|
23 May 2008
Long time since my last post. Had some problems with the roof, but decided to just leave it as I'm really tired of working on this thing and then not getting to drive it. When I pulled it off to trim the excess cloth, the roof untensioned and some of the fiberglass cloth delaminated and became visible. It should be sanded down and reglassed or at least re-epoxied to get the whitish areas to become transparent again. Oh well. So, in the interest of driving it more and fixing it less, I went on my first buggy get-together in Death Valley in February. Early rains and warm temps were supposed to be bringing a great wildflower show, and this was my chance to finally get this thing out in the dirt. The trip went well, with three off-road runs over the 4-day trip. On the second day, we ended up driving most of the length of the road through the valley, as well as Dante's Peak right above badwater, looking straight down from one mile above the valley floor. We also did some very soft sand and visited a number of really cool abandoned mining operations.
A number of lingering issues got dealt with before and after that trip and the one that followed it in April at Clearlake, CA. The oil pressure gauge has never worked right. That turned out to be a bad sender unit, bought NOS on the Samba. The problem with the oil temp gauge was simply a set of wires swapped places. And just this week, I swapped the 22mm front brake cylinders for a set of '68 and up 17mm rear cylinders to change the braking bias back towards the rear end where most of the weight is. That worked very well, and the front tires no longer skip and skid when braking hard on uneven pavement.
16 September 2007
Did the final touches on the roof last night. Finished all the stripping, then pulled the roof and trimmed off all the rough edges. Sanded and routered the edges round, then finish-sanded the entire outside of the roof. Also disc-sanded the inside. Applied two coats of marine epoxy to the inside, then did thick pours of epoxy to stiffen the rear joint and roof-to-frame connection. Mounted the roof again and applied one coat of epoxy. Carefully laid down a single wide piece of 4oz fiberglass cloth on the wet epoxy, and frantically worked out all the wrinkles and bubbles from it. Then laid down three more coats of epoxy, followed by 4 coats of satin varnish. Finally, cut out a hole for my rear window, which is actually a portlight window for a boat. Final time on the project was somewhere around 90 hours, not counting the original frame it's on that was made for the skin-top roof.
Also got my new wheels. I don't even want to know how many different wheels this thing has had now, but it's too many. This set came from Custom Commercial Wheel, and are steel made to look like the old slot mag aluminum wheels. I mated these with 70 series tires for a larger wheel diameter and higher top speed due to the higher gear ratio of the larger tire. Drove around and showed it off, getting dozens of compliments as well as suggestions that I enter it in the Woodies on the Wharf event. All that's left to do is to install a stereo and speakers and deal with a myriad of small issues that have cropped up over the last year.
16 August 2007
Big gap in the story, but lots of progress! After a long wait, Don the carb master finally worked on the muffler and carb set-up, and his work was phenomenal! The car runs so smoothly now it's about half as much pedal to make it go. After a short test period, I made my first long-distance trip. But first, I had to make a roof for the buggy so I wouldn't fry my head in the sun. I built a frame and covered it with ballistic nylon (in blue, of course...upper left photo). It worked pretty well, and I drove off to Tahoe, taking back roads and highways instead of freeways to limit my speed to around 60mph. Drove like a dream, and I got 30mpg going up there, not even trying to conserve gas. No problems at all, but it was a 7-hour drive. On the way back, I stayed on highways and got 37mpg and did the drive in 6.5 hours! Now that's more like it.
Unfortunately, two weeks later, someone or something broke one of the bentwood supports, and I decided to scrap the roof and start over the way I'd wanted to in the first place...with wood strip construction. I used the same frame supports and some very thin scrap strips to get the shape correct. Then I began to glue up one strip at a time, with each strip glued to the one next to it. This worked great until the strips started to twist as I got to the flatter top section of the roof, and it got very hard to get the strips to do that compound bend. Then I switched to doing the flatter center strips and I could glue one on each side each time, which sped things up to double speed. As I reached the existing strips, I started to shape the ends to make them fit perfectly between the strips on either side. Little by little, it's filling in. I still have the small gaps on top as well as the back quarter sections which again have compound bends to do. At least those are shorter.
