Saturday, June 30, 2018

I'll keep marching on like a broken robot

I finished reinstalling the engine tins and the manifolds in the pizza oven garage today.  I wound up with some extra time so I test fit the CSP Python exhaust - suspecting that I'd have some interference issues to resolve.
 The exhaust tip sits in about the same place as the Vintage Speed so there must be something weird going on with the rear apron on this car.  Not to fret - it's getting fixed or replaced in the future so it can stay this way for now.
 The Python exhaust tip sticks out further than the Vintage Speed exhaust (this is adjusted all the way out).
 The muffler hides this pipe - I just thought it looked strange from the back.

What appears to be a ridiculous amount of camber is due to the car being on jack stands - although the real life 'on the ground' stance isn't wildly different from this...and the reason I want to do the IRS conversion.

Suspicion confirmed: The remote filter to required removal to get the left side mounted correctly.  I'm going to have to find another place to put it as this location is no longer viable.
I dropped the filter mount and the left side mounted up.
Clearance note: there's about a finger's width between the exhaust and the oil fill tube.  The close proximity of the pipes has me leaning toward wrapping all of the pipe to try to control the heat a little bit.
Clearance note: There's about two finger's width between this pipe and the bellows boot.  I have not mounted the heat shield yet.









Clearance note: The current hose routing is no longer viable due to the proximity of the exhaust pipe to the hoses.

The mustache bar half will need to come out - which will be fun because that means removing both the pulley shroud and the fan shroud to get the bar off of the case.  While that's all off - I'll swap from hose clamps and rubber hose to AN fittings and more durable hose.  All of this assumes that I've worked out a better location for the filter (and possibly the inclusion of the oil cooler since it's all apart).  Once again, this car is dying to be taken apart...but I shall resist for now.

There's more fun to be had here...

Friday, June 29, 2018

Sliding backward into progress

Seems like the more I work on the car with the goal of getting it back on the road, the further I get from that goal.  The plugs came out today and they were in decent shape.  But - while I was fishing around looking for the #2 plug, I discovered that the thermostat linkage rod wasn't connected to the flaps.  So I pulled the top tin to inspect everything. And then I realized that the spring is missing.  This engine has less than 200 miles on it since being built.  I'm hoping that this is the reason the engine ran so damn hot last year.  I'm also hoping that there aren't any more surprises like this elsewhere in the engine.  There's a small, but growing, part of me that wants to tear the engine down and inspect it before it blows up...but another small part of me that suspects I might be overreacting.
Here's where I left things - slightly more dismantled than yesterday.  But there's a fairly clear path forward so that's where I'm steering the rest of my energy.  I'd like to be able to drive this car again next week.  It's frustrating to spend all of this time working on the car - only to leave it in the garage again.  I've got a few weeks here until I'm planning to pull the pan out and get that done.  The IRS conversion will happen at the same time so I only have to take it apart once.
Toward the end of the day, the rest of the exhaust arrived and I mocked it up on the floor to see how it all fit together.

The idea is that I can get it installed on Monday - after I have put the top of the engine back together.

I'm still trying to get the one piece I need to convert the rear axle to IRS - CSP is not being easy to work with but I'm going to keep trying.

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water...

In preparation for the new exhaust system, I wanted to make sure that the plugs weren't fouled.

That's how I got here.  In order to get to the plugs on this engine, the carbs and manifolds have to be removed, then the eyeglass tins and, finally, the plugs.  Funny part is that I didn't even get the plugs out because I ran out of time. Tomorrow is another day.
I swapped over from the early oil fill tube to the late oil fill tube - primarily to mate up the 'road draft tube' with the oil fill - which ensures that any oil that makes it past the breather will wind up back in the engine instead of all over the bottom of the engine/fan shroud.
 This is what remains of the seal for the oil filler thing...I should probably know what it's called.
The distraction was completed - cleaned up the oil fill / dipstick holder bit (brb - have to go look up what this thing is called...)

It's 311 813 313 A, Oil Filler Neck

Well, it got cleaned up, the gasket was replaced and the whole thing was put back on the car.

I've got several quotes for replacing the pans and I'm going to go with one of them here once the IRS conversion is set to take place.  The plan is to also modify the pan so that I'll have 3 point seat belts up front (real auto retracting ones) and I want to move the rear brake "T" slightly to eliminate a bend that seems to serve no real purpose other than to make it a real bitch to install the brake line.  I'm also going to have the fuel line in the tunnel replaced with a new line since the front end is pretty close to being toast.  All that's left to decide is if I want to use a bed liner on the bottom of the pan and what I want done with the inside of the pan (paint or ?).  I don't want bed liner on the whole thing so I have to figure that out rather soon.  I'm looking forward to putting some of these parts that I've been hauling all over the country to use!  I'll have to try REALLY hard to prevent scope creep - these cars come apart really easy.

