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  #1  
Old September 25th 2008, 05:18
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Xellex Xellex is offline
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GL 1303S project from Romania

Hi guys, I finally feel confident enough to start up a project thread for my bug here, on the GL forums. It's a late start, but I wanted to learn stuff better before I apply it, and I have to thank you all for that.
The germanlook style fit my dreams and my ideas like a glove, an I've dreamt of a bug that I'd work on, ever since I was a child.
I only got one last year, at the age of 25, but I'm a VW forum lurker ever since I can remember having a computer, and I'm happy that I've waited until now, mostly because the bug I bought was in such a good shape, and also, that now I mostly know what to do to it.
I'll be posting pictures here, progress and thoughts.
In the meantime, here's my bug, as it looked like last year in may, when I bought it.
It's a '73 1303S ('74 model with 2 bolt struts), and I knew about it for 1 year before I finally got it.
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  #2  
Old September 26th 2008, 20:25
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Ok the main reason why I wanted a bug in such a good shape was that I wanted to drive it and enjoy it eaven before I'd start working on it. And that's what I did!
Last year I've been all around the country with my bug, and it's been great! Nothing broke down, and it ran awesome. With a few exceptions: at some point the carb got some dirt in it and I decided to do a carb overhaul, so I bought a kit, and did it myself. After that the speedometer cable tip got worn (the square part rounded up) and I exchanged it.
Oh, and the verry first job I did on the bug was to clean and paint the rims, and to install the chrome hubcaps, because the previous owner had some ugly hubcaps on it.
That's what it looked like before I got it:
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  #3  
Old September 27th 2008, 15:36
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It looks clean and nice! The '74 with the 'Golf' struts is a good year for a GL to start with
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  #4  
Old September 27th 2008, 19:05
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Thanks, it's as close as I could get to the car I had in mind. My prefferate car out of all the bugs is the '75 with the r&p steering. but then again, the r&p conversion can be made into a nice project
To continue the story, before I bought my bug, I had no technical experience whatsoever, and almost everything I knew about beetles was from the internet. That's why I wanted to take it slow, and that's why the first steps I took towards the GL were a few easy ones:
First of all I took off those ugly "sport" mirrors and installed the original chrome one. If it's not GL than let it be stock :P
And then I got 2 smoked taillights.



Then I bought "clear 3 chamber" headlights, with turn signals incorporated in them. I didnt relocate the turn signals yet because it would look strange still haveing the ones on the fenders too.
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  #5  
Old November 10th 2008, 10:45
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Nice looking car!
Like your kind of diary style writing btw

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xellex View Post
Then I bought "clear 3 chamber" headlights, with turn signals incorporated in them. I didnt relocate the turn signals yet because it would look strange still haveing the ones on the fenders too.
Are those these plastic ones http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails....C%2DC10%2D7580 ?

If so, how does the light coming through the lens look?
I'm looking for a clean way to integrate my turn signals into my headlights, but I heard the light quality coming out of these isn't all that good.
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  #6  
Old November 10th 2008, 11:58
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Quote:
Originally Posted by flat View Post
I've just speaking from my experience. The 19mm stocker didn't feel right with the 944NA brakes, the pedal travel was too deep. Everything on the car was new/rebuilt, with fresh fluid in the system. It would brake, but you felt the need to pump the pedal to get the required volume. Swapped it over for a 23/19 MC and it was amazing. Tall pedal + great clamping = driver confidence. The 19mm MC worked, but the 23/19 worked MUCH better.

So, the question boils down to this: Has anyone used a 19mm stock MC on a 944 NA brake system with good success?

Lanner
I have left the standard 19/19 dual circuit m/c in my build up with turbo 4 pot calipers on the rear and for now the 944 N/A single pots on the front. All of this is with new hard lines and ss teflon hoses together with a bias valve in the rear line as I expect/want a rear bias that I can dial out at will. I have yet to fill the system so can't report on pedal feel but all my calcs lend themselves to a solid pedal. I also have a stepped 944 m/c should I need it but that would make the bias even more to the rear and was only anticipating using it with the 4 pot turbo calipers that I was looking to use should an upgrade be required.

What rear calipers are you running?

Quote:
Originally Posted by $aint View Post
Nice looking car!
Like your kind of diary style writing btw


Are those these plastic ones http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails....C%2DC10%2D7580 ?

If so, how does the light coming through the lens look?
I'm looking for a clean way to integrate my turn signals into my headlights, but I heard the light quality coming out of these isn't all that good.
I've got a pair of similar ones with a clear lens to go onto the '03 (Super). If those are anything like mine then they are Golf MK1 (Rabbit) and require new fitting tabs for the headlamp bowl. Also, I haven't yet worked out a quick way to change blown bulbs without completely dismantling the lamp, which of a foul weather night will be a serious pain especially on a competitive road rally. I wouldn't consider indicators within the lamp as over here several manufacturers have gone down that route for styling reasons only to make them difficult to see when the headlamps are on. There was some discussion over here about using the sidelight bulb in yellow as the indicator but that is even worse IMO as it will be only a 5 watt unit instead of the 21 watt required by law.

evilC
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  #7  
Old November 10th 2008, 12:46
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Sorry to jack the thread, but just to share my experience. I've tried a few setups with different masters:

944NA with 19mm stock dual circuit- pedal too low, but works

944NA with 23/19, very nice, tall pedal, good actuation.

944T with 23/19, pretty good, but hard pedal, amazing actuation.

944T with 19mm dual, about perfect.

986S with 19mm dual, amazing. easy pedal and will pop your eyeballs out of the socket.

