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  #541  
Old March 11th 2017, 19:55
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Clatter View Post
Look out, though...
Once the nest is built, it's very common for the female to come into reproductivity!


I fought some of the same issues with throttle linkage rods.
Bends can work themselves out with use unfortunately..

Might just bite the bullet and get a sync-link?
CBs hex-bar comes with it's own set of issues..

Did you look at the Web-link that CB sells, to flip a carb 180' and use the other side?

Also wondering if you are 100% sure you want to run the fuel lines through the interior of the car?
I heard some sanctioning bodies frown upon this..

Love your work here.
Just beautiful..
I'll go crawl back under my bridge now.
Easy fix for the first point, I'm single :P Could probably change that if I spent a little less time in the shop though...hmmm.

I figure with the flex now built into the linkage, especially on the 3/4 side, I'll be adjusting the bends more frequently than if the rods were simply straight. Sync-Link is definitely an option to consider, and one I'll look into as the season progresses. Having been a mountain biker for so many years, the idea of cables in sheath in such a hot area combined with the dirt and mud my engine bay sees at least a few times a year, makes me think it won't be a maintenance free option on my car.

The weblink is interesting, but it essentially focuses on changing the spring from the back of the left carb over to the front, so that the loads on the throttle shaft are equalized. Don't think it will help me too much here.

As for the fuel lines, yeah I'm quite comfortable running them through the cabin. It's a pretty common thing to do in Rally, and our sanctioning body simply requires that there is a metal shield between the fuel line and the passengers of the vehicle. In the case of a stainless-steel braided line, because the rubber line is actually fabric reinforced, the stainless braid is considered to be a metal shield by *most* scrutineers. That is changing, however, and the latest build we've done (a MK1 Escort) required a literal metal shield between the co-driver's legs and the fuel lines. In the case of my car, I'm careful to anchor the lines *(just* enough that they won't move about in an accident, but should the car crush or deform they'll have some movement so they don't fail. Most of the lines in the car appear to be 3-6" too long, but it's accounting for movement should I manage to fold the thing in half.

-----

Managed to get a large number of small items crossed off the list last night, and added the annual layer of POR-15 to the interior floorboards. I'm still fighting the issues I had from the original build, but about 80% of the original paint has been peeled up and replaced. No idea what happened on the initial prep, but any of the areas hit with a new coat over the last four years seem to have the bullet-proof finish we expect to have from POR15.

I'm off to the mainland today to go and visit my buddy with his big lathe, we'll cut down a new starter and hopefully I'll have that dialled in. A missed ferry means I'm taking the risk that the SR18X that's at his house will work, and it's hitting the lathe before I get a chance to measure the pinion depth. Live dangerously, right? :P

Hoping to be pressurizing the oil system on Monday, but I suspect it will be Wednesday, once I'm finished a course I'm taking. I'm only 15days behind my original plans for all the pre-season work...

-Dave
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'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
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  #542  
Old March 13th 2017, 13:23
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The starter fun continues. I got my SR18x in stock, and it definitely extends the exact same amount as the 17x I'm currently using. Currently on hold with Bosch technical support to see if they can come up with anything, but at the moment we may have found a solution with the SR25x. One of the local parts houses as warning note in their system that it should only be used on Vanagon model vehicles, and not the beetle/porsche/etc the system says it will also fit. Their internal note says it's 10mm longer and won't work in the other applications. Bingo, that is what we need! Hoping to confirm with a Bosch service tech, and the SR25X will be here tomorrow.

...getting closer? Maybe?

-Dave
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  #543  
Old March 15th 2017, 23:06
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Whatever you, don't hit it with a hammer, though..! :-)
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  #544  
Old March 24th 2017, 01:10
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Well, time for an update!

Turns out the SR25X does indeed have a pinion depth 10mm deeper than a stock SR18x. So, had I known this when I first did my transmission swap, a stock SR25X is the perfect combination for Type-1 Beetle engine and Porsche 901 transmission. No machining necessary, and you'll get full starter / flywheel teeth engagement. Unfortunately, for me at least, the way Bosch did this is exactly the same way I made the SR17X work...they simply made the nose & mating surface thinner. There is no meat left to machine the SR25x thinner, to make up for my new 10mm spacer.

