To a failed experiment, the failure is unforgivable

The engine came back today...and I noticed a few things right off the bat that I wasn't exactly thrilled about.  The carb linkage was on backward and there was a mechanical fuel pump installed.

I pulled the fuel pump and replaced it with the block off plate shown here - and then I noticed the center mount for the thermostat flaps was not mounted.  This is a MUCH bigger issue because the whole fan system has to come out to fix it.

...so that is what I wound up doing.  Removing the pulley, shroud, fan and shroud - all to flip a bracket around and install it properly.  Not hard, per se, but super fucking annoying.

And then I found that the thermostat flap spring is not installed.  And the rod is installed backward...so the right side tin all has to come off so I can fix that as well.

I flipped the carb linkage around so that it's mounted in the correct location.  I didn't get it all back together because I had to finish some other stuff around the house.

I should have more time to get shit done on this car in the coming weeks - I recently quit the job that required me to be on call 24/7 with super long hours and a ridiculous commute.  I have five more days of stupid, a week off, and then I start a new job with no weekends, no on-call horseshit, and normal hours and a significantly shorter commute.  My goal is to get a lot of this shit done in the week that I'm off.  I should be able to get the wiring finished and get the engine in the car (and running).  I'm not going to fool myself into believing that I'll have it all knocked out and done because, let's face it, that's not how this car works.

“He had to pause for his usual misgivings.”

 Today was semi-productive.  I ran the wires for the oil pressure, oil temperature, a spare wire and the CHT.  What should have taken an hour - wound up taking me 4 hours because I got interrupted by phone calls from work.  A lot of calls.  27 calls in total.  Once I realized that I wasn't going to get a whole lot done, I aimed real low and just finished the wiring.  The center heat tube is a great conduit for wiring to the dash.

I ordered new trim rubber for the electric fuel pump mount and a new brass nipple for the fuel pump so that I won't have to use an adapter.  I ordered new Swayaway axles...some things to look forward to, I suppose.

The engine should be back in about two weeks - that should give me enough time to get the other trailing arm installed and checked out.  I think I can get a nut on the back of the bolts and that'll do it.  I'd like to get the rear of the car sorted soon.  It's not hard - just time-consuming. 

“Doesn’t everyone have at least two opposing natures warring inside them?”

 Another month goes by with zero work completed on the car.  Simple shit seems to take months to get resolved because other pieces of 'life' get in the way of working on the car.  There's always other stuff to get done and the car just sits.  I used to wonder how people could own a project car for years and get nothing done on it - it's SO fucking simple...but now that it's happened to me - I get it.

I had to order a new CHT wire because the original one was too short - something that I should have caught before it was too late.  I pulled the other wires out - now I need to fish them all back into the car to get a step closer to being ready.  

Asked around about using through bolts and installing nuts on the back of the spring plate/torsion bar area - seems like it's a better solution than using a time-sert so that's the route I'm going to take for now.

All I lack now is time.  I have plenty of parts to keep me busy.

"Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive"

 

Haven't accomplished much in the last week - I picked up bronchitis and a sinus infection and have spent much of this time dealing with feeling like shit.

Today, however, I picked the old harness up off the floor to see if there were any OG wires I could salvage (not much) and made note of the condition of the harness and reason why I chose to remove it:  loads of cracked wires.

With all of the electrical tape, cracked wires and bare wire I found - it's somewhat surprising this car ran at all.

Once I've recovered from this illness - I'll be back at it to get the wiring finished so I can move on to the next part of getting this car back on the road.

Like a rainbow in the dark

It's been about a month, here's where my free time has gone so far: The kid got braces, the fox that lives in the drainage ditch is back with three new pups (distracting but interesting to watch), we found an old 1966 newspaper with a VW ad in the classifieds stuffed into the wall of the bathroom we tore apart (good news is that it's now nearing completion), we sold a bunch of random stuff that was crowding the garage, got my 2nd COVID vaccine (and did jack shit that weekend) then I went to New York/New Jersey for a week for work.  Came back and fixed a leaking shower valve, installed a hitch receiver on the daily driver for my bike rack...and, two days ago, I finally started on the wire harness install on the VW.  Work has been a real fucking treat - my evening commute usually means I'm either too tired or too apathetic to do anything when I get home so 'projects' only happen on weekends - and replace working on the car.

In the spirit of transparency - it took me two days of laying on my back, removing the steering wheel and two of the three gauges to get the basic part done.  Seems damn near impossible to get anything done on this car without taking five other things off first.

I have to run wires for the accessory gauges from the engine bay, install those gauges and install the electric fuel pump and safety shut off relay.  I guess that'll take another day of me sitting on the floor of the car, scratching my head, mild swearing and a couple of light bulb moments until it's done.  At least I feel like something was accomplished.  For now.

