"I see the world keep moving as I stumble"

While test fitting parts for the IRS rear end - I noticed that the fit of the CSP rear disc brake caliper mount isn't quite the same as it was when used on the swing axle rear end (it was flush).

There's a gap of about a half a millimetre between the two pieces.  The gap indicates that there's a problem to solve before I move forward.

 First thing, I checked the trailing arms to make sure they're round and not oval.

OD, axis X

 OD, axis Y

Not a big difference and can be considered round for the purpose of this exercise.

The two arrows show the 'step' that's inside of the brake caliper bracket.  I don't know why it's there but it is the singular reason I can't move forward.

This is the ID of the area where the red arrow above is pointing.

This is the ID of the area where the blue arrow is pointing.

A little simple math shows that if this weird step didn't exist, I wouldn't be posting this - I'd be posting about how I'd finished installing both stub axles and the bearings.

The difference is about half a millimetre - enough that I probably shouldn't try to bash the aluminum caliper bracket onto the steel trailing arm.  I've reached out to a local machine shop to figure out the cost of removing the step inside the housing.

I ordered the Setrab oil cooler mounts that I was avoiding - I thought I could get it mounted without them but what appears to be the right place for this oil cooler required them so I didn't have much of a choice.  Once the oil cooler and filter mounts are sorted, I'll be circling back to the pan hole misalignment, seat belt mounts and a few pan specific issues - once those are done, I should be in a much better place to have the car back on four tires and driving.  I just need to get past one milestone before I get too excited about the next one.

This all assumes that the house doesn't require more attention and money - most of my time/energy/money has gone into the house and it'd be great if that stopped real soon.

"Character is fate"

After screwing around in AutoCAD for the better part of three hours - I wasn't able to make anything even remotely resembling the template I made out of paper...so I reached out to my counterpart and asked if I could 'hire' him to input the part template into AutoCAD if I sent him the part.  He agreed and now the part is on its way to Arizona.  If all goes well, in about 2 weeks, I should have the part in hand...and have a plan for hoses to finally close up the engine.

I was in a bit of a time crunch as my laptop (first computer I've owned in the last 15 years that I didn't build) had to be sent in to Dell to be repaired.  The battery was swelling and pushed the touchpad out of the frame.  I might have it back by the end of next week. 

I spent a bit of time holding the Setrab oil cooler up in various places over the subframe/transmission area trying to find a suitable location to mount it...after lots of holding, thinking and head scratching, I decided that it's going to have to be mounted to the sheet metal tray that's over the transmission - with the fan pulling the hot air down.  The IRS rear end has a lot going on - add to that the rear disc brakes with wily parking brake cables, the accelerator cable, clutch cable, fuel line and there's just not that much space under there.  I may make one last session of holding it up in random spots on the passenger side since there's less going on with that side but I'm okay with the 'so far' found mounting location.  It'll allow me to move on to other things and feel like I'm making progress, even if I'm only fooling myself.

The used rear seat kick panel that I bought showed up - it's in decent shape - hard to visualize now that I know there's a NOS panel en route.  It'll go up in the rafters of the garage for a bit until I figure out what to do with it.

I've been digging through every thread I can find that details the IRS pan Type 3 because I know there are differences - looking for those details that might help me figure out how to route the brake lines from the early pan to a later suspension.

This picture I pulled from Brent's build thread on TheSamba.com is a good shot of a late pan that gives me some good ideas of how to fix a few things on my pan to simplify the brake lines.

Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself by moving past the oil cooler planning bit...assuming it's ready to be closed.  I really wish I wasn't such a fucking perfectionist - I would have been done with this car years ago.

I never noticed before but the late pan doesn't have the set of mount brackets on it like the early/swing axle pan.  I could remove those and relocate the T mount to a more sensible place (the early location for the brake line T is absolutely ridiculous) and simplify the whole thing.  The gears in my head are turning.

New template for the oil filter bracket

Made some adjustments to the template - created this paper version.

A guy on TheSamba.com made me aware of a website called SendCutSend.com - they will laser cut parts if I send a .dwg or .dxf drawing and a few pieces of information.  I spent over an hour trying to remember enough of AutoCAD to get the template into the program.  I failed.  I may just have to find a local shop to make the part.  It'll be more expensive but I don't have the time or patience to re-learn AutoCAD to create a drawing to then get the part made.

