Time attack beetle
 

Hey everyone, thought I'd share my project with you guys and maybe get a build log going here. I'm resurrecting my poor race beetle that's been dormant for nearly 2 years waiting for me to complete this project but was always put on hold because life got in the way. Now that life has been taken care of the beetle's time has come again. Since it's been so long, I want this project to move fast and I'll try to update accordingly.

My goals for this project are:
A wet weight w/ driver of less than 1900lbs.
350-375hp at the wheels
1+ lateral G cornering
Out perform a C6 Z06 on the racetrack
street legal-ish

So far I've already done a '86 944 N/A suspension and brake conversion and raced on it for a couple seasons. Since then I've upgraded to an '87 944 Turbo suspention and brakes (4pots) though it hasn't run since the swap. I'm currently working on a subaru swap (ej20 twin turbo) and bus tranny conversion.

Some test fitting with the stock tranny
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...1.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...2.jpg~original

New bus tranny, 3.78, 2.06, 1.26, .82, 4.57 R&P, superdiff, HD covers, and TO bearing for now
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...3.jpg~original

Gotta do this in multiple parts...

First load of parts from Summit and Aircooled.net, I meant it when I said moving fast
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...2.jpg~original


http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...1.jpg~original


Already found a problem with the new parts. Put the Corbeau FX1 seat in the car, centered on the seat mount... it barely clears the window, but unfortunately you can't but 2 of these seats side by sidesince they cross the centerline of the car. I'll have to get another picture that shows this. the FX1 Pro looks to be a bit narrower on paper so hopefully I can trade for those.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...9.jpg~original

Can you guess what the final colors will be?
Also the seat brackets need to be modified to put the seat back a bit farther. I pulled the seat tracks back to their rear-most setting and this is what I get.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...5.jpg~original

That's about it for now, I'm waiting on my tranny adapter to mount new tranny and motor to get final ground clearance. Once that's done I can modify the oil pan and rework the megan racing exhaust (it hangs lower than the oil pan)

Nice seats!! :righton:

keep us posted , i am running 275-300 bhp on the road from a type 1 engine so would be interested to find out what you think running 350 turboed bhps on the track if it is anything like mine a right handfull :D
all the best
jon

very nice but that oilpans abit low eh ;) ya I'm canadian

Keep us posted on this one. I have a 56 Oval with the same engine, but with a Porsche trans. Not on the road yet.

Ernie

Got a few more parts in today, 3" cat-less bellmouth downpipe meant for a wrx, accel edis-4 coil, and 2 of my 4 1" wheel spacers.

As promised, here's a better shot of the FX1 seat in the car, a little too wide for a bug. It hangs over the center tunnel almost on the other side!
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...4.jpg~original

Spent most of the day running around trying to find brake hardware. Had to hit 3 places to find the M12x1.00 fine pitch bolts that hold the calipers on. I'm wishing I hadn't misplaced them during my move to the bay area, and I'm kinda worried about what else could be missing.

Here's a teaser photo of whats to come. I had to try the 1" spacers on the back to get a general idea of what the track width will be and to test fit a fender to check for clearance. The narrow valley is the tire center, and center to center on the rear wheels with spacers is about 60 3/4". That makes overall car width close to 6ft.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...8.jpg~original


Here's a couple things I'm trying to nail down that maybe you guys can help with. I'm looking for the resistance on a stock 72 super beetle fuel sender. I read somewhere that it's like 73ohm/10ohm empty/full for a stock beetle, but I don't know if it's the same for supers.

I've seen people with ej20 swaps that have a tiny belt for the alt but when I hit up the subaru dealership they didn't have belts in the right size. What kind of belts are these or what car did they come from?

And lastly I'm trying to determine what size of clutch master cylinder to get that will have decent travel and not kill my left leg. The slave cylinder is a wilwood 260-1333 .88" bore 1.38" stroke going on an 091 bus tranny with a 3000lbs. KEP presure plate. I've been trying to find anything about this for a while now but can't find anything relevant.

Nice to see another scoob project on here :D

Rich

For the alt. belt I just took a small piece of rope and put it around the pullys to get a length. Then took the rope to the parts store and they let me look through the belts untill I found one the sale length. Tonight I will get the numbers off the belt for you.

