There is a butter yellow speedster on BAT. The owner has not said where the car was built, but one person commented it was built by VS in Hawaiian Gardens.
The car features an under dash parking brake. This photo makes me think this otherwise nice looking car was made by VS Arizona. What do you think?
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It’s a Nice looking Speedster. But what is the pulley system for I seen on the front and back? Hood and Deck lid release maybe? Interesting
One with same umbrella "but broke" brake from VS Arizona. On that car, one of the garage door spring roller attachment point was broken. Kind of Rube Goldberg looking but guess it works (I'd use a brick under tire just in case though). That car also seems to have the optional anti-sway bar snowplow/speed bump identifier.\
Here's link to broke brake thread -
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With only 528 miles, it's unlikely it was built by VS when they were owned by Kirk and located in Hawaiian Gardens. It does have a VS badge on the hood, so it's likely an Arizona car:
And, as you suggest, the, uh, uniquely engineered parking brake mechanism looks identical to the one from Arizona pictured here a few months back, except that this one hasn't failed yet.
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This car also ‘features’ an open tunnel.
The owner of the VS Az car with the broke parking brake (and open tunnel pointed out by Mitch) never reported back with final results. I wonder how it turned out?
That's not how Greg in Hawaiian Gardens does the umbrella brake. Looks very Arizona cob-job to me.
@Jon T posted:There is a butter yellow speedster on BAT. The owner has not said where the car was built, but one person commented it was built by VS in Hawaiian Gardens.
The car features an under dash parking brake. This photo makes me think this otherwise nice looking car was made by VS Arizona. What do you think?
You know, this set up wouldn’t be nearly as half-assed as it is if they would have used swages instead of wire clips and decent pulleys. And friggin thimbles on the loops.
It’s not like using a crimper and a good pair of cable cutters is rocket science.
Seems like all that Rube Goldberg stuff could be done away with if you used a bowden cable.
Would a 1973 pan have the knob heater control and not the level next to the parking brake? My 1973 has the lever next to the parking brake.
A 73 pan would have the lever either side of hand brake (one red and other either black or white). The single knob forward of the handbrake were early cars. My '57 bug had the knob - it lasted until '67.
@Kevin - Bay Area posted:Would a 1973 pan have the knob heater control and not the level next to the parking brake? My 1973 has the lever next to the parking brake.
As Greg said, no- last year for the heater control knob was (I believe) '64 or '65. IIrc my first bug (a '66) had the levers.
The tunnel without the front cover is cringe worthy. I wonder why the VW factory had a cover there with a rubber seal?
@Impala posted:The tunnel without the front cover is cringe worthy. I wonder why the VW factory had a cover there with a rubber seal?
In 2002, John Steele saw zero need for it either. Quite the air and water scoop, it is.
Front oval cover is there to be able to insert and also pull the shift rod forward to replace the nylon shift bushing. It's also there to scrape the crap out of your hand when you pull the rod out the opening .
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@Impala posted:....I wonder why the VW factory had a cover there with a rubber seal?...
So they could make commercials like this...
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That front tunnel cover was the first place that I looked when I was searching for an air leak forcing cold air out past my e-brake lever. Ran a bead of silicon caulk around the cover and replaced it, thinking that would cure it.
Nothing changed.
I've been looking for that air leak for a while, now, and have sealed things up quite a bit (shift, throttle and clutch cable boots, a little spray foam, etc), but that's one of two air leaks I have left that I know of from the driver's seat. There may be more out of reach on the passenger side or behind the seats. Neither of them is a major leak, just a nuisance. It is a challenge finding and eliminating them, especially for someone OCD.
I'll get it up on the lift this Spring and empty a can of spray foam insulation everywhere that looks suspicious and call it a win.
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Gordon, I have that same jet of air coming out of the e-brake handle boot when the car is moving (even though the front of the tunnel is sealed).
For me, it's proof that air pressure under the car increases with road speed. It's probably seeping into the tunnel through a number of places.
I'd guess the under car pressure would be enough to make the front end pretty light by about 130 mph or so - which is why I always try to stay under that speed.
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Thanks, Mitch. And keeping the car from going airborne is always a good thing.
I asked the maestro, Dr. Clock, about my tunnel leak and he told me he’s had the same experience with a pan car from time to time and couldn’t find a leak in those, either. Given that, I gave up on the tunnel leak (it’s not really that bad) and spent some time figuring out the leak on the passenger side (It was pretty large and obvious) and just have to make an new side window, slightly longer to make it fit into the pocket of the cloth top better. Once I get that done it should seal right up and I’ll declare a “win”. Any other leaks can easily be overcome by the heater.
I suppose that if I smoked, the various leaks would be a “feature” to vent the smoke out quickly. There’s always a brighter side….
Air leaks are a "feature", it's called "fresh air" LOL!
Theer is that 1/2" drain hole in the middle bottom of the tunnel I wonder if that creates some sort of a vortex i.e. the mysterious breeze?
The drain hole should have a little rubber thing that sort of seals it but lets any water drain.
@Alan Merklin posted:Theer is that 1/2" drain hole in the middle bottom of the tunnel I wonder if that creates some sort of a vortex i.e. the mysterious breeze?
