Quote:
Originally Posted by H2OSB
You're my semi-inspiration for planning my soon, future dedicated autocross/track day car. Semi, because it won't be a rally car. Looks great!
H2OSB
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I mean, I won't lie. Outside of the Rush to Gold Bridge, which mixes gravel and tarmac each year, I don't think the Rally Bug is going to see much "rally" after this rebuild. It's basically a tarmac car now, and I'll probably re-think the livery.
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Stopped in at the body shop right after the holidays. As I suspected, they sort of misunderstood the "tape and spray" quality expectations. But, I know they are balancing the "our shop name is on this job" too.
The hood, for example, was what I would consider to be a "perfect" factory hood with factory paint. I mean, just scuff that puppy and spray it! Nope. Not flat enough for them. :P
On the same token, they are taking the time to fix the stuff that really should be fixed. Various parts of the shell have been highlighting for blasting, and you can see a bit of the work they've done to repair all the rally-rash on the fenders.
In sandblasting, however, they discovered an absolute horror I had no idea about. There was a pinhole rust bubble in the front apron, which I knew they would pull out...but that snowballed into discovering this interesting repair. Apparently the front apron was basically bondo...which amazingly never cracked or fell out?! Looks to me like someone backed a trailer into the car, and then did a quickie fix to get it out the door.
I offered to pull the factory apron off my '73, but the vent area needs a little bit of straightening, and we agreed that the most cost-effective way to fix this would be to simply drop a Klokkercrap panel into the car. With the Kamei spoiler, you see very little of the apron and we're going to be cutting up the front end of the car after paint for the radiator setup. So...it's a smart spot to save a few pennies.
When I built the Rally Bug 13 years ago, I
desperately wanted to put some carbon bits in the interior of the car. I wasn't in the position to
afford them, but was going to figure out how to make it happen. At that time, however, Carbon Joe had sort of 'disappeared' and wasn't producing anything. I had missed the boat. A few months back, a Carbon front splitter was posted on TheSamba and I literally pulled the car over to the side of the road and jumped on buying it (for the '75 project). I realized pretty quickly that it was Carbon Joe selling it, and inquired if this was New Old Stock, or was he reproducing. We discussed my interests, quantities, and (if I'm completely honest) told him how much a young Dave desperately wanted some Carbon Joe bits for his first and second builds. So far I've got the splitter, headlight rings and carbon dash from the list of parts I've asked him for. Each transaction has been fantastic, and I can't wait to see the rest of the bits when they show up.
The fit is incredible, and I think I've decided that this one is actually going to go into the Rally Bug (not the '75 as tested here).
That got me falling down the rabbit hole of what do I want the dash to actually look like? For the Subaru swap I only need a tach, speedometer, fuel gauge, and water temp...everything else is basically 'extra'. With the carbon dash, I also want to try and 'clean it up' and go with a simple setup, and as few switches as possible. I've been exploring digital dash panels, and PDMs (power distribution modules)...I'd love to fully modernize the cars electrical system. I just don't think I'm willing to swing the budget to make it happen. It starts off looking like $1500-2k, but by the time you actually go and design the system and price it out to the final connector...it's $4-6k CAD. Considering I don’t really do track days, and thus the datalogging side of it is pretty useless to me, it’s a big spend. Probably convinced myself not to do it, in lieu of standard gauges.
I have started to rethink the floorpan, however, and cut off all the mounts for everything so I can start completely fresh. New pedal box, possibly flipping the shift assembly back around, and figuring out if I want the vertical hydraulic handbrake, or going back to a horizontal unit. I’m also going to completely redo the seat mounts. In the lower left you can see some 3D printed switch panel options, which I’ve been playing around with whether I can make them fit. One is simply a switch box, while the other is a PDM that has a number of additional features that are quite desirable. But $$$$ :P
If I do go with standard gauges, I will need some switches in the dash. This is pretty much the best option I’ve found so far, in trying to keep the carbon dash looking clean. If I can get the switches to be dual LED (one ring colour when off, a second colour when on) I’m probably going to pull the trigger. But with the body delayed in the paint shop, it’s time to put the floor pan aside for a few weeks while I get the 1958 Beetle and the German Look ready for next year’s motoring.