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Well that was an interesting weekend! To date I've done about 100km worth of testing up on the local forest roads here in Squamish. Switching from an Audi quattro (All-wheel-drive, massive amounts of front end weight ahead of the front axle), to the bug is quite the challenge. I've been getting used to it up on the mountains, though I have to be honest it occasionally catches me out...let it get away from you and it will just spin regardless of what you try :P
Sunday was a local RallyX event though, so it was up at 4:30am and the three hour drive to Hope BC. Unfortunately I didn't wake up to my alarm, and woke up at 6am. Whoops! Lets just say the bug gets real light up front at speed, and I will be starting to look at front spoiler options :P Made it in time for registration, and even early enough to end up tech'ing the other cars. The course we've got out in Hope is pretty tight. Depending on the configuration you can get up into second gear, but it's down to first for most corners. Considering I have the 901 gear box with dog-leg first, and a pretty heavy lockout, dropping down into first gear isn't the easiest proposition. I made the attempt for the gear change on a couple of runs, sacrificing some syncros along the way. After a couple of laps I decided the time lost hunting for first wasn't worth the gain made in second gear along a short section. This, of course, was mostly irrelevant seeing as I was mowing down cones with almost every run. With low momentum I just couldn't get the car to transfer weight under braking, resulting in understeer into corners. When it would transfer it would grab so hard I'd end up taking out the inside cone. Mostly humorous, but frustrating as I wasn't correcting my errors for future runs. Definitely need more play time in the tight stuff if I'm going to do well in RallyX in this car. Oops, isn't that one of the things I built it for? :P http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7133/7...b8a5441b_b.jpg http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5326/7...96d2d07b_b.jpg For the afternoon the course was reversed, increasing the overall speeds significantly. For RallyX, however, the 901 as I've got it set just isn't precise enough for the 2-1 shift. Second gear really would have helped coming across the mid section, but I ended up just wailing off the rev-limiter in first. The back section was my arch-nemesis, a missed gate in run one...the same cone mowed down in the next 3 or 4 runs. For the last couple of runs I stopped caring about the back half and just focused on enjoying the first half where the speeds were higher. Figures that on the final run I finally cleaned the afternoon course with no penalties :P While I wasn't able to link up a single run to my satisfaction, I did have some great "segments" where I was able to pitch and flick the car exactly the way I had planned. Essentially the stuff I had practiced on the forest roads was dialed...now I just need to back it down to some tight stuff and get re-learning for the Rear-Engine 2wd setup. Either that, or I need to find a larger venue so the courses can be faster! I'd love to try the car out on some rally-sprints, where the gear box wouldn't be an issue and you could really work the car over a longer, quicker, section. http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5118/7...83580c9f_b.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8009/7...56af3da9_b.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8148/7...90978e82_b.jpg As you can see, the course was pretty wet...and the mud accumulation was incredible. After the morning runs... http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7134/7...dcc64512_c.jpg http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5324/7...ba439eb7_c.jpg ...end of the day was a bit worse... http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5338/7...8a0c725d_b.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7...bf33954d_c.jpg Rob was commenting on some different Tin he has to seal up the engine bay better. I think I'm going to take him up on the offer. http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5452/7...20d00e7c_b.jpg Pretty sure this is the first DVKK badge to be treated this way... http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8004/7...1722b4f9_b.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8148/7...cde8e00e_c.jpg So, last night I figured I should start taking care of the cleaning process. I posted this photo up on Facebook with the question "this is normal, right?". #1 comment was the fact that "No Handwashing" definitely means no removing the tires and putting the car on Axle-stands! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8141/7...912f090d_b.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7257/7...9bf68fd0_b.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8025/7...6d6707d3_b.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8168/7...73132f38_b.jpg ...40min of pressure washing later, and I have *most* of the mud off the car. Seriously, the stuff was like concrete. Thankfully a buddy works at Sea to Sky carwash, so I had a semi-sponsorship last night! http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7123/7...4549db1e_b.jpg I'm not sure how I'm going to get it out of all the fender lips, but I won't leave it in there as it will just hold moisture and cause the fenders to rust. I guess you could say "stage one" of cleaning is complete? I anticipate an other 3 or 4 evenings to get the car clean. One to wash the body with soap and water as per normal, one to work on cleaning out all the fender lips and any missed areas on the underside, one to clean the engine bay and a fourth to clean out the interior. Racin' is hard work! haha I did have two casualties this weekend while racing. The car performed absolutely flawlessly, and was only hindered by my driving talent and the gear selection. There is something satisfying about tearing the car on the rev-limit knowing you're just running it for exactly what it was built for. Back off? heck no! I may consider trailering the car to the next event, only because there is such limited space for carrying the four gravel tires. The bakelight heater outlet was casualty #1 from loading tires in the back. As we all know, the body needs to be removed if I'm going to replace this. For now I think I'll epoxy the parts back together! (and shhhhh...don't look at those welds) http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8017/7...5f5aa8af_c.jpg The second casualty was on the Accusump. Kind of hard to tell, but the tire slipped back and crushed the pressure gauge. The gauge is bent back, and the face is broken. Accusump seems to be working fine still, but I'll need to swap out the gauge for piece of mind. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7115/7...4a339f37_c.jpg At the end of the event I was second in 2wd class, and 5th overall. The field was small, however, and based on my driving I have work to do before I would be "happy" with my performance. But honestly, who cares? I built the car to race it, and I was out racing it. That in the end is the important part. I was having a blast, and will look upon all of it's new stone chips with satisfaction. I've now got 6,300km on the build and will be busy scouring the Pacific Northwest for other events. Maybe a track day next so I can avoid the week of cleaning? -Dave |
One muddy then clean beetle!
