back from the trailer mission, about 2 hours later, Scott had the following ready for me:

Clutch cable adapter and adjuster, in Stainless Steel.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7017/6440966519_e321d9b9b1_z.jpg

Spacers for my suspension mounts...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7155/6440966687_956058b27e_z.jpg

And finally, a Bowden Tube extension. Now I can use the factory 911 bowden tube mount, and the factory beetle Bowden Tube. Not 100% this is going to work for me, as the bowden tube does have a fairly significant "s" bend...but if I'm lucky this will keep me from making a custom bracket (which would likely route the tube in a similar S)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6440966575_b1f7b9fd11_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6440967005_3edf04278d_z.jpg

So the suspension now has grade 8 studs, set into the chassis with red loctite and an M10 nut. From there I placed the spacer, my second plate and then a second nut, this time with blue loctite. the setup with a stud should be much stronger then just a single bolt with a spacer. If I start tearing these off, I've got much bigger problems!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6440967071_2b9abbf4d2_z.jpg

Pan is dropped on the ground, still needs rear shocks so it's resting on the bump stops. From there I went looking for front suspension parts...I really hope I can find the steering box, because so far I've had no luck at all. I seem to recall the best time to put it in is while the body is off the pan. Found two bad ones, but not the good one.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6440967121_4a40bb5537_z.jpg

Well, off for a few hours of shut-eye, then tomorrow it's off to see the paint job!

-Dave

[Steve C]

Hi

Looking good. The steering box can still be fitted with the body on easily, you just need the fuel tank out to connect the coupling to the steering column shaft.

Steve

[owdlvr]

Thanks Steve.

One of my buddies offered up a good box this morning, so I'll be good either way!

-Dave

[owdlvr]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7157/6445398139_c90a4f7e4b_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6445399299_f9a569de7b_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6445400163_cd6ed0c327_z.jpg

Long story short, trans hits the body so some massaging is necessary. Decided it was easier to bring it all home vs. Working on it in someone else's shop while they have other work going on.

I'm so stoked on the paint....but so exhausted from the last few days. Car can stay on the trailer tonight!

-Dave

[Gerrelt]

That looks brilliant!:yes:

[Mikey]

The body looks great. Keep up the good work. :D

[wrenchnride247]

Like the color... the black hood looks great with it! :clap:

[owdlvr]

For the last few days, as friends have been asking how it's going, I reply with "I'm at that stage where nothing fits"...so the body not fitting on the pan was pretty much exactly what should have happened. Turns out I need more clearance for the transmission (somewhat expected) and more clearance on my suspension double-shear plates. Also not sure if I got enough blue into the paint choice. There should be a hint of blue in Polar Silver, but I didn't want too much. Might not have done enough, but it's too late now! Blue tints are incredibly difficult to photograph as well, so in some shots (like the first) it looks perfect...in others, and real life, it's far more white-silver. Not complaining, just keeping record.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7025/6455685531_8069c8bd1b_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6455685417_b1a9f43067_b.jpg
The satin hood was apparently quite tough to get "right". They bought some product that was supposed to make the paint satin, but when mixed to spec it was definitely gloss black. It's a custom mix now, so don't scratch it :P

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/6455685221_76e2e9c032_b.jpg
Hard to believe that's the same beat up apron which was on the car when I bought it.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7035/6455684163_4a7cb84416_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7017/6455684989_6577cd9645_b.jpg
I'm planning a full headliner, so no need to clean/paint the roof area.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6455684873_240f1b89f1_b.jpg
...probably should have fixed that radio slot, but was planning on a Carbon Joe Dash...oops!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6455684633_af835f1091_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/6455684531_1424d34c03_z.jpg
Problem area.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7001/6455684293_b73bc9bd7a_z.jpg
...should fix the problem :P

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7151/6455683887_98a95a34cd_b.jpg
QA1 DS402 rear coil over shocks. Wish I had the funds for the double-adjustable (rebound and compression separately), but at some point you just need to admit that you're bleeding way more money then you can realistically afford to. And, while there are a bunch of threads on the GL forums about fitting these...let it be known that it's far more of a B**ch then anyone has made it out to be!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6455683781_f041912219_z.jpg
A lot of clearencing of the lower shock mount was needed...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7030/6455683655_3a73f0b198_z.jpg
Not sure why I'm going to need spacers here, and others haven't. I wonder if there is a difference between the Type-1 arms that I'm using and the 944 arms that other people seem to be using.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7025/6455683443_3a67a33f66_z.jpg
...and I had to offset the lower bolt by quite a bit as well. I'm definitely not happy with the bolt or the amount of material I removed. BUT, it will hold to move the car around and get the pan bolted up to the body. Down the road when I can get it onto a lift I will weld in some support and a better mounting solution.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/6455683335_26f1ab1c3f_b.jpg
I'm almost ready to start fitting the body! Just gotta go return this trailer, and prep the lower pan gasket.

-Dave

[al_kaholik]

Wow, very quick progress. Looking very nice!

[ricola]

Coming on nicely!

As for your coilovers, it looks like you have used 2.25" springs rather than the 1.9" which is why you are having problems...

[owdlvr]

Ahh, interesting.

These are the DS-402, which replace the 4855__ that everyone else on here has used so far. The actual shock body is 2" O.D., so there is no way a 1.9" spring is going to work! I could squeeze a 2.25" spring if I lathe down the various components...but at this point I think I'm better of welding away on my trailing arms so that I can use the shocks as is.


...but thank you. Knowing makes me feel a whole lot better. I was beginning to think I had lost it completely!

-Dave

[NO_H2O]

It is starting to look like a car again. Nice work.

[owdlvr]

Yup! I actually enjoyed a coffee in the garage the other day, just walking around and looking at the body/paint job.

Didn't get much done on the car yesterday, was working later then normal and then off doing some coaching work. Instead of some garage time I put in an hour on the decals I'll need for the car. Doesn't look like much for an hours worth of work, but by the time you sort out the files, and do the layers it takes a while! Finally figured out the roof decal, it's the old Raiffeisen Bank logo. Ran out of vinyl before I could do the stripe or the windshield decal. I'm considering paying a shop to do the stripes, just because they're so hard to lay straight on a curved body surface.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7154/6467271075_7182a4cb32_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7174/6467271159_e6a7051de4_z.jpg

-Dave

[owdlvr]

...well, after two late evenings at work, I got back to the bug tonight. There is some positive news...the car is no longer resting on top of the sawhorses with the pan below...but instead resting on axle stands, mostly bolted to the pan:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6475753033_47451913a2_b.jpg

The problem, and one I wouldn't suggest any of you repeat, is this particular body and pan combination are meeting for the first time. First time? Yes, really. And yes, that's after paint! :-) Due to the way the project progressed I haven't actually had an opportunity to have this particular pan and body together in the same room. To make a long story short, they have both been bolted to a different body or pan...and THOSE two were bolted together at one point. So if A and B fit, and B and C fit...then A should fit C? Nope!

Front bolts up no problem, four frame head bolts and the four bolts in the front of the heater channels. Under the rear seat 3 of four bolts are no problem. Passenger side heater channel, no problem. Driver's side heater channel...no dice. Now, I know normally one might need to pull out the die grinder and adjust things an 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch, but in this case my d-side heater channel is almost 1/2" too wide at the rear corner. Hmmmm.

As the night progressed I was able to massage 4 of the 9 heater channel bolts in, with #5 just about ready to go. The die grinder on a bare pan/body isn't exactly quiet so I figured I should stop before the neighbours complain. The last three bolts (moving rearward) are going to be the tough ones. Might be pulling the body off to put some new inserts in.

-Dave

[al_kaholik]

Still everything else was going so well something had to hold you up right?!

Going to be all worth the hassle :)

[owdlvr]

Whew! Bolted up! Don't ask how...it involved a few non-vw tools...but I've got it.

...cleaned up the shop, and tomorrow I'll start on a new project. Either mounting up the front suspension, or cutting into that fresh paint for a gas heater :P

-Dave

[evilC]

Dave,

Are you bound by any Historic rules? As you could improve the bug over what they achieved in Salzburg?

Clive

[owdlvr]

Hi Clive,

My car is definitely not a true replica, and more of a 'tribute'. I intend to have the exterior as close to a replica as possible, and everything under the skin will be improved or modified to my personal tastes. Factory drivers, for instance, complained that the rear drum brakes weren't strong enough. I had always planned from day one to run 4-wheel discs.

I'm building the car for TSD, Drivex, Rally-cross and Ice-cross racing. Here in Canada the stage-rally scene consists only of our National Championship and three regional rallies. Historic, for the most part, is non-existent and certainly not it's "own class". At times some of the drivers have created their own historic championship, but it's not a long-term viable effort right now. I was more intrigued by the fact that I could build a unique bug, based on a real 'factory' program that is essentially unheard of here in North America. There are very few people I've talked to who were even aware of the Salzburg cars...and most of them are Europeans who moved here!

Were I living in the UK, I'd be building it to proper historic specs since there's actually opportunity to race it as such.

-Dave

[NO_H2O]

Getting pan and body together is sometimes a PITA. Start as many bolts as you can and shake/push the body around, start another and shake, then another and shake/push, etc. Then tighten the bolts.
Nice to see it together.

[owdlvr]

hahaha...I think this might be the longest I've gone without an update. Three whole days :P

Friday and Saturday were basically spent prepping items for installation. Painting parts, finding baggies of nuts and bolts...basically boring tasks in the garage which must be completed. But boring tasks lead to quite productive Sundays...so here we go:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6497548283_12fc015b94_z.jpg

Front suspension, steering box, tie-rods and related kit are all in the car. Also finished up the brake lines, brake master and various grommets. If I had the front calipers (which I sold with the '69) the brakes would probably be bled and ready to go. I must say mounting up all the suspension pieces from new is a fun "which goes first" puzzle, the sway-bar to control-arm nuts being the toughest of the bunch. It was all relatively smooth, just had to come up with a good method for compressing brand new urethane bushings!

One thing I'm not too stoked on is the upper strut mounts I've got. The left-side bushing is sitting all the way forward while the right-side sits center-outside. The old factory VW mounts sat perfectly centered, so it's a case of aftermarket replacement units just not being made as well. These ones do have a sealed bearing though...so you win some while you lose some.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6497548453_b4c3ef0391_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7010/6497548361_c2597b9853_z.jpg

I have marked out the car for the gas heater. I've got to cut holes for the intake, exhaust and cabin ducting. The VW Eberspacher installation book includes the templates required, which I've printed out and confirmed to be dimensionally identical to what the book says they should be. As you can see, however, the template doesn't exactly "line up" with holes. Its supposed to be used on a "built car" (dealer install), but that shouldn't change anything that I can think of. There is a *bit* of wiggle room in the brackets, but not much. Haven't cut any holes yet...not until I know I can get it right.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7005/6497548039_1b55a00679_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6497548519_bfcc3e7272_z.jpg

I also managed to get the pedal cluster installed, as well as the heating controls for the standard heater boxes. I've got the shortest VW clutch cable in the car now, and based on the length I think this one might work for me. Will need to setup the clutch fork and adapter tomorrow to see.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7174/6497548205_81ba55f41d_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6497548795_0ac450887d_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7165/6497547889_ea69b3f52a_z.jpg

...and finally, proving that I'm probably going a bit insane...I went around the car and painted all the bolt heads which weren't acid-dipped and painted before assembly. Can't have rusty items showing through on a perfectly new paint job!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6497548741_58343a3b06_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6497548685_4dc6eaf408_z.jpg

Pretty rad that if I needed to I could bolt on the wheels and roll the car around! Next up is the gas heater cut-outs, steering column, and then the headliner. I'm going to give a one-piece headliner install a shot myself. I figure the Porsche trans internals scared me before I opened it...and it wasn't bad. How terrible could a headliner job really be!?! Worst case, I do a horrible job and waste the cost of a one-piece headliner. Best case I end up with something passable for now :P But at this point I don't have the budget to pay someone to do it. So rather then hold things up for the sake of headliner, I figure it's worth the chance.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6497548615_f018a9f59f_z.jpg

-Dave

[evilC]

Hi Clive,

My car is definitely not a true replica, and more of a 'tribute'. I intend to have the exterior as close to a replica as possible, and everything under the skin will be improved or modified to my personal tastes. Factory drivers, for instance, complained that the rear drum brakes weren't strong enough. I had always planned from day one to run 4-wheel discs.

I'm building the car for TSD, Drivex, Rally-cross and Ice-cross racing. ..............-Dave

Hi Dave, have you thought about installing a compression strut for the front suspension and then disconnecting the anti-roll bar from the caster control duty? That would have serious benefits, the front end would be better controlled and the forces would be channelled back ito the strongest and torsionally stiffest part of the chassis. I am working on a slight variation that creates a compression strut back to the Nap hat area, which will allow a degree of anti-dive to be dialled in by locating the inner pivot above the TCA pivot point.
In a 'normal' Macpherson strut competition car the anti-dive is dialled in by dropping the pivot points for the anti-roll bar (vulnerably) lower but using a compression strut the rear pivot is raised keeping everything out of harms way. As you know anti-dive is worthwhile in loose stage cars as it stops the nose diving into the dirt and upsetting the suspension angles particularly the camber, which is the weakness of the strut suspension. The camber goes very negative under dive and you lose grip.

Just a thought.

Clive

[owdlvr]

Clive,

To be honest I didn't really think that I'd have any options. Do you have more details about using compression struts? Haven't heard of that one before, so definitely curious.

----------

Doesn't look like I got much done tonight...but cutting holes for the gas heater isn't something you rush! The exhaust and heater outlet holes are cut, but I didn't realize I don't have the correct sized hole saw for doing the heater intake hole. Will have to work that out later this week.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6503703095_477e9821af_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7165/6503703027_ac2cc8c8a3_z.jpg

Originally I planned on installing the steering column as well, but one look at it's less-then-perfect finish, and I knew I couldn't do it. So stripped it down and it's currently drying. Will be a few days until I can get back to the car unfortunately.

-Dave

[evilC]

Dave,

Have a look at the 2nd photo down: http://www.jemsracing.co.uk/cs_widetrack.html The photo is of an Escort racer taken from the underside but shows the normal TCA at 90* to the frame but there is a strut going from the outer end of the TCA at an angle back to the frame - this is the compression strut. Its adjustable for length that allows the caster to be altered. On the Escort the inner pivot is fixed but I reckon that if the bracket is mounted vertically you could drill several holes to give the option of raising the pivot point that would result in anti-dive. The other thing to note is that the anti-roll bar is detached from the TCA and is operated by a link from the MacPherson strut itself meaning that there is plenty of potential for mounting the connection to the anti-roll bar anywhere along the trailing arm of the AR bar to increase the roll resistance. Doing all this means that the TCA itself can be made adjustable to change camber with the compression strut taking care of the caster, the whole unit being a fabricated wishbone.

Clive

[owdlvr]

Dave,

Have a look at the 2nd photo down: http://www.jemsracing.co.uk/cs_widetrack.html The photo is of an Escort racer taken from the underside but shows the normal TCA at 90* to the frame but there is a strut going from the outer end of the TCA at an angle back to the frame - this is the compression strut. Its adjustable for length that allows the caster to be altered. On the Escort the inner pivot is fixed but I reckon that if the bracket is mounted vertically you could drill several holes to give the option of raising the pivot point that would result in anti-dive. The other thing to note is that the anti-roll bar is detached from the TCA and is operated by a link from the MacPherson strut itself meaning that there is plenty of potential for mounting the connection to the anti-roll bar anywhere along the trailing arm of the AR bar to increase the roll resistance. Doing all this means that the TCA itself can be made adjustable to change camber with the compression strut taking care of the caster, the whole unit being a fabricated wishbone.

Clive


Ahhhh. I follow. Definitely something worth looking into, but for the moment I think this is probably a "generation two" item to add to my list. I'm chomping at the bit to drive the car, so I may look at redoing the front suspension next winter (or if I have a failure). I've been thinking I may move over to the later two-bolt setup as well, as that would allow me to look at some of the rally Mk1 golf stuff that's available.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Well, I've been out in the back country working on a car commercial so I haven't been able to touch the car since Monday. Got about an hour in last night, so not much to report.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7028/6529778869_a016807150_z.jpg

Steering column is in, and I did pop the wires in properly after the photos. Went in relatively easily once I tore apart two columns to make one smooth working unit. A bit choked that the turn-signal and ignition switch unit looks so worn...but hey, gotta start saving some money somewhere!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6529778477_772066dd6c_z.jpg

I got the top boot on and sitting properly, but can't get the bottom boot to stay "in the groove". I can manage to wrestle it up and get it to stay...but after a couple of turns of the steering wheel it pops off. Come to think of it, I've never seen a car where it isn't popped off!

Tips? Tricks? Secrets?

Next up, I was thinking, would be the headliner. Unfortunately "Ivory" actually means "brown-ish"...so I'm going to have to return this headliner and source out a white one. Will probably delay the project to after the holidays :(

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7147/6529778037_aa8d2b2262_b.jpg

-Dave

[Mikey]

Looks good Dave, please let us know how much fun you have with the headliner. I've heard they're tough.

[owdlvr]

Will do. Everyone I've told seems to think I'm nuts, number one comment is "pay someone to install it". Can't be _that_ bad??? :P

Since I now have to wait to source a more white headliner...I entered wiring harness hell:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6535353055_353a3ce2c2_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7001/6535353481_d61a67d3bc_z.jpg

I'm taking the best bits from two '71 harnesses and a '72 harness. Once I've got a good stock harness I'll start pulling it apart to graft in the various extra circuits that I'm going to want. I anticipate progress to be slow over the next few days...

-Dave

[evilC]

Ahhhh. I follow. Definitely something worth looking into, but for the moment I think this is probably a "generation two" item to add to my list. I'm chomping at the bit to drive the car, so I may look at redoing the front suspension next winter (or if I have a failure). I've been thinking I may move over to the later two-bolt setup as well, as that would allow me to look at some of the rally Mk1 golf stuff that's available.

-Dave

Dave, when you decide to move over to the two bolt set up, talk to me as I should have by then reverted back to the standard roll centre having used the 3-bolt inner pivot point to lower the roll centre to test a theory. Your 1302 will have the lower pivot so to maintain standard geometry you will need the upper inner pivot.

Clive

[Kafer_Mike]

Will do. Everyone I've told seems to think I'm nuts, number one comment is "pay someone to install it". Can't be _that_ bad??? :P

I went thru two headliners trying to DIY. First one ripped along a seam and the second was crooked. I had a installer friend assist with the third. One tip is to buy a couple boxes of medium binder clips (the black clips with chrome wings). Use them to stretch and hold the headliner in place until you get it positioned how you want it. They also help clamp things in place after you glue - especially around the window openings. Great if you are trying to install by yourself. Another is to make 1" relief cuts at the edge of the rod pockets to keep the seams from ripping (I learned that AFTER the 1st headliner. :mad:).

Here a pretty good article from the VW Trends archive - http://www.vwtrendsweb.com/tech/0409vwt_headliner_install/photo_01.html

[Steve C]

Hi

Looking good. Have you thought about changing to a fuse boxes with blade fuses, those ceramic fuses in the stock fuse box can corrode and give a bad contact.