The proposed build up of the IRS conversion - barring anything odd - is going to happen in a couple of months.  I'm waiting on a part from CSP to convert the rear disc kit from swing axle to IRS.  In the meantime, I've sold off a lot of the swing axle bits and those funds will go toward funding the IRS conversion.  While the engine is out during the IRS conversion, I'm going to swap out the tins for better condition original tins without the wrinkle finish on them - it shouldn't bother me because it's such a minor thing - but it bothers me.  I've got some nice original tins that can be put to use and the wrinkle finish stuff can go to a new home.

I'm trying my hardest to keep the motivation up and get this car on the road - let's see what I can carry down from that hill better than Jack and Jill.

Monday, June 25, 2018

It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.

From a project car perspective - today was both productive and weird.

I received confirmation from CSP that the rear disc brake kit could be converted using a few simple parts - they did not propose that I buy a whole new brake kit.  I'm waiting on the sales team to tell me the cost of the parts...should be tomorrow, I'd guess.

Once I had that confirmation about the brakes - I decided to start posting parts for sale.  Sold a few things and then through some Facebook conversations, I sold a whole lot more.  Since I'm heading into an IRS conversion and I have that prostreet transmission, I cannot use the camber compensators.  In two different conversations, I sold all of the camber compensators and their related parts within a couple of hours.  I also sold a few other stock parts that I've been hanging on to for quite some time with no real reason or purpose.  I'm real close to having this conversion fully funded through the sale of parts that I would have likely never used.  It'd be great if half of what's left would sell too - I'm motivated to let things go now that I have what appears to be a clear path forward.

Additionally, I found a semi-local source to both replace the fuel line and weld in the KlassicFab floor pans.  They're working up a quote to do the job and I should have that back tomorrow.  Having all of this information at hand definitely makes it easier to propel the work forward.  Plan is to get the exhaust on the car, drive it for a while and then take it apart for the pan restoration/IRS conversion.  Let's see how I do later this year, yeah? 

I will have to come up with a list of things to modify on the pan before I drop it off...new 8mm fuel line is one, moving the rear brake T as it exits the pan is another thing.  The rear seat kick panel I've been dragging around, along with the pans and the NOS rear kick panel stand brackets will finally get put to use!  It also sounds like they've got an old school panel beater within their walls - I could theoretically take a panel at a time and fit my stuff in between their full blown restorations - getting the car closer to paint each time.  It'll be nice if it works out that way but I'm not going to get too excited quite yet.

Speaking of not getting excited - the box of pipes from CSP is in New York and should have cleared US Customs today but it didn't...so Thursday is the soonest it'll show up this week.

Sunday, June 24, 2018

2018 Bugfest

 The local show was pretty good - met up with some old friends and made a few new friends as well.  I sat with Lou in his swap space for a couple of hours and made just enough money to buy myself some lunch later in the day.

Nice bus in the parking lot.
 Super clean split window single cab
 Another view of a few nice splittys
 The beginning of the row of bugs - it was a long line and double deep.
 I moved down about 1/3 of the row and took this picture
 A couple of the nicest Westies - there were a few more that I didn't get pictures of due to people.
 Beetles
 Beetles
 More beetles
 One of a few nice early 'vert beetles
 An earlier 'vert beetle
 Bradley GT with a scooby motor - sounded really good.
 Joe's 67 Fastback
 Doug's 66 Type 34
 64 Notch - heavily modified/patina car from Indiana
 Tom's 68 Squareback
 66 or 67 Fastback - I didn't realize until later that I failed to take a good look at this car.
Nice split window bus - very similar to the one my stepdad had when I was a kid.

Friday, June 22, 2018

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place

So, I learned today that the 'dent' in the muffler is intentional...it was borne out of the necessity to make the header fit properly.  I can now go back to being annoyed that the second box was delayed 6 days - preventing me from driving the car to the local show on Sunday (unless it rains).

I wound up spending some time chatting with the owner of a local ACVW shop this morning - discussing the merits and costs of doing an IRS conversion while the pan is apart.  He's interested in doing the conversion, has the experience in doing them and the price was pretty reasonable.  I may have also found a guy to install the KF pans at a reasonable price as well - I'll chat with him at the show on Sunday.  The really great part about getting the pans done and converting to IRS is that I'll get to 'consume' some of the largest parts in my cabinets and they will be much easier to move next year if they're permanently attached to the car or sold (swing axle parts).  I have spares of spares and those will likely get posted in the next few days.  The camber compensator parts will all go off to new homes as well - once I sell the swing axle parts, I should be able to recover most of what I will put into the IRS conversion.

