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Old February 13th 2012, 03:54
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owdlvr owdlvr is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Canada - West Coast
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Saturday started off as most seem to, on a parts run! This week it was off to AVR for a round of VW specific parts. Universal items like wiring or hardware I can usually pickup in town, but when it comes to items specific to the bug, or european, all my stuff comes from AVR. Is it bad that they have a shelf just for me? :P This is all worth mentioning, because Rob (the R in AVR) has been especially helpful in the build. Case in point, the oil cooler. I think he ordered in two different units, before I finally settled on the one I was going to get, and that was in October. Between then and now I think I've called or text messaged about 3 or 4 times for exact dimensions, bolt mounting measurements, etc. The sort of things you can't get online, or without the package in front of you. Even this past week he was pulling it off the rack yet again to triple check the thickness and confirm our numbers were correct. If Rob and I had been faxing blueprints back and forth, we couldn't have made it fit better!



While I was AVR I also took the time to look at another pedal cluster they had in stock. With it out of the car we confirmed that yes, something was wrong, and then quickly realized what it must be. After getting home I pulled my stop plate, and sure enough it was worn just-enough to cause the issue I'm having. 30 seconds with the grinder, and I got it exactly the way I want it. It's hard to see, but I've set it up so the clutch pedal is just a hair behind the brake pedal which will help me out when left-foot-braking. On the brakes side of things, I found a brake light switch (rear) was weeping just a tiny bit of fluid, I suspect this was the mystery air source, so I tightened it up, rechecked every fitting, and will bleed once again this week.


I then did some dishes! Well, not exactly dishes...more like oily and dirty used AN fittings and oil lines. It's probably better that we call them "dishes", since I used the kitchen sink! I will need to buy a tonne more oil fittings, but at least I can reuse the ones I've got from the last car.


One of my more dreaded jobs was the hood seal. On the '69, after the fresh paint, I must have chipped off half the paint on the hood seal channel. I was determined to not destroy this car, and while it took a long time, I did manage to get it installed without even a scratch. I do find the three 'nubs' on the aftermarket seals to be generally pretty poor. The driver's side on this one popped in no problem, but the passenger side just didn't want to stay in. Out came the high-strength weather-strip adhesive. Its basically super sticky contact cement. I'll need to clean up the bit you can see in the finished photo, and also figure out how to get some of the 'waves' out of the hood seal. Once I had done the top, the front apron section went in super quick...so now all I need is the Mexican style seal for the hood, and I'm laughing.


I did spend a while creating really nice Flextech wiring harnesses for the front turn signals, and even connect them...then I realized the early style lights I'm using, were wired totally different then the US-Spec big turn signals the car should have. Doh! I managed to redo one side, but will have to finish up the other tomorrow. With all four fenders now mounted, and the beading in place, it was starting to look a bit like a car. Now, however, it really looks like a car! Amazing what a hood can do.



I think I've got the gap pretty even as well.


I cannot WAIT to drive this thing!

-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
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'93 Chevy 3500 pickup - Cummins Swap
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