A few weeks ago I was doing my usual bi-weekly parts run to AVR Import Specialties, hanging out and chatting with my friend Rob (the 'R' in AVR). We were going over the list of items left on the car, and prepping the order schedule based on how quickly I thought I would get there. Rob's often watching out for sales from his suppliers, or trying to stay a step ahead of me on the parts list. Often I'll text him to say "can you add X" to my shelf, only to get "was already there" back. As we went through the list, Rob asked me a question I had been dreading for weeks. "What are you going to run for an exhaust?"

I have a bad habit of always leaving the exhaust system to the end, and usually as an afterthought. I cut my career teeth working for Vibrant Performance, an exhaust manufacturer based out of Toronto. It's just ingrained in me to not worry about the exhaust and make something at end of a project. Well, Vibrant was over seven years ago for me...and they don't make any Beetle exhausts! Rob and I started chatting about all the options, and price points, and then he asked me if I had seen the Vintage Speed systems. AVR just started carrying the line, and so far they've been stoked on everything they've brought in. There wasn't an exhaust in stock, but he piqued my interest for sure. Then Rob offered me the contact information for Mr. Lee, and suggested I show him the project. Well...less then 18 hours later I had a reply from Mr. Lee, and in three days I had two boxes arrive on my doorstep.

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Now, I could tell you as an enthusiast that in person they are incredible. But as a person who used to evaluate systems for a living, these systems are phenominal. The workmanship is so far and beyond anything else I've seen for a VW, it's incredible. Hand TIG welded as well. Take a look at the detail photos:
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As I'm planning on using heater boxes, the system ships with these flanges, that you can either weld to the heater boxes or use with factory clamps.
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Now, you may have missed the fact that I said two boxes arrived to my doorstep. Vintage Speed and I discussed my current engine setup, and the engine setup I plan on running after my dry-sump pump is ready. The Sport Muffler was the obvious choice for the current setup, but would my new build benefit from using the Superflow muffler? Normally it's reserved for larger displacements then mine, but I'll be running high-revs for long sustained periods. "Well," he said, "why don't you try both and decide which works better for your setup." And so, sitting in my living room distracting me from work all day were two incredible exhaust systems!

But to get the motor in, I've got to take care of some more details. First up was the breather system. I spent a bit of time on the phone with Darren from KROC cylinder heads, and decided that I'm going to try venting the case, cylinder head 1/2 and not cylinder head 3/4. I had 3/4 vented previously, but I'm shortening my lines significantly and worry about filling the breather with oil. Instead of a breather I'm going to go with a drain from the head back down to the sump. Darren was great for sorting out what and how to do it now, so that I wouldn't need to change as much when the dry-sump system arrives. Crankcase breather, now tee'd for 1 valve cover and the case. I'll redo the fittings with my final engine, this is just what I had lying around. The lower hose is terminated just inside the fender area, all it does is allow me to drain the tank if needed.
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Fuel regulator is in with more Russell fittings and hose. I'm going to leave the outlet hose as factory cloth until the new carbs are installed, at which time I'll move everything over to Russell fittings and lines.
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I think I'm getting addicted to them actually ;-) Here's the -3AN line I'm using for the remote oil pressure sender.
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Fast forward a whole bunch of time later, and we have an engine installed with an exhaust system. The engine took a few hours, and the exhaust system took less then 20min. It's such a rare experience with this build to have something that just bolted right up the first time! I am also pleased to report that our home-made clutch cable bits and the shortest factory clutch cable seem to have given me a working clutch. Well, the feel at the pedal is "right", so hopefully that equates to working when I get to drive it.
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Its far from being ready to start though. I need to run oil lines, breather lines, make a 3/4 head drain, swap out the oil filter mount and THEN I'll be ready to start it. Closer, but still a long way to go!

I did finally solve a question tonight that I haven't been able to answer since I first discovered it. My e-brake cables were much too long for the car, as are the heater control cables. So much so that I can't hook up either without modifications. When I told Rob, he was surprised as they haven't had any issues on the shop restorations...which use the exact same parts! Sitting in the car, as well, there is something "odd" and "wrong" with the way it feels. I thought maybe I was using the passenger seat and it was setup on the mounts differently, but that wasn't it. Then today, it finally dawned on me. I think 1973 is the year they moved the e-brake handle and assorted bits further back in the car? I started with a '73 pan, but as I welded '71 style pans into it I always just tell Rob the car is 100% '71. Whoops.

I have to say, the two best modifications I've done to the car so far is the removable rear apron, and the "weber doors". The combination of both made the engine install so easy. You can reach everything!! I will never take a bug to paint without doing both of these...well, unless it's a factory resto. Then, and only then, will I drop the weber doors. The removable apron though, that's a given!

-Dave

Exhaust looks amazing! Just had a browse at their competition exhaust too and wondering if they could incorporate a cat...

Wow,

Your project is coming together great...

Enjoy your thread.. Helps keep me going even if at the current time can't work on mine..

Can't wait to see some video of your girl in action..
Alex

Well, that didn't last long.

The motor is coming out!!

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Back last year when I was researching dry sump systems and options for the Type 1 beetle, I evaluated as many different options of Dry Sump pump as possible. Most people using a dry sump setup in a bug are Drag Racing, so there was very little information out there regarding daily-driver and race style setups. When I could find information, all of it was clear...the Bugpack pump was reliable and long lasting. Issues were non-existent (as far as the internet was concerned), which these days is a pretty positive indicator! What sealed the deal, however, was the Huebbe brothers in St. Louis. Here are two guys who have been rallying a Beetle for years in the US. Mark and John's dry sump system uses the Bugpack pump, which was what sealed the deal for me. The fact that they just won their class at the WRC Mexico event using the pump is icing on the cake!

Rick at Bugpack was pretty excited about my car when I showed him the photos, he was clear it would be a while before the next run of Dry Sump pumps were ready, but he wanted to help me out and ship one up to Canada as soon as they were. With the Spring Thaw coming in less then 40 days, I figured I would dry sump the car after the event...not wanting to setup a new system so close to an event. So, as we all know, I installed the motor last night...the whole top half was ready to go. Today, however, John my friendly UPS driver showed up claiming "gee, more car parts! What a surprise."

You wouldn't actually expect me to sit around for a month knowing the dry sump pump was in house!?!

So, first it was off with the exhaust...then the crank pulley, then the tin and finally the oil pump.
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The Bugpack pump has two stages, one scavenge and one pressure stage. The gears are huge on both, and the scavenge stage allows you to choose from two setups. You can either use the factory pickup (in which case you plug one port as I have) or use an external pickup such as Autocraft unit. In this case you would plug the internal pickup hole in the pump, and attach your external feed to the port I've plugged. Just in case, for archival purposes, you can't use both the internal pickup and the external port at the same time (for example scavenging crankcase via factory pickup and a valve cover via external port). If you do, as soon as one of them sucks air the other pickup won't pull anything.
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So moving from left to right we have Inlet from the tank in furthest from the case, blocked port not used near the case. On the Left side there is pressure side out furthest from the case, scavenge back to the tank next to the case. The Russell fitting is my pressure return back into the case (after passing through a filter and the oil cooler).

I've sized up all the oil lines needed for the pump install, and will make those tomorrow. Technically that would be it, I could put the exhaust back on get ready for the next part of the project. But halfway through the day, after he saw the photo of the pump I sent him, Rob was calling me with some crazy ideas. Looks like the motor is coming right out of the car! :D

...anyone want to buy a Powdercoated Red shroud? Used for 24 hours, never run :P

-Dave

Holy crap, that exhaust is gorgeous!!!