"Commitment is an act, not a word."

A conversation and some frustration turned into the purchase of a NOS rear seat kick panel.  I didn't think these existed but at least one does and I bought it.  I can take this off the list of 'shit I have to find' and move it to the list of 'shit I have to get put on the car'.

 There are a few minor issues with this piece - nothing serious.  It should go into the pan pretty easily.  There's no secret that the pan needs some rather significant work to be correct for the body of the car.  I may as well do it right.  I don't want to look back on this and regret taking a short cut 'a while ago'. 

The seat belts will need brackets welded to the pan, the rear seat kick panel will be replaced, the brake tubes will need to be tweaked to work with the IRS rear end. 

 I bought these years ago and have been dragging them from house to house as we move all over the place and I wondered if I'd ever use them.  I now know the answer.

 I took a trip to Home Depot and picked up a piece of sheet metal.  I traced the FastFab bracket and make it one hole longer.

It's rather ugly in appearance - but I was able to confirm that, if made correctly, it'll fit and work.  I might make another one - drilling the holes first and I'd make a slight change to the bracket. 

Sometime next week when things are a little less nuts I will seek out a fabrication shop to make one that's more suitable in appearance and fit.

Next up is the bracket for the oil cooler - then I can get that chapter closed.  I can't fucking wait.

"We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing."

 A couple of years ago, I bought a FastFab bracket and attempted to use it to mount the oil filter bracket.  I very quickly determined that it wouldn't work because it wasn't a direct fit.  The one piece I should have immediately recognized is that NOTHING on this car is a direct fit and acted accordingly.  But because I'm a stubborn dumbass, I went in a completely different direction.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to find another place to put this blasted thing.  And guess what?  I'm right back to where I was two fucking years ago...it's not a direct fit, per se, but it's real close.

It's in a fairly good spot here - not super close to the J tube, easily accessed for oil filter change, not in the way of the valve cover.

It is, however, large enough that the thermostat side gets within 1/2" of the header pipe.  I'm hoping that wrapping the header with fiberglass wrap will help control the heat and not cook the thermostat.  Short of this - I guess I could get a custom bent pipe for the exhaust that allows for more space.

 The plan is to contact FastFab and see if I can interest them in making a modified version of their bracket for this location.  Failing that, I'll use their stock bracket as a template to have one made on a waterjet.  I am not super concerned about how 'pretty' it is if it works.  Once this is sorted, I'll figure out where to put the oil cooler and get brackets made for that...then work on getting the hoses made and connected.

View from the rear - showing the space between the J tube and the oil filter.

It's not solved yet - but it's feeling close.

Once I get this part done, I can fire up the engine and make sure it's still in good shape.  And then figure out how to get that heat shield installed!

I wanted to seek but I got distracted

This doesn't look like much but it represents the surmounting of a rather large obstacle in the journey to getting this car back together and driving - my motivation to work on this car.

Two days ago, it was snowing...today it was up near 65°F.  I mowed the lawn and pulled weeds. On my way into the house, just before I closed the garage door, I stopped to look at the car sitting in the garage covered in dust. 

I decided to take a look at the rear end and see if I've got any new ideas for the few minor modifications that are required to put the back end together.  I didn't come up with anything for the rear brake lines - after a short time, I realized that it'd probably be easier to figure out if the shock and axle assembly were in place. I swapped out the trailing arm because the one that was in the car had a malformed bump stop mount - and I've got three fucking sets for one car, so why not? 

I pulled out the parts for the rear stub axle, grabbed the parts book for an exploded view of assembly and set about assembly. A short time later, I swapped out the trailing arm and then spent an hour trying to figure out just where the hell I was going to put the oil filter/thermostat mount.  Late into that hour I discovered a suitable location just behind the engine tin, slotted in the curve of the CSP Python exhaust.  I can get to the valves without it (or the hoses) getting in the way, it won't be as susceptible to road debris and at least one set of braided lines will be short/straight.  The mount location will require fabrication of a bracket that'll hang on the exhaust studs over the header but it should be rather sturdy.  I'll make a test piece before I go spending the money to get one made.  I'm content to have a location worked out at this point.  Next up will be figuring out where/how to mount the actual cooler.  Once I get past this obstacle of oil cooler/filter mount, I should be able to clear my head enough to get the other shit done.  I'm super distracted by this part for some reason.