Approval from me. There is some pretty awesome photography going on too :) |
It's cool to see you using the car where it's meant to be used for!
I think the mud looked great on the car.:D |
Looks like it had a great first test under fire. The 901 gearbox is not a fast shifting box. They are very finicky and you will have to learn what it wants. I had one rebuilt and ready to put in my car. I ended up trading it for my daughters 66 Beetle and having a type 1 gearbox built to order. What gear lube are you running in the 901?
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Well, not much progress in the past few weeks. I've been traveling for work, so the car has been resting in the garage. I've currently got Redline MT-90 in the transmission, but it needs to be replaced with Motul Gear300. I've noticed the redline gets worse the hotter the trans gets, and I've always had great success with Motul. Just can't buy it here in small-town Squamish.
In the meantime, I've been making a list for the next stage of development. Some of the items are ridiculously simple, and others will be more complex (like the skid plates). While I do love the "sport" style wheels, and they are definitely my preference, they aren't correct for that "period look". The factory cars ran 5.5" wide hub-cap style Porsche wheels: http://www.salzburgkaefer.at/images/strasser01_lbb.jpg So I figured I better pick up a set. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7107/7...6b72d5fb_c.jpg I was hoping to sandblast and powdercoat them, but my friend's shop is currently "clean" for painting, and not messy for blasting...so the wirewheel, hand sanding and spraybomb will have to suffice for now. Once you run any wheels on gravel the finish doesn't last anyways, so powdercoating is really just lazy not better. Of course, the wheel purchase means I'm going to need to buy more gravel tires. As the set I have are narrows for use on the 4.5" wheels! -Dave |
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They cleaned up very well.
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Despite a lack of posting here (Summer will do that to a guy), I have been tinkering with the bug on a weekly basis. One of the main things that bothered me was my lack of working headsets for the intercom. Peltor transit headsets are about $290 a piece, and the quality leaves a lot to be desired. Most rally folks won't loan them to buddies for events when not used, as they are so well known for breaking. The Peltor intercom, however, is relatively cheap and bulletproof. Go figure. I've tested a lot of broken Peltor headsets over the years and when it's not user-error breaking the cables, it's always the microphone that fails.
A few years ago I did make up my own intercom headsets, but I could never get the microphone circuit to work properly. The FMT110 intercom, which I own, requires a dynamic microphone. Even with piggyback circuitry I couldn't get the electret mics I had working. For the most part I didn't worry about it, as my last car wasn't so loud that you needed them to talk to each other. The bug, however, is pretty loud inside. To make matters worse, Mom was coming out to visit last week...so I needed a solution! A pilot friend brought me over a bin of broken airplane headsets, and after a day of breaking, testing and soldering...I combined about 8 different headsets, and some bits from radio-shack to create four good working headsets which are compatible with a Peltor Rally intercom. Success! I picked mom up in the airport, and we spent the week using the bug able to simply talk to each other instead of yelling. Once I dropped her back to the airport (5 days later), I started on the hit list for up coming events. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8026/7...611b53c7_c.jpg As you can see, the events are coming up fast...and there isn't much time between them! I'm going to start with a High Performance Driving Event on August 9th. I've done quite a few back east, but due to the length of time and record keeping I'm considered "beginner" status out West, and will need to start fresh again for Track & Lapping events. I still haven't sorted out a good stiff Tarmac setup for the car, but I figure even if I run it as-is, that's going to be more fun then not running the car at all! Following that, it Classic Car Adventure's mixed gravel/pavement event the "Rush to Gold Bridge". Should be a good and dusty time, which I poorly planned when setting the dates. Why did I plan a dirty gravel event that ends just FOUR DAYS before the Great Canadian VW show?! I'm going to have to pull the engine and the interior just to clean it in time. Eek! The hit lists for the events is starting to pile up too: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8147/7...f3793c2d_b.jpg But no worries, I'll get it all done! As a start to chipping things off the list, I tried to take care of the big chips I put in the B-Pillars. The match isn't bad...and I actually think when this is dry it will be passable. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8429/7...412fec26_z.jpg -Dave |
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that's KILLER thanks for posting
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Such a good weekend!