Ernie

A little more progress on the bug these past few nights, some good some bad.
Got a few more parts in, koyo alu. radiator for a 93-97 rx7 turbo, 944 to beetle e-brake adapter swans for vdub engineering (very cool guys), wilwood clutch slave cylinder, and intercooler water pump from a 2002 ford lightning.

Test fitted the 1" spacers on the front and finally mounted the calipers (they don't fit without the spacers), and I tried the 2 sizes of fuchs that I have to see if they both clear inside and out.

6jx16 et36
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...2.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...0.jpg~original


I tried the 7jx16 et23 on the other side, I think it would be kinda sketchy but I can dial in up to 6 degrees of negative camber if needed.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...3.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...4.jpg~original


Another project that didn't go so well is running my fuel lines. I ran fish tape down through the heater channel from the front and taped my fuel lines to it then tried pulling it back through. It got jammed right at the bottom corner of the door where it turns up and goes into the trunk under the fuel filler. I really want to use that route but I think it might neck down to small for the -8 and -6 AN lines.

So frustrated, I put the on the back burner for now and tried to fit the new front bumper and brackets to see hom much I need to widen it. Brackets and bumper aren't even close. I got 2 different front bumpers and neither fits, so that will need to be modified. I should have taken pictures but I forgot to.

Next, I tried test fitting the radiator in a few different positions to see what could work and what wouldn't.

(A)
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...2.jpg~original

(B)
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...2.jpg~original

(C)
Had to trim the front section of the spare tire well some more to get this to fit
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...5.jpg~original

(D)
pretty much like (B) but a slightly different angle and different bottom mount
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...7.jpg~original

Originally my plan was to route radiator exhaust through a hole in the hood ala mitsu evo 8/9. But if I can get enough clean flow to the fender wells I won't cut the hood which will probably look better (stealthy) anyway. I also need to make sure there's enough room for the radiator for the air-water intercooler.

I also took the motor out and cleaned it up a bit, flipped it over and got some detailed shots of the exhaust and oil pan. I pulled the oil pan off and it's soaking to remove the oil so I can start hacking it up. The exhaust will come next.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...3.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...8.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...5.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...7.jpg~original


That's it for now, I think my rollcage maybe on it's way. I decided to go with a RLR weld in cage for racing. I plan on topping out at 150mph/240kph on the track with this tranny and wheel combo and I want something I can trust if the worst should happen.

OH WOW!! The more I look at Subby conversions, the more I want one!!! Great job! You are doing some awesome work! Keep the updates coming!

Cheers

Cheech

Sweet looking project. I like the pictures of all the new parts laid out. Another Suby conversion. Looks great!

You asked about the fuel sender. For my set up, I bought a universal sender and the correct guage from Summit. I'm also using Autometer guages, I spotted the yellow boxes. I tried to figure out the resistance of a stock sender. I figured either go with their gauge/sender and know for sure it'll work, or guess. I'd rather not guess with something like that.

Belt? The rope is a good idea. I worked for a little while at a truck part store. They had a guage to measure old belts if the numbers are worn. That might help in some way. They had a HUGE rack of belts. I know, I stocked it. :laugh:

I have a thread for my project, it may or may not help with your subaru conversion. http://www.germanlook.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=7050
There is also a Subaru advice thread, it may or may not help. Just thought I'd throw it in here too.
http://www.germanlook.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=6676

My only advice would be to raise the engine and transmission for better ground clearance. Also, it looks like the exhaust is as low as the oil pan. So why shorten it? I shortened mine and I almost wish I hadn't. I didn't gain much ground clearance.

Just my 2 cent.

Which exhaust is that? OK another silly request... if you unbolt your exhaust and have time, please spin it around and see if it bolts on backwards and misses the cam covers. I am building a STi Manx and would like to reverse the entire exhaust/turbo, intercooler, and intake manifold. I just have not had time to take the stock exhaust off. So I was hoping you might be unbolting your header....hmmm.

Thanks,
Randy

Not much done today, got a pretty godd tan (burn) from spending all day thurs working on the car in the sun.

Mikey:
I really dig how you laid out the gauges in your dash I wanted to do something similar but put the tach and speedo in the center of the dash and the rest behind the wheel. I thought about hacking up the dash a little bit just to mount the tach and speedo higher for better view.

