Camber compensator won't fit

Strange--I have a new Vintage Speedster. I tried to install a C.B. Perf. Camber compensator but it won't fit where it attaches to the transmission. There are 4 bolts in the transmission that are loosened and the plate of the Camber Compensator has slots cut out that fit over the 4 studs. How can a product be marketed that does not have slots that match up with the xmission studs??

Anyone have experience with this? Am I supposed to wham the plate on with a rubber hammer or what? (I hate to crap up the stud threads by doing this.) Am I doing something wrong or should I return yjis item for credit and get one from somewhere else? Thanks for any advice!----Jack

Post pictures of your trans and the piece to be mounted.

Chill Dude
Take your tine...... It'll all fall in place.

Jack, without a photo it's difficult to visualize what exactly you're having problems with but,,,, My first 2 part question is this, do you have an IRS transaxle or do you have a swing axle?


The reason I'm asking is I thought you previously told me that you had an IRS which won't accept the camber compensator

Jack; take your time. My experience with the fit from products by CB Performance has been very positive. You can certainly use a rubber mallet but be very gentle. Another tool that can help ease the plate in place is a jack under it to support it/push it in. Don't despair; it should go in fairly easily; just take your time to analyze the situation.

Thanks for the words of comfort--lord knows I need 'em.

Best advide: "chill".

The slots that fit over the transmission studs really were incorrect so I just filed them down to fit---and fit they did! The great idea was to use a jack which I did---first to bolt the center section to the xmission then to push up the leaf spring --first one side, bolt it, then the other side.
Btw---it rides reeaal good!

Again thanks for the advice. Is this a great site or what and the foilks here make the site what it is!---Jack

Jack....
We're gonna make VW mechanic outta ya yet! A large part of this insanity is the "quality tinkering time" IMHO.
Party on dude!
Ernie

Jack - did you have too many of those plastic "snap together" toys when you were young? The old wooden Revell model airplane kits didn't always fit until you filed, and sanded, and ground it down a bit - the end result was somehow more personal - and that's how fabrication skills are born. Pretty soon you'll be scratch building and another Hoopty is born. Or you could buy a Honda.

Jack:

Don't feel bad....we all go through this, all the time.

I often get the question from people; "Is that a KIT CAR??"

I just tell them that; "well, if you get a kit, then all of the parts are supposed to FIT. On this car, NOTHING fit and just about everything was custom made."

Often, they leave looking perplexed....guess they never met a CMC!

I went to visit Lane Anderson a week ago, and when I went to leave, the starter wouldn't turn. Nothing. So we pushed it backwards and it started right up. Drove it home and tried starting it again - started right up.

So later on, I got under the car and cleaned the contacts of my starter relay in the back, then found the started wire up under the dash and cleaned the fast-on connectors there, thinking THAT should fix it, and it did, I guess - it starts every time again.

Hopped in the car and headed to Lane's again this past weekend, only to find that the directionals didn't work. Went home and fiddled with stuff under the dash and, eventually, they started working. Took off for Lane's again and found that, while the outside directionals were working, the light in the dash gauge didn't blink. Screw it......kept on going.

Then I flashed my brights at an oncoming antique car and THEY weren't working either. Had High Beam when I turned on the lights, but couldn't make it go to low beam, nor could I flash them (different relay, too). Screw it - it's daytime out....

Left Lane's late and managed to get home (1-1/2 hours one way) just after sundown by using my Parking lights, and I'll sort it all out tonight.

This stuff happens to ALL of us!!

Gordon
One of the frustrated Speedstah Guys" from Beaufort {8>(

Good thoughts and valuable ones too. I was actually thinking about returning the camber compensator because the slots didn't line up with the transmission studs. After sleeping on it (the thought, not the compensator!) I realized it could be made to fit with some filing which was a good lesson.

I am far from as smart or as mechaniclaly inclined as most everyone else here (just ask Larry Jowdy---actually please DON'T ask him) but I want to learn and like my car enough to devote the time and effort to getting it like I want it.

My custom license plate arrived yesterday; "SPEEDIE" Gotta love it.
---Jack

Hang in there, Jack! You'll be designing and building your own Hoopty before long.

Geez, Gordon! You didn't use Lucas components did you? :)

Gordon, easy fix...stay away from Lane's.

Lane ...you're doing great buddy, don't forget to pull the coil wire and slip in a pebble for a no start situation....that we'll keep Gordon hopping !

Jack -

It's good to see that you don't let the 'learning curve' of these cars get you too frustrated. Next time a project starts to grind on ya, just bust out a tune on one of your banjos!

Like the ol' Steve Martin comedy skit "...it's impossible to play a sad tune on a banjo!".

Peace - Out!

P.S. - I know what you're thinking, and NO that WASN'T Lane playing the banjo in the movie 'Deliverance'! BWWAAAAA HAAAAA HAAAAAAAAAAA!!

