Questions about Bill K.s ride

[zen]

glad the morning period is over and you are back at it. i still need to get back on mine as well. started driving it and it is hard to get back to the rest that needs to be done.

keep taking those pics.

[Bill K.]

Originally Posted by eldavid

Ah, now I see the wheel issue more clearly. I have a set of these bottomless lugs: http://geocities.com/ex1zee28/PorscheLugs.htm This way you won't have to shim the front wheels. Come by and pick them up at your earliest convenience.
-emerson

No, it doesn't work with those either. Had to use 5/8" washers with the bottomless lugs. I think it will be fine for now. Thanks for agreeing to take them back when I get my Fuchs back.

[Bill K.]

Originally Posted by Bill K.

The gauges are installed and looking sweet. There is a problem with the LED used for the alternator idiot light. When wired throught the LED, the alternator doesn't turn on. I'm using a stock incandescent bulb for now and will try wiring them in parrallel today. Maybe the LED needs an extra resistor in line for the regulator to fire up the field. Any insight on what the the internally regulated Bosch 75 amp alternator needs to excite the field?

The problem was that when the D+ terminal of the alternator is wired in series with the LED to +12V ignition, not enough current was supplied to the alternator to initiate the field (LED limited current). Wiring the LED in parallel with the alternator D+ wire fixed the problem.

Now if I can only get the SPA digital CHT gauge to read stable with the engine running, I'd be wired. I've narrowed it down to the thermocouple extension wire. I'll try rerouting the extension wire down the other side of the car and shortening it as much as possible. I'm also going to use capacitors to knock down some of the noise on the line.

Sandeep has got me intrigued about data aquisition. I've done some at work using National Instruments LabView and would like to try it in the car. The combo I'm thinking about is: laptop, Pico ADC-16, thermistors, hall effect speedo adapter, and some frequency to voltage converters for rpm/tach. The R&D on this car is almost done, so I'm looking for more brain candy...:idea:

[Bill K.]

I spoke too soon about the alternator idiot light LED. I had the LED wired in parallell with the alternator wire through the relay I was using to troubleshoot. The relay coil provided enough resistance for the LED to light. No biggy, I'll just try adding a 100 ohm resistor in place of the relay. So it'll be wired: +12V ignition to resistor and LED +, resistor to alternator D+ and LED-.

Moving the thermocouple extensions from the left side of the car where all the other wires are to the right side and tucking the CHT probe under the shroud as far away from the spark plug wires fixed the noise problem.

So, now I only a few loose wires. Nothing I haven't lived with for years.

[Supa Ninja]

Nice GL Bill, I want a ride in it. Anyways, I was just on a couple of rides with biker boys while i was in town this weekend (packing), and it would appear there is snow already on the sides of the road to Icehouse, which = wet and slippery. Salmon Falls Road has a lot of nice tight turns and a few good straightaway's and it's a lower elevation too. I'm going to assume Mosquito Ridge Rd is as bad as Icehouse.
I got a link to very well layed out website that describes all of the good roads in NoCal and some in SoCal. www.pashnit.com it's a motorcycle website but from my experience, if it's good for bikes it's good for cars too.
Some of my favorites are 1.Mosquito Ridge, 2. Icehouse, 3 Salmon Falls, 4 Dogbar rd, 5 only if there are no cops and light traffic-Foresthill Rd, and finally 6 is Hwy 49 from Auburn to Placerville if there is no traffic on it.
There are a lot of the twisty stuff that I have never been on so have fun searching the pashnit site. I am still searching for some good twisties near where i'm moving too in SoCal, so far it looks like a hour drive to the nearest ones .

Nick

[Bill K.]

Washed the car for a christening drive (again). Love the feel of the new Kennedy Stage 1 pressure plate. Softer than the T4. Below is a shot of the 15" space savers. The header is about 5" off the ground. I can't even get the low profile jack under it without rolling up on 2x6's. Good enough for now until the Fuchs come back in a month or so. I made brackets for the license plate and have the LED bolt lights installed.


I'm liking how the front bumper is working out. The impact strip came from Kaeferland in Frankfurt. I'll hang the license plate below the strip like the rear. I'll detail what I did with the front turn signals in the future (Tech Article in progress).


I took it for a freeway ride and this thing make me tremble with adrenaline. Looking forward to getting my wide grippy tires back so I can get it aligned and hit the hills.

[zen]

very cool. you think you have issues with ride height? my exhaust is 1.75" off the ground at the moment. can't get it out of the neighborhood until i get off my butt and tear it all down again and gain some height.

i'm diggin the bumper too. nice choice.

[Bill K.]

Harvey Weidman is to wheels as Jake Raby is to engines or CarbonJoe is to fiber -- AWESOME.

More pictures at www.vwbughead.com/web/wheels/

Weidman Wheels -- 530-534-7903 -- restored my Fuchs and mounted my tires. They turned out A+. The attention to detail is outstanding. The wheel weights are split behind the spokes when weight was called for between the spokes. He balances inside and outside weights. They are painted inside and on the backs. The anodization is even and smooth. They were mounted without a single mark. He went out of his way to get and fit the Ferrari aluminum stems.

The wheels are stripped, checked for trueness/roundness and tweeked as needed, polished, anodized, painted and baked. Center cap crests are hand painted.

Here's the specs:
* Front: 16X6 Fuchs; 205/55; +2" CCC fender; 1.5" spacer; Ghia disks
* Rear: 16X7 Fuchs; 225/50; +3" CCC fenders; 2.5" spacer; CB Performance Race disks
* Yokohama ES100
* Porsche Lapis Blue Metallic color matched to car
* Ferrari aluminum valve stems with Porsche caps

Fuch'n'Groovin,
Bill

[zen]

wow!!!

those look fantastic. really sets off the car. nice choice and nice work.

[NO_H2O]

SWEET
HE does nice work.