I've been pretty busy with various jobs and haven't had much time for playing with cars, a problem which is compounded by the fact that I've got the Beetle, the Colt, an Audi Coupe quattro and a new Chevy pickup truck all on the go. The Salzburg Beetle has had some ups and downs over the past while, and I'll try and document what I can.
First up, I finally got around to mounting a co-driver footrest in the car. I had planned on machining up a unit which would have two rails permanently mounted to the floor, and a moveable panel (for different height co-drivers), but the crunch time to get the car ready in time for Spring Thaw meant I went with an OMP pre-formed panel. Of course, I'm not happy with the way it sits...so it will come out of the car soon enough for some changes. Basically, the angle isn't "right", and in order to sit correctly it needs to be trimmed to clear the tunnel and the inner fender.
Next up, and far more of a fun toy, is my Shift-I progressive shift light. You would think, in a car that is so loud you need hearing protection, that paying attention to the revs is easy. The problem, I've found, is that after a certain point its all just noise and volume...and you can't distinguish well enough between various levels of RPM. I saw this unit at my local race supply shop, and took a gamble. Such a good call! It's fully programmable for RPM range, light patterns, brightness and more. One button turns it on or off while driving, so I only use it when I'm 'having fun', thus ensuring my brain doesn't get so used to it that I ignore it. I've found it gives me two main advantages: I'm finding it much easier to keep the engine within the torque curve and I'm not risking an over-rev when playing in the upper rev limits. The one I bought has four green lights on the left, followed by two yellows and one red. I set mine up so the four greens are progressive, then the greens go out as the two yellows come on, and finally the yellow and red flash as you hit the limit. Incredibly hard to miss...but not distracting either.
http://www.ecliptech.com.au/index.ph...=59&Itemid=109
On the bad news side of things, I'm still struggling with burning out exhaust gaskets. To say I've beaten the pulp out of the exhaust system would be an understatement. I think most users would look at the condition of my muffler and assume it's only good for scrap metal. I have noticed that the last set of gaskets I blew out were about 3 days after I bottomed the muffler out on something...even though it was lightly. I now suspect that physical damage is starting the process, and it takes a few hundred kilometers for blow-by to damage the gaskets to the point I can hear them. Once I hear the change in exhaust note, or notice the wideband reading leaner, I get about 50km before the gasket blows out completely. The answer, unfortunately, is probably a whole new exhaust system and to extend the skid plate (or skid plate system) back to protect the exhaust as well.
The second set of bad news involves the oiling system. Three times in the past month I've experienced a zero-oil pressure situation where the car will lose oil pressure at idle and then I can't prime the system back up. I end up loosening off oil fitting and cranking the starter over while slowly working the oil through the system segment by segment. The first time it repressurized in relatively short order (about 30min of work), but just this week I lost pressure twice on one day and it took 1 hour and 2 hours (respectively) to get the car back up and running. Really quite frustrating...but thanks to some things I noticed on the second time, I think I have a theory. I have the cold-idle set relatively low on the car, its at about 500rpm, sometimes less. This corresponds to a hot idle of about 1000rpm. At low RPM I don't *think* the scavenge pump is moving enough oil back up to the tank. Eventually on Friday, while I was trying to prime the system, I realized that the tank had less then 1/8th of oil, and the motor was over-full. Hmmm.... I put an extra litre into the tank, took a risk and revved the motor to 1500rpm (with no pressure). Instantly I could hear the scavange oil splashing back into the tank and in less then 20seconds the oil light was out. So, I think the issue is two-fold:
• First off, I'm not watching the oil level in the tank often enough.
• Secondly, the scavenge pump isn't pulling enough oil at sub 1,000rpms
The combination of the two means that there isn't enough oil in the system to allow the car to idle cold at low RPM…and I lose oil pressure. Repressurizing the system from full oil loss takes about 2.5 complete minutes of cranking (assuming oil in the tank, coil disconnected), which I can't imagine is too kind to the bearings. I'm going to redo the venting on the tank which will allow me to run a higher oil level (additional one or two Litres) and keep a closer eye on things.
I am worried about the likely damage I've done to the bearings in the current motor. At hot oil pressure I'm down a full 10psi from where I was two months ago. I now see 40psi at 3500rpm instead of the 50psi I was seeing earlier. It's not low enough to pull the motor immediately, but it's something to be concerned about for sure. It could be the electric gauge/sensor, however. The mechanical gauge on the Accusump used to match exactly, but now they are 5psi different (Accusump being 5psi higher). Again, no emergency...but something to watch for sure.
Back to the Good News! If you haven't already seen the June 2013 Issue of UltraVW, you may want to go pickup a copy. Okay, I'm probably a little biased…but hey, six page feature on my car!
Stoked to finally have a magazine feature I can give to family and friends who don't speak Japanese or French! Makes oil system issues a little easier to deal with.
-Dave