Clutch issue?

the shifter plate has nothing to do with the clutch adjustment.if the clutch isant right & you grind the gears you will feal it in the shifter as it's the shifter trying to put it in gear but the disc is still spining due to the maladjusted clutch. dont you just love living on the other side ot the world.

Mark is right. Can you easily get the shifter in all the gears with the engine off? If so it is a clutch issue.

Expectations are very high for one's dream car & these are one off customs with growing pains.  The reward for sticking with it is an awesome car that is the envy of many.  Few own these cars for a reason.  You either have the madness or you don't.

All these items should have been taken care of before shipment and delivery, I mean you did pay for that and ask for some "sorting" miles. I understand your expectations completely. Not typical Vintage from what I have seen on here.

Doesnt matter if car is runnimg or not.  It is the same

 

Ron, your car did not come directly from IM as a brand new car, as in the case of this car.

 

If he can't get the gears to work, and if the brakes are not working, then what does that say?

 

There is NO excuse whatsoever for a builder to ship a 'finished' car with issues such as this.  Either there is quality control, or someone should not be building cars.

Hey Danny; I just set it to 3 on the dial; it's one of those round chrome EMPI numbers (that probably explains it). My Dell 40's as well as those on a friend's car work perfectly fine with just the stock fuel pump; no pressure regulator whatsoever.

the car needs a good going over the entire thing, hand built rides dont always get all the attn they should have, lots of things get forgoton or missed alltogeather.I know it's no exscuse or help, but itis what it is and when it gets all straightened ou it should be fine for a long time, just make sure the shop you take it to realy knows thier **** and can go over it from 1 end to the other including aliginement front&rear,make sure the motor& trans is in tight, all fuel hoses tight,beam tight, stearing parts tight. the only thing left loose should be the nut behind the wheel with a smile.( I personaly do not trust any body to do any thing, thus the reason I do it all .)

You are a funny man, Marty.

"...hand built rides dont always get all the attn they should have, lots of things get forgoton or missed alltogeather."

 

That may be, if you buy a newly built one from a private individual, but to buy one from a well known company, and for it to be delivered with faults, is inexcusable.

 

 

I agree...and yes, I am very upset over these issues.  On the bright side, It is under warranty and hoping that once those kinks get worked out I will have many years to enjoy the car.  Right now, just tlooks pretty in my garage...  VS told me very quickly to take it to a shop and send the bill.  Does it make it right?  No, I have to spend my personal time away from work, gas, etc to do this...BUT - it is being fixed and not at my expense...

As well, I am the first one to not sugar coat anything and speak up.  I usually fly right off the handle and because of this my nickname is sleeves because I wear everything on my sleeves.  I am upset, it will get fixed and yes, I would buy from VS again and again.  Next time when building new...I will know what to do...I will fly out there and test drive it - put 50 plus miles on it, bring it back with a notepad full of items and say fix it before you ship it...

I am surprised the car came with these issues; to me it's pretty basic that the car drive and stop well. Especially after the care and supervision you've put into it. Following your build you had those concerns; I remember your asking for forum members living close to VS to do you the favor of visiting and checking out the car for you before shipping. Also recall you asking Kirk to put a few miles on it to sort out any issues; I'm surprised that in 12 miles they couldn't sort out the shifting and brake issue. Luckily it's not the end of the world because these cars are easy to fix and sort out. You'll be good. Meanwhile; why don't you post photos of the finished car; I'm pretty sure we'll all be delighted.

Jim I. (musbjim) did go check her out and sent me a ton of pics!!!  Jim is a great dude and really appreciate him going over there...but obviously he was not driving the car or building it...just shooting some pics for me.  There is now way for anyone to tell mechanically what was going on except the builder.  It will all be good though...I am taking it in soon to get adjustements, etc...

 

Todd, bummer about the mechanical gremlins you're dealing with (especially being 3,000 miles from the manufacturer). Frustrating for sure, but at the very least getting the bugs worked out with Kirk!

 

On the up-side, once you pick up that bad-boy and cruising home with the top-down while passing motorists and pedestrians giving you the thumbs-up, it will be the second best feeling you've ever experienced (or maybe 3rd best thing)!

 

Here's wishing you many miles of top-down cruising, clear skies and inviting roadways! Peace-Out, my Brutha! 

If you're having trouble getting it into 3rd and 4th with the engine off, it is most likely the shifter adjustment. This is a 15 minute job for somebody who knows what they're doing.

Can I get another Amen!  Thanks Jim!

Thats what I figured.  I am waiting for a couple nice days to take itto a shop.  Its about a half hour drive and mot taking it out in the rain and if I get stuck at least it will be sunny!  I am hoping to take it somewhere on Monday or Tuesday...