My list to finish before it's on the road again:

1. The seat belts mounts need to be figured out
2. The parking brake tubes out the rear of the pan need to be bent upward slightly
3. New parking brake cables (custom, of course)
4. New rear brake lines (may need to weld new brackets)
5. Figure out the solution to coating for the spring plates (they're starting to rust through the zinc coating) 
6. Install the rear torsion bars/level the car
7. Oval out the holes for the pan to fit the body (body mounting)
8. Tweak the late oil/dipstick tube to fit the early body (slightly off)
9. Figure out how to install the heat shield for the Python exhaust (doesn't fucking fit!)
10. Send the transmission out for a new case
11. Paint everything that was modified on the pan/subframe
12. Assembly

2020 might be the year I get some of this done if I can get out of my own way.

"The best work is not what is most difficult for you; it is what you do best"

 I sat with my head in the wheel well for a solid fifteen minutes - just looking over the landscape under the car.  I took in what it'll take to get the parking brake seated in the tube (bend the tube up a few degrees - hopefully without splitting it), checked out the "T" mount for the split to the rear brakes (it should be relocated about 1/2" to the right to center it on the hole), looked at the routing for the parking brake cable (a little more work to do on this piece) and, finally, I reviewed the route the braided brake lines will take when they're installed.

Initially, I tried to install the brake line on the rear caliper using the banjo end but that wound up having the brake line go in a direction that wasn't ideal - so I flipped it around and used the other end.  With a slight tweak, I was able to find what looks to be the right route for the brake line.  Because of the route of the brake line - I might be able to run one hose vs. two in the Swing Axle set up.  The stock bracket location on the IRS trailing arm will be either removed or relocated - depending on geometry of how it all comes together.

A closer image of the routing of the brake hose from the rear caliper.  This trailing arm will be used as the 'guinea pig' to get everything fit properly before any permanent modifications are made.

I will have to get new parking brake cables made for the IRS rear end - the Swing Axle cables are too short.

Next up on the list: Installing the Wolfsburg West vent window trim felt for the window.

The first thing I did was break the already severely cracked finger cup in the driver's side door.  It was only a matter of time - sucks to break a hard to find part though.

 Then the spring for the window regulator fell out while I was maneuvering it to get the window track loose.  I also found that two of the spot welds on the regulator have cracked off - making the regulator arm more flimsy than it should be. I'll have to swap the regulator out or weld up the one in the car - neither of which are all that difficult.  Just one more thing to add to the list.

Once I got it all loose, I was able to remove the shitty felt piece and install the Wolfsburg West felt that I bought about a year ago.  I didn't glue it in place - just slid it in and put it all back together.  The fucking window works now!  It flexes a lot when rolling it up and down (because of the broken window regulator) but it's significantly better.  I was also able to better align the window track so that the scrapers fit slightly better.

I bought Mario's updated outer scraper rubber but I'm going to hang on to that for a while before installing it.

Another thing being explored:  Installing front seat retractable seat belts.  Once I'm able to successfully tackle this - I'll work on them for the back seat.

Seems rather insane to 'start' something new when I've already got so much going on - I need to suss out everything that has to do with the pan so that I only have to pull it apart for modifications and repaint ONCE.  That's the goal, anyway.

My theoretical steps as of now:

1. Figure out seat belt mount locations, figure out rear disc brake lines and parking brake cable (routing and cables), determine oil filter mount (make bracket and test fit), find oil cooler mount/location, have hoses made and test fit.  Determine modifications necessary for trailing arms.
2. Pull engine, transmission - send transmission out for new case.
3. Install new oil filter/cooler hoses on engine side (easier to do with engine out).
4. Fix floor pan (align holes with body), weld seat belt mount locations, fix right side rear seat kick panel (early style), relocate rear brake T mount, install brake line through body (front to rear)
5. Make modifications to trailing arms.  Fix paint and plating and reinstall.
6. Put it all back together.

Looks simple enough anyway.

"The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it."

I dug out one of the parking brake cables to see if it would fit in the tube on the pan and clear the inner mount for the trailing arm...and the answer is: No. No, it doesn't clear the trailing arm mount.

This will get added to the list of things to fix on the pan before it gets painted again and the body is more permanently mounted to the pan.

It's not ideal but it's not really a large problem.