The good thing about using the 2 bolt front end is that you can have two camber adjustments, the stock one and you can also elongate one of the strut holes to use Golf/Rabbit camber adjustment on the strut body.

You can also use the two camber adjustment to slightly widen or narrow your track by setting the control arm adjustment to full negative or positive camber and using the camber adjustment on the strut to get the camber correct.

I did this on my sons 1303 to 17x7 ET55 wheels on it.

Steve

[owdlvr]

I went thru two headliners trying to DIY. First one ripped along a seam and the second was crooked. I had a installer friend assist with the third. One tip is to buy a couple boxes of medium binder clips (the black clips with chrome wings). Use them to stretch and hold the headliner in place until you get it positioned how you want it. They also help clamp things in place after you glue - especially around the window openings. Great if you are trying to install by yourself. Another is to make 1" relief cuts at the edge of the rod pockets to keep the seams from ripping (I learned that AFTER the 1st headliner. :mad:).

Here a pretty good article from the VW Trends archive - http://www.vwtrendsweb.com/tech/0409vwt_headliner_install/photo_01.html

Thanks for the tips! I've read that article, but the real-world mistakes are the ones I seem to be learning the most from. Thank you for being a guinea pig :-)

Hi

Looking good. Have you thought about changing to a fuse boxes with blade fuses, those ceramic fuses in the stock fuse box can corrode and give a bad contact.

The good thing about using the 2 bolt front end is that you can have two camber adjustments, the stock one and you can also elongate one of the strut holes to use Golf/Rabbit camber adjustment on the strut body.

You can also use the two camber adjustment to slightly widen or narrow your track by setting the control arm adjustment to full negative or positive camber and using the camber adjustment on the strut to get the camber correct.

I did this on my sons 1303 to 17x7 ET55 wheels on it.

Steve

If someone made a factory-fit fuse box to replace the old-style one, I'd drop in blade fuses in a second. But, since I've decided to stick to an OE-style harness (with my own additions), this saves me from having to hack-in an alternative fuse box. And, truthfully, if I was doing that...I'd put a center console panel in the car and go absolutely nuts with all the relays and fuses run out of the panel.

My '69 had issues with the fuse contacts becoming corroded. I quickly learned the trick was to leave the clear cover off the fuse box. Occasionally while bored at a light I'd give the fuses a quick rotation. Problem free for three years!

-Dave

[owdlvr]

...Speaking of wiring. The following should not be undertaken by those who can't read a wiring diagram!

First off, the harness that was in the car was badly hacked by a previous owner. Bad crimp connectors and replaced segments of wire everywhere. I knew I had better sections in other harnesses, but to be fair and honest I don't have a good complete harness. One Harness, for example, has the left-side headlight and horn wiring cut off (likely for a good reason, but I don't recall). Another harness is cut on the driver's side (again, probably for a good reason)...and then there are usual frays, splits, etc.

When in doubt, cut it out!

First off is the outer protective sheath...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6542123973_1a9f36cd57_z.jpg

If you're not careful to ziptie or tape the wires as you pull it apart, you'll quickly end up with a mess of wires that you can't put together and have fit the car. So it's important to tape 'em, especially any spots where wires split off from the main grouping.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6542124197_1ab65621f9_z.jpg

...if you're lucky, the donor harness you're planning on using doesn't look like this:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7029/6542124295_c69c5dca25_z.jpg

...or like this. I'm beginning to think my car was in a flood at some point. HOW did the inside of the harness, halfway down the heater channel, get wet enough to both still be wet...and growing mold? Nasty, pass me another pair of gloves.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6542124421_1759530eb7_z.jpg

Despite fears of some horrible moldy death, I forged ahead. The left side headlight wires were replaced with a second set of right-side wires, as they were in the best shape. The horn wires were extended, And a couple of wires were swapped out in the main loop that goes down the A-pillar. It's amazingly slow work that required cutting apart three harness just to make one good one. At one point I was thinking about how a new harness would be so much easier...but then remembered I would be cutting all the sheathing off a brand new one, so it really doesn't matter. I was going to start on the "dash area" of the harness, but after a few minutes I realized that I would need to mount it into the car first to see where all the wires go and what I would be able to clean up. It's such a rats next as it sits, I can't see an easy way to clean it up (out of the car).

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6542124551_722e0f53e8_z.jpg

I think the harness is now ready to be dropped into the car tomorrow. From there I'll start adding the wires and circuits I need, taping and moving wires into and out of the factory harness as I go. The headlight wires, for instance, will no longer go to the factory fuse box but will need to go a set of relays I'll be installing. Once I've got the whole harness (including my additions) taped up in the car, I'll pull the whole thing out and use expandable wire loom to cover the wires. Now I just need to find a 6-relay holder that will fit in the area I have in mind :P

http://images3.cableorganizer.com/techflex/fray-resistant/images/01-clean-cut_fray-resistant.jpg

-Dave

[evilC]

Dave, i ended up running various new circuits to take care of the headlight relays, air horns, fuel pump etc etc. I added a ne 8 way ceramic fusebox in the front luggage area. I reckon that all the additional wiring doubled the harness thickness running from the regulator forward. I used black 16.75A 1mm^2 thinwall wiring for most things and wrapped it all up in spiral wrap ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cable-Wire-Tidy-Kit-10-Metres-Protect-Wrap-Hide-Spiral-Binding-TV-OFFICE-PC-/330651642096?pt=UK_BOI_Office_Equipment_Supplies_O ffice_Equipment_ET&var=&hash=item7dbd788707 ) reasoning that it was quicker than tape and could be undone for future additions. For this feature alone it was worth it's weight in gold.

[owdlvr]

oooh...spiral wrap. <shudder> I can't stand the stuff!

The tape I'm using is all temporary while I lay the harness out. Once I'm ready to go I recover the harness with Expandable covering and heatshrink tubing. All of my harnesses are made permanent, in the sense that I can't easily add or subtract circuits down the road. But the Expandable covering is all reusable, so if you don't mind pulling a harness apart it's fairly simple. I don't have a good photo of any harnesses I've done, but the following shows the stuff in use:

http://www1.picturepush.com/photo/a/2903599/1024/ABS-Black-Pearl/slee-002.jpg

I'm not overly concerned about "forgetting" any circuits, I could basically open the notebook from my Audi Rally car and know exactly what I need to run. Just the location in the car is perhaps different :)

-Dave

[Humble]

I have a love/hate relationship with wiring. It's a daunting task that requires a lot of fore-thought and methodical work, most of which is hidden. The result is that nothing happens, everything works, and there's never any problems. So you do a lot of work with very little to show for it. I've re-wired several cars (old and new) and I think adding race gear with additional sensors makes you a glutton for punishment ;) I'd like to see the results of your new/old re-wrapped harness and the heat shrink tubing/expandable covering is a cool touch.

[owdlvr]

So if I'm honest, I wasn't really feeling into wiring tonight. The car is across town since I'm dog & house sitting...and, lets be honest, wiring isn't exactly the most exciting option out there! But, I have a rule about spending an hour a day...so over to the shop I went. Arrived before 8...and after I started, ended up wiring until midnight before I noticed the time. After some help from the motorgeek forum I found the relay mounts I'm going to use, and decided that my relays will get mounted to the front face of the fuel tank support, underneath my 'strut bar'. It's the most logical location for 2/3rd of the relays that I'll be putting into the car. These include the fuel pump, headlight and rally light relays. Since there isn't a "clean" spot to put my dash-related relays I'll drop those down there as well.

With that decided I was able start reworking the front half of my harness. First off, I ended up removing the stock headlight wires completely. Since everything will be relayed I only need to run two trigger wires from the fuse panel, and they can be relatively light gauge wire. After those were removed, I started adding wires in. Most of what I ran could have been done with 22ga wire, but I tend to only keep 18ga and larger around the garage. A little overkill, certainly heavier, but I'll survive.

Wiring added:
Lights
- Low beam trigger wire
- High beam trigger wire
- Rally light 1 trigger wire
- Rally light 2 trigger wire
- Rally light 3 trigger wire (future upgrade potential)

Fuel Pump
- Tach Signal wire
- Selection switch wire x2 (fuel pump selector switch pump 1 or 2)

Rally Computer
- Power feed x 2
- selection trigger wire x2 (allowing me to choose between ignition switched power source or direct battery power source)

Dash
- Oil light trigger
- Oil light power
- Gen light trigger
- Gen light power
- Turn Signal indicator trigger
- Turn signal indicator power
(The above allow me to use any gauge combination I desire, and still have working warning lights)

Other
- Spare wires for future additions x2
- 4ga power wire direct from battery
- 4ga power wire from fuse box (ignition switched)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6547972455_e732bd3789_z.jpg

So looking from the bottom up...the first two loops are the turn signals, L&R. The next loop consists of all the new wires I've added, which will end up hidden under the spare tire. The next loop after that is the "Mid harness" which goes to the Voltage Regulator. Above that are the wires that will make up my switch panel. I think I'll end up putting it where the stereo would normally go. And then there is the fusebox and the wires for factory switches.

Here is the harness being test fit into the car:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6547972573_6bc7210f28_b.jpg

My relay mounts will be in on Thursday, and by then I'll have decided on the circuit breaker mounts. Definitely will need to find a "wiring cover" for the 1302 (or make one), as the behind the dash area is going to still look like a complete rats nest. Especially once I add in all my gauges!

-Dave

[Steve C]

Hi

A standard bug has the same dash area as a 1302 so a standard bug dash cover will fit.

You might find this article that a friend of mine wrote useful.




Showing Your Colours.

There is definite common sense a certain purity in the colour used by Volkswagen and Audi for their wiring. While other manufacturers have their own codes unlike any other makers', which may differ from model to model within the same model, and even an the same car [I once came across a wire in a Japanese car which changed colour three times as it went through connectors]. VW/Audi colours have been the same for the basic functions since the 1940s, and also match those of other German manufacturers to a certain extent.

Starting at the source of power, the battery: a permanently live source, i.e. a "hot" wire, is red in colour. This is somewhat of an international, but by no means universal standard. The connection between "red" and "hot" are obvious. You must have noticed that any wire attached to the care chassis, to "earth", is brown in colour. Another natural connection earth is, after all, brown.

High-beam headlights are bright in colour; therefore, logically, the wires leading to them should be white. Low-beam is less bright, a little dimmer, yellow to be precise Parking lights are only a shade of their big brothers, hence the grey wires providing current.

There is no obvious colour for wiring associated with the ignition circuit. VW/Audi uses black, with an assortment of traces to distinguish various consumers of current. More about traces later.

Any warning light wire has blue as its basic colour. Pure blue feeds the warning light virtually every car has the charge warning light. Others are blue with various traces.

Green with its associated traces has, since the advent of water-cooled VWs, become associated with all to do with windscreen wipers.

A trace on a wire used to mean in the Beetle days that the wire had been through a switch of some kind. Therefore red/black goes to the starter solenoid. But somewhere along the line it also came to mean an unswitched supply to a particular consumer. For example, on Golfs a red wire with a grey trace, permanently live, goes to the cigarette lighter. Some designer obviously had a sense of humour here, as grey is the colour of cigarette ash!

Black/red goes to the brake lights [because of red lenses?] Black/blue is for reversing lights. Black/yellow comes from the so-called "X" contact - the one which makes the headlights go out when you start the engine. Black/white goes to the left blinkers, black/green to the right. So logically, which colours are used for the wire between the blinker relay and the blinker switch before the current is split up to either side? Black/white/!green, of course, the only wire on any VW/Audi with two differently coloured traces.

Brown with a trace means that there is a switch to earth. So the wire between the interior light and the door switch, which is earthed, is brown with a white trace [white signifying light].

How do you tell the wires leading to the right-ride high and low-beam headlights? They both have a black trace.

Grey, basically for parking lights, has a variety of colourful traces. Grey/black is for the left side parkers and tail-lights; grey/red for the right side; grey/blue in generally for dash lights; grey/green for the number plate light on cars with the split parking-light system [one side parker/tail-light on with the blinker arm); grey/white for the feed to the fog lights [fog is white, you know); and grey/yellow for the rear fog lights [not as bright as front fog-lights].

Blue/green on Beetles means the oil pressure warning light. Of course early Beetles had a green warning light! Newer cars now have blue/black. Blue/white is the hi beam warning light white for the high-beam, naturally. Blue/red means the blinker warning light. Blue/brown is for the brake/handbrake warning light.

Pure green was used on early Beetles for the supply to the wipers and on later models for the self parking facility. Golfs took this steps further. Green/black and green/yellow also go to the wiper motor; green/red to the windscreen-washer pump and green/white to any rear washer pump.

With the increase in equipment added to modern cars - air conditioning, cruise control, fuel injection etc., the consistency of colours was inevitably lost in duplication and a whole lot of apparently illogical colour choices So yellow is now used for the dynamic oil pressure warnings as well as for low beam. The fuel gauge sender now has a violet/ wire. [OK, so the Beetle's brown illogical too.]

But, I ask you, what other cars such evidence of natural, human influences shining through in a feature as mundane as their wires Another reason why VWs and Audis are special, I think.

Rod Young

[owdlvr]

Hi

A standard bug has the same dash area as a 1302 so a standard bug dash cover will fit.

I seem to think the fresh-air box is thicker due to the motor, and thus standard dash covers won't fit? Will have to borrow the one out of my '69 once I'm at that stage to see.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Alrighty...shop only got some of the bits in I needed, so didn't end up going as far as I hoped tonight.

Relay mounts are in, bolted up using three RivNuts.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6552915717_e10e5edbd0_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7021/6552915847_6c7e5b37bd_z.jpg

Then started organizing the wiring that will go into it. These wires are passing through from the back, and will be marked so that I know where to trim the length. Only three wires on this end actually need to be identified as to their purpose. The rest just go in one big bundle to the same spot so it doesn't really matter at this point. I ran wires for the factory headlights, and then realized I'm out of 12 gauge for the rally lights. Ah well, just add that to the list for tomorrow!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7145/6552915945_d4f1378a20_z.jpg

With everything I could do there complete, it was time to move on. I don't want to move onto the rest of the harness until I have the front dialed, as this helps me keep the ever-changing diagram straight in my head. There is a hardcover notebook that is getting all my diagrams and thoughts, but working on harnesses for me requires a flow, and so the front needs to be finished first.

For the moment I've moved onto figuring out what I'm going to do with the dashboard. My original plan was a Carbon Joe dash, and while I had one ordered I haven't heard back regarding it. So I'm working on the back-up plan. My Stewart-Warner gauges seem to be perpetually "coming soon", so I'm really at a loss for what to do. The factory Salzburg cars were just a stock dash with a tach bolted to the top and some TAG-Heuer rally clocks on the glove box door. Audi factory rally cars from the early 80's seem to have a dash made up of whatever was lying around the workshop. Mostly VDO gauges, but not always, and most certainly not all matching each other. I checked the gauges I have...and mismatched pretty much sums it up...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6552916195_19f330ee86_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6552916585_2e99929748_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7006/6552916691_36b01feff1_z.jpg

I trimmed the factory speedo hole to fit the Porsche Tach, and if I'm going to run a stock dash pad that's definitely my first choice. Now I just need to decide if I'm going to pair it with the Stewart Warner, go with a VDO set or Autometer Sport-Comp...then, of course, I need to figure out where to put them! At the very least I'll be running a Rally Computer, Tach, Oil Pressure, Oil Temp, and Fuel level. I may add a speedometer, volt meter, and air/fuel gauge. Just gotta figure out what fits, and is readable while I'm driving.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6552916481_02228d7427_z.jpg

-Dave

[Steve C]

I seem to think the fresh-air box is thicker due to the motor, and thus standard dash covers won't fit? Will have to borrow the one out of my '69 once I'm at that stage to see.

-Dave

Hi

Sorry about the misinformation, our 1302s never had fresh air fans, we didn't get the fresh air fans fitted until much later in standard bugs.

I used to run 63 Beetle rally car, when I started doing shift work I sold it along with many VW factory rally car parts. I even the left the Halda twin master in it.

Steve

[owdlvr]

Hi

Sorry about the misinformation, our 1302s never had fresh air fans, we didn't get the fresh air fans fitted until much later in standard bugs.

I used to run 63 Beetle rally car, when I started doing shift work I sold it along with many VW factory rally car parts. I even the left the Halda twin master in it.

Steve

Ahhh, that explains it. I was considering ditching the fresh air fan since that little square in the dash would make a great oil-light spot...but then I found a box/fan that still works.

Bet you're kicking yourself over the halda now eh?! I know I would be!

-Dave

[owdlvr]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6558058445_6bdc661e83_z.jpg

More progress...but not as much as I hoped (wiring always seem to be that way). The harness is complete to the regulator & battery, 3/4 complete to the engine bay and just needs to be covered in Techflex. So far I've added 540ft of wire and more circuits then I care to think about at the moment. Should have the correct size Techflex tomorrow, and could hopefully finish this up before Christmas morning. Mind you...each time I think I'm getting close I think of a few more things I need to do :P

Here are some detail shots of how the Techflex looks when I'm done with it:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6558058543_951e7cdf44_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7142/6558058635_cc6102c3a2_z.jpg

-Dave

[Bug@5speed(US)]

Dave,

I like your approach on the wiring..

Taking some notes..

Keep up the good work.. Keeps me movitated even if for now I can only drive a desk...

Alex

[owdlvr]

Thanks! Finally getting near the end of the front half of the harness....

Had to do an emergency run to the city for more Techflex, made it 10min before a supplier closed for the holidays. Eeek, almost got stopped for a week! In case anyone needed further proof that I'm insane...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7034/6562888895_bef5b88c4d_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6562888969_743b0cfd60_b.jpg

I also couldn't get heat shrink into a couple of spots. So I'll be using Silicone Fusion tape tomorrow. The harness is ready to go into the car, the last bits to be TechFlexed are the headlight wires, but I'll need to pop the fenders on in order to figure out the length. So with that I moved on to other items. Heat reflective fiberglass tape on the fender (under the gas heater)...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6562889097_752d21d22d_b.jpg

And then this new plate.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7018/6562889187_53c6437d20_z.jpg

A few rubber mounts...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6562889263_6e01dcb92a_z.jpg

...and we've got a new mount for my fuel pumps and the secondary fuse box.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6562889347_8a6d9b40c5_z.jpg

That's basically as far as I got. The fuse box I ordered in was basically crap, and I refuse to use it. I did a quick trip around the automotive suppliers in town, as well as a stereo shop, and didn't find anything that I thought would be useable. The Audi's have a fuse strip that separates out of the standard fusebox, which I thought might be useable...but then I started looking at the factory VW fusebox again. Hmmmm...flip that sucker upside down, and it could be perfect. The factory cover should pop on.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6562889437_6fceaf84b9_z.jpg

I need to sleep on it. There are lots of reasons the ceramic-style fuses suck, but I tend to keep the terminals clean so it shouldn't matter. Anytime I've run into a "should I / or shouldn't I" problem, I try to look at it like the factory engineers would have. This is a fairly elegant solution using what is available on hand...exactly as the factory would have (for proof: see transmission mounts).

Still need to take a good nights sleep I'll know whether I like it or not. And I suppose in the long run it's fully upgradeable to an ATO-style box down the road.

