How do you make it rain in California?... buy a speedster.

TRP posted:

I was just thinking that when I came back here to see your reply. I'll need to look at the back of the old 1915 and see what the pressure plate looked like. I don't know if I have a photo of the new motor & it's pressure plate.  I bet that's it. 

Old pressure plate:

I bet the newer one looks like this:

No centering collar...

Silly Ted...

The 1600cc had the top pressure top. The old original looking one. The 1915cc has the bottom pressure plate.

I thought the T/O was based not the transmission you have and not the pressure plate??

Longfellow

I bet if you look closely at the 1915 pressure plate you will notice a metal collar around the center fingers on the pressure plate.

The transmission determines which throw out bearing you use. In turn, the throw out bearing determines which pressure plate you use. The later style throw out bearing does not use the center collar. You can't use the early style throw out bearing with the later style pressure plate (specifically ones without the centering collar).

With the early style throw out bearing the center collar ties the fingers together. Without the center collar the early throw out bearing skids along the open fingers and engages the pressure plate erratically.

Hope that makes sense. I rambled.

Grabbed a Guiness on Teby early did you?

This is most likely a good representation of the pressure plate on the 1915. Note the centering ring on the 'fingers' (springs).

I put another 6 miles on the car today. I pulled the motor and removed the clutch disk. 5 of the 6 springs on the clutch disk were broken. Some of the springs were broken in multiple places. 

I put the centering ring on the pressure plate. Installed a new clutch disc, throw out bearing, and clips. Car runs strong. The clutch chatter is gone. Glad to have it on the road again.

What would cause those springs to break like that?

I've never seen springs on the disc break, Ted...

TRP posted:

 

...What would cause those springs to break like that?...

Ted, a wise man once advised me not to put in a clutch disc with springs because it's very hard to find one anymore whose springs are not made in the People's Republic of Cheesy Car Parts.

Apparently, those springs are made from a very rare alloy that is 10 per cent high-carbon steel, 40 per cent sawdust, and 50 per cent lychee nuts.

The wise man said, "If thy clutch would chatter, avoid the valley of the springs and follow the Kush Lock path to eternal happiness."

And you know this wise man, Ted. He lives in Auburn, California.

A warped flywheel can cause driven clutch disc springs to fail.  It's always a good idea to surface the flywheel on a clutch job.  Long-term slippage can also heat the springs, making them brittle and easier to break.  If your flywheel is bad, you'll know before long, launching or not (just kidding about the launch).  In my case, cockpit problems were the culprit, but I was a mere callow youth at the time.   

aircooled posted:

AL....Yeah.......I'd like to get a Five Speed. After following all the dialog  on here I can see how close you can get to all of our "G-Spots"!!  Maybe later when I change "preferences" on what gets me excited while out cruising, I'll move "up a notch"

Winternationals are still fun. I was just looking at a photo of the Trophy Queen of the "66" Event. She was all really cute and all that but what caught my eye in this photo was how LARGE the TV camera was that was recording for the local news stations. In this case it was ABC or CBS. Now it's not a 1/4 mile race. Not 1320 feet but 1000 feet for safety reasons. Still spectacular watch though.

Cheers to you and all...............Bruce

You never posted the pic of the trophy queen...

ALB posted:

aircooled posted:

AL....Yeah.......I'd like to get a Five Speed. After following all the dialog  on here I can see how close you can get to all of our "G-Spots"!!  Maybe later when I change "preferences" on what gets me excited while out cruising, I'll move "up a notch"

Winternationals are still fun. I was just looking at a photo of the Trophy Queen of the "66" Event. She was all really cute and all that but what caught my eye in this photo was how LARGE the TV camera was that was recording for the local news stations. In this case it was ABC or CBS. Now it's not a 1/4 mile race. Not 1320 feet but 1000 feet for safety reasons. Still spectacular watch though.

Cheers to you and all...............Bruce

You never posted the pic of the trophy queen...

That would have most likely been Miss Linda Vaughn, the undisputed queen of the hot rodding world:

Ahh... Miss Hurst Shifter.

Some claimed that her displacement increased over time, but some technological progress is to be expected in all aspects of motor sport.

Sacto Mitch posted:

 

Ahh... Miss Hurst Shifter.

Some claimed that her displacement increased over time, but some technological progress is to be expected in all aspects of motor sport.

