Friday, August 18, 2017

Gossen, Gossen, Gossen!


The tachs have come back...this is the used tach with repainted inner ring and new chrome trim ring.  It looks super nice now - slightly more grey in appearance and probably matches the VW gauges better.  I've got one interested party - if he bails, I'll likely just keep it.  I've got a lot of money into it and it's doubtful that anyone will pay what it would take to recover that money.
The rebuilt/used tach on the left, the NOS/rebuilt tach on the right.  There are slight differences in them - most notably - the color.  As it turns out, the color of the trim ring very highly influences the color of the tach face.  They both look super super nice and I'm happy to have them back home now that they're rebuilt and ready to use.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

BOGE damper, wiring and dead battery

Only a little work on the car today - I had about two hours on my hands - so I made some patch wires and attempted to test my emergency flashers.  Got it all put together and installed and realized late in the game that the battery for the car is probably dead.  I'll have to test it tomorrow to confirm.  Tried to bypass the switch and the relay didn't click.  The headlights didn't come on when I pulled the switch - only the fuel gauge worked.  I'll try a few new things tomorrow.

Received a NOS BOGE steering damper today - bought it off a guy from The Samba.  It looks almost perfect and it's in functionally superior condition to the new Chinese ones that I bought after the Cofap versions vanished from the market.  The Chinese copies have about 1/2" of play between fully closed and the beginning of extension - this translates into 'play' in the overall feel of the driving dynamics.

I may have to find another one as a spare.

I didn't do anything with the rear subframe yet - so that's still sitting and waiting for me to get cracking on it.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Alligator clips

Well, today was slightly productive as I was able to get a few accomplishments under my belt.

Task #1 was to run a new wire for the tach installation from the dash to the engine area.  While I was at it, I also replaced the grommet at the rear of the pan where the battery to starter cable is located - there wasn't much left of it.  I did a little clean up of the undercoating but it's a tiresome and dirty job and I wasn't really having it today.

Task #2 was swapping everything over to a 12 pole fuse box which was relatively simple.  I didn't realize until today that the last two sections swap places when converting from the 10 pole to the 12 pole.  I'm pretty sure I got it all correct but I guess I'll find out when I go to start the car, huh?

Task #3 was installing the relays for 4 way flashers.  This job wasn't finished because I ran out of time.  I have the wire ready for the 2nd relay and think I understand the DPDT relay well enough to do the job but I'm not entirely convinced that I won't screw it up.

Tomorrow is a 'non-VW' day - I've got a bunch of other things to get done and I probably won't have time to work on the car at all.  I might look into tackling the rear subframe torsion bar/spring plate install if I'm feeling really crafty.

Monday, August 14, 2017

The middle of the riddle

 I received an email mid-morning telling me that the powder coat job was complete.  I ran a couple of errands and headed up to the shop (it's 35 minutes away). Chatted with the owner for a few minutes, paid and put the parts in the car.

In spite of the communication issues and slightly longer than communicated turn around - the parts look good.  And the price was reasonable.
 Put the subframe outside and blew out the extra sand that was inside.  I'm sure there's a little left inside but most of it is now out.

I'd really like to find a nice one for the restoration process later down the road but I'll cross that bridge later.  For now, I'm focused on getting the torsion bars and spring plates back on this thing in preparation for the engine and transmission.
 Dropped the starter off at a local shop - it took them 20 minutes to get to it and install the pinion gear.  Well worth what it cost to have them do it because it's one less thing to get done.  I was able to drop it off and swing back an hour later and pick it up while I was out doing other things.
On the way home, I stopped and picked up a couple of flasher relays and some wire from the FLAPS.  The relays are for the 4 way flasher project and the wire is for the tach install.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to have some time to continue cleaning the underside of the car - more preparation work for the engine/trans install.

Friday, August 11, 2017

Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable

Got a call from Palo Alto Speedometer today - both tachs are finished and will ship out to me on Monday.  I was informed that the new circuit boards will require that the tach is wired like the VDO - meaning that the signal comes from the tach, the power will be switched with the key and there's a ground.  The semi-annoying thing about this is that I recently removed the wire from the engine compartment to the dash when I pulled the engine because it wasn't going to be used with the Gossen tach.  Now I have the task of getting new wire and installing the wire yet again - although it should be much easier with both the engine and transmission out of the car.

And while I'm on the topic of electrical items - I'm still thinking about tackling 4 way flashers and changing the fuse box to a 12 slot from the earlier 10 slot version.

The powdercoat work should be concluded next week - meaning that I could be assembling the rear subframe soon-ish.  That would be a nice thing to check off the list.

I pulled out one of the Type 3 Parts Books that I bought a while back - it's very worn but appears to be one of the more complete books in my collection.  I'm hoping to get two very complete parts books out of the four that I have and sell off the incomplete books to others who may need them.

A local Type 3 owner contacted me today about buying some parts for a car he recently bought.  It may be time to let go of some of this stuff - get focused on the parts I need and sell off the rest of the parts.  There was some thrill in finding all of the parts but it seems to be time to let some of them go, especially if I'm going to be getting ready to move out of state again.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to swap the solenoid gears on the starter...I can't get the damn clip off of the starter!

One thing at a time.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Stumbling along, keeping pace

It's been a few weeks since I dropped off the suspension parts for powder coating...so I called to check up on the status of things.  The recording said that emailing them was faster - so I sent an email.  I received a reply a couple of hours later telling me that they hadn't even started the job.  No apology for the delay - just a reply telling me that they could have it done early next week.  I guess time will tell if that's true.

I called and chatted with Chico about the progress of the engine build - sounds like things are going pretty well - engine shipment will be near the end of the month which is kind of perfect timing for my situation.

I may start the process of a 4 way flasher installation to fill in the time while I wait for the engine and transmission to be shipped.  If the rear subframe is finished next week - I can work on getting that all put together and prepared for the transmission and engine.

The tachometers are near completion as well - they should ship out early next week.  I'm in the final stages of making a deal to sell one of them after the work is completed because I don't need two tachometers.  In the coming weeks, I will be reevaluating the parts inventory and selling off additional parts.

More to come...

Friday, August 4, 2017

The best things happen when you're least prepared for them...

The family is on vacation but I've heard some good news:  The engine and transmission are progressing quite nicely.  I was hoping to have time to swing by the shop and check out the engine but the schedule just doesn't seem to allow it.  I'll also be going into full blown work mode right after the vacation so it might be a bit before I can get back to working on the car again.

I sent both tachometers to Palo Alto Speedometer before the vacation began - they called to tell me that both tachs were internally failing.  I authorized the rebuild of both with new circuit boards, and potentially, new trim rings - I'm waiting to hear back about the status of the rebuilds.  The timing for installation would be great if they're back in the next couple of weeks.

I'm looking forward to some down time to work on the engine/transmission installation and maybe drive the car again...seems like I've been saying something like this all year.