Great observation; there’s supposed to be a rubber plug there; me being OCD put it in my car as well as the rubber bits that are supposed to go on the chassis. Another area that’s supposed to be sealed is where the transaxle and all the cables (accelerator, clutch and hand brake) go into. The transaxle needs a little rubber donut. Not sure if all builders in pan based cars use all those. I can’t remember if my VS brought them from the shop; I recall buying that little donut the first time I took the transaxle out; maybe it didn’t have it. I know that in that bottom area where the cables go through they used a lot of Great Stuff expandable foam 😂.
There is ZERO expandable foam in my Spyder. If things need to be sealed I use seam sealer or silicone(but never to insulate electrical connections).
Remember, Danny; my car is a humble high production car. Your car is in another category....
I guess I'm saying the foam is a building material. Just not for a car...or even a kit car.
On my Speedster, per the CMC instructions, I fiberglassed the body to the pan. This helped seal things up. I did use foam at the rear where the frame isn't really a tight fit to the pan.
Having pulled apart the dash of my Nissan Rogue several times while evicting an onslaught of mice condominiums, I can tell you that there is a lot of expandable foam used under there and between a bunch of body panels, too, and the same goes for my wife’s Subaru. Not to mention that just about every car maker uses resin impregnated styrofoam under both front and rear bumpers.
I see no reason at all not to use an expandable foam to seal gaps that are out of sight on any of these cars. It’s easy to apply, easy to work/shape and it seals extremely well.
@DannyP you can use whatever you want. I will, too.
@Gordon Nichols posted:Thanks, Mitch. And keeping the car from going airborne is always a good thing.
I asked the maestro, Dr. Clock, about my tunnel leak and he told me he’s had the same experience with a pan car from time to time and couldn’t find a leak in those, either. Given that, I gave up on the tunnel leak (it’s not really that bad) and spent some time figuring out the leak on the passenger side (It was pretty large and obvious) and just have to make an new side window, slightly longer to make it fit into the pocket of the cloth top better. Once I get that done it should seal right up and I’ll declare a “win”. Any other leaks can easily be overcome by the heater.
I suppose that if I smoked, the various leaks would be a “feature” to vent the smoke out quickly. There’s always a brighter side….
If you want to find the leak, introduce colored smoke at the e-brake location and use some low pressure forced air to see where it is coming out of.
The thing is, expandable foam is used for impact absorption or vibration/noise attenuation. It's not really effective for weatherproofing, and it will trap moisture rather than let the water out. It is effective as insulation, but another vapor barrier is usual procedure.
It was used all over the place in my Audi, even to fill uneven areas under the footwell carpets. Water overflowed my cowl and would have stayed under the floor carpets forever had I not vacuumed it out then dried it with a fan for a few days. The foam there worked as a sponge does.
Trapping moisture against a 1960s VW pan can't be seen as a good practice.
@WOLFGANG posted:A 73 pan would have the lever either side of hand brake (one red and other either black or white). The single knob forward of the handbrake were early cars. My '57 bug had the knob - it lasted until '67.
Your right on that one at least north of the 49th, I have to confess being around to witness the 67 had one and the 68 having the levers, and my 69 two leavers 
On the other hand maybe the assembly line just fit what they had available in the car.
Eddie theory: The tunnel leak is through and around the transaxle seal where the shifter shaft sticks through. That thing moves a bit (even with a mid mount) and creates small gaps that shape-shift as you short-shift. And of course it's hard to get to unless you pull out the trans.
@edsnova posted:Eddie theory: The tunnel leak is through and around the transaxle seal where the shifter shaft sticks through. That thing moves a bit (even with a mid mount) and creates small gaps that shape-shift as you short-shift.
That was always my theory as well.
Whoa..... I'm prob'ly a shape-shifting short-shifter and didn't even know it!
I thought of that a long time ago, too, and replaced that little rubber booty-thing with a new one the last time I had the engine out but God knows, it could still be leaking there.
Honestly, we're not talking a big leak from the e-brake hole. More of an annoyance and you never feel anything when the top is down, of course, and I would probably spend way more time trying to find the source(s) than it's worth.
BTW: A comment from @DannyP way up above got me thinking, too, so I researched it: That is, that some silicone caulks contain acetic acid as a partial curing agent (and to make them stick better) and that stuff can attack and be corrosive to sensitive metals (Think electrical connectors in a car).
So I found a decent article about it HERE. In summary, I found, as Danny alluded, that there are two types of Silicone caulk: Acetoxy Cure (with the bad-for-your-connectors Acetic Acid) and Neutral Cure without the Acetic Acid and safe to use on connectors (and is actually a very good insulator).
The silicone caulk I've always used is GE Silicone I or II because that's the most prominent at Home Depot (and also gave me the most color choices), so I looked up the specs and Lo and Behold, it is a Neutral Cure product. So not only is it OK to use in Pearl, all you guys (I'm looking at YOU, Dr. Clock) who've used the GE stuff or something similar to goop things up and make them weatherproof are all safe. If you used "Joe Slunks super-sticky inferior grade sorta-silicone smells-like-vinegar caulk" instead, well, you might want to rethink that.
Thanks to Danny for pointing that out - Those retired Verizon guys are pretty with-it. The vinegar smell is a dead give-away that you're usin' the wrong stuff!
When I used the foam on the Speedster I sealed the surface. I also used the foam to fill voids where I didn't want moisture intrusion. In the front, I filled the shock towers and Napoleon hat. In the rear, I filled the trailing arms.