964 C2 with 23/19, good, but could be better. Probably 20mm dual circuit from a 911 would be best.

I've never tried mixing NA and T components on the same vehicle, so I don't have any feedback to share. All the above setups were tested on a 1302 beetle or split window bus.

Lanner

Quote:
Originally Posted by evilC View Post
What rear calipers are you running?
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  #8  
Old October 4th 2008, 17:53
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When I installed the new headlights I realised the high and low beam were inversed, so when I turned on the headlights they were already on hi, and when I was using the high beam. you couldnt see much difference.
After I fixed it, I was a bit dissapointed about the quality of light. The fact that I already had a plan, maybe contributed to that :P
So I bought a HID conversion kit. It's not a bi-xenon. Only the low beam is HID, and the high beam is halogen, but it's ok. I don't disturb the incoming traffic at all, and the light is awesome.
You can see one HID and one old halogen headlight in the last pic.
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  #9  
Old October 4th 2008, 21:06
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Wow, quite a difference in light output!!! So Halogen low, HID high? Where did you get that from?

Jason
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  #10  
Old October 5th 2008, 07:12
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no, all the way around: HID low(the one that you commonly use), and halogen High.
I only bought it like this because it was cheaper and easier to come around last year. Nowadays things have changed and you can buy a bi-xenon kit for a fair price.
I got mine from a friend's tuning shop, but I'm sure you can easily find a kit on ebay or a parts store.

A few pics with the car after the snow melted away last spring:
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  #11  
Old October 9th 2008, 19:03
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As spring came I started driving my bug more and more, but something felt wrong so I sent my carb to have it reconditioned and the guy did and awesome job.

After that I had to take our equivalent of the MOT so I had to do a complete brake system overhaul. That was my biggest job on the bug at that time.
Then I found an ad about a couple of type4 engines, so I went and bought a 2000cc CJ engine.

After that I started gathering parts to do a Cali conversion, thinking I wont have enough money to get a porsche style cooling system. But I put that project on hold for a while.

In may, me and my girlfriend went to Hannover at the Maikaefertreffen, as my birthday present. I can't describe how nice that was.
I didnt have too much money to spend for parts in Germany, but I had to get something for my bug, so I got an antenna because mine was broken, and also a "Quick-shift kit" that I installed and it's great.
You can see all the pics I took HERE
Shortly after we came back, there was a beetle meeting in my country, in the city of Timisoara, so we went there too. It was great fun.
Pics HERE
I found something that I wanted for a long time at that meeting: a pair of Opel Manta side mirrors.

And that was one of the last times I drove my bug, because something pretty nice happened...
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  #12  
Old October 9th 2008, 19:20
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... I managed to find a Porsche enthusiast that had a donor 1989 Porsche 944, and the only thing he wanted to use from that car was the dashboard and interior parts.
At first I only went there and got the seats. They need new upholstery but they are ok.

But then I started thinking: dude! how often do you find a Porsche 944 in Romania to get the parts you want from it? So I took a trip to that guy again and bought everything I thought I would use.

And that's where the real work started on my bug. I work alone, I don't have a garage, and I dont't have any mechanical experience, so things go very slowly. But I'm happy with how things are going, and I'm enjoying every second I'm working on my bug.
I have to thank everyone that contributed to these forums, everything I do on my bug is inspired from the web, mostly from here.
I'm trying to take alot of photos, to give something back to the comunity. All my albums can be found at this link:

PRESS HERE FOR ALL MY ALBUMS

I know the titles are in romanian, but everything is laid up in a chronological order, so it's gonna be extremely easy to go through.

I hope you guys will enjoy the pics, and I'm very open to suggestions, discussions, ideas, any kind of chat and feed-back.
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  #13  
Old October 9th 2008, 19:40
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And this is where I am at the moment:



I cleaned, inspected, painted and mounted every porsche part onto position, including the wheels. It's easier this way, because seeing it take shape motivates me, and it's also makes me realise exactly what else I need next.
The back end is almost done, as I found drive axles too, I've installed the urethane bushings, the bump-stops. All I need and I'm waiting for is the hand-brake adaptors. And the porsche sway-bar mounting kit.
In the front things are more complicated, as I need to get custom struts. I ordered the kerscher ball-joints. Now I'm cleaning the sway-bar and the a-arms and installing the urethane bushings.
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  #14  
Old November 6th 2008, 17:27
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Ok the handbrake is perfectly working again, thanks to the Vdub engineering conversion parts, thanks Lanner!



I pulled the old master cylinder out of the car. It turned out it wasnt the correct 1303 MC, it was a dual circuit old style beetle MC, altho this wasnt a problem.



Now I'm in the process of adapting the 944 MC to the bug. I know everything I have to do, thanks to all the info you guys posted about this on the forums.



Still, there is something that's not clear. I've read all the opinions, arguing, debates etc :P about the 944 MC and the brake bias, but I'm still not sure if it's a good idea to reverse the pipes to the MC, front pipe to rear piston, and rear pipe to front piston. It would be much easier bolting them on like that, and not doing some extra plumbing but I have to know for sure it's a good thing to do...
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  #15  
Old November 7th 2008, 10:08
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The front pipes must go to the rear piston i.e. the one closest to the pedal and the rear brake line to the front piston. The reason for this is that the rear piston has only a hydaulic connection with the front piston so that when you press the pedal the rear piston pressurises its circuit and then pressurises the front piston. Usually the front brake pistons are larger than the rear so that the front brake m/c piston needs to move further potentially that the rear piston. If you plumbed it the otherway round the rear brake would hydraulically lock everything up before the front got to anywhere near its full travel.

evilC
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