Chris’ Beck Speedster Build

beautiful build,,great mechanicals...Ull be a happy man

@Three Pedals (Chris)

THAT.....   Is a lovely color and your other color choices should make this a stunning car.  Pat has built you a great engine that you'll love there in Charleston.

It's also great that you've met a Charleston "old timer", "Mr. Radio Voice" Himself, @Lane Anderson.  

Enjoy the anticipation of the final assembly - This is going to be a lot of fun for all of us.

https://www.emorymotorsports.c...uamarine-blue-coupe/

This is a nice interior combo.

Hey @Three Pedals (Chris), I just looked at your engine pictures again and think that you should consider either getting some rain hats for the carbs or doing the turbo-look thing @DannyP did.  The design of the engine lid can funnel rainwater into the carbs, as a number of us found out at Carlisle in 2008.  There's a recent thread (Scared Shytless, or something like that) that discusses this very subject.  If Carey provides them he could even paint them to match the car.

A lot of great choices there.

@550 Phil posted:

https://www.emorymotorsports.c...uamarine-blue-coupe/

This is a nice interior combo.

That's dead sexy ....

Looking great, Chris!  I know we discussed this before, but for those of us with short attention spans, what brakes and wheels?  Anything 2 literish (or over) is great power and so much fun in these things!  It should have really decent bottom end/lower midrange, where you really spend probably 95% (or more) of your time driving.  Do you remember the cam and heads on the engine?  Did Pat say where it would redline at?

Great looking car, @Three Pedals (Chris). Looking forward to following the final assembly!

@ALB posted:

Looking great, Chris!  I know we discussed this before, but for those of us with short attention spans, what brakes and wheels?  Anything 2 literish (or over) is great power and so much fun in these things!  It should have really decent bottom end/lower midrange, where you really spend probably 95% (or more) of your time driving.  Do you remember the cam and heads on the engine?  Did Pat say where it would redline at?

@ALB it has four wheel disk brakes and wide 5 wheels on an IRS.  I did decide to go for the 5.5" aluminum wide 5 rims to save some un-sprung weight.  Vredestein tires.

As for the engine specs, this is what Pat wrote down on the invoice:

78mm VW journal crank, 5.400 chromoly Pro I beam connecting rods, lightweight flywheel, aluminum super case, full flowed, ported and polished heads with 40x35.5 valves, dual springs, chromoly retainers, reshaped 55cc chambers, black 36hp doghouse shroud, magnaspark ignition, black OEM valve covers, CSP breather, black AN fittings with black nylon AN hose.   

With those specs, it sounds like the heads might be Panchitos.  I did tell Pat I was not into screaming high redlines, more into mid-range usability and reliability.  I don't know the cam specs, he sent the engine just before he had to go into surgery, so he told me the dyno sheet and tune up spec sheet would be a bit delayed.  i will email him to see if it's ready yet.

I will likely need help from this group when it comes to my oil cooler and filter installation, Carey is sending me the cooler and brackets, I will install and plumb them.  I plan to use AN fittings and reinforced hoses.

Very nice !

Some more pictures from my visit to Special Editions.

Some 904 GTS pics

Spyder pictures, including a frame in the jig:

Some coupes:

Speedsters, including close up of the front A-arm suspension and the alloy wide five wheel.

Joel’s super coupe:

Update from Carey, latest pics after wet sanding and buffing.

Beautiful, Chris!!  I can't wait to help you put that one together.

Thanks, Lane.  Looking forward to it!

While waiting for the Speedster I decided to take care of some other things ahead of time.  The Rancho IRS gearbox was shipped without a throw out bearing and the heater boxes need the cable brackets.  Since it has been about 36 years since I ordered air cooled VW parts, I was worried about all this talk of poor quality parts.  Back in the eighties your choice was German, Mexican, or Brazilian.  Today it seems anything goes.  I ordered the throw out bearing and brackets from West Coast Metric.  Not cheap but hoping for good quality.