-Dave

[ricola]

Nice job on the wiring, small tip in case you haven't come across it: you can get heatshrink with hotmelt glue inside which is great for protecting joints outside of the cabin to stop corrosion. I've used it extensively on my car, nothing worse than intermittent connectivity due to corrosion in the future!

[owdlvr]

Nice job on the wiring, small tip in case you haven't come across it: you can get heatshrink with hotmelt glue inside which is great for protecting joints outside of the cabin to stop corrosion. I've used it extensively on my car, nothing worse than intermittent connectivity due to corrosion in the future!

Yup. Some of the connections photographed actually use that stuff, some don't. Depends on the size I had on hand. Most of my smaller stuff is with the glue.

-Dave

[Steve C]

Hi

Are you going to mount the fuel pump in that location? The facet pumps need to be mounted at a certain angle.

Steve

[owdlvr]

Hi

Are you going to mount the fuel pump in that location? The facet pumps need to be mounted at a certain angle.

Steve

Oh? Please tell.

Nothing in the documentation I got with the pump, nor on Facet's website?

FWIW, I'll be using AN fittings so as to reduce the chances of fluid leakds combined with fuse box :P

-Dave

[Steve C]

Hi

It was long time ago that I mounted the Facet pump in my old bug.

It should be mounted at 45 degree angle with the outlet higher than the inlet and close to the fuel tank, which you have done.

I found these instruction online that confirm it http://www.aca-auto.com.au/pdfs/Facet-cat.pdf

Steve

[owdlvr]

Thanks for the instructions. Based on the information within it sounds like the only reason to mount the outlet higher then the inlet is to ensure there is no possibility of vapour lock inside the pump...but they also say the pump can be mounted in any orientation. Might try them flat (since the fuel lines will work out so well with them flat)...and modify as required. On the plus side, if one pump heats up and vapour-locks, I just have to flip a switch to change to the other pump!

Haven't done much work on the car in the last couple of days. Something about a big holiday and family dinners and such ;) I did get the front half of the wiring harness back in, and insulated against heat near the gas heater. Kinda like the look of it installed, but this part of the project is taking waaaaaaay too long. I will need to mount a fender to do some measuring before I can finish up the techflex on the front.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7031/6579557679_dfbcdf25de_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6579557087_b747dfb987_z.jpg

...relay and fuse panel are in. I still need to figure out how I'm going to label the fuses so I remember what controls each circuit...and not really sure what I was doing when I put the labels up. Somehow I missed the first and last relay labels! Will have to cut another couple off the vinyl machine tomorrow.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7155/6579556601_ff5a513c60_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7153/6579556829_ed8b757d80_z.jpg

The fuel pump wires will need to be completed after I get a couple of the Rabbit fuel pump relays, and a second pump. For now I'll move onto the dash portion of the harness and slowly work my way back. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

-Dave

[volkdent]

May I suggest 2 more of those rubber mounts to mount the fuel pump too? You'll hardly hear it in that case, unless u want to hear it to know its on!

Jason

[owdlvr]

gonna start off without a second set, only because I'm trying to keep the pump as low as possible. Thanks for the suggestion though. Without any sound insulation, I suspect this car is going to be plenty loud enough to mask any fuel pump noise!

Well, it's been a long week of work...but none of it on the Beetle. At work we have a Hagglunds BV-206 (google it) which has been taking up a lot of my time. Ford engine, Mercedes transmission, BMW distributor, Audi plug wires....it's a virtual United Nations of construction. Anyways...I'm off topic, and finally got back to the Bug today.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6618082679_2e9010d402_z.jpg

...I managed to snake the wiring harness through the factory holes in the heater channels. It wasn't easy, but I got it through. My seat rail is jammed up against the heater channel, which means running even a factory harness down beside it would be almost impossible. I might cut the seat rail, lay the wires and re weld it back in...or I might route the wires under the seat and simply cut some access for it. Haven't decided yet.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6618082963_3ac484f84d_z.jpg

From there I moved onto the fuel tank. In order to make sure all the dash and trunk bits are going to fit, I need to get the fuel tank into the car...which means refinishing it. In order to refinish it, the first step was to sort out the fuel sender. The aftermarket senders are a wee bit different then the Super Beetle versions:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6618076059_4889a91480_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/6618076371_de7e9f9545_z.jpg

So I started slowly stripping down the VW unit, as I compared it to the Stewart Warner unit I'm going to be using....

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7021/6618355367_963ca8c9b0_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6618355525_968593c540_z.jpg

...and, after a little while, I had this:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6618076975_6a11b91946_z.jpg

The factory Super Beetle gauge has two floats, which after playing around I figured our are required to get a proper reading at both full and empty. Trying to sort out a way to make it all work with the aftermarket gauge was going to be relatively futile. Or at least, far more engineering then a fuel gauge should require! With my short float I should show "empty" well before the tank is actually dry....so it's somewhat reflective of a reserve left, but it does have a very accurate "full" reading. That may come across as backwards...but really I could run without a gauge at all, simply knowing how many miles between full and empty. This adds a bit of security :P

With that finished, I prepped the top half of the tank, and took care of the finish. Tomorrow I'll paint the bottom half.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7010/6618077327_d2a7c9c1d1_z.jpg

I've also moved onto the dash. With Carbon Joe AWOL, I've had to go onto plan B. I'll be using a factory looking dash, and giving it the "Audi Factory Team" look. Cut some panels for around the speedo hole, and a lexan panel which fits into the radio trim. Ideally I'd like to fit the Rally computer on the far side of the glove box, but I'm going to have to wait until install the dash to check clearances.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7157/6618077509_c5a3defd97_z.jpg

Until tomorrow...

-Dave

[Humble]

I love the work on the wiring harness, the techflex looks great. For the fuel level sender, why not use a stock super sender and use a gauge that reads the vdo style full-empty?

[owdlvr]

Thanks for the props. Regarding the fuel sender, I may be counting my eggs before they hatch...but it would seem Stewart Warner Performance is going to take care of providing all the gauges for the project. Thus, I won't be putting any VDO gauges in! :-)

-Dave

[owdlvr]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6625607011_a147271e7f_z.jpg

Well, the bottom of the tank is coated...so in a day or two I'll be able to install that and move some bigger things forward. But for now, it feels like slow detail work. I am getting things done, but not the massive steps forward I was enjoying before! :P

First up is the new "radio panel". It will house various switches and the oil temperature gauge. (Fuel gauge installed just for sizing). The switches across the top will select stock high beams, rally light 1 and/or rally light two when you hit the factory high beam switch. I can run any combination of auxillary lighting, but they're all ultimately dipped just like your factory high-low system. The bottom three toggles are for fuel pump 1/2, Air/Fuel Ratio left back or right (sensor selector for the gauge) and rally computer power source. The long switch next to the gauge is a rotary switch, I just haven't trimmed down the post or installed the knob. This will serve to control which sensor is displaying on the oil temperature gauge. I plan on having multiple sensors so I can see oil temp just as it leaves the engine, as it goes into the engine and also in oil tank. The rotary knob allows me to have up to four different sensor locations, but only one gauge.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6625605651_29673cf029_z.jpg

I've cut a spot for the speedometer, and four more smaller gauges (two beside the tach and two in the glove box door). Some paint finishes up the panels. The car will end up with a Speedo, Tach, Oil Temp, Oil Pressure, Air/Fuel Ratio, voltmeter and a Fuel Gauge. Where I'll mount each gauge specifically...hasn't yet been determined. Well, except for the oil pressure gauge. That will go where both co-driver and driver can see it.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7019/6625946405_7e152ef18b_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6625607783_ac05933a36_z.jpg

The new gauges will all be the current Stewart Warner Performance style, which you can see new in the boxes on the left-side. Due to the factory dash setup, I've chosen to keep the Porsche Tach...but that black rim just wouldn't do, would it? Enter new silver bezel. When I first painted it, I instantly hated it. Almost taped it up to paint it black right away. Once I had it installed on the dash though, it was an instant success. Oh yeah, I got the dashboard mounted as well. Should be installed for the final time.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6552916195_19f330ee86_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7006/6625606595_4072da9d49_z.jpg

Doesn't seem like much accomplished, considering the time it took!

-Dave

[wrenchnride247]

You are rollin' along with this build man! :cool: ...wish I had that kind of time to work on mine...would of been done five years ago :lmao:

[owdlvr]

Build is going super slow the last three weeks...but house sitting, dog sitting, Christmas and having to drive over to the shop will do that! I should be back to my usual program, and low sleep hours, come friday. Tonight I could only get an hour in on the car. In that time I managed to install the switch and gauge panels, including putting the random gauges I have into various spots to check the fit. Had to make a couple of more adjustments to the metal dash, but otherwise everything is a good fit. Should have all my new-style Stewart Warner gauges by the end of the month...but visually, it's not looking too bad now. At the very least I can sort out the wiring for each of the panels and then swap out the gauges later.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/6633515929_d856283f41_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7006/6633516141_fd9dbb8403_b.jpg

-Dave

[owdlvr]

I'd like to start this post with a huge thank you to Chris, "chug_A_bug", as he's quite guy.

A few posts back, when I first bolted up the steering column, I mentioned how it was the first "used" looking piece I was using on the car...but budgets have to be adhered to (at least, once you've spent 4x as much as you planned!). Chris sent me a PM, and shortly after a package for the project:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/6658000081_3e893e4b3f_z.jpg

Guess I won't be using a used ugly turn signal lever after all!

Thanks Chris.

------------------

Started on wiring up the dash today...it's incredible how long it takes to do it correctly. Managed to wire up the fuel gauge, air-fuel gauge, rally computer, speedometer and the radio panel of switches. Yes, that was almost a full-day's work.

Glove Box started:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7147/6657999825_b2f279d7ff_z.jpg

Detail of the Anderson Power-Pole connectors I prefer for inside use. They can be assembled like Lego, and labelled with a micro-sharpie. I only need to label them for while I assembling each half (usually on different days). Once I key the connectors so they can't be assembled incorrectly, panels can be installed and removed without ever messing up the wiring.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6657999913_70d1e589f9_z.jpg

Glove box gauge details:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/6657999991_a92267caa5_z.jpg

From the normal view, all of the wires are tucked away neatly and hidden. Hard to see in the second photo, but the stock glovebox fits perfectly. I've lost a bit of interior space, of course, but can at least use it for holding the insurance papers and other vitals.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6658000189_812dac0f22_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6658000317_b228af25f0_z.jpg

The underside looks odd in the photo, but actually looks clean and neat in person. The connectors under the dash are for the rally computer. It needs to be removable for use in other vehicles and/or if I park it somewhere that it could be an issue.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7001/6658000493_e29a24beb9_z.jpg

Under the hood remains clean as well. The black wiring harness is for the rally computer, the connectors peeking out are for the gauges. Again, everything is modular and removable should repairs or future modifications require it.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6658000591_6d49e9bab9_z.jpg

And here is the panel that sits in the radio slot. As you can see making it removable requires a bit of time ;-)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6658000677_aed71e857e_b.jpg

-Dave

[chug_A_bug]

Glad to Help... :cheers:
CIP1.ca sent me 2 when I order 1 and i Still never ended up using it, just happy to See if go to a worthy causes... :)

Chris.

[Bug@5speed(US)]

Dave keep up the good work enjoying ur wiring work, very neat , functional and modular.
Alex

[owdlvr]

Thanks! Occasionally I just want to "get it done"...but I know taking my time will make it so much easier to diagnose down the road. Considering the fact that I'm doing all the wiring without the battery or any testing, I'm either really really good...or insane :P

No photos tonight, as it's just more wires and connections. I've got the switch panel in the radio slot wired up to the relays in the trunk, speedo and tach 100% wired in at the dash (just the speed sensor to mount) and most of the modular panels powered and grounded. After that I started going through and labeling wires to make tomorrow night faster. With the techflex having to go over each wire, it wasn't realistic to label them as I built the harness. What I did do, though, was to bundle the wires by end location. Now when I'm trying to figure out "where does that wire go", as soon as I find that one wire in a cluster goes to the regulator (for instance) all five in that cluster go to the regulator. This cuts down the hunt-and-find factor, but considering there were 15 wires going to the relay panel...it doesn't necessarily make it quick!

I hope to get the rest of "my" wiring finished tomorrow, so that I can start installing the factory switches and their associated wires. There is going to be a LOT to stuff in behind there, and I'm not 100% sure it will all easily fit.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Holy crap I'm reaching the end!!

All of my switches and gauges are wired and hooked up. Started installing the factory equipment tonight, which is a nice milestone to reach. A little confused by some of it, as the wiring connections I have in the car don't match the '71 wiring diagram...will be a bit of a puzzle I think! Warwick was in the garage working on the Mini tonight...apparently I talk to myself with a running monologue of wiring diagrams and connections as I work. Never noticed it before, but definitely do it when I'm wiring. Odd.

Photos tomorrow, added my LED Gen and Oil lights, but screwed up the location. You RHD guys would be fine with them where they are, but for us LHD folks a switch blocks the warning lights. Hmmm...might have to install a couple more just to be safe.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7155/6683343419_123e2d9bd6_z.jpg

Now, keeping in mind that this is still a work in progress, I have wires not yet trimmed or hooked up in this photo...but still I think if you've owned enough beetles, you just accept that there is no way the behind-the-dash wiring won't look like a rats nest :P Add a bazillion other wires and I think I'm going to have a very hard time making this look "neat". Even with zipties and/or wiring loom, I will definitely need to work out a wiring cover of some sort.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6683343475_249e51d07c_b.jpg
Got the headlight switch, emergency flasher switch and gas heater switch all in. Gas heater will need a few more connections, in the '69 I just ran my own wiring...for this car I'm going to want to figure out how the factory did it. I must have spent 45min going through boxes and baggies searching for the "good" dash switches with their perfect labels and diagrams. 45min, that was, until I remembered that those pieces are still installed on the '69, and it was sold!

I have discovered a few issues with the factory wiring. Each of the cars I've torn apart to build this one were all '71's. At some point in the last five years I must have dismantled a '72. Bits from that car must have been in my wiring box, because they've found their way into this car. The fuse box, for instance, is a '72. Took me forever to realize this, and thus instantly solve why one circuit had no "feed" power. A '71 box bridges the first three terminals, in '72 they bridge just the first two. Doh. Wiring, it would seem, is also a mix of '71 and '72...which is bound to create a headache down the road. Especially since I've hooked up everything as though it were '71, until I discovered a few things were '72 and "wouldn't work". They are small changes, like wires that join together at the fuse box instead of a junction in the harness...but just different enough to drive me bat-****-crazy when I have an issue down the road!

Does anyone know what the Brown/Blue wire coming out of the steering column is for? It's on neither the '71 or '72 wiring diagram, and I can't for the life of me figure out what it might be for.

The last issue is one I mentioned the other night. With the 914 Tach and an aftermarket speedo, I've lost my factory warning lights. I wanted them somewhere visible, preferably not behind the steering wheel. I got the bright idea to get bright LED's and tuck them in with the brake-light warning switch. If done right it would be kind of factory-esque, with all the warning lights in the same spot. Initially I was going to remove the brake-light warning lamp all together (pretty sure I can tell when I have lost half my brakes!!) but didn't end up removing it for some reason. I drilled out the car and popped two high-intensity LED's into the panel. Tough to take a photo of them and show the intensity, but here is the location:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/6683343351_713121048e_z.jpg

Now, I did this entire install from the passenger side of the car. Silly me, I never thought to check if they'd be visible from the Driver's seat. :P I will have to wait until I have a seat in the car again, maybe I get lucky, but I somehow doubt it. Pretty sure the lower LED is blocked by the fan switch!

To finish the dash wiring I need my wiper install kit (grommets, etc) and a windshield squirter. I'm off coaching for the weekend, so likely won't update the thread until Monday night.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Does anyone know what the Brown/Blue wire coming out of the steering column is for? It's on neither the '71 or '72 wiring diagram, and I can't for the life of me figure out what it might be for.

Surf First. Post after. This would be unused on a T1...mental note, bring iPad down to garage when wiring.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Back to the bug tonight, after a weekend away. The new headliner is spread out across my living and dining room, so hopefully it will start smoothing out a little. In the meantime, it was down to the very cold garage for a little bit of work. Much of what I accomplished is the sort of thing you don't really see, but there's a few bits...

First off, the windshield washer jet, wiper motor/linkage and wiper switch are all installed and hooked up.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7019/6713139571_a2b2223e9f_z.jpg

Next up was the fuel tank. Too bad you can't see all the work that went on before the tank went in! The gas heater fuel hoses needed to be run, as well as the gas heater pump electrics. Since I was running the wires for the pump, I took the time to finish up all the connections on the fusebox side for the heater. Once that was done, I laid some foam-tape around the edges of the fuel tank mount, and dropped it in. Tomorrow I will secure the pump, as I decided both the tank and gas heater mounts needed a fresh coat of paint. Also visible in this photo is the passenger side defrost and heat ducting. I remember the duct being a complete PIA to pull out of the car, and I've read more then a few posts on The Samba saying how difficult they are to get in. Honestly, I don't know what all the fuss was about. It was dirt simple! Pull the dash vent out, slide the duct into place, put the dash vent back in which secures both. Took me 30 seconds, and I was expecting 30min! I will need to figure out where I hid the driver's side piece though...as it's apparently not in my garage.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7017/6713139653_84dc58221c_z.jpg

I haven't decided if the trunk will get carpeting or not...so I had to make sure the fuel gauge wires looked good...just in case ;-)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7034/6713139749_37543136da_z.jpg

And the last thing I got to was the fuel door release handle. The one on the car was broken (and painted silver) but taking them apart isn't a simple job! They don't like to separate from the cable without something breaking. I broke one cable, one handle and one retaining clip...so it took 3 assemblies in total to create one good part. But its installed, so I'm happy.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6713139817_706cd9c1a9_z.jpg

Time to move onto some different jobs, I think I'll need to wait until the rest of my Gauges arrive in order to finish the dashboard. No sense in mounting stuff I'll just need to remove to swap a gauge in.

-Dave

[NO_H2O]

Looking good.

[owdlvr]

Thanks!

The last couple of days haven't been as productive as I had hoped they would be. A combination of really cold temperatures and other jobs meant less time in the garage then I had hoped. I did manage to finish all the stock dash switches, which turned out to be more challenging then I expected. Note to self, next time I stuff a bazillion wires in behind the dash...put the fresh-air knobs in FIRST
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7018/6722856505_a11ff07bd0_z.jpg

Then, following that I figured I better test to see if the gas-heater would actually fit the car. This is the first time I've had a chance to see it was even remotely close! Thank goodness it appears that everything is going to work just fine.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/6722856417_40b8ee41c1_z.jpg

...and I started on the fuel pump plumbing. Unfortunately one of the T-fittings didn't come in, and I mucked one of the straight hose ends. No worries, the shop will have replacements in tomorrow and I can finish this up. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to make those tiny short fuel lines! I thought -8 lines were fun to make, but the smaller -4 lines are a real chore. I'm not 100% the configuration I've chosen will work (since only one pump will be powered at a time)...worst case I'll need to put a one-way valve in-line.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6724668979_332045ab2c_z.jpg

On the bad news front, I'm having a really tough time sorting out how I'm going to deal with running the wiring harness beside/under/around the driver's seat. When I got frustrated with that I moved on to the rear portion, and quickly determined that I'm either a) going to need to buy a harness or b) build one from scratch. The engine & taillight portion of my harness is just brutal. I've got a few days off the bug planned due to work commitments, so hopefully I can come back on Saturday with a fresh perspective and attitude!