 

I did not post any recent photos of her because time was not her friend.

Still waiting on Berg and the 5 speed parts. Going on 5 or 6 months now. Completely lame that they are taking so long.  I should have picked one up from Rancho!

ted:

That's is unbelievable.  Based upon this, I'll not ever do business with Berg.  6 months. I could have built it myself. What have you, if not your reputation!

You are known as a straight shooter no BS! 

Art

FYI.   No matter who you order it from, they still have to get it from berg.

no body stocks the kits. I am still waiting on one for a customer......

Anthony posted:

FYI.   No matter who you order it from, they still have to get it from berg.

no body stocks the kits. I am still waiting on one for a customer......

Rancho has one in stock right now. If I cut my losses at this point, I'd be out the cost of the main shaft, the R&P, the spider gears and end gears I ordered from Anthony.  I have a handful of other parts I picked up (donor trans, rhino case, two heavy duty side plates, shift fork, etc.)  but at this point I'm furious that they have strung me along this long. 

Every 30 days since I sent them my parts I've called Tim. Each month he's told me something else was holding up the process. First it was the CNC of the nose cones. Everything else was on track. Then it's something else. Then it's the hardened shift selector rods.

There are at least 8 others in this same boat. I'm going to post on The Samba and see who else is tired of being strung along.

Since Dee (Gene's widow) has taken over the reigns after Gene died, the business model GBE subscribes to has been pretty hard to understand. They're out of stock for months, even years at a time of some of their biggest sellers (one eg.- deep sumps), when they do make a manufacturing run they sell out pretty quickly, and then they're out of stock for eons again. I (and a host of others out here in VW land) don't get it.

The 5 speeds are a rather unique situation because as well as their initial investment for having the end cones and intermediate (gear) sections cast and then machined, there's mods to the customers' parts as well, and to be economical they do them in batches (of 10 I believe). I know it's a pain in the @ss, Ted, but hang in there. You have to remember that they're doing something no one else does. It's worth it in the end. Al

ps- Did you start with a donor trans or use parts from the trans in the car? Can you and Anthony cobble something together so you can drive the car while you're waiting? I do understand the frustration, especially if the car is down.

I picked up a 3.88 R&P and main shaft from the Samba. I then picked up a donor trans off of Craigslist for 100.00. I still have a trans in my car. It's one that Ken Porter built for me a little over a year and a half ago.  Rancho has a complete 5 speed trans right now.  

I just hate to be led on. Nothing is worse to me than when someone can't be honest about a delivery date. 

Do any of you know anything about the subarugears conversion?

I hear you, Ted. 

I just spoke with Tim. He said the shafts are at the guy who's doing the 'hard chrome' work (?)  He said it should be 'about a week'. Let's say I get the parts by the end of July. Ken Porter is usually backed up 8 to 12 weeks. That puts us out to... November.  If I get the spider and end gears from Anthony I can take it to Teby's guy - might get it done in this calendar year.  

Unless I buy one outright - I don't see this thing being built and installed in this driving season. At this rate it will be a year before I get it built and installed.  

Let this be a lesson to anyone who's considering buying vs building.

I can still cut my losses and get one from Wright: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/cla...etail.php?id=1588600 

If you can afford it, I would buy the one from Rancho and install it and continue to needle Berg until that one is done and delivered, then sell it and recoup your money.

Wow! I assume the Berg is partially or totally paid for and you can't  cancel the order without some pain. Sorry you are being treated like this. Did they commit to a delivery date on the front end of this deal?

I have noticed that they seem to be out of stock on all kinds of stuff, constantly. 

Ted,  if you want to see getting it built sooner, contact Gary berg. He advertises on the samba. He may have a quicker build time..

Anthony - will do.  I'll still need those end gears and the spider gears you ordered for me. PM me and we'll arrange shipment/payment.

Thanks!
Ted

Ohhh... the funny man in the brown truck stopped by today. 

He lost one of the two boxes he was supposed to deliver. He'll be back tomorrow.  But he left me with these:

I'm going to have to unpack and see how they look.  I'll apologize right now to Teby and Longfella. You're going to want a set of these.

Ted

Okay! So let's see what we're working with here:

Packed very well. Good looking quality. No blemishes to speak of. Impressed. 

What are they replacing?