The engine should be coming back shortly - I'd like to have this part done before the engine returns.  I'm almost ready to put the left front fender back on the car but I'm waiting for warmer weather so I don't break the brittle fender beading.  Front fender goes on, front harness gets completed, lights go back, bumper goes back and two big tripping hazards are back where they belong.  I'm trying to finish things from the front to the rear and, so far, it's kinda sorta working.

Drilling out the stripped threads for the right rear suspension is still on the list but I hope to knock that out soon-ish.  I'm trying to stay focused on the wiring task because it's so fucking tedious and if I get distracted by something else - it may be a while before I come back to it.

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see"

 

Yeah - so absolutely nothing has happened in the last several weeks that's related to the car.  There was a brief warm weather period that I was unable to take complete advantage of while it was here...the car is in nearly the exact same condition it was three weeks ago.

The hall bathroom was torn up and is now being rebuilt, the roof was replaced, the soffits and fascia was replaced...I drove for 4 hours to buy a new mountain bike.  I sold my old mountain bike.  Bought a new helmet, organized the basement a little, built a few new Lego sets, went on a couple of bike rides, did a bunch of shit for work over the weekends.  Did not work on the car.

I don't know what that says about my interest level in the car but I suppose that'll work itself out in the near future.

"I can always say, 'It's gonna be better tomorrow'"

 The group of grommets arrived - most of it is what I expected but I did receive two grommets that the parts book says I should be using and there's no way they'll fit where they're indicated in the parts book.  I measured before I ordered but ordered them anyway just so I could say I did so.

All of the mastic is cleaned off the front under fender area - I received the new mastic and once it warms up again, I'll be installing it and the wire harness into the dash.  That'll be where the fun starts - rewiring everything under the dash, including the new gauges and the tach...which reminds me - I have to pull that CHT wire through the car before it goes back together.

These grommets are very durable and do a great job of sealing against the wire harness.

The grommets were a real bitch to get installed but I'm making progress.  The plan is to work a little each day until it's done.  Then I'll move on to cleaning up the old seam sealer and fixing the subframe bolt thread disaster.

I might just fuck around and get something done in the coming weeks.

"When you chase away the easy way, it will come galloping back."

Well, that was a quick three (almost four) months.  I didn't do much outside of sell off some parts I'll never use.

The engine was picked up two weeks ago to be disassembled, checked, cleaned and put back together.  I have no idea when it's coming back but I've got plenty to do so I'm not even slightly concerned about it right now.

I dug into the car today - the intent was to figure out the plumbing for the electric fuel pump - but that quickly changed to ripping out the wire harness and replacing it.  So many cracked wires from the original harness that I just couldn't fix anymore.

As I was moving wires around in the engine bay and fishing wires around under the dash, a couple of them suffered cracked insulation.  I was acutely aware of the crispy nature of the wiring in the car but today's multiple failures changed the direction of the activities.

I pulled both the front harness and the rear harness - the front one is installed and I ran out of time to finish the rear harness.  I also cannot find the giant stash of grommets that I have around here...so I'm a couple short for the installation.

The area underneath the rear fenders is in pretty good shape overall.  I did some clean up and I'll treat the bare metal where the old seam sealer cracked off.  If you look closely, you can see the OG Ruby Red underneath and the respray up near the bottom of the windows.

The goal here is to clean it up, replace the wiring and grommets and put it back together.

Perhaps in a few days, I'll 'grow a pair' and drill the holes for the seat belt anchor points.  It's high time I dust off that welder I bought and put it to work.

"I don't wanna say that I'm lost 'cause it gets worse then it gets better"

 

After making 8 versions of this bracket - I think I have the winner!  Oddly enough, making the bracket is less than half the cost of one of these hoses so it was worth it in the long run.

Chatted with the engine builder yesterday - he needs another two weeks before he will be ready.  That'll buy me enough time to finish dicking around with random stuff and have everything ready for him when he comes by to pick it up.

One down, several to go...

"Progress is man's ability to complicate simplicity"

Not a whole lot going on lately - I received the updated bracket and in true form - it's just long enough to make one of the hoses too short.  So the options here are to either make the bracket shorter and use the existing hoses or get new hoses made at a nearby shop.  The revised brackets are the cheaper option and I've dumped plenty of money into this car already so I'll be ordering those soon.

The weather got real cold and the garage is pretty much the same temperature as the outdoors so I haven't done much other than clean the garage.  I'm hoping that next week I can drop it off at the engine dude's house to be pulled apart/cleaned and put back together.  By the end of January, I should have the engine back and the hoses figured out (finally).  It'll be a runner and that's a good little bit of progress.  That leaves me with the task of installing the time-sert and getting the rear suspension back together so I can get the car back on tires.