Here are pics of the transaxle before and after the throw out bearing installation:

Here are pics of the heater boxes before and after the cable bracket intstallation:

These were a bit tricky for me as memory was fuzzy.  You Tube to the rescue.

More to come as soon as the Speedster gets here!

@Three Pedals (Chris)

Very cool! Gathering quality products is QUITE the process. Thanks for the updates, Chris.

Just received some more pictures from Carey.  She is really coming together, looking forward to the car’s arrival!

Oooo yeah!  My hands are gettin' itchy to turn a wrench on that, Chris.

When you get it I suggest we have a telcon with Carey and ask him a few questions that might make the build easier.

@Three Pedals (Chris)

That Sachs TO bearing is really good.  Usually the German ones are stamped "Germany" and if not, they probably come from Sweden and are equally good.  Pop that puppy in and don't worry about it.  BTW:  Sachs clutches are really good, too, so don't worry about that one, either.

That's a beautiful Speedster.

Well done.

The car arrived in December.  Fantastic job by Carey and the team at Special Editions.

Some pictures after the arrival:

So far I have gotten the transaxle mounts assembled, throw out bearing installed, etc.

Taillights and rear grille installed, as well as the oil cooler.

Now working on the headlights.   Any suggestions on how this rubber seal attaches?

Loop the headlight seal between the mounting screw and let it hang, after you  tighten the headlight rim mounting screw just slip the rubber seal over the chrome ring and it will seat itself against the ring and fiberglass.

... so many parts.  And all new and shiny!!  Looks like you have made some excellent choices, and the satisfaction of putting this puzzle together ... cant be beat.

IIRC, as I heard once, original Beetle T/O bearings were not bearings at all but just a graphite disk.  Graphite is slippery, and I'm supposing cheap, so ...  The first beetles had to be cheap, as the people (volks) had to be able to buy them.

@Three Pedals (Chris),  Alan's advice is spot on, but if you want a demo I can show you on my car.  Super easy.

I'm looking forward to helping you get the drivetrain in.  Do you have a motorcycle jack?  We're going to need one.  If you don't have access to one I know where we can borrow one.

https://www.speedsterowners.co...5#704035977974384105

Hi Alan, thanks for this, I will try that!

Chris

Another question for all of you.  The engine I'm installing has heater boxes.  I need to figure out the plumbing from the front of the rocker behind the front kick panels up to the defroster.  My question is around heat registers, any suggestions on what to use for splitters and registers in the front kick panels?    Keep in mind I don't have high expectations when it comes to heat, I owned and fixed more than a few beetles, busses and type 3s long ago.  Just trying to get some basic functionality in place.

Heater boxes . . . Some here have plumbed them directly in to the rear jump seat space, so the much shorter run gives better, hotter air, but maybe presents a real problem if you want to have air directly at your feet and/or up through defroster vents.  My car has defroster vents, and the air runs in  tubes under both rocker panels, feeds standard looking Porsche floor vents, and the defroster vents too.   My approach is to insulate these tubes under the car with rigid Styrofoam, contoured over the pipes and then sprayed with undercoating. Fitting the Styrofoam is a bit of a pain, but it should help. The system at its finest is only an approximation to heat. l do rather little driving in cold weather.

With great assistance from Lane Anderson, the engine was installed this weekend.  Unfortunately the A1 Sidewinder muffler has an interference issue, so the headers and muffler were sent off to Carey at Beck to be cut and rewelded to fit correctly.

Lots of progress since my last post.  Engine is in.

Front fuel lines, filter and pump installed:

Modified Exhaust back from Carey at Special Editions.  Did a great job.

Making and installing oil cooler lines:

Headlamps and front horn grill installed.  Thanks @Alan Merklin for the tip for the headlamp seal installation.

My brother is flying in from California this coming Friday to see if we can get it started!

Three Pedals (Chris)Wow! Carey's got some pretty impressive builds on the go. Love your car! Keep the pictures coming.

Looking good, Chris!  I may need to swing by after C&C this weekend and take a look at it in the flesh.

Hi Lane, you are always welcome!

Love it. Excellent chassis/suspension and aircooled! I'm not even a Speedster guy and I LIKE it!

