Dad's Speedster-Exhaust

There aren't pre-fab covers. Get you an old box and cut it in pieces so they fit those gaps. Take some time and do it neatly. screw it into the tin with some screws.

Then trace the cardboard bits on some sheet aluminum, cut the shapes out with tin snips, drill the holes for easy installation and disassembly. 

Best thing to do is make the whole kit a quarter-inch smaller than the outside gap in the fiberglass and fit it up with an H-profile insulation gasket such as those available for VW Bus owners.

Matt:  Glad to know your Dad's speedster will once again be back on the roads !

Ed, you're quite wrong. They are called heat riser block-offs.

https://www.google.com/search?...=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Matt, that's really cool. I really liked your Dad. Respect.

@DannyP , I think Ed was describing how to make new tins for the whole area marked in red here:

I think this is gonna be a two cereal box project.

$6 for block off plates - I'd even trust Empi (00-3447-0) for that.  Poke a wire in there and see if the carb preheat vent is even open (it may very well not been drilled thru).

Morning guys, Danny & Wolfgang hit the nail on the head for what I need. I will get a set ordered up. Thanks Ed on the input for closing off the entire area, I don't know that I will need to do that, at least not at this time.  

Oops, sorry Ed(thanks Mitch), didn't fully read what you wrote. Ed is indeed correct, and Matt, you should try to finish the tin. It's better for your motor.

Sounds like that will be another project to put on the list

Believe I have an extra "front" of engine "breastplate" (#30 on diagram) that I can send you. (I also have #11 and one not shown on other side - check to see if they are needed).  There probably is the carb filter heat stack hole (blue) that would require a can lid to block off.  The 2 big holes (red - ones at either end) are for air from the shroud. #58 and 44 are missing too but are not critical to cooling.

I talked you dad into buying a bag of stainless steel button head bolts for the engine tin - hopefully they are in his stash.  They work well for the engine tin.

I'm off on ocean cruise in a week but back by March 1 (if no Coronavirus!). So just let me know address and I'll get it to you (I'm NW FL).

Matt:  That #30 breastplate that Wolfgang offered is important for keeping the heat from the exhaust pipes from being sucked up into the cooling fan.  If you don't find one in the stash, his offer would be great and save a ton of time as it would bolt right on - you don't want to try duplicating it..... too many bends and angles.  

Those button-head screws are 6mm X 1.0 pitch and about 1/2" to 3/4" long.  I bought the Phillips-head version (easier to find).  If you don't find any in your stash they usually have them at ACE Hardware.  VW used them all over the tins on the engine to hold it all together.  Buy a box of 'em - They're handy.

ACE hardware = unnecessarily expensive

I prefer a local mom and pop fastener place. Not Fastenal either, they are expensive as well.

What I walked away with for ten bucks would have been $50 at Ace.

DannyP posted:

ACE hardware = unnecessarily expensive

I prefer a local mom and pop fastener place. Not Fastenal either, they are expensive as well.

What I walked away with for ten bucks would have been $50 at Ace.

ACE Hardware stores ARE locally owned and operated though; or at least a vast majority of their stores.  I go out of my way to use ACE over the likes of Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.

The ACE Hardware store near my house is a bit more than HD / Lowe's / big box store.  But they pay their employees better and their employees are helpful; unlike the others.

DannyP posted:

ACE hardware = unnecessarily expensive

I prefer a local mom and pop fastener place. Not Fastenal either, they are expensive as well.

What I walked away with for ten bucks would have been $50 at Ace.

I'm not trying to be a smart-alec, just to understand your world. What, exactly, is a "mom and pop fastener place"? Is that not a locally owned hardware store? 

They're priced a bit higher, but my local Ace has a better stock of weird hardware than any big-box, and often better than Fastenal (where I won't shop unless I absolutely have to). If Ace doesn't have it, I've gotta' order from McMaster/Carr (who has absolutely everything) up in Chicago. I will often throw a dollar on the counter at Ace, rather than pay $.34 (or whatever) for the weird screws I've got in my little bag. I'm just delighted they have them and that I can get them without paying $14 in shipping.

