Dave's new 1969 mild GL build...

[wouter1303]

Originally Posted by owdlvr

-Dave

Killer combo. And some cool pics from the trips you are doing!

[owdlvr]

The winter list is small.

Untitled by Dave Hord, on Flickr

[72marinablue]

Love to see how much you drive your cars Dave, hoping to join you at some point!

[owdlvr]

Making drastic decisions that I might regret later...



First off, I need to swap out the silver-dot 914 tach for a different one. The silver-dot is needed for the family heirloom...but the only one I have is this rough looking late model. The late model would be perfect, so time for a quick restore. Fortunately Beetle glass is just a touch smaller in diameter, but still works.











Risky choice of the day number one:





Blaupunkt Bremen, but the modernized version they sold a few years back. Tape deck has been replaced with SD/USB/Media inputs, and the radio has bluetooth. I'm not entirely sure I want the radio upfront and centre...but it would be super nice to have controls without opening the glovebox.

Risky choice of the day number two:

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I know we want the rally odometer for events, and the Brantz is definitely my odometer of choice, but I'm not totally sold that I love it in the German Look car yet. It will grow on me, I'm sure.

Possibly risky choice of the day number three:



I've been saving the Tag Heuer (and Nixon) for the Family Heirloom, and originally put them down on the glovebox just to see how it would look. Now I'm not sure. I think I may need 'loan' them to the German Look until the Family Heirloom is done...

[owdlvr]

Have I mentioned how much I'm loving the dash in this car? I should probably dig up some photos of it lit up at night...



On its last event/run home it was developing a wheel bearing or CV noise on the right rear, and inspection showed the wheel bearing definitely had some play in it. Pulling the tire off, I also noted some odd wear that suggests the wheel bearing got quite loose or a bad shock is developing. I seem to think I may have tightened the axle nut at one point in Colorado...so I definitely needed to dig deeper. I don't think the video will post here, but feel free to follow the link. The stub axle on that side, which should require a tool to press out / remove, pushed out with my thumb. Eek.

[a href="https://flic.kr/p/2pzs8x8[/img][/a][a href="https://flic.kr/p/2pzs8x8[/img]Untitled[/a] by [a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dhdynamics/[/img]Dave Hord[/a], on Flickr

The wheel bearings, CV joints and brake pads...which were all brand new when I built the car in 2020...appear as though they are coming off a 30 year old car. Black, dry, and waxy CV grease. Pads about 2/3rds done, wheel bearing grease that is brown/grey not red. Weird. And then I checked the mileage. The car has done just over 90,000mi since I built it. This is all making sense now! Hmmm, perhaps the car needs a little more than just a 'start of year' turn around...



If the rears are showing this much use, the fronts should probably be done as well? They appear to be in much better shape, but will get cleaned and re-greased regardless. The rears, I think I will replace.







KYB recommends 50-80,000mi as the life for their shocks...so I'm thinking I better just swap those out as well. Rear rotors, which were used when I built the car, are getting replaced. The fronts, which were new, still have lots of life. I might replace them anyways and keep this set (and their pads) as a bedded-in swap. I've also yanked the pushrod tubes (and thus the pushrods and rockers) to take care of a couple that were leaking. A smarter man would have pulled the shocks before pulling the valve covers and opening up the engine. Gotta put those parts back in and seal it up before I remove any other bits off the car.



Also waiting for my latest prototype 'center console' to come off the 3D printer. In the dash photos at the top you can see a very early setup.



-Dave

[owdlvr]

For most of my builds, I've got a notebook or similar somewhere that keeps track of what's on the car, and what parts came from where. But when a question arises while I'm working on the car, I often just search my own build thread. The Rally Bug is pretty well documented, but I've discovered this thread is missing a number of the things I wanted quick access to. So...here's a "what the heck did I use" post.

Brakes
• 996 Calipers front and rear. 1997-2006 non turbo calipers (and associated caliper parts: pads, clips, etc.)
• 1985 944 Turbo rear brake rotors
• 1975 Porsche 911 front rotors

Wheels & Tires
17x7 ET55
225/45/17 on the rear
205/55/17 on the front

Front Hubs
• Bearings are odd. USA Fractional bearings with an inner adapter. (note: need to cut new hubs / or get Lanny 944 hubs)
• Seals are SKF 15851 -> Not a common automotive seal. (Lordco for me, have to order)
• Front outer (with 'orange 73 hubs') -> FAG LM11949
• Front inner (with 'orange 73 hubs') -> FAG LM67048
• MUST pull out the inner adapter on each bearing (x4) and put in new bearings. Note they are about 1mm thick and may be "stuck".

Plugs
NGK 5129 (DPR7EA-9)

Shocks
Front - KYB GR-2: 343143
Rear - KYB Gas-a-Just: KG5529

Rear Bearings
Currently standard Beetle setup. However, I recently learned the trick to putting tapered bearings in on the rear. My car has the right rear consistently coming loose (like, every 15,000km) and Mark Huebbe suggested the taper bearing trick as the solution. After I bought all the bits, but before I started the work, I discovered the outer bearing seat on the right side had some damage from a previous owner missing with a punch and hammer. I cleaned up the damage, and tossed standard bearings in for now.

Should I need to go to the tapered setup, here is the trick:
4x SKF BR30206
1) Assemble the the bearings and rear stub axle dry. Torque nut to 200ft-lbs If possible, measure the free play with a micrometer, or just get a feel.
2) Begin milling the center spacer down on the lathe a bit at a time, you're aiming for 0.00 free play, but JUST getting 0 freeplay. Keep assembling, measuring/feeling, milling and reassembling.
3) Once you've got no play, take an additional .002" (0.0508) off the center spacer. This is for "bearing crush". When torqued, the stub axle will go from freely spinning to having some light drag. It feels like a properly setup front wheel bearing essentially.
4) Dissassemble, grease, reassemble, torque.

Problems
The 30206 Bearings will add 1.5mm to the track width of the car, and give 1.5mm less distance flange-to-flange for the CV joints. In my case, this won't actually work for the German look, unless I get the wider fenders I've been planning on. I haven't had time to compare the bearing specs to what is out there to find a different part number. But essentially the inner race width is the problem. It is 1.5mm wider than a stock beetle bearing.

Mark runs his without cotter pins, and feels that the 250lb torque will ensure the rear axle nuts never come loose...heck, he raced his at WRC Mexico with no issues. But I think making a nut with an allan bolt like the fronts might be smartest. Ultimately, if the nuts did come loose, you could damage a hub/wheel on one side because the threads aren't reverse-cut. The only thing holding the wheel from coming off would be the brake caliper and pads...

Double nutting with a thin nut would also work.