The only real bottleneck to the decision is the rear brake kit...if I can buy a couple of parts and convert it to work with IRS, I'm probably going to go for it.  If I have to buy a whole new kit, I most likely will not go for it unless/until I can find a buyer for my swing axle kit...which is probably not going to happen so easily.

Such a slippery slope - getting the pan done would be a huge leap forward though.

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Damaged goods arrive

Two things happened today.

I sold the NOS front beam to a guy in Nebraska.  I'm going to pick up a box tomorrow and get it packed and hopefully shipped.

I received the muffler for the CSP Python exhaust.  The box was poorly packed and only stapled shut (no tape).  Part of one of the long flaps was torn open but it didn't look like anything was missing.  Once I got the box open, I inspected the contents to find that the muffler has been rather severely dented.  I've forwarded photos of the damage along with the package condition to CSP - now I get to wait and see how they respond.  The box with the tubes/pipes is about a week away due to a delay on their part in getting it out the door.  I'm far less annoyed with the delay now that I have a muffler that is damaged.

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Just because you've turned a corner doesn't mean you're out of the alley

I went into the garage with the goal of getting a few things done today. 

First up was to replace the pan boot and that went pretty well - the old part came out, the new part went right in.
The correct part on the left, the 'modified' part on the right.  The fit is perfect.
I'd planned to do an oil change and swap the oil fill tube for the later version so I'm not blowing oil residue all over the engine but I stopped so I can do other things.

An oil change, clutch adjustment and discovery regarding the weird noise on the right side are in order. 

Wheels need to be checked for 'true', carbs need to be adjusted once the exhaust is installed, oil needs to be changed, and a 4 wheel alignment should be done by someone more qualified than me.  I'd also like to try to figure out why I've got so much camber on the rear end - it should sit more flat than it does.

Monday, June 18, 2018

Effingham 2018

The Effingham show was very light in both participants and attendees - there were two other shows in the region on the same dates and I think they all suffered some attendance issues because of it.

63 Type 34 - a little rusty but pretty straight body.  Guy wanted $20k for it, which I think is a bit ambitious.  Interior was worn and partially replaced - overall decent.
 70's Brasilia - it was very nice but a little too low.
 Super nice 'vert.
 A German Fridolin with crazy expensive paint.  Very nice condition but hard to look at in bright sunlight.
 Really nice split window single cab.  Very clean inside and out.
21 window split bus - looked nice from 20' away but as I got closer, I noticed that the little windows on top had rust around all of them.
 '68 Squareback - mostly stock, decent shape.  I was too lazy to walk over to get closer.  It was over 95ºF and I was wiped out.  The double door bus was super nice.  Must have been like driving a pizza oven though.
 Two very similar split buses - both in nice shape!
 NOS front beam brackets.  I never expected to find these at a show in the middle of Illinois.  A little worn but they'll clean up nicely.
The only other thing I bought - a super straight front subframe plate.  It'll clean up really nicely and take paint and then I'll sell it - because people like pretty stuff.

I sold the Vintage Speed exhaust from the car and the modified one that I've been dragging around for years.  It's been nice to slowly sell off the stuff I don't need or things that won't help me get where I want to go with this car.

Monday, June 11, 2018

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity

 It's been a month since the last post and a lot has happened.

As documented earlier - the car showed up earlier than everything else and had this massive garage to itself.
Then all of the 'stuff' showed up.
A couple of weeks later, I got the garage organized and it's much better.  It's nice having a large garage with high ceilings but I've somehow still managed to fill it up.

Other things to note:
  • I listed up a bunch of parts for sale and sold a decent amount of it.  
  • I made my money back on the NOS parts group that I bought.  
  • A CSP Python exhaust is on order because I decided to not dump any more money into the Vintage Speed exhaust.
  • I have a VW show to attend on Saturday - haven't been to this particular show in at least 3 or 4 years.  
  • Nothing has been done with the car because I am ambivalent about working on the car...or driving it but maybe a proper exhaust and carb tune will change that a bit.


Still on the table: Swap out the pan boot and adjust the bowden tube by a washer.  I should also swap out the warped wheels for straight ones.  I'm going to keep the warped wheels and use the centers for custom wider wheels someday.  Some day.