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  #121  
Old December 18th 2011, 03:23
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Originally Posted by evilC View Post
Dave,

Have a look at the 2nd photo down: http://www.jemsracing.co.uk/cs_widetrack.html The photo is of an Escort racer taken from the underside but shows the normal TCA at 90* to the frame but there is a strut going from the outer end of the TCA at an angle back to the frame - this is the compression strut. Its adjustable for length that allows the caster to be altered. On the Escort the inner pivot is fixed but I reckon that if the bracket is mounted vertically you could drill several holes to give the option of raising the pivot point that would result in anti-dive. The other thing to note is that the anti-roll bar is detached from the TCA and is operated by a link from the MacPherson strut itself meaning that there is plenty of potential for mounting the connection to the anti-roll bar anywhere along the trailing arm of the AR bar to increase the roll resistance. Doing all this means that the TCA itself can be made adjustable to change camber with the compression strut taking care of the caster, the whole unit being a fabricated wishbone.

Clive

Ahhhh. I follow. Definitely something worth looking into, but for the moment I think this is probably a "generation two" item to add to my list. I'm chomping at the bit to drive the car, so I may look at redoing the front suspension next winter (or if I have a failure). I've been thinking I may move over to the later two-bolt setup as well, as that would allow me to look at some of the rally Mk1 golf stuff that's available.

-Dave
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  #122  
Old December 18th 2011, 14:24
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Well, I've been out in the back country working on a car commercial so I haven't been able to touch the car since Monday. Got about an hour in last night, so not much to report.



Steering column is in, and I did pop the wires in properly after the photos. Went in relatively easily once I tore apart two columns to make one smooth working unit. A bit choked that the turn-signal and ignition switch unit looks so worn...but hey, gotta start saving some money somewhere!



I got the top boot on and sitting properly, but can't get the bottom boot to stay "in the groove". I can manage to wrestle it up and get it to stay...but after a couple of turns of the steering wheel it pops off. Come to think of it, I've never seen a car where it isn't popped off!

Tips? Tricks? Secrets?

Next up, I was thinking, would be the headliner. Unfortunately "Ivory" actually means "brown-ish"...so I'm going to have to return this headliner and source out a white one. Will probably delay the project to after the holidays



-Dave
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  #123  
Old December 18th 2011, 23:03
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Looks good Dave, please let us know how much fun you have with the headliner. I've heard they're tough.
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  #124  
Old December 18th 2011, 23:46
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Will do. Everyone I've told seems to think I'm nuts, number one comment is "pay someone to install it". Can't be _that_ bad??? :P

Since I now have to wait to source a more white headliner...I entered wiring harness hell:





I'm taking the best bits from two '71 harnesses and a '72 harness. Once I've got a good stock harness I'll start pulling it apart to graft in the various extra circuits that I'm going to want. I anticipate progress to be slow over the next few days...

-Dave
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  #125  
Old December 19th 2011, 12:05
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Originally Posted by owdlvr View Post
Ahhhh. I follow. Definitely something worth looking into, but for the moment I think this is probably a "generation two" item to add to my list. I'm chomping at the bit to drive the car, so I may look at redoing the front suspension next winter (or if I have a failure). I've been thinking I may move over to the later two-bolt setup as well, as that would allow me to look at some of the rally Mk1 golf stuff that's available.

-Dave
Dave, when you decide to move over to the two bolt set up, talk to me as I should have by then reverted back to the standard roll centre having used the 3-bolt inner pivot point to lower the roll centre to test a theory. Your 1302 will have the lower pivot so to maintain standard geometry you will need the upper inner pivot.

Clive
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  #126  
Old December 19th 2011, 20:55
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Originally Posted by owdlvr View Post
Will do. Everyone I've told seems to think I'm nuts, number one comment is "pay someone to install it". Can't be _that_ bad??? :P
I went thru two headliners trying to DIY. First one ripped along a seam and the second was crooked. I had a installer friend assist with the third. One tip is to buy a couple boxes of medium binder clips (the black clips with chrome wings). Use them to stretch and hold the headliner in place until you get it positioned how you want it. They also help clamp things in place after you glue - especially around the window openings. Great if you are trying to install by yourself. Another is to make 1" relief cuts at the edge of the rod pockets to keep the seams from ripping (I learned that AFTER the 1st headliner. ).