Based on these pics, your report of how good the company is Dave and other bits and pieces I have read, I'm definitely putting a Vintage Speed exhaust on my shopping list. It's just decisions on which one to have!

Yeah, I can't wait to hear it! Will have to fire up some video for sure.

Well, it's been a long weekend of ups and downs...but progress is certainly happening. Friday I finally cleaned out the car and the garage enough to get it on it's wheels for the first time. It was a good moment, quickly followed by the realization that it was going to be a bad moment. The 300lb springs that I selected are _waaaay_ soft. The car was lowered dry with no engine, no seats, no doors and only one piece of glass. The rear suspension still sags through half of it's travel. Bumping the preload up gains a bit, but they're very clearly too soft. Initially this wouldn't seem like a big issue, I mean they're coilovers...buy another set and swap them in! That's the whole idea. Problem, though, is that I'm already tight for clearance. Each heavier spring will be thicker, and thus cut down on my clearance. Will see what the rally shop has for springs that can be borrowed for static rate testing. I'm going to lower the front a few inches and see if I can find a happy summer setup for testing and actually dialing in the suspension on the car. Too early to panic, but late enough to realize I have a bunch of work ahead of me!
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With car on the ground, and tonne of sunny weather for the weekend, I realized it would be the perfect day for a drive. Hmmm, can't drive the car. So, trailer it!
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Okay, well, that isn't the full story. I actually the car back down to Chilliwack to GLI Autoworks. Lorne and Gerry have been storing the doors for me while I work on the car, and I've been waiting for the rain to stop long enough to get the car down there. While they mounted the doors, Art from AVR brought out "the magic rope" and helped Rob and I to install the rear window. The front windshield was popped in almost before I noticed, and things were just trucking along. It was team affair as we installed seals, chrome trim and the vent windows...mostly done by Lorne and Rob if I'm honest...but I did a good job of stealing spare parts from their personal garages and the shop to replace stuff that I've lost in the shuffle :D Rob and I finished the door latches by heading to their family farm to 'borrow' more parts from the company parts cars. With it getting dark I hit the road for the 2.5 hour drive home.
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Today I started by finishing off the doors. I can officially state that I hate U-Channel felt. I've hated it for some time, if I'm honest, but always thought it was because the '69 one-piece windows used iffy aftermarket felt. Nope. I think U-Channel felt just sucks in general. I'm sure there is a trick to getting it all nice and even, without looking like a wavy boat, but after longer then I care to admit I decided to accept it for now. You can only remove and reinstall it so many times before you wish for a convertible! I finally remembered how to get the glass back in, and the regulators are...um...acceptable. I'll be scouring swap meets this year for a good pair of used regulators. To his credit, Rob told me to wait until I had a good pair of used ones! Door panels come in this week, and when they do I will do the plastic on the doors and finish them up.
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With the doors as finished as I can make them, and my fingers raw from all those stupid clips and stuff, I figured I would go back to prepping the engine and car for some power. Oil filter adapter has been replaced, which seems like nothing mentionable...except all the interior oil lines are finally 100% finished.
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Russell fittings had a fuel bulkhead fitting (670860) that ships with two teflon washers and a lock nut. On the '69 I used barbed fittings and standard rubber hose for the valve cover vents, and it was always a pain. Fitting the valve cover for AN fittings, though, was definitely an afterthought on my part. Found this fitting at my local auto parts store, and sure enough it works no problem. I'll need to run the engine around the clock once I have a crank pulley back on, but with #1 at TDC the fitting is clearing the valve springs/rocker/etc. And hey, if it ends up interfering...I'll just cut it down :P
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Before I went down for the doors, Rob and I were talking about the list of things I needed to get the car running and how that differed from the list of things I needed to finish the car. After counting the number of engine pulls I was planning Rob put together a bit of a surprise pack when I arrived at the shop. That plan about pulling the motor later for carbs? Yeah, lets just do that now.
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So my late afternoon / evening was spent pulling the carbs down and blasting out the passages...then reassembling. The engine was stripped, and my "Salzburg" style shroud installed. I keep looking at it knowing it's just such a quick hack job, but everything I've seen/read about the factory cars was the same. I'm torn on it for now, but could re-do it down the road. Warwick was working on his mini and just laughed at me. "When the engine is the in the car, you're never going to notice" Hmmmmm....
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Having never done a hex-linkage before, man is there a tonne of little parts eh?! I did have to shorten the hex bar a little, which I knew was a possibility. A quick zip over to my buddies lathe and I was back on track...I thought. As soon as I had the length right I discovered it interferes with the Alternator strap. Had I left the strap stock, no problem, but the powder coating added *just* enough to the piece that the hex shaft was hitting it. A quick trip back to the lathe and I've got it clearing.
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Still have some work to do before it's ready to pop back into the car...but I'm starting to feel like I can see a finish line ahead.
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-Dave

Man this thing is getting close:)

I have some 550lb/in springs if you want to test fit them.
2.5" Diameter 8" long. Are you running a rear sway bar as well?

Oh that would rock! Could I swing by on Tuesday or Wednesday (eve) to borrow them?

I will be running a sway bar, but I haven't installed it yet. I wanted to get the spring rate close, and then put the bar on.

Txt me at 604 849 0076 if that's easier?

-Dave

YA wish i could be making this much progress on my super! lol.

@vw 1303? any new progress on your car?

So when I went to the shop tonight I thought to myself "I'm going to get the engine back in"...heh heh, yeah right. I started off by taking care a couple of details, and they snowballed and snowballed until all I had done was deal with details. The problem with details, is they take so freaking LONG!!!

First up, was mounting the coil. Should be simple, but the fuel-pump block off plate I'm using isn't flat. That left an angled gap right around the center of the photo below. Technically the hole doesn't matter, as the case is sealed by the gasket and plate...but should it fill with dirt and crap it could get into the case if I ever remove the plate:
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Eventually I determined a grommet would take up the space and ensure that a good seal was made. With that, the coil project was done.
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So up next, I trimmed engine tin to fit around the pump. Just a 'slight' bit of trimming required :P
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With that, I moved onto oil-tank cut-off valve. For whatever reason I had always planned on mounting this below the car, even though it would be incredibly annoying. I was having difficulty deciding where exactly to put it, so I asked Mark Huebbe to send me a photo of his. He's got a Beetle that he rallies in the Rally America series. As soon as I saw his placement it was like a bell went off. Why didn't I think of putting it in the engine bay!?!
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The valve, fittings and line are all very close or touching the tin. I am concerned about the potential heat factor and was thinking of possible solutions when it dawned on me. Vibrant Performance recently started carrying a new line of thermal products, so surely they would have something that would work? A quick phone call, even though it was 11:30pm, and I should have the required stuff coming by mail tomorrow. Gotta love good connections! Getting this to fit correctly required pulling off the pulley tin, yet again. I think that was probably the fifth time this evening alone. The worst part is I will still need to take the whole motor down to the point where I can take off the cylinder tins...in order to install a bolt for mounting the valve! I think I'm going to get lucky on the feed line, though, as I should be able to use the factory hole for the reverse lights to pass the oil line through from the tank to the valve. I'll confirm as soon as the engine gets remounted in the car...if not, another bulkhead will go in near the right-side carb.
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I then moved on to the breather system. I mounted up my second breather tank, removed all the lines and fittings from the first tank and then started reworking the whole system. Once I had it about halfway ready, I realized that I really needed to raise the one breather by about a half inch. With it already touching the top of my firewall, that wasn't going to be a simple task! Yet another detail to find a solution to...
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With my new resized filter, everything fits exactly how I had imagined it in my head. Full sized filter on the right, shortened filter on the left.
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Breather line for the tank was then added through the firewall, and now the system is ready for the engine install. I should be able to disconnect the breathers easily with a stubby wrench, but I'll need to get the engine in to be sure. Add another item to the "check this" list!
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Somewhere in the middle of all this I found myself sitting in the back of the car, probably tightening up a fitting or two, and realized that I could pop in a fuel filter and finish the fuel connections by the frame horn while I was there. Fuel system is now connected from the tank all the way to the regulator. No photos, it's just a filter ziptied to the speed sensor bracket!