Hmmmm

After thinking about it for a while, I went with the only option I knew I could make work. Chris at Hi-Torque starters and I exchanged a number of emails and and phone calls, to ensure that we were on the same page and understood the required measurements exactly. A rather expensive shipping charge later, and this arrived in two days. It's setup to have the pinion depth a full 20mm deeper than a stock beetle starter, which makes it perfect for my current configuration. Dropped it into the car, hit the key and the motor turned over perfectly.






I spent a few days buttoning up various things on the car, while I worked out getting my Mac laptop ready for tuning. Interior is back in, trunk is back setup, burned up my BN2 gas heater and then installed another one, and finally hooked up the laptop to the ECU. Everything checked out, I loaded my starting map, primed the oil system and started the car. Or, rather, I would have started the car if it actually fired up. I had fuel pressure, but no spark. Solved that problem and then spent two hours trying to work out a no start problem. I had fuel pressure, there was fuel on the plugs when I pulled to check for spark. I had spark, there's obviously air...compression? Check the valve timing, all good. Bad fuel? Drive to go and get fresh fuel...and that's when it dawned on me.


You see, the carbureted setup had two fuel pups. FP1 was the primary fuel pump, and FP2 was simply a back-up. If the first pump ever failed on an event, flip the switch and keep going. Except, I removed the second pump to make room for the surge tank. I flipped the switch to the FP2 position, shutting off the pump, while I was setting up the initial timing the night before. So yeah, all that time diagnosing the no-start issue, and I literally didn't have the fuel pump turned on. Oops!

With that sorted, I turned the key and fired it up. On the current map the cold start and initial warm-up is terrible, worse than with the IDF carbs. But needing a base of understanding and settings to start from, I worked the pedal to keep it running and got the engine warmed up to the point where it was running off the O2 sensor and the fuel map part that I know enough about. From there I could set the idle on both the idle speed screws, and in the fuel map. Idled quite nicely, and called it a night.

I cut work short today, headed to the shop and dropped the car down off the axle stands. After torquing the wheels, I opened my garage door, put the car in first gear, stood on the clutch and turned the key. S**t. The car crept forward on the starter, not quickly...but enough that I knew the hydraulic clutch setup was not disengaging fully. S***! While I warmed up the engine I considered my options, and weighed the possibilities. After the initial panic / thoughts of tearing it all down, I realized that I may have enough adjustment in the pedal stop I welded in. A few wrench turns later, and I can officially call the hydraulic clutch conversion a success!

Well, time for a road test, eh?


The fuel map is rough, and the A/F ratios were all over the place in the first 15min. A combination of a couple of tweaks by me, and the "Quick Tune"'s self-learning program saw things improving over the next two phases of the drive. Did some in-town driving, and then up to the Alberni Summit and back. The in-town section on the way home was significantly smoother and better than on the way out. Quite driveable, I'd even take it out on a road trip right away. Some of the drivability issues are definitely the 009 distributor I'm currently using. It drives like the car did on carbs, before I tuned out as much of the "009ness" as I could. No worries, the CB Blackbox is ready to go on the ignition side, so that will help out. I figured I might as well get the car running and somewhat useable on fuel mapping alone, before adding in the ignition side of things.

Sigh...do I have to work tomorrow? Maybe it's "tuning Friday"?

-Dave
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  #545  
Old November 27th 2017, 19:56
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Oh hey! It's only been March since I last posted? So happy to see that Germanlook.net is backup and running. I have a bunch of stuff to post, though I'm not sure how good I've been about taking photos. Will start posting tonight or tomorrow, after organizing what I've got. Changes are coming this winter too...I keep stripping more parts out of the car.



-Dave
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  #546  
Old November 27th 2017, 20:28
rioprelude rioprelude is offline
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Good to see your posts again Dave!
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  #547  
Old December 7th 2017, 02:17
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Alrighty...time for a quick run down on the summer.

The fuel injection system was running splendidly, and I was looking forward to another awesome Hagerty Spring Thaw in the car. The actual event weekend ended up being a gong show. The night before the event, while doing some tuning, I lost all fuel pressure. Diagnosed it to be the pre-pump filling the surge tank. Popped a new one into the car while my guests enjoyed the pre-event dinner, and was ready to go. The next morning an avalanche took out the mountain road we were supposed to use, so I had to do a last minute re-route. While driving on the re-route we lost fuel pressure again, on an intermittent basis.