I want to shorten the oil pan but widen the bottom so i don't lose overall capacity and raise the engine but as little as possible to keep all the weight as low as possible. The exhaust actually hangs lower than the oil pan by almost an inch and nearly touched the ground when i got in the car :eek:

SuperRSi
No problem, all the nuts were finger tight. The exhaust is a megan racing header from ebay, I tried a couple different ones but settled on this one. I tried to fit it on backwards for you but the up-pipe doesn't clear the cam cover and to make it work you would have to add a few inches to the bottom of the up-pipe next to the flex coupler to make it clear.

So far my hunt for the correct clutch master cylinder has been unsuccessful. I've had a lot of "that should work" but no hard calculations so I tried to figure it out on my own. I don't want to go through the whole return process (or eat the cost) of 3-4 MC's to find one that works.

*warning math ahead*

If you start with the presure plate and work backwards it makes a little more sense. Next in line is the throw-out arm, where the bearing side is 1.5" from the pivot and the cable eyelet is 3.5" from the pivot providing a ratio of 2.3:1.
The slave cylinder and master cylinder also have a ratio (at least with my preliminary setup on paper, I haven't commited yet incase this math is horribly flawed). I have a clutch master that's 1" diameter and a slave that's .88" in diameter giving a 1.136:1 ratio. and Last I have a tilton pedal assembly that's 5.5:1 pedal ratio.

So here's what I came up with:
Pr = force needed to release presure plate ie 3000# (guessing here)
T = thowout arm ratio on 091 tranny 2.3
M = master cylinder/slave cylinder ratio 1.136
Pa = Pedal assembly ratio 5.5

((Pr/T)/M)/Pa=Pedal force
or
((3000/2.3)/1.136)/5.5=208.76# at the pedal :eek:

Now playing with the values a little bit produces more realistic results but the biggest unknown is how much force it takes to release a KEP 3000# presure plate. Next guess 1500#
((1500/2.3)/1.136)/5.5=104.38# at the pedal, still a very heavy pedal

Trying the same 1500# release force with a different clutch master slave combo, a 1.125" master and same .88" slave give a ratio of 1.278:1 so...
((1500/2.3)/1.278)/5.5=92.78#

I wanted to bounce this off you guys to see if I'm totally crazy, or kinda close with my thinking here. Tomorrow I'll call KEP to see if I can get a better figure, but I'm more worried about my general formula here. Any Input would be a big help.

Still no definitive answer on my previous question, just too many variables. I was told that the force needed to release the clutch varies due to clutch plate thickness, flywheel wear, flywheel surface depth and so on, and that the force needed is not linear with wear or different clutch plates. So I went ahead and ordered a 1" dia titon master cylinder, to be continued...

Work has been progressing, little bits here and there. I had taken more pictures but our net access hass been down for the past week (we're on a long haul wireless setup) so I couldn't update or upload till now.

I've been waiting for some time for a bus-into-bug transmission adapter kit, about a month now, and it's kinda holding up everything else. I realized that A) I was probably gonna hack it up to make it work how I wanted and B) judging from the kit I could make a better one for less. So off the to metal supply I went. With stock on hand I started playing with how the transmission would sit in the car, how high and how far forward I could put it. The goal here is to raise the transmission and tilt it forward a few degrees so that maybe I don't have to modify the oilpan or exhaust or modify them very little (optomistic I know). I had to cut into the body to clear the nosecone and to make room for the new front mount. I also replaced the type 1 cv's with new bus cv's on my old axles and test fitted them to see if they will still work. They are 21.5" long from a late model vanagon and were perfect for the porsche swap and type 1 tranny. They felt okay-ish but i'll need better measurements (and pictures) once everything is set in stone.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...0.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...8.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...1.jpg~original

I started fabbing up the nose cone mount from some 2"x1/8" flat stock and ended up drilling the holes a little too far apart. A little bit of grinding and its a clean fit. Then welded it together and I'll grind it down tomorrow. Here's what I'm thinking for a main transmission mount similar to a bus to hang the 091 from. Then I'll fab up mounts on the bottom from the motor to the tranny saddle.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...7.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...4.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...1.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...t.jpg~original

Next, I hacked into the firewall behind the pedals to make room for the tilton floor mount unit. I also need to raise the pedals to clear the body and strengthen the floor so I made a spacer from 1/2" square tubing. Pardon the welding, I never welded before tonight. Somewhere a purist is crying, I can feel it...