A buddy of mine does snowboard, mountain bike & outdoors films/videos, he and I have been talking about shooting the bug since it was a project in my garage. We've bounced around different ideas, but still haven't gotten around to doing anything. This past week, Taylor sweetened the pot the little with the addition of a RED Epic Camera. As if that wasn't good enough, his friends from Sea to Sky Cable Cams were looking to do some testing with a rally car. Hmmmmm.... Taylor's current demo reel. Sea to Sky Cable Cam's demo reel. For those who don't know what an Red camera is, think the Porsche GT3 of the camera world. It shoots in 5k, and super high frames per second (super slow-mo). To give you an idea of the quality... http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RAG86CieLp...1600/Techblog1 Can't really turn down an opportunity like that! Started off in the garage. David prepping a shot. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8287/7...af1b2ae4_b.jpg Later, Taylor setting up the Red as a POV cam. A wee bit bigger then a GoPro :P http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8019/7...f2a87734_b.jpg Cable Cam rigging... http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7114/7...4f3b34b3a2.jpg I won't have the video for a while, but will be sure to post it up once Taylor's had a change to edit something for me. In the meantime though, I did lap after lap of the section of road we had set aside. "faster", "slower", "can you put the car here?", "more show-ie", "that was great...we nailed it...better do it again just in case". Now I remember why I avoid video shoots! haha One of the lines required getting close to the raspberry bushes. They ended up all down the side of the car. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8164/7...66361703_c.jpg iphone pic...I think http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7131/7...fda7136e_c.jpg The road section we were working on was less then a half km long, with 6 corners and an uphill section. It was top of third gear type of stuff, though I was making it 7 to 8 corners for the runs they wanted it more "showy". For some of the shots I wasn't running it end to end. So as you can see, a lot of laps and takes to get all the shots they wanted to get. I'm not complaining, getting to play on a closed road at full bore is worth every second! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8422/7...3636567939.jpg At one point in the early half I smoked a big rock, and following a large bang was sure I flatted the driver's side tire. We stopped, jumped out and my tire was fine. Hmmm…as I was going around the front side, my buddy Taylor (who was 'co-driving' at the time) says to me "pretty sure it's your side", yup no flat on his side either. Remember all those to-do lists I wrote down in my notebook, crossing off items as go? There was one item on the front suspension that I didn't do, and figured I would catch in that "check all the lists" step before running. Cotter pins on the sway bar ends? Based on the fact that the passenger side one didn't have a pin, and the driver's side had spat it's parts all down the road…I'm gonna guess I missed that step! Only part of the car (beside the rear axles) where I didn't replace everything with nylock nuts and/or safety wire. A quick zip home (in a friend's truck) to get some spare bits, jack and axle stands…and we were on our way to a backwoods repair. Ever try and compress/jam those stupid things together in the middle of nowhere? Yeah, not wanting to do that again! Other then this potentially disastrous event, the car ran flawless all day. ----- Today, it was all about clean up, damage assessment and check of all fasteners to ensure I hadn't missed anything else. I washed the car twice, first at the coin-wash to pressure wash as much dust and dirt off as I could, and then a regular hand wash upon returning home. The inside was filthy, even the dust had dust on it. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8010/7...e6a8dc4f_b.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8143/7...fe0836ef_c.jpg Once the interior was cleaned out, I started on the damage assessment. The paint on the wheels took the expected beating and chipping. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7108/7...097d7ab3_c.jpg And the raspberry bushes left me with some passenger side stripes that I'll need to polish out this week. Hard to photograph on a silver car, sadly not hard to see in person though! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8433/7...2e43fb73_c.jpg The gravel road isn't a polished prepared "loose surface" road designed for road traffic. We were using a logging access road, so the stones are bigger. Sometimes much bigger. But hey, gotta use what you got! The rocks do take their toll on the car though... Slight dent on the driver's side rear fender... http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8017/7...92c80e2b_c.jpg Slightly larger dent on the passenger side rear fender. Kinda wish I had made that flap just 1" longer! The rock has completely crushed the lip of the fender and pushed it out about 1/4". http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7270/7...a30e7f06_c.jpg The muffler is saying "make the skidplates dumbass!" http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8006/7...28976d1f_b.jpg About this time I was thinking to myself "why don't I build track cars?" And then I removed the wheels. Seems I might be switching to alloy wheels sooner then I had anticipated! This is the passenger rear wheel: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8282/7...a59ddbc0_b.jpg The passenger front has one small dent/flatspot on the inside edge. In true rally fashion, however, both driver's side wheels are 100% perfect. Why anyone chooses to be a co-driver I'll never understand. Now, initially I was a little down on myself for doing this, as i have to go find a replacement. But then I checked the wheel and it's holding air to the exact psi I had set it to. My friend Gord has repaired a number of rally wheels (steel and alloy) using a special tool, so really this shouldn't be so bad. I grabbed my copy of Gord's special tool, and went to work. Good as new! (or in this case, good enough :P) http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7108/7...2cea3f4a_b.jpg The engine bay is starting to look quite scruffy, but I have a gravel rally event before our local VW show..so I figure I'll do the full detail after that. For now it was just a quick clean to get the main dirt out. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8150/7...59737688_b.jpg I did decide to do an airfilter cleaning, as they showed some signs of needing it. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8287/7...f6264977_c.jpg Car is now cleaned, checked and ready for work tomorrow. Just need to pop the re-oiled air filters back on. -Dave |
It's like watching a super model used as a plow horse! So weird to watch you build this pretty car then instantly thrash it. I'll be living vicariously through you for a long time to come!
Jason |
I won't lie...it hurts. And almost every day when I see the damage I think to myself how much easier a track car would have been. But, rallying is just so damned cool :D Every flick into a corner brings a huge smile to my face.
-Dave |
I cant wait to see the finished video, if your friend has a RED camera and knows how to use it we're all in for a treat. BTW that camera isn't even their high end, I've seen their 8k footage with an 8k projector and it blew my mind. Even crazier is my roommate went to NAB in vegas where they had a 24k demo going :eek: You're very lucky to have friends with nice camera gear!