If we had been on the original route, instead of one that took 4 hours longer to get to the hotel...
If I had just stopped, breathed in and out for five minutes to think about it...
If i had another twenty minutes at the side of the road, without stressing about the event...

Alas, I did the responsible thing. Limped the car to a buddies place, rented a car and hosted the rest of my event. Literally 20min after we picked up the rental car it dawned on me. "There must be a problem with the fuel tank pickup." Another 15min and I said to Greg, my co-driver, "I know how to fix it. I simply need to swap the fuel lines around so that the engine is drawing from the gas-heater pickup." In my car it's separate, and located at about 1/3rd above the bottom of the tank. We'd have to fill up more often, but it would have allowed us to use the car for the event. On the way home, we stopped at the car, I spent 15min swapping lines around, and the car drove flawlessly. Sigh.

Some diagnosis upon getting to my shop, and I found some things I expected...and one thing I did not!

The filter showed some dirt, as I anticipated it would...


The tank outlet appeared to be plugged.


But this seemed odd...


What are the chances that a little rubber bumper which fit perfectly into my fuel tank outlet would do just that. I think it was Joel that identified it as a bumper off of the fuel gauge sender. I mean, really. Unbelievable. Hopefully my new filter setup will prove to be problem free!




My fuel setup now has a backup pump, already plumbed to the gas heater inlet, ready to go should a problem resurface.


The rest of the summer was a blur of adventures...although most were without the Rally Bug. I acquired a ’67 MGB in a crazy L.A. to Canada adventure, and the ’58 beetle has been doing a lot of miles here on the island. Not wanting to leave the Rally Bug feeling left out, however, it was redemption time on my Fall event the Hagerty Fall Classic.


Fortunately this time around the car was flawless, and it was a perfect way to close out my motoring events season. The Rally Bug crossed 210,000km on the odometer since being finished, which is pretty remarkable in 4.5 years. The fuel injection setup is wonderful, the hydraulic clutch is fantastic...but the car does need a bit of a refresh in spots.

I'm getting a very slight front end vibration, similar to the Super-Beetle-Shimmy, but too early to tell. I found the steering damper bushing had failed, and made up a new one using Urethane. One of my wheel/tire setups vibrates less, but no amount of rotating seems to solve the problem. Not finding anything obvious in the front end, I figured I’d just do a full rebuild come winter. The other main annoyance is the pedal cluster. After 200,000km, many of them not gentle, it’s showing the fatigue. The brake pedal pin snapped off it once in Colorado, and now the accelerator pedal setup keeps breaking. It’s worn out, and needs replacement.

Back when I did the hydraulic clutch conversion, the hardest part of the whole operation was getting the factory pedal set bolted back in with the Saco clutch master cylinder. It was brutal. The job was so bad, I promised myself that when the pedal set has to come out of the car next, if the body is still on the pan, I won’t put a stock pedal set back in.

Well…winter has started. First job was to put the car up in the air, and start stripping off everything that I new was going to be changed, upgraded or refurbished. The front suspension, front brakes, rear brakes, stock pedal set, and clutch master cylinder are all out of the car.

Tomorrow I’ll catch up on the work I’ve been doing…

-Dave
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'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
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  #548  
Old December 7th 2017, 02:44
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Actually…before I do that, I should tell a story from the Hagerty Fall Classic.

If you’re not aware, or don’t remember, I run three-day driving events for people who own classic cars. Yup, that’s my job. Seriously. The Hagerty Fall Classic is my September event that happens in Washington and Oregon. This year we had to move the event due to Forest Fires, and instead ran in B.C.

Now, when you run classic car driving events for a living, you’re always concerned about the driving styles of everyone who attends. There have been accidents in similar events in California, and a part of me always needs to worry about people who are driving in a manner which may earn them a citation. And thus, truthfully, I haven’t really driven the Rally Bug hard in a couple of years, as I’m usually setting the example…and the Rally Bug gets out to less events per year than it used it.

So, I moved the event North due to Forest Fires, which meant a number of guests couldn’t attend. We were a smaller event, made up of friends and clients who have been doing my tours for years. Warwick, my buddy with whom I started Classic Car Adventures, was attending this year…having taken a number of years off due to the growth of his other business. We haven’t driven twisty roads in classic cars together since I think year two or three…and this was year nine for CCA.