You might give it a try yourself.  It's only two allen-head bolts.  I installed my CSP myself this past fall and I'm no mechanic. First, put it in neutral.  Second lift out the shifter and try to reinstall where the shifter wants to sit in neutral and tighten back down.  You can also take a look at page 5 of this pdf for adjustment instructions.  http://www.csp-shop.de/technik/pdf/deeng/21561.pdf   3rd and 4th issues indicates a move to the left.  However, finding neutral is easier.  I've been told that if carpet is in the way, it is impossible to adjust correctly.

thanks Tom.  I did give it a shot but to no success.  Carpet is only in the way on the plate the bolts everything down.  the stop plate is free and clear of carpet but the plate that you would see that the spring sits it, etc actually is sitting on carpet.  Do you think that is an issue or is it just if the stop plate is sitting on carpet?

I don't know. Someone with more knowledge will probably chime in. My gut feel is that carpet is bad for everything.  I found this video on youtube for you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bqdBGVWUy0

Cool video; noticed it's for a right hand drive car. Note the location of the reverse button.

 So if everyone can take 3 minutes, go lift the vinyl cover surrounding you stick in the car and tell me is your base plate sitting on metal or sitting on carpet...NOT THE STOP PLATE but just the base plate...

 

Thanks

Yes it can be a problem. If that top plate (shifter pivot) can't clamp down solidly on the stop plate because the carpet is in the way, the stop plate is free to move underneath and mess up the shifter alignment. And if the pivot plate can't sit square to the tunnel because carpet is in the way it can further affect alignment.

 

The better carpet kits for vw just have a vinyl-trimmed round hole for the center of the base to come through. But they hide the bolts under the carpet. I think my old carpet had the carpet vinyl trimmed in the diamond shape of the base, so the entire base and bolts showed but it still sat directly against the stop plate with no carpet in between.

Todd:

 

It is normal for the base of the shift lever to be sitting on the metal of the tunnel.  

 

The tunnel is formed with a flat spot to accept the shift lever base.  VW Beetles had a rubber mat with a hole cut in it to accept the shift base.  Later VW Beetles had varying degrees of carpeting, all with a hole cut out to accept the shifter base.  

 

It should NOT be sitting on carpet for a whole host of reasons, the biggest being that the carpet lifts the shift lever ball (at the bottom) out of the shift rod cup causing weird shifting and premature wear of the shift rod cup, not to mention that you'll never keep the shift lever in adjustment with carpet under the base.

 

You can carefully cut the carpeting with a pair of decent scissors (but NOT your wife's good sewing scissors - ask me how I know......) or a pair of sharp sheet metal shears.

 

Some Speedster carpet sets I've seen have sewn-on binding around the shift lever base, so be careful when you get the lever out - it may just need to have the hole/binding moved and adjusted to let the lever base fit through. 

Todd, not sure if this will help but here is a pic of what mine looks like.

That looks like metal on carpet?  No??

Gordon is one of a handful of people on this site that REALLY knows what he is talking about.

Yes. That's what it looks like.

 

If that's what it is, it's wrong. Gordon is right. If you have any doubt about what's under the plate, you can loosen he two mounting bolts and look underneath in about 3 minutes. You can't screw it up any more than it already is-- it doesn't shift now.

Oh I had mine off and it was for sure metal on carpet just looks like anout 2 mm all around...the ends might be sitting in 1/2 inch of carpet

1/2" is excessive; maybe that's the cause of the problem.

Here's what it should look like.  The carpet does not go under the shifter base.

 

Im gonna do some cutting of the carpet tomorrow and see if it helps!  Thanks everyone

This is not a VS issue, per se......it is a Volkswagen issue (well, it is a VS issue in this case, as they installed the shifter wrong).  The Volkswagen designers never designed the shifter with carpet in mind.  All VW had on the floors and tunnel area was a thin rubber mat for years and years, only going to carpet in the late 60's and THEN they always had a professional hole in the carpet to accept the shifter housing.  In fact, for several years the US dealers installed the carpet because all bugs coming from the factory only had the rubber mat (the dealer just laid the carpet on top of the rubber mat).  As an aside, NO speedsters delivered anywhere ever had carpeting - they were all delivered with a rubber mat on the tunnel and floor.....that's it.

... bringing up a complete (thread drift) aside.

 

By far, the coolest, and most functional interior I've ever seen in a replica is Rick Davis' IM roadster. If I'm not mistaken, he had the entire interior sprayed with truck-bed liner, then had Henry's upholstery guy do a set of rubber anti-fatigue mats, cut and bound like the carpets. They are thick, sound absorbent, weather proof, removable, and about as "business" looking as you could imagine.

 

It makes my German square-weave look as irrational as it is. Someday I'll do the same thing with my interior. It's just way-too-cool.

Frankly, I'd like to switch to the rubber mat sometimes. I don't think anybody makes a rubber mat kit for a VS but I imagine one could buy period correct material, cut a template and make them. Edges might be an issue getting right though, as well as losing some sound deadening effect the carpeting provides.

What Gordon said.

Todd, some time ago there was a post on a carpet edge binding product that was adhesive (not sewn) and reported to be easily applied and looked good. Something like that would nicely finish off the cut carpet surrounding your shifter plate.

 

I didn't make notes at the time, but maybe someone has a better memory than mine and can provide that information.

I seem to recall a posting for "InstaBind".....

 

Try here: https://www.bondproducts.com/instabind/

How could VS not know you don't install the shifter base on top of the carpet? They've built how many of these cars?