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Very cool! Can't wait to see the video too!
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Ever think of putting "outerwears" pre-filters on?
I even like to run them on my street cars. They not only keep the filters cleaner, but, more importantly, water that hits them is shed to the outside of the filter, and doesn't run down into the intake... |
I had looked at them but not considered it too heavily...though I don't know why. Now that you mention it, I think I'm going to try a set out.
*edit* now I remember...finding set that don't say "EMPI" on them is a pain the butt :P -Dave |
...At Rocket Rally getting the rear skid plate fitted for this weeks Rush to Gold Bridge event.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7108/7...36bb797e_o.jpg -Dave |
Whew! What a weekend.
The CCA "Rush to Gold Bridge" was our first stab at a mixed gravel and tarmac event for classic cars up here in Canada. The formula works well in California, where the events are well attended and popular. Up here, however, we have some work to do! A total of 6 cars made the start, but that was just fine by us. We modified the route throughout the weekend to suit the guests we had. Saturday was shortened due to heat, and Sunday we split into two groups with some cars going for the smooth gravel route, while others braved goat-path-like sections of road to claim they conquered a famous 4x4 only mountain pass. For this particular event, I left the gravel tires at home so that our guests wouldn't feel like their cars were about to die on the event. I could keep the sliding controlled enough for street tires, right? We began in Hope BC, and after about an hour of paved twisties and canyon views, turned off to catch a ferry. This ferry, though, wasn't like your normal car ferry. This one is a reaction ferry, it has no motors and uses the current of the river to move back and forth between the two banks. An overhead cable holds the ferry and the two guys working the boat simply tilt it one way or another in the current to push across. At least if it sunk, I would have a chance of floating! https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8297/...4ededab4_c.jpg https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8446/...c363b147_c.jpg From there it was incredibly twisty gravel all the way to Lillooet. I have never driven a road which required so much steering movement, without a pause in between for straight sections. Toss in a little sliding action, and my hands never stopped moving. Rarely do I find myself happy we're stopping to regroup, but on this road I was thankful for the break and the reminder not to get too carried away! I was running without a co-driver, and more then a few turns were marked "Triple Caution!!! hairpin, exposure with large drop to the outside". I think one of the instructions for a corner we wrote was "Large drop with certain death straight ahead". Have I mentioned it was a blast!?! One of the straight sections: https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8443/...4463f1c3_z.jpg It was 40.3 deg Celsius as we were doing this road, and for the time I saw 240F on the oil temperature gauge. It didn't go any further (the whole weekend) and once I determined that my oil cooler fan relay failed, the temps were brought back down to 220F for the rest of the day. Warwick, in the Mini, wasn't so lucky. A couple of overheats had him finishing this leg on the tow strap. Once it was cooled down, refilled with water and an expansion tank jimmy rigged, it ran like a top. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8305/...7359873c_c.jpg https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7139/...3217e5c3_c.jpg Having spent a lot of time with Warwick, we eventually decided that I should probably head to the rest of the group and tell them to carry on. The throttle pedal was dropped, and I went from casually enjoying a few corners here and there to fully setting up and linking slide after slide to try and make up time. I was in a left hand drift when I felt a wiggle...but was already pitching right. Upon returning back to the left, however, I instantly knew what had happened. 'Tis a wee bit flat back there! https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7260/...066b75c1_c.jpg Let that be a lesson to you: 165/R15's of unknown age, showing lots of cracking in the tread, are probably not the best tires for sliding around on gravel :P Normally I'd have had this fixed up quick and been on my way, but it would seem that I have neglected to purchase and install an important road-side repair tool. And, really, sweep and every other car is carry a jack. Why would I want to? I stood sheepishly by the side of the road waiting for Warwick and sweep to arrive so that they could now go and deliver the 'carry on' message. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8437/...560f026b_c.jpg With the flat fixed, it was off again. I met the group in Lillooet and proceeded to pay $50 for a used tire, of completely useless dimensions, to ease my fear of driving 300km home on a steel wheel. For the afternoon we ventured the 2.5 hours into Gold Bridge, via the Carpenter Lake Road. The road is mix of billiard-table-smooth gravel and paved sections. It winds up and down the side of the mountain sometimes mere inches from the river, while at other times so high you'd have time to count your mistakes before impact. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8440/...4afcaa73_c.jpg https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8291/...79ca3bcf_c.jpg https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8434/...cf514575_c.jpg https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8303/...9d301846_b.jpg We arrived at the Chilcotin Holidays Ranch tired, dusty and hungry. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8298/...d717bb4b_c.jpg ...Tomorrow, I'll recount Sunday. Then the cleanup begins! -Dave |
Sunday started with breakfast at the Chilcotin's Ranch. We thought maybe they confused our group of 12 for a group of 30 at dinner the night before, but Breakfast proved that these folks simply like to eat! We were fed as though we were going on a 4 day backpacking trip and this would be the last meal we ate. I'm not complaining, anytime I can eat a whole pig-worth of bacon I'm game! Following breakfast, a quick tune and check over on the cars was completed before we departed.