The updated parking brake cables arrived as well - they appear to be the correct length - I'll know more once I  get the parking brake completely installed (which kind of requires the rear end to be done and the rear calipers installed).  Hard to get a lot done when it's this cold and the garage is not insulated.  The weather has been really fucking weird this year (55°F one day and 12°F the next day) but I'll take advantage of any opportunities that come along to get something done.

I honestly don't know how much longer I can drag this out...

“You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.”

 

Received the second hose and it fits - for the most part - I revised the bracket design to make it 12mm longer for a better fit.  In a week, I'll get the revised brackets and, fingers crossed, they'll be a perfect fit!

House projects are winding down (finally) so I should have a little more time to get this car dialed in so I can drive it next Spring.

The front apron arrived on Friday - packed in two taped together Home Depot boxes that were very beat up.  Not the best packing job but it was fine.

Today I dug out the wire wheel for the grinder and stripped all of the paint off of the outside of the shell to see what was underneath.  I found a very thin layer of bondo and somewhere around five layers of paint in various shades of auto parts store rattle can.

Above the license bump - which had no bondo on it - are two holes.  No idea why they're there but they're poorly filled/covered up.  There was a decent amount of surface rust under the bondo so it's a good thing it got stripped down.

This is the worst part of the apron (so far) - it's the lower middle.  Loads of small bumps - sort of like my face back when I was in high school.  Truth be told - this looks worse in the picture than it is in reality - partially due to the not quite perfect stripping job I did on it.

I suspect this is why the bondo was applied because there aren't any other real noticeable issues elsewhere on the piece.

I may have gotten ahead of myself by stating that I could take this off of my list...I'm going to keep looking for a better piece.

"Let it come and let it be"

A bit of progress today...I made several revisions to the existing bracket to hold the Jaycee oil filter bracket because it has larger diameter mount holes and the bracket has been 'beefed up' through a small adjustment.  This time around - I had them cut out of 1.5mm thick plate steel - so instead of getting one bracket for $45, I got eight test pieces for less than $30.

Of the brackets modified - this one is the closest to correct.  The holes for the exhaust studs are perfect, the hole spacing for the filter bracket is perfect...the bracket, however, is about 12mm too short, which causes a problem for the hoses coming from the engine.  I'm waiting for the last hose to be shipped to me and then I can confirm my modification (make it 15mm longer and adjust the location of the mount holes).  Once that's confirmed, I'll have a couple made in aluminum.  If I get a wild hair up my ass I might have one made in titanium for the hell of it...

I got in touch with the cable manufacturer - they shipped the cables two weeks ago...to my old address in another state.  The cable shop is going to make another set and ship them to the correct address so I should have those before Christmas.

Did some recon while at work today - there's only ONE fucking hydraulic hose shop in the area that can make brake hoses and get them certified - it's in Chicago.  I'm going to have to figure out how to get out there to get the brake hoses made up so I can stop by while I'm there for work as well.

The more I think about all of the modifications I'm making - the more I think it makes sense to go back to an electric fuel pump.  I kept the bracket from the previous installation so I'm going to put it back to work with a new fuel pump that I've had moving house for the last year or so...should be a simple modification to incorporate.  I like the modern touch of an electric fuel pump combined with the reduced pile of hose in the engine bay.  The safety relay is going to show up this week.

I also have a new wire harness from ISP West - the wiring on the car is getting really brittle but it's far too cold to be screwing around with wiring so it might have to wait until next year.

What appears to be a super straight, rust-free Mickey Mouse front apron found me a couple of weeks ago.  After a bit of 'back and forth' with the seller, we agreed on a price and I sent him a UPS label. I should be seeing that show up in the next week or so.  It's got the later license plate bump and the later divider but the MM lower front. An odd combination that couldn't be better suited for what I'm doing!  It's nice to wipe this off the list - it's the last body part I needed for this car.  Maybe I can sell the pieces I remove from the car and recover some of my investment.

Leaves blow in, a little time passes

Gene Berg welded and balanced fan to replace the stock unit arrived today...they told me that they don't weld the fins because the crank mounted fan doesn't spin fast enough to warrant the work/weight.  Makes sense - my engine isn't a high rev unit.

Bought a new wire harness just in case I get a wild hair up my ass and decide to replace the wiring in the car while I wait for the engine to be rebuilt.  I've got some wiring issues to work out - namely cracked/broken wires.  Seems like it might be more fun to just replace the whole thing.

Still waiting on the last hose I ordered, the parking brake cables and the nerve to do a time sert on the right side rear subframe.