View Single Post
  #72  
Old July 31st 2020, 21:17
owdlvr's Avatar
owdlvr owdlvr is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Canada - West Coast
Posts: 851
So, after suffering a valve-train issue, and newly installing the engine into the car...what would be the best way to ensure it's strong and ready for use? Why, a 5,148km road trip...right?!

The trip was needed to create the rough notes which will become the route books of four different Classic Car Adventures events. I can't post exactly where I went, as my routes are usually kept a secret until the event, but I did make it all the way out to Calgary and up the Banff corridor for an upcoming Hagerty Touring Series event which I am producing. The engine performed on the entire trip flawlessly, using only a litre of oil for the entire run. Most of that litre is either under the motor, or on the inside of the engine lid as I didn't realize until day two or three the oil pressure sender was leaking from the threads! Whoops.

The starter, however, was giving me fits for the entire first half of the trip. When I built the car, I used a brand new "rebuilt" AC-Delco starter. Back when I was machining the front face of the starters to fit the Rally Bug and 901 trans swap I was using AC-Delco rebuilt units as they were cheaper. Failure rate was about 1 a year, so I was sure with the starter being less than two months old it must be the ignition switch. First I wired a hot-start relay, then I wired an all-new ignition switch, and then I wired a 60amp pushbutton direct between the battery and starter. Even that failed to engage the starter reliably.

Mid trip, I stopped at my best friend's house and pulled the starter out. At that point, I discovered the solenoid was faulty...and would both jam, and/or heat soak. Fortunately Concept-1 in Calgary was only a day away...and Ken fixed me up with a new WOSP high-torque starter, and thanks to some mutual friends I managed to borrow a hoist to install it instead of doing it in the Concept-1 parking lot! Once the new starter was in, the whole trip was perfectly flawless.























Now I have to figure out how to get 9 days of bug guts off the front of the car...
__________________
'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