GermanLook Forums  

Go Back   GermanLook Forums > General > Project Builds

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #16  
Old February 6th 2023, 04:01
wouter1303 wouter1303 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: the Netherlands
Posts: 51
A lot of thinking (way outside the box). Keep up the good work and keep us up to date!
__________________
VW Super Beetle 1303 1973 Kolibri Grün Metallic
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old February 21st 2023, 00:02
owdlvr's Avatar
owdlvr owdlvr is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Canada - West Coast
Posts: 851
Alrighty, so when we last left this adventure I had started to modify the rear hub adapters to work for my needs. The next step was modifying them from 5x100 to 5x114.3. Subarugears actually dimples and labels all the possible bolt hole options…but we have a milling machine and should be more precise than simply clamping them into a drill press, no? Ten holes, and thirty tool changes later, and I’ve got them ready to go.







Keep in mind, of course, that in your shop safety should be first…in mine its occasionally safety third and you need to worry about getting chips in your bourbon. Boring machining jobs with multiple tool changes will do that!



My parking brake calipers arrived Saturday morning. This pair of calipers are Wilwood part number 120-12070. A simple single piston floating caliper, that weights a heck of a lot more than I anticipated. Whoops. Oh well, they will keep the car street legal. Note for future adventurists: drum brakes inside the disc are definitely a lighter solution.



The parking brake cable arms can be rotated into one of three different positions, but regardless of how you intend to use them…the parking brake cables are going to be an issue on my build. In the end I chose to swap the left and right caliper and rotate the assembly for the tightest setup possible. It might actually be better if I put the hydraulic calipers on the rear of the axle, and the parking brake on the front…but that requires buying new crossover pipes and other bits for my hydraulic calipers. Custom parking brake cables are going to end up cheaper in the long run.





With the exception of my suspicion that I will need custom cables, I’m super pleased with the rear brake setup as it has turned out. I’m going to wait until I have all four rotors in house before I machine the new front and rear caliper mounts. Being able to test with metal hats and rotors might save us from making some aluminum scrap.







The Imohr suspension setup does leave one scratching your head at times. The setup as delivered comes with serious interference from the front tie-rods at full droop. In fact, it will be the front tie-rods that are the droop-stop on the car, which I’m not at all going to accept. Bump-steer is about 1/3-1/4 a stock beetle suspension, but I think can be improved.



At the moment, I’m not sure the steering rack is going to stay in the spot Imohr has set it, due to my pedal setup, so before modifying anything on the rack I need to get the floor pan into the car for further testing. I don’t want the setup straining on the rack, however, so I whipped up some limit straps and spacers.







The floorpan is starting to “get there”, which means I need to find a whole new list of problems?!



My gosh, whomever told you “this suspension is bolt-in” should be shot. After modifying the floor pan, lowering the body on discovers a whole new realm of things that don’t fit. The rear shocks interfere with the body…so that has to be trimmed. The rear brace is (likely) going to interfere with the body as well, so we’ll be trimming even further. After some quick work with the body saw (which will be cleaned up later) I’ve got the body resting on the pan for the next set of problems. Interestingly, I don’t think you can install transmission into the floor pan before mating the body to the car. The rear brace (think Kafer-Brace) on the Imohr suspension has four bolts that would be near impossible to access with a transmission in the pan and the body on. One of those “glad I decided to mock this all up” discoveries.





It’s at this point, though, where my current knack of storing cars all over the continent was causing me a problem. I’ve been thinking the last few weeks about how the pedal placement and seat placement would be a heck of a lot easier, if I could just measure the setup in my red German Look beetle. While this one will end up being different, it would at least give me a baseline to work off of. The Red Beetle is being stored outside of Toronto for the winter, because I last had it there for a Hagerty driving event and I was supposed to need a car in the east for another Hagerty driving event end of this month. Fortunately, a work trip to Toronto was on the calendar, and I managed to squeeze out the time needed to drive 2hrs out to the car for some measurements. Which means once I’m back, I’ll be able to work ahead.
__________________
'71 Type 1 - Rally Project
'58 Type 1 - I bought an early!?!
'73 Type 1 - Proper Germanlook project
'68 Type 1 - Interm German 'look' project
'75 Type 1 - Family Heirloom
'93 Chevy 3500 pickup - Cummins Swap
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old February 21st 2023, 00:14
owdlvr's Avatar
owdlvr owdlvr is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Canada - West Coast
Posts: 851


Thinking ahead about a brake fluid reservoir, I'm also going to need a clutch reservoir as well. Tilton makes a "compact" unit that's quite intriguing, but requires figuring out where to fit it. This isn't a Lordco item, so returns would be more difficult than I prefer. So, into the drawings...