"yup, looks like the engine is still there" https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8438/...e8230781_c.jpg For the Sunday run, our group split up into two. The Mini and 356, which were sporting rather low clearance levels, chose to head out the way we came in. The rest of us were going to brave the Hurley River Pass road, a 4x4-only, summer access road which is not recommended for classic cars. How bad could it be!?! Warwick, the other photographer on the event, was in the Mini so that means most of the day's photos are without my bug. First stop was the bustling gas station in the town of Bralorne... https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7269/...8624060f_c.jpg And then off to check out some of the abandoned Gold Mines in the area. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8295/...662c7910_c.jpg With the sight-seeing done, we were off! Being the adventurous types, we agreed as a group that we shouldn't take the "main" Hurley River Road, but instead venture down the 20km Bralorne short-cut. It's essentially a Goat-Path through the woods in some sections...but we were all in rally cars. Well, everyone except Bruce and Greg in the lowered Volvo :P. To say I was driving gingerly on these rocks would be an understatement! https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8443/...23c7d602_c.jpg Once on the main Hurley we found the road to be wide, in good shape and relatively quick travel. I was averaging about 60kph, which allowed for dodging the odd hole or sump-tearing section of granite sticking out of the road. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8446/...a18d1b5c_c.jpg https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8283/...ac143302_c.jpg The group made it through to the end, with only a minor exhaust pipe issue hampering the progress. After a couple of hours on the pass, we descended into the town of Pemberton and met up with the rest of the group. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7277/...b487f8df_c.jpg It was a quick zip down the highway to Squamish, where we finished with the traditional (for me at least) Campfire Grill smoked BBQ. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8298/...395f93b1_c.jpg ----- Upon arriving home, I took quick stock of the Bug. The interior is so dusty and dirty the passenger seat is looking brown. There is dirt and dust caked on the headliner, and the whole underside of the car still looks like I just went racing in the mud at that RallyX. The Great Canadian VW Show is this coming weekend, which means I need to get the car back to looking as close to "new" as possible. After a quick body wash, it was up on stands to clean the wheel wells and suspension. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8433/7...2f49eb61_b.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7266/7...ae08fb8b_c.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8297/7...17edeafb_c.jpg I guess, like I have many times with this project, I got a little carried away next. Out came the creeper, and I scrubbed all the dirt and such off the bottom of the floor pan. I'm pretty sure my neighbours think I'm insane...washing the underside of my car in the driveway. The worst part is you can see I missed some spots, which means I'll be getting soaked again later today when I roll back underneath. Can't do a half-assed job, right? http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8289/7...00beed95_c.jpg While the car was in the air, I thought it was high-time I took care of the rather sad looking state of my rear fenders. The vinyl has been chipped through pretty good by the rocks, but at least it's protected the paint somewhat? http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8302/7...684b3eaa44.jpg Well, peeling off the vinyl reveals that there is more damage then initially meets the eye. The passenger side was even worse, with large chucks coming out of the paintwork. Oops! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8293/7...eb0811e4_z.jpg New vinyl covers most of the damage, in photos it looks fine but when the light hits it right you can see the divots underneath. At the end of the day though, one has to accept that fenders are replaceable, and this is a bloody race car not a show queen. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8288/7...2276161e_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7138/7...8c871273_z.jpg For the front fenders, I've always had a problem with the front right and where it meets the running board. In the following photo you can see the dark patch where I've had to cover the factory running board hole which didn't line up at all. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7124/6...f520dd78_b.jpg Both front fenders now sport a black vinyl treatment, which matches the rear and hides the error. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7270/7...51621c8b_z.jpg So now I have to deal with the front trunk, the interior, the engine bay and all the body lines and door jams. Oh, and a wax of the silver paint...and matte wax on the black to remove the watermarks which are impossible. yee haw. -Dave |
Got the inside stripped down, cleaned out and a fresh coat of paint laid down on any of the areas which needed it. Man that was dusty/dirty. Might have a problem with my seats for the weekend. I borrowed a friend's seats back in April for the studio shots, and was planning on borrowing them again for the Great Canadian Show. Well, it turns out they might not be available...so I'm off to my backup plan tomorrow. If that doesn't work out, I need a backup to the backup plan, and thus scrubbed my current seats like they've never been scrubbed before. Turns out, they are still black and I got most of the staining out! Now I just need to figure out how to cover/hide/fix the tears, and I have a useable back up plan. Too bad I forgot the "before" photo...
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8296/7...4c1aea86_c.jpg While the seats and battery were out, I started thinking about what I was going to do for a battery. My Optima got moved to the truck, and I've been using a Honduh battery for the last little while. It's small, light and fires the car up every time. Too bad it says Honda all over it. Wait, i own a vinyl machine! Bosch it is, in fact, lets make it a small german racing battery :P http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8298/7...22863458_c.jpg Wheels are still off, night number two on Axle stands in my driveway. -Dave |
Looks like it was a fantastic event.
