Dave's 1971 1302 Not-So-Secret, Secret Project Build

[H2OSB]

You're my semi-inspiration for planning my soon, future dedicated autocross/track day car. Semi, because it won't be a rally car. Looks great!

H2OSB

[72marinablue]

Nice work Dave!

[owdlvr]

Originally Posted by H2OSB

You're my semi-inspiration for planning my soon, future dedicated autocross/track day car. Semi, because it won't be a rally car. Looks great!

H2OSB

I mean, I won't lie. Outside of the Rush to Gold Bridge, which mixes gravel and tarmac each year, I don't think the Rally Bug is going to see much "rally" after this rebuild. It's basically a tarmac car now, and I'll probably re-think the livery.

----

Stopped in at the body shop right after the holidays. As I suspected, they sort of misunderstood the "tape and spray" quality expectations. But, I know they are balancing the "our shop name is on this job" too.


The hood, for example, was what I would consider to be a "perfect" factory hood with factory paint. I mean, just scuff that puppy and spray it! Nope. Not flat enough for them. :P

On the same token, they are taking the time to fix the stuff that really should be fixed. Various parts of the shell have been highlighting for blasting, and you can see a bit of the work they've done to repair all the rally-rash on the fenders.



In sandblasting, however, they discovered an absolute horror I had no idea about. There was a pinhole rust bubble in the front apron, which I knew they would pull out...but that snowballed into discovering this interesting repair. Apparently the front apron was basically bondo...which amazingly never cracked or fell out?! Looks to me like someone backed a trailer into the car, and then did a quickie fix to get it out the door.



I offered to pull the factory apron off my '73, but the vent area needs a little bit of straightening, and we agreed that the most cost-effective way to fix this would be to simply drop a Klokkercrap panel into the car. With the Kamei spoiler, you see very little of the apron and we're going to be cutting up the front end of the car after paint for the radiator setup. So...it's a smart spot to save a few pennies.




When I built the Rally Bug 13 years ago, I desperately wanted to put some carbon bits in the interior of the car. I wasn't in the position to afford them, but was going to figure out how to make it happen. At that time, however, Carbon Joe had sort of 'disappeared' and wasn't producing anything. I had missed the boat. A few months back, a Carbon front splitter was posted on TheSamba and I literally pulled the car over to the side of the road and jumped on buying it (for the '75 project). I realized pretty quickly that it was Carbon Joe selling it, and inquired if this was New Old Stock, or was he reproducing. We discussed my interests, quantities, and (if I'm completely honest) told him how much a young Dave desperately wanted some Carbon Joe bits for his first and second builds. So far I've got the splitter, headlight rings and carbon dash from the list of parts I've asked him for. Each transaction has been fantastic, and I can't wait to see the rest of the bits when they show up.



The fit is incredible, and I think I've decided that this one is actually going to go into the Rally Bug (not the '75 as tested here).



That got me falling down the rabbit hole of what do I want the dash to actually look like? For the Subaru swap I only need a tach, speedometer, fuel gauge, and water temp...everything else is basically 'extra'. With the carbon dash, I also want to try and 'clean it up' and go with a simple setup, and as few switches as possible. I've been exploring digital dash panels, and PDMs (power distribution modules)...I'd love to fully modernize the cars electrical system. I just don't think I'm willing to swing the budget to make it happen. It starts off looking like $1500-2k, but by the time you actually go and design the system and price it out to the final connector...it's $4-6k CAD. Considering I don’t really do track days, and thus the datalogging side of it is pretty useless to me, it’s a big spend. Probably convinced myself not to do it, in lieu of standard gauges.



I have started to rethink the floorpan, however, and cut off all the mounts for everything so I can start completely fresh. New pedal box, possibly flipping the shift assembly back around, and figuring out if I want the vertical hydraulic handbrake, or going back to a horizontal unit. I’m also going to completely redo the seat mounts. In the lower left you can see some 3D printed switch panel options, which I’ve been playing around with whether I can make them fit. One is simply a switch box, while the other is a PDM that has a number of additional features that are quite desirable. But $$$$ :P


If I do go with standard gauges, I will need some switches in the dash. This is pretty much the best option I’ve found so far, in trying to keep the carbon dash looking clean. If I can get the switches to be dual LED (one ring colour when off, a second colour when on) I’m probably going to pull the trigger. But with the body delayed in the paint shop, it’s time to put the floor pan aside for a few weeks while I get the 1958 Beetle and the German Look ready for next year’s motoring.

[owdlvr]

Rally bug heater channels are looking pretty good inside...but the bottoms of each were pretty rotten. Bob and I found a couple of spots, and patched them, but when the sandblaster came out...what was left was swiss-cheesey. It would seem both left and right sides were full of sand...from sandblasting the shell 13years ago. That held water/moisture, and rotted out the bottom and some of the running-board sides.







