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

Ted, I thought your speedster was a CMC? Has your rear decklid been modified to accept the grill? Every CMC I've encountered has the one-piece hibachi grill.

 

       
       


Yup, my car is a CMC. The deck lid has not been enlarged yet. But that's the plan. The hibachi just looks klunky to me.

I've been out of town on business so I haven't had much time to spend with the speedster lately.

 

I did manage to pull the motor last Friday, clean up the engine compartment a bit, paint the tin and start the reassembly.  Photos below.

 

 

Saturday Morning:

There was a good puddle of goo (oil? Trans oil?) in the bell housing there. I'm slightly alarmed as I don't know why it would have been there.

 

 

Sunday morning:

Engine tin's painted and the carbs starting to be mocked up for final assembly. The oil filler housing was always chrome (I'm not a fan) - I just found out it was chrome after starting to clean up the motor a bit.

 

 

 

The trans issue has me a bit bugged, but there was no sighs of dripping or oozing anyplace. The clutch looked good.  I will address it when I replace the trans with something more geared for highway speeds.

That's how she sits for now. I return home on tomorrow. I'm hoping to button it up a bit more before I fly out again on Sunday.

 

Slowly but surely,
Ted

Make sure you get the full set of tins in there.  You should not be able to see the ground from the engine compartment.  Just like the package for a McDLT, the tins keep the hot side hot and the cold side cold.

Hey Lane,
Yup yup. I have all the correct tins. I was simply letting them dry. When it's back on the road, it will be all sealed up proper like.

Thanks for lookin out,
Ted

DANG, Ted! You certainly aren't f'ing around getting that ride in order! Great progress, my brutha! 

 

Brother Jim!

 

Yeah, I'm not one to piss about. I'll jump in with both feet.

 

I decided I don't like the argent silver engine tin. I'm going to redo it with more of a platinum or graphite. I've never had a lot of luck with straight silver paint. Hard to get it to lay down right.

 

I think the graphite will provide enough contrast with the natural aluminum parts.

 

Ted

I agree about the silver color.  Graphite or black would be my color choices.

"Saturday Morning:

There was a good puddle of goo (oil? Trans oil?) in the bell housing there. I'm slightly alarmed as I don't know why it would have been there."

 

Ted- If you don't have it all back together yet, stick your finger in the puddle. Trans oil smells different than engine oil. Replacing the mainshaft seal (it's behind the throw-out bearing) isn't really hard; you can pull it out with a flat-blade screwdriver if you're careful. You want to slide it in along the shaft and pry it out, but not so far as to score the seal's mounting surface. Replacing the flywheel seal is a little more involved, as you need a flywheel lock and 36mm nut and breaker bar to remove the gland nut, but that can be done at home. A flywheel installer (or correctly sized socket or pipe) is a big help as well. Guys do install it with a hammer, but it's really easy to f##k it up this way. Yoda out.

A cheap flywheel seal installation tool is a PVC pipe coupling~

A man after my own heart Doc.....

I would also look at the drivers side axle shaft boot, it looks like there is oil on it, maybe it is split. Easy fix with the engine out to replace the boot, I would do both sides and be done for the long haul.

Gwan - will do.

I just wanted to report back that it's alive... ALIVE!..I just wrapped up cleaning up the tins, installing the dual carbs, linkage , etc.

I eyeballed the linkage best I could to get it to idle. I squirted some fuel in the carbs and turned er over. Once the bowls were filled up she coughed to life. A tiny bit more noodling and she now idles enouge for me to start the car, exit the vehicle and get around back to fiddle with the throttle by hand. It's idling on its own now, a little higher than I'd like, but it's alive!!!

This weekend I will get the carbs and linkageball dialed in. Then it's on to the new distributor and electron ignition. One that's wrapped up I'll turn my attention to the front suspension and install the rotor skinns and new front disk brakes.

Slowly but surely, she's getting there.

Ted

^ Woo Hoo! Great progress, Ted! When you're done it will be a totally different car in both performance & ride! 