Once that's done, it'll come off for the ends to get trimmed and routered round. The bottom will get sanded smooth with a disc sander, and the top will go back on. Then the top will sanded smooth and even, and then it will be covered with a coat of epoxy. While the epoxy is still wet, it will be covered with very thin fiberglass cloth and get smoothed out. The fiberglass will get coated with more coats of epoxy until it's smooth, and then it will be sanded and varnished to protect from UV damage. At that point the roof will be glassy smooth and the fiberglass cloth will turn transparent so all you see is the wood strips underneath. By that point, I should be ready for Woodies on the Wharf!
10 April 2007
Another long break in the news. So the buggy and I
have moved into a new home. A condo with a garage! Life changes find me
single again, still friends but alone ... but hey, at least I still
have my buggy. And this is about the buggy's problems and solutions,
not mine.
Still dealing with the carb problems. The car is
plenty fast, but the carbs are running way too rich at idle, so that I
can actually smell the gas fumes. My in-town mileage has been around
14-15mpg, when it should be over 20mpg. Months and months of trying to
get Dean to prioritize me somewhere above the bottom of his list have
utterly failed, and I've moved on. Don, the guy that did the machining
on my new engine, isn't quite so busy as Dean, seems to have a much
better and more friendly attitude, and also knows the Weber ICT-34s
very well. Right off, he spied my EMPI tuck-away muffler as one of the
problems. Too much backpressure, primarily, so he recommended a
standard EMPI Baja exhaust with the semi-quiet muffler on it. He
tweaked the idle mixture and idle speed, and right away it was running
much better. I bought the new muffler/ exhaust system so I'd be ready
when Don is. He's booked up until the end of the Kelly Park show in San
Jose (3 weeks away) with bus projects, but said he'd be happy to help
me out with it after that with the carbs and the engine tune/break-in
check that should have been done 200 miles ago.
Another issue has been the failure of my roll cage
and bumper powdercoating job that was done back in September 2005.
Little specks of rust were coming up all over the cage and bumpers. A
powdercoating job should last 10 to 20 years, not 18 months. Storing
the buggy outside under an oiled tarp couldn't have helped the
situation any, but still, it was a $400 paint job. Heading back to the
powdercoater to confront him on the problem, I discover he's out of
business. Sold everything to another powdercoater who's work I'm
actually familiar with. He only "bought the equipment, not the
problems", though, so I'm out of luck. He's the powdercoater for both
Rock Lobster and Hunter custom bicycles, and his work is first rate. He
tells me he's been redoing lots of the last guy's work, and he'll redo
mine properly with a primer coat and a top coat for the same price I
paid for a thin single top coat the first time. At least I get to pick
a new color, since the baby blue was really no one's favorite, even
mine. ;-) The new color is a midnight blue (almost black) with a medium
blue metalflake in it. Pretty subtle inside, but it lit up like a bass
boat when the sun hit it.
So, I spent the next nine hours stripping the paint
off using Jasco Semi-Paste paint remover to bubble up the paint
surface, then hand-scraping it with an old furniture scraper from my
woodworking tools. After that, I was tired, sore from hunching over,
and ready to have it done. Why did I start this project again? Oh yeah,
it's fun.
The next step will be to finally create a removable roof for the buggy.
For this, I plan to take a lesson from strip-built kayak and canoe
makers. I'll be making two pieces of bent, laminated wood. One will
follow the top edge of the front of the roll cage, right above the
windshield. The other will wrap around the back seat area, and bolt to
the fiberglass. Two or three forms will be made to sit on the top of
the roll cage (when it's back in the car) so that thin strips of wood
can be bent from the front edge to the back edge in a predefined
pattern/shape. The sides will be left open, but the back will be
enclosed. A rear window will be inset, and all this should really
reduce the amount of wind swirling around while I drive, as well as
keeping more heat in on cold days.
The first strip is heated in a steam-filled tube,
then bent and stapled to the wooden forms. As each new strip is laid
down next to the first, it's glued to the strip next to it as well as
being stapled to the forms. Once the strips are all in place and dry,
they are sanded, scraped, sanded and so on, until their shape is
perfectly smooth and evenly contoured . When that's done, the roof is
coated with epoxy and fiberglass cloth is laid over it and rolled
smooth. More coats of epoxy are added, one at a time, until the weave
of the fiberglass is completely filled and then some. When it's
complete, the fiberglass cloth is clear, just like the epoxy, and all
you see is the beautiful strips of wood. The last step is a
UV-resistant marine varnish to protect the epoxy from breaking down
over time. The top will be very light, yet stiff and, of course,
beautiful like a piece of fine furniture. Can't wait to get started.
