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

[owdlvr]

Wasting no time...







It's slightly before this point that things took a bit of a turn for the worse...







I couldn't afford to rebuild the 901 gearbox when I built the Rally Bug, figured that if it was "bad" I would rebuild it down the road. It's always been rough/notchy getting it into 1st or reverse (common problem) but I didn't think it was was that bad. The Hargett Shifter had developed some play, Mark was going to send me some parts, but it never seemed to happen...lightly clipping reverse would happen occasionally while looking for 2nd. I knew it wasn't great for the internals, but it was not that common. Here's the rub. If this is 300,000km and 12 years on this fluid, it's kinda not the worst. But I think this is only 150,000km on this fluid change.

Regardless, it's well overdue for a rebuild. I've got the tools and the knowledge. The "middle of the road kit that replaces the wear items in the transmission from shifting use as well as the bearings that usually exhibit wear from age." is $1500 USD, or $2k Canadian. Ouch. But this really is the time to do it with the box out of the car. There is a part of me that is heavily considering just popping a 4spd Beetle box into the car "for now". Of course, we probably know that would end up permanent. At least I have a lot of time to consider this one :P

Call it a hunch...but I think the drivers side axle might be just a hair too long? No marks on the axle end though...

[owdlvr]

Found a few spots in the body that need to be taken care of...plus I snapped off three fender bolts on the left-front corner.







Bob came over and welded in the turn signal holes. Going to go with the Mexi-bumper setup.



Still a lot of work to be done here...



But it's at about this point that I got a bit of a crazy idea, which is probably going to be a little controversial. I'm pulling a fair bit of budget out of the Family Heirloom project to repaint and rewire the Rally Bug, and with the transmission sitting on the floor I started to think about something. The one thing I really want in the Family Heirloom is a five speed Porsche transmission. It's a no-go due to two reasons: a) budget. I'm just not prepared to buy and rebuild a Porsche trans for the car. b) it requires cutting out the torsion bar splines on the inside to mount it where I want it. Thus negating the "can always go back to stock" ethos. Well, I've decided that it probably doesn't matter. Let's be honest, it's never going back to stock while I'm the owner of it! If I were to pull the 901 gearbox and the rally bug, fuel injected, motor for the '75 Heirloom project, it would be the perfect setup for that car. But what about the Rally Bug?

In some ways, I kind of feel like the Salzburg replica has served its purpose. I've had a good 11-12 years of enjoyment of it, it's had all its magazine features, but it's not doing anything more than just being stagnant. Swapping over the Subaru wheels pretty much ended the "replica" part, so can I experiment further?? I was shuffling cars in the storage area of my property, and scrapping some parts cars that have fulfilled their purpose and overstayed their welcome...when it hit me. I have a complete Subaru setup waiting to go in a Beetle. I bought the kit necessary to do either a 2.5 naturally aspirated setup, OR the twin cam WRX setup. As part of the car shuffling, I had the scrapper yank out the engine and transmission of one so I have a 2.5 RS core motor (to go with everything else I pulled from an earlier car). I recently traded my EZ30 six-cylinder to a buddy for his WRX motor...so I've got a turbo option as well.

So, yeah, going to go Subaru in the Rally Bug, thus giving me the aircooled engine/trans setup for the Family Heirloom. Settles the budget issues for me, but totally sets me back timewise! Ha.

[wouter1303]

that was a big plot twist....

[72marinablue]

From a usability perspective you wont regret going Subaru. I have over 3000 miles on my subaru swap now and its makes the car much more livable. It doesn't leak, the factory fuel injection ecu works reliably, and its enough power. Definitely work to have the cooling system installed but in my eyes worth it.

[owdlvr]

Originally Posted by 72marinablue

From a usability perspective you wont regret going Subaru. I have over 3000 miles on my subaru swap now and its makes the car much more livable. It doesn't leak, the factory fuel injection ecu works reliably, and its enough power. Definitely work to have the cooling system installed but in my eyes worth it.

I need to study your thread and cooling system install for sure. May need to hit you up with specific questions/photo requests.

[72marinablue]

Originally Posted by owdlvr

I need to study your thread and cooling system install for sure. May need to hit you up with specific questions/photo requests.

Happy to share anything you need!

[H2OSB]

@72Marinablue. Are you using the factory ecu?

[72marinablue]

Originally Posted by H2OSB

@72Marinablue. Are you using the factory ecu?

Yes I am.

[Steve C]

Hi

Welcome to the dark side. If I can help in anyway let me know. I've made a few errors and found better ways to do things over the years.

Cheers Steve

[owdlvr]

Originally Posted by Steve C

Hi

Welcome to the dark side. If I can help in anyway let me know. I've made a few errors and found better ways to do things over the years.

Cheers Steve

Excellent!

Currently trying to find good photos of a radiator setup that I can acquire the bits for in North America…

[wouter1303]

maybe something like this?

https://www.csp-shop.com/en/brand-sh...sd-29965b.html

I dont know if it has the amount of cooling surface as needed, but in this way you won't be modifying your trunk/front.

[Steve C]

Hi

My latest radiator is from a 944 Porsche in all aluminium. I have used Audi 100/200 ones in past.

I've used Audi fans with the Audi fan housing which work pretty good.

On the 944 radiator that I'm using now I tried an unshrouded fan which wasn't very good. I'm now using twin 11 inch Spal fans which have an amazing amount of airflow. They came with a fan housing that I needed to trim to fit the 944 radiator.

You can tilt the radiator so that it sits lower and is supposed to make the radiator work more efficiently. You need to use a radiator as wide as possible and seal around the radiator so that all incoming air goes through it.

Cheers Steve

link to fans that I used https://thermofans.com.au/collection...roducts/ef3580