Excellent! Great to hear it Ted. As Jim said, once it's all dialed in it will feel like a different car.

Here is the motor back in. I changed the color of the tins from the argent silver to a graphite color. Now that it's back in, I wish I had a bit more contrast. The silver had too much contrast. This, not enough. Oh well.

 

Making a trip to the parts store today to pick up the front engine compartment seal, a set of boots for the swing and some grommets for the fire wall:

 

 

 

I still need to tidy up some wires there on the left & replace the rusted bolts on the engine decklid hinges & maybe paint that rusty chain. 

Still also need to put the final adjustments on the linkage and carbs. 

 

I'm pretty impressed with how strong it sounds already!

Ted

I know it serves a purpose, but I don't like the spiral alternator wire.  Otherwise, the engine compartment looks great.

looks awsome ted but i second ron on the altenator wire.

 

Yeah, I agree. It was 'there' when I bought the car. I'm not a huge fan myself.  Ideally I'd replace it when I 'tidy up the wires'. I will most likely go with something simple... like a high quality straight wire that runs up from the bottom/side. No sense it hanging it over the top of the motor. I will also run some sort of 'cover' over it so that it's not exposed.

 

I have NO IDEA what that wire 'hook' is for. It was there when I bought the car. I was going to remove it but didn't want to remove it if it served a purpose.

T

Took the ole girl out for a spin. WOW, she runs like a new car. So awesome. Sounds amazing tons of power. I'm in love. I can't wait to put the new distributor on now.  The car was back firing a tiny bit here and there. I also need to adjust the idle a bit. All in all I need to tweak the carburetors adjustments tiny bit more. It's my first time noodling with duals, so it's an earn as you learn kind of thing.

 

I doubt I'll notice the difference with the new distributor, but it'd be sure cool if I did.

 

Oh,  yeah... so... I took it out for a drive and got carried away. I loaded it up around a corner and it started to sputter and cough.... then it died.   Wouldn't start. I had a neighbor tow me home. I fiddled with the linkage. Tried to figure out the carb adjustments. etc. Pulled the air cleaners off, and flipped the throttle a bit. No fuel out of the nozzle on the left carb. Same... on the... right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turns out I ran it out of gas!...

 

 

BWAHHAHAHAHAHAH!

 

(come on, that's funny stuff right there!)

 

 

That's a good one, Ted!

The mechanical advance is probably very similar to what's in the car now, so you probably won't see any more power with the svda (and it's mechanical advance only at full throttle). You will notice better mileage when cruising on the highway, though. The vacuum (and more advance) at part throttle will allow you to lean out the idle circuits in the carbs a step or 2 more than with with a mechanical advance distributor.

 

I never mentioned this before, but I just wanted to thank Ted publicly for the reimbursement for running across the border to look at the Speedster in Bellingham for him. You're a stand up guy, Ted. Yoda out.

Ted, When you figure out what (and how) to replace that VC lid hinge latch pin with let me know!

 

It's been a topic (with multiple suggestions) on this forum before but I've misplaced my notes on the least complicated solutions!....What I'm hoping for is someone who's found junk yard 'click-up click-down' hinges off anything that can be adapted.

 

My friend and fellow SOC'er, Juan Gonzalez, found a pair of OEM 356 hinges...but those things now are as rare as hen's teeth and priced their weight in gold!...There's got to be a simple, inexpensive, unobtrusive alternative that just hasn't been recognized yet!  

Carl ,  Ted

 

I have a set of 356 hinges (click up and click down) that I'm cleaning and polishing.  I can't figure out yet how they mount.  Someone on here shows an installed pic, (Scott Hansen), but I can not figure how he attached it to the firewall.  I've made a comment on his pic post, no word yet.  My pair wasn't very expensive around $50, others on ebay have been in the $150 range.

Speedster....

Added the speedster scripts today.

Hey Carl and Art,

 

I admit, I haven't investigated this in any stretch yet. I will say that the blue car with the orange empi's that I looked at in Santa Cruz had an interesting home grown solution on the front bonnet. I wonder if I still have a photo of the front hinge? The new owner of the car is on this site now (he's looking for a new hard top.)  He should be able to provide photo of what the previous owner engineered for that hinge. If my memory serves right, I bet it could be adapted here. 

