The Chassening

Dhiaghia: The Chassis

Kristin and I righted the chassis and installed the 1970's Sears wheels (tres sweet, non?). We cleaned all the tar board, rust, styrofoam, and crap from the floors and tunnel. It actually looked nice for a time until the tar boogers covered the floor.
I installed the "heater" channels.
I am afraid that I managed to assemble the front beam incorrectly, because the trailing arms seem to be pointing too far down (they would need to be compressed to install the dampers). I do not know when I will get to rebuilding them as it was a PITA.
The current arse pain is the rear end: the damper mount on the one trailing arm was beat to hell and back. I am going to steal an arm from Brent's hideous chassis that the Ghia body came with (so you know it's good!) and adjust the rear ride height while I am at it. I started disassembly. WATER came out of the rear torsion beam housing!? WTH?

I won't be touching the car again until after Christmas ;_;

Volks Roddin'

No current pictures since we finished the under side and flipped it over. It looks like not just a car, but a race car now! The channeled pan looks hot. We welded the new "heater" channels (2x3 steel) to the pan (I can weld vertically now without burning myself enough to go to a hospital! The welds look passable too.). The floor is actually stiff and it does not instill fear when I step on it now. The body could go on next, but I think that we should finish scraping off the tar board, clean the rust and crap off the rear suspension, and repair the damper mount on the trailing arm while there's easy access to it all.

There will be pictures next time. Really! For now, here's a video from a few weeks ago:

Beetle is spelled: G-H-I-A

The Beetle has become a 1970 Karmann Ghia. How does that work? Beats me, but that is how divine providence works. Maybe I will explain it later. Meanwhile, here is a super technical mock up of our designed Ghia final ride height:

From Diaghia: floor drop

We are channeling the car hot rodder style with ghetto pizazz. Yep, this thing is gonna make sparks.

Beetle Barf: Fire Engine

This engine came with the original purchase. When I first saw it in the barn, the barn dirt must have befogged my mind because I had thought to myself: "Excellent! A whole engine AND a transmission!!1"
After I got it home and gave it a power bath, it was evident that there was something wrong. There is a hole in the bell housing. All of the tinware is rusted to hell and back. It just looked unhappy.
I began to disassemble it, which really made the air cooled engine more visceral to me. The pictures online and in books helped me understand what I was looking at, however, seeing and touching first hand make a huge difference. That was the good part.
The engine had either been in a fire or it had been used as an ash tray at a white trash party. It was nasty and the dust seemed somewhat toxic (I started to wear a mask while fiddling with it after the first time made the badness evident in my lungs).

The engine was fuel injected DP 1600. The plastic parts had melted, charred, or completely burnt away. Some metal had even melted into unidentifiable blobs. I did get some good parts of of it including DP manifolds with FI bungs. The heads are corroded, but possibly salvageable. I did not see any cracks. One piston and cylinder are stuck together while the others looked reusable. The block, rods, and crank look good.
Brent and I whaled on the case and trans to separate them. When I had taken the starter off, more deadly corroded ash crap poured out just like what was in the intakes. The two had become one.
Brent suggested cutting the trans since it has the hole in it. However, I had/have hope for the trans since it has a stronger single sided case. Besides, it would still be a hell of a time trying to separate the two even if we cut through the bell housing.
I had this brilliant idea to split the case. Then I would have the crank still stuck, but I would cross that bridge when I came to it.
I whaled and whaled away on splitting that engine. Wiggled it, whaled on it, cranked on the case splitter, and wiggled some more. Then I wept. After much weeping, praying, and repetition, I managed to get one half of the case off. Unfortunately, there is a ridge ringed around the mating surface of the engine to the trans that was preventing the halves from just sliding apart. In all my whaling, I managed to break a non-vital piece of the case off.
So now what? I have half the case off, but the other half is stuck because it will not wiggle enough to overcome the ridge. I got some rope and the winch to make an engine hammock! What else would you do with it?

With the ropes attached to the crank and the trans, I pulled it all up tight then tapped the clutch fork with a dead blow hammer and the whole thing split in half sending parts this way and that.
The case half looked unscathed along with everything else. I wish that I had though of this first. Ah well...
I want to attempt brazing the case and the bell housing, but I fear magnesium fires...

KITT, engage turbo boost.

"Sure thing, Michael."

What a weird place. I came to the address and it was a self storage
facility. The guy has a unit full of quads (Banshees mostly), a three
wheeler, two sand rails, and tons of junk. His silent lacky met me at
the gate. When I arrived, the master was at work in his unit fiddling with a banshee engine on the ground. The turbo engine was on a hand cart resting
horizontally on the back of the sand rail for sale. He said that they
ride them up in Hazleton or some place where there had been (or are)
coal mines off 80 near the Pocono Raceway.