It was about this point in the late evening that I realized I should begin tearing the motor back down. The garage, however, is a complete disaster with tools everywhere. I took a step back, thought about where to start tidying up, and then realized that would make a far better lunch-break project tomorrow during the work day. Besides, it was midnight and I still hadn't eaten dinner! I'll clean up the shop at lunch, and then be ready to start fresh at the end of the work day. Carbs off, motor in, oil-lines and breather lines completed. That's the goal for tomorrow...bonus points if I get the carbs back on :P

-Dave

You sir are a chieftain. Perhaps borderline crazy but the results are paying off :D Cutting down the filter is pure madness and a proper engineering solution.

Between you and Ricola a new benchmark is set for beetles

Thank you for the kind comment. I never set out to be this detailed, but it kinda grows on you. Once you start, you can't stop! I think I'm way past borderline crazy though, I've definitely hit certifiably insane :D

Started off this evening by stripping off the bolt-on oil sump (Good Riddance!!) and returning the pickup/cover to factory spec. I was considering tearing the whole motor down to get to the cylinder tins when I realized there wasn't enough room between the tin and the head fins for a bolt head anyhow. I really shouldn't be allowed to powdercoat my tin...I grind, cut and weld on it _after_ powdercoating! :P I'm pretty sure I'll be able to put the heat-shielding in while the motor is in the car, so I'm not going to wait around for it to arrive.
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I had to wait around a bit to get a hand lifting the motor off the stand (the one thing I can't do solo). So in the meantime, I prepped the oil lines. Thankfully I was planning ahead when I had the motor in the car the first time, and had pre-measured the lines. I also made notes about where I would need heat shielding or other protection. So basically I just had to follow my own instruction sheet! The heat shielding is relatively obvious, but the other shield is simply left-over Flextech from the wiring harness. These two lines pass really close to a number of electrical connections so my hope is that this will keep them from rubbing through anything.
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Once the motor was on the ground, I wasted no time in getting it into the car. I then wasted no time getting the motor OUT of the car, so that I could install the forward tin piece :P The motor then made its way back into the car. Fortunately I hadn't bolted it in the first time!

The oil lines quickly followed the engine install. I ran the scavenge and pressure-out lines like I had them on my '69, below the exhaust pipe. The feed back into the engine goes between the two exhaust pipes. I did some head measurements on the '69 with the temp gun and this routing should be fine with the heat wrap in place. I'm thinking I may end up cutting the other two lines shorter to run them to though here as well, to keep them from hanging low. Will sleep on it (eventually!) to decide what to do. The photo does make it look far worse then it is, they hang about 1" lower then the heater box.
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With the motor in I began making the rest of the crankcase breather lines. My spool of Russell -8AN line was getting to be very short, and I was starting to think I was going to run out of line. The crankcase lines are quite tight in a number of spots...and I won't lie, dropping the engine is going to be a bit annoying with all the oil and breather connections to deal with.
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At this stage I was about to call my night a success, finishing all my goals, when I realized I had missed one line. There was still no oil-tank-to-firewall breather line....but there was no oil line material left in the box! All I had was about a 12" section on the floor, the final scrap. Unbelievably, it was 1/2" longer then I needed. One cut and a couple of fittings and the lines are done! Sixty-Five fittings, adapters or hose-ends make up the entire oil and breather system on the car. Popped the right-side carb on the engine to confirm all my lines clear, not quite sure how the ignition wires are going to work, but I'll solve that problem tomorrow.
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-Dave

If I could make a suggestion, if you'll be pulling the motor several times you should install quick-release sleeves on your oil and fuel lines to keep everything clean when you have to pull the engine for maintenance, etc. Kind of like this, similar to an air fitting line on your compressor:

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Today I zipped down to see Erik (vw1303) to borrow the heavier springs he offered for testing some spring rates. Since I was halfway there, I also zipped out to AVR for a coffee (thanks Vic!) and to pickup some more parts. Outside of a few odds-and-ends, and the final rear spring choice, I think I finally have everything I need to finish the car!
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I was absolutely bagged from the past week and hours of driving, but once I woke up from the couch I did my mandatory hour in the garage. Got the carbs on, the linkage in, electrical and fuel lines hooked up before I ran into a problem. CB Performance lists on their website "This pulley will clear all dry-sump oil pumps." What they forgot to mention, however, is that you may not be able to install the fan belt on all oil pumps. Sigh.
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Okay, so not a huge deal in the shop. Pop the pulley off, slide the belt on and reinstall. As a roadside repair that means waiting for the pulley to cool, hoping you can wiggle it off and reinstalling...not ideal. Will have to check to see if different belt manufacturers use a thinner belt design. Will definitely be getting a serpentine belt system though!

-Dave

I considered fluid-break fittings, but have you priced out the good ones lately? I think I can turn a wrench a few times until my bank account starts to recover ;-)

In other news, I started to tackle the last dry-sump issue (I hope). The BugPack pump is long enough that standard exhaust systems won't fit, but a few cuts later...and it fits like a charm.
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Hopefully I can get one of the guys at the Rallyshop to TIG weld it back up for me this weekend. Still deciding on whether I'm going to wrap the muffler or not, it's still pretty close to the oil pump heat-wise.

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On the fan belt side of things, I opted to just pop the pulley off this time and mount the belt. I've only every had one fail, on a car I bought with a ratty belt, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't plan for the possibility while I wait for a serpentine setup. Not sure what the plan is at the moment, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. Can't turn the pulley down (belt rides right on it's outside edge) and can't machine the oil pump. The solution might be as simple as trimming a few teeth off a belt and taking it easy until the hotel. Not elegant, but it's such a remote possibility I'm not sure another solution is required.

Moving to the interior for a change of pace, I popped on the rear interior panels and started on the cover for my access hole. Really not happy with it at the moment, I wanted to avoid a million bolts holding it down, but the seal I've used is so thick it distorts with the few bolts I've used. Might go back to the drawing board on this one.
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And then it was back to the engine...I finally got around to buying high-flow heater boxes, though I will admit to buying the cheaper version. At this point saving dollars wherever possible is a good thing, and Rob and I figured I've fabricated enough at this point that I could fix any issues I encounter. First up was removing the flanges off the one end.
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...I think I found the dollar savings :P A few tweaks and I was able to get the brackets working. One on, one to go!
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-Dave

Started off by making the pieces to patch up the clearance hole I made in the exhaust. A friend at Rocket Rally is going to TIG weld the pieces in for me, and if I'm lucky he won't need to use any filler rod. Here's hoping my parts are a tight enough fit!
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No problems at all with the second heater box...though I did manage to bolt it all up to the car before I realized that I forgot to cut the flange off the rear-end. Oops! Fortunately a sawzall made quick work of the flange and I'm ready for the muffler when it comes back from welding.
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While I was under the car, I took the time to swap in the springs that Eric loaned me. They're a 550lb spring, but about 1.5" shorter then the 300lb springs I removed. Lowered to the ground, after a rough pre-load adjustment, the 550's sit about the right height for a "stock setup". The length of Eric's springs do let me max out the suspension height, but I'd be at the absolute limit of of the coil over threads. They have, however, served the exact purpose I needed, which was to figure out a starting point. I'll need to buy a longer length in 550, and I intend to do some crunch math tomorrow to determine the wheel rate on the car and why I was so far off with the 300's.
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With the rear sorted, I figured I should adjust the front a little.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7128/7...22fcf1ac_z.jpg