Dang! I thought that was a young Ross Perot in the movie! :)

"Paddle faster I think I hear a banjo!---Jack

Odd. I have a T-shirt that says just that ;-)

Great news Jack! Congrats! These cars are like that; as Gord said. But; don't you just love their simplicity and the fact that YOU can fix them? Try that on a modern car.

OK, Jack......

Just spent the better part of 1-1/2 hours lying on my back under the dash, trying to figure out how the hell I wired this thing 10 years ago (probably when I was in a funk from where I worked). I remember that it became complicated enough that I had to document most (but not all) of the wiring in a build notebook. Last I knew, there are eight different relays in there, some in the front and some in the rear.

Removed about half a dozen tie-wraps just to get things moved out of the way so I could see what's up in there...and what a rat's nest THAT turned out to be! Couldn't figure out, even using an official VW service manual, why the heck I had two, extra, brown wires coming from my directional lever and neither one was connected to anything (and they BOTH had male fast-on tabs on the ends).

You know how you've been saying how nice it would be to have a complete user/service manual?? Boy! Would it ever! And I built the damn thing!! Just goes to show about the cobbler's kids going shoeless......

Anyway, I moved a glob of wires this way and that and finally pulled six (yes, six) off, one at a time, shortened each so that it reached nicely and didn't have an extra foot or two of wire stuffed up in there, re-terminated it and replaced it.

THAT cleaned things up quite a lot and, lo and behold, I found an empty, female fast-on with a brown wire attached to ground! Dug out my old build notebooks (why I brought them South I don't know, but they're here) and found that I wired the thing with the dimmer switch giving ground, not +12V, to the headlight dimmer relay - what a revelation THAT was!!! Tried one of the brown wires coming from the directional/dimmer lever and.....nothing. Tried the other one and....Whoo-Hoo!! The dimmer worked!!!!

Finally, I got the headlights working on hi and lo beams, checked the directional light in the dash and THAT was working, too, so gave up for the night (it was after 10pm and my head was splitting from being under there).

Probably find out in the morning that the damn starter doesn't work (again).

I love home-made cars........ {8>(

Remember what I said Sunday, Gordon. Keep telling yourself that this is what keeps you young. I don't believe it either, but maybe it'll help. ;-)

Also Gordon--a good lesson in preserverance--something I could use a dose of sometimes. No wonder it's called "the madness'--right?

I am being diligent in documenting everything about my car --I thought it was maybe for the next owner but your lesson shows it also is for the person who did the work in the first place!

Got my "speedie" tag yesterday. Quickly put it on and wish that all projects went together so easily!---Jack

I know how you feel looking up at a rats nest. I've always thought about redoing it nice and neat like Cory's but everything works perfectly and if it ain't broke, I ain't fixing it. Besides I'd probably foul it up worse if I messed with it.

~WB

My original speedster was delivered with air cnditioning, a premium sound system, a high end alarm system and Pertronics ignition. As such the basic wire harness was heavily massaged. Later, I removed everything except the Pertronics. What a rat's nest, but everything worked as intended, so hesitant to touch anything. A few years later it finally got the best of me, and in less than 2 hours I carefully traced and removed all unused wires. WOW, enough spare wire to last forever. And more to the point, my custom drawn PowerPoint electric diagrams exactly reflect MY car. At my age, it's reassuring to know that all those changes are accurately recorded, not for the next buyer - but for me!

Yeah, when I was in the middle of rummaging through it I thought it might be nice to do a Power Point wiring diagram - for me!

Mine started out as a salvaged 1969 VW sedan harness, and then I added a whole bunch to it, as I used a 1992 Stirling fuse/relay box as the hub (found it in a Junk Yard and couldn't resist). That box has six BIG fusible links for the main inputs, six relays for different functions (Ignition, Alt ign., horn, headlights, driving/fog lights, etc) and 14 tab fuses. THAT pretty much required almost a total re-think of using the VW harness, so I opened the harness up, added a bunch of wires all over the place and then re-enclosed it in shrink tube. Came out nice, but now I have a number of un-used wires in there (just in case I might want them in the future, but I've never used them).

I found the fuse layout that I used in one of my build notebooks, along with the use of (and wiring diagrams for) the six relays in the Stirling box, but I also have a couple of relays in the rear, one for the ignition and another for the starter, and a BIG, 8 gauge power feed to back there which goes through one of those fusible links in the Stirling box. This all sounds exotic (especially for a primitive Speedster's wiring) but it's more like a late-model American car electrical system, with at least as many safeguards in it.

As I was probing around and finding what went where, I kept wondering why I didn't document it better. I kept finding things and saying to myself; "Shoot, Look at that! So THAT'S how that works!!"

{8>)

What I liked about PowerPoint is that you could show not only the electric schmatic, but you could make it semi-scale, and show where parts actually are located relative to a firewall or front panel. Knowing how many different wire penetrations are on what panel, and what wires are bundled to pass through each opening, is very helpful.

Have a clear memory of spending an hour trying to locate my neighbors turn signal flasher in a Dodge Dart(?) so we could replace it. We could not find that rotten little bugger anywhere, and it didn't click cause it wasn't working!