Spyder Project by Air-cooled Bruce

Bruce:  Not much more fun than starting a new build, knowing what you want and hoping that it ends up that way.  I have confidence that this car will have your touches all over it.

Enjoy!

Worked on the stainless veneer firewall today.. Pretty touchy, trying to overlay the stainless over a thin flexible piece of fiberglass. The veneer is stiffer than the firewall !

Got the center part bent and will work on the rest tomorrow and post some photos then. It won't look like much because of the plastic coating on the stainless veneer. I have to do this in 3 or 4 pieces. The Speedster was in 4 pieces including the "firewall air intake hole" cover.

I'm curious, does anyone know of a product that I can spray or "squeege" on the firewall between the stainless veneer to take up any gaps ? Something that won't glue them together ? Possibly use mold release on the veneer so they can be separated ?

I changed my Avatar to something totally unrelated today but when you see it you'll see why. It's a divers lifetime quest !................Bruce

 

No new Avatar !  Don't know why. I deleted the old one and put the new one in but it didn't happen .............Bruce

Now the work begins ! Picked up the Suby Case yesterday, went and bought some new respirators and today I start smoothing out the case for the guy to start polishing it.

Rancho sent out all the external hardware for black oxide coating so that should make a nice contrast in the finished product. Made a trans. holding fixture to make it easier to work on polishing the case.

Almost finished with the stainless veneer for the firewall. Once finished, the firewall goes back to Ensenada Mex. to be installed in my body, then all of it shipped back to Greg...........Bruce

Went down to the Polisher today to check out progress with putting a shine on my Suby Trans. case.  He's half way and said that he will be finished this Friday! The phots below show what it's looking like with a 320 grit sanding job. All the casting chafe and flash is now gone. Next will be the Cratex in progressively finer grit until it's mirror like.

Bruce

Ooooo. That's nice, Bruce. I'd leave it "nickle sheen" if it were me.

Stupid-cool.

Yeah. I took one look at that and say it's done, stop right there.

I'm with Stan and Danny- it looks great just like it is!

FINALY !!!  The polisher guy finished my Subaru transaxle case so tonight I will spend the evening cleaning all the grit/wax out of all the threaded holes with the appropriate taps plus all the other tiny nooks n crannies. Tomorrow it's back to Rancho down in Fullerton so they can stuff it full of those knarly looking tiny/wide saw blade looking wheels ! All 19 of em ! (assuming the LSD has 4 spiders n 2 side ones) The tension of excitement is elevating !   Heres some photos of the finished polish job.  The bottom looks the same too.............Bruce

Wow!  Talk about shiney. 

aircooled posted:

FINALY !!!  The polisher guy finished my Subaru transaxle case so tonight I will spend the evening cleaning all the grit/wax out of all the threaded holes with the appropriate taps plus all the other tiny nooks n crannies. Tomorrow it's back to Rancho down in Fullerton so they can stuff it full of those knarly looking tiny/wide saw blade looking wheels ! All 19 of em ! (assuming the LSD has 4 spiders n 2 side ones) The tension of excitement is elevating !   Heres some photos of the finished polish job.  The bottom looks the same too.............Bruce

Wow....almost chrome like....beautiful. Bruce..what type of " shop " does that type of polishing ?  Thanks..

Bruce that is quite nice... are you using something to keep it shining like a clear coar and please refresh my memory, will that be a full Subarugears tranny with reversed r&p?  

Thanks Bob.  Dave....It's what this guy does. Just old custom car stuff all the time. guys and companies Bring him parts to polish or to prepare them for triple plate chroming . He has no sign on his doors or business. He has a booth at the Pomona Swap Meet every two months where he shows/sells his work and passes out cards. He took over the business from his Father. His name is AIDAN and his phone is (626) 494-7036. He's not good at staying on a schedule so you have to plan ahead for that. He is who I use to put the polish on my Wing and Visors mounting brackets so many of you already know the quality of his work.  He liked doing this Suby case because he said the aluminum was die cast not sand cast (read smoother here) and of some high quality aluminum that polished  up better than anything he has done in the past. 

I see him shipping stuff out occasionally too....................Bruce

Ray....No R & P flip.   It's going in as a mid engine Spyder by Vintage Motorcars. Both engine and Transaxle are Subaru.  I haven't made up my mind on clear coating it yet.