Pretty good set of CB Aluminum/KN air cleaners which came with the cross bar linkage.  I removed all that when I installed the sync link.  The plan is to pull those air cleaners and sell the entire hex bar / air cleaner set up.

How hard can it be to install these things?

Step 1) Remove the thumb screws and pull off the rubber backed washers and the air cleaner tops and filters.

Step 2) Locate and remove the 4 nuts / washers that hold on the velocity stacks.  Stuff some paper towels down the throats to keep the gunks and fiddly bits out.

Step 3) Remove the velocity stacks and set them aside. 

Step 4) Remove the lower air cleaner base plate.  Might need to give it a little jiggly tug. Try not to damage the gasket beneath the base. Be careful of the jets and jet doctors. Don't drop any fiddly bits down the carbs.

Step 5) So far so good! No tears. Oh, man... now would be a good time to check your fuel lines. Take a few minutes to check the fuel line connections.

Step 6) Line up your base plates (new and old) and transfer the holes for your jet doctors. You do have them already installed don't you? If you have your old template, that'd be a better option here. Once you've transferred the locations, drill 'em out! Clean the base plates off of all metal shavings and debris before going anywhere near the carbs. Don't skip this step.

Step 7) Reinstall the new parts in the opposite order of what you took off. You may have to notch the velocity stacks to allow room for the funky standoff bits.  I will post pictures of that modification later.

Step 8) Step back and enjoy the view.

Now I need to buy my old 356 oil filter housing back from Longfella so I can further dress up my motor! These new air filter housings really look legit!  The metal mesh is backed with some basic 'off road' foam. I also have a new set of K/N filters to put in the air cleaner bodies. 

For those who are wondering about the size. They are the exact same size air cleaner as the aluminum ones which were on there before. The K&N filter cartage is literally the same unit.  These new ones look smaller because the aluminum base and top are notably thicker than the new ones. (cast vs stamped). 

Thanks for letting me share,
Ted

Those are good-lookin', Ted! How much?

How do you like the SyncLink?

Those look great , almost makes me miss my old engine...

Joe Fortino posted:

Those look great , almost makes me miss my old engine...

Yeah, almost.  

Great job Ted. That's looks real nice. 

Gorgeous! 

TRP posted:

Now I need to buy my old 356 oil filter housing back from Longfella so I can further dress up my motor!

I owe you considering how seamless it was to get the two engines several months ago. As of now, the 356 oil filter housing is nicely wrapped and stowed away. I thought I had an idea of what I "would like" for an engine, but it keeps changing and I would rather NOT let parts sit around if someone can use them. I'll be out of town for a couple of weeks, but I'll pack it up and ship it your way when I get back

You do have a nice little empty spot to attach it to your fan shroud

Marty Grzynkowicz posted:

Joe Fortino posted:

Those look great , almost makes me miss my old engine...

Yeah, almost.  

Weenies. 

They look great, Ted. I noticed you didn't answer Terry's first question....

Plug the part number on his shipping box into Google and you'll see..........but remember you can't put a value on such beauty.

Frank C. posted:

Plug the part number on his shipping box into Google and you'll see..........but remember you can't put a value on such beauty.

Wow! At first I thought is was reasonable - $127.00. Then I realized that's for one! I guess if you're going for the original look it's the price you pay for playing. They are nice looking.

Dahling, when you look mahvelous, you feel mahvelous.

ALB posted:

They look great, Ted. I noticed you didn't answer Terry's first question....

Yeah... I was trying to find a way to reply without sounding crazy.  

*LongFella posted:

TRP posted:

Now I need to buy my old 356 oil filter housing back from Longfella so I can further dress up my motor!

I owe you considering how seamless it was to get the two engines several months ago. As of now, the 356 oil filter housing is nicely wrapped and stowed away. I thought I had an idea of what I "would like" for an engine, but it keeps changing and I would rather NOT let parts sit around if someone can use them. I'll be out of town for a couple of weeks, but I'll pack it up and ship it your way when I get back

You do have a nice little empty spot to attach it to your fan shroud

:thumbs-up: Please let me know what I owe you for the oil filter and bracket.

TRP posted:

ALB posted:

They look great, Ted. I noticed you didn't answer Terry's first question....

Yeah... I was trying to find a way to reply without sounding crazy.  

That is why it's called the madness, none of this makes any sense. If it puts a smile on your face that's all that matters.