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Beautiful scenery, the roads look well maintained. Steve |
I'm not gonna lie, pulling the motor now is a complete %#!@%!!!. So many lines, extras, etc. and then every nut and bolt is caked with dry dirt so they don't spin by hand, you have to use a tool for the entire length of the threads.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8425/...38e9c61d_b.jpg The reason for pulling the motor is to make for easy cleaning, and to accomplish a few upgrades as well. As you can see, cleaning is definitely needed! https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8445/...8831a655_b.jpg There is even dirt/mud inside the bell housing! https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8307/...ac943e30_b.jpg I started playing with Vibrant Performance's new heat shielding product... https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7106/...79be67ca_z.jpg ...and finally protected the feed line to the pump from heat. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8437/...1fe9d5e4_z.jpg Fell asleep posting this at 4am, but engine is almost cleaned and ready to go in. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8442/...122e009e_z.jpg And the engine bay is looking much cleaner. Trans area is insanely dirty. Might have to accept defeat on that one...just no time left! https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8427/...14bae57f_z.jpg -Dave |
Absolutely one of my all time favorite cars :cup1:
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Wow. Thank you. Never thought I'd have someone say that about my car!
Well, this is what the car looked like at 1am last night, except the rear apron wasn't installed. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7120/7...642bafd3_c.jpg At 1:01am this turned into the motor-clean from hell, as I went to go rotate the motor to TDC so I could check the valve adjustments. Motor wouldn't turn, locked solid. WTH? E-brake, off. Trans, neutral. WTF. I was already pretty tired from the previous nights early morning, but with time running out before the show I had no choice. The motor was stripped, dropped and checked again. Once the motor checked out okay, I discovered someone hadn't tightened up the countersunk trans mount bolt enough when he adjusted the transmission mount. Sigh. Back in when the motor, and the carbs, and the wiring, and the oil lines. Now I just need to adjust the valves, change the filter, prime the oil system, add the spark plug wires, swap the distributor and I'm good to move onto other parts of the three-page list. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7120/7...642bafd3_c.jpg Went to bed at 4:45am, considered staying up to watch the sunrise but the 3 hours sleep was probably a good idea. -Dave |
Dave, It was nice talking to you at the GCVW show. I had no idea the car had been sooo dirty just before the show!! Great job!
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----- Well, the night before the big Great Canadian VW show weekend was spent chasing down all the little details that still hadn't been finished about the car. Some of them were small, like actually installing the antenna plug instead of the spot of silver vinyl which had been covering the hole. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8307/7...e70c8464_c.jpg Other items, however, were a little more serious. As you can see, my seats are very tired and worn. I bought them used out of a National rally car, after it had been flipped upside down in a pond. That was 10 years ago...they've lived in my Audi 90 quattro rally car, the '69 beetle and now the Salzburg tribute. They've been my daily driven seats for about 8 of the last 10 years, so they're pretty tired. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8305/7...5958c7b1_b.jpg The image above is after I used a full can of Upholstery cleaner on each seat, which helped greatly. Gone were the coffee stains, ground in dirt and other issues. But remaining were the tears. I called various rally buddies, but couldn't get a set of seats to borrow on short notice. Hmmmm...would iron-on patches work? http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8438/7...9461fe47_c.jpg Surprisingly, yes they do. Sure, it's not perfect, but the tears are no longer screaming out to me like a flashing red-light. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8436/7...ac7f163f_b.jpg The last step was to trade out my worn-out belts for a loaner set from the Rally shop. The flash here is playing with the colours pretty badly, but you'll just have to trust me when I say everything is a nice uniform black now. The astute viewers might be wondering why the FIA tags are missing...lets just say these belts were "well used" in a shell that no longer exists ;) http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8297/7...f6f51fab_c.jpg The show weekend wasn't without it's problems for my car, however. I dropped it off the axle stands on Friday, to drive down to the drag racing night, and discovered I had no clutch. The clutch pedal worked, I had resistance, but it wasn't releasing the transmission from the engine. I couldn't get it into any gear from neutral. But if I shut the car off, put it in gear and started it with my foot on the clutch it would start and idle. With no obvious solution, and no time to fix it, I just drove the car down regardless. I didn't run the car at the drag racing night, partially due to the clutch issue but more due to the fact that I drove down on my Pirelli gravels and didn't really want to destroy the tires on the strip. Not to mention the wheel/tire combo is pretty damned heavy. After the drags, when I went to leave, my leg was hit with burning metal as I turned on the headlights. WTF? Three, yes three, fuses blew all at once. I had no tail lights, no brake lights and no dash lights. Sigh. With no light at the track to fix it, and no spare fuses, Geoff followed me to the hotel and made sure I wouldn't get hit on the highway. Once there I pulled the tail lights apart and discovered I had vibrated both bulb holders out of the back of the housings. That explained the lack of lights, but why the blown fuses? Eventually I discovered a fresh-air hose (which was aluminum) had shifted, been crushed by the hood hinge and was resting against the back of the fuse panel! Yikes. Other then that, it was trouble free for the rest of the weekend. I never did determine what the problem was with the clutch. As the weekend progressed, the problem started going away and by the time I drove home it was perfectly fine. I've had the car up on stands, checked everything (without pulling the motor) and can't find any reason for the error. It's not good, but it's also not a problem I can diagnose at the moment. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8436/7...0c9e2a5e_b.jpg The other day driving to Whistler I noticed the oil temp was running about 20deg higher then normal. Cycling through the various senders I also realized that the oil feeding into the engine was 30deg higher then the oil in the tank. That was definitely a bit odd, so I decided to investigate further. In my efforts to increase the clearance between the oil lines and the ground, they now run far closer to the exhaust pipes, and my best guess is the feed lines are picking up a significant amount of heat from the exhaust: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8182/7...4389ce14_c.jpg Out came the exhaust wrap, and some aluminum shielding... http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8458/7...ee956938_b.jpg Today's drive to Vancouver had the oil temperatures back to normal, with all three sensors showing matched readings. Guess I found the problem :P -Dave |
Hahaha, yeah it was just a wee bit dirty just days before. I also did the final wash and polish in a car wash near the hotel at about 2:30am after the Drag racing night...but we'll get to that a little later down. In the meantime, help me out. Obviously you didn't introduce yourself as "7.2911E", so what was your name and when did we get to chat? (it was a very long, busy weekend for me...sorry, I'm terrible with names faces and would like to remember)
I was with my brother-in-law in the orange turboed '68 from Calgary and was wanting to show him your wiring. heh heh I know it was pretty busy for you and I didn't really introduce myself. It was neat to talk to the owner/builder and see the car and I had only read about. Michael |
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-Dave |
Well, I continue to use the bug as much as possible! Over the past two weekends I've done 3,496km on the bug...plus whatever I drove during the week. Last weekend I did half of that in just 30.5 hours, including sleep, while I setup the route for Classic Car Adventure's "Fall Freeze Adventure".