Here a pretty good article from the VW Trends archive - http://www.vwtrendsweb.com/tech/0409.../photo_01.html
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  #127  
Old December 19th 2011, 23:29
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Hi

Looking good. Have you thought about changing to a fuse boxes with blade fuses, those ceramic fuses in the stock fuse box can corrode and give a bad contact.

The good thing about using the 2 bolt front end is that you can have two camber adjustments, the stock one and you can also elongate one of the strut holes to use Golf/Rabbit camber adjustment on the strut body.

You can also use the two camber adjustment to slightly widen or narrow your track by setting the control arm adjustment to full negative or positive camber and using the camber adjustment on the strut to get the camber correct.

I did this on my sons 1303 to 17x7 ET55 wheels on it.

Steve
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  #128  
Old December 20th 2011, 01:59
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kafer_Mike View Post
I went thru two headliners trying to DIY. First one ripped along a seam and the second was crooked. I had a installer friend assist with the third. One tip is to buy a couple boxes of medium binder clips (the black clips with chrome wings). Use them to stretch and hold the headliner in place until you get it positioned how you want it. They also help clamp things in place after you glue - especially around the window openings. Great if you are trying to install by yourself. Another is to make 1" relief cuts at the edge of the rod pockets to keep the seams from ripping (I learned that AFTER the 1st headliner. ).

Here a pretty good article from the VW Trends archive - http://www.vwtrendsweb.com/tech/0409.../photo_01.html
Thanks for the tips! I've read that article, but the real-world mistakes are the ones I seem to be learning the most from. Thank you for being a guinea pig :-)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve C View Post
Hi

Looking good. Have you thought about changing to a fuse boxes with blade fuses, those ceramic fuses in the stock fuse box can corrode and give a bad contact.

The good thing about using the 2 bolt front end is that you can have two camber adjustments, the stock one and you can also elongate one of the strut holes to use Golf/Rabbit camber adjustment on the strut body.

You can also use the two camber adjustment to slightly widen or narrow your track by setting the control arm adjustment to full negative or positive camber and using the camber adjustment on the strut to get the camber correct.

I did this on my sons 1303 to 17x7 ET55 wheels on it.

Steve
If someone made a factory-fit fuse box to replace the old-style one, I'd drop in blade fuses in a second. But, since I've decided to stick to an OE-style harness (with my own additions), this saves me from having to hack-in an alternative fuse box. And, truthfully, if I was doing that...I'd put a center console panel in the car and go absolutely nuts with all the relays and fuses run out of the panel.

My '69 had issues with the fuse contacts becoming corroded. I quickly learned the trick was to leave the clear cover off the fuse box. Occasionally while bored at a light I'd give the fuses a quick rotation. Problem free for three years!

-Dave
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  #129  
Old December 20th 2011, 03:35
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...Speaking of wiring. The following should not be undertaken by those who can't read a wiring diagram!

First off, the harness that was in the car was badly hacked by a previous owner. Bad crimp connectors and replaced segments of wire everywhere. I knew I had better sections in other harnesses, but to be fair and honest I don't have a good complete harness. One Harness, for example, has the left-side headlight and horn wiring cut off (likely for a good reason, but I don't recall). Another harness is cut on the driver's side (again, probably for a good reason)...and then there are usual frays, splits, etc.

When in doubt, cut it out!

First off is the outer protective sheath...



If you're not careful to ziptie or tape the wires as you pull it apart, you'll quickly end up with a mess of wires that you can't put together and have fit the car. So it's important to tape 'em, especially any spots where wires split off from the main grouping.



...if you're lucky, the donor harness you're planning on using doesn't look like this:



...or like this. I'm beginning to think my car was in a flood at some point. HOW did the inside of the harness, halfway down the heater channel, get wet enough to both still be wet...and growing mold? Nasty, pass me another pair of gloves.



Despite fears of some horrible moldy death, I forged ahead. The left side headlight wires were replaced with a second set of right-side wires, as they were in the best shape. The horn wires were extended, And a couple of wires were swapped out in the main loop that goes down the A-pillar. It's amazingly slow work that required cutting apart three harness just to make one good one. At one point I was thinking about how a new harness would be so much easier...but then remembered I would be cutting all the sheathing off a brand new one, so it really doesn't matter. I was going to start on the "dash area" of the harness, but after a few minutes I realized that I would need to mount it into the car first to see where all the wires go and what I would be able to clean up. It's such a rats next as it sits, I can't see an easy way to clean it up (out of the car).