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Well the fuel pumps ended up being an interesting challenge. Turns out when I ran the fuel line for the gas heater, I pinched it under the fuel tank. Had to remove the tank and everything in the way to fix the problem. I'm fairly glad I found it now though, otherwise I'd have been really confused as to why the gas heater wasn't working! Once the problem was fixed, I went on to finish the pump and line mounting...

Pumps for the engine are in...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7153/6740531383_2585bbff8f_b.jpg

And so is the gas heater pump. Apparently camouflaged after I painted it black :P
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7017/6740531029_44c4c4bbfb_z.jpg

With that done, I figured I better mount the gas heater for real, and see if I was going to have any other issues. Pretty glad that I did. Needless to say, the exhaust pipe wasn't going to work out in it's current configuration.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6740530897_b71820ce34_z.jpg

After a bit of fettling with the mounts, the exhaust pipe and ducting, I managed to get it in with everything looking "factory".
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6740530825_788d42ce20_z.jpg

The heat shield, though, required some trimming. I may have trimmed off a bit too much, but I have 3 or 4 of them and was wanting to ensure I had left space for straps, etc. I'll leave it for a day or two to make sure I'm happy with it, and then refinish it so it looks new again. On the exhaust pipe, I will need to make the "foot" piece that goes into the end. Unlike my last car, though, I'm going to make this one when the car is on the ground with a tire on it. Maybe it won't rub on attempt number two :D
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7010/6740531217_4aa3f2b1f7_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7175/6740531097_1d834145af_z.jpg

With much of the trunk finished I started to think about the wiring harness again. Must be the new heater I bought for the garage, but suddenly things started to make sense and fall together. First up, I determined a routing for the main harness that would keep it off the floor (out of the wet), and away from the seat track rubbing it. I still have to run the seat ontop to make sure it's going to be perfect, but I'll do that before going to sleep.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6740530759_f0c2fb1fab_b.jpg

While I was moving stuff around to come up with the routing, it hit me that I should just get the rear engine-bay & taillight portion of the harness finished. I sat down with the three sections I had, slowly pulled them apart and made the best harness I could. Then, using some of the leftover I extended the wires near the regulator so that my engine-bay section can be joined to the main section out of sight. With the routing sorted I was able to start finalizing the rear section. The techflex section is for the speed sensors and oxygen sensors, and I'll start running the rest tomorrow.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6740530683_5ca67a3b20_b.jpg

The engine bay section is on stand-by until I can buy the correct heatshrink for it. Everything I have left in house has hot-glue inside, so I've got to find some that will remain flexible once it's shrunk. None of the tail-light segments I have are really worth saving, so I'm going to have to come up with something from scratch. About all they are good for is making sure I have the wire lengths correct.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6740530529_a4c0f666fa_z.jpg

Probably the best part, though, is feeling like I'm out of the slump I've felt for the last couple of weeks. Bring on Sunday!!!

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Annnnndddd...here's today's progress.

Rear harness ready to be installed into the car:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/6747457483_782b4234eb_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6747457401_15a32f5f10_z.jpg

...and as you can see, wiring can be a rather messy project!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7031/6747457325_963216628d_z.jpg

Shortly thereafter, I managed to get the harness squeezed in past the dreaded foam, and then hooked up on the inside to the main harness.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6747457241_f8ed7c3d5f_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6747457155_5734d59a52_z.jpg

And with the wiring harness well on it's way to completion, I figured I should start on a job I've been avoiding for a little while. The headliner.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/6747457081_49f775becb_z.jpg

Now, in the back of my mind I had always planned on installing the headliner without any of the padding. It's just race-car building habit, and with all the weight I've gained in wiring and electrics I'll happily take a few ounces here and there. It is, however, a decision I might live to regret. On the B-Pillars, I did need to pad the clamps as it was clear they were going to tear into the vinyl over time. A fleece blanket sacrificed a few scraps, and the fear of tearing was eliminated.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6747457007_0547a46ddf_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6747456913_1844910e2f_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7010/6747456761_764056300e_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6747456677_bd308dc2a6_z.jpg

Without any padding, getting the B-Pillars wrinkle free is a serious challenge. The issue at the top is the mounting plate for the assist-straps, and can't really be avoided. At the bottom, it would seem it's more a case of my lack of experience vs. any real issue with the car or headliner. Trying to work out how to stretch the vinyl, and glue it down, is a challenge probably best fought with experience.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6747456517_6fba5b01ce_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6747456593_4d80a689ab_z.jpg

I did manage to eliminate a bunch of the wrinkles and waves up top, and a few down below. For whatever reason I missed taking photos of them though. Moving on to the Passenger side, you'd think the experience of the driver's side would help, but now everything is in mirror image! The top detail shows the main reason why I might change my mind on the padding...any of the "left-over" padding from before is going to show through as bubbles. 'Course, if I start padding now...that might make the b-pillar section look even worse. Hmmmm....
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7151/6747456453_17d7c5c79d_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6747456383_d7e3247479_z.jpg

After completing the two pillars I decided to call it a night. Slow and steady is going to win the Headliner battle.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Around Christmas Time, when I mentioned to any of my VW friends that I was planning on installing my own headliner they all called me nuts. "No really, you're going to pay someone to do that right?" was the typical response. Rarely do I think about paying someone to work on my car...but wow, would I every consider it now! Headliner isn't impossible, but it is damned difficult! I'm still not even sure I'm going to keep it. There is one spot on the B-Pillar that really annoys me, and now that I've done more I'm not sure I'll be happy with it. On the one hand, it's turning out way better then my '69 headliner ever was...and lets be honest, at the end of the day I'm taking this car racing. BUT, and this is a big but, I'm not convinced the level of craftsmanship on this part matches the rest of the car. From day one I wanted a car that was finished to "magazine standards...and so far, the headliner isn't doing it for me. Gotta sleep on it, and I'm going to finish the job to the end. I mean, I might as well assemble the car before I decide it's all gotta come out to be redone. Waves I see right now may settle out, or end up hidden by some piece of equipment I haven't installed yet.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6753937283_0778de05d4_z.jpg
I did decide this afternoon that installing the headliner without any padding was going to be a waste of time. The C-Pillars would be so challenging to have look "right" I just couldn't wrap my head around it. Living in small town BC doesn't leave much in terms of shopping options at 6pm, so I came up with the best thing I could find. It's polyester, so it won't rot, and the thickness is about right. Having no record of what the padding shapes looked like, I used a combination of google and common sense to come up with something reasonable.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6753937219_14aff0d300_b.jpg
First up is the 'rear window' section. Wow was that a challenge! It's a simple piece of vinyl for crying out loud, why did it almost beat me!?! :P So, overall it's not _bad_, and I'm not really sure how I would have pulled out the slight wrinkles around the corner...so I can live with those. But the top bar has two waves in it, due to the padding underneath. The bottom ends aren't even (due to the padding not being exactly the same)...and I discovered what happens if you hit the vinyl with too much heat on the lower right. Hmph. For the moment I haven't decided on what I'm doing with the firewall (Dynamat, carpet, bare?) so I'm not yet sure what I'll do to fix any of the issues (if anything). I was mildly discouraged at this point, but figuring that I'm in this far, I pressed on.

With the rear quarter panel sections I discovered a new and interesting problem. Nowhere in my head did I think about the fact that I've moved the firewall in by 3". This headliner piece, which already seemed complex enough to mount, was going to need to be modified to accommodate. I went slow, reeeeaaallly slow. But in the end, I'm actually pretty stoked with how good its looking. There are some big waves/wrinkles in the far right that would normally be hidden by the rear seat back. Not quite sure what I'm going to do, but the "under window" piece is technically long enough to go over this part.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7006/6753937171_b02baf99b3_b.jpg

With that completed I decided I really didn't want to be up another hour to do the passenger side. One one hand I'm starting to feel comfortable with the job, but on the other hand when I'm tired is likely when I'm going to screw up really badly.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6753937323_5bda7b08b9_z.jpg
Before heading to write this, though, I decided to install some Dynamat on the roof. Initially I wasn't going to, mostly due to adding yet more weight, but then I thought about it and realized I would have to do a whole second headliner if I ever changed my mind! With that, I tossed in three strips of Dynamat. When doing a panel, you actually don't have to cover the whole thing (despite what Dynamat might tell you), but you do need to do enough to make sure you stop the panel from resonating. I think the rule is 25% coverage in the center of the panel, but I couldn't be bothered to measure or cut the stuff. Just spend, heat and apply :P Just how effective is it?

http://www.youtube.com/embed/YH0bwv1henY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH0bwv1henY)

I'm knocking on the panel with the same force.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Well, there are good days...and bad days. And sometimes they occur on the same night in the garage!

First up, the bad news...cracked the paint, on the roof...from the inside. Long story short, I slipped while massaging the area around the rollbar. It was a stupid mistake, but one I can't take back. Of course, you just know 6 milliseconds before I did this my brain said "wait, you should move that...nope!" :P
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6759069643_d57118015c_z.jpg

On to the good news! You know the best part about race cars? They have sponsorship decals. hahahaha

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6759069695_97c223f81c_z.jpg
The passenger side C-Pillar portion went in relatively easily. Its funny how much you forget just with a night of sleep. Do I pull here, and glue there first...or over here? It mostly went okay, but I have bigger waves in the front lower portion that are visible. I'm starting to relax a bit about the overall look, I mean...at the end of the day its going to look good. And, quite frankly, a couple of ripples in the headliner aren't going to slow me down any :P

After a big shop clean, I started on the main headliner section. I can see how this would be challenging in a normal car. With the roll bar, it's super annoying! To make it more interesting, the roll bar just happens to be right where a headliner bow is. Awesome.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7030/6759069559_b34953f355_z.jpg

So far I've managed to get the rear section pretty tight, but once you get to the roll bar I'm having difficulty getting the material to pull tight enough forward.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/6759069607_8c3d24a069_z.jpg

And here's where I've left it for the night. Now that I'm able to get some tension on it, I got the garage up to 20deg C, and will let it sit overnight. Perhaps that will help creases to relax a little. If I'm honest, I really wish I had a friend who did interiors to come help finish it. With the roll bar its just a bit trickier then I'm comfortable with, considering the challenge I found the other parts to be. But no such friend exists...so I guess I'm on my own!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6759069729_b959f8b37e_z.jpg

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Hmmm...not sure how I'm feeling about this tonight.

I had a good chat on the phone this morning with a local club member, and got some good PM's with tips. Went down to the garage around 8pm and started practicing with the binder clips, pulling and testing and sorting out exactly what I had to do in what order. Took quite a bit of time to get myself sorted, as I kept getting extra material showing up in the front corners. After a while I got that dialed, and could repeat the steps successfully without any major waves or issues. With the front still clipped up I hopped out of the car and practiced going down the side to the rear. It went super easy, I dialed it in on the first try. I then did a perfect repeat, and declared myself ready to go. Unfortunately, in hindsight, I made my fatal error when I got out of the car.

I dunno about you guys, but when I'm in the car working, I have a habit of getting out of the driver's side. (It's the door I always use!) In doing so, I did my side-practice down the driver's side of the car, since it was right there. Everything went relatively smoothly up front, outside of messing up the B-Pillar fold on the driver's side, the whole side went quite well. I'd call the driver's side a pass. Moving on to the passenger side, though, and instantly I knew I had a problem. In the end, I've figured out that the roll-bar has something to do with the issue. I know the roll bar was closer to the passenger side of the roof then the driver's side, as I had to clearance the interior body panels to even get the vinyl past it...so there is something different going on. I suspect when I pulled the headliner forward and glued it to the windshield, the roll bar was giving me a false impression that I had it pulled tight enough.

Well, crap.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6764491339_aa0a894ae8_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6764491465_57d23b55b4_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6764491415_0e7bd25c53_z.jpg

Ultimately, I suspect it's all coming out. But that's my "just walked up from the garage to download the photos" impression. I'm going to assemble the car right to finished before I decide whether or not it needs a full replacement. There is still lots of stuff that needs to go into the car that may hide it. Roll bar padding, reading lamps, etc. Once the car is assembled, if it bugs me, I'll pull all the glass, the headliner, and have it redone. No sense in freaking out about it right now...either it needs to come out, or it doesn't.

-Dave

[NO_H2O]

Headliners are a pain. At least to me. I had one put in my black car by a friend as I watched and helped. I put one in my son's and one in my daughter's bugs. Yours looks ok to me. The headliner will relax and smooth out after the car sits a while. It will do it even faster when it is out in the sun. You could use a heat gun but be very careful.

[Kafer_Mike]

Try taking a hair dryer to the wrinkles. Get them warm (not too hot) by waving the heat over them, working them from their ends to their center. You can do the same thing with a paint stripping heat gun though that is better left to the professionals. Don't ask my how I know. :o

[owdlvr]

Yeah, I'll be playing with some heat in a few days...gotta give it a rest for a while ;-)

Tonight was a quick night the garage, gotta get up early tomorrow for a Seattle trip. Back when I mounted the front brake mounts, I wasn't a fan of the bolts that I had. But I was potentially needing to roll the car around, so I tossed 'em on anyways. Since tonight was going to be a quick night, I popped off the rotors to swap them to proper hex-head bolts.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6774552831_899e5392ba_z.jpg

With done, I mounted the calipers...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6774552895_33b751444d_z.jpg

And finished off the last of the brake lines.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6774552957_88a571bc27_z.jpg

Tossed the gas flap door on as well, since I've almost kicked it off the stairs a thousand times :P
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7151/6774552755_764e38af68_z.jpg

I probably had time to bleed the brakes, but I have a rule about never bleeding a brake system for the first time before bed. My Audi rally car taught me that one...with a leaking fitting inside the car :P Always bleed at the start of a session, so you can check it carefully at regular intervals to ensure there are no leaks!

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Didn't get a whole lot accomplished this weekend. I got a phone call from a buddy that my boxes were starting to pile up in his shop...so Saturday was "drive 12 hours and pickup my parts all over the west". Unfortunately it would appear that some sponsors like to send really big boxes for only 1 small part out of an order of 5 parts! Sigh. Today I opted to actually use my Ski Pass for the first time...probably a good call seeing as I live 35min away from Whistler, and haven't been yet :P

But never fear, I did make it into the garage for a couple of items.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7163/6787930011_d274880a61_z.jpg
First up was installing the fuel filler inlet. It's a bit of a mental puzzle figuring out how to get this thing in! I distinctly remember removing it after the fuel tank, and with the nipple still installed. Of course you can't get it in the car that way...took a bit to figure that out. But, now that it's in (just need hose clamps) the whole process seems really simple. Remove nipple, slide through quarter panel from the outside. Done! I do need to buy a new fuel cap, though, this one is looking a little ratty.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7163/6787930521_284b0421d0_z.jpg

When I went to finish the job, I was reminded on why the aftermarket often sucks. Factory breather setup on the top...aftermarket replacement parts down below. Yeah, that ain't gonna work. Time to see what Samco has in the universal hose selections...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7159/6787930609_70de98b67e_z.jpg

I also made the attempt to reinstall the fuel sender with the required O-Ring. I know this isn't going to be an easy job, but any suggestions? Perhaps I just need a second person...one to push down, and another to tap the sender around to lock it in place?

The fuel pump relays required a bit of modification. They come with the power terminals wider then a standard .250" connector...which is what my relay mounts use. A quick few minutes with the angle grinder sizes the terminals to the width I need. The relay mounts did require a bit of modification for the "K" terminal, which is the one that takes in the tach-signal. With these relays, as long as the tach is providing a signal the fuel pumps will run.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7153/6787930163_13c74030de.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6787930349_610fe190bb_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7175/6787930439_7356ce8a59_z.jpg

And finally, I closed up my garage session tonight with the last two pieces of the headliner. The under quarter windows are done, and I can officially call my headliner installed!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7147/6787930095_54663fbca2_z.jpg

...Time to stop with these mini-jobs and get back to some heavy hitting nights in the garage that cut the list shorter and shorter :)

-Dave

[Jadewombat]

Great stuff. I've been following this thread for a while. That's frustrating about your headliner. The older I get the more I have to swallow my pride at times and know my limitations about some stuff (mine is exterior paint). Unless you deal with it every day it takes so much longer than the guy who does. Fortunately I found an upholsterer who will come to my house to do the headliner on my bus when the time comes.

Keep up the great work.

[owdlvr]

Yeah, its frustrating. But I also knew from the get-go that it was a gamble. I didn't want to risk painting the car, but a headliner is easy enough to re-do!

--------

Man, what a roller coaster night of frustration.

I started off by bleeding the brakes, which should have gone relatively easy. I've got Russell Performance Speed Bleeders on every corner, so with long sections of clear tubing you can bleed the brakes single-handedly. To start the process I always crack one front and one rear caliper, to ensure the master cylinder can push fluid through both circuits. Within moments I could hear fluid hitting the front pan. "That's odd", I thought, "Its usually not that quick." I walked over to the front corner, and fluid is leaking everywhere. Initially I didn't panic...I probably forgot to tighten a fitting or something. But scanning for the source quickly turned to panic and annoyance. How could I possibly have a brand new caliper leaking at the seam between halves!?! I'm mopping up fluid, trying to find tools to remove the caliper when it dawns on me...these calipers have two bleed nipples (to be used on either left or right sides). Um, where is the other bleed nipple?

Ah yes, when you take a nipple with you to the store to ensure you buy the right speed bleeders...PUT IT BACK! :P

With that done, I continued to bleed the brakes. The fronts came up quickly, and easily...but the rears, just would not bleed. I needed to wait until I had someone to work the pedals so I could see what was going on. With that, I moved on. As you can see the handbrake cables I have are quite a bit longer then ideal. When I put the same rear brake kit on my '69, I had the same issue. But the cable housing measures out correctly. I could spend time trying to find ones that are the correct length, or I could fix what I have.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6794585269_1a8bf56c55_z.jpg

First step, cut off the end ball, and remove the cable and housing from the car.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6794585335_1e850274d1_z.jpg

Next up, I use a cable crimp on each cable. These are crushed on using my vice, and then I solder the housing for extra measure. With that done, you simply reinstall in the car. The clamps hold to the use of the parking brake, and my final step is to heat-shrink the end of the cables so that they don't fray. Its not the most elegant solution, but it's functional. :)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6794585393_83492caa00_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6794665753_df9d899684_z.jpg

Funny enough, I've never actually owned a beetle with a properly installed E-Brake boot. Seems they're always torn in some fashion. I highly doubt the Empi one fits properly, and I can't seem to get it to 'snug down' to the tunnel. But I figured I would try the silver out. I won this at a show years ago, and I remembered thinking "When am I ever going to even think of using this in a car!?!" Funny enough, it fits the theme of this one :P
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7030/6794585077_bf39286163_z.jpg

With the brakes completed as far as I could get them, I thought I'd quickly toss the battery into the car. I'd really like to know how I had this thing mounted in my '69 beetle...because it sure doesn't fit this car! The first problem was base...I knew that would be easily solved by finding the additional pieces Optima ships with the battery...but finding them in the garage was another story. Once I finally tracked them down, the battery fit under the "lip", but there was no way I could bolt it down. A bit of time with the angle grinder and one of the plastic mounts...and it was finally mounted. FAR too long for something as simple as the battery!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6794585129_2383233670_z.jpg

Thankfully my buddy Scott stopped in, so that meant the two of us could do some 'two-man' jobs. We started on the fuel level sender. I now have the O-Ring, so it's just a simple matter of pressing down and tapping the sender home, right? Okay, seriously. I swear we spent an hour on this. It's been greased, boiled, what-have-you, and will NOT go in. I'm going to have to find the measurements and check that the O-Ring packed was the correct size, because this is ridiculous.