Into the computer...



And out of the 3D printer - a "maximum dimensions" size test. If I can find a spot to mount this that clears, in theory the actual unit should fit no problem.





Looks like VW engineers were already planning ahead back in the day, and had chosen the perfect spot for it.



__________________
'71 Type 1 - Rally Project
'58 Type 1 - I bought an early!?!
'73 Type 1 - Proper Germanlook project
'68 Type 1 - Interm German 'look' project
'75 Type 1 - Family Heirloom
'93 Chevy 3500 pickup - Cummins Swap
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old February 21st 2023, 03:32
wouter1303 wouter1303 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: the Netherlands
Posts: 51
Nice progress! And you're a lucky guy having al that machinery in your garage. Gives you a lot of nice advantages for custom parts.
Keep up the good work and keep us posted!
__________________
VW Super Beetle 1303 1973 Kolibri Grün Metallic
Reply With Quote
  #20  
Old February 26th 2023, 04:56
ian godfrey ian godfrey is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 13
That is some beautiful workmanship there. What brand of 'under floor' pedal box is that? it looks like a pretty good fit width wise.
keep up the work and Pix :-)
Reply With Quote
  #21  
Old February 27th 2023, 14:39
owdlvr's Avatar
owdlvr owdlvr is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Canada - West Coast
Posts: 851
Quote:
Originally Posted by ian godfrey View Post
That is some beautiful workmanship there. What brand of 'under floor' pedal box is that? it looks like a pretty good fit width wise.
keep up the work and Pix :-)
This is a Tibuc pedal box, made in Sweden. I acquired it from my work with the Subaru USA rally team, these pedal boxes were used in the Global Rallycross cars a few generations back and this one was the "race day spare".

It seems as though Tibuc has closed it's doors (at last online) so I may have the last NOS one available!

-Dave
__________________
'71 Type 1 - Rally Project
'58 Type 1 - I bought an early!?!
'73 Type 1 - Proper Germanlook project
'68 Type 1 - Interm German 'look' project
'75 Type 1 - Family Heirloom
'93 Chevy 3500 pickup - Cummins Swap
Reply With Quote
  #22  
Old March 7th 2023, 02:38
Steve C's Avatar
Steve C Steve C is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 1,757
Hi

Great read. Regarding your sexy brake fluid reservoir, I used a stock one and teed off it near the master cylinders for my clutch fluid feed just like most factory cars do.

Steve
__________________
STI powered 1303 in the works.
Reply With Quote
  #23  
Old March 17th 2023, 00:02
DORIGTT's Avatar
DORIGTT DORIGTT is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Forest Grove, Oregon
Posts: 697
Any chance you picked up one of those huge STI water reservoirs for the intercooler sprayer?
Reply With Quote
  #24  
Old March 17th 2023, 14:44
owdlvr's Avatar
owdlvr owdlvr is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Canada - West Coast
Posts: 851
I did not. Picked up some of the rear-mounted rad kit for my Subaru-Beetle project. But that one is a long way off from being worked on.

Apologies for the lack of updates on this project - Just so everyone is aware, I'm about to start my "busy season" for work travel. Probably won't get back to this car until mid summer, possibly not until the fall.

-Dave
__________________
'71 Type 1 - Rally Project
'58 Type 1 - I bought an early!?!
'73 Type 1 - Proper Germanlook project
'68 Type 1 - Interm German 'look' project
'75 Type 1 - Family Heirloom
'93 Chevy 3500 pickup - Cummins Swap
Reply With Quote
  #25  
Old March 31st 2023, 12:54
LLVWGL LLVWGL is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Gilbert,AZ,USA
Posts: 174
Awesome, still haven't seen any detailed evaluation of that IMOHR a-arm suspension!
Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 09:06.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
© www.GermanLook.net 2002-2017. All Rights Reserved