In preparation for the next phase, I dug out the parts and organized it so I can get a look at what I've got and see if I can figure out how it all goes together.

I found the two spacers that I bought from CSP over a year ago - I'd completely forgotten that I bought them.  A nice surprise.

I'll see if I can figure out where to mount the oil cooler and get the lines figured out...that'll allow me to keep moving forward with the rear end.

The faster I get this figured out, the faster I can take it apart and fix the janky shit.

The best road to progress is freedom's road.

First thing on the agenda for the day today - install the front beam.  After a false start - I was able to figure out what to build using what I had laying around to support the front beam so I could get it secured to the car.

One thing to work out - the geometry of the parking brake cable.  The early pan has them exit at an angle that's not really compatible with the IRS inner mount.  This is going to require some tweaking to make it work.

On the off chance that they'd fit together - I bolted up the engine and transmission before attempting to install them in the car.

The crack in the transmission housing did not affect them so I continued with the installation process.

Once I'm done with the mock up - I'll pull the transmission out and send it off for a new case.

This is the first time this engine has been installed in the car.  It's not going to be run this 'go round' but I'm hoping that I can get it fired up once I work out the things that need to be fixed on the floor and sub frame assembly.

That list includes locating and mounting the oil cooler, running the oil lines, thermostat and oil filter. 

With the exhaust mounted and the temporary oil cooler lines - there's a clear path toward how to run the lines.  I think the filter bracket is going to be closer to the rear wheel than initially expected.  In about a week, I should be able to figure that out and make a decision.

I'll run a test set of hoses to make sure I like how they fit (rubber/dry fit only) before I order up the assembled hoses.  Mounting the adapter is going to be the toughest part because there are so few places to bolt things to near the engine.

This is how I left things - the rear suspension is installed but not complete.  I need to clean up the bearing surfaces, pack the CVs and assemble the rear end.  For now, it's easier if there's nothing mounted because it leaves enough space to maneuver  around and work out the oil lines/cooler location.  Once that's worked out, I'll continue with the rear suspension.

CSP exhaust installed sans heat shield (I couldn't get it to go in with the heat shield) - fit is pretty good.  Once this is ready for the road - I'll have the tack welds on the collector closed up all the way around to eliminate the exhaust leaks that will happen if left alone.

Next week will hopefully help identify where to mount the oil filter and oil cooler.  Once that's done I can work on figuring out the rear axle situation.

The pace of my progress is ironic because I'm going take this all apart to fix everything that's not right.

Maybe this time next year I'll be able to drive this car.

The actual solution is very simple.

I made some progress today - for the first time.  It took 4 hours to get the body stable and get the body cart out from under the body.

The pan is bolted to the body at the rear 8 bolt holes and the front four.  None of the side bolt holes are attached but that's of no consequence here.  I'm not going to drive the car in this condition...I just need to keep the two together until I take it apart to modify the holes to get the entire floor secured properly.  The mismatched rear seat kick panel situation needs to be rectified along with welding in the correct location for seat belt brackets-two things that are going to get done with the 'fix' for the floor pan holes.

I'm going to try to get the front end back on tires tomorrow to stabilize the body and get parts off of the table.  Getting the rear end on and on tires is going to be a far larger challenge.  But that's for later.

Fourteen months of stasis

It's been 14 months since this car was pulled off of its wheels and put on this cart.  The only thing that's changed in that time is that I now have all of the major components required to put it back together.

Two days ago, I went out to the garage to see if I could get something done on the car in three hours.  I set a low bar as far as expectations go - and somehow managed to trip over it on the way back into the house a few hours later.  I pulled everything out - organized it by how/when it'll be installed on the car and put it all back into the cabinet.

I pulled the non - VW shit out of the inside of the car, removed the two center braces on the cart so that I could get under the car and laid on the floor to have a look.  The work that is needed to get this thing to go back together crept back into my reality.  I'm going to temporarily bolt the pan to the body, get the suspension back on the car - fit the engine and transmission (that I have YET to send out to be fixed) and figure out the oil cooler lines, add some brackets, sort out the parking brake lines and brake hoses.  Then, take it all apart once I've figured out where it's all going to go so I can repaint the suspension bits again before putting it all back together.  I'll be happy when I get this thing on tires - because I know I have a set group of tasks to execute to keep this tire fire of a project moving forward.