We did, however, manage to bleed the brakes relatively successfully. They aren't perfect, but with all the fluid I ran through we were getting to the end of my stash. Letting the brakes sit for a few days isn't a bad thing either, so hopefully I can get the last of the air out in short order. At least I know there aren't any major issues with any components, and outside of my bleeder mistake, all my fittings were leak free from the start.

To finish the evening, I went back to my wiring. At least I know that's usually successful! I was busy working out the battery cut-off solenoid, along with starter and alternator wiring, when I discovered a new problem. My Autostick starter doesn't fit the Porsche gearbox. The diameter of the mounting face is off. Sigh. You can just see the space between the upper lip and the transmission, but suffice it to say I'll be either working the starter in the lathe, or working the trans to make it fit.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/6794585187_b048b5e5cd_z.jpg

Ah project cars...always fun eh? :P

-Dave

[Steve C]

Hi

Love your updates. A smear of rubber grease will on the sender o ring works well, and I use a pair of multi grips opened all the way out to turn the sender flange.

Steve

[NO_H2O]

Bleeding an all new brake system can be a real pain. If the rears are not bleeding right. Try jacking the rear of the car up as high as you can and then bleed them. If you have a high place in the line running to the rear. Air will collect there and it can be hard to get it to move from that spot. I have had to jack one end of the car, use a mighty vac on the bleeder and put pressure on the fluid res. and pump the pedal, just to get all the air to move out of a high spot in the plumbing.

[owdlvr]

For the last week or two I've been feeling more and more frustrated every time I work in the garage. It had gotten to the point, last night, where I considered that I may need some time off to relax and make the car fun again. Regardless, though, I needed to clean the shop today. After a clean of the shop, I was thinking about that darned fuel sender, and thought to myself "If I could get that in, perhaps it will change my attitude." Steve's suggestions above gave me a reason to think it might be possible. But first, I had to clean off the grease we used last night.

And, that was the turning point.

So, should you be reading this thread wondering why you can't get your damned fuel sender in either...allow me to solve your problem. You see, weeks ago, when you prepped your tank for paint...you probably quickly cleaned it since you were giving it a quickie paint job. Perhaps you neglected to remove the old seal before painting the tank? Hahahaha, yeah, that's right. POR-15 sure is 'tough as steel' once it dries! :P Funny enough, once I peeled off the old sender the new one (with gasket) just slid right into the tank.

The whole thing was quite funny to me once I realized...and was just the thing I needed to change my attitude around. And with that, I kept working.

Starter wiring harness assembled. I haven't fully heat-shrunk it as I may make some changes.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7027/6800102147_ab74212da5_z.jpg

Remote battery cut-off solenoid installed and wired. You get a healthy "thunk" when you twist the battery cut-off switch on the dash :) The wiring going over to the regulator hasn't been locked down, as I anticipate I'll have other wires crisscrossing the area once I put the oil tank in.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6800102251_2150fe735d_b.jpg

With the battery wiring sorted out, I moved back to the regulator and took care of eliminating it for the alternator conversion I've planned on. You might wonder why I took the time to wire up the whole regulator and then remove it...but it was a simple case of needing to confirm I had the three wiring harnesses sorted out correctly before I started making changes. The unconnected wires heading towards the bottom of the photo are the various wires that have yet to be connected to anything.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/6800102401_c9e133949a_z.jpg

The next step in the wiring is hooking up the various sensors I'm adding. Before I can wire up the speed sensors, I need to mount them. I had originally worked out a mount for a single sensor, but later decided the rally computer and speedo should each have their own sensor. Thus, I had to weld up a new mount for two sensors. This will mount onto the side of the transmission off the diff-cover bolts.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6800102573_d6de72b50d_z.jpg

...and, since i had the welder out, I finished off the exhaust pipe for the gas heater. I'm pretty much ready to mount the front sheet metal (hood and fenders), but will wait to see if I can fill my time until the hood seal arrives. I suspect its easier to install without a hood in the way!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6800102647_7a88cf5932_z.jpg

Lastly, I figured I would leave it as a "good night", and quit while I was ahead. ;-)

-Dave

[Xellex]

Very nice an clean work, I love it!

[owdlvr]

Well, I was down in Vancouver tonight for a club meeting...but upon returning home I was stoked to try and get my hour in on the car. I have a rule that says a minimum of one hour per day, and you can't bank any hours nor can you make them up. So, into the garage I went!

Wanting to keep relatively clean, I figured with the battery hooked up I could start checking and trouble shooting the wiring that I've done. I did have to do some work to the front fuse panel, at some point I forgot to bridge the fuse blocks so that half the fuses were powered by the ignition circuit and the other half are powered directly from the battery. Once I diagnosed and fixed that, it all went relatively quickly.

- Warning lights, working.
- Fuel pumps, working...but wow are they loud. Whomever suggested I double rubber-mount them? Definitely going to need to!
- Rally computer, powers up on either the ignition or battery power (selected via switch).
- Gauges that are wired in all power up.
- Gauge lights working (can't test any of the others as they're just wires at the moment)
- Gas Heater powers up, and the pump works

So with that, it was onto the speedo and rally computer sensors. After mounting them, I had to make the wiring harnesses. These have connectors on them just before the harness enters the inside of the body, that way if I'm pulling the transmission for any reason I don't have to take the sensor mount off. I probably would, so I don't damage the sensors, but you never know!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6805702149_0ca066a2bb_z.jpg

Tough to photograph due to the flash, but the rally computer is pulling numbers off the sensor, and so is the speedometer.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6805702023_885de47378_z.jpg

By the time it was all said and done, it was a good two and a half hours in the garage. Tomorrow I'll be starting on either the Kafer bar, or the oil system.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

As it turns out, tonight I started on [both] the Kafer bar and the oil system! First up was the Kafer, or rear truss, bar. The upper shock mounts required grinding away some of the body, and then I got to the lower mounts. Here I found a fairly big issue. When building my transmission mount I totally forgot to take into account the truss bar mounts, and have created a bit of a problem. Sliding the truss bar mounts in between the trans mount and frame horns isn't going to work, as it will push my trans back and stress the mounts. I was going to weld them behind and up-high, but the way I double layered the metal on the trans mount means that would be a whole lot of welding and work. Combine all this with me forgetting which frame horn bolt was the one with iffy threads...and it was a challenging evening.

When I fit the Porsche transmission to the frame, I did so with the floorpan upside down. Thus the "left side" frame horn bolt was the one with damaged threads. Now, of course, the floor pan is right-side-up, but my brain was still thinking "left". After cross-threading the frame horn insert, I spent quite a bit of time dismantling things before I could cleanup and repair the threads. Missed the closing hour of the industrial store in town, so the truss bar remains half finished until I can buy some hardware. I'll end up bolting on the lower mounts, which wasn't my initial preference but will leave me with plenty of options down the road. Everything is just hanging out in the photo below, I'll shoot proper photos tomorrow once it's finished.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6810852979_467482fd53_z.jpg

With that project stalled, I moved onto the oil system. Much like wiring, it's a good idea to have a map of where you're planning to go!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6810852669_afd4426e8c_z.jpg

With my plan finish, I started by mounting up the tank. With the tank in place I can start visualizing where everything is going to go in the car, so I can start sorting out the fittings. I'm trying to plan ahead so I have the correct fittings at the correct time, without a need to reorder every night. Now is also the time to decide if things like the oil filter mount need right or left ports, or whether the accusump valve should go "here" or "there". The seat goes in, the seat comes out...there is plenty of movement and scribbling on paper, but not much to show here in photos!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7018/6810852827_1dfdd2246b_z.jpg

My head was really set on getting the truss bar finished so that I could "move on" to other projects. I tend to find when I get significantly stalled, and the hour is getting later, I revert to doing silly little jobs that are usually out of order. When I found myself thinking about running the Air-Fuel gauge wire, I knew it was time to take a break!

http://vicmackey.trakt.tv/images/episodes/7-18-1.jpg

...and really, there is always time for Top Gear ;-)

-Dave

[evilC]

Hi Dave,
I see your kafer bar but does it have the strut that connects to the frame horn at the inner trailing arm mount? Are you running heat exchangers?
I have been pondering this installation for some time and I sat down with my friendly structural engineer and crunch a few ideas and numbers:
To retain the heat exchangers the strut from the tranny cradle needs to bend around the heat exchanger and connect to the damper top bolt bracket. this bent strut needs to be stiff in bending so a thick wall tube will be required but the loads are relatively light. We did also discuss adding braces back to the cross bar but decided that put the bar in too much bending.
Your arrangement looks suspect from the photo. The tranny strut should not connect to the crossbar as again this will put the bar into a bending stress. Without the forward strut to the trailing arm mount the load from the tranny strut will apply a bending moment to the upper damper bolt that is only 10mm diameter. This load is cyclic and expect the bolt to fatigue especially as a rally car will flex the frame horns unmercifully. The position of the tranny strut on the crossbar accentuates the bending moment. Because of the geometry, the forged damper strut will also be put in lateral bending.
Sorry to be negative and if I have got it wrong I apologise but it easier to discuss this now rather than at servicing on an event.

regards

Clive

[Steve C]

Hi

To me the Kafer cup bar having the attaching points inboard from the shock bolt reduces the triangulation affect that your trying to achieve.

I have one of Lanners bars on my sons bug, fits great with heater boxes or A1s.

I noticed in your oil system schematics that your going to have an Accusump in the system, is that like wearing panst with barces and a belt? Or are you doing this from a point of having oil pressure on start up from the Accusump?

Steve

[owdlvr]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the comments on the brace. Having thought about it a little further, I think you guys are correct, and will need to rework the brace I have or look at some other options. For much of the afternoon I was thinking about how the factory cars didn't have any bracing...and then it hit me. "oh right, they weren't coil over conversions" :P I think I'm starting to rethink things far too much!

So I guess at this point I should break it down to the basics:

1) I'm going to be running heater boxes
2) Due to #1 I determined that a 3 bar setup was the way to go.
3) Will either need to move the mounts on the current bar or look for another option.

Moving the mounts will likely require longer bars, so I'm heading back into fab-territory any way I slice it.

Hmmmm.

As for the Accusump, its totally overkill on the system as it sits...but you did hit the nail on the head. Since I already own it from the '69 project, I might as well add it into this car for the purpose of start-up oil pressure.

-Dave

[judgie]

I run a dry sump set up and even with the tank in the front of the car i have never had any start up presure issuses. i think the acusump is a extra that dont need to be in the system. why carry more wieght and the extra places for leaks?
the kafer brace that you have on your car is a poor design, sorry. if your running coil over rear then i would strongly sujest you run a 5 bar brace as the loads that will be fed into the top shock mounts is going to be very high. i would brace the top shock mounts like the class 11 Baja cars do for peace of mind. you dont want to be bending or brakeing them.
car looks great by the way :D

[Humble]

+1 on that style kafer brace, but only from personal experience. Don't get me wrong, it's better than nothing, but it doesn't do much for the frame horns. I still have one on my car but I'm going to upgrade to a mendeola bolt in kafer brace.

That being said, I love the progress updates, and I'm probably going to copy a few of your ideas :)

[owdlvr]

Don't worry guys, after giving it about 30seconds of thought from the original couple of posts I realized the bar was a no-go. Initially I thought I'd bolt it up for now and fix it once the engine is in, but then realized the oil cooler would be in the way. Thus, I've been digging my engine and heater boxes from storage so that I can rework what I have.

This is one of the reasons for posting up the build in a thread like this, find the problems before I'm committed to them!

I run a dry sump set up and even with the tank in the front of the car i have never had any start up presure issuses. i think the acusump is a extra that dont need to be in the system. why carry more wieght and the extra places for leaks?

It's not about having start-up pressure issues, it's about being able to pressurize the engine before you even turn the key. The accusump eliminates those first few seconds of cranking where the oil pump hasn't built up oil pressure yet. Open the valve, and almost instantly the engine is at whatever pressure you shut the valve off at.


the kafer brace that you have on your car is a poor design, sorry. if your running coil over rear then i would strongly sujest you run a 5 bar brace as the loads that will be fed into the top shock mounts is going to be very high. i would brace the top shock mounts like the class 11 Baja cars do for peace of mind. you dont want to be bending or brakeing them.
car looks great by the way :D

The possibility of a 5-bar brace was eliminated due to retaining the factory heat...but perhaps I'll revisit that now that I'm tossing the engine in and going custom anyways. The class-11 setups I've seen all mount the shock inside the body to the roll bar. Ideal, sure, but I didn't want to cut the body up.

I'm going to futz around with the welder and come to comfort with my compromises :P

Thanks guys!

-Dave

[Steve C]

Hi

I made a 3 bar setup with some eBay rose joints and a bit of molly tube, the molly tube is much smaller in OD than most conventional Kafer cup bars which is handy when space is tight.

Steve

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z328/1303Steve/new%201303%20pictures/chassis2.jpg~original

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z328/1303Steve/new%201303%20pictures/chassis1.jpg~original

[owdlvr]

Alrighty, so I got a bit of time in on the car today...but not nearly as much as I had hoped (isn't that always the way). Much of my day was spent chasing around the various things I would need for the truss bar job...steel tube, hardware, heater boxes, my borrowed jack that never returned...etc. Regardless, by the time I started the hours were disappearing fast. First up was bolting on the lower mount, which as soon as I had done so a second flashing red light went off which I hadn't thought about. The entire thing is build in single-shear. Single shear is, to quote Carroll Smith, "criminal". Hmmm...its going to be quite tough to turn this mount into double shear. Not impossible, but significantly challenging in my garage.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6821328281_031db7a4b6_b.jpg

Eventually I decided the best course of action is to set the whole thing up in single shear, with the parts clearing the engine and heater boxes, and then figure out if I can modify the mounts for double shear. With the necessary bits in hand, I was lacking in just one thing...someone to help me lift the engine onto the jack. Hmph. I figured i might as well mock up one potential tab, and then I at least have a starting point when I slide the engine in. With this tab, both rod ends would mount to the same ear on the shock bolt spacer. I can easily get the one rod end in double shear down the road, not quite sure how I would do the second. Sorry, apparently I forgot a more detailed shot.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6821328845_f75493ff40_b.jpg

I figured before I wasted any more time playing with mounts that didn't fit, I'd simply wait until I had a hand with the engine before going any further. So I worked on some less important jobs, like mounting up the clutch release arm, and attaching the custom bits my buddy Scott made a while back. If I'm putting the engine in to test the brace clearance, might as well setup the clutch pedal too! This will, of course, require some new engine mounting studs...but I have a Type-4 block in storage that may have some installed. Will have to check tomorrow.

I did manage to clean up and revive the old gas-breather hose. With some trimming I later removed any cracks at the end and popped it into the car. Now all I need is that really small breather tubing and the fuel tank will really be done for once.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6821328905_73bc02e732_z.jpg

The side vents for the car that I have are pretty dry-rotted on the plastic. The aluminum rings are good, but the plastic is not. I figured I should try and find a way to make them look presentable, and since I had time waiting around, today was the day.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6821328491_bd1c6e5590_z.jpg

First up, the vents were given plenty of heavy coats of Plasti-Dip from a spray can. This doesn't smooth out the plastic, but it does give it a uniform color and maybe, if I'm lucky, prevent further try rotting.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7017/6821328369_bef2d66c57_z.jpg

Once fully dry, I ran around the aluminum trim part with a razor blade, and started peeling. The beauty of plasti-dip is it's rubbery and flexible, and thus can be peeled off later on.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6821328569_3173d33b0e_z.jpg

Original vent on the right, plasti-dip vent in the middle, peeled vent (with bad aluminum ring) on the left. You can see in the middle how the plastic is still very rough...but I suspect from anything further away then a few inches, you'll never notice it mounted on the car. With the test units working out so well, I've sprayed down my 'good' set of vents.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6821328705_a182cb5a5c_b.jpg

I also started working on the turn signal switch finally...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6821329147_f687ce90cb_z.jpg

...but got interrupted by my buddy who came by to help lift the engine. With that down, I'm good to go for the Truss brace tomorrow. I hope to get a significant dent taken out of the job before I have to go to sleep. Probably could have done that tonight, but we instead decided to head down to Vancouver for some very, very loud noises...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7032/6821329231_3c87ac7030_z.jpg
It was a tonne of fun being 12 again...but when you're in your thirties you get to buy seats five rows from the front! :P

-Dave

[judgie]

one thing i would check on the kafer brace is clearnace between the bars and the drive shafts at full bump. building it on axle stands and full droop it looks like you have lots of room but with the suspension fully compresed its going to be tight.
a few of the bars i have fitted have had to be reworked for clearance.

[owdlvr]

Whew! That was an interesting Sunday.

So the day started off relatively simple. Engine off the stand and ready: check. Heater boxes? check. Jack up the motor, slide it in and....wait, why won't it slide on? Hmph, splines are lined up...I know a Type-1 clutch disc fits the 901...so why is this not sliding on? After a checking a few things, I finally popped the clutch disc off and slid it onto the splines. "Ahhhh, there's your problem!" Time to clean the corrosion out of the splines...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6831067257_33502246e0_z.jpg

Once the corrosion was cleaned out, I lubed up the splines with graphite and everything slid together like butter.

While I'm here, and have photos, what's the thought on this clutch disc? There are a couple of minor chips around two of the rivets, but otherwise just glazed. I'm thinking it's probably reusable...but now would be the time to swap it out if its not.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7157/6831067015_7de616daa9_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/6831067151_cbb89b6ff8_z.jpg

With that, it was on to making the truss bar mounts. This took a fair bit of time, testing and tweaking, and test fitting some more. Both the left and right rear truss bars extend off the upper mount about 2" before the eyelet bolts on. I did buy the material necessary to make longer bars, but the angles just mean I'm going to be interfering with the heater boxes. The mounts I made are 5mm plate, and while the photos don't show it, they were later boxed to make them as strong as possible.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7027/6831066605_ac4b022e6c_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7161/6831066059_1370021174_b.jpg

The top bar going across between the two shock mounts is going to be replaced today with a piece of 1" chromoly tubing. The threaded ends from the current bar will be cut off, turned down on the lathe and welded into the ends. Once I get the final engine and heaterboxes (might could use a replacement) in the car, I hope to do the same with the lower bars as the chromo should be stronger overall. Now, with all the fears of snapping my upper shock mounts off, I did start to look at the potential for the forward facing bars. I really don't think there is any possibility of sending a couple of bars down to the torsion tube with the factory heat. What I could potentially do, however, is run a set of bars over to the frame horns, just above where the parking brake cables exit the frame horn. I'm not sure there is enough benefit to warrant putting them in. The bars would essentially be running Left-Right, just going down to the frame horns instead of all the way across. They would be in addition to the other three, so I anticipate some benefit...but is it enough?