Nothing really special here, just a 1" 'lowering spring' which should probably get me to the ride height I wanted to start with. Again, the whole purpose of running standard-type springs up front is to give myself some resemblance of a starting point that I could work from for matching up the rear.
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So here is the car sitting on the ground "dry". There's no fuel, oil, belts, seats, apron or decklid. But it does have all the glass, engine, etc. Sitting dry it's a great "rally height", which means wet I should end up a little closer to a street height. That also tells me that wet, I have some latitude for getting it up higher. I mean, it's all speculation at this point but it feels way better seeing it sit in a way I was expecting instead of scratching my head figuring out what the heck I messed up.
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I figured I would end on a good note, and called it a night. LOTS of little jobs to accomplish this weekend, as well as that big job of lower shock mounts to be done at some point. I'm using outside help on that one, so I'll just work on knocking down the to-do list over the next two days.

-Dave

Today started off as a bit of an odds-and-ends days. I was working on the heater box cable linkage when I got the call that Nick was over at the rally shop. I loaded up the wheels and tires that have been in on the car, and took care of flipping the tires around (so the overspray from previous paint job doesn't show) as well as solve the slow leak in two of them. Rusty rims were attacked by the wire wheel and all seems to be holding air now. Not that I plan to use these wheels and tires, but so far Lorne hasn't had time to dig up the rims I'm getting from him and tire-company-which-will-remain-unnamed hasn't jumped on board with some fresh shoes for the car. So, for the moment, it will have to hang out on these.

I also mounted up one of the spare 15" snow tires I have kicking around. By law where I live you have to be running snows (or carry chains) until April 30th, so when I get the car on the road I'm going to need something for while I'm out doing shakedown runs. A 195/55/15 looks hilarious on a 4" rim...but not exactly safe. Will have to see what else I have hiding in the tire and wheel collection. Might be time to break out the original German Sprintstars!

While I was playing with tires, Nick was welding my exhaust (and swearing my name). I guess the only stainless I could get in town was causing him fits as it was a bit thin. Good thing he's had my sandblasting cabinet for six months...otherwise I might owe him an even bigger favour :P With the exhaust welded up, tires ready, and the heater box cables hooked up I then moved on to sorting out the other "under car" items I need to deal with. The starter was wired up, one transmission leak was "solved" and another mysterious leak found...but still mysterious. I'm getting a clear-yellow fluid with no smell weeping down the side of the transmission it takes over a week to form any thing even close to a drop-sized amount on the bottom of the transmission. It would seem to be coming from the reverse switch seal, as that portion is wet but not immediately above it. The weird part, though, is the transmission fluid is red...and this doesn't smell at all like trans fluid. My initial thought was brake fluid, but all the fittings and lines on the rear are dry. Very odd.

Leaving that alone, it was time to hook up the heat between the engine and the body. The '71 came to me with these terrible black plastic units which obviously won't fit with all the stuff I've crammed in under the car, so I began stripping it down to it's core to determine what I might be able to build to suit the purpose.
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I was thinking of taking the plastic core, and simply wrapping it in heat wrap, when I found stainless steel corrugated pipe in one of my many parts bins. Dad had given these to me years ago when I bought the '69 (and promptly stole as many parts from him as possible). I remember him mentioning that he used to use similar stuff in the engine bay for heater tubes. (Must have been those whacky 80's). For what I needed though, they'd be perfect.
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I didn't want to leave them just as the bare metal, as I do know that the airflow right out of the heater boxes can be incredibly hot. No need to risk melting any wiring when I have a spare roll of exhaust wrap kicking around. Finished heater duct, ready for install:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7052/6...f46843fb_c.jpg

While I had the exhaust wrap out, I took the time to wrap the portion of the muffler that close to the oil-pump. I definitely didn't want to wrap the muffler, as this stuff retains moisture and frays, and looks like crap after a while...but at the same time I'm so close to the oil pump I think anything I can do to help with heat is a good idea. I'll get rid of the hose clamps once I figure out where I put my stainless safety wire.
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I figured that mounting up the exhaust was going to be a breeze, but then discovered a problem I hadn't thought of. When I ordered the exhaust with Vintage Speed I was running standard heater boxes, but after seeing the quality knew I just had to uprate them to high-flow boxes. The problem was that Vintage Speed had sent me the flanges I originally requested, which were for stock sized pipes. A few cuts with the angle grinder, about 6 on-and-off fittings of the muffler, a little welding...a bunch of grinding...and I had flanges mounted to my heater boxes.
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Muffler and rear tin installed:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7061/7...53733a68_b.jpg

...and with the rear apron and heater hoses:
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I have to say, I am soooo stoked on the body modifications I did. Between the firewall move, the Weber doors, access panel and the removable apron I can't pick my favourite...they are all so awesome. I can't believe I worked on the '69 for so long without any of these mods. I don't think I could own a modified Beetle without them now. That month of cutting, welding and grinding was 100% worth it! Case in point, I pulled the plugs to prep the car for building oil pressure. Took me 30 seconds, and one long spark plug extension. True, I have the wheels off so it's easier, but that would have been a bear of a job without the weber doors.

Where were we? Oh right, oil pressure. Well, for whatever reason I decided to prime the fuel pumps first. 10L of fuel went into the car (no leaks!), but my fuel pump wiring isn't working as planned. Pump one is working fine, but doesn't shut down without a tach signal as it should. Pump two has an issue at the switch, which is new as I know I had the pump working when I was testing the dash. Regardless, #1 was pumping away and I was working on solving number two when I realized it was getting really smelly in the garage. "Hmmm, has the fuel gotten to the back already?" I could hear air bubbles working their way out of the system as I walked back, only to realize that no...those are airbubbles being worked out of the #4 intake runner as the left-side carb pukes fuel everywhere.

Yeah, float level? Not so correct.

With that fixed, I have a surprisingly well-sealed fuel system! The fuel tank breather still needs finishing (just an 8" hose at the moment) but otherwise it's leak free.

I filled up the oil tank, oil filter and tossed a litre in the case-sump to help prime the scavenge stage of the system. I started priming the oil system and realized a few things. First off, this was going to take a while due to all the lines...and secondly, if you're contemplating a 901 swap...do the starter modification now before you install it. My starter doesn't engage the teeth properly every time, so until I mill .100" off the front face of the starter I'm going to sound like a jalopy every few startups!

Priming the oil system sucks. On a stock 1600 build you might have to hold the key for a total of 30 seconds to prime the pump and the engine...but I have like 30ft of oil lines and accessories. This isn't going to go quickly! The whole time that poor motor and its bearings are riding on assembly lube and/or oil-film. I usually begin by undoing the outlet on the oil pump so that I can go in 10sec bursts until oil is being pushed out the pump. Then I attach the pressure line, and disconnect it at the next fitting. Again running the engine in short bursts until I can see oil. I do this at every fitting, every stage, for the whole oil system. Things like the accusump and oil cooler are disconnected (and their fittings capped) until I can reliably build oil pressure. It takes forever, but at least I can check each fitting for leaks as I go.

