It’s been a whole year
- Thread starter Ulu
- Start date
Thank you both. Keep reading and I will eventually take it all apart and chop out all the rusty bits that are still there. I have some real welding planned in the future.
This car has several serious issues that make it a nuisance to drive. The front springs are sooo stiff! Any small bump is a big deal. This will be attacked forthwith, but I have some Christmas duties to deal with first.
This car has several serious issues that make it a nuisance to drive. The front springs are sooo stiff! Any small bump is a big deal. This will be attacked forthwith, but I have some Christmas duties to deal with first.
LOL, I tried to teach her to drive stick in 1990. My transmission never recovered. She would be scared ****less to drive this car. Her chin would touch the horn button when she finally found the pedals.
She filmed a video of me driving the car, while I did a heel-and-toe downshift, and made an arm signal. She hadn't seen me drive stick in 30 years, but I am still a pro. She remarked that I had to move both arms and feet at the same time, and really needed another foot, and one more hand for the signals. I do have electric signals, but my arm was half out the door anyhow....
She seemed wat too impressed considering I have hauled her all over California on a motorcycle with a clutch.
She should see me drive a Road Ranger with dual 4 speed boxes, a two-speed axle, and air brakes. She didn't know me in the 70's when I was a Teamster wrangling heavy equipment.
Lots of issues remain to be solved, and it has been pouring rain here (yay!) so time to warm up the garage. I’ve been doing a lot of research on the Volkswagen emissions control plumbing, because I don’t know what parts of it the state will require me to have. I hope they don’t require too much for a car this old. I believe 1973 was the last year that you can get away with what I am trying to do.
Basically the stock intake plumbing is all gone and there wasn’t even a breather hose from the crank case to the air cleaner.
I have replaced all the “correct” VW fuel hoses with modern alcohol resistant hoses, and installed a better fuel filter, but fuel delivery is punky.
VW fuel pump:
Yesterday I got a new pump and gaskets and I will swap it out soon.
I also got a new generator pulley, Because mine had been installed incorrectly and was damaged. This is inexpensive and an easy to change part but it’s extremely critical. If the belt slips on this car not only does it not charge the battery but the fan doesn’t cool the engine.
I bought a new Chinese balljoint breaker for this car because I need to take the front suspension apart and relieve the springs.
This car is way too light in the front for the stock Volkswagen spring rate. I will have to remove the front lower swing arms and torsion leaf pack. Then I have to figure out how much to cut out of that pack so that the front end of the car comes down a couple inches.
If it comes down too much I can always put gas shocks or air shocks on the front to bring it back up and make it ride comfortably but if it’s too stiff the whole car just rattles every screw loose going down the road.
Front swingarm suspension and drum brakes:
There is lots of minor bodywork to do including trimming the runningboards and fender edges. Also the front fender tabs were never trimmed and you can see that one is longer than the other.
I would be in more of a rush to do all this, That is to say I would be out there in the garage right now instead of talking about it here, but I’m not going to drive this car again until the streets are dry. With any luck that will be at least a month, because we need this rain desperately.
Unfortunately, the weatherman says it will stop raining by tomorrow.
Basically the stock intake plumbing is all gone and there wasn’t even a breather hose from the crank case to the air cleaner.
I have replaced all the “correct” VW fuel hoses with modern alcohol resistant hoses, and installed a better fuel filter, but fuel delivery is punky.
VW fuel pump:
Yesterday I got a new pump and gaskets and I will swap it out soon.
I also got a new generator pulley, Because mine had been installed incorrectly and was damaged. This is inexpensive and an easy to change part but it’s extremely critical. If the belt slips on this car not only does it not charge the battery but the fan doesn’t cool the engine.
I bought a new Chinese balljoint breaker for this car because I need to take the front suspension apart and relieve the springs.
This car is way too light in the front for the stock Volkswagen spring rate. I will have to remove the front lower swing arms and torsion leaf pack. Then I have to figure out how much to cut out of that pack so that the front end of the car comes down a couple inches.