Last step for the weekend was to triple check everything clears, even thought I had been checking as I worked. Here's the clearance with the suspension under full compression. Some of the photos show the bump stop just touching, but I did jack up each side until the bump stop compressed enough that I was lifting the car and engine.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6831066365_f36c719284_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6831066365_f36c719284_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6831066365_f36c719284_z.jpg

While checking the clearances I discovered a gross miscalculation i had made while setting up the coil-over shocks. A problem which had me Googling and surfing for potential solutions for quite some time. When I installed the shocks I knew I would need to reinforce the lower shock mount, and modify it to fit the shock eyelet better. I remember at one point a friend said to me "are you sure the shock will clear the CV boots?" to which I replied yes. Apparently I didn't check it closely enough!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7031/6831066687_2a1cf2055e_b.jpg

You can clearly see at full compression there is no possible way that CV joint is going to survive. So this presents two major issues for me. 1) what the heck am I going to do for a solution, and 2) if I messed this up so badly...what else did I screw up? First up was about 3 hours of surfing, both in the Germanlook Forums, and the Class-11 Baja forums to see what solutions I could find. Class 11 used to require that stock lower mounts were used (guys would cut them off, and reweld them to the control arm) but the rules were later changed to simply requiring the shock be mounted to the trailing arm. Now they box their trailing arms and mount the lower eye to the top, and the upper eye inside the car on the cage. Well, that won't help. Fortunately here on the GL forums I found a New Zealand race car that solved the issue by putting all new mounts on the bottom, and then for the really trick piece, used center-driveshaft CV's to solve the clearance problem. Some time spent with cardboard, running the suspension up and down and lots of measuring confirms that I will be able to solve my issues in a similar manner...but I'm going to see if I can't get the car on a lift to make it easier.

Knowing that there is a straight-forward solution to my problem, I was able to return to the garage with an objective mind. I started at the front of the car, and literally went over the car from front to back inspecting and rethinking every job I've done to date. Nothing was left without scrutiny, everything was moved throughout it's full range of motion...double and triple checked everything. Thankfully I didn't find any other mistakes! Well, at least mistakes that I can recognize at the moment! :P Whew!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/6831586235_625062615a.jpg
So I ended my Sunday going back to the books to see if I could come up with some ideas on how to change this bar setup over to double-shear. For a couple of the mounts I don't think it's going to be too big of an issue, but four of the six are going to be quite challenging. Now that I've missed the best winter TSD rally, and I'm likely to miss the ice racing series, it does relieve a bit of the stress. The first couple of months with the car are definitely going to be testing, which does leave me some options. The weakest link is now the hardware, mounted in single-shear. I'm thinking I may run the bar as is for a month of testing, where I can go hit the forest roads near home, and immediately head back to the garage. Any weaknesses in the truss setup will show up as bends in the hardware first, followed by breaking them. should the hardware show signs of problems, I'd likely order a whole new bar setup (Lanner's). If it doesn't, I could then double-shear it as a spring project before any summer gravel events.

Part of me thinks this is a great way to confirm that I either need, or don't need, a 5-bar setup. My thinking is that if the 3-bar setup is shown to have issues, I'll need to ditch the factory heat in favor of a proper five bar setup. The other half of me figures I'm missing out on the opportunity to just double-shear it all right now when it's easiest :P

At least it's starting to look like a car and less like a shell...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7159/6821328187_c134f11815_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7159/6821328101_7258ae4dc7_b.jpg

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Alrighty...Kafer bar is torn down, new upper bar has been made, spacers for my shocks (to eliminate the stack of washers) have been made on the lathe...and everything is painted and drying. Photos tomorrow once I get it all installed in the car. It's one of the rare bits which isn't painted all one color, thought I would see what it looked like tomorrow and make a decision. Finished up installing the new turn signal switch (thanks again Chris!) and then traced down all the wiring for it to make sure it's working correctly. A short night, and off early to bed while the paint dries.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7015/6834238447_953e71d2c4_z.jpg

-Dave

[judgie]

one thing i would do and have done in the past for anything that is handed and could be removed in service is to paint it differnat colours. so all left hand parts of the car are blue and the right side is red. even if its just a ring of tape on the parts it means you dont spend time trying to fit the wrong part on the wrong side in service.

[owdlvr]

Well, I got the entire truss bar installed...still in single-shear. I'm going to leave it for now, and revisit the truss bar once everything else is done. I've got a pretty hefty deadline looming over me for a car that has no doors, glass, engine or oil system! Tough to photograph it quickly before bed though...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6840035211_c2a372574d_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6840035151_f124565bf0_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7006/6840035293_4c0b20a87e_z.jpg

With that done I gave the brakes another bleed, extracting more air out of the rear. The pedal is still sinking about 2.5", so I have more to go. Dropped the front of the car as low as I can get it, and we'll do a two-man bleed in a day or two to see if that doesn't solve it for good. With the brakes getting better, I was able to setup the pedal stop. But that in turn had my head going for a bit of a loop...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6839994049_fc9ce0c5c1_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6839994241_c38a46a180_z.jpg

The clutch pedal seems to be deeply inset in comparison to the brake pedal. I checked Bentley, and confirmed that I was correct in the setup. Neither the brake bleed nor the clutch cable adjustment should change the static position of the pedals. But, this was vastly different then my last bug. I called up the new owner of the '69, and had him check the garage. Yup, the clutch pedal on that car was about .5" higher then the brake pedal. Hmmmm, that's odd. Fortunately I save all the rusty factory parts until I'm sure whatever replacement I've chosen is a viable solution. Out came the old pedal cluster and I confirmed that the clutch and brake pedal really should sit like this. Makes sense, I seem to think that cars are generally setup so that the first pedal you hit is the brake...

On to the next project! I had to sell my Carbon Joe rock guards with my '69 Beetle. Well, they're on loan...until Scott decides to repaint or replace the fenders. So, combine one part fender, with two parts matte black vinyl...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6839994297_862513751d_z.jpg

Layer #1:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6839994373_8b409b0791_z.jpg

Layer #2, a bit harder to do!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7021/6840120269_66f5fd0012_z.jpg

...but the hardest part? Duplicating it on the other side. I'm close...not close enough that they match, but since you can't ever see both at once...I think I'm close enough :)

Nice to see the paintwork matches the vinyl though! In person it's almost perfect.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7035/6839994419_47141ecb32_z.jpg

I was going to mount the rears up tonight...then I realized that mounting fenders to fresh paint late at night is probably a recipe for disaster. Better to wait for tomorrow.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

I'm not sure if I mentioned it in the thread or not, but as I was loading the body shell onto the trailer for paint...I tore all the muscles in my lower back. Of course, the next day I dropped the car OFF for paint...which meant unloading the shell again. In the process, I managed to drop the back part of the body off the trailer. Oops! We knew instantly that we bent the back part of the engine bay...but, Gerry and Lorne of GLI Autoworks straightened it all out for me.

Now for the bad part.

After getting the car home, I had it up on the steel saw horses to fit the rear shocks and then attach the pan. In the time that the body was resting on the saw horses, it was slowly bending out back. Enough so that I actually had measurement points and was working feverishly as it was bending an 1/8" an hour. Come rear fender time...I knew it was going to be a problem. Initial fit was like so:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7210/6844959339_64beac9033_z.jpg

Now, at first glance you might not think this is so bad. But all the fender bolts aren't even in yet. Can't get them in. You can see how the body splayed out at the bottom, and bent inwards further up. To fix it, I needed some specialty tools...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7032/6844959587_c97d9887e6_z.jpg

What's that? A piece of aluminum barstock, two bolts and a scrap of aluminum plate aren't a specialty tool? In the hands of an expert (or, in this case a complete nutter with no sense of bodywork what-so-ever), they are the perfect solution. Simply pull, bend, flex and mangle the bodywork until you think you've done enough...then double it...and finally mount the fender to check your work. Alignment after the first try:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7207/6844959659_2dfd9a8e33_z.jpg

Now, we could probably get that just a little bit better. In fact, if you were my friend Geoff and saw these photos you'd probably insist that we get this a little bit better. But sometimes, playing it safe and not going any further is smarter. And, sometimes, a few ripples and potential misfit of the rear Apron are okay. Why?

Because Race Car.

;-)

Moving on, we add some fender beading...a bit of frustration over the exact order to tighten the bolts to snug up your fender and make it look as absolutely straight as possible...stand back, and enjoy the view.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7064/6844959779_e3015d7855_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7142/6844959851_5eab553860_z.jpg

Tomorrow I'll mount up the other fender, and then perhaps mount a rim and tire to see if the gravel tires I already own will even fit. Oh sure, that might have been something to check before I painted the car...but where is the fun in that!?!

-Dave

[al_kaholik]

Looking good!

[evilC]

Dave, an easy solution to your single shear issue is to change out the rod ends for threaded clevis rods with a bolt through that means the clevis will clamp on both sides of the tab. I don't understand why you have used rod ends as there should be no movement in a 5 bar design. Admittedly, all the joints should be pin joints but there is no movement. The rod ends actually add a weakness into the system because of all the interconnecting surfaces that are used to transfer the loads.
Also, the system doesn't need to be adjustable unless you deliberately want to have an adjustable pre-load to the frame horns? Some simple measurement will result in a accurate fabrication. Less adjustability = greater strength. As far as I can see the adjustable 5 bar systems are as much for looks as performance (frame horn pre-load) or to overcome oem production tolerences on the chassis.

Clive

[owdlvr]

Dave, an easy solution to your single shear issue is to change out the rod ends for threaded clevis rods with a bolt through that means the clevis will clamp on both sides of the tab. I don't understand why you have used rod ends as there should be no movement in a 5 bar design. Admittedly, all the joints should be pin joints but there is no movement. The rod ends actually add a weakness into the system because of all the interconnecting surfaces that are used to transfer the loads.
Also, the system doesn't need to be adjustable unless you deliberately want to have an adjustable pre-load to the frame horns? Some simple measurement will result in a accurate fabrication. Less adjustability = greater strength. As far as I can see the adjustable 5 bar systems are as much for looks as performance (frame horn pre-load) or to overcome oem production tolerences on the chassis.

Clive

Quite helpful as always Clive, and 100% correct. Now that I've hacked in this setup I keep thinking about how it could be done better...I'm likely to rebuild the whole thing in the near future, but I figured I would wait until the car is running before I revisit it. Will definitely upgrade it before I do some racing though!

-Dave

[owdlvr]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7196/6855479051_b0543925fc_z.jpg

Whew. 3 of 4 fenders are mounted. Seriously, I never thought these would be so annoying. Trying to get the fender beading perfectly even, smashing my knuckles when the wrench slips...etc. I might just leave the big blood smear under the front fender! (kidding). It would have been four fenders, but I snapped off one of the fender nuts on the front driver's side. ARGGG!! I hadn't got more then 4 or 5 threads into it, put maybe 5lbs of force on it and snap! spinning away. We replaced any of the ones I snapped off removing the fenders, so this one must have been on it's last legs and/or had something in the threads. Getting the bolt out was a fun experience...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7036/6855500769_868c100a14_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7039/6855501045_65c909fe67_z.jpg

Once I was done free-handing the hacksaw blade, it was onto grinding and welding...mere millimeters from where the fresh visible paint would be. Welding that close to fresh paint is ultra scary...but it's done. Waiting for paint to dry so I can't mount up the fourth. Once the black POR15 dries, I'll paint on the silver.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7041/6855479113_68440fca6a_z.jpg

Following Fenderama I tested the rally tire out back.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7189/6855478871_8f62d6f725_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6855478933_4fc2ea0093_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7198/6855478993_f8aaed8a12_z.jpg

I only have one of the 5.5" wide sport wheels at the moment, and it's the ET26 version. Porsche 914 wheels, which look identical, were 5.5 ET40. That will move me in a nice 14mm, which should still clear everything no problem and give me the clearance on the fenders I need. Thinner rally tires are also an option, but I own four of these (two are brand new) so if I can use them even better. Gravel will still destroy the lower few inches of the fender, but perhaps with mudflaps and a trick that a friend Bruce has for me...we might solve that problem. Well, for the rear at least.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7054/6855479187_00d0c19df7_z.jpg
The rear apron is currently a problem. The opening I have is 28" wide at the bottom. My rear apron? 30". Hmph, guess we bent things more then I thought! I'm going to wait until I have the rear bumper mounted. I anticipate that will stretch things out to the correct width and I can then see if I can get the Apron in.

Tomorrow it's off to do a parts run, and then I'll have more things to play with this coming week.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7056/6867671915_f7b771b8a1_z.jpg

Saturday started off as most seem to, on a parts run! This week it was off to AVR for a round of VW specific parts. Universal items like wiring or hardware I can usually pickup in town, but when it comes to items specific to the bug, or european, all my stuff comes from AVR. Is it bad that they have a shelf just for me? :P This is all worth mentioning, because Rob (the R in AVR) has been especially helpful in the build. Case in point, the oil cooler. I think he ordered in two different units, before I finally settled on the one I was going to get, and that was in October. Between then and now I think I've called or text messaged about 3 or 4 times for exact dimensions, bolt mounting measurements, etc. The sort of things you can't get online, or without the package in front of you. Even this past week he was pulling it off the rack yet again to triple check the thickness and confirm our numbers were correct. If Rob and I had been faxing blueprints back and forth, we couldn't have made it fit better!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7067/6867672293_13ff2d7c87_z.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7203/6868152087_11a0d9624d_z.jpg

While I was AVR I also took the time to look at another pedal cluster they had in stock. With it out of the car we confirmed that yes, something was wrong, and then quickly realized what it must be. After getting home I pulled my stop plate, and sure enough it was worn just-enough to cause the issue I'm having. 30 seconds with the grinder, and I got it exactly the way I want it. It's hard to see, but I've set it up so the clutch pedal is just a hair behind the brake pedal which will help me out when left-foot-braking. On the brakes side of things, I found a brake light switch (rear) was weeping just a tiny bit of fluid, I suspect this was the mystery air source, so I tightened it up, rechecked every fitting, and will bleed once again this week.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7205/6867672525_dbb571002d_z.jpg

I then did some dishes! Well, not exactly dishes...more like oily and dirty used AN fittings and oil lines. It's probably better that we call them "dishes", since I used the kitchen sink! I will need to buy a tonne more oil fittings, but at least I can reuse the ones I've got from the last car.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7046/6867672379_21849b7659_z.jpg

One of my more dreaded jobs was the hood seal. On the '69, after the fresh paint, I must have chipped off half the paint on the hood seal channel. I was determined to not destroy this car, and while it took a long time, I did manage to get it installed without even a scratch. I do find the three 'nubs' on the aftermarket seals to be generally pretty poor. The driver's side on this one popped in no problem, but the passenger side just didn't want to stay in. Out came the high-strength weather-strip adhesive. Its basically super sticky contact cement. I'll need to clean up the bit you can see in the finished photo, and also figure out how to get some of the 'waves' out of the hood seal. Once I had done the top, the front apron section went in super quick...so now all I need is the Mexican style seal for the hood, and I'm laughing.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7048/6867672701_2e623297d3_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7050/6867672789_00ec4b0d95_z.jpg

I did spend a while creating really nice Flextech wiring harnesses for the front turn signals, and even connect them...then I realized the early style lights I'm using, were wired totally different then the US-Spec big turn signals the car should have. Doh! I managed to redo one side, but will have to finish up the other tomorrow. With all four fenders now mounted, and the beading in place, it was starting to look a bit like a car. Now, however, it really looks like a car! Amazing what a hood can do.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7066/6867672949_2be4c6ffac_b.jpg

I think I've got the gap pretty even as well.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7058/6867673059_9fd27dc792_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7045/6867673147_1c024c6456_z.jpg

I cannot WAIT to drive this thing!

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Wow, where has the week gone?! My best friend is back in town, after being gone for six months, so I haven't been getting as much work done on the car as I would like. A sacrifice I'm willing to make though :-)

I have got a bit of time in on the car, but not a lot of exciting work done. When I originally ran the speedometer sensor wires, I knew I was going to need to run a second run though to transmission area. I was able to make up the second harness I needed, and drop it in.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7208/6893077101_fafc40afaf_z.jpg

Almost immediately after running the wires through I realized I had forgotten one. Doh! I considered pulling out the harnesses and adding a few more wires to them, but then realized I would probably end up one wire short down the road anyhow. With that, I figured I would put a third set in, with three times as many wires as I anticipate needing. When in doubt, build for expansion!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7068/6893077187_e3efb636cf_z.jpg

Also worked on making some of the harnesses I will need to install. Oil cooler fan, oil fan thermostat and reverse light switch.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7176/6893077289_cdd662a944_z.jpg

...and bought the bits I need to make the turn signals work in a late model. Should be back to regular work after the weekend!

-Dave

[hotsauce]

Almost there! Looks rad-ass. Are you leaving the bonnet satin black?

[owdlvr]

Yup. Bonnet and Engine lid were painted satin black by choice. The factory cars appeared to be satin black in the photos and video I have...so Satin it was!

-Dave

[owdlvr]

So far all of my 'untested' wiring has been working according to plan...without any trouble shooting. I did find one bad ground, which turned out to be corroded wire under the insulation, but I caught that before doing any testing. There was a pause for a while when I was diagnosing an errant circuit that was terribly confusing. Everything checked out from A to B, but the circuit wouldn't work. I tested, retested and retested again. Then I realized the kill switch was off. Oops!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7198/6895383529_2091f42089_z.jpg
The oil cooler and fan are now mounted for what I hope to be the last time. It will basically boil down to whether I can get the wrenches in on the AN fittings or not. With that, I wired in the relay for the oil cooler fan, and the two switches. There is a thermostatically controlled switch on the cooler outlet, and a manual 'on' switch at the dash. I actually ended up using the factory defrost switch for this feature. I also took the time to wire up the reverse-light switch and it's relay. Putting the car into reverse gives me a nice click at the relay, but without any taillight wiring I can't confirm it's 100% yet! Both of these circuits required fuses in the back seat area, which will be annoying to get to. I used ATO fuses, and bought the kind that light up when their blown. I figure this way I'll have a good visual indicator of the circuit. Quite hard to photograph, but the LED announcing a blown fuse is quite bright! (not that you can really tell in the photo below!)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7051/6895383389_67d5525beb_z.jpg

I bought a set of EMPI front turn signals for the car, since the North American '71 sized units aren't accurate for the replica. Rob warned me the quality on the lights left a lot to be desired, but I really only need these to last while I find a good set of original ones. I had used them on my '69...for the black-out look, but w-o-w are these ones bad! Ill fitting rubber, ill fitting plastic...ahhh the joy. Got them all installed and sorted so they looked okay, and then realized I had a big brain fart. '71 wiring is quite different, and these would need to be modified. I had to cut the original bulb housings out, replace them with 1157 bulb housings, rewire for 3 wires (not two) and then reinstall them in the car. Between running around buying parts and actually doing the work, this wasn't a quick project. Pretty silly for something i might pull off the car next week!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7194/6895383587_207b7838b2_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7183/6895383635_aff3f7ee50_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7208/6895383671_a896c079cf_z.jpg

[owdlvr]

Wiring, done properly, takes forever :P

Managed to get the front headlights and horn wiring finished. Also got the rally light wires 90% finished and tested. I'll need to mount the Lights to the bumper before I can finalize it. Due the changes I've made to the factory headlight tubes aren't an option, and small town Canada doesn't have a whole lot of options for grommets!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7199/6900717019_1ee3ce04a4_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7050/6900716949_ace72a2ae0_z.jpg

...but after a while, the wiring is done and looking clean. Driver's side sure is a lot busier with all the rally light grounds too!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7209/6900717275_de63e8d8ca_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7196/6900717107_a14b1b76bc_z.jpg

For some reason I can only find one headlight bucket that's not rotten, so I need to wait until I get another next week. Just need to do the fuel tank breather lines, install a trunk release and I am done on the front trunk...whew!