Heater channel bottoms in, door gap on the driver's side fixed, cracked hinge on the driver's side fixed...I mean, this was going to be a quick respray, right? I guess at this stage, we might as well fix everything [img]//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/tongue.png" class="smile" alt=":P[/img]

Well, since we're cutting out sheet metal...I should probably feel guilty.



...and putting new metal in.







Pedal set has the clutch pedal in line with where it was with the old set, but the pedals are 3" closer to the bulkhead. That should give me enough leg room to compensate for the added height off the floor they will have. Turns out the master cylinders shipped without some needed parts, so this project will have to wait a bit.

...and now we spend the next week working in my office, or cleaning/prepping the house for my family from the east to visit. No shop time for at least a week.

[owdlvr]

Not a whole lot of progress on the car...but the pedal box setup is getting more dialed in.

[wouter1303]

nice pedal setup!
Something similair is on my wishlist as well, but the required list is still to big.
Keep posting! I daily check the GL forums for news

[owdlvr]

Yikes. I am so sorry I haven't updated this since February. I had a bit of a rough year with staph infections, and you know it just sorta snowballs away from you. Given that the car has progressed quite a large bit since my last update, I think I'll probably break it down into short updates on some major components, and answer questions or provide more details as requested.

Body
After a spring of driving events, I got back home in May to a body ready for pickup! In my head, I had planned to have the whole chassis assembled and ready before picking up the body, but of course that didn’t happen. Turns out you need things like the body in order to work out seat mounts and other details!





With the carbon dash, I ultimately decided that the AiM dash was the direction I wanted to go. With an analog car, however, you end up needing a lot of expansion ports to make it all work. So I decided to go nuts and simply put a whole PDM into the car. That decision (both financially and time wise) was pretty much a guarantee that this was going to be a long term project to the end of 2024. No Rally Bug for summer or fall driving events.

Floorpan
The floorpan didn’t require a tonne of modifications, outside of the pedal box area. After welding in the new baseplate, and adding some stiffening bars, the pan went into and out of the shell about 3 or 4 times. My buddy Wayne fabricated the seat mounts for me, which required working out exactly where I wanted the driver’s seat to sit. Everything comes with a compromise, even with the exception that I’m willing to fab/move almost everything. The roll bar couldn’t move, I can only adjust the steering column so much before it needs a completely custom solution, but ultimately I ended up with a seat position that isn’t very far off from the other Beetles, but works out quite comfortably.

With the seat sorted, I could figure out the shifter location, setup the switch locations, and a few other bits on the inside…before pulling the pan and finishing it off for the final time. Thankfully I remembered that I’ve got a new Kafer bar, I’m changing the oil filter location, and a few other chassis bits that make a difference, and mocked it all up while body and pan were together.







The Arcdroid CNC plasma cutter came in super handy for the seat mounts…





Also visible in the next few photos are the slider mounts I put in for the passenger foot-rest. One of the nice details/upgrades for this round.





You’d think I’d have uploaded photos of the finished painted pan…but possibly not!

-Dave

[owdlvr]

Oh, here we go…glorious black.





So the AiM PDM32 is going to replace the entire wiring and electrical system in the car. The 6” screen means I can have all my gauges, warning messages, etc all on the screen, saving myself from drilling a tonne of holes in the dash. I’m also using a Cartek wireless switch setup on the steering wheel, to control most of the things you’d find on the dash or steering column.



Fast forwarding past a whole whack of work and here’s the basic dash setup. AiM 6” screen, Cartek wireless steering wheel controls, a Key8 CanBus switch package, Zero noise intercom (under the dash) and the Brantz S2 Pro rally computer.



One of the things I’ve decided with this refresh is I want the car to be more enjoyable on the street and on our collector car rallies. I’m eliminating the dry sump oiling to cool down the interior, since the oil system in the red German Look beetle has been completely bulletproof. The car is getting full insulation (Dynamat style, plus a 1/2” of Jute style) and carpeting. Since a traditional carpet kit (on the floor) wasn’t going to work for me, I simply went custom with rolls of “trunk carpet” you might find in a modern vehicle. Future me is probably going to hate me, as it seems to trap dirt really well.

Tracing so many holes over is “fun”…



For the rear luggage area, I did start with a traditional carpet kit.



The firewall was looking a little rough with all the holes (which are covered on both sides with aluminum tape if not being used currently). I figured a bit of carbon would spruce things up a little? I am the only person who’s ever going to see this. Painting it black would make far more sense. But…carbon? Genuine carbon fibre, a single lightweight weave in a very flexible resin. None of that carbon-look decal stuff!