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...2.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...0.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...0.jpg~original

I haven't decided if I need to brace the floor pan from underneath or not. I could tack in a couple strips of the 2x1/8" flat stock length wise for support if needed. Anyone else running floor mount pedals?

A couple of other odds and ends, I ground off the studs for the heater controls and finished removing the rest of the forward part of the spare tire well to prepare for the radiator/intercooler mounts and ducting.

Thoughts for another day...
As a result of the new transmission and mounting the shiftrod will now be above the tunnel. It will probably want to occupy the same space as the ebrake handle. No shiftrod in the tunnel frees up the tunnel for coolant lines.

All my parts are in so now the only thing standing between me and a finished beetle is... me. Our connection here on the mountain is doing a little better so I try to upload some pictures tomorrow. Made some progress since the last update but not as much as I would have hoped.

I started fabbing the new hanging tranny mount welding it into place in the car. When I welded the tabs in place the left one was 1/4" too high and then I final welded it before double checking. So I had to cut the welds and grind everything smooth and try it again with 4 part harmony. 2nd time around I used a laser level to line everything up to car center, measured about 10 times, then final welded. Now that its fixed I've started on the rest of the mounts, and I'm almost done with the nose cone mount. I had bounced a few ideas off a friend who specializes in fabrication for a living and he suggested a couple of changes to my hanging mount design. I took some of those suggestions to heart and redesigned it with a few ideas I picked off of drag cars.

Started some sheet metal work for the area behind the pedals and fabbed up a radiator frame/housing. Played with the housing a bit in the front of the bug, there's only a little bit of clearance on each side. Also looked at where air is going to go once it's past the radiator and while I think there's plenty of room for the air to sort itself out, it's not smooth flow. Anyone else with a radiator in front have any air flow problems?

Things haven't been going as fast as I'd like this past week or so but for good reasons. I got a new job building and configuring server/network equipment. I've been working long days so by the time I get home it already dark and I'm arleady tired from moving heavy equipment all day. On the plus side, It gives me extra money to spend on the bug and a sense of urgency on the weekends, so it's not all bad.

On to the good stuff... Finished fabrication to the motor/tranny mounts, I really need to work on welding upside down, I just can't seem to get it. Spent all day final mounting the motor and tranny. All in all they were in and out of the car no fewer the 5 times and each time I did it, it got a little bit harder to get them in or out. I can and did jump around on the motor and it ain't goin' nowhere.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...7.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...4.jpg~original

Overall i think the combo is 3-4" higher and 2-3" further forward than stock. The subie oil pan is now about an inch lower than the tranny saddle which I'm really happy with but the exhaust sill gives me worries.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...8.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...5.jpg~original

A few more pictures...

It's really starting to get tight behind the motor on the drivers side. I can't get a turbo to fit in the stock location so i'll have to mount it higher but I'm worried what that's going to do to my under hood temps since there's no real air flow there.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...0.jpg~original

Forgot to show pics of the front mount so here they are. Once the cage is in I want to tie in a couple of bars to the front tranny mount to stiffen things up more.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...3.jpg~original

Test fit the new deck lid, re-fit the fenders (which need to be trimmed again), and set the rear apron in place to see how things are coming, looking good so far.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...8.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...4.jpg~original

Coming on nice and quickly :) I presume you cut through the torsion housing to move the trans that far forwards or did it fit over the top? Have you tied the front mount in to the chassis and body so you can still seperate the two?

I'd have thought it would be easier to mod your rear mount than relocate a turbo..

Rich

Rich,
I didn't have to cut the torsion bar tube and I really didn't want to. Since I raised everything the nose cone sits right over the torsion bar tube. The front mount is tied only to the body so I can still seperate body and pan. As far as the turbo goes, it's much easier to relocate the turbo than to change the stress bearing design. I wanted as much strength in the brace as I could get with as little tubing possible to keep weight down but I was also hoping the turbo would still fit :rolleyes: So the next step is fabbing a new up-pipe where the flange is even with the top of the engine brace.

My bad for not keeping up. This looks Very interesting.

