Finally cleared room in the garage for my project. The fun begins.
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We like to call them Palmetto Bugs in NWF. Somehow it just sounds nicer. Good luck with project!
Got a ? - I've been thinking of making my Speedster electric powered and moving to Panama City Margaritaville - could I park it in golf cart parking? Unfortunately build time for the Latitude's is near 4 years out.
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Woo Hoo! Let the fun begin. Looking forward to following your project progress. Best of luck with the 'Madness'.
Thx, I think I've gotten the body unbolted from the pan. Now I have to figure out a way to lift it. Tried to start the motor, getting 90lbs on 1 & 3 50lbs on 2 & 4. One cyl fired off like once then nothing. I will pull it apart after I get the body off. It has been sitting, at least 15 years. :-)
Good start, @Andy. Lots of different approaches to lifting the body. Here's what I did.
Mine has several tubes of silicon caulking sealing the frame to pan. Probably would take some C4 or a Sawzall to separate them.
I sandblasted an old Ford frame for a frame-off restoration a long time ago. While it did a great job, I don't think you ever really get all of the sand out of crevices and from the inside of "sealed" spaces, like the central tunnel and frame horns.
On my Speedster pans, I just used a wire brush in an angle grinder and had at it. It probably takes a bit longer than sandblasting but is far less messy. Once it's clean you'll know what needs patching. There are several places that sell sub-assemblies for the pan like a new front frame mount, the "Napolean Hat" gusset just ahead of the pedals, floor panels and rear frame horns for the transaxle mount. You may find it makes more sense to go with a new piece than patch what you have and that may save you a lot of time.
Once you get the pan "like new", choose between a spray-on truck bed liner or good old Rustoleum. There might be a slight noise-deadening advantage to the bed liner if it's put on thick. That stuff is expensive so look for it on Amazon but get a good brand.
Also, since you have the body off, you can seal the area behind the seats to prevent rain from getting into your floorboard, from the rear, at least. I never wanted to replace my pans, so I POR-15'd the pan and then gave it a good coat of truck bed liner.
Here's a thread on sealing:
You're a long way from this, but Alan Merklin came up with a brilliant cure to one of the overlooked leaks on most CMC Speedsters - Water intrusion under the bottom windshield seal.
Yes, there is a rubber seal at the bottom of the windshield. I'm talking about sealing between the body fiberglass and the bottom metal trim strip. Most people got the strip mounted after futzing with it and the windshield to get it "right", checked it off and moved on. Others went a little extra and ran a fat bead of silicone caulk along the bottom of the metal trim piece and then fastened it down.
Did Dr. Clock do that? Heck no! He used a length of VW Beetle Fender Welting like this:
https://www.jbugs.com/product/...QMx4cphoCxtAQAvD_BwE
They sell it in white, too!
Al assembled it under the trim strip so that the bead is front and between the trim and the body, finishing it off for a nice look. But did he stop there? NO! He continued that same length around the corner posts to seal (and look good) all the way along the trim and corners so it looks like factory installed. AND, it doesn't leak a drop.
I thought this was so cool I did it on my second build. It goes on really easy and looks great.
It is a Bulldog harley lift. I like it for VW, Porsche motor R&R because it has a high lift and low profile and very stable.
Well, dang, looks like I will not be using this motor, it is an H5 1500cc case. So I guess it is a good time to learn more about the subaru swap.
Andy
Are you having fun yet ? Down the road, the VW fender welting rubber is a simple install under the windshield frame ..it takes a bit of patience to install.
I wish you guys would start flying me in to help :~)
Subaru is a nice substitute. I bought a whole running 1995 Legacy Wagon with 84,000 miles to make sure I got all I needed, and sent the ECU and wiring harness out to be shortened by a pro who specializes in such. Stock ECU works very nice in an OBD II (pre 1998?) application. Obviously donors that old are getting a bit scarce.
The only custom nonsense I had to make was a 5-cog steel wheel (eg "Wheel of Death" to bolt to the half shaft) and a reluctor pickup to give the 5v square wave signal to tell the computer the car is in motion (i.e. VSS). Not everyone bothers.
Rad doesn't have to be very big but it does need to be up front. For coolant lines I used aluminized 1.5-inch exhaust pipe. Aluminum tubing is lighter.
@Andy- posted:Well, dang, looks like I will not be using this motor, it is an H5 1500cc case. So I guess it is a good time to learn more about the subaru swap.
Those 1500s are very good but I guess not dual relief cases, right? Would still be good for a stock to mild performance motor.