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8032/8...4dcef6af_z.jpg The event itself was just over 1400km, but with the start 5 hours from my house, and the finish 3 hours away, the kilometers added up pretty quick. Prep for the event was supposed to be pretty simple, but quickly escalated into a long list of to-do items. First up, was tearing out the front suspension to figure out why the front strut was loose. A broken top spacer (likely caused by a loosened strut cap) was swapped out and everything put back into place. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8173/7...8c75cc31_z.jpg I also decided not to risk another event without a jack, having had to wait for Sweep to arrive with one on the Rush to Gold Bridge. A temporary mount was worked out, and later this week I'll figure out how to make it permanent in the car. It would be easy if I was willing to wreck the paint with welding... http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8449/7...b34ed5f2_c.jpg I was doing work on the rear suspension and ended up removing the skid plate. I was curious to know what the relationship between engine/oil heat and the skid plate would be, so I left it off for the first weekend of driving. Interestingly there was a significant difference. With the skid plate the engine reaches operating temperature much quicker, and runs between 200 and 220 deg F depending on how hard you're pushing the engine. I was seeing temps as high as 240 before I moved and insulated the oil lines (as per a previous post). Pulling the skid plate results in oil temps 15-30deg cooler, depending on the ambient air temperature. More testing is required to determine if I will need to change the plate shape, but going into the colder weather I don't think I will worry about it until spring. I also took care of some more simple items, like grip tape on the floorboards. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8317/8...e135e293_z.jpg The Sparco seat has funny story. The last job on my list of preparation was to swap out one of my Cobra Imola2 seats for a wider seat. My dad was flying in from Toronto to co-drive the event for me, and I knew my seats would be uncomfortable for him. On his 60th birthday I called him up and told him he needed to go "race seat shopping" to find one that fits! A Sparco seat list arrived in my email box, and I went and snagged one out of a buddies rally car. Only after I had it all fitted, did I actually read the list that dad sent me. "Sparco Corsa - too tight (nasty!)" Well, crap. I ended up doing an emergency run down to Vancouver to borrow a Pro2000 out of another buddies rally car. By the dimension charts they are almost identical...but hey, whatever makes Dad happy. On Thursday I picked him up at the airport and we made our way off to the start location in Kamloops. I was pretty sure dad wasn't going to survive in the car for the whole weekend, it's bloody loud inside and he was commenting before we even left the airport! To make matters worse, the intercom stopped working Thursday night as we neared the hotel. I bought a butane powered soldering iron, foam earplugs and hoped for the best! The event started with about an hour of 'normal' roads, nothing too twisty, or where it was twisty it was populated so speeds are heavily controlled. Soon we were out into the unpopulated areas, and as the first set of twisty corners were fast approaching, I figured it was a good time to test how well Dad was going to do as co-driver. I lifted, so that we were dropping in at about 60% of what I would have normally done, and without brakes drove into the first corner. "Uh, David, these things do roll." First corner, fail. Second corner, onto the gas and drop it in faster...maybe Dad will be impressed with the cornering ability of the bug build? (Dad has owned over 30 beetles, but all of them bone stock)...."daaaVID!!" Hmmm, second corner? Fail. I drove conservatively until our lunch stop, where I proceeded to swap the Driver's seat for the Passenger seat so that dad could take a turn at the wheel. I figured that since I had driven all the roads the weekend before, it was easier to just let Dad drive at a pace that made him comfortable vs. trying to convince him I was being perfectly safe. He drove for some of the afternoon, and when the noise was finally too much he jumped into one of the other entrant's BMW 2002. I took the opportunity to jump into John Hinde's 2010 Intermeccanica Roadster, and instantly realized that my next bug is going to need a 2.3L engine like Johns! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8037/8...0e79dd07_z.jpg Dad and I finished up day one together in the Bug, and were having a quite a bit of fun by the end of the day. I was text messaging my best friend from the passenger seat, and they're pretty funny: 2:30pm 45km into dad driving and he's starting to get comfortable with the car. "Don't lift! It will corner at that speed" ... "Whoa, it sure does." 2:45pm 60km into his stint and he's finding the light side of the limit. "Oops, that was a bit too fast." 3:15pm "Dad, I think you're one of us now". "That didn't take long, did it?!" http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8041/8...7f557572_c.jpg I left the seats as they were for day two and day three. Dad lives on the other-side of the country and hasn't driven any of these mountain roads before. Day two was full of left foot braking, and discovering just how well a beetle can handle. By day three, dad was dropping into corners and making ME grab for the 'oh s%&# handles'! It was an absolute blast. He was pretty impressed with the build, and the bug held up trouble free. And, really, what better way to spend a weekend with your father??? http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8458/8...4a7f36c2_c.jpg Checking the oil level in Greenwood BC http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8035/8...7c295bdf_c.jpg About to test the traction circle... http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8456/8...ae5aa791_c.jpg Father and Son driving team http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8032/8...6e3c8af6_c.jpg The group lined up on the Kootenay Lake Ferry, morning of Day 2 http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8320/8...55faa0ac_c.jpg Group dinner at Tin Horn Creek winery http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8312/8...e8f649fe_b.jpg Dad/John with the bug -Dave |
I really love this project! Very well done and fantastic pics!! Thanks for sharing!