 

The only other thing I was thinking was some sort of spring loaded button that pops into a hole in the hinge bracket when you raise the lid up. To close it, you simply push the button in and lower the boot.

 

I'll have to keep chewing on this a bit.

 

Art - provide photos of the hinges you have. Maybe we can 'engineer' something on the fly. There are a ton of really smart guys on this site.

Ted

Update!

Debugging my front end.  Why is it so low with little to no suspension travel?

 

Top spring pack = 4 large and 2 halves.

Bottom Spring pack = 5 large and 3 halves.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that like... HALF of what it should have? 

 

The fix: Just order 1 lower spring pack and put 4 large on top and 5 large, and 1 small on the bottom?

 

Might as well order a front disk brake kit, drum skins and 4 beam shims at the same time, right?

 

The curse of Al continues...

 

Ted

Carl - do a 'Search' on here for hydraulic hood brace. I can't think of the name of those things (senior moment) but they are used for holding up tailgates, engine hoods & such. Several SOCers have installed them. 

       
       


Wait, maybe I have this wrong.  How many springs (full and half) should I have on top, and how many should I have on the bottom?

This is the problem when you lower a VW front end by modifying the beam (whether it's pulling torsion leaves out or changing the position of the center attachment point in the beam itself either by cutting, rotating and welding or installing center adjusters); you reduce suspension travel. The angle of the tie rods is also changed and this introduces some bump steer to the mix. Drop spindles (they come in drum and disc) lower the front end without changing suspension travel or ride quality. The only penalty is they add 1/2 or 5/8" to the track on each side.

 

 In a balljoint front end there should be 4 wide leaves and 6 narrow (3 on top and 3 on the bottom) of each leaf stack. So 8 wide and 12 narrow altogether. See the pic below. Put it back together and see where the ride height sits before you buy a front disc brake kit, as it may ride a little higher with the full compliment of torsion bars back in it. You may or may not want to add drop spindles to it (they lower the front 2 1/2"), so that's why I'm suggesting doing it the long way. Or, if you add them now and it rides a little too low, the fix is to add adjusters to both tubes (or turn and weld the centers). This means the beam has to come out and be completely disassembled again- would be a good winter project, and that way you're not cutting into summer driving time...

 

Now would be a great time to add caster shims to the bottom tube, and Gene Berg Ent. makes thin (1 1/2 degree- GB 681) and thick (3.4'- GB 682) versions. Note that either stacking 2 thin ones together or using the thicker shims will require longer bolts for the bottom beam, and Berg sells them. Somewhere in his writings he recommends running a tap through the bottom threads in the frame head when using the longer bolts, but there was enough junk (weld spatter?) in mine that I couldn't run the tap in far enough so I just shortened the longer bolts 4 threads (put the thread chaser on the bolt first so you can clean up the threads after filing the ends smooth, as the hacksaw job I did wasn't pretty) and that did the trick. The thin ones should be enough for freeway speeds and a little faster; buy the thicker shims if you seriously like to blast down the highway.

 

I'm really sorry Ted, there's that damn curse again!  I really don't know what to do...

 

PS- Glad you're having fun with it! The madness you have bad, I must say...Your buddy Yoda. 

 

Ah, shoot! I forgot the picture..

 

PPSS- Holding the leaf stack together with some tape or elastic and  bevelling the edges of the leaf stack (I don't know if a file will touch them but a grinder will work) will make installation a little easier. Getting them started through the center collar can be a little bit of a bear...

 

 

Yoda - thanks for the deep dive on the beam. I totally appreciate it. Now I understand what 'normal' should look like up front.

 

The beam already has Avis adjusters on it. They are in the 'full up' position and even with that, the car has NO suspension travel at all. It's effectively bottomed out. When I raise the car on a jack, the suspension hangs just like it should, without hanging up at all.

