Karman Sutra

[Fiatdude]

Been trying to get my Ghia to the salt for the last couple of years and between the lack of cash and then the E85 issue, it just hasn't came to fruition -- -- A while back a Company in the UK -- VW Heritage -- Opened a contest where they would help you have a road trip of your dreams -- I just had to enter --

TODAY I GOT THIS EMAIL

From: AGregory@vwheritage.com
To: hhill99@hotmail.com
Subject: Your VW Heritage dream road trip made the shortlist!
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2015 14:53:46 +0000

Hi,
Thank you for entering the VW Heritage Win your dream