I also spent some time tracking down my brake fluid leak. I was losing a small amount of fluid up front, and thought I had solved it last weekend with the brake switch. Made me quite annoyed to find more fluid under the car this morning! It would appear its leaking at the rear inlet, between the white plastic bit and the rubber. I might get lucky, and it might just be the way I had the lines ziptied. When I cut the ties the lines moved and it seemed to relax things a little. Couldn't find any fluid after a half hour, cross my fingers!

-Dave

[ricola]

A tip for you that I found out by luck: some door wiring grommet convoluted tubes are a perfect fit for the headlight wiring, can't remember what mine were off but a trip to a scrap yard will turn some up, gives a good sealed conduit then!

[owdlvr]

That's a good tip...too bad I'm done! hahaha. Ended up doing a shorter day in the garage, but managed to finish off the electrical system and test everything. There are a few outstanding items, like my gauges which haven't yet arrived from Stewart Warner, but all circuits are ready for plug and play, and everything has been tested.

Here's what my rear taillight harnesses look like. You can see the grommet on the left hasn't yet been sealed, but the one in the fender has a pretty good seal on the fender grommet. The headlight grommets are done the same, and of course I've done both the body and fender side at all four corners.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7065/6907527777_23c3e6a73c_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7043/6907526245_77ae46538e_z.jpg

I'm not a big fan of grounding through light housings, at least not on a freshly painted car, so I chose to add ground wires that connect to a fender bolt on each side. The fender bolt nuts were all cleaned out with a tap, so I'm confident they're going to ground quite well.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7068/6907527335_1ea28ef54b_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/6907527551_93ef475da4_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7046/6907526959_1e54b4bfec_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7210/6907527083_789df3b8d6_z.jpg

And with that...it's time to move on to the next big phase of the project! (well, tomorrow at least :) )

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Couldn't help myself, and after a break ended up back in the garage mocking up various parts of the oil system. I may have run into a problem with my oil temp sender though. My plan has always been to run three sensors: One in the engine replacing the pressure relief valve, one in the tank and one at the outlet of the oil cooler. The theory being that I can then see engine oil temp at the engine, engine oil temp at the tank (required for warmup), and what the temp of the oil going into the engine is. I want this third sensor as it gives me more info on what's going on, and will allow me to diagnose any issues with the oil system, cooler size, etc down the road. This third sensor, though, is going to be a problem!

Here's the temp sensor. Sorting out how to put this at the end of the oil cooler is the trick.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7050/6908376685_5f67d176a3_z.jpg

Russell Performance has part #670350 which is a -8AN fitting with a 1/8NPT take-off, normally used for fuel pressure...I figured I'd see if it might be helpful. Now, I should note that I ordered this before I actually looked at the oil temp sender ;-)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7176/6908376749_9115b3935c_z.jpg

Obviously it's not going to work just threaded in...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/6908376835_69f4ba403e_z.jpg

So, through a series of insanely complicated adapters...one can make it work. But this isn't ideal. It's heavy, has five sets of threads that could leak...and, lets be honest, ugly!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7187/6908377001_89c79f2100_z.jpg

But, it does get me thinking. With the sensor so far out of the oil stream I also have to consider whether or not the data collected will be worth anything. Russell Performance has this fitting, which I might be able to modify on the lathe to make work:
http://www.russellperformance.com/mc/adapt_fit/img/663010_lg.jpg

I'll have to call tomorrow and find out the I.D. and wall thickness of the part, to see if it's thick enough to cut down and thread for the sensor. Otherwise, I might have to eliminate this one from the system.

-Dave

[Steve C]

Hi

Is that a VDO sender? You can get different sender shapes that maybe more friendly.

Steve

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z328/1303Steve/VDOsender.jpg~original~original

[vw1303]

Hey dave, dont try modifying the sender. I learned that the hard way as I was trying to get it to fit into something and I ground it down a little bit. Then pop! the spring came lauchning out:lmao:

[owdlvr]

hahaha, yeah, I know exactly how fragile they are. Once installed one in a rad hose adapter without being grounded. When a brass sensor grounds through the coolant, they dissolve real quick!

Hey Steve, 320.028 is exactly the sensor I need...but so far haven't been able to find anyone who carries one. Got any sources down-under?

Tonight it was back to work, and to start off with...back to the lathe.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7201/6773761340_e02cb18a2b_z.jpg

What I ended up making was a temperature sender bung and dipstick tube for the dry-sump tank. Hopefully I can convince my buddy Gord to TIG weld them into the tank tomorrow, and then I can pop that back into the car.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7186/6919851405_afffeca263_z.jpg

From there it was onto the car, and the next major phase of construction. I finally got the metric Nutserts that I ordered in. They took three weeks to get here, but when they finally did the counter guy at Acklands-Grainger actually drove them 45min North to my house! The nutserts allow me to mount things where I can't reach the backside for a traditional nut, and where I don't want to wreck the paint with welding. So, at this point that probably means the whole car! The ones I order are shown to the left. With the serrations I've never had one spin out me, but always match material (steel to steel, aluminum to aluminum) so that if I ever did have one spin, I could probably tack-weld it to solve a problem. On the off chance you haven't installed these before, and decide to get some, don't buy the "special tool". The next size up nut (so the bolt passes through) and two washers is all you need to install them.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7200/6919851433_b683de410b_z.jpg

With the Nutserts in, and the swaf vacuumed up I was able to mount the Accusump for the final time.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7190/6919851459_8a9fca508c_z.jpg

With that mounted, it was time to start thinking about the lines and Accusump valve. I wanted something a little more accessible this time round, but also something that would remind me about valve #2 which will be the oil-tank cut-off valve. CanNOT forget that one! Here's where I think its going to go. With the valve in the closed position (as in the photo) the handle totally interferes with the parking brake and is definitely annoying/noticeable. When in the open position, however, it will lie down flat against the tunnel and be completely out of the way.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7052/6773736430_fca0f20a9b_b.jpg

In order to continue the Accusump lines, and then make the mounts/tie downs for the valve, I need to know where the Oil Cooler Thermostat is going to go. The Accusump line will Tee into the outlet, which goes to the engine, so I have know where that will line up so I can put the bulkhead fitting in. Making oil lines like this is one part being able to think in 3D, and two parts having a tonne of fittings on hand. You want to be able to try different degree fittings, and then switch it all up and re organize. The problem, of course, is that as you start building lines you start eating into you stash of fittings! Fortunately I had enough to figure out that the combination of a 45 and 90 will allow me to get the lines right into the thermostat without binding up the lines. Even though this is all well hidden under the car, at least I know it will be neat and orderly!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7056/6773736462_50a89c0072_b.jpg

I was going to keep going, but realized that I'm missing one fitting I need, so I might as well wait until tomorrow...

-Dave

[Steve C]

Hi Dave

I will check my local flaps tomorrow for a sender. Do you need anymore metric nutserts?

I came across the correct tool for them made by Wurth, I love it

Steve

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z328/1303Steve/wurthtool.jpg~original

[owdlvr]

Haha, one thing I do not need is more Metric Nutserts! When I realized how tough they would be to get, I cleaned out the warehouse :-) I've got 200xM5, 200xM6 and 100xM8. I don't think I'll run out for a while!

Hmmm...that tool does look trick. Will look into it.

Thank you for checking on the temp sender.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Alrighty, so I mounted up the valve for the Accusump. In hindsight I wish I had mounted the Accusump in front of the driver's or passenger seat, thus allowing for only one line and the valve right at the sump. The problem with that, however, is that I need the leg room for long trips and I usually mount the fire extinguisher in front of the passenger seat. Oops! Oh well. The valve mount is a little "industrial" compared to the rest of the build, but I'd need to turn up some mounts on a CNC mill to improve it. That's out of the budget, so this will have to suffice! The E-Brake needs to be applied to close the Accusump, but if I tweak the handle just a little on the valve it will clear regardless. Closed and Open:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7051/6922514683_7864bc0038_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7054/6922514701_224789d789_z.jpg

The long line is growing on me, especially since I was able to make it match the tunnel lines. It hasn't been anchored down yet, but will be once I have the line to the engine run as well.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6922514823_5eecbcf412_z.jpg

In order to do the line from the valve to the engine, I needed to mount up the oil cooler and thermostat, to see where the line was going. I made and attached most of the lines outside of the car, which made them a lot easier to get properly torqued down.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7204/6776398926_113da12016_z.jpg

Without a temp sender solution, I did the next best thing. I've got the adapter fitting installed, and simply capped off the hole with an NPT plug. If I sort out a temp sender, I can simply add it in. And if not, I only put in one extra fitting for no reason ;-)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7065/6922514653_fa80191179_z.jpg

And the maze begins! The "third line" going up and over is the Accusump to Engine line. This one is short, as it's only going from the bulkhead fitting to the tee.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7202/6922514853_b7e6476824_b.jpg

By the time I had reached this point, I had pricked my hands with stainless steel needles enough for one night! Back at it tomorrow :)

-Dave

[evilC]

Haha, one thing I do not need is more Metric Nutserts! When I realized how tough they would be to get, I cleaned out the warehouse :-) I've got 200xM5, 200xM6 and 100xM8. I don't think I'll run out for a while!

Hmmm...that tool does look trick. Will look into it.

Thank you for checking on the temp sender.

-Dave

I use a Kobe rivnut setting tool for the M4, M5 and M6 blind rivnuts (nut serts etc), It cost me £24. Its a two handed operation and can be used with a cordless drill etc but I use a 1/4" ratchet that sets them perfectly every time. For the M8 and M10s I use a tool that looks like the Landrover one that consists of two pieces of 1/2" steel bar with two 5/16" UNF bolts that force the bars apart and a hole through both to fit a bolt that holds the rivnut on one side. The whole thing is closed up and a rivnut is put on that goes through the panel hole. The bars are forced apart that causes the rivnut to set. The important thing here is that the rivnut can't rotate, which you can get using just a single bolt to set the nut causing it to unwind. If I have a problem with the Landrover style tool is that I can overdo the clamping force that causes the top of the riv nut to collapse, closing the hole and making the setting bolt difficult to get out easily.

[judgie]

i have a air powered tool for rivnuts. it could double as a torture tool as the part that slides is right were the web between your thumb and finger wants to sit on the handle. means you have to watch how you hold it or it pinchs you and you have to recycle it to get your hand out. how do i know this?......
has to be set right or you can pull steel m10 serts inside out but you can do m4 alloy serts with it.

[Steve C]

Hi Dave

The sender from my local guy is $27.50 au, let me know if you want one.

Steve

[owdlvr]

Thanks Steve!

I sent you and email through the site, let me know if you don't receive it.

-Dave

[Kafer_Mike]

Might try these guys too -- http://www.egauges.com/vdo_send.asp?Sender=250F_120C_VDO

[owdlvr]

Tried egauges before asking Steve to pick one up for me. Heck, even tried VDO North America!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7195/6781779512_62fce6027b_b.jpg
Progress for today seems small, but these things take a while! I got the Accusump line from valve to bulkhead and from bulkhead to thermostat finished. Then I moved onto the feed line from tank to bulkhead, and mounted the oil-filter mount. This mount will get swapped out for a freshie, but for now it will serve well to setup the hoses. More lines tomorrow!

-Dave

[owdlvr]

So on our local Vancouver forum there was much discussion about my use of hard-90's for the entrance into the oil cooler. Debate over how much they restrict flow was heavy, but with all agreeing that they were definitely restrictive. While I have to admit I really wasn't feeling pulling the oil cooler again, it's better to do things right vs. getting them done. My bigger problem was the fact that I've drilled and mounted two bulkhead fittings that rely on the thermostat being in the same place. So, first job was to make a "pattern" of the setup:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/6930335109_c6ec5615f5_b.jpg

And after a bunch of time playing with fittings, hose and more then a little colourful language...I got it all setup in a relatively close fashion. Flow through this setup should be significantly better I would think.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7039/6930335145_b53a178f6d_b.jpg

It was quite close to not working out...this is the hose I had to make for the oil filter return. 4 more millimeters and it wouldn't be going together!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7201/6930335183_d4ca7b8387_z.jpg

There was one additional advantage to changing the setup, I was able to move the Accusump return T to the bottom of the thermostat. This will give me more clearance between the fitting and the panel, which I'm glad to see. On the left is the old setup, and on the right is the new setup.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7057/6930335063_a543b999e4_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6784218954_a6e2857646_z.jpg

Finished up the rest of the oil lines inside the car, except for the oil tank breather. I haven't decided what to do about the breather setup yet, so I'll deal with that one a little down the road.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7070/6784219080_b76a081c5c_b.jpg

...and just in case you're wondering how I'll change the filter...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6930335275_9e105b0128_z.jpg

A buddy Geoff has already commented on the risk of mounting the filter in the car, and subsequent oil-showers, but I always use Bosch, Mann or Mahle filters and have never had an issue with failures. Might have to box it in just be sure though!

-Dave

[owdlvr]

...and I've discovered the master is faulty. Or, at least an issue and needs to be removed to be diagnosed. Sigh.

-Dave

[Bradey Bunch]

Whats the issue? I seem to recall you were having trouble bleeding the system (but maybe that was someone elses thread...). Anyways, how is the pedal pushrod adjustment?

[owdlvr]

On the rear inlet from the reservoir: the master is leaking either between the white nipple and black grommet, or the black grommet and the body...it's too tight up there to determine exactly, but it's definitely leaking. The fabric on the hose is dry, which leads me to believe it's between the rubber and the body. Will double check that shifting the reservoir lines around doesn't help, but I suspect its coming out.

-Dave

[judgie]

what do you race regs say about having the oil system inside the car? i know here in the uk it all has to be separate from the driver with a baulkhead between. the breather needs to be outside the drivers compartment , mines in the front of the car and the fumes still make there way into the car.

[owdlvr]

Oddly enough, nothing in the rule book about the oil system being in the car. The breather will be in the engine bay, I just haven't determined how I'm going to vent everything and where it will mount, which is why I haven't done anything with the breather setup yet.

Should I need to, I can simply flip the oil-filter mount to the other side of the firewall and run two more bulkhead fittings. Or encase it in a metal box...but for now it should do as is.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Well, not a lot of work being done on the car this week. Had a bit of an accident on Sunday pulling the engine out of the car. As I was pulling it back to clear the transmission it started to slip off the jack, and I lunged forward to get it. Possibly saved the motor, but slammed my forehead into the back of the car. Still not sure what I hit. I remember cleaning the knocked-over brake fluid off the floor, but then I'm standing in my upstairs bathroom wiping the blood off my forehead. No idea how much time passed. I don't even remember writing the post above.

Will be taking at least another day off before I go back to it.

-Dave

[chug_A_bug]

S***ty Deal dude... Hope ya feel better I'v been there Done that only from the DH bike tho ;)
I love coming from the gym tho and knowing there is going to be a Post by the time I get home...
but just take her easy.

Chris.

[owdlvr]

Haha, yeah my snowboard and mountain bike career haven't been kind to my brain...so I'm far more careful these days.

Was back to the garage for a bit this evening. Started off with a bit of painting.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7183/6799656120_7320d2fec1_z.jpg

Following that I moved onto a project which I started on Sunday, but didn't get the chance to complete. It began with some cutting carving of a fan shroud...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7036/6799656000_9cc2f75d84_z.jpg

In hindsight, I wish I had started with a fan shroud that was in better shape. It wasn't until I removed all the paint that I discovered this one has more waves then the ocean during a tropical storm. From the get-go I figured it was a 'test piece' to figure out exactly how I wanted to do this...but in many ways it's ended up close enough to be useable, but just far enough gone that I don't think I can. The photographs I have from the original Salzburg cars shows that they were likely quick workshop jobs and not meticulously tig welded items of beauty. BUT, while mine may be appropriately 'period', it's not exactly matching of the rest of my work.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7207/6799656034_082b6a5b44_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7201/6945766175_ccd2d563c0_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7207/6945766251_c0817d8976_z.jpg

I'll cut the filler down tomorrow and give it a coat of primer to see how bad it really is. Maybe its useable...maybe it was a practice piece!

-Dave

[al_kaholik]

:) Good work. Really looking forward to seeing this finished. And glad to hear you are recovering too

[dub_crazee]

nice job on the fan housing - i recently saw an original salzburg rally beetle that is nearing the end of its resto - i wish i had taken pictures but if i had i dont think i would have left the premisis alive :lmao: it really is great seeing these sorts of cars being built!

[owdlvr]

Grrr! Photos would have been AWESOME!

Did another parts run yesterday, so today was a productive garage session. Started off with a relatively easy job, and popped the headlights into the car. I'm using an original Hella bucket on the one side, and mounting it took less then two minutes including polishing the headlight ring. On the other side, however, the original unit was far too rusty. I gather only the Taiwanese versions are available on their own. Now, in fairness I wanted to order something without lens/reflector/bulb since I already have H4 Eurolights...but had I ordered with these parts I could have got an original Hella part. But I went cheap...and wow is it cheap! The headlight is in, true, but if I need to change the bulb you have to pull the WHOLE bucket, not just the reflector/lens.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7193/6805212018_731d85b1a8_z.jpg

With the fan shroud in primer, the flaws become a lot clearer. Left side has a bunch of issues which are 300% better then they were..but still terrible. The right side, though, is where I created the disasters in metal (big holes). Thankfully its looking not too bad!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7037/6951326083_4f34f4027f_z.jpg

And a splash of red...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7067/6805212084_39641eb179_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7069/6951326179_5f2bd2ebb9_z.jpg

Of course, I got all the way to this point before I realized just how painfully obvious the left side weld is. Um, was I grinding with a concussion...how do you miss that!?! Sigh. I had a good idea for hiding/covering some of front issues...but that won't help here.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6951326225_af70ba0c94_z.jpg

With the fan shroud drying, it was on to a more interesting custom project. A few weeks back a friend had mentioned that VW had a little-known accessory for protecting the inside of the rear fenders from gravel. Turns out one of the local Vancouver Guys, Bruce, owns a set and after a few emails back and forth they're now mine. The fender liners snap into the rear fenders, and are a little challenging to remove. This particular set is for an early car with the towel bumpers. The dark strips on both are from the tire spray, and the black marker marks are from where Bruce was going to need to cut them to fit a 73+ rear fender set. At first I was going to just going to snap them into my car, but I think the real value in these is the ability to use them as a pattern and not to destroy them with just one car. I also wanted to make a few changes to them, which would permanently wreck them...and, well, they're green. ;-)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7052/6805212056_5358f3c6b8_z.jpg

So, I started to get my arts and crafts on with bristol board and some 1/8" LDHP plastic. I had the sheet left over from my last rally car project, so it was rather convenient!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7181/6805298726_da989a3f72_z.jpg

After a bit I had test pattern number one. The slot was my plan for installing it with the taillight wires already installed...but later decided it was just easier/cleaner to remove the wires and pop them back in.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7187/6951326261_305d36fd50_z.jpg

Pattern one test fit, you can see it's not pressed up tight against the fender at the top, which means it will be sucking in a lot of sand/gravel and road crap:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7178/6805212198_04edeb1fa7_z.jpg

So made a few changes to make it sit tighter, added a couple of features, and the final piece is right here:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/6951326361_325599f0c5_z.jpg

Inside the three holes I installed some bolts so that the ends are facing out towards the inside of the fender. I'm going to use these bolts to install short urethane mudflaps so that they hang down below the lip of the fender. That should protect the fender from the usual sandblasting that destroys the bottom lip. The final one I made here is tight...so tight it took me probably 10 minutes to wrestle it into the fender. I'm not sure I could get it out of the fender, but since it's finished I guess it doesn't matter...until I need to clean the crap out from behind it! Whoops!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7199/6805212230_518e91894d_z.jpg

The driver's side has been made, I just have to pick up the hardware and pop it into the fender tomorrow. On Monday I'll pass by the rally shop and see if they have any sheet urethane

-Dave

[aircured]

Good work. :)
I look forward to reading your [nearly] daily updates, also looking forward to seeing this finished.