6 October 2006
So, finally getting around to an update. After almost six
months, I got Dean to prioritize my carb tuning, and he did a great
job. As I drove away I was thinking, 'Wow, it's working great!' I
should have knocked on the dashboard, but I didn't. About a mile from
his shop, the engine started making a clicking sound, which over about
ten seconds turned into a loud banging sound, along with a major loss
of power. I pulled over as quick as I could, but the damage was done.
After I towed it back to Dean's shop, he took a look at it, figuring
something had gone wrong with the rocker arms he put in. Turns out, the
speed shop that did the original rebuild 35 years ago forgot to
tighten/torque the rod bolts and nuts that hold the pistons to the rods
and the rods to the crank. Doh... Dean found one of the rod/crank
fixing bolts in the oil pan, and all the others were either close to
falling off or at least finger tight. A piston bushing/bearing came
loose, and the piston started banging against the inside of the case.
Bottom line...total engine rebuild needed.
Jump
ahead to a couple of weeks later, and I've pulled the engine, stripped
off all the tin and other external items, and Dean has worked up a
serious rebuild improvement for this new engine. The case I had was an
AE case, which is one of the best, but it was damaged, and had already
been machined one step away from it's maximum limit. So, with around
$900 in new parts and labor, plus almost that much in vintage
performance parts he had lying around that he was trying to get rid of
and has donated to the project, it looks like it should be coming
together this weekend (I did just knock on wood ;-).
The new engine will have an Engle 100 cam, AE case,
performance German pistons and cylinders, high-volume full-flow oil
pump, windage tubes to keep the oil in the case around sharp corners,
serious head porting for better airflow, TRW CrMo steel race valves,
lightened 8-dowel flywheel, and all the build knowledge and experience
that Dean's gained building many dozens of race motors for local VW
freaks. The motor is still a stock displacement 1600cc, but with all
the parts geared towards reliability and smooth acceleration, rather
than outright horsepower. Nevertheless, I do expect that it's
acceleration will be far better than what I had. I wouldn't have taken
this step without being forced into it, but now that I have, I think
the effort will be well worth it. I'll post another update once I've
had some wheel time in it.
14 April 2006
Well, it's on the road! I took it back and forth to
work and a West Cliff Drive cruise (photo above by my very
understanding wife), and it's working pretty good. Still some
hesitation on the carbs, but both the carbs and the engine are still
breaking in, so they'll have to be tuned again after some miles go by.
Dean, my mechanic, wants to switch out the distributor still, going
with a dual-advance model used for late model 1600s. That still needs
to be found, and I need to install the new rocker arms he traded for at
the Kelly Park show in San Jose last weekend. The rocker arms have
swivel feet on them that let them stay in alignment throughout their
stroke, and they run with much closer valve clearance which is supposed
to quiet the motor quite a bit. They were needed because the
aftermarket cam on the engine didn't have the correct lift, but did
have the correct duration, so the new rocker arms will correct the lift
geometry and make the engine breath better. I'll be putting those on at
Dean's shop with him overseeing my work like a novice mechanic and the
overseer. A big thanks to Dean for all his help, even though the bill
for the work did come to twice what we talked about. I have a strange
suspicion that he knew it would be more from the beginning, but didn't
want to tell me for fear that I would go cheap on him and not do
everything he really felt was necessary. Still, I'm happy with his work
and as you can see in the photo above, it's a blast to drive.
This project has run the gamut from fun to
nightmare, and I can't say I'm sad to see it done, but there's always
another project to do, not to mention the inevitable upgraded and
changes that the buggy will need down the line. Hope you enjoyed this
blog, and thanks for all the words of encouragement.
6 April 2006
So I finally got my mechanic to take the buggy in,
planning to swap out the Brazilian Weber carb for something that's
still made. After some discussions, he talked me into putting on a
brand new set of Italian Dual Webers (I think they're 34-ICTs or
something close). This was partially due to the rusted out heat risers
on my stock manifold, and the lack of space under the 'glass. He was
also going to modify my stock throttle pedal with a roller pedal
running under the stock pedal, after he ground off the tabs underneath.
That way it would look stock but move smoothly.
