Shiftin' Ghia

[RUSS74GHIA]

And, remember this?

[Wout]

Awesome!!! The 'aged' pictures looks verry 70ties 

Just don't like the blinkers  , maybe original <70 ones look way better?

gr
Wout

[RUSS74GHIA]

Awesome!!! The 'aged' pictures looks verry 70ties 

Thanks. The pictures are really simple, just switch your camera onto night mode, and if it has a setting for non-natural light switch that on as well, it enhances the blues over the reds and yellows

Just don't like the blinkers  , maybe original <70 ones look way better?
gr
Wout

I agree, however this was simply an economic decision as they were less than £10 new and origianal ones aren't exactly cheap. A friend of mine is making some stainless bases. I'll trim them so the indicators point forwards. Anyway, anything is an improvement on the '71> inducators

[Wout]

I understand the blinker economic thing  , I have an early 69 with lots of bodywork to do and I was blown away of the prices for parts   . In the states there much cheaper, but it cost a lot to get it here  .

Good luck!

gr
Wout

[RUSS74GHIA]

Brief update.

Barrels are STILL at the machine shop, so that's held up the engine build as I daren't get my heads cut until I've got the barrels back on and rechecked the deck.

Picked up an AM box yesterday This is a late 1300 IRS box and as such has the 4.375 final drive. Should be a 20 minute job to change seeing as the engine's already out and I have the luxury of a removable rear valence.

I've also just landed a full N2O kit. After I've shaken the car down a few times I'll add that in the mix. Most probably at the end of the season when there's more time for tinkering, but you never know....

[RUSS74GHIA]

And it's in!



All electrics relocated to luggage area to keep the engine bay clear. Just need a little bit of fettling as she's not really in tune, and then out for Open Sport Nationals.

After that, I'll be playing with the blue bottle, some solenoids & foggers

[jamiep_jamiep]

Ace Russ, looks great!

[kev d]

Looking good russ

Can see a trend for removable rear bodywork begining...

[Nico86]

Nice !

[thejohn66]

looking good

[RUSS74GHIA]

Looking good russ

Can see a trend for removable rear bodywork begining...

Cheers.

HRC Body & Paintshop has the mould for the rear end, so if anyone needs one, Phil can lay one up. The access to the engine in a Ghia to begin with is much better than a bug, and with the rear end coming away - look at the room around the carbs. No contorting your arm to access the mixture/air screws from the engine bay, or no need to remove a rear wheel and poke around inside the arch.

With good rear clips becoming harder to get hold of, especially in the UK, I'm sure we'll start to see more & more.

[RUSS74GHIA]

Great news today.

I collected the Ghia from Day's Autoservices (07730 586133) who has fixed her non-running issue. This was traced to a faulty distributer (counterweight baseplate had become separated from lower shaft). Replacement installed, all AOK.
Drove her to the local VOSA centre where she passed her Vehicle Identity Check - so she's now all street legal.

A massive turning point as she's now back at home where I can do all the last little fiddly bits.

[benssp]

Great news today.

I collected the Ghia from Day's Autoservices (07730 586133) who has fixed her non-running issue. This was traced to a faulty distributer (counterweight baseplate had become separated from lower shaft). Replacement installed, all AOK.
Drove her to the local VOSA centre where she passed her Vehicle Identity Check - so she's now all street legal.

A massive turning point as she's now back at home where I can do all the last little fiddly bits.

Good news Russ, will you be racing the Ghia at shakey?

[RUSS74GHIA]

Good news Russ, will you be racing the Ghia at shakey?

Probably not Ben. She could do with going to a rolling road, and I've probably not got time to get that organised, as I'm away next week. Unless by some miracle they've got room this Friday or Saturday. Still got s few weeny bits to do as well (window net, line-lock, bellhousing strap) So it'll be VW Action for some testing and out for National Finals end of September.
So I'll be borrowing back the #cough# GTi #cough# from my sis at Shakey.
See you there.