Does that picture answer your question? It looks like he removed some metal. Where the inspection plate cover sits.

I'll post more when I'm not in school. :(

Humble, I have a question. I saw where the cross brace you made attaches to the body. Is it welded? That is going to be very difficult to remove the transmission, if it is welded. You could weld your brace to a plate, then weld another plate to the body. 1/4" is probably be as thick as I'd go. Then you can bolt the two plates together. Also you can come in and tie your cage to the rear brace you made, to where it's removeable without removing the whole cage.

I was also wondering about your transmission. The trasmision is going to want to twist. Do you think those two bolts on the top will be enough? It's going to want to sheer them off. Maybe a strap over the tranny and tie the bottom into the frame horns?? You'll be grateful in the end if you make as many parts as you can removable with out an arm and a leg.

If you need a visual of these I can take a picture of what I'm talking about. Or kinda draw one with paint.

It's looking good. I see a lot of good ideas being used. :cool: Keep up the good work.

Mikey,
I actually thought of a lot of your questions when I was planning everything out. I thought I had put in a more detailed pic showing the lower part of the mount but it looks like I spaced it. No worries, here's a few pics that show the bottom of the rear brace. For the most part, if it touches the body it's welded. I wasn't comfortable with a bolt in setup so the nose cone mount and the rear brace are welded to the body. The tranny saddle is still removeable and it bolts to the bottom part of the rear brace to tie them to the frame horns. The tabs that stick out actually bolt to the stock motor mount locations on the ej20 and those will take the torsional forces.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...8.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...0.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...5.jpg~original

Is this kinda what you had in mind? It does take a little shimmying to get the tranny out but not as much as you'd think. Just pull the hanger bolts, free up the nose cone and see-saw the tranny as you pull it out. Doesn't take any longer than stock.

I'm sure having the horns tied to the engine will help. Yeah, if compared to stock it takes about the same amount of time. Then I'm sure it's good to go.

Hi

Good work. Are you going to modify those headers for more ground clearance? Im going to stick with the stock ones until Im looking for that last bit of HP.

Steve

I have these seats in my bug. Similar to yours, but narrower..

http://www.cobraseats.com/images/aqua4x4.jpg

http://www.cobraseats.com/offroad/aqua.php

Steve,
I don't want to modify the header before the collector if I can help it. With the tranny and engine raised I don't think I'll have to but I have to drop the car off the jack stands to see how it sits. Maybe something to do before the weekend. :) I didn't want the stock header because it's really restrictive and I'm converting from a twin turbo to a single turbo setup.

Chris,
Those seats are almost exactly the same size as my new seats. the Corbeau fx1 didn't fit so I swapped them for fx1 pro seats which are very close to the dimentions on your seat. Have you had much track time with your seats? How do they feel in day to day use?

They are excelent. Had probobly an hour or so track time, but many hours on the road. They are a perfect fit for me, hugging my arse well. Considering they are lightweight seats, with not much padding compared to normal seats, they are very comfortable. I can sit in them for hours without getting a numb bum. They are also very rigid.

Hi

If you can use the headers you have, it will get rid of the WRX rumble for sure, everything looks different when the car is jacked up.

One of the quickest WRX tuners down here only uses the stock single turbo header after he does a port job on them.

I temporarily put some Recaros in my daily driver when I went up the coast to VW show a few weeks ago, its amazing how much better a car is to drive when your not slipping around on the seats.

Steve

Chris,
Its good to hear the seats aren't too rough for the street. I want to drive the bug to work a few times to hit a dyno on my lunches. I'd also like to make a couple longer drives to hit a few bug shows here in Cali :) With your seats did you get the lumbar pillow or did you go without it?

Steve,
I really hope this header gets rid of the subaru "blat blat blat blat" exhaust note, I really don't like it. I have heard a couple of EJ25s with 4-1 exhausts and they have that big vw flat 4 sound to them. I know what you mean about the stock seats, I raced for a couple seasons of hillclimb and autox on stock seats. I usually took a passenger if I could to help keep me in place :laugh:

No, no lumbar pillow. The seats are quite deep though so support my legs well. I bought mine second hand, already attached to modified beetle seat bases. They are pretty much at the right angle, but you would need to get that angle right yourself also.