@DannyP, even though you are not a Speedster guy, it's nice you hang out with those of us who are.

I like coupes too.

@DannyP, I'm working on Chris to join us for this year's Tour de Smo'.  Sorry you won't be able to make it.

I've been coming on the even-numbered years, so...

Yeah, I know.  Still am sorry you and Michelle won't be there.

Trying to get the bumper trim on. Special editions says to remove the rubber center to remove the bolts and center and mark the holes. Any suggestions as to how to remove the rubber center?  It came out of the side molding fairly easily but the bumper molding is narrower and very tight.
Temp here is about 65F.  

Gently massage the rubber a few inches at a time with a heat gun on low.  A hair dryer on high might get it to move but it'll take a looong time.  Don't get too aggressive with the heat or the rubber will blister - you just want to warm it up about a foot at a time and then pull it straight away, rather than trying to slide it along the length of the aluminum piece.

Yeah, what he said.  If it was warmer I'd recommend just putting it out in the sun for a while, but not this weekend.

Gordon & Lane, thanks for the advice.  I managed to get the two rocker rub strips installed as well as the rear bumper trim. Not fun. Though I did have able help from my wife, Angela. She want to know when I will be “finished”…

Finished??? it will never be "finished"

Oh, I know…

Nice work, Chris!

Some pics from two weeks ago when my brother flew in from California to help me get it started.  He is the guy without the white hair…

Chris: Were you able to get the bumper aluminum deco ends to lay flat against the FG bumper?  In past builds, I've used a block of wood and a C' clamp to draw the aluminum down, occasionally a small gap would remain. My fix, a self-tap 5/15" hex head screws every 2" ( do a small pilot hole ) it draws down and the heads are hidden by the rubber deco strip. I used a cut off wheel to remove the screws extending through the back side of the bumper.

Excellent pics and what great help you have there.  Two peas in a pod, looks like.  You just could not bring yourself to drill into that great paint, eh??  Had to lay that off on the help.  Tell me about the CV half shafts.  Who mfr?

Saranac -- they make a very fine beer.

@El Frazoo, yes, my brother was a great help.  And yes, I did give him the task of drilling into beautiful paint on new fiberglass.  In my earlier life, I was a big air cooled guy, but he was much more serious.  He spent three and a half years in Zuffenhausen in the late eighties, early nineties as an apprentice at Porsche.  But he could only be here one weekend so now I’m drilling holes in my rocker panels and bumper.   The CV joints and axles are EMPI, came in the hardware kit from Carey at Special Editions.  And yes, Saranac is a great NY beer.  Unfortunately I cannot find it in SC.

@Alan_Merklin, the bumper aluminum strip had hard bends at the end which meant straightening it with some scrap 1x4s and channel lock pliers.  Then used some rubber strips and wood blocks to bend it to match the curve of the bumper.  I like your fix of the small screws every two inches.  I will try that on the front bumper.   Thank you for the advice!

I recently had "some issue" with my left-side drive line, documented in another thread.  Long sad story having to do with loose castle nut.  Anyway, "while I was at it" I decided the CV joints needed to be replaced. I was not sure that the ones there (EMPI) were OK or not, but upon removal, it seemed to me not everything was kosher.  I shopped around and found a pair (Chinese made, but AB-SO-LUTELY, gauran-fking-teed to be better than OEM, finest possible materials used, exceeding all specs, and etc. etc.)  And a very favorable price where some other suppliers cost more and were "out of stock". Upon receipt, I had to admit they looked pretty good and I can say they turned very smoothly by hand vs. the EMPIs I took off.  So that was a hard lesson learned: those damn castle nuts need to be tight as can be, plus another 25 ft-lbs -- 250 is not too much, they say.  And retourqued from time to time as a maintenance item.  Just so you know.

PS and BTW: your car is gorgeous.

Hey, wait a minute. Are you a NY transplant to SC? I see NY plate, and yes, Saranac is a good beer. But more importantly, the Adirondacks are a GREAT area. Where were you from? I'm in the Hudson Valley, somewhat near Newburgh and Middletown, just south of New Paltz.