Your post's are keeping the website running. :D

[NO_H2O]

Love the gravel guards.

[chug_A_bug]

Good work. :)
I look forward to reading your [nearly] daily updates, also looking forward to seeing this finished.

Your post's are keeping the website running. :D


:goodjob:

get some RED urethane for the Flaps...lol
it will make it Bad@ss

[owdlvr]

lol. I always thought it was Wally's thread that kept the site running! As for the Urethane colour, I was thinking black...but perhaps red will be the way to go. The rally shop is heavily subaru based, so hopefully they stock more then blue!

Didn't accomplish too much yesterday. I got the other fender liner in, but it doesn't fit as tightly as the first one. Can't decide if I should leave it removable for now or make another one that is so tight I can't remove it...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7048/6810465010_18ca3147d0_z.jpg

On the positive side of things when I determined the cause of my brake issues I ordered another master cylinder. When Rob at AVR inquired as to why I needed another one, he instantly offered a no-charge replacement. Didn't even want the old one back! I had painted the case with POR15, so I wasn't expecting a replacement, this was a nice bonus for sure! With the new master swapped over and a bleed done one-man, I already have more pedal then I did before. The pedal rod is adjusted correctly, as is the pedal stop, but I still have a fair bit of movement before any pedal pressure. Probably 2" worth. Will need to bed the pads in and two-man bleed it before I call them "okay".

Finally got around to swapping the carbon fiber so it matches the shift knob...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7179/6956574179_cc7c18aa5f_z.jpg

And cleaned up the shop a bit (for which you don't need photos :P)

Tonight will be a night off, and then back at it on Tuesday.

-Dave

[Humble]

With regard to the pedal slop, are you using a residual pressure valve on the rear circuit? It's something that i've recently found, that I'm hoping will solve some of my braking issues.

[owdlvr]

No residual pressure valve. I'm using the same brakes front and rear, as I did on my '69. Same pedal cluster. The only thing different is the super beetle line routing, and the master. So if I didn't have a valve on my '69, I shouldn't need one here!

-Dave

[Jadewombat]

We put 914 rear calipers on the rear of my friend's '69 ghia, they're fairly small so we didn't need a bias valve either.

[cookvw]

dang, i love them inner fender guards. you would happen be opposed to send me a copy of a template so i can make my own would ya? by the way been watching your build...very stellar work!!!

[owdlvr]

I'd be happy to send you a template, would just trace it out on some paper and mail it. Anything I send you, though, will require some testing and fitting on your end. Material thickness and type will change the flex and exact size you need. If you get enough material to make three liners, you should be perfect. First one is cut to my template, and if it's too small to fit tight it's super easy to figure out how much larger to make your second one. PM me your address.

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Dry Sump tank is back from welding, and back in the car for the final time. Other then that, I spent some time on Warwick's Mini and didn't accomplish much else! I did spend most of the time I would normally spend in the garage working on confirming all the needed parts to finish the car. The goal is to have the car ready for alignment in two weekends, which means having the engine installed, rear suspension mounts finished and all the other stuff needed to get it trailer worthy and running weight.

I am going to have a few issues moving forward though. One of the required items is a BMD serpentine pulley system. So far its the only system I have found which keeps the correct ratio between the crank pulley and the alternator pulley. The dry sump pump requires a 5.25" or smaller crank pulley, which then requires a much smaller alternator pulley if you want to have the same fan speed and cooling as a stock setup. Lots of lower crank pulleys available, but only the BMD system includes a well sized upper pulley. Problem? BMD isn't going to be building any for about three weeks.

http://www.bmdpulleys.com/dry1.gif

The current plan is to purchase the BMD kit when it's available, but I do need to come up with a solution in case they are delayed. The first event I have to run is April 27-29, and I'd like to get some shakedown done beforehand! I've called everyone who makes, or carries, a dry sump sized pulley on their website. Finally found a CB performance one which can arrive on Friday. That really hurt since Rob at AVR called me yesterday and asked I might need anything from CB performance...I said no! The CB pulley is a V-Belt style pulley, which does lead to the next problem: Pulley ratio.

I'll save you all the math and figures, and state it simply:
Stock alternator pulley diameter: 4.25"
Required pulley diameter to keep the proper fan speed: 3.30"
Required pulley diameter to keep the ratio I was using: 2.94"

Available pulley's in 3.3" or 3"? Zero.

The Porsche 356 pulley, which is a straight bolt on, is 3.75", which at least gets me closer. I'm also going to consider putting my current serp-belt upper pulley in the lathe to cut it down into a pulley with a v-shape grove. It's currently 3.75", and I think it has enough meat on it to get me down to 3.5" and shaped for a V-Belt. The only problem with that idea, is I have no way to tension the belt. I wonder if ghetto-rigging the serpentine belt tensioner to press against the back side of the v-belt is an option. Not pretty, but at this stage I'm looking for emergency-situation functional!

http://www.cbperformance.com/catalogimages/1907.jpg
One of the advantages of the CB pulley is the fact that its an aluminum pulley bolted to a steel center section. In theory I could have a serp-belt pulley machined and setup to bolt onto the center section. I could quickly turn down the upper serpentine belt pulley that I have now, and end up with a ratio that is almost dead-on the stock one. Problem is I suspect that having a crank pulley machined up quickly is going to be overly cost prohibitive, and I won't be able to maintain the serp-belt groves in the upper pulley.

Come to think of it...I could just run the event with a standard oil pump. Geesh, why didn't I think of that this afternoon?

-Dave

[al_kaholik]

After reading the whole post your conclusion was what I first thought might be an idea, however that is then an unknown for the next time around. But it does mean you'll get out and then be able to shake down that last element seperately.

As for the template, you could get it hosted somewhere as a PDF to print, presmably it'd be smaller than A3 which could mean it can either be printed at that size or enlarged at your local news agent with a photocopier.

[chug_A_bug]

Hey dave...

So I use both the CB dry sump pulley 5.25" and the 356 and my cooling is doing fine... so if you really needed to in a Pinch it does work just fine.

Chris.

[owdlvr]

Hey dave...

So I use both the CB dry sump pulley 5.25" and the 356 and my cooling is doing fine... so if you really needed to in a Pinch it does work just fine.

Chris.

Well that's good news! Today was a bit of a crazy day on the dry sump side of things, I was looking into how I would cut a proper V-Belt groove into a pulley...should I need to make one on a lathe, when I stumbled upon something far cooler. I found the tooling bit used to cut serpentine belt grooves into pulleys, and a bunch of the engineering info regarding minimum radius, minimum tolerances, etc. required for the pulley design. I was stuck on making the keyways on a lathe, but sure enough one of my books had simple directions on how do that. Technically I could make my own serpentine belt setup, an idea I was heavily considering until I got an email.

My dry sump pump isn't finished in production yet, so it won't ship for my weekend parts pickup. At first I was a bit demoralized. I've been going hell-bent-for-leather on this car, and making sure I don't take any short cuts or "have to go back to fix that" before the car hits the road. But then I started to think about a new car, a mandatory event at the end of April, and (in the words of Eric Bana) the fact that "a new race car never feels good out of the workshop." Suddenly I realized this was a good thing.

The stress is gone! I can focus on getting the car ready to run the Spring Thaw, and then pull it back into the garage to do the final engine setup.

...problem is, I couldn't do much else besides think tonight. I've run out of parts, or jobs to do until I get parts. It's going to be hard waiting until Saturday night!

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Today was a good day! After finishing the headliner a few weeks back, one of the local club members sent me an email. "Don't rip the whole headliner out, that's totally fixable." Hmmm. It took a few weeks before Gary was able to come up, but he arrived this morning to work some magic. He took a walk around teh car, mentioned that it really wasn't that bad and easy to fix. For the most part I did alright, except for one rather funny error. You know the door post pieces? Yeah, totally put the plastic bit in backwards. :)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7207/6966314515_074fecc11a_z.jpg

Gary pulled down about half of the headliner, and tore out both door pillar pieces. Some of the back section was pulled up in places...and then he got to work. The results are awesome

Before:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6764491415_0e7bd25c53_z.jpg

After:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7201/6966324527_3d152cb44f_z.jpg

Before: (A-Pillar hiding creases)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6764491465_57d23b55b4_z.jpg

After:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/6966288553_22d628cbb8_z.jpg

Before:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6759069695_97c223f81c_z.jpg

After:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7047/6820167386_0b61a0b981_z.jpg

So, as you can see...totally worth getting an expert in!

Thanks Gary!

-Dave

[owdlvr]

So the Motorsport CV-Boots came in this weekend, which meant some fun installing. The units I used are made by GKN, part number MSJ6002. They do require some modifications to use, but not nearly as much as I initially thought. The bolt circle is about 1-2mm smaller then the VW units, so to use them you will need to open up the six bolt holes slightly to to have them fit. The CV bolt plates will also need to be modified. Otherwise, they fit no problem :P

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7069/6825475666_b8a75af3ee_z.jpg

In my case, however, the first one was almost a 3 hour affair. I knew the bolt circle was wrong when I ordered them, but by the time they arrived I had totally forgotten. I pulled the axle, swapped teh boots and proceeded to reinstall. Everything was going quickly right up to the point where I started putting bolts into the new boot. I could get the first couple in, but then they just wouldn't go in. Took a few tries/minutes before I remembered the bolt circle problem. Pull the boot back, drill the holes out (with a step-drill so they are still round), clean out the chips, regrease, and try again. This time I could get three bolts in, but then they still wouldn't fit. I was sure I was going to strip the bolts. WTF!?! For the next try I slid the boot up the axle and started putting bolts in without the boot. Again I could only get three bolts in. Obviously it's not the boot...but what!?! The axle was already installed in the car and I eliminated the only new part in the equation. Hmmmm. Took a break, had a coffee, and still couldn't think of it. I was working on figuring out whether it was the same three holes I was having issues with, or if they were moving around when it dawned on me...

I bought six new CV Bolts as I could only find three for this last joint. The stub axles have been painted with POR15, and thus there must be some paint in the threads. After running a tap through all six holes, it all slid together like butter. Three HOURS to deal with one boot!

Modifications required to the bolt plates:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7070/6825475702_b2a9758d2c_m.jpg

The second boot was done in mere minutes, since I knew all the tricks...and the clearance between these and a regular CV boot is pretty incredible.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6971595641_32b7ee27a4_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7040/6825475760_93bd22b75b_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6831066809_01bfa70cc6_z.jpg

With that done...I moved onto other items. Had the heater going in the shop so figured I would lay some plasti-dip while it was warm. Before and after on my rear-view mirror. I just couldn't leave the dry-rot on the plastic as it was, eh?!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7208/6971595711_7fd2201e07_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7206/6825475840_3fb1f38e3b_z.jpg

And FINALLY the gauges needed to finish the dash! Well, most of the gauges. Still no air-fuel gauge, and still no LED light bulbs...but at least all the holes are filled! I'm missing half the photos for the moment, so on a later post I'll explain how I get the lighting color I love without the LED bulbs. The beauty of my system is you can get any gauge to light up any colour you want, without LEDs, even the factory VW or Porsche gauges.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7041/6971595779_75885bdb24_z.jpg

With the oil-temp gauge came the oil-temp sender I needed for the oil tank. Installed and wired up!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7179/6825475966_f25f6de42d_z.jpg

A big thanks to SteveC who shipped me the "available in Australia only" VDO temperature sender. This one is going in the feed line to the motor so I can see the temp of the oil going in (post filter and cooler). Sits one-thread into the oil passage, so I figure that's probably okay.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7200/6825475938_d172790d85_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7208/6971670693_c737f5b48a_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7181/6971595925_e520b542b3_z.jpg

Would have gone further on the car tonight, but it's Supercross and my living room is packed with buddies. Bumpers tomorrow morning!

-Dave

[ricola]

Dave, Any idea if they do those boots for 930 size CVs?

[owdlvr]

GKN has three part numbers that are close to the 930 dimensions. I don't have a 930 joint, so I cannot measure the bolt circle of the mounting holes, which will be your deciding factor on whether you can make them fit or not.

- All three part numbers have an ID at the mounting flange of 107mm. The 930's are 108, but my Type-1s are 94 and the GKN boots I used are 93mm. You should be fine with 107mm.
- All three part numbers have a bolt-circle of 94mm.
- All three part numbers have a bolt-hole diameter of 10.2mm

MSGN001 has an axleshaft opening in the boot of 22mm. It's listed as a 'Fast' boot and plate to suit 108mm CV joints and tripod housings.
MSGN002 has an axleshaft opening in the boot of 25mm. It's listed as a 'Fast' boot and plate to suit 108mm CV joints and tripod housings.
MSGN011 has an axleshaft opening in the boot of 22mm. It's listed as a 'Fast' boot and plate to suit 108mm CV joints and tripod housings (high angle).

I am using a 'regular' boot (not listed as high angle), but using the part numbers above I would Google and see what you can find that's available. Of course, you're in the motorsports mecca of the UK, so GKN has an office in your neck of the woods (relatively speaking). +44 121 313 1661. sales@gkndriveline.com

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Amazing how many hours I spent in the garage today to feel like nothing was accomplished! haha. Just one of those days I suppose. Got some stuff sorted out, some stuff half sorted out, and then hit a major decision I've got to make about the car. First, some successes...

Started on the rear quarter window, for the passenger side. Initially I was hoping to do popouts on both sides, but I realized that replacing the glass with lexan wouldn't allow the popout to pull closed. So, lexan and fixed for the first side! I opted for 3/16" lexan, which is a little heavier weight then I would normally use for racing, but this particular window needs to be pretty rigid. On my last rally car we used 3/32"! Hmmm...that hole isn't stock?
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7204/6975341533_ef5e506c8a_z.jpg

Neither is this one...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7051/6829216868_692c8135f6_z.jpg

But the shape and size are right, and fit the seal! But man, was that ever a pain in the butt to get in there.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7209/6829216892_2421d91b32_z.jpg

On the first go for installation we didn't get very far, maybe about 1/2 the way around before there was just no hope of going further. The only other windows I've ever installed (of this style) were the old quarters in my '69. I was reusing the old seals, and they just popped right in. Did I make the lexan too big (even though it's dead-nuts the same size as the glass)? A few texts to Rob over and AVR and I knew the secret. Why I didn't think to soap and lubricate the seal...I have no idea. Once we added a bit of soap and water it popped in fairly easily. Not like butter, but easily enough.

The "fuel" cap is actually going to be the filler for the oil-tank as getting into the back seat is going to be a pain. I'll be swapping out the standard cap for a locking one, but otherwise that's the plan. The NACA duct will deliver moving air to the oil cooler, but I still have to box that in. The black lip around the NACA duct hides the cutout in the window, but I haven't decided if its going to stay. It's plasti-dip, which means it's removable if I choose to down the road.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7189/6975341681_7b1528bac0_b.jpg

One issue I did have, is that this all fit with no problems while flat on the bench. Installed in the car, though, and it appears the window is a touch 'too big' and flexing in towards the interior. The odd part, however, is that against the factory glass I couldn't have gotten the size any closer. Not sure why it's bowing in like this.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7197/6975341747_868108b278_z.jpg

Tossed a quick seal into it for now, and will probably re-adjust and play with it later to get it all fitting perfectly.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7189/6975341777_8074434f15_z.jpg

While i had the plasti-dip out, I decided I'd take care of the pop-out window that I'll be using on the Driver's side of the car. Yes, I'm fully aware that I'm going to have completely mis-matching windows Left to right...but the airflow provided by the pop outs is just too good to give up. And, I challenge you to look at both sides of the car at once! ;-) The popouts do, however, have a wide aluminum frame that just won't go with the rest of the car.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7038/6829217142_a62aa2c96d_z.jpg

So with a bit of plasti-dip, we eliminate the silver aluminum in a non-permanent manner! It still needs to cure some before I can install it, but I much prefer the look over the original. Might have to plasti-dip the aluminum trim around the door windows as well.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7040/6975341911_0f342bc6a7_z.jpg

And with that, it's onto the decision making part of the build. Before I had even started the car, I acquired these four Bosch 220 rally lights. In a lot of ways these were the ultimate starting point for the car. They're great rally lights, justify all the Bosch sponsor logos on the car and they're pretty close to period correct. The problem, however, is they aren't *quite* right. The factory cars used Bosch Knick 180's, not the larger 220s. The size difference is significant. I've seen cars with both the 180s and the 220's, and while both look good, the 180's are definitely more proportional to the car. You can fit four 'inside' the headlights, while four 220's require overlapping of the headlights ever-so-slightly. And then there is the mounting. Factory lights were drilled through the front bumper, take a look at the mount for the 220's (off a Mitsubishi Colt Rally car). That's some serious mounting to keep them from vibrating!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7192/6829216718_979784da8c_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7038/6975341413_966a3fe9f2_z.jpg

In the shop, between my roomate Warwick and I, we have three Bosch 220s, one Bosch 220 case without lens, three Hella 4000's (same size dimensions as the 220 but with way better mounting setup), and 6+ Piaa 510(?) series of lights. The Piaa lights are the same diameter as the Knick 180's were. Here's the back of a 220 and the back of a Piaa 510 for size comparison:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7198/6829216772_455cccf8ce_z.jpg

There are so many reasons to run the Piaa's over the Bosch lights. In addition to the ease of fitting them, they're lighter, will shake less, I can decide on the beam patterns I want, and when I break them, parts are readily available. I own a vinyl machine, so with the right covers I could very easily make them "Bosch" lights. This should be a no brainer. Hell, the rest of the car sure isn't a "replica"! But a hard choice to make when the Bosch lights are right there...

In the meantime, I started working on the mounts for the rally lights. I won't need to decide which lights I'm going with until tomorrow night when the tabs get welded on.

-Dave