If it comes down too much I can always put gas shocks or air shocks on the front to bring it back up and make it ride comfortably but if it’s too stiff the whole car just rattles every screw loose going down the road.
Front swingarm suspension and drum brakes:
There is lots of minor bodywork to do including trimming the runningboards and fender edges. Also the front fender tabs were never trimmed and you can see that one is longer than the other.
I would be in more of a rush to do all this, That is to say I would be out there in the garage right now instead of talking about it here, but I’m not going to drive this car again until the streets are dry. With any luck that will be at least a month, because we need this rain desperately.
Unfortunately, the weatherman says it will stop raining by tomorrow.
I did get out and run around some more in the SS. I put some gas in the tank and discovered that the tank-top gaskets were nasty and leaking.
I had just bought gas and I had to siphon it all back out and put it in my truck. I spent quite a bit of time cleaning all the bits up and making new gaskets by hand.
I put in the snazzy fuel filter but it’s just hanging from zip ties right now.
I added 12 more screws to help secure the main fuel cap flange and I reinforced the steel attachment of the sender unit as well.
I gave the ground wire its own screw.
While we were out driving my wife shot some video and I posted it up on my old YouTube channel. (Before I retired from the computer business I was CaddmannQ.) These are very short at only 18 seconds each.
I had just bought gas and I had to siphon it all back out and put it in my truck. I spent quite a bit of time cleaning all the bits up and making new gaskets by hand.
I put in the snazzy fuel filter but it’s just hanging from zip ties right now.
I added 12 more screws to help secure the main fuel cap flange and I reinforced the steel attachment of the sender unit as well.
I gave the ground wire its own screw.
While we were out driving my wife shot some video and I posted it up on my old YouTube channel. (Before I retired from the computer business I was CaddmannQ.) These are very short at only 18 seconds each.
This is a video just of me backing the car out of the garage and around the cul-de-sac.
I have taken this car on the road four times since I got my permit for it. Twice with my wife and twice alone. I was hoping she would start the camera sooner because you can’t hear the car starting.
It starts right up when you hit the button, but the main jet is clogged & it tops out about 55 miles an hour.
It’s got some other passages that are clogged as well and the needle valve may be sticking open or the float may be stuck down.
It seems to be running great when it starts up and when it’s cold and when you’re on the throttle, but as it warms up it starts to load up at idle.
I have taken this car on the road four times since I got my permit for it. Twice with my wife and twice alone. I was hoping she would start the camera sooner because you can’t hear the car starting.
It starts right up when you hit the button, but the main jet is clogged & it tops out about 55 miles an hour.
It’s got some other passages that are clogged as well and the needle valve may be sticking open or the float may be stuck down.
It seems to be running great when it starts up and when it’s cold and when you’re on the throttle, but as it warms up it starts to load up at idle.
Well it cleared up enough today to take the car out for a little bit and I got the carburetor tuned up a lot better.
Unfortunately I found out that the oil pressure sender is leaking. I’m not sure yet but I think I may have excess pressure from a inverted bypass valve (or it’s just stuck.)
If I don’t fix this before I drive the car I’m gonna blow every gasket out of the engine.
So she waits for me to pull the pressure valve.
Unfortunately I found out that the oil pressure sender is leaking. I’m not sure yet but I think I may have excess pressure from a inverted bypass valve (or it’s just stuck.)
If I don’t fix this before I drive the car I’m gonna blow every gasket out of the engine.
So she waits for me to pull the pressure valve.
I fixed my oil leak & got the pressure relief valve cleaned up, and now oil pressure is a more realistic 30 pounds. I also tore the carburetor apart and cleaned the whole thing in and out. Every hole in it that points towards the sky was plugged up with dirt. This was the greatest performance enhancement by weight reduction in history.