I think the harness is now ready to be dropped into the car tomorrow. From there I'll start adding the wires and circuits I need, taping and moving wires into and out of the factory harness as I go. The headlight wires, for instance, will no longer go to the factory fuse box but will need to go a set of relays I'll be installing. Once I've got the whole harness (including my additions) taped up in the car, I'll pull the whole thing out and use expandable wire loom to cover the wires. Now I just need to find a 6-relay holder that will fit in the area I have in mind :P



-Dave
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  #130  
Old December 20th 2011, 08:35
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Dave, i ended up running various new circuits to take care of the headlight relays, air horns, fuel pump etc etc. I added a ne 8 way ceramic fusebox in the front luggage area. I reckon that all the additional wiring doubled the harness thickness running from the regulator forward. I used black 16.75A 1mm^2 thinwall wiring for most things and wrapped it all up in spiral wrap ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cable-Wire...item7dbd788707 ) reasoning that it was quicker than tape and could be undone for future additions. For this feature alone it was worth it's weight in gold.
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  #131  
Old December 20th 2011, 14:36
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oooh...spiral wrap. <shudder> I can't stand the stuff!

The tape I'm using is all temporary while I lay the harness out. Once I'm ready to go I recover the harness with Expandable covering and heatshrink tubing. All of my harnesses are made permanent, in the sense that I can't easily add or subtract circuits down the road. But the Expandable covering is all reusable, so if you don't mind pulling a harness apart it's fairly simple. I don't have a good photo of any harnesses I've done, but the following shows the stuff in use:



I'm not overly concerned about "forgetting" any circuits, I could basically open the notebook from my Audi Rally car and know exactly what I need to run. Just the location in the car is perhaps different

-Dave
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  #132  
Old December 20th 2011, 18:18
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I have a love/hate relationship with wiring. It's a daunting task that requires a lot of fore-thought and methodical work, most of which is hidden. The result is that nothing happens, everything works, and there's never any problems. So you do a lot of work with very little to show for it. I've re-wired several cars (old and new) and I think adding race gear with additional sensors makes you a glutton for punishment I'd like to see the results of your new/old re-wrapped harness and the heat shrink tubing/expandable covering is a cool touch.
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  #133  
Old December 21st 2011, 05:16
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So if I'm honest, I wasn't really feeling into wiring tonight. The car is across town since I'm dog & house sitting...and, lets be honest, wiring isn't exactly the most exciting option out there! But, I have a rule about spending an hour a day...so over to the shop I went. Arrived before 8...and after I started, ended up wiring until midnight before I noticed the time. After some help from the motorgeek forum I found the relay mounts I'm going to use, and decided that my relays will get mounted to the front face of the fuel tank support, underneath my 'strut bar'. It's the most logical location for 2/3rd of the relays that I'll be putting into the car. These include the fuel pump, headlight and rally light relays. Since there isn't a "clean" spot to put my dash-related relays I'll drop those down there as well.

With that decided I was able start reworking the front half of my harness. First off, I ended up removing the stock headlight wires completely. Since everything will be relayed I only need to run two trigger wires from the fuse panel, and they can be relatively light gauge wire. After those were removed, I started adding wires in. Most of what I ran could have been done with 22ga wire, but I tend to only keep 18ga and larger around the garage. A little overkill, certainly heavier, but I'll survive.

Wiring added:
Lights
- Low beam trigger wire
- High beam trigger wire
- Rally light 1 trigger wire
- Rally light 2 trigger wire
- Rally light 3 trigger wire (future upgrade potential)

Fuel Pump
- Tach Signal wire
- Selection switch wire x2 (fuel pump selector switch pump 1 or 2)

Rally Computer
- Power feed x 2
- selection trigger wire x2 (allowing me to choose between ignition switched power source or direct battery power source)

Dash
- Oil light trigger
- Oil light power
- Gen light trigger
- Gen light power
- Turn Signal indicator trigger
- Turn signal indicator power
(The above allow me to use any gauge combination I desire, and still have working warning lights)

Other
- Spare wires for future additions x2
- 4ga power wire direct from battery
- 4ga power wire from fuse box (ignition switched)



So looking from the bottom up...the first two loops are the turn signals, L&R. The next loop consists of all the new wires I've added, which will end up hidden under the spare tire. The next loop after that is the "Mid harness" which goes to the Voltage Regulator. Above that are the wires that will make up my switch panel. I think I'll end up putting it where the stereo would normally go. And then there is the fusebox and the wires for factory switches.