His bid seemed a bit high -- $400 for a rebuilt
carb and SVDA distributor with install which he raised to $500 with the
dual carbs ($240 for the new carbs is an awesome deal), but he'd seen
the car and I figured he was padding the estimate a bit to cover for
the unseen problems he knew would come up. Turns out that was a good
thing. I got a total of 7 calls with unexpected problems he wanted to
talk about at various points in the project. The stock fan shroud
conflicted with the carb linkage, so he put on one of the newer,
rounded ones that has better clearances and supposedly cools better as
well. Another call came in that when he got the old shroud off, he
found an enormous mouse nest covering the entire left side of the
heads, blocking just about all the airflow, and making it clear why I
wasn't getting any air coming out of that heater tube. He said it
looked like several generations had been raised there. That required
most of the engine to be cleaned and scrubbed on the outside and
between the colling fins. He also called about the flywheel I had put
on, which came from a donor engine that was given to me. Turns out it
was lightened but not balanced, and it was warped and outside of spec
for wear. Then there was the call that my tranny main seal was leaking
and had to be replaced, and a call the oil cooler seals were hard as
rocks and the oil cooler had been full of thick black goo left over
from sitting 35 years that he had blown out with solvent and his air
compressor. The last added item was redoing my full-flow oil fittings
with bibbed ones that can be removed with just a wrench and don't get
so close to the pulley, plus a new sand seal for the pulley for my
upcoming trip to Pismo Beach in May.
After all this, I asked how much we were talking
now, but he said he was still planning to try to keep it to the $500
we'd agreed on. I didn't think that was nearly enough for all the stuff
he'd done, which is two or three times as much work as I thought, so I
think some serious tips and a 12-pack of microbrew are definitely in
the works. Anyway, I'm supposed to pick it up tonight or tomorrow, so
I'll see how it goes. At least with the dual carbs, this thing is
really going to fly, and the gas mileage should be pretty good as long
as I drive conservatively (which is unlikely, at least for a little
while).
Anyway, I'll get some more pictures up here soon, with a nice close-up of the mouse house ;-)
31 March 2006
Got the buggy running smooth last Sunday, and went out on my
first official test drive with my friend Geoffrey. Had the accelerator
pedal assembly come apart on the way up there. One of its washers
slipped over the stops, letting the lever slide sideways and jam while
going around 30 up the hill. Killed the engine as I came up on the turn
and pulled over. Got it back together and then continued on. Geoff and
I cruised down West Cliff Drive towards the Boardwalk, then back up to
his house.
I fixed the pedal with a small cotter
pin and took it out again Wednesday evening with my friend Jun, and we
did West Cliff the other way, as well as a short section of Highway 1
up to Wilder Ranch SP. Turned around and came back, with the
realization that the car is going to be limited in top speed to
somewhere under 65 mph, unless I go larger on the tires. Still, I'll
just have to wait and do some more tests after the rebuilt carburetor
and distributor go on. My mechanic/expert guy has been calling me back
lately, so I think he's actually close to being ready to work on it.
26 March 2006
Finally nearing the end of this journey. It's been frustrating
as well as a blast, but I really need to turn it over to a mechanic to
do the final carb work. Dean, my mechanic/VW expert, says the Weber
carb has got to go. They're unreliable and out of production anywhere
but Brasil. Even there, they're difficult to get parts for. He
suggested putting in a stock Solex 34 PICT-3 carb (rebuilt from old
german stock of his), along with a dual-vacuum, dual advance
distributor (instead of the mechanical-advance 009 it has now, and also
from his old VW German stock) which can use the Pertronix electronic
ignitor that replaced my points. He says it's the best
performance-to-mileage solution that's actually reliable. Now, if I can
only get him to take on the project and complete it soon. It's been
over a month I've been trying to schedule the work, and his
availability has been about nil.
Other loose
ends tied up include the gas gauge (about as accurate as most VW
gauges, as in, not) and the generator light is working now (the voltage
regulator wasn't grounded, so no charging was happening). Thanks again
to my friend Wolff, who dragged his wife and kids along to help me out.
Added one more gauge, a VDO voltmeter which will clearly show if the
the car is charging or not. Also raised the rear end by adjusting the
rear torsion bars up one outer spline (around 7 degrees). It had been
lowered by my uncle during the initial build work period, and had brand new
rubber bushings holding it in place. The axles are just a bit
positive camber now(sloping down as they go outward), but should set in
lower once it gets driven a bit. May have to go for some partial
rotation between the two, but that's a project for another day. I guess
there's still plenty of small things to work on while I wait for some
mechanic's time.