Since you must remove the distributor to remove the carburetor, I did some work cleaning up the distributor. Also I replaced the last two wires on the car that I had not soldered up from scratch myself. They were the idle cut off solenoid wire and the electric choke heater wire.
I cleaned up the air filter and trimmed the vapor control hose and rerouted it.
When you change a Volkswagen from the vacuum advance distributor to the centrifugal advance distributor or back, they have the breaker plate in a different spot. Therefore you need to rotate the Plug wires around the distributor cap by one cylinder or 90° on the distributor to get the timing correct.
Unfortunately the previous owner decided to just assign a new timing mark to the engine, essentially timing at bottom dead center. I just wish she hadn’t filed a big notch into the pulley because it’s in a totally wrong position.
I did a lot of work on the car Thursday and I did not get into bed until 2:30 AM. I was not inclined to start the noisy thing up in the middle of the night and awaken my entire neighborhood.
So when I got up this morning I had not run my car and I did not know how well it would work. It turns out that it worked very well.
The car started right up and it drove well except for a mild hesitation off idle once it was warm. I am very happy with the carburetor and the distributor timing. I was able to tune the carburetor a little better and I think I’m going to be happy enough with the set up for now except for that hesitation.
I may change over to the vacuum dashpot distributor I purchased just for this reason.
I was supposed to take the car to be inspected by the highway patrol but that never happened due to several factors. On the bright side, the inspector agreed to come to my house and inspect the car for me here!
Holy cow Batman! I guess Socialism does work sometimes. (For well-to-do guys with the money to buy show cars and rebuild them without regard to expense.)
I am fairly certain that I will not have a problem getting a title for the car, but whether or not I will get to license it is another matter. There is a lot of stock smog equipment that is missing from the car.
The law will not require me to have a smog test on a car this old, but on paper it still requires the emissions gear to be present on the vehicle. It does not really require the gear to be working. But sometimes it is not possible to keep nonworking gear on the vehicle and still allow it to run.
This is what I’m hoping the fellow from the CHP will understand.
Since you must remove the distributor to remove the carburetor, I did some work cleaning up the distributor. Also I replaced the last two wires on the car that I had not soldered up from scratch myself. They were the idle cut off solenoid wire and the electric choke heater wire.
I cleaned up the air filter and trimmed the vapor control hose and rerouted it.
When you change a Volkswagen from the vacuum advance distributor to the centrifugal advance distributor or back, they have the breaker plate in a different spot. Therefore you need to rotate the Plug wires around the distributor cap by one cylinder or 90° on the distributor to get the timing correct.
Unfortunately the previous owner decided to just assign a new timing mark to the engine, essentially timing at bottom dead center. I just wish she hadn’t filed a big notch into the pulley because it’s in a totally wrong position.
I did a lot of work on the car Thursday and I did not get into bed until 2:30 AM. I was not inclined to start the noisy thing up in the middle of the night and awaken my entire neighborhood.
So when I got up this morning I had not run my car and I did not know how well it would work. It turns out that it worked very well.
The car started right up and it drove well except for a mild hesitation off idle once it was warm. I am very happy with the carburetor and the distributor timing. I was able to tune the carburetor a little better and I think I’m going to be happy enough with the set up for now except for that hesitation.
I may change over to the vacuum dashpot distributor I purchased just for this reason.
I was supposed to take the car to be inspected by the highway patrol but that never happened due to several factors. On the bright side, the inspector agreed to come to my house and inspect the car for me here!
Holy cow Batman! I guess Socialism does work sometimes. (For well-to-do guys with the money to buy show cars and rebuild them without regard to expense.)
I am fairly certain that I will not have a problem getting a title for the car, but whether or not I will get to license it is another matter. There is a lot of stock smog equipment that is missing from the car.
The law will not require me to have a smog test on a car this old, but on paper it still requires the emissions gear to be present on the vehicle. It does not really require the gear to be working. But sometimes it is not possible to keep nonworking gear on the vehicle and still allow it to run.
This is what I’m hoping the fellow from the CHP will understand.
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