About an hour ago I finally built up pressure in the engine with everything but the Accusump lines attached. With it being so late, I figured that my neighbours would probably appreciate me packing up for the night and installing the plugs tomorrow. I have to run down to Vancouver at some point, but hopefully I will still have time to shoot a video of it firing up. Not bad for seven months work!

-Dave

This forum needs more build threads! ;-)

Alright, where was I? Oh right, Saturday night I went to bed with the oil system primed. I slept in a bit on Sunday, then headed down to the shop to fire things up. I had to button up the top half of the motor, and deal with a few little issues, but soon the time came to turn the key for the first time. I held by breath, pumped the accelerator twice and promptly ground the starter gear into the flywheel.

Crap.

I am fully aware of the issue that the starter only engages about 1/3 of the flywheel teeth width, but other porsche-box swappers seemed to have neglected to report the fact that this means you'll likely be grinding the starter on a number of attempts to start. Okay, mental note...pull starter so that material can be milled off the face. I turned the key a few more times before it finally launched itself into mesh, and the motor fired right up!

There is that moment of elation, where you realize it's finally happening, you're close to driving, you blip the throttle twice (always twice...why is that?), walk to the back of the car and see a nice puddle of synthetic forming on the floor…
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Turns out I forgot to tighten one of the oil lines which is close to the exhaust, almost impossible to get a wrench into...but after a few choice words I managed to get it tightened up.
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I fired the car back up again, with the intention of letting it warm up enough to start bringing the oil up to temperature, and shoot a video of the car actually running. I couldn't quite place it, but the engine "sounds funny". It's got a strange hollow sound to it, and there was definitely more noise to the engine then I think there should be. Problem is the bottom end hasn't been touched, so it should be fine...unless I managed to flatten the cam while priming the oil system? Either way, I had to leave the car as is and run some company errands for Classic Car Adventures. On the way to Vancouver I called Mark Huebbe in Missouri and talked with him about his dry-sump engine, which is the closest in setup to mine as I can find. No strange noises from his, and certainly no 'hollow" sound. He's run his dry of oil a few times, and the bearings (checked months later) always look perfectly fine...so he did calm me down a little!

When I returned to the car, I figured I would ignore the engine momentarily and instead work towards getting the rest of it ready. I was planning on an alignment Tuesday, so started working on the rear suspension. Through a series of strings, measurements, 3D modelling and lots of scribbles on cardboard I thought I was getting a good grasp of the rear suspension alignment. Math was never my strong point in school, so sorting this out was one of the more challenging aspects of my build! By Sunday bed time I figured I had the rear end either somewhat close...or so far off it was to be laughable.
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Monday started with a 4am run across the border to grab some parts I had shipped to Blake, back in time for work. Warwick had also returned home on Monday, so while he was gearing up for working on the Mini I figured it was a good time to get a second ear listening to the engine. From the very beginning I figured it was my mind playing tricks on me, and that fear of destroying something while priming it. I honestly think I get this every time I setup a new build! I fired it up, grinding the starter a few times in the process, and Warwick confirmed that it "doesn't sound bad at all. A little 'clackety', but not 'gonna blow up tomorrow' bad". Hmmm, clackety is probably the valve adjustment. Duck an ear into the fender and sure enough 1/2 is sounding quite loud. I did a quick valve adjustment, even though things were a little warm at this point, and as soon as I did all sounded normal. Ah yes, 24 hours of torture because I can't remember what a Volkswagen should sound like!

The odd part is that I was sure I checked the valves on #1 while it was on the stand. If I _did_, then I most likely have an issue where the cam is going flat or similar. But I do know for a fact that I did not do a valve adjustment on all four, and even said to myself "I might as well do that when it's in the car"...so there is a very good chance they were just "in need" and there were no problems. Will have to adjust them cold, and then keep track if they are changing at all.

With that, I moved onto swapping out the springs. I picked up a set of Eibach 550’s in an 8” length, an they’re a perfect fit.
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Yesterday was Alignment Day…or so I hoped. I did drive the car out of the garage and onto the trailer, which I have to be honest brought a huge smile to my face. It came off the trailer and onto the rack with no drama. OK Tire in Squamish was pretty incredible about the whole thing. I explained the issues with the rear end, and he agreed to three setup and alignments charged at the end based on the time it took the boys. We would need to measure, then take the car home to change the rear end, measure again (thus giving me a baseline of “two turns equals X degrees) and then go home for a final measurement change.

Off to the gas station for the first time!
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Once I got the car on the rack it was apparent that the first thing I would need to do is fix the fuel leak :D Fortunately it was a quick hose clamp, for the gas heater and NOT the one found buried under the tank!

Grant at OK Tire called me about 30min after I dropped it off to say “come and get it”. The rear end was so far out it would have to come home. -2.2deg of camber on the left side, -0.8 on the right. 0.18deg positive toe on the left, 0.30deg of negative toe on the right. Well shoot, I didn’t even realize camber was that adjustable on the rear, how would I fix that!?!

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Thankfully Bruce Tweddle’s post on TheSamba was readily available on my iPad, and the camber adjustment was easy enough. I dialed in back end of the car over lunch, and brought it back at the end of the day. We tossed it up on the rack and found that I had fixed the left side, but gone way too far on the right. That’s when Grant came through with the best news ever. “I don’t have another car booked on the rack, if it won’t take too long just fix it here.”

We jacked up the rear, pulled the tires and in less then ten minutes we had adjusted and checked the suspension twice. I’ve got .06deg negative toe on both sides, and -1deg of camber on both sides. I left the guys to dial in the front, but thankfully caught them before they had finished the camber adjustment. The factory spec calls for .2 to .8 positive camber! Uh yeah, sorry guys but I’m not doing that! We dialed in a half degree negative and I’ll see how that works out.

…and that’s where it sits right now. I can’t drive it because I still need to tune the carbs, and fix the lower shock mounts on the rear. The 50ft between the trailer and my driveway were quite exciting though. My shifter setup works perfect for going from dogleg 1st to 2nd without catching reverse, but that’s about all I can report.

- The starter grinds
- The clutch feels HORRIBLE (needs additional return springs for sure)
- The throwout bearing is noisy (oh weee, another engine pull)
- …and I think I found a few other issues. But hey…

IT DRIVES!!!

Also had to dial in a few things for weatherproofing the car (it was raining yesterday). So Monday night saw the addition of the engine deck lid, some ducting for the oil cooler, door handles and a few other odds-and-ends.

I kinda wish I could run without a license plate! Mounting the decklid did reveal an item I forgot to pre-plan for. The license plate light has no wiring, and no where to connect it! Whoops.
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With the plate installed. The plate sits on ¾” spacers to allow for airflow. You can see the green tape in the corners, I can’t find a way to adjust the decklid so it doesn’t hit here. Might just use 3M stoneguard to protect the paint.
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The oil lines are actually tucked up quite high, this is temporary with zipties but now I know where to put the proper clamps.
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Oil cooler ducting. I have a tube of really nice proper racing duct, but unfortunately it’s just long enough for one side. It’s the high-temp silicone hose type for brake ducting, so I think I’m going to reserve it for front brake ducts should I ever decide to add them.
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But really, you all came here for videos. So here’s a couple of startup/idle vids.

#1 is Monday night, you can hear the valves clattering. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH-Q6ZtgXbw
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH-Q6ZtgXbw[/youtube]

#2 is today, quick start up…needs some tuning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLRz--T2FZo
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLRz--T2FZo[/youtube]

Eventually I have to return Geoff’s trailer to Vancouver…so I’m going to see if I can rope either he or Darren into some carb tuning ☺.