Sliders under the footrest…



The old “backseat” setup was a bit of a mess.



I thought about moving all the fuel injection bits, but didn’t have a great spot to put it, so opted to just leave it…apparently I don’t have a “finished” photo of it to share at this point.



I did discover a small problem with the pedal box. Not dropping it down, and my big size 12 feet, means I rub the fuel tank area. Ultimately I knew this was going to be an issue before welding in the new floor plate, but I didn’t really realize that I would have cleared if I dropped it just a 1/2”. Ultimately I didn’t want to risk the floor plate getting hit from below (especially since this all started with the rock hit) so figured I’d solve the problem later. When in doubt, cut and weld! I don’t have good photos, but I essentially created a “Gurney Bubble” for my foot in the body, and then modified the fuel tank to clear that bubble. The body remains welded and sealed, and obviously the fuel tank does as well.

[owdlvr]

As previously mentioned, the whole re-build plan pretty much circles around the carbon dash, and getting the car “up to snuff” for it. I started laying out the plans for the PDM, and the wiring, and it’s been great fun embarking on a new skillset and puzzle.



The entire wiring for the car is now planned out in an excel spreadsheet. Every component is listed, and size/color/label of the wire. Where the wire comes from, where it goes, what terminal number on a connector it is (if appropriate), you name it. Along with the PDM I also ordered a pre-terminated motorsport harness, which essentially saves me from pinning each of the two 38-pin connectors. Here in Canada, the running joke is that whenever you buy a used car, you can pretty much guarantee 50% of it has been rewired (poorly) using exclusively red wire from Princess Auto or Harbour Freight. So the fact that my motorsport harness essentially uses only red wire, is pretty funny.





Since I had gone this far, I decided to go all the way. The original Rally Bug harness (that I built) was essentially built with PVC, or “auto hook up” wire. Where possible, I did use factory VW wiring, but there was a tonne of regular automotive wiring that went into the car, an example of which is pictured on the left wire in the image above. The motorsport harness I bought for the PDM is made up of Tefzel wiring, shown on the right, which has a significantly thinner insulating jacket. It’s more flexible, creates a smaller harness, and can handle temps up to 150c (vs 80c for PVC). Tefzel wiring, though, is not inexpensive. So for all the other wires I would need to add, I’ve used TXL wire, shown in the middle. It’s a thinner, more flexible wire than PVC, can handle up to 125c, and is a great middle ground and good “clubman” harness wire.

The purchase list extended to Deutsch connectors for everywhere, Kapton tape for the harnesses, and I’ve switched over to Raychem as a brand for all my heat-shrink.

August through October, essentially all I did was wiring. Every component has to go into the car, all the wires run, marked and taped, and then it all has to come out of the car to be wrapped, junctioned and covered. For the most part, every single wire has gone into, and out of, the car 4 to 5 times before it’s permanently located in the vehicle. Wire sizes, colours, lengths, etc. are all recorded into the wiring spreadsheet. This is also a great opportunity to test each wire and circuit before finishing the harness. A step anyone wiser than me would do, but I hadn’t yet bought the laptop appropriate for the PDM, or started programming it!





Anytime I’ve needed to do a wire splice, it’s done with a proper open-barrel splice and the appropriate tool which makes the “W” crimp we’re familiar with from the factory. Waterproof raychem heat shrink is used, and wires are labeled with their circuit using heat-shrink labels, and covered with clear heat shrink so the labels don’t rub off. In some ways, it’s ridiculously wasteful since many of the these labels end up underneath wiring sheathing and will never be seen. But as you’re building and routing the harness, it eliminates hours of head scratching or confusion.





Eventually I will have two main harnesses. One running up (inside) the passenger side heater channel, and one running up the inside of the driver’s side heater channel.


Any masking tape is used just temporarily, and gets replaced with Kapton tape. It’s thin, lightweight, and electrically neutral. Final heat shrink, labels and connectors are added (often after the harness is in the car.)







At times it looks like a complete disaster…



And then it starts to clean up.









The 3D printer was used to build things like switch panels and towers, and the shift rod was upgraded to a carbon tube.



Interior getting closer.

[owdlvr]

In order to finish the wiring, I had to start throwing body panels on, which mean tossing the suspension in. So for the last week of October, things started to move forward pretty quickly.





Adding more Carbon Joe bits







Because of the carbon dash, I’ve removed most of the fresh air venting, and gone back to just the early defrost vents in the corner of the windshield. I 3D printed adapters to go from the 38mm outlets on the fresh air box, down to the 26(?)mm hose that runs direct on both sides to the corner vents. I am a little worried it will restrict the flow too much and burn out the motor, but I have to tell you the flow through those corner vents is unreal now! I think it might actually defrost :P Gas heater is back in the car for heat purposes.