12 March 2006
Big day yesterday. I towed the car over to work, which is right
next door to Volks Cafe where I get my parts. The parking lot at work
is flat and dry and wind-protected, unlike my driveway. Got the engine
out, and then took off the clutch to get at the main seal. Once I had
the clutch off, the problem was obvious ... there was no main seal. The
engine builder never installed one, and I haven't done any VW work in
almost 20 years, so I didn't even notice! Oh well. Got the seal in,
reinstalled the engine with help from my friend Alex, and it started
right up again. Then came the moment of over 4 years of anticipation
... we took it for its first test drive.
As you
might expect, the test drive answered a lot of questions that I'd had,
and suggested many more. First of all, the carb, a Weber, needs some
serious adjustment and maybe some rejetting, as it doesn't run very
smooth at idle, and it stalls if you don't keep fluttering the gas
pedal. Seems like an idle mixture problem mostly. Second, the front
tires hit the fenders when we hit a speed bump. Part of that was the
tire pressure, which I hadn't tested since getting the tires. The tire
shop always takes them up to 30 to 35 psi, but the buggy only needs
about 16 psi up front and 24 psi in back. This is primarily due to its
low weight (around 1300 pounds) and the wide tires its running. But the
tires are just too big in front. I think I'm going to take the 13' x 5'
wide 5 rims that came with the car and get some 60-series tires mounted
on them (I'm running 14x6 70-series right now). That should drop the
front end almost 2', which will help a lot with clearance and handling.
There are also a bunch of nagging electrical issues as well. The
gas gauge doesn't work, nor does the oil temp, oil pressure or
generator warning light. The speedo also seems off a bit, but that
should get better with the new tire/rim sizes. Went on a second short
test drive with my wife Caroline, who has very patiently put up with
this entire monster of a project. We stopped by her sister's house a
half-dozen blocks away to show it off, but when I went to take her
brother-in-law for a quick spin, it wouldn't start because it was
flooded. We waited a bit and got it going again, but hurried home
before anything else went wrong. Now I just need to get the car
scheduled in to my mechanic's workload, so he can tune the engine and
make sure the generator is working properly to charge the battery. The
rest of the problems I can work out myself in time.
6 March 2006
So the new pictures are up now, showing the progress inside the
car. I put in the Dynamat sound-dampening mats and the carpet in the
front. The big news is that I've plowed through most of the nagging
electrical issues, including a distributor with the wires all rotated
90-degrees clockwise, so nothing was firing at the right time. I set
the engine at top dead center for cylinder number one, then aligned the
distributor, and then presto, it started up on the first turn of the
key! This was such a glorious moment that it softened the
disappointment I felt when I discovered a one-foot by 2-foot puddle of
oil under the front of the engine. It looks like either the main seal
inside the bell housing (where the driveshaft goes) or more likely the
o-rings on the oil cooler. I won't know until I get it jacked up so I
can get my head up under there. The leak was noticeably worse at higher
RPMs, so that would lean me towards the oil cooler o-rings. Either way,
though, it's time for the engine to come back out :-(
Oh well, that's the way these things go, I guess. Other
lingering problems include the oil pressure and temperature gauges
which aren't working (I've already figured out the problem though) the
generator warning light (probably a bad connection or maybe a bad
alternator) and a non-working gas gauge (probably a bad ground or else
the voltage stabilizer is bad (ouch - $). Still, the light is clearly
visible now at the end of the tunnel.
26 February 2006
It's amazing sometimes, how slow things can progress without
coming to a grinding halt. Still trying to get help figuring out the
wiring woes. The short test on the starter motor worked great ... it
showed the starter was no good. Shorting it across the terminals caused
the solenoid to positively engage the starter gear, but then nothing
happened. The problem seems to be in the starter itself. The seller's
been contacted, but wouldn't refund or replace with another rebuilt
starter, but did offer to ship out a good, working used starter for the
cost of shipping ... less than $10. Since I'd already installed it
without testing it, that was more than I expected. Also, my Dynamat
adhesive pads came for deadening the road noise, and I've gotten the
entire inside floorpan covered, except for the area under the seats,
which I'll do this week. Then I can put the carpet kit in. I'm planning
on using two-sided carpet tape to hold down the edges of the carpet, as
they're pretty flimsy and rippled.