I'm this close to buying an enormous nut and bolt storehouse in both SAE and Metric, but I know it won't have half of what I need (M10x1.5 x 20mm flat-head socket drive bolts and whatnot), so that keeps me from it.

Hardware is a real problem. Having a real hardware store makes it worth whatever it costs to stay open.

I've used two ACE Home Centers over the years both the one in PA and the current one here in WV are always eager to help and I always get coupons and discount cards in the mail. ...However, I  buy SAE hardware by the pound from Tractor Supply and Metric in bulk off... "eBeg" My costly habit is not bothering to put left over hardware back into the right bin as it's easier to toss it into a plastic bucket.

Alan Merklin posted:

I've used two ACE Home Centers over the years both the one in PA and the current one here in WV are always eager to help and I always get coupons and discount cards in the mail. ...However, I  buy SAE hardware by the pound from Tractor Supply and Metric in bulk off... "eBeg" My costly habit is not bothering to put left over hardware back into the right bin as it's easier to toss it into a plastic bucket.

I used to work with a guy who threw all of his "extra" copper fittings in a 5 gal bucket. I asked him why he did that, since it was impossible to know what was in there when he needed something. He told me, "hope springs eternal. It's like an Easter Egg hunt every time I need something". I've got an employee who's truck looks like a bomb went off in the back. He's got all his tools and stock, but it takes him 15 freaking minutes to find anything back there. I suppose your plastic hardware bucket is something like that.

I can buy common and Grade 5 and 8 hardware by the pound at Farm and Fleet and construction screws and SAE stainless stuff from Menards-- but this kind of hardware is never the issue.

The issue is the stainless button-head cap-screw in fine-thread metric I really need to keep going on whatever I need to keep going on. Invariably, I want one to five of such whatnots-- not enough to order from anywhere. 

In those instances, Ace is the place. If I really, really need it and Ace doesn't have it, I order from McMaster and it's there in the morning UPS delivery... with $15 freight.

Stan Galat posted:

Alan Merklin posted:

I've used two ACE Home Centers over the years both the one in PA and the current one here in WV are always eager to help and I always get coupons and discount cards in the mail. ...However, I  buy SAE hardware by the pound from Tractor Supply and Metric in bulk off... "eBeg" My costly habit is not bothering to put left over hardware back into the right bin as it's easier to toss it into a plastic bucket.

I used to work with a guy who threw all of his "extra" copper fittings in a 5 gal bucket. I asked him why he did that, since it was impossible to know what was in there when he needed something. He told me, "hope springs eternal. It's like an Easter Egg hunt every time I need something". I've got an employee who's truck looks like a bomb went off in the back. He's got all his tools and stock, but it takes him 15 freaking minutes to find anything back there. I suppose your plastic hardware bucket is something like that.

I can buy common and Grade 5 and 8 hardware by the pound at Farm and Fleet and construction screws and SAE stainless stuff from Menards-- but this kind of hardware is never the issue.

The issue is the stainless button-head cap-screw in fine-thread metric I really need to keep going on whatever I need to keep going on. Invariably, I want one to five of such whatnots-- not enough to order from anywhere. 

In those instances, Ace is the place. If I really, really need it and Ace doesn't have it, I order from McMaster and it's there in the morning UPS delivery... with $15 freight.

When I moved from PA I had two 5 gallon buckets full and they barely would move with the help of a hand truck...sold them both at our moving garage sale for $100 someone got a hell of a deal.

Stan:

Remember my multiple year quest to find the right bolts to complete my attempt at a Frankenstein front brake conversion to wide 5?

Neither one of us ever found the right size bolt. Closest I got was the right size, wrong thread pattern from some place in Italy that wanted the equivalent of a house payment for each bolt. But of course they touted being a vendor for Ferrari so that explained that.

