Every race car needs a rollbar
My buddy Gord, who builds the Subaru Canada rally cars, came over to discuss the roll bar options with me. Neither of us were fans of the rear-stays that came with my bolt-in roll bar, so we've agreed that he'll need to make some new ones for me. He also figured out a way to move →
Planning
I've started to mock up the Accusump, Dry-Sump Tank and Oil Cooler. I think I'm going to set the car up with a "summer mount" and a "winter mount" for the oil-cooler. The winter mount will actually double as a heater for the inside of the bug. Packaging space for everything, as always, is a →
Checking out the ’71 Body
And with that, I had an incredibly productive day today out in the garage. I finally managed to get the '69 out of the shop, which meant I could pull the new '71 into the shop. I started on the rear, pulling each fender, the running boards, glass and finally the front fenders. This particular →
Oops
Remember that ultra-valuable wheel from a few posts back? Yeah, not so valuable anymore. Basically, I messed up on the tire machine. Rally car tires are super, super, super stiff. And while I have mounted hundreds on alloy wheels, I've only ever mounted one a onto a steel wheel four times before. If you don't get the bead →
Suspension, step one.
The front suspension on this project is relatively simple, factory arms and likely a modified coil-over setup custom built in my garage. I finally got around to cleaning up a set of front arms for painting. On the rear I'm ditching the torsion bars and going with a rod-end for the pivot. Currently working with some steel to put them →
The new parts start arriving…
The new racing parts have started arriving for the project. First up is the dry-sump tank for my oiling system. A traditional style engine has the oil collect in a pan bolted the the bottom of the engine. In extreme cornering the oil can slosh around and cause air to be picked up by the pump instead of oil. I →
1971 VW Found!
Finally found a suitable donor for the '71 beetle project. I ended up having to drive over 6 hours south to find a "rust free" version, but I think I've done pretty well. Truthfully, I don't think you can really find a completely rust-free shell, so it will be interesting to see what surprises lie underneath. For the most part, →
Seam Sealer Complete
The black paint I laid down earlier was actually semi-gloss black. With the semi-gloss paint dry, I was able to seam seal the bottom of the pan. And then tonight I laid down a coat of POR15 Silver. It's brushed on, and silver never looks good when it's brushed. Lots of track marks, brush marks and uneven silvering...but that's okay. I →
Front Pan Repairs
My original plan was to do a big section of the frame head, leaving me lots of mounting bolts and measuring points to work from. I assumed that I could just separate the halves at the spot welds, and weld in a nut from the back for the mount...but once I ground off the sway bar mount on my donor →
Problems with the Pan
Grinding and Sandblasting on the spine are now complete. I've started welding up the various holes and spots that require attention, but in doing so discovered a more significant problem. I knew the tow-hook area was rough when I started on the pan, but blasting and grinding revealed that the problem is deeper then I first →
More VW pan work.
After hours and hours of grinding, I finally took the pan down to a friend's place for sandblasting. Whew! That is a lot easier. Sandblasting won't pull up the seam sealer unless you really work at it...thus, I simply took off the stuff I have to and left the seam sealer I don't _need_ to remove. Four hours of →
Pan work continues
The pan work continues...and let me tell you, spot welds are frustrating! -Dave
Retiring the ’69 Beetle
The '69 will be retiring into a life as a marketing tool for a local real-estate agent. While I have enjoyed it immensely, it was always a 'test-bed' for what I really wanted. Compromised by a need to be both performance and daily driver, it was never going to be as "hard core" as I wanted. →
1971 Beetle Project Begins!
This new project has been called the "not so secret, secret project" inside my circle of friends who have known about it. One of the biggest issues with my '69 project car (http://www.germanlook.net/forums/showthread.php?t=10319) was the fact that I essentially daily-drive the car, and thus could never set it aside for the time needed to really do it up →
Success?
With the Rambler and Plymouth not working out...I was getting antsy and desperate. Just a week and a half away was shoulder surgery, which meant 7 days to buy, prep and insure a new vehicle. We pulled out the laptop as we drove across state, searching craigslist for every town coming up.With each passing mile the three of us argued →
Well, No Rambler.
Well, the Rambler isn't going to happen. I was honestly set on it, even going as far as setting up a time to go south to look at it and bring it home. One thing kept bugging me, thoug...could I get a windshield for it? After much looking around I have discovered that its impossible to get glass for the →
Hmmmm…Rambler?
I can't help it, I'm a car guy. If I'm not dreaming about riding my bike, I'm dreaming about driving a car. Typically this means I'm dreaming about the next stage of my "project-at-hand". That should be the bug...but I find myself really satisfied with where I've got the car. It might actually be the first time that I've got →
Getting It Show Ready
The annual Great Canadian Volkswagen Show is this coming weekend, so it's time to get the white bug ready. Truthfully I don't wash the car nearly as much as I should...we're always riding or wrenching or traveling. But when I do get to washing it, I'm always amazed at how good it looks and it usually starts me on an →
Going back in time…
It's true. I bought it. After looking at tonnes of bugs online, and a Porsche 914 in person, I decided to drop in and test-drive the white beetle I posted earlier. I already knew about the cosmetic issues, the trick was to find out if it was mechanically sound. The original plan was to spend the afternoon making my way →