Finally put
oil into the crankcase, and greased all the front end fittings until
fresh grease oozed out the sides of the torsion ends and link pin
systems. Just need to drain and refill the transmission, and then solve
those couple of electrical issues, and this bad boy should be ready to
start up ... or at least sputter and let me know it's almost there. As
soon as the rain stops, I'll update the photos above to reflect all the
latest work. Thanks for the positive feedback that some of you readers
have sent me. All the tips and suggestions have been great. A big
thanks to http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/deserterownersgroup/ for the great forum there on these classic Deserter buggies.
21 February 2006
Just a little update. My friend Wolff finally came by to help
with the electrical. An hour or so of staring at all the wiring
diagrams told him that we had made a lot of mistakes. The VW uses the
emergency flasher as a core element of the lighting system, and we had
left it out because it looked like a pain and it wasn't on our buggy
harness diagram. Also, a number of items were shown as switched grounds
on the harness diagram, but they're switched positive on the VW
diagrams. After 4 or 5 hours, we got everything done but the starter
motor and both right side turn/parking lights had issues. The front
Lucas clear dot lens on the right had so much corrosion inside that the
springs had rusted shorter. Push the bulb in by hand and it works...let
go and it doesn't. They're 35 years old, and made in England even
today. I found them in stock on a Cobra accessories site. Install was a
quick switch out. The rear light assembly had problems with the bulb
contacts, and also had grounding problems. They've been replaced with a
nice set of reflectors/bulb holders from a 63 T1 from the Samba. Also
got the e-brake set up with the cable shorteners.
Last system was the heater tube connections. I connected stock
VW bus heater hoses with the insulating jacket to some 2.5" PVC ducting
hose, which goes up under the rear seat to two vents in the front of
the rear bench in the center. The air will blow forward past the front
seats towards the dash.
Not everything is
working yet, though. The starter doesn't engage or spin when I turn the
key. You can hear the solenoid click, but not like it's engaged the
starter gear. I've got to do a short test on that to see if the motor
turns. The dash lights are so dim they look like they're out. That says
more wiring diagram checks. And none of the warning lights in the
speedo case light up when you turn on the ignition, but they all
should. I've gotten to that point now where I just want to finish the
thing and go for a ride. Enough working on it already. Sheesh...
30 January 2006
The new pics are up. Unfortunately, my tests of the electrical
system did not go so well. Just about every system was having problems.
No fuses blew, though. Still, the lights weren't working right, the
starter didn't start, the turn signals don't blink, and I had the
naivete to think it was all just going to start right up and work. Oh
well.
Part of reaching your goals, I've
discovered, is knowing when to hand over a project to someone who
actually knows what they're doing. Dean, the mechanic who's been so
helpful with hard-to-find small parts, has agreed to take over on the
electrical and get the engine running as well. At this point, my wallet
exceeds my patience, and he'll give me a good deal anyway, so it's well
worth it. Part of me can't help seeing this as a failure to complete
the project myself, but sometimes you just really want a project to be
done with. I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about.
Someone asked about the attachment system on the windshield, so
I shot a close-up of the clips. It's a bit blurry, but you can see it
pretty well. The silver piece along the bottom is rigid window track
like they use in old car door frames, and the black part around the
sides and top is flexible window track. The clips are aluminum with
countersunk holes on the inside for the stainless flathead bolts that
go through the roll cage and have nuts on the backside.
24 January 2006
The to-do list keeps getting smaller. I've got most of the
wiring done, thanks to my good friend Geoffrey, who helped me go
through the high-quality (not) hand-written wiring diagram and harness
diagram from 35 years ago to connect and test the various circuits in
the car. As it turned out, far more of the electrical was done than I
had originally thought. Final remaining electrical connections include
the ignition switch, voltage regulator, wipers, and battery, as well as
a new wire going through the loom for the oil temperature gauge.
I towed the buggy for the first time last weekend, as well. My
friend Geoff has a nice carpeted garage which is really warm to work in
and has a good stereo, too. The car can legally be towed now that I
have the plate on the back, and it towed like a dream behind my Toyota
Previa. At only a third the weight of the van, the buggy seems so
light. And the tow bar really makes it track nicely around corners and
over speed bumps.
9 January 2006
Winter rains and busy schedule...not much progress. Did get through
DMV, though, and have my plates and title. A satisfying step
completion, at last. I put on the new windshield today and ran flexible
window channel around the sides and top, with clips mounted around
that. I left plenty of space around for expansion this time :-) You can
see the flex-channel and clips in the top right photo, and the one
underneath to the left.