At one point on the event we hit Warwick’s favourite road in all of British Columbia. He was leading, I was on his tail, and things got a little spirited. Not dangerous, by any stretch, but we were having fun. Officially, should any one be reading this for non-entertainment purposes, all of our driving was strictly legal. But yes, we were having a blast. Later in the day, we hit my favourite road in the province, one which Warwick had never driven before. This time I was leading, and the joy of showing a great car buddy my favourite road may have influenced my right foot a little. We started in a group of cars. My Rally Beetle, Warwick’s Mini with a 1250cc engine, a Porsche 356 replica running a 2332cc vw engine, a Lotus Super 7 with a Hyabusa motorcycle engine and a Jag E-Type. At one point we passed the two Porsche 911s on the event…and soon it was just Warwick and I. At the end of the road was a restaurant, and we stopped for coffee while we waited for everyone to join us.

It’s been far too long since I drove the Rally Bug at it’s full capabilities. Every shift, every corner, every line, every bit of the drive up our mountain road was in the zone and perfect. I got out, having throughly enjoyed myself, and realized I had awakened my love of the Rally Bug. Later, John in the 356 replica was chatting with me. “Dave,” he says, “I’ve known you for 6 years and I have never heard your car run like that. I always thought it was a bit of a heap. It never idles right, it always got coughs and sputters in weird spots…it’s because you never drive it! Opened up like you had it, it sounds incredible and runs unbelievably!”

I hear, when the story is told around campfires, the Rally Bug was seen to be just beyond the traction circle in every corner…it’s driver peering out the side windows as much as the windshield. Legend speaks of dual webers screaming at full throttle. But you know what they say about campfire stories? They’re all highly exaggerated for the benefit of law enforcement.

On that drive heading up the road, I remembered why I built the car the way that I did. All of its annoying issues are only annoying if you try and drive it like a daily driver. Drive it the way it was meant to be driven, and it all makes perfect sense.

My love for the Rally Bug was definitely rekindled.

-Dave
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'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

Last edited by owdlvr; December 7th 2017 at 02:50.
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  #549  
Old December 8th 2017, 12:38
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And now for the current projects...

Rally bug is up on axle stands for re-prep and upgrades. It's done 200,000km in four years, and as usual I have some ideas for improvements. Started stripping it down and creating a list.$





One of the things I need to change is the stock pedal set. I've done various modifications along the way, but the key point is it has failed twice. One of the failures was the brake clevis pin, leaving us with only the hand brake on a twisty mountain downhill in Colorado. The last modification for the pedals was to convert them from cable clutch to hydraulic, and to do that I stuffed a master cylinder inside the tunnel. It was such a brutal job to get it all lined up and attached, I promised myself the next time it came out I would replace the pedals with a proper pedal box.

Well, the accelerator pedal setup keeps breaking...so out came the pedals.



...and, this is where the problems start. Measuring out the car, there isn't a pedal box made that will fit. Surprisingly it's not the distance away from the seat, or fitting the master cylinders, it's the width. I always figured it would be squeezing in the masters, and I could use the Tilton master-under-foot setup if needed, but it's wider than I thought and won't fit.

I do have an older Tilton setup with the masters behind the pedals, but it's too wide to fit in the car. I could raise it 1.5", above the heater channel, but then my legs don't fit. Well, as a good buddy of mine is fond of saying, "God hates a coward..." and so, here we go!



That photo shows me milling 0.75" out of the space between the clutch and the brake pedal. I did mill all the way through making my pedal set two pieces. Of course, I had to mill out two new mounting holes for the clutch pedal at the same time. With 3/4" taken out of the pedal set, I can get it just narrow enough to fit the car. A bonus I didn't expect was the ability to fit a proper dead-pedal in, which is nice. With the dead pedal, however, the pedals do end up 1/2" closer to the driver...so I'm going to have to space out the steering wheel and move the shifter and hand brake. It's not the end of the world, but adds to the work level.