-Dave

So tonight started out really well. I began by finishing the assembly on the rear suspension (putting my double-shear plates back on) and then while I was in the wheel-wells installed the rear mudflaps and O2 sensors. The bungs are placed for great readings, but are a little bit exposed. I suspect I might go through a couple of sensors! haha.
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I was going to hook up the accusump to the oil system, but before doing so though I'd check the oil level in the tank. My night pretty much went to crap right at the point where I turned the flashlight on. The oil was right up there, but I couldn't see the screen that helps remove air bubbles. Um, what? It took a second to register, but the oil was full of microscopic glitter particles.

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Even now, three hours after discovery I don't know how to put the feeling into words.

I ran a clean magnet thorugh the oil and picked up nothing, which means it's more then likely aluminum from somewhere. I pulled the drain plug, which is magnetic, and it had virtually nothing stuck to it...just a bit of black particles that are so small they're virtually grease. I've seen more in regular oil changes then this.
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One option was to flush the motor and oil system twice with some cheap 5wt30, and then refill with my usual oil. Run it until it was good and hot, and then see if there are any particles. That's a big risk. I have to believe that whatever is causing this problem is only going to be more expensive the longer I leave it. I made the call to pull the motor, knowing that tearing it down means I'm very likely to miss the Spring Thaw event we run. By midnight I had the motor ready to come out, just the four mounting bolts are holding it in now. Since the oil was cold, though, it's taking a long time to drain out. I'll leave it until after work tomorrow as that should make the whole job a lot cleaner and more enjoyable.
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I did learn a couple of things that give me some hope that it may not be too catastrophic. The oil in the 3/4 head is clean and I can't see a single particle with a naked eye and bright light. The oil draining out of any of the post-filter lines that I've pulled is perfectly clean without a single particle that can be seen with a naked eye and bright light. So far I have only found nasty oil in the dry sump tank, and the engine sump. This could mean that the vital engine bits were actually receiving clean filtered oil...at the very least, I know that the oil line going into the engine had clean oil in it. So from a "find the problem" perspective i simply need to follow the oil passages from start to finish until I find a bad part. Then, figure out what else it damaged down the line.
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The Spring Thaw, my car's debut event, is April 27th-29th. I'm so hooped. I've blown engines before (even did one on the Thaw!) but I co-organize the event, I can't not make it! It's not the damaged engine, it's not the time, it's not the teardown and rebuild. If there is anything this thread could prove it's that I'm not scared to do the work! It's a bit of stress over the time crunch, but really it's the knowledge that I've really stretched the financial lines getting the last assembly stuff finished. There is just no more room to squeeze.

Getting the engine ready to pull was good, gave me a way to spend time and not think about anything but dis-assembly steps, bagging and tagging. I have this funny feeling tomorrow at work is going to be a really tough day to get through.

-Dave

That set back sucks. We are all watching and hoping for the best. Did you put a new cam/lifters in this engine? Given that the glitter is non magnetic. it could be something rubbing the case or a tight clearance in the oil pump rubbing.

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Well, that was anti-climatic.

Before you look at the detail photos keep in mind this engine has somewhere between 50,000 and 75,000 miles on it. Hasn't been opened in all that time. I didn't start tearing the engine down until about 930 tonight, but once you get going it tends to go pretty quick. Pulling the heads off revealed nothing but a lot of carbon. The engine was definitely running rich on the kadrons! Pistons, cylinder heads and related items were all in perfect condition. The rings look great, the skirts have some wear and light scoring but the cylinder walls still have complete cross-hatching on each of them with no signs of wear. The piston-pin bushings in each rod still have cross-hatching in them. So far, things were looking good!

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I pulled the oil pump, and each of the additional stages looks perfect and brand new. The "inside the case" portion shows some chatter marks under one of the gears, and the hole for the drive shaft shows some strange scoring and marks. It's possible the metal came from here, but it's just as possible that metal from elsewhere is what caused the damage. I'm going to try and refurb the housing with lapping compound, etc. If not I'll have to get a new housing for this section.

After the pump I pulled case apart, and discovered that I apparently use "lube-a-lobe" lifters! I've read so much about how bad they are, but thankfully each of mine look fantastic.
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The cam bearings, however, have seen better days. I'm now starting to understand why some of the chips in the oil clearly looked silvery and aluminum-like, while others had a distinct yellowish color. I thought that I was going to find the timing gear bad, but instead it could have been copper sparkles.
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The cam surface shows some matching wear, but definitely no where near as bad as the cam bearings:
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5441/6...09455993_c.jpg

Rod bearings all look perfectly good, and the main bearings show even less wear.
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So at this point, I don't really have a smoking gun. At the same time, however, I have a relatively easy fix on my hands. I suspect that this is a combination of some swarf left in the tank after drilling and welding in two bungs, the oil pump chatter and the worn cam bearings. Can't really be anything else...?

At the very least I need to swap out the cam bearings. I'm going to do the crank and rod bearings as well, since I'm already in here. Otherwise I'm going to clean it, button it up and make sure I flush the tank and lines extremely well. I'll run some cheap oil for a day to flush the system, and then replace it with my usual 5w40 synthetic.

-Dave

Better to have a look and know than to always be thinking, What if?

The day started off early, loading the bug onto the trailer with my friend Gord. Gord is shop foreman at Rocket Rally, and a wizard when it comes to fabricating. Long ago I roped Gord into 'helping' me do the lower shock mounts...which is to say he works, and I watch :P

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After discussing the options and taking into account the things I thought were important, Gord went to work on cutting off the lower shock mounts and starting fresh. While he was working on suspension, I took advantage of the rally shop's automated parts washer, and prepped all the engine bits for reassembly. A couple of hours later and I had clean engine bits...and a bug with an finished rear suspension setup. We even managed to sort out the limit straps as well. I'll need to lathe up some spacers to go on either side of the rear shock, but that will be a super quick job I can leave for another time. Gord did have another design done up which wasn't a complete box, the lower section was closer in, and then they opened up on an angle. Definitely looked better, but swapping springs was similar to the stock mounts which required much manipulation of the suspension arm, shock and some swearing. With these mounts the springs are super quick and easy to change....so I went with the more useable design. I'll get photos with the springs installed soon.

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One of the lathe jobs I wasn't going to tackle on my own, was the starter. Swinging one of these around in a lathe is not for the faint at heart! We took a total of .125" off the mounting face of the starter. It could be a bit thin, but then it's a $40 starter from Autozone. If the ear snaps off I'll know to to do just .100" next time :P
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The plan for the evening was to assemble the engine. Rob actually opened AVR on a holiday to get me the bits I needed to reassemble the engine. Amazing. I think I was laying the crank in the case when I realized that this job takes a whole lot longer then I remember with all the measuring and checking! I readjusted my plan to become "assemble the long block" before bed. Had an issue with the cam thrust bearing, but that was just a matter of polishing down the thrust portion on some glass. After mating the case halves I discovered two of the main studs needed some cleaning up on the threads. This was done very carefully with the engine all protected in plastic and paper towel. After spending the time doing that, I was highly considering just getting the short block done! I snugged the cam-plug bolts down okay, and grabbed the torque wrench. I now know why the cam plug leaked on this engine for the past year. I didn't make it 14ft-lbs before the stud stripped out of the right-side case half.

Un.

Freaking.

Believable.