Here is the harness being test fit into the car:



My relay mounts will be in on Thursday, and by then I'll have decided on the circuit breaker mounts. Definitely will need to find a "wiring cover" for the 1302 (or make one), as the behind the dash area is going to still look like a complete rats nest. Especially once I add in all my gauges!

-Dave
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  #134  
Old December 21st 2011, 06:44
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Hi

A standard bug has the same dash area as a 1302 so a standard bug dash cover will fit.

You might find this article that a friend of mine wrote useful.




Showing Your Colours.

There is definite common sense a certain purity in the colour used by Volkswagen and Audi for their wiring. While other manufacturers have their own codes unlike any other makers', which may differ from model to model within the same model, and even an the same car [I once came across a wire in a Japanese car which changed colour three times as it went through connectors]. VW/Audi colours have been the same for the basic functions since the 1940s, and also match those of other German manufacturers to a certain extent.

Starting at the source of power, the battery: a permanently live source, i.e. a "hot" wire, is red in colour. This is somewhat of an international, but by no means universal standard. The connection between "red" and "hot" are obvious. You must have noticed that any wire attached to the care chassis, to "earth", is brown in colour. Another natural connection earth is, after all, brown.

High-beam headlights are bright in colour; therefore, logically, the wires leading to them should be white. Low-beam is less bright, a little dimmer, yellow to be precise Parking lights are only a shade of their big brothers, hence the grey wires providing current.

There is no obvious colour for wiring associated with the ignition circuit. VW/Audi uses black, with an assortment of traces to distinguish various consumers of current. More about traces later.

Any warning light wire has blue as its basic colour. Pure blue feeds the warning light virtually every car has the charge warning light. Others are blue with various traces.

Green with its associated traces has, since the advent of water-cooled VWs, become associated with all to do with windscreen wipers.

A trace on a wire used to mean in the Beetle days that the wire had been through a switch of some kind. Therefore red/black goes to the starter solenoid. But somewhere along the line it also came to mean an unswitched supply to a particular consumer. For example, on Golfs a red wire with a grey trace, permanently live, goes to the cigarette lighter. Some designer obviously had a sense of humour here, as grey is the colour of cigarette ash!

Black/red goes to the brake lights [because of red lenses?] Black/blue is for reversing lights. Black/yellow comes from the so-called "X" contact - the one which makes the headlights go out when you start the engine. Black/white goes to the left blinkers, black/green to the right. So logically, which colours are used for the wire between the blinker relay and the blinker switch before the current is split up to either side? Black/white/!green, of course, the only wire on any VW/Audi with two differently coloured traces.

Brown with a trace means that there is a switch to earth. So the wire between the interior light and the door switch, which is earthed, is brown with a white trace [white signifying light].

How do you tell the wires leading to the right-ride high and low-beam headlights? They both have a black trace.

Grey, basically for parking lights, has a variety of colourful traces. Grey/black is for the left side parkers and tail-lights; grey/red for the right side; grey/blue in generally for dash lights; grey/green for the number plate light on cars with the split parking-light system [one side parker/tail-light on with the blinker arm); grey/white for the feed to the fog lights [fog is white, you know); and grey/yellow for the rear fog lights [not as bright as front fog-lights].

Blue/green on Beetles means the oil pressure warning light. Of course early Beetles had a green warning light! Newer cars now have blue/black. Blue/white is the hi beam warning light white for the high-beam, naturally. Blue/red means the blinker warning light. Blue/brown is for the brake/handbrake warning light.

Pure green was used on early Beetles for the supply to the wipers and on later models for the self parking facility. Golfs took this steps further. Green/black and green/yellow also go to the wiper motor; green/red to the windscreen-washer pump and green/white to any rear washer pump.

With the increase in equipment added to modern cars - air conditioning, cruise control, fuel injection etc., the consistency of colours was inevitably lost in duplication and a whole lot of apparently illogical colour choices So yellow is now used for the dynamic oil pressure warnings as well as for low beam. The fuel gauge sender now has a violet/ wire. [OK, so the Beetle's brown illogical too.]

But, I ask you, what other cars such evidence of natural, human influences shining through in a feature as mundane as their wires Another reason why VWs and Audis are special, I think.

Rod Young
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  #135  
Old December 21st 2011, 14:09
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Hi

A standard bug has the same dash area as a 1302 so a standard bug dash cover will fit.
I seem to think the fresh-air box is thicker due to the motor, and thus standard dash covers won't fit? Will have to borrow the one out of my '69 once I'm at that stage to see.

-Dave
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