Time attack beetle

[Humble]

Due to weather and life in general the bug's been parked since the end of September. I finally got the new trailing arm in, replaced the ripped CV boots, and put it all back together. Yesterday, since it was so nice, I raised the front suspension 1.5" and took the bug out for a quick spin to test the new mods.

The filter that replaced the oil cap is now oiled, I plan to put a white towel around it to see how much oil is blowing out. I hit 23psi or so a few times and the valve cover gaskets stayed put so we'll see how it does at the autox on sunday. Just need to get an alignment done on saturday and get the wipers working.

It's been too long since I last drove the bug and I totally forgot how ridiculously fast it is. I'm used to going quick but I was shaking with adrenaline after I hopped out of the car... 4 hours later! Can't wait for sunday now

[NO_H2O]

Glad to hear that it has a pulse again.

[chug_A_bug]

very nice can't wait to See the pics


Chris.

[Humble]

Last couple of events had to be run in my DD unfortunately. Rained out in Jan and Frozen out in Feb. It was too cold to start the bug (28F, needs cold start adjustments) and I had thought about using a heat gun in the intake to get it going but ran out of time. I really wish I had got it started because the day warmed up beautifully and not a cloud in the sky.

Recently, I've been trying to get the suspension aligned but have had a couple of non-starts. I'll call an alignment shop, ask if they do custom alignments and describe the bug. When I pick up the bug, no work was done because they were afraid to change anything. They didn't think I meant "Custom" alignment :P This has happened a couple times now. I have an appointment with another shop next week who has aligned actual race cars, and custom built specials, so if weather holds up it'll finally get done.

[volkdent]

Roger Krause Racing in Castro Valley, they race and have good prices too. I know it's a bit of a drive, but it might be worth it if the place you've selected doesn't work out for you. They can do corner weighting and alignment at the same time.

510-582-5031

[Bug@5speed(US)]

Humble

Any issues with the Racer's Edge rear lower shock Bolts?

Just curious..
Alex

[Bug@5speed(US)]

Humble

Any issues with the Racer's Edge rear lower shock Bolts?

Just curious..
Alex

[Humble]

The only issues I had were my own fault, setting the rear suspension up too soft with not enough travel. I talked to the guys at racers edge regarding the bolt failure and we both agreed it was because of bottoming out. The trailing arm had ovaled out where the bolt goes so there was obviously too much stress there.

I've had no problems with the new bolts since the car was set up correctly.

[Humble]

We've been inundated with rain here in Cali, got more than 10" at the house during the worst storms. We finally got a break in weather and I was able to get some work done on the car.

First I got my alignment done after raising the suspension up, but the left rear is still out a bit. I've got -3* camber, 0* tow and 2.4* caster up front and -1.6* camber on the rear. Rear tow is still out, it's 0 on the right but -0.25 on the left which seems like a missing pivot washer, but I haven't check it out yet.

Some time ago I put the new front and rear swaybars on but I only just got the pics uploaded. I went with a topline 7/8" front with the caster fix bushings, and a topline rear 3/4" with heim/urethane droplinks connected to the porsche camber adjustment bolt with swaybar pickups.







This weekend I decided to hike up Lucy's skirt a bit and put some windows in the front fenders. I took off about 5" off the bottom of the rear fenders which should help with drag a bit.









For the front I used a template to put 3 4"x4" holes in the fenders which should let enough air out at speed. I still need some mesh in there to keep rocks from chewing up the paint. You can also see the new spa designs gt convex mirrors which were tightened up before they went on the car so they keep their adjustments.









Now it's kind of a rush to sort out all the little stuff before she goes in for paint on Wed! Yeah, she's finally getting painted, Saturn yellow L13M on the body, mirrors, and wing, and flat black on the hood, and decklid.

[owdlvr]

The lower shock bolt is in single shear...do you really trust that?

-Dave

[Humble]

I do trust it still even after I had one fail. Nearly all the 944 series racers use those bolts and if the car is setup correctly, they don't fail even in single shear. It's a very beefy bolt made from tool steel and mine took a hell of a beating (full race day, 3 dyno trips, nearly 800 miles of bottoming out) before I broke it.

[chug_A_bug]

looking great humble.... can't wait to See it in paint
are you looking at doing any front lip or splitter or anything under the body to Smooth out the air flow....

Chris.

[Humble]

yeah, bumper and splitter are next but require warmer drier weather. I've got plans for a wood/fiberglass consumable splitter (if you're not going through splitters you're not driving hard enough) and fiberglass reinforcing the front airdam. Those will be painted to make the car once they're finished. I thought about doing a rear diffuser tray but we'll see how everything else goes. I'm also working on new running board/side skirts designs which will probably be thin aluminum.

In the wings, are a new datalogging system w/ gps, new digital dash from aim or race-technologies, autox/sprint slicks, water/air intercooler and upgrading the ecu to ms3x.

[Humble]

Paint!

Doesn't make the car any faster but she's a damn sight easier on the eyes Just got back for the Kelley Park Spring Meet and snapped these off while I was there.

[wrenchnride247]

WOW! Thats a big change for the eyes. Looks great!