Car is looking great!

@DannyP yes, we are transplants from NY to SC.  I grew up in Duchess county, we raised our kids in Orange County in Cornwall, NY.  We love the Adirondacks, spent many Summers camping up there. We still visit on a regular basis as one of our daughters lives outside Albany.

Down here we spend a lot of time on the “upstate” of SC, that is the Northwest corner of the state.  Great driving roads there and into Western NC.

Chris, PM me if you come up to Albany, I'm in Ulster County Wallkill, about 15 minutes off I-87. That is, unless you fly to Albany, then umm, that's a bit(90 minutes) further...

You are correct, western NC and northern SC are gorgeous! Ditto for north Georgia.

Another update.  Followed Alan’s advice and the front bumper trim went on much easier.

Installed a floor jack in the spare tie well with leather straps to hold the tool kit.  Also added bracket and belt for spare tire.

Major milestone today, it is now registered and on the road in SC!

I would like to thank everyone on this site who offered great advice and support, it is much appreciated.  Special thanks to Carey and the team at Special Edition for the great support.  And last but not least, thanks to @Lane Anderson with all of the assistance getting the engine installed.  

Gorgeous, Chris.  Sorry I missed you at Ale and Octane last weekend.

I plan to start on the updated Speedster owners' manual in the next week or so and will probably need to schedule some time with you for a photo shoot with your car, if that's ok.  I know @chines1 will be glad to see some progress there.

Lane, no problem, just let me know when you want to get together.

So, some observations after taking the car on a “confidence run” today.  I filled the tank, certainly tricky with the short filler neck `AWZtrying not to get any on the trunk carpet.  I think it was full but the fuel gauge only went between 1/2 and 3/4.  Probably cannot expect big accuracy when it is at the corner of the tank.  I put about 90 miles on it today, bringing the total to just over 100.  That’s more than some of the Speedsters sold on BAT…

Driving it at speed (two 30 minute legs of 65-80 mph) makes it clear that one is quite exposed to the elements.  It makes the Miata feel large and quiet.  

It is a blast to drive, very quick.  It has a great rush from 3,800 rpm to 5,000 when accelerating hard.  The webers sound very nice.  I was impressed with how much “push” I felt when hitting the gas while cruising at 75-80 mph.  80 mph is just over 3,600 rpm.  After arriving at work I got out to hear a dull roar, now I have confirmed that the oil cooler fan thermostat switch is functioning!  

Getting the mirror adjustment right is tricky, they are small mirrors and this car does not have any square edges for reference when backing up.  

Brakes are very good, not having power brakes brings back memories of my old beetles, though the four wheel disks on this car have much better bite.

When going over a bridge at speed in windy conditions, it did remind me a bit of sailing, the front feels light.  I have the tire pressures set at 28psi rear and 20 psi front.

Checking underneath, noticed some seepage from the valve covers onto the heater boxes.  The gaskets will get replaced in 200 miles when I do the 300 mile initial oil change and valve adjustment.

Lots of attention at the gas station and thumbs up from people in the street.  The car just makes people smile.  Looking forward to the madness!

So the typical 90 degree bent arm fuel float is notoriously inaccurate because of the way the tank is set in the frunk. As you discovered a full tank reads at a 1/2 tank and it won't move for a while then it takes off and seems to empty rather quickly. You can remove the sender/float assembly, bend the arm a little more and reinsert the float assembly so that it reads closer to full. Be careful though with the amount of fuel in the tank so it doesn't spill out if it's full. It might actually be easier to empty the tank and put in 2-3 gallons and get it to read empty. At least that way when you have 2-3 gallons left it will read empty but with a 2-3 gallon reserve and you'll want to go get fuel. You can do this with whatever amount of fuel makes you comfortable.

If it's the same gauge set as in my Coupe you should be able to set the upper and lower limits on the fuel gauge by buttons on the interface box (can't remember the name) between the sender and the gauge itself.  I'll see if I still have the file from Mike Fincher with instructions.  If not, we can get it from him.