I love a good night in the shop when you lose track of time. Looked up to check if it was dinner time, as I was feeling a little hungry...whoops, it's midnight. :P
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'71 Type 1 - Rally Project
'58 Type 1 - I bought an early!?!
'73 Type 1 - Proper Germanlook project
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'93 Chevy 3500 pickup - Cummins Swap
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  #550  
Old December 8th 2017, 14:03
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After a couple of nights away from the car, and a BMW M3 track day, I decided I didn’t like where the pedals were going to be mounted in the Rally Bug. I need to find a way to be push them further forward. Things got technical in the shop tonight. Had to print off a full-scale representation of the Tilton 600-series under-foot pedal set...to see how much more space $800 will buy me.


The underfoot mounting of the master cylinders allows the pedals to be pushed significantly further forward. The trade-off, however, is in width at the firewall. The 600-series underfoot mounting cannot be done in a beetle without significant changes to the heater channel. Since I’m not willing to pull the body off the pan this winter, I decided to save the $800 and make what I have work. The next car I build will get the 600-series set.

I debated cutting away the sheet metal painted in yellow, to gain another 1/4-1/2” of movement…and then figured 'what the heck?’. Removing the yellow got me some additional space, and then I removed quite a bit more. After the cutting I was able to move the pedal set forward almost 1.5" from where it was earlier tonight, giving me enough space to be comfortable. The green tape line shows where the 600-series gas pedal would be, which is about 1" further forward on the car. Pretty much inline with where the stock gas pedal would be.


With the pedal spot basically figured it out, it was time to make a plate for the top side, weld on a steel plate on the bottom side, and drill the mounting holes. With the pedals now sitting at the proper level, I had to figure out how to make the accelerator cable work. The setup of the accelerator cable took three different versions before I came up with something that I’m happy with. Presuming you want to use the stock cable, in the stock tube, you have to find a way to make the system pull relatively horizontally, instead of pivoting and pulling down. Next, you have to sort out the pedal ratio, so it’s pulling enough cable through the travel of the gas pedal. You have to ensure that your setup pulls enough cable that you get full throttle…and finally, the whole setup needs to be adjustable enough that once you setup the brakes and have them bled, you can adjust where the gas pedal sits for best heel-toe use…and then adjust the pull, ratio, etc all over again. It looks a bit hokey, but I think this third edition meets all the requirements.


I moved the brake light switches to the inside of the car, and after this photo tweaked the brackets so that they sit in a cosmetically-acceptable manner.


The project was paused for dinner, while I worked out how I was going to do a grommet to pass the front brake line forward through the firewall. I can’t use the factory grommet spot, due to the pedals interfering, and I forgot to weld up the stock brake master holes. A wiring firewall grommet was my original plan, but it didn’t fit the brake master hole that well. So, off to the milling machine with the factory brake master!


Pedals in, lines plumbed, brake light switches sorted, and the dead pedal has been modified for best fit.



My summit racing order arrived, and I built a bracket to house the brake bias adjustment knob. If I was using the car primarily on the track, I would have mounted the knob in a spot where I could reach it while harnessed into the car. But, with it’s use on multiple surfaces, I’m far more likely to adjust the knob for tarmac, gravel, snow and ice, and leave it after some minor changes. I’ll need to loosen the harness slightly to reach it in this position, but the ****pit of the car is pretty damned busy and this was the best choice.



My steering-wheel spacer also came in, but it had a weird lip on it that interferes with my quick-release. I don’t use my mill that often, but when I do use it…it’s the best thing ever. Something doesn’t fit, and ten minutes later it fits perfectly.



I will still need to move the shifter back by about 2”, and perhaps water jet a new handle for the hydraulic handbrake…but when those are completed, I think I’m done the changes to the ****pit.

-Dave
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'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

Last edited by owdlvr; December 9th 2017 at 13:56.
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  #551  
Old December 10th 2017, 21:32
rioprelude rioprelude is offline
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Very nice work as usual! I need to look at upgrading to the Tilton pedals when I get back on my project. Let us know, how they work out.
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  #552  
Old December 13th 2017, 02:00
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I will definitely report on them once I've got the car on the ground and running again.

Next up on my agenda is getting the brakes back on, which means first addressing the suspension that's sitting on the floor. It's high time I got around to fitting the Silver Project upper camber plates, as they've been collecting dust on a shelf since before my move. For those of you who aren't aware, these are direct fit for 73+ super beetles, but require some adjustments for 71 and 72 super beetles. The adjustment is to simply open up the large strut tower holes slightly on the body. The strut towers are made from two stamped pieces of metal welded together, and in my case it was just a matter of cleaning out where one layer was slightly skewed from the other. About 2min work with a die grinder on either side, and then some primer and paint for the, now, exposed edge.