San Jose had lots of canneries, both fruit and vegetable, well into the 70's, when property became so valuable that the canneries closed down and moved to cheaper towns/states/countries.  The machinery for processing was all stainless steel: nuts, bolts, sprockets, gears, roller chain, etc.  

I had become friends with the two busiest demolition contractors in town.  I would buy them a case of beer of their choice, and they would give me free rein on weekends.  They would have already sold the big items off: motors, compressors, and such.  However, even that far back, it didn't pay for them to salvage all the small stuff I was looking for.

At the end of a day, I would have a pickup bed full of s.s. nuts, bolts, chain, and associated bits and pieces.  I had a commercial fishing boat at the time, and I knew the cost and value of what I was getting, practically for free.  I was a popular guy with fellow fishermen, but not with the local fishing gear stores.  

I spent, literally, most of an entire day a couple summers back just sorting everything found in my shop into parts bins and cupboards.

I can’ tell you how much time that has saved me, since.  

Now.......    If I could just remember where the hell the wrench is that I put down two minutes ago.....  

I think the shroud screws are 5mm.

Panhandle Bob posted:

Stan:

Remember my multiple year quest to find the right bolts to complete my attempt at a Frankenstein front brake conversion to wide 5?

Neither one of us ever found the right size bolt. Closest I got was the right size, wrong thread pattern from some place in Italy that wanted the equivalent of a house payment for each bolt. But of course they touted being a vendor for Ferrari so that explained that.

I still think about it, Bob.

I wanted to drill out the lug-holes, and re-tap them in a larger SAE size so I could get the hardware I wanted... but the process would probably have been just about as expensive as getting new brakes.

I still want to do this someday. EMPI 4-lug brakes are CRAZY cheap, and there's not a single thing wrong with a quality adapter for wide-5 wheel to 4 lug hubs.

@Matt Berry- If the heat risers aren't drilled through into the exhaust tube you don't need the block off plates. The rear piece that covers the exhaust, otoh, needs to be installed, as it prevents the engine from sucking in preheated air. It looks something like this, and is essential to keep the engine from overheating.

I installed a nut and bolt once. 

THAT is the thing Matt needs. I woke up last night at 2 am realizing I'd stepped in it on my first post, way above.

Matt, get you one of these things @ALB posted, and some H seals and you're good to go.

@Stan Galat our local hardware store used to be True Value, but they went to ACE. The prices went WAY up. I'd been going to that store for 50 years, started out with my Dad, holding onto his pinky.

I just went to Ace tonight, and bought 4-8 x 1.25 x 20mm buttonhead allen bolts in stainless. $3.69 each.

My local Mom and Pop is fasteners only, in Newburgh NY. The name is Hudson Fasteners. It is awesome, but I didn't have time to get there before they closed today.

I got mine off SAMBA years ago - here's stock look ones. 30 screw/30 washers for $15 + $3 SH.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/cl...etail.php?id=2145925

As with most of you, Fastenal is my last choice unless I'm looking for a box of 25 - 100 of something.  I still have about 40 metric cap bolts left over from a box of 50 when I worked on my brother's Scirocco!  I'm thinking of drilling holes in them to lighten them up a little....   

We're fortunate to have a couple of ACE stores nearby, along with Home Depot, Lowes and "Tri-State Fasteners" (a Dad and Son shop) that still sell ones and twos for a reasonable price.

Still, for most of us, our local sources seem to be shrinking every year and we'll soon have only on-line sources for stuff, and much of that comes from Asia.  Not necessarily a bad thing, just inconvenient if you're in the middle of something and don't want to wait two days for delivery.  

Instead, we're willing to drive all over the place, wasting an afternoon and end up spending 10X - 15X the part cost in gas and lost time.    

Gordon Nichols posted:

 

Still, for most of us, our local sources seem to be shrinking every year and we'll soon have only on-line sources for stuff, and much of that comes from Asia.  Not necessarily a bad thing...

It is a bad thing, Gordon, when money is taken out and not re-invested back into the local economy.