The dash really came out
nicely, a classy, if a little bulky, solution. The gauges are all in
and just need to be wired, now. As soon as I can arrange a more
experienced helper for the electrical wiring, I can finally start
activating all the car's electrics.
15 December 2005
So, the windshield clips were installed on a very cold day, and the
foam rubber strips lining the clips were pretty thin, so this last week
as the temperatures rose, the glass expanded and two stress cracks
formed at one of the clip points. A spider crack shot across from
the driver's side to the center and then all the way down. I reordered
the glass, but this time I'll run the window channel strips all the way
around it. I'll have to make new clips with wider brackets to hold the
window channel, but that should protect the glass from cracking again.
Scratch it up to another $100+ lesson learned...
I also
got the dash completed (still no new pictures) with all its gauges and
switches. Just need to wire them up, along with just about everything
else in the car. I e-mailed the sheriff's department as well, to come
out and verify the VIN, but they referred me to the Santa Cruz City
police, since I live in the city. I e-mailed the city too, but no
answer yet.
For sure... I'm going to put up the new
photos this weekend. I'm also planning to tackle the heating system and
the windshield wiper system. Oh yeah, that'll all get done, all right
;-0
4 December 2005
Progress continues. I'll get the photos up soon, but here's where it's
at. I got the windshield in. There are six mounts surrounding the sides
and top that hold the glass in place, plus a long strip of window
channel along the bottom edge. The mounts had to be fabricated and
turned out to be a major hassle. The only glass clips I could find that
were thick enough to braze together were stainless steel, but the wide,
flat-head bolts I found to braze the clips to were cheap steel. My
friend at work brazed them together for me, but he had a hell of a time
getting the brass rod to go anywhere but the steel bolt head. The short
of it was lots of filing and grinding afterwards.
The
seat belts are also in and work great. I've got paper scanned printouts
of the gauges taped all over the dash to try out different gauge
layouts while I wait for my adjustable hole saw to come so I can cut
out the holes for them. Other tasks completed were the mounting and
hook-up of the remote oil filter mount and the vintage aluminum oil
breather box, which are both bolted to the back wall of the fiberglass.
This week I'll call the sheriff to come out and verify the VIN number,
and mount all the gauges in the dash.
The final hurdles
will be the electrical hook-up of everything, front end alignment,
wiper motor installation (and probably customization) and then it will
be ready for its first start-up in 34 years! Other projects on the
buggy to do in the month or so following are heater hook-up and
fabrication of an all-weather top.
22 November 2005
So, finally, the many tasks on the project are starting to come
together. The car *is* looking much more complete, since the brakes
have been finished (still needs some more bleeding, I think) and the
gas tank and hood are back on. On my third set of seats I finally have
something that works. I ended up going with PRP Roadster seats which
were narrow enough to fit with the rails in the seat wells. I had to
bolt them right through the floor pan in order to keep my head low
enough, but now I think they're pretty much perfect.
I
just finished installing my wood dashboard, which worked so well, I
enclosed the bottom and back on the passenger side to make an actual
glove box, with a lock and knob. I was going to put in hidden hinges,
but the dash was too thin for them, and it would have been hard at that
point to build up the thickness to fit the hidden hinges. The finish is
Verathane Diamond Satin Waterborn Varnish, which leaves a beautiful
low-reflectivity finish. The dash is alternating strips of rift-sawn
red oak and Jarra, a reddish-brown hardwood from Australia.
Final hurdles include the windshield, seat belt installation, dashboard
gauge installation, front end alignment, official sheriff's department
verification of my VIN, and last but not least, the dreaded electrical
wiring :-( And after all that, the engine just might start up!
11 October 2005
Progress has definitely slowed a bit. As things get closer, all the
little loose ends are starting to stand out. I noticed that the brake
lines were shot, having been open to the elements all these years.
There was a lot of rust in them. I replaced all of them, and then
prepared to replace all the wheel cyclinders. But when I opened up the
front hubs to replace the brake cylinders, I discovered that there was
nothing at all inside. No shoes, springs, retainers, adjusters...
nothing. Salvation came in a chance meeting in the parking lot behind
my local parts shop, Volks Cafe. They had a bunch of old junk parts
they were sorting through, and I struck up a conversation with a guy
named Dean who turns out to be a long-time local VW mechanic with an
enormous collection of used parts. On top of that, he was looking to
unload them on people in need, and had a real soft spot for dune
buggies. He's got four parts sheds on his property, and I think he's
making a real effort to downsize the collection of junk...I mean, fine
used VW parts. I've been over there three or four times now, and have
started giving him some of my unused stuff that he needed. Barter makes
the VW world go round ;-)
So now the little loose ends
are coming together, and with any luck, I should have this thing ready
to run some time in November. Just in time for the rains!