I do have a pretty cool looking chrome German Eagle that I may attach to the top-smooth part of the trans though. Just for looks.. Sort of strange...Japanese trans with a German symbol  !  Maybe  I should attach a Subaru logo....The one with the constellation of Pleiades ?............Bruce 

If you need the trans to be shorter there is a shortened unit rather nose cone that could be bought from Australia, or their california supplier.  just saying. 

Thanks Ray....I didn't know that.  But if I need one at least I'll know it's available. How much shorter is it ?...............Bruce

Bruce, that looks awesome!  Glad you did that and it'll add a big bit of "Bling" when you open the clamshell.

Someone wondered if you would be clear-coating it.  I have aluminum spokes on my steering wheel and they would cloud every other year or so unless I polished them regularly.  Quickly got tired of that and clear coated them with Krylon clear acrylic.  Been looking great for over 5 years now.  Food for thought.

Bruce I think it is about a 4 inch cut... here is the info.  You either cut or replace the nose cone with their part. 

Link for more info.

@Safety Jim Buffalo NY. is in Buffalo and he built his own car and he is coming to Carlisle this year. 

We're trying to arrange to get to Carlisle this year as well......Bruce

Dropped off the case at Rancho this morning and then stopped at VMC to see Greg. Here's some photos and more info.

The first is the LSD going in my transaxle. It's a Subaru non-bias sealed unit. Sealed meaning it's welded shut and very few have actually broke one open to look inside . Mike at Rancho says they are very strong. The second is all those funny looking "saws" that go inside my case !  Oh, I got the ratios this time. not much new here.  3.90 R&P, 3.16 1st, 1.88 2nd, 1.29 3rd, .97 4th, and .73 5th.  For such a light car I think this will be fine. I probably will never have it floored in 5th. Age and common sense guides me here !

Greg is real busy as you can see by how many cars are stacked up outside. He wasn't there so I just wandered around. I found a Spyder with the Subaru engine out and photoed one of the coolant hoses from the engine to the front. It looks to be 1.25" hose with braided exterior. The radiator has matching AN connectors. I think they will do just fine.  By the way, that's an old VW Ring gear and carrier sitting in with my gears. Don't know why. Maybe someone was comparing............Bruce

Gordon...I may just try some of that Krylon......Bruce

I wanna see the machine that bent that hydraulic hose end fitting.........

Clear coating aluminum parts:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com...rim-how-protect.html

Yours are quite low for sure.....

 

Here are mine in my roadster                                 Yours

 

4.1  R&P                    rpm/mph                                           3.90 R&P,

 

1st gear 3.454                                                            3.16

2nd gear 2.062                                                           1.88

3rd gear 1.448                                                            1.29

4th gear 1.088                                                            0.97

5th gear 0.78             3100/70mph                           0.73   ---- Flight Take off  

When I did the calcs as if we were using the same tire size, we would be close to the same speeds if I was cranking 2750 to 2800...  Jeez....at 6000 I'd be ready for take off in 5th.............Bruce

aircooled posted:

When I did the calcs as if we were using the same tire size, we would be close to the same speeds if I was cranking 2750 to 2800...  Jeez....at 6000 I'd be ready for take off in 5th.............Bruce

Slow Thursday night here so I did the calcs too and based on the above while Ray is doing 70 mph at 3,100, Bruce will be doing just over 78 mph at 3,100. If Bruce slows his rpm down to 2,775 ( middle of your range noted above just for eg.  )  you'll be doing 70 mph. With a nice 2.5 l Soob I think that would be quite doable with that early, fat and flat torque curve. 

Further, Bruce's 1st gear will be 11.5% taller than Ray's. This should be a real nice comparison of similar stuff on a high level for real apples to apples comparison. 

Interestingly, and way out of this apple barrell, my first gear stock VW ratio with the 3.44 R&P was about right in between that of both of you guys and I wished mine was a bit taller in first even with my lesser powered home brew Soob. 

 

I agree David.  From my previous calculation at 3.91 R&P and the final of 0.73 which are the ratio's that I was interested in getting should I need another tranny it would give me 70mph at 2750 ish 

Not sure which tranny set Bruce's tranny is from but I think it might be from a turbo unit with lots of power in his case less power but a lot less weigh so given the weight of a spyder it should be a good combo. 