Mark |
1302 Not so secret,secret Project Build
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Awesome report, glad to see your dad having some fun too :D I recently did the grip tape stripes on my floor like you did after slipping around with wet feet getting in and out of the bug.
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Looks like it was another great event.
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Last weekend I was digging through a guy's Volkswagen parts collection when he showed me these. Wouldn't take a penny for them, but they'll display quite well with the car :)
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8043/8...d5750788_b.jpg -Dave |
Dunno if you have ever looked at the skid plate that came on the Thing, or Safari.
It is more of a cage than a plate. Always thought that the air moving under the car across the sump was helpful for cooling... Maybe something like that would be helpful. Top build. Thanks for taking the time to post this all up. |
The operating temperature of my setup is heavily influenced by air temperature, skid plate, traveling speed and/or oil cooler ducting. One downside of my situation is that I haven't built an absolute race car, nor have I built a street car. The setup is initially quite sensitive to air temperature, and flow through the duct over the oil cooler. I'm starting to get a good feeling for the relationship between the two, and thus have different 'block-off-plates' for the duct opening in the side window. Once I mounted the skid plate, however, the block-off plates became unnecessary as the engine runs hotter and thus becomes fully controllable (temperature wise) by the oil cooler and fan combo. The hot summer days we got at the end of August, however, were causing oil temps of 240 when I was really pushing it. I anticipate I'm going to want a couple of skid plate options available to use. A solid plate, whenever possible for maximum protection, and a second plate with more airflow for the hotter days. Going into winter, though, I think I'm going to need to look at installing an oil-tank heater to speed cold weather warmup!
And, speaking of warmup, I started working on dialing in some items for winter today. The stock heater linkages were interfering with the Kafer bar setup, so the first job was under the car to shift things around, bend a bit of the stock heater linkage and confirm it all worked. No photos, as I think I've put enough of that area in this thread already! Following that, it was onto the gas heater where I simply had to adjust the ducting, and add some foam to try and stop the cold air blowing around the ducts into my lap. The air-conditioning was nice in the summer, but it's getting a little chilly in the mornings now! You might, at this stage, think I've got more then enough heat in the car...and you're probably right. I've had my racing seats in my daily driver for the last 9 years, and ever since I popped them into my Audi I've missed the heated seats. I always thought about putting elements into the racing buckets, but it almost seems like blasphemy. A few weeks ago, when I was on the Fall Freeze, I was thinking about how nice heated seats would be on a sore back, and how much I loved it driving home from skiing. I suppose the 3500km in two weekends helped me remember what a sore back was like! As luck would have it, a friend Geoff was selling some heated seat kits when I returned home. Well, why not? But first, we must do a temporary install on one seat to see if I really want to do this... http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8048/8...3620db77_c.jpg The elements were laid into the seat for initial trimming. On this first install, I'm going to install them behind the padding instead of right under the cover like a traditional seat. Traditional seat covers, whether fabric or leather, are usually fairly heavy. The covers on my race seats are almost t-shirt thin. The foam padding, before you sit on it and compress it, is only about 1/4-3/8" thick...so I believe the heat should pass through. If I get a bit of warmth, but not good and hot, I'll try the elements right under the cover. But for now, this temporary fitting requires no holes sewn. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8194/8...041f2ffb_c.jpg This probably isn't FIA approved...but the switch is convenient to reach, and subtle enough to not be noticed. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8335/8...9718af4b_z.jpg I thought this would be funny to post. Not my usual wiring standard! Since this is a temporary test, I left the kit wiring harness intact. If I decide to keep the warmers, I'll trim the harness down to it's bare minimum, mount it to the seat frame properly and put in a nice connector. At the moment I wired the seat heater into the reverse light circuit, since the relay right behind the driver's seat and I can go without for a day. Tomorrow morning should give me a good test to see if I'll keep 'em. -Dave |
You know, once you kick that on during a particularly cold morning it's not coming out of the bug right? ;) I really miss heated seats and that is a must have for my new project.
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