The engine is now disassembled once again, and tomorrow I'll have to get a helicoil kit and set a coil into the case half. Then, after cleaning out all the swarf and crap, I can return to the job I was doing earlier this evening! Here is the stud, and next do it are the nice threads that should still be a part of the case!
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-Dave

Dave. What was your reasoning for making new lower mounts? I thought the new boots gave plenty of spring clearance?

New boots gave plenty of spring clearance, but the holes in the lower mount had to be drilled off center, and regardless there is still a round section you're trying to bolt to. If you machine up some special spacers that match the curve and square it off inside and out it's safe, but the usual "stack of washers" I've seen isn't a safe option. Cutting new mounts is safer, allows for more spring options (thicker wires), easier spring changes and is the 'right' way to do things ;)

-----

Okay, I'm bagged after a full day of work in the garage. Engine is rebuilt and ready to go in. This included the helicoil, swapping out two main studs, blue-printing the dry-sump pump and all the usual engine build items (endplay, checking deckheight, etc. etc.). New shock mounts are now sitting in wet paint...so things are looking up again. Can't wait to find out what the next disaster is! hahaha.

-Dave

Not much point in posting photos at this stage, since I've now been here at least twice before! Engine is back in and assembled completely. Rear apron and deck lid have been reattached. I managed to remember the 3M clear-tape, so hopefully the decklid won't wear through the paint at the corners. I did the very nerve-wracking oil-system priming last night, which always feels like it's taking forever. Really hoping the assembly lube does it's job!

I didn't get the oil system primed until 12:30am, so after setting up the fuel pressure double checking the floats and doing a few other jobs, I opted not to wake up the neighbors.

I need to torque down the CV joint bolts, install the crush-panel (for lack of better term) to the front frame head, install some running boards and the car can come off the axle stands. The running boards are probably going to need a bit of work, AVRparts.com gave them to me a few weeks ago. Apparently they were returned due to "not fitting", but I don't know anyone who buys non-VW running boards and expects them to fit perfect! Good for me though, they were free :D

...then it's onto the interior, where I need to finish the heating system, install seat belts, seats, the carpet portions I'm going to use and sort out what the plan on the floor is. I was going to leave it bare, but getting in and out of the car when your shoes are wet is like trying to walk across a skim of wheel-bearing grease! I might cut my new carpet kit, or cut a set of OE rubber mounts. All I know is that I don't want to cover the transmission tunnel at this stage.

The thread-extending gnome did make a visit to the garage last night, however. I was in the trunk fixing *something*, when I decided to fill the washer fluid system. A few moments after pressurizing it there was washer fluid spraying everywhere! Turns out one of you jokers put a couple of pinholes in my washer fluid line...but it was a quick, if not wet, fix.

-Dave

AUGH!! Don’t you just hate when you write a whole post and then hit the wrong button and close the window? DANGIT!

Alrighty…well, I guess I must have started with yesterday evening. I began by torquing down the axle CV joints, and finishing up the wiring for both of the Oxygen sensors. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to see a difference between the left and right bank, but it appears that there is enough gas flow past the sensors that they aren’t reading a mix between sides.

For the past week it feels like I haven’t stopped. The monthly meeting for the VW club is tomorrow night, and I’ve been going hard-at-it to try and make sure the car is ready for a “launch” at the meeting. It was going to be smooth sailing until I found all that metal in the motor…from then on, it’s been a serious touch-and-go mission. It seems that each day I start with a text to my friend Geoff saying “dude, not going to make it” only to follow up at about 3 in the morning with “well, maybe!”

I did get the car fired up last night, but I’m still not happy with the noise level. The valves sound too noisy, which is not good because I’m sure I adjusted them to loose-zero while the motor was on the stand. 100% positive this time! I had a couple of buddies listen to the car and they think it’s fine. I’ll check the valves again tomorrow morning (car has been running today) and go from there. While the car was running my friend Scott stopped by to see it. He’s a side-draft weber guru, so I figured having him do the initial tune was better then me! He dialed in the idle by ear, which should be enough to get me in the ballpark. He also noted that the return springs that come with the kit bind near the end of their travel, I’ll need to move the springs to actually pull the plates fully closed every time.
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With the engine running and the final details mostly taken care of underneath, I was really tempted to take the car out for a burn around the block! But there are no seatbelts and from the very beginning I wanted to drive a car into my Garage in September, and then drive a finished car out of my garage when it was done. As much as the driver in me said “go”, the responsible part of me said start bolting more parts on.

I had bought an EMPI carpet kit for the car, and figured it was time to go about fitting it. Some people are going to cringe when they see that brand name, but I’ve found their cheap carpet to be quite durable…and I needed something that I could buy and cut up into pieces right away. After some careful cutting I managed to install all the carpet I intend on using (for now) and did so without making too many errors. The errors I did make are big ones though! No one will ever see or care about #1, but #2 behind the pedals shows up in photos. Doh! The carpet over the heaterchannel on the right side fits perfect and I’m really stoked on it. The left side, however, fits weird. I haven’t sorted out whether it’s the heater channel or the carpet, but these pieces aren’t glued in so I can fix it later.
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Astute viewers of the above photo will also notice I now have seats and a proper steering wheel installed in the car. Turns out I need to swap the oil pressure and volt meter gauge (they’re to the right of the tach). I can see the alternator is charging while driving, but can’t see the oil pressure!
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The seats and belts are killing me. I have long ago over-extended the budget and passed what was “affordable”. I must reuse the seats and belts from my old rally car, and they look incredibly tired…not to mention out-of-date. They’ll work for now, but will definitely be a “replace me” item as soon as I can afford it.
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I finished up the interior with door panels, reminding myself just how much I dislike mounting new door panels. Dear producers of new door panels: this isn’t rocket science…is it really that hard to punch holes in the correct location!?!
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I finished my evening (which, at this point was well into the early morning) by mounting up the running boards.
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The driver’s side fit like a glove and I was really quite happy until I absolutely gouged the @#!$!@ out of my front fender. Chalk that up to working on the car while tired, and pushing too hard to get it done. It’s just visible in this shot…but goes right down to the metal.
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On the Passenger side I’ve got bigger issues. I had to trim some of the inside lip to get the running board to sit low enough, and once I had the front hole wasn’t going to line up. Not that it really matters, there is almost a 1” gap front-to-rear so even if the holes did line up they weren’t going to go together anyways! Eventually I’ll solve this with a new running board, but for a Spring-Thaw fix I might end up putting a bit of the black vinyl on the bottom of each fender and then hiding the gap with some rubber. Photograph the driver’s side please! ;)
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With the details done, this morning it was time for the part we’ve all been waiting for…a test drive! Rather then do a short once-around-the-block, followed by a check over on the car…I figured I’d just dive in and drive to work in Whistler. Ha! Like that was going to happen.

First stop was a trip to the insurance broker, to increase my coverage from “lowest you have” to “um, please replace my whole car if something happens”. On the way over to the broker the oil tank burped a bit of oil out the dipstick hole. Hmmm, that’s a bit odd, maybe I need to put an o-ring or something in it. After dealing with the insurance, and an unpaid speeding fine (oops!) I walked out to the car to find a small puddle of 5w40 underneath the car. A quick check showed no loose lines, but the breather tank drain was dripping. I combined issue one (burped tank) with issue two (draining breather) and quickly realized I had forgot to multiple the heat-expansion factor of the oil. Checked the tank and what do you know, almost at the top! I pulled back into the house, sucked 1 full liter out of the tank and made attempt number two.

