Mish Mash

It's not been a great week of progress on my car. There have been bits and pieces like this relay bracket, the shift mechanism, new handbrake cables and removing the old (horrible, greazy), engine bay seal and electrical work by my favorite wiring elf. However, nothing that screams, "we'll be driving again soon".

 
Despite LOTS of attempts to get the back end back together and the whole car back on wheels, brake dramas abound. For a cursory glance, I pulled down the rear brake slave cylinders to check for condition... and by golly I'm happy I did now.


They were full of brake fluid style mud.

Having tried to clean up one of them, it became pretty clear I needed some new ones. A phone call to a local VW parts specialist netted me 2 NOS units... one of which turned out to be wrong. I managed to fit the other one. Monday afternoon after a conference I dropped in for a replacement. Having been given one I fitted it to the car and all was going well.

Til I tried to turn one of the pistons and part of it snapped off. Seized solid.

You may see a theme here. So back to the shop this morning for a replacement. And wouldn't you know it but there's none in stock til tomorrow. Thankfully the shop owner is posting one to me tomorrow gratis. I told her...

"As much as I love you, four visits in one week is just too much".

Amongst all this I was buying things like handbrake cables and the like. Of course, about half the car's mechanicals are now non-standard. 99% factory VW, but non-standard. One of the great things about VWs is the "parts bin". Because they were in production for so long and gradually updated, things mostly fit.

So the 1973 gearbox I now have, bolts right up to my 1956 chassis... almost.

In fact it needed another few bits to help it along and some "clearancing". But mostly it's like lego. So here I was at the parts shop and the parts lady says to me...


"You need to put a book in your glovebox that has all the parts you've got on the car, like the 1300 handbrake cables".

She's right. The car is now a mish mash. For purists out there crying, don't worry, it was when I got it. Even still I need to try and remember what's going on. So in an attempt to begin that process let's start a list that describes some of the "parts-bin" upgrades I have...

Trans:
Late AB case 1300 trans
Split bus trans nose cone

Brakes;
Late dual circuit master cylinder and reserviour
Late type 3 wagon rear backing plates
Early type 3 wagon drums
58-66 1300 handbrake cables

Course the point of all this is, when I need to replace parts down the track. Then I can ask for right ones on the car without dragging broken greasy things to the parts shop. Although that works I have to say, there'll be a time when I need to order everything online.

Anyway, enough yammering. Better go clean up the shed. It's not pretty.

The light at the end of the tunnel? + Andy's 62

It's been a long time since I updated this blog. It's largely because despite serious effort, I don't feel like I have a lot to show for my efforts thus far. Sure, the car has been up on jack stands since January, but it's April now and it looks like very little has happened. Still I'll throw a few pics up...

So, as you can see, the fuel system is about 70% finished. The tank is now baffled, fixed and lined and I've got a kafer bar setup and various other bits. But it's all taken AGES... and ages... *sigh.

I'm still trying to decide if I'm making progress or just throwing cash at a hole in the road.

So, by way of an offering to those feeling ripped in the "drivin" department, here's my brother's car.

Andy's 62' beetle

The car was bought some time back as a runaround for him and his wife. It's an original paint car that was mostly stock aside of dropped spindles, adjuster and a slightly narrowed beam (IIRC). It was running a stock 1300. That motor lunched itself after the car jumped out of 4th gear on the freeway. OUCH!

Just recently it scored a single port 1600 from a generator set. Between the 1600 and the tuckaway exhaust, it's a very fun little car. The single port has lots of torque and the exhaust makes it sound like an old fiat or renault. Euro cool.

We took it out on the freeway for the first time and it goes really nice. As it should too. The motor had done less than 50hours work on the generator set! It is however way too low.

The pan scrapes everywhere and it's pretty awful to ride rough roads in. As it is, it's getting a new gearbox soon along with some linkpins and adjustable spring plates. At the same time it will go up a little.

Then it's time for more drivin'.