@Three Pedals (Chris)

For mirrors I posted this sometime ago and have mine adjusted this way and it eliminates the blind spot. It does not do much for parking to see the car edge though.

Some have convex passenger side mirrors btw. Here is a link and there are others if you search

https://www.speedsterowners.co...c/mirror-adjustments

Looks like you have the Aero mirror like I had on my Speedster, but yours are door-mounted, which is much better for visibility.  You may want to consider replacing the passenger side one with a convex mirror.

After I changed my fender mounted passenger side mirror to convex I decided to do the same on the driver’s side.  I find them both fairly useful now.  

But I still have problems backing into a parking spot dead straight - especially when rolling into a cars and coffee.

I have convex on both sides too on my door-mounted mirrors.

@Jon T posted:

After I changed my fender mounted passenger side mirror to convex I decided to do the same on the driver’s side.  I find them both fairly useful now.  

But I still have problems backing into a parking spot dead straight - especially when rolling into a cars and coffee.

Is it the mirrors?   .  Just kidding

The reason I keep posting the how to eliminate the blind spot is that it is particularly handy with smaller mirrors like my VW GTI 2020 where they shrink them because you need to buy the BSM Blind spot monitor module.  but on my IM it works really well for me but then I have all my cars set up that way (helps to remember )  except the new Atlas 2023 where BSM blind spot works pretty well and seeing the side of the vehicle is imperative as VW has not yet figured out how to dip the mirror on the passenger side like my MDX Acura did in 2012.    BTW My 16 Honda Odyssey had side view mirror with a camera for lane changes.

Sometimes the Germans are asleep.

A guy could do worse for 6 bucks.

Thanks Stan. That’s the perfect solution for my Spyder. For some reason, my lexan screen sits lower than most and any mirror that is dash mounted underneath it is too low to see over the hump in the clamshell. I’ve been contemplating drilling a hole through it to mount one at the top.

Since they’re so cheap, I think I’ll get the rectangular one, too, and see which one I prefer.

@MusbJim. Has a clip on style one suction that goes up on the window.

@IaM-Ray Thanks for mention, Ray!

On my previous VS, I used this detachable  mirror to eliminate passenger-side blind spots when I had my surfboard in the car. Click on pics to enlarge.

On my currents VS, this is the detachable mirror I use when surfboard is in the car.

Both mirrors also helped eliminate passenger-side blind spots when the top is up (with or without side curtains).

Hope you find these visual references helpful.

The only other option is to install a 911 rear tail light pod but make it a camera of sorts and have a screen under the dash that flips up

@IaM-Ray posted:

The only other option is to install a 911 rear tail light pod but make it a camera of sorts and have a screen under the dash that flips up

I have a Rexing rearview mirror dashcam on my wife's SUV and putting the rear mount camera in the 911's tail light pod maybe an interesting way to get a full camera view in the Speedster.

This will eliminate any issues seeing what's behind, backing up, and it'll record any accidents both front and rear.  Interesting thought.

You could always have a cylinder that props it up and down or vice versa

Yeah, but… um…

never mind.

@dlearl476 posted:

Thanks Stan. That’s the perfect solution for my Spyder. For some reason, my lexan screen sits lower than most and any mirror that is dash mounted underneath it is too low to see over the hump in the clamshell. I’ve been contemplating drilling a hole through it to mount one at the top.

Since they’re so cheap, I think I’ll get the rectangular one, too, and see which one I prefer.

I got my mirrors today. The clip is kind of hard plastic so I’m going to put some of my vinyl protective tape over the edge of my windscreen, both to protect it and give it a softer surface to grip onto.

Also thinking the suction cup might work. It’s cheesy plastic, but it will work.  

The clip on was useless, even with some vinyl tape for extra grip. I’ll see how the suction cup works. If it doesn’t, I’ll cut the clip up and glue the socket to my windscreen.  

BTW, I spent some time at Chris' place last weekend taking pictures for the updated Beck manual.  It is really a beautiful car.