Hmmm...it would seem the bump stops in my winter setup are toast :P



The local performance parts shop, Lordco, had some Energy suspension bump stops I figured I could make work. Problem though, they don't fit the upper washers too well...




Nothing a flap disc on an angle grinder can't solve! I forgot to take a photo of all the urethane coating the white wall of the shop...that's going to be fun to clean off.



After reassembling everything I realized that without the factory bump stops and cover, I was leaving the upper strut seal exposed to the elements. On my winter setup, and plans to hit Thunderbird Rally in February, and maybe some ice racing, this isn't an ideal thing to have! Off to Lordco again, to see what else I can find in the performance department...



"But Dave," I can hear you saying, "that is an off-road truck shock boot." Ah yes, it would appear that way. But funny enough, if you cut the top six ribs off it, it becomes a VW Part!



...alas, we end there as I head off to Big White Rally in Kelwona.

-Dave
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'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
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  #553  
Old December 29th 2017, 21:00
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Ugh. Its going to be a full month before I get to work on the car again. I don't even have a list of things I could be buying while I'm gone!!!

This is painful...start updating your threads, I need to live vicariously through other projects.

:P

-Dave
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'71 Type 1 - Rally Project
'58 Type 1 - I bought an early!?!
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'93 Chevy 3500 pickup - Cummins Swap
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  #554  
Old March 18th 2018, 03:10
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Well, a contract in January turned into another contract in February, and that turned into an event in March...and just like that, I'm almost three months down on car time :P

On the plus side, thanks to these contracts I've driven some absolutely incredible roads and crossed things off my bucket list. I've driven through Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virgina, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan.

I've visited Barber Motorsports Park (including laps of the track, tour of the museum and a special tour of the museum workshop), BMW club of America's museum, The Lane Museum, Rick Hendrick's private collection, The Corvette Museum, The Amelia Island Concours and the Kennedy Space Centre.

I've been lucky to tour some pretty incredible automotive shops as well. The Creative Workshop in Florida was unbelievable. Wood floors, a hidden dyno, and cars you only dream of. Detroit speed builds some incredible muscle cars of the SEMA-type...but the sneak peak at this year's SEMA cars was pretty exciting. White Post Auto Restorations might be the oldest restoration shop in the USA and four generations have owned/worked/run the place. Duncan Imports is a car-guys dream where the warehouses of cars just goes on, and on, and on. How about a beetle with less than 30 miles on it? How about four of them...from three different decades. Unreal.


But alas, it means the poor Rally Bug has just sat without me. Having finally returned home, I've been crunching away on it as much as possible. Photos are limited, as I'm trying to get the work done vs. document it.


Moving the shifter back 2" resulted in some interesting issues. First off, the mount on the transmission tunnel suddenly had a tonne of flex in it. Previously each of the mounting bolts (three of them) were "boxed in", but the move back results in flex I definitely didn't anticipate. Fortunately the addition of two extra bolts, and a 2" gusset welded between mount and trans tunnel resulted in a flex-free install. The carbon shift rod I built needed to be shortened, which was a bit of a pain since I had to rescue the aluminum end I had bonded in originally. Without my buddies lathe, there was no way to whip up a new one. Managed to shorten the rod without shattering it...and then got to do it all over again as I cut it a 1/4" too long!


With everything installed in place, I discovered a new problem…the shift rod angle is just steep enough that it was hitting something in the tunnel. I ended up cutting out a little more than I wanted, but worked out it was the throttle cable tube (figures, the only one I CAN’T cut out). Ended up having to cut the tube so I could move it, and then weld in a section to keep it inline so the cable won’t get cut.


Extended the brake light harness, since the switches are now inside the cabin, in front of the shifter.


Suspension has been re-installed, with all new bushings…simply because I was in there.


Hmmm…it would seem this box was not the correct set of wheel studs. Where the heck are my 25mm studs!?!


And taking care of some details…trying to freshen it up a little.

-Dave
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Old March 18th 2018, 03:43
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Wally Wally is offline
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Great report Dave! Sounds like great fun what you do for a living!
And thanks for the tour tips. If I ever get to the US, I have some good musea to go and visit now
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