Rear fenders, taillights, mud flaps. It’s starting to look like the Rally Bug again, even without the black engine and trunk lid.





I mounted the deck lid solo, and didn’t spend a tonne of time adjusting it. This isn’t black deckled that was on the car (I saved that for going back to the Salzburg look), nor is it the one I tested before paint. The one I sent to the paintshop was in really rough shape after they stripped it, so I had the guys run by my house and grab one of the many spares. Unfortunately I don’t think it was ever fit to the body, as the fit is pretty poor. We’ll see if I can live with it once it’s been adjusted.







Another item that will never been seen by anyone, but I had the carbon, so why not duct the oil cooler with carbon?!







I’ve also finally started to program the power system. It’s pretty interesting how in depth you can get with it. If you can dream it up, it should be possible, you simply have to figure out the logic behind what you want to do. Figuring out that logic, though, is a bit of a puzzle. I’m not a computer programmer, I took the very basic And/OR/IF logic 30yrs ago in high school, but it did take me almost 6 hours to get the steering wheel to talk to the turn signals in the exact way that I wanted, plus the hazard switch. Tap the turn signal for a five-count flash (lane change), or hold the turn signal button for a half minute flashing (for turning). Once I’ve got it roadworthy, I’m going to work on having the accelerometer turn off the signals instead of it being simply timed.



Start up screen is rad.

[wouter1303]

A lot of nice updates on the project! I keep following this one. It made my wishlist a lot longer :P

But first I need to tackle the mustlist

[owdlvr]

After a couple of weeks in California (I know, tough) I'm back home for a week and a half. I'll have to split my time between the other cars in the fleet, and the Rally Bug, plus prepping for Christmas...but lets see if we can't get a few things done?

Driven hard, and put away wet (and muddy). I'm sure past-me figured I'd have lots of time while the body was in paint to deal with the engine, but it seems these things don't get cleaned up and readied until you actually need them. So, here we are. Internally, the engine should be mint. No reason to tear it down, the only question is whether it needs a cosmetic rework or not. On the one hand, I'd love to swap out for new tins, and black-out the engine bay like the '58 or my red German Look beetle. But getting rid of the crude red shroud feels very "anti Rally Bug", so I think it might stay for a little longer. There's another purchase in my life that is hampering the budget significantly...so that factors in too.







Clutch fingers have some interesting wear from the 901 throwout bearing, but considering I've been using these fingers with the Tilton bearing for so long, should be fine with the standard beetle setup(?). Going to run it to find out. Clutch disc is still just above 8mm, so bolted it all back up...will revisit in another 25,000mi :P



And...yup...that's about as clean as it's going to get before being installed :P



-Dave

[owdlvr]

Missing the adapter you need? Fire up the lathe!



Annoyingly, the hex portion wasn't cast/machined centred, so it looks like I mounted it off in the lathe. Ah well, pretty sure no one is going to be under my engine inspecting for center!



Engine in, brakes bled, clutch bled. I use a Motive power bleeder, to do it solo, and love that I can pressurize the system while doing other work and then use the pressure to confirm I have no leaks. If there is a leak, glass cleaner makes a perfect detection tool...





Snugging up the fitting before actually putting fluid through the system ensures there are no leaks onto the floor.

From here, with the spark plugs out I spun up the engine to build oil pressure. At this point, not bench-testing the whole electrical system/harness identified some issues. The pressure senders on the Accusump and engine block weren't working. The oil temperature sender was giving me a freezing-level temperature. What the heck?! One step forward, two steps back as I tore in to try and find the problem...



Turns out that I have a bad channel input to the PDM (likely just the connector on the end) and I mislabeled two sensor extension leads after running them from the quarter panel to the engine bay. In the end, they were simple and easy fixes, but it took a couple of hours to diagnose it all. Frustrating, but simple. I also worked on calibrating the fuel level sender, and I'm getting some odd behaviour here as well. The method is to essentially fill the tank 2L at a time, and record the live sensor reading in millivolts on a piece of paper. Then, you build a custom sensor in the PDM using those values. After setting it up, I use the facet lift pump to remove fuel 2L at a time to confirm that I'm getting essentially the same readings on the chart. In my case, it appears that I might have a "dead center" in the sender around the 1/3 of a tank level. I pulled three other senders from parts-car tanks, but they were all rotten. New fuel sender will arrive tomorrow and we'll try this all over again.





Getting closer...but was hoping to have it fired up in the shop last night...so a little frustrated on a Monday morning! Oh well...it could be worse. I've got to spend some of my afternoon working on the 1974 Bricklin project. Why oh why did I ever buy a Bricklin!?! (answer: I'm Canadian. Also answer: Gull Wing Doors)



-Dave