"I have a Lincoln. It welds well without gas."
"So you use flux core?"
"Yeah," he said as he sucked down some more cancer from his cigarette.
I looked at the lumpy welds holding what looks like exhaust tubing to
the T intake manifold connecting to stock dual port heads. With the
rubber hose that would connect the intake manifold to the turbo
hanging loose, it looked like the engine had a periscope.
"There must be a tiny German submariner in there," I thought.

His buddy, who works on Eclipses or some such car for a shop, welded
the turbo mounting plate onto a new $90 header. The turbo is a Saab
unit he got for $50. The doghouse heater outputs had been removed and
covered. It looks like it has new wires, coil, and distributor cap (Edit: Yeah, if you define new as being not older than me).
The turbo needs a gasket to fit the header and something to attach to
a muffler (muffler is free in LeMons). The turbo would interfere with
the rear lid and probably the apron too. He said that the pistons are
"new" and the cylinders were reconditioned. He thought that they were
bored and sleeved to a larger size, but I said that I did not think
that there was enough cylinder wall to do that from a stock barrel. He
said that the bore size is not the stock 85.5. He said that the clutch
WAS new; whatever that means, but, hey, it is a clutch that is not
thirty years old!

The bad parts:
There are no oil lines. The return line should be simple: install a
hose barb on the rocker cover (one side in particular he said.
probably the side opposite the windage). I forgot to ask about the
source for the input line.
No carburetor. I thought that it was a blow through system at first
and did not think about it or even ask. Later, I looked and decided it
is a pull through.
The turbo mating surface is rectangular with a circular bulge. The
header mating surface matches the rectangle, but not the bulge. I am
uncertain whether there is enough mating surface there to maintain a
seal.

I also picked up a bright green transaxle for $60. He wanted $100. His brother had removed the
bolts from the side covers to drain the oil; he lost the bolts.

Now, there is a sand rail up in Bristol, PA without an engine and I
have a hoopty turbo engine sitting in my front yard for my neighbors'
pleasure. I am definitely the cool kid on the block.

Ya gotta have the right tool for the job, Beavis.

The camera cable finally turned up, but, better yet, the SM card reader finally came! Pictures to follow... eventually.
I got the rotten beam further disassembled tonight. Every time a little bit more... The two ball joint tools I got are amazing. The one from Doghouse Repair is a relatively light duty number that removes the bolt end from the eye. It bent on its first use, but that joint must have been particularly tough because the others popped out after the slightest torquing. The ball joint press has been nothing short of magical, well, with the aid of the pneumatic impact wrench. The battery powered Dewalt impact wrench is nice, but the pneumatic Crapsman would make Tim Allen asphyxiate from grunting.
Got one stubborn "allen" bolt to remove from the trailing arm and the anti-sway bar. What the heck is the right tool for the anti-sway bar mounts?

The chassis parts are piling up. Brake bits, ball joints... I ought to order a cage this week. One company in particular looks good.

miscelaneous meaningless update

yodogg's lemons experience in a super beetle.

i did not have as much time as i had hoped this weekend. i plan to call broke dick and rlr about their cages and make a decision this week (hopefully that means ordering one).

the wheel bearings, seals, and some more tools came on friday.
this week, i plan to get the drums and rotors turned and start packing wheel bearings. i found some time to get that nasty front beam more disassembled. i looked like a real professional out there with hearing protectors and eye protectors as i whaled on the beam with various hammers. i managed to maintain my grip on the hammers on all but one swing!

looks like the bushings order will have to wait until tomorrow night.

Jesus built my hot rod

Much has happened since the first post. I got a second load of innards then I picked up the shell, chassis, engine, and transmission. I power washed the barn crud off of most things.


