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Old March 12th 2012, 04:06
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owdlvr owdlvr is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Canada - West Coast
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Amazing how many hours I spent in the garage today to feel like nothing was accomplished! haha. Just one of those days I suppose. Got some stuff sorted out, some stuff half sorted out, and then hit a major decision I've got to make about the car. First, some successes...

Started on the rear quarter window, for the passenger side. Initially I was hoping to do popouts on both sides, but I realized that replacing the glass with lexan wouldn't allow the popout to pull closed. So, lexan and fixed for the first side! I opted for 3/16" lexan, which is a little heavier weight then I would normally use for racing, but this particular window needs to be pretty rigid. On my last rally car we used 3/32"! Hmmm...that hole isn't stock?


Neither is this one...


But the shape and size are right, and fit the seal! But man, was that ever a pain in the butt to get in there.


On the first go for installation we didn't get very far, maybe about 1/2 the way around before there was just no hope of going further. The only other windows I've ever installed (of this style) were the old quarters in my '69. I was reusing the old seals, and they just popped right in. Did I make the lexan too big (even though it's dead-nuts the same size as the glass)? A few texts to Rob over and AVR and I knew the secret. Why I didn't think to soap and lubricate the seal...I have no idea. Once we added a bit of soap and water it popped in fairly easily. Not like butter, but easily enough.

The "fuel" cap is actually going to be the filler for the oil-tank as getting into the back seat is going to be a pain. I'll be swapping out the standard cap for a locking one, but otherwise that's the plan. The NACA duct will deliver moving air to the oil cooler, but I still have to box that in. The black lip around the NACA duct hides the cutout in the window, but I haven't decided if its going to stay. It's plasti-dip, which means it's removable if I choose to down the road.


One issue I did have, is that this all fit with no problems while flat on the bench. Installed in the car, though, and it appears the window is a touch 'too big' and flexing in towards the interior. The odd part, however, is that against the factory glass I couldn't have gotten the size any closer. Not sure why it's bowing in like this.


Tossed a quick seal into it for now, and will probably re-adjust and play with it later to get it all fitting perfectly.


While i had the plasti-dip out, I decided I'd take care of the pop-out window that I'll be using on the Driver's side of the car. Yes, I'm fully aware that I'm going to have completely mis-matching windows Left to right...but the airflow provided by the pop outs is just too good to give up. And, I challenge you to look at both sides of the car at once! ;-) The popouts do, however, have a wide aluminum frame that just won't go with the rest of the car.


So with a bit of plasti-dip, we eliminate the silver aluminum in a non-permanent manner! It still needs to cure some before I can install it, but I much prefer the look over the original. Might have to plasti-dip the aluminum trim around the door windows as well.


And with that, it's onto the decision making part of the build. Before I had even started the car, I acquired these four Bosch 220 rally lights. In a lot of ways these were the ultimate starting point for the car. They're great rally lights, justify all the Bosch sponsor logos on the car and they're pretty close to period correct. The problem, however, is they aren't *quite* right. The factory cars used Bosch Knick 180's, not the larger 220s. The size difference is significant. I've seen cars with both the 180s and the 220's, and while both look good, the 180's are definitely more proportional to the car. You can fit four 'inside' the headlights, while four 220's require overlapping of the headlights ever-so-slightly. And then there is the mounting. Factory lights were drilled through the front bumper, take a look at the mount for the 220's (off a Mitsubishi Colt Rally car). That's some serious mounting to keep them from vibrating!




In the shop, between my roomate Warwick and I, we have three Bosch 220s, one Bosch 220 case without lens, three Hella 4000's (same size dimensions as the 220 but with way better mounting setup), and 6+ Piaa 510(?) series of lights. The Piaa lights are the same diameter as the Knick 180's were. Here's the back of a 220 and the back of a Piaa 510 for size comparison:


There are so many reasons to run the Piaa's over the Bosch lights. In addition to the ease of fitting them, they're lighter, will shake less, I can decide on the beam patterns I want, and when I break them, parts are readily available. I own a vinyl machine, so with the right covers I could very easily make them "Bosch" lights. This should be a no brainer. Hell, the rest of the car sure isn't a "replica"! But a hard choice to make when the Bosch lights are right there...

In the meantime, I started working on the mounts for the rally lights. I won't need to decide which lights I'm going with until tomorrow night when the tabs get welded on.

-Dave
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'71 Type 1 - Rally Project
'58 Type 1 - I bought an early!?!
'73 Type 1 - Proper Germanlook project
'68 Type 1 - Interm German 'look' project
'75 Type 1 - Family Heirloom
'93 Chevy 3500 pickup - Cummins Swap
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