I got to the edge of town with no further oil problems, before I decided to head back to home. The air-fuel gauge was registering stoich for both the ½ and ¾ sides, but was showing a little on the lean side as well. I’m running narrow band sensors, and once they heat up tend to fluxuate across such a small range on the gauge it’s often hard to tell exactly what the reading is (vs. a fuel injected car which is constantly bouncing rich/lean, rich/lean). Not wanting to melt down a motor, I whipped the car back home. Tonight I’ll take it out and adjust the air/fuel mix to see if I’m getting a change on the gauge and pull some plugs to compare gauge to real-world measurement. Once I get it dialed in, the narrow band are great for seeing a problem or a change…narrow band for tuning, though, not so much!

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Having driven the car for a good 35min today I did learn a few things. First off, the car is far more “race” then I initially planned. It’s bloody loud, harsh in the rear end and requires some lightning precision to shift the 5-speed well. It sounds funny, terrible at times and there are noises I don’t recognize that shouldn’t be there. In the words of Eric Bana “a new race car never feels good straight out of the workshop.”

So my current list of complaints are…

• There is a bad bearing in the Porsche trans. When I lift off the throttle you can hear it, and it goes away as soon as you’re on the throttle. Type-1 trans do that as well, and go for years just making noise. Will have to research the Porsche boxes and hope they are the same! For now, I will just keep my foot in it :D

• The oil tank isn’t fully sealed, and the inside of the car smells like hot oil. Now, this one could simply be due to having the cap open a number of times…or it could be I have to add an o-ring to my dipstick. I think I saw oil vapour wisping from the cap at one point, but I didn’t look too closely. Sealing this up will be a priority. Either that, or I need find a woman who thinks Eau-de-synthetic is the best cologne you can get.

• No 5th point on the seatbelts. I hate four point belts (and their dangerous). I haven’t welded in the plate for the 5th point yet, and will have to do so asap. I can’t handle driving the car without the Anti-submarine strap. Heck, you can’t even tighten the seatbelts! Very annoying.

But on the other hand, I actually drove the car more then onto a trailer! I have officially entered the “debugging” stage, vs. the “building” stage!

...oh, and I missed the best part. With the new motor setup, 165-series tires and the stiff rear suspension, the car is just dying to slide the rear-end around in the dry. It's going to be a total handful in the wet, I'm sure, but should be a lot of fun while I slowly dial in the sanity!

-Dave

Congrats! I love that feeling of the first few drives, regardless of new car/part worries. Glad to see it's on the road, now you need to get us some video :D

Good to see it out in the sunlight and moving under its own power.

I got home from work last night, warmed the car up and took it for a cruise. I got the idle jets sorted out, and then confirmed that it's a bit lean on the mains. After consulting with my buddy Geoff, I hand-drilled the mains and popped back out for a test. Exhaust tips are darkening up, and I think I'm good to drive it some distance now. I can at least get it to the club meeting!

Now, I could drive it down as-is...but that's not really finished is it? I fired up the Vinyl machine, and about 10min later fried the motherboard. AHHH!! A couple of hours were spent troubleshooting before I determined it was terminal, and came up with an other solution. I hand cut the stripes, which is why they're a bit off on the white! Once my machine is up and running I'll have to redo the stripes. Based on the photos I have of the factory cars, the decals were laid by the guy who swept the floor...with one eye closed. So I've taken some artistic liberties with them!
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The rear engine lid stripe got a bit too much heat, and will definitely need redoing.
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Took me until about 2:30am to get it done...but I can't believe I OWN ONE!! (even if it's not quite genuine!)

-Dave

Looks awesome Dave:) Glad those springs worked out. Can't wait to see it in person:D

Looks nice. I say it is video time.

:d

Looks very good!!

This is a great picture: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7130/7...48473abd_b.jpg

Dave, well done on all you hard work, nearly there, congrats, but your proposed rear spring poundage is huge, i only ran 300lb for dry tarmac racing with a much heavier rear loading than you will have, and I'm an oversteer set up man, i love it, but 500 lb will handle so loose at the rear even on the tarmac, you wont wont a rear ARB connected, we've seen this a lot lately, with many posters on here talking up the spring rate, unresponsive setup changes usually indicate chassis flex, perhaps when you get some testing miles on it, things will become clearer. Regards Johnny.

Really, really sweet, congrats again!:p

Nice Work dude can't wait to See it in Action... Nice that you went with the Red Mudflaps ;)

Chris.

Thanks Guys. I'm super stoked to be driving it, though it's far from finished! I've just got to the "debugging stage". After that, it's finishing off the race-prep with things like skid plates and other necessary items. I'll be shooting vids soon enough, but have a coaching event this weekend so won't be posting until next week.

Thanks for the input Johnny. I definitely don't have an ARB on the car yet. I'm going to dial in the spring rate for a chosen setup (tarmac, gravel, snow/ice) before using anti roll bars to address the fine tuning. Which, I suppose, is "the proper" way to do it :P

I'm shocked to hear that you ran 300lb springs without issues. With the 300's and no damping my car sunk through most of it's travel. Even with the preload cranked I'm not sure I could get it up to ride height...though I admit to not trying it. The 550's hold the car at right height with just a slight touch of preload, but I will admit they are too stiff. You can feel the rear end wanting to go on dry tarmac, but it's fully predictable and I haven't actually slid it yet...in the dry. When the road is wet, however, it's a complete handful. Like, Porsche 930-widowmaker, handful. I'll be honest...it's a tonne of fun, until you suddenly find yourself looping it on a Vancouver city street without even trying...in traffic. Yeah, not my proudest moment :P

My brain was screaming "don't lift!!!" ...but my foot had already started coming off the pedal.

Now, keep in mind I'm on an older pair of 165 series tires, so that definitely adds to the problem. Bump compliance in corners isn't great though, so I do need to soften the springs a little. I'm going to try 450s next, and then from there move to progressive setup with tender & main. I probably should put the 300's back in and crank up the preload to see if it will support the car. Would certainly make it far closer to the front springs which are rather soft right now.

-Dave

Well, I haven't abandoned this thread...but it has been a week. At the rate I was going it sure feels like I've abandoned it!

I had a few days off from the car, while I was coaching, and have since just spent time enjoying the drive. There is much to be done still, and I have a couple of deadlines looming that require some fast hard work...but I figured for a few days I would enjoy it. At about the 500km mark I noticed I had a slight leak of oil out the front of the engine case. The cam seal always leaked on this engine, so I was less concerned then perhaps I should have been. At 700km I noticed a slight oil smell coming from the car when I stopped at a light, by 750km it was dripping oil consistently. Hmmm. Drove it back home (trailers are for wimps) and by the time I got there she was smoking oil off the muffler. Hard to see in this photo, but the 'fogginess' of the lower half of the photo is caused by oil smoke.
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By now I knew that it wasn't the cam seal, but rather the flywheel seal. I have 5w40 all over the bottom of the car, or as I like to think of it "rust protection" :P Regardless, the motor needed to come out...so last night I popped it out. Took me two hours from the time I drove into the garage, which is long by bug standards but pretty short considering all the stuff I have to deal with. A good bit of that time was spent finding tools i have yet to put away properly!
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Hmmm, yes, it would seem we've found the problem.
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When I called my local parts store to see if they could get me a seal for the morning, she was surprised to find they not only stocked them...but she has sold one or two per year for the past few years. Doing some mental math, that pretty much sums up my engine pulls/flywheel seal sagas exactly. Thats when it hit me, I always install the first seal "flush with the case", and end up having a leak. I go back, put a new seal in to the step and it solves all my problems. Maybe this note will stay for next time?
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All buttoned up by 12:30am and ready to go. I have a few other items I need to take care of while it's in the garage...but I could have driven it to work today if I wasn't working from home.
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-Dave