[RUSS74GHIA]

So, she finally made it out this season. Only 3 runs, but I got to use her in anger 
I already knew from the rolling road last month that I had an issue with fuel pressure at high RPM and I hadn't got round to changing the pump over. On the first run I got to about the 1/8 before she went flat, so I was off the gas, and rolled over the stripe at almost 21 seconds. What was apparent though was that she was much more powerful as I could feel her snaking through 100ft
I then changed the fuel pump to a silver top and put the regulator back in, set to 3.5. A quick spin-up through the water and a decent launch. Again, a little bit squirrely through 1st & 2nd, but at about 800ft she went flat again and I was off the gas, but I managed 16.36 - not bad considering my previous PB was 16.16. First time I'd ever managed the 1/8 under 10 seconds, and just off my best 60ft but with heaps of wheelspin. I ran the tyres slightly higher as a bit of security.
3rd run I wound the reg up to 4.5 and decided not to burnout or stage at launch RPM in an attemp to keep the floats full. Strong through 1st & 2nd, might have left her in 2nd a little too long, but made it to about 1000ft before she went flat again. The good news though is that she ran a new PB of 16.01, and that's lifting-off the last 320ft
After chatting to a few people I'm pretty sure that the 1/4" pipe through the tunnel is causing a restriction, so changing up to 8mm should resolve that. Once sorted I reckon that 130BHP is achievable, so a '14' might be within my grasp.
I had Mark Norton check the cage over and he was happy to furnish me with a 10.00 second sticker.
Now, at Finals last year I had her weighed - bumpers on, seats in - full street weight and she was 917kg. This year she was 804! I was quite surprised considering there's an 8pt cage in there.
All in all a very productive weekend. Thanks to everyone in the VWDRC for the RNJ Car of the Meeting trophy, it appears most of you appreciate the hard work it's taken to get her out there this year.

[RUSS74GHIA]

And here's the proof she made it to the Pod



 

[RUSS74GHIA]

Little update:
11lb bottle installed in the now redundant passenger area )
Nitrous + fuel solenoids mounted-up in the engine bay.
Holley regulators for carbs & nitrous fuel installed.

I've collected a new flywheel oil-seal, shims & dowels, so I'll pull the motor again (it was bolted back in just to move it) after my new stainless exhaust has been trial fitted, then it should be all systems go. Main job now is still to run the 8mm fuel lines

[RUSS74GHIA]

Had the tank out today to upgrade the connector to 8mm. Remounted the fuel pumps, so I've got the comp one (carbs) mounted correctly upright on the bulkhead under the tank, and the smaller one (nitrous) mounted on the framehead apron.
All the pipes are now routed so they won't foul the long steering arm. Just need to run the larger pipe through the car and sort out some unions for my Holley regulator.

[RUSS74GHIA]

Jeez,
This thread has been starved of updates.

In a nutshell; trashed the crank/fly at Bug Jam 2013, rebuilt to 2109cc reusing everything except a new Forged CB 76mm crank and lightened flywheel. Upped the CR a little.

Got her out at Bug Jam 2014 where I ran 14.77 @ 88.2 mph on 7" slicks.

Trashed the diff in the AM gearbox attemping a big RPM launch in a bid to get into the 13's for the night racing at VW Action 2014.

Now under construction; CE type2 trans, Porsche 944 Turbo stubs, CVs & shafts. Rear mount kit from Cogbox. Everything came up pretty cheap. In fact, after selling my old shafts, CVs, broken box & spare box the only real outlay was the mount.

I started to collect parts for a motor upgrade too, bearing in mind my mild heads and carbs, this was the first pace to look. As luck would have it some 44x37.5 Street Eliminators and a set of 44s came up pretty much straight away. Almost immediately following that, Kuhltec rods, FK89, Engle lifters, straight-cuts, 1.4 rockers, Jaycee tubes etc all came up at the right price. So the motor came apart pretty much straight away. Then I met a girl and I've hardly touched any of the car/engine in the last year! Anyway, with the next season looming it's time to get the build underway, heads have been recut to give 11.3:CR, so I'm hoping to be into the 13s at some point in 2016. Manifolds have been tapped for foggers, so once I've got to grips with the new motor/trans combo it'll be time to add some gas and hopefully chase a 12 before the year is out.