Yesterday, I went to the VW swap meet held by the Old City Oil Drippers up in Schwenksville, PA.
There were three highlights of the day:
1) I laid out the parts I had for sale, including a pair of rear five lug drum brakes. During the closing announcements and raffle, some dude approached me and asked me: "How much for the brakes?" "Ten bucks," I said. He offered two then I explained to him that I would just give him the dang things, but I could really use the money for my LeMons budget. He insisted on two dollars and I stuck to ten for the pair. He upped his offer to three but I would not have it. His friend chimed in: "How about five plus whatever he is offering?" I agreed and the cheapskate exclaimed: "What the hell am I going to do with those drums?!" We went over to my crap heap and made the exchange. We talked a bit about air cooled engines and how to make them perform on a budget. Cool guys. The one was messing with me, but he stuck to the bargain.
2) A couple of men had a couple of engines in the back of their van. They had one complete and unmolested 1300 from a '62 that ran when they pulled it and a 1500 parts SP long block (a bit more than a long block though). The owner said $250 for the pair. I told him that I would think about it. I left it for maybe two hours and tried to peddle my crap heap. I returned and offered $125 for the 1300 and $75 for the 1500. "That's uhhhh...." said one. The other mumbled: "Seventy-five and uhhh.... is..."
The gears turned and made awful grinding sounds.
"Two hundred," I said. They agreed so I drove my car and trailer around and they loaded it up. We fumbled a fist tap thing and I went back to my heap with my spoils.
Meanwhile...
3) "The vultures descended!" said some dude who had heretofore been teetering on the verge of vulturehood. Half of my crap was gone! Windows, hub caps, whatever. What got my goat (what a goofy expression) was that my NEW plastic storage bins, bungees, and ratcheting straps were gone! WTH?! I would understand thinking that I just dumped the junk there if it had been just the junk, but bins, bungees, and straps too? It should have been obvious that I was not dumping. On top of that, the parking lot was small and I was within view.
I started making my rounds telling people about what had happened and how the parts were not a big deal, but I really needed those straps to return home. I told the right person; he had a pretty good idea whodunit and, unbeknownst to me at the time, he called the perpetrator out on it. While I was spreading the word, my crap heap mysteriously returned to its former glory.

It was a tiring but worthwhile day. I thank the dude who helped me get my stuff back and those who gave me good advice and good deals.

In the beginning...

there was madness.
Perhaps, it is fitting that this project began on the day of the beginning of the end of the world. I saw an ad on CL for what was either a Beetle parts car or some parts. It was not far away and worth a shot. It turned out to be not what I expected at all: scads of parts, a Beetle shell, and a Beetle chassis (non-roller) all housed within a barn. Somebody bought the car years ago and began disassembly for restoration. The car sat in pieces... and piles until the seller, Amiel, attempted to resume the project then despaired.
For $300, I am the proud owner of piles of disorganized Beetle parts that could possibly form a 1974 Volkswagen Beetle... after I go insane. I was hesitant to make the purchase at first, but after months of shut doors (and over a year of passive searching), this car seems like the path that God wants me to follow. After seeing about one third of the parts, I feel rather daunted and quite mad.

During Camping's rapture, Amiel and his family piled many parts onto my trailer and into my tiny car, probably exceeding the GVWR by a straw or two. I have sorted the parts on my deck by suspension/brakes, engine, do not want, and WTF. I plan to power wash the bits that can handle water before filling my basement with them. I often lament not having a loving wife, however, it is instances such as these that I am glad to be single than to have a wife who just does not understand the madness.
So far, it looks like I have:

• At least two sets of drum brakes (four lug)
• A pair of five lug drum brakes
• A pair of calipers of unknown origin
• A pair of brake disks
  
• Two chassis front ends (whatever the things that hold the front struts et al are called)
• Engine cover (what do you call a trunk lid when it conceals an engine?)
  
• Hood
  
• Two engine cooling fans (heavy duty motors!)
  
• One engine block with connecting rods, crank, flywheel, clutch, and pointy bits
• Four round cylinders with pistons
• Four square cylinders with pistons
• Six! heads with varying completeness of valves, springs, and rockers
  
• Mysterious aluminum pulley with graduation
• Two shifters
• Emergency brake handle
• Spindles?
• Chrome trim
• Back seat with the upholstery torn to reveal a houndstooth pattern
• Seat belts
• Interior bits (those cool old pull knobs, rear view mirrors, and weird stuff)
• Lots of thin sheet metal shrouds presumably for the engine cooling
• Two heat exhanges
• Muffler/exhaust
• Carburetors
• Some unopened packages of JC Whitney parts
  
• Chrome VW hub caps
• "New" carpeting
• Lots of dampers. At least three are in boxes
  
• One long tie rod
  
• One short tie rod
  
• Quadrilateral cork gaskets with beveled corners. Being cork, I thought that they were for the heating/vent system, but they are rather coincidentally shaped like the place on the head where valve covers would go...
  
• Covers to match the cork gaskets
  
• ???????
• Lots and lots of dirt, grime, and general filth

There is more stuff that I could not identify or have forgotten about.
I bought a Made in China cart from TSC with a claimed 1200 pound weight capacity. Looking at the thing, I think that the capacity is rated by how much force can be applied to the cart before it will be crushed beyond recognition as having once been a cart. My plan is to place the shell onto the cart so that can move it around my property by mood to optimize my neighbhors' view and appreciation of the glorious Beetle. I might buy a second cart to build the chassis on until it can roll on its own.
Tomorrow, I shall haul back another load and start washing the parts. Lord willing, this vomited Beetle will resemble an automobile one day.