25 September 2005
Another great weekend for progress. The roll cage is finished, and off
to the powdercoater, along with the front and rear bumpers and the
hubcaps. Wheels are ready to get painted, too...just need to drop them
off. Got the driver seat mounted up to it's slider mechanism, and
welded the tracks to the pan. It's tough welding thin metal like that.
I kept making holes, even with the power on the welder turned down.
Probably should have lowered the feed speed on the wire spool.
Also wire wheeled all the rust and loose paint off the inside of the
pan and painted it. Rattlecan Rustoleum red primer and flat black.
Looks pretty good. It's starting to look almost like a real car! Once I
get the painted parts installed, it's going to look a whole lot closer
to finished. Of course, beauty is only skin deep...there's still so
many items on the To Do list, and most are not so glamorous. The next
two big tasks are the windshield and brakes, including a new brake line
from the master cylinder back to the rear tee. Lots o' fun..
19 September 2005
Lots of progress this weekend. I got the roll cage assembled and
welded. Was going to hire someone to do the final welds after I tacked
it, but it looked good, so I welded the whole thing. They're not the
prettiest welds I've seen, but they're deep into the metal, so they
should be strong. Just need to weld on two seat belt mounts on each
side for the shoulder and outside lap belts to bolt to. Also got the
Baja tube steel bumpers, which look like they'll mount right on. The
front one does seem to need a pair of mounts welded to it so the upper
side of the bumper has something to mount to. I'll have to look around
for info on that...
Next step: Sending off all the steel parts for powdercoating.
14 September 2005 -
Good progress this week. Got the motor into the back of the car. Had
some problems (OK, a lot of problems) getting the upper left engine
mount bolt in (as seen from behind the car). If you've ever torn out
the motor, you know the bolt hole right behind the clutch lever arm. It
took way longer than it should to get that thing in. Afterwards, I
realized it would have been easy to get in if I'd done it before the
engine went into place. Oh well.
Also, the 12th was the
end of my lien sale and today I went down to the DMV. Moment of truth
time, and it went through like a breeze. The car is now on its way to
being titled and registered. It should be on the road in a couple more
months ;-)
The parts are piling up, and the next big
push is the fabrication of the roll bar. I have the front and rear
hoops in the car, and the two top tube connector tubes are cut and
shaped to connect the tops of the hoops. Still to do is the rear
supports, that have to pass through the rear seat area, tabs for seat
belts, tabs for the dash, and a tab for the hood. My new welder showed
up, and it's time to get welding. I've got the 15x8 steel rear wheels
and the 14x6 front wheels are on the way (finally). Baja tube bumpers
are on the way for both ends, as well. Once all the steel is fitted,
welded and sanded, the steel parts will all be ready to go off to the
powdercoat painter for some bright accent color. I'm leaning towards a
marigold yellow, sky blue or maybe even a burnt red. Hmmm.....
31 August 2005 -
Small progress right now as I wait for my lien sale to come to an end,
making the buggy mine officially, and providing the proper paperwork
for getting it titled here in California. I've just been working on the
engine, making a few modifications and adding the various missing
pieces. A friend heard about the buggy project and offered a dead 1641
dual port motor for me to take parts off of. It had a high-volume oil
pump with a cover that diverts the oil out of the engine through a 1/2"
line to an oil cooler mount and then back to the engine's main gallery
oil port. This port is usually plugged with an aluminum press-fit cap.
I drilled out the plug, then drilled and tapped the hole to take a
brass taper-fit hose fitting. Just need to add some red RTV silicone to
seal the inserts properly.
Also salvaged from the 1641
were the flywheel, oil filter mount, oil breather (may not use it).
Mounted the Pertronix 009 distributor. My aftermarket alloy main pulley
wouldn't fit with the oversize oil pump, so I had to go back to the
stock steel one. Still waiting for more parts to come to finish up the
engine prior to installing it. I've got a new 12v starter motor,
flywheel lock tool, CV boots and an EMPI Tuck-away aluminum coated
muffler. Should be ready to put it back in the car in a week or so....
|