Other jobs; swapping out the stock tank for a 2-gallon cell, lexan and getting around to finally fitting the line-lock

[RUSS74GHIA]

We got the bottom-end built up, and assembled the heads using the pushrod springs.

The CB 1.4 rockers measured-up to 1.45:1, so I have .603 lift.

We swapped out my old Scat springs as they've been used for a couple of seasons, and checked the new springs for bind & retainer clearance. All measured-up well.

Got a fair amount of match-porting to be done as the inlets on my S/E heads aren't round like my manifolds.

Also sourcing an 1 3/4 header.

[richie]

We got the bottom-end built up, and assembled the heads using the pushrod springs.

The CB 1.4 rockers measured-up to 1.45:1, so I have .603 lift.

We swapped out my old Scat springs as they've been used for a couple of seasons, and checked the new springs for bind & retainer clearance. All measured-up well.

Got a fair amount of match-porting to be done as the inlets on my S/E heads aren't round like my manifolds.

Also sourcing an 1 3/4 header.

Russ what springs you using now? just an advisory incase, the scat duals wont work at that lift

cheers Richie

[RUSS74GHIA]

Russ what springs you using now? just an advisory incase, the scat duals wont work at that lift

cheers Richie
[/quote]

Cheers Richie.

The new Scat Duals measured-up identical my used ones. The Empi ones were huge, but came with ali retainers which are now in the bin, (been there). I don't have the figures with me, but the there was surprisingly ample tollerance when we checked for bind and guide-retainer clearance

[richie]

 

[RUSS74GHIA]

Oops, forgot to update.

Lots of changes - Box conversion complete, so CE code Type2 box with 944Turbo CVs, driveshafts & stub-axles.

Motor has been finished, cam burn completed. Dyno'd at 160bhp@fly, beyond that there was points bounce. So now running pertronix.

Got her out at Big Bang, where she ran down to 14.1 @ 96.6, but with huge wheel hop. Trashed the box and an outer CV because of it.

Next meeting, Springspeed at Shakey replaced the box, added a trapeze bar, hop was better, but still noticeable. Another 14.1

Summer Nationals - fitted the slicks , this cured the wheel hop 100%. (ill still add further frame-horn support, change to Delrin grommets though). 13.81@96.3. Picked the front wheels up too.

1.95 to 60, 8.784@79.93 to the 1/8th.  Could have had a few more revs at the hit, and the in car footage shows I was ignoring the tacho, resulting in short shifting (my ears had got used to changing at 5800 I think), so maybe there's a mid 13@100mph in there

Of course, I'd love to be in our Pro Class, so if 13.5 is all she's got with this motor, then the easiest option to get into the 12s would be a bit of gas.. I'm not really prepared to put any more than 40 in though, so if she's a 13.8 car then so be it.

Bug Jam - looks like previous judder had caused the flywheel to crack between the dowels, causing axial play. Not the end of the world as the crank has zero signs of damage. I still managed the quarter final in my daily, but it's not the same.

She should be all fixed for National Finals at Santa Pod in September, with a new set of KYB GR11 adjust-a-rides. We'll see what we can do, and then plan some work for the winter.

[RUSS74GHIA]

Ok, well....
I got her all fixed for National Finals last September, got some air under the front tyres on all 3 runs and a new PB of 13.66 @ 93mph.
Unfortunately on the 3rd run I missed 3rd, over-revved, threw a rod, broke 2 pistons, lifters, cam.... you know the story. Nothing salvageable from the bottom-end.
Looking at a repair bill in the region of £3K, and realising that any gain in power would cost even more, I've had to call it a day for air-cooled motors for now.
I'm converting to an APX 20V Turbo motor from an Audi TT Quattro. This will hopefully bring me the power upgrade I'm looking for without costing the earth.
I know it's no longer fitting with the Cal-Look spirit, but it suits my purpose & budget better.