Update... kinda

Got a little work done on the beetle with an emphasis on little. I got the car off the jack stands and I can already tell there's more weight in the back end. With the jack stands under the rear jack point (right behing the door sill) I was able to pick up the front of the beetle and it weighed a little bit more than a bus tranny. With the car on the ground I jumped around on the engine brace to settle the suspension and there is now about 5" of clearance on the oil pan and 3.5" on the exhaust. There's also no preload in the torsion bars and only about 2.5" of compression in the suspension left. So next time it's in the air I'll add a spline each side and that should help out the backend.

With the impending bay area rainy season looming, I decided to get the windows in the car before pools start forming in the pans. Got the glass front windshield in fine and the plexi rear quarter windows in with their seals but for the life of me I could not get the rear plexi window to fit with seals. I tried with 3 people pressing on all the corners and trying to get it to bend right but it popped out or the seal wouldn't catch the interior lip. I ended up riveting the rear window in and I'll lay down a bead of caulk to seal it up.

Cleaned out the interior and took care of some surface rust in a couple spots. Mounted the seat brakets and one of the new fx1 pro seats on the passenger side to check for fitment. The fx1 pro fits a lot better in the car but I'm gonna need to trim up my waistline to fit in a bit easier :) Replaced both outside door handles since I managed to break them both a few winters ago.

Not as much real work as I wanted but at least its water proof-ish. I'll get pictures of the car on the ground tomorrow when there's better light.

Not much done on the beetle this weekend. It seems that compared to the engine and tranny it's all little stuff now and it doesn't seem like i'm making progress.

I got the pedals in and some sheet metal backing bent up behind it. Started plumbing the brake system and finished up the front. Got the slave cylinder in place along with a few other small things.

Wasted a lot of time trying to get the decklid hinge pins out and they won't budge. Shot them with pb blaster and still nothing. Is there a trick to driving out the pins? I wanted to get my quick release pins in because it'll save me time when I'm fitting everything.

Try using an Air hammer on those hinge pins (carefully, keep pressure on at all times under the trigger)

Not to be an A hole, but some of those trans mount welds look poor. what kind of welder, materials thinkness and set up are you running?

long overdue update....
Our connection on the hill is finally starting to cooperate, appearantly there was a lot of radio interference where we get our signal from and everything went dead. We're back up and working again so the updates can continue...

super vw,

no offence taken, I'll take advice from anyone that knows more than me on anything. I did all the welding and I started about a month to 6 weeks ago. We also had friend over who taught welding, and he pointed out that the settings we were using were "not optimal" to put it lightly. I also learned how to weld from a book, no one really taught me until this weekend. The welds look pretty bad for the most part but according the the master welder they'll hold for what I'm going to put them through. All of the metals used for mounts are at least 1/8" thick, in some places doubled up for 1/4". As far as the welder it a little 110v miller.


As far as the car goes I got the radiator mounts finished after scrapping what I previously made and re-designing (which seemed to be a theme this weekend). Made a mount for the remote resivoirs and bolted/plumbed them in. Fabbed up a raised shifter base and shiftrod locator but I'll probably srap that as well because it looks hideous :P I realized after finishing about 90% of it that I can get a shifter for a sandrail that will look and probably work better. Started wiring, got the main harness in front to rear and got about halfway done in the front. If anyone knows where I can find the pig tails that plug into the ignition switch and the wiper assy. please let me know. I've asked a few people locally and they seem to be junkyard parts.

Picked up a once in a lifetime deal on eaby this week. Found a local guy selling some 86 944 turbo phone dials with a buy it now of 300. Ironically I had just lost on another auction for some fuch wheel fans and I told my co-worker I could get a set of wheels for less than the wheel fans went for, $480, (highly unlikely). Out of curiosity I did a quick search and found this set of wheels. When I picked up the wheels I found they were 7x16 et 23.3 and 8x16 et 23.3 deep dish phone dials! Score!

Finally, dropped off my front wheel spacers last week to have the inner bore machined out 3/16" to clear the 944 dust caps, and picked them up on friday. Put them on the car to find out that they still didn't clear the dust caps... that's odd. Took some dial calipers to my "machined" spacers and to the rears that hadn't been touched, only to find out there was no difference! Why do people think they can get away with doing this?! So I'll be headed back to that shop on my lunch tomorrow to get my money back.