I am not at all looking forward to this next step because I know have to take this shit all apart again to fix something that wasn't done right the first time.  I fucking hate relying on other people to even accomplish what I'd consider mediocre.  I'm a magnet for mediocre.

Transmission damage

Today marks the first real day I've handled parts for this car on any moderate scale - and that's solely due to the fact that we're moving (again) and I'm packing up parts and relocating them to the new house a few miles away.

I have not touched this car in ~6 months.  The transmission I bought last year has sat on a workbench at the back of the garage since the day it arrived and I took it out of the shipping box.  I gave it a 'once over' once it came out of the box and put it on the table and that was about it.  I didn't flip it over and look at the bottom or scan every inch of it.

That's where I fucked up.  Today while preparing to move the transmission from its resting place for the last six months, I noticed that the case is cracked when I felt a jagged edge in an odd place - likely from damage during the shipping process (note the packing peanuts still stuck to the bottom) and I didn't catch it.  The tape on the top covered the crack and because I never rolled it over to look at the bottom - I didn't see the crack.  To say that I'm disappointed in myself is an understatement - this is fucked. 

My motivation to work on this car remains at a serious low point and to now discover that I have a damaged transmission makes it worse.  It represents yet another black hole of expense for a car that hasn't been on the road (or even on tires) in nearly a year.  I continue to regret my return to this hobby and every instance like this only reinforces that regret.  All of the money and all of the time I've wasted trying to get closer to a finished car is a real fucking bummer.  It's hard to compare this to anything else because nothing else has been such a consistent letdown in spite of everything I've done to try to buy the best parts, rely on the 'best' resources and spend money in the right places - I somehow wind up worse results than if I'd made decisions by throwing darts at several mediocre options.  I'd have more success as a raging alcoholic picking winning horses at the track.

I've got to make some hard decisions this year.

2018 year end wrap up

2018, for Nigel, was not great by a wide margin.

I had to tear down what was essentially a new engine due to build quality issues.  After spending an idiotic amount of time negotiating with Chico to get replacement parts and paying an additional $1500 to rebuild the engine with better quality parts, I'm hoping that the engine issues are behind me.  I won't really know until I put the pan back together and install the engine but there's a whole host of self-inflicted problems to resolve before that can happen.  And the whole thing depends on my desire to work on the car.

The IRS conversion is started but there's still a lot to do before it's done.  I'm not thrilled with the overall fit of the parts but I'll work with what I've got to get it back on tires before I get too picky with appearances and finish.  Speaking of finishes - I'll probably strip the rear arms of powdercoated paint to fix the shock collars, then paint them again...so I'll have wasted another $240 by having that done only to strip it all off.  Knowing that I'll have to spend the money again is incentive to just leave the car alone.  I'm tired of spending money on this car.

The 'open tasks' include figuring out where to put the oil cooler, running the lines and then taking it all back out of the car again for paint and fabrication to be completed...then I get to put it back together (again).

The carpet I recently bought was returned to the seller and I got a refund for the carpet - it cost me over $100 to test fit it to the car and send it back.  I'm not going to fuck around with carpet until the car is ready for it...and, admittedly, that's looking a long way off at this point so I don't have to even think about it for quite some time.  I am no longer buying parts and, for the first time in years, I'm not even looking at parts for this car.  Other than reconnecting with a few friends - I've no interest in going to the VW shows or scheduling my family vacation to California around the big show weekend in June.

In a few short months, I'll have owned this car for FIVE years and the longest trip it has taken was 20 minutes long on a new engine that never ran right.  Nigel hasn't left the driveway of the current house since it was driven into the garage by Jim when it showed up in May 2018.  I suspect that it'll leave this house in ~ five months on a trailer, still on the body cart.

My priorities are changing as my life changes and this remains one of those areas where I'm just not getting a return on my investment - either in 'time well spent' or 'enjoying what I'm doing'.  It's hard to monetize those two very subjective terms but I know that the return on what I've spent is what I'd characterize as highly disappointing.  The 'joy' in this hobby, for me, is no longer there.

I've sold off a majority of my excess parts and what I haven't sold will go back up for sale in the Spring - the divesting of extra parts will continue until I'm done.  If I decide to sell this car - I'm wholly finished with the hobby. One way or another, 2019 will be the year to make something happen.  The good news is that it can't get much worse.