 

Photos of what I'm up against:

Okay, so clearly I didn't count very well last night:

 

For the top: I count, 4 wide, and 3 skinny. (missing 3 narrow)

 

The bottom: I count, 4 wide and 2 narrow. (missing 4 narrow) 

 

This gives me a grand total of minus 7 narrow. I would have to order 2 spring packs to make up for all of the missing items. I was hoping to get away with ordering just one. </me raises a greasy fist at the sky and yells out "Al!!!....">

 

I will take your suggestion of rebuilding the springs to the stock set up. If that means ordering two complete sets, so be it. From there, I will reassemble everything and see how she sits. At this point I can determine if drop spindles will work for my application.

 

Once all that is done, then I will investigate which disk brake kit to order. I will also get the shims and longer bolts for the lower beam mount. Though, doing this will also cause me to have to adjust the front bumper bracket a bit. Not a big deal, just a mental note (made out loud...)

 

What are these beam stiffeners I saw someone asking about? Snake oil?

 

Oh, then I need to figure out the front sway bar issue. Then onto the rear.

 

At some point, it'd be really nice to drive it....

 

Something just struck me, with the way the top beam was set up, it's effectively riding on just the 4 wide springs and the two narrow. That third narrow isn't doing anything. As I understand how it's set up, the final narrow leaf should key into a narrow slot in the beam and trailing arms. Without the full set of narrow leaves on each side, there is nothing to hold that leaf into place. 

Do I have that right?

 

Ted

If you're going to go out and by 2 new torsion leaf packs, then (I would think) using the  new pieces and discarding the old ones would be best; what that will cost, I don't know. However, if you go on Craigslist (or to a local wrecker, it there are still any around) you should be able to find what you want relatively cheap. First, take out the leaves that are in there and make sure none of what you have isn't broken and the depressions the grub screws anchor into are good so you know exactly what you need. Re your comment about the small leaves not being held in place in your last post- I think you're right and wonder if any of the small leaves are contributing anything since the ones that are there are not being held in place. I think it will ride much different when you get it back together.

 

The beam stiffeners (the ones that go from near the shock tower to the pan are supposed to work well, although I've never used them. They aren't essential, but if you're ever going to drive your car hard I can see them being useful.

 

What's with your front sway bar- are there just no clamps on the ends? They look like this-

 

 

Regarding the sway bar - it's just not there! I think because of the front bumper brackets, Al removed the sway bar.

 

I'll poke around CL this weekend and see if I can find any parts. It looks like new spring packs run about 50-75.00 a set. It would sure be cool to not have to spend that much to correct this issue.

 

I think you're correct. If I do buy new ones, I would replace all of the existing items with new. No reason not to.

 

What's the purpose of this 'Kaffer' bar I keep hearing about?

Ted

The kafer bar ties the top rear shock mounts to the frame horns. This triangulates the area and helps prevent wheel hop (which breaks transaxles) under hard acceleration or "dragrace starts". It's beneficial if you drive hard.

Thank you.

 

I don't drive it much right now at all, let alone 'hard'.

 

If I put a bigger motor in it, I may look into something of that nature.

Ted

Found a guy in Santa Clara, with a 69 front beam. Ball joint. Has all the springs in the beam. $50.00. Should work, yeah?

 

Ted

Excellent work, Ted! Enjoy putting it all back together. Take the whole thing if he'll give it to you. Al

Phew. All back together. All the springs are back in place. 4 new tie rod ends, a new steering dampner, and a new 3/4" sway bar. Now with the beam adjusters in full up, it sits level. I dropped the front a tiny bit so it has a tiny rake.

I also picked up the lower beam shims. I will install those tomorrow morning when I can get loud with the grinder and drill press to elongate the bumper bracket holes a tiny bit.

Can't wait to get an alignment so I can drive it!

Next up, front disks and drum skins.

It's coming along!

Thanks for letting me share.

Ted

Great job, Ted! Do we get a pic or 2?

Huge progress from no car a few months a go to tons of angst in getting a car at all, to where you are today!

 

Great job Ted. I'm really happy for you.