The only issue he will have is that the air current and no top he will never truly hear how quiet his engine and tranny are  

I believe Mike at Rancho said it was from a turbo car. He got the LSD thru a friend on a racing team down in Florida. He told me the name of the exclusive Subaru component company but I forgot it. The LSD is totally welded shut. Disassembly is not possible. Mike said he knew of someone who cut thru the welds to disassemble and said that it could not be reassembled once that had been done. I guess that means it's a "throw-away" component. It has clutches and gears inside. When I tried to turn the input shafts it was not possible. It's really tight !

I truly do like the numbers from the gear ratio calculations ! It really is too bad about not having the opportunity to enjoy the quietness of this engine/transaxle combo. VW's are whiny  and that coupled with a performance exhaust can be fatiquing after a while. Well...maybe it will be a little more pleasing noise and I won't whine so much ? .....Bruce

The 2 transaxles-

http://www.teammfactory.com/ca...73/0/3600/3600/1/0/2

According to this, 3100 rpm happens at 82 mph in your Spyder, Bruce- that's really 'loping' along! That thing is going to have quite the top speed...

FYI, according to Chuck Beck, directional control starts to cease at about 110 in a Spyder with 1 person in it. I've gone 2 up with Cory Drake in the right seat at an indicated 125, but the VDO gauges were a little optimistic at the upper end. I'm thinking it was closer to 115 or so.

I have gone 110 in the new car and I know it's accurate due to the GPS speedo. My car has always felt surefooted at the upper end. However, you start to realize how small and fragile the car is at those speeds, so you want to slow down at that point.

I agree that Bruce's gearing will be perfectly fine in his light car with plenty of torque and power. I am following this build with interest.

Having said all that, I'm going to build a close-ratio 4 speed for mine. I want a canyon-carver at say 30-100mph. I want to always have the perfect gear for that situation, and out-accelerate anything by being in the powerband. Highway cruising is easy for me now, but not as important. Bruce's 5 speed should be pretty close to what I'll end up with, minus his 5th.

Earlier, I was hot for lower ratios. All my previous cars were lower. After really thinking about how and where I drive out here in SoCal, I'm gonna go with this, this time.When I'm on the freeway, I'm in the high 70s no matter what Im driving. The rest is city or curvy mountain roads and I think this gear-set from 1 to 4 will be ideal. I'm counting on the lightness of the car and the power curves of the engine to be what I want in between.  I've never owned such a light weight street car with this much power so I'm pretty excited about its potential. The fact that it's stance is even lower than my Speedster is a concern.  JEEZ ! the Speedster was low enough ! With this car a 10.00X20 set of truck wheels right next to me singing away at 60 mph is definately scary !! Hell...I think the top of the tire will higher than my head !   Then again......All I should hafta do is "punch it" !

I really appreciate all ya guys comments and opinions.  It certainly helps ease the decision making. My only regret is that I couldn't afford to do this when I was about 21 years old. Hmmmm.....Maybe I still am..............Bruce

Nice pics Bruce.

My first car was a Fiat 128SL. When I had to push it, I always had a smile on my face because I fantasized that there was a cliff nearby ...

 

Brian

"I have gone 110 in the new car and I know it's accurate due to the GPS speedo. My car has always felt surefooted at the upper end. However, you start to realize how small and fragile the car is at those speeds, so you want to slow down at that point."

Maybe the satellite fell asleep for a moment on you  

If I had my Spyder when I was 21, I'd be dead.

I've been in cars doing up to 150mph. I'd rather be doing 35-50mph in the right gear in the right turn on a back country road any day.

Having a shorter ratio tranny is on my long list too.

oh man, 1966,buddies dad got a new 64 GalaxieXL500, 390 Police Interceptor,heading to drags somewhere in VA,,needles pegged at 120 and we are accelerating, 6.70 bias ply tires, sixer of Pabst Blue Ribbon,  Marlboro cigs...those were the days:}

Everyone who got through those days remembers them fondly. Remember to pour one out for the ones who didn't. . . .

Thanks Brian I had an all knowing laugh on your comment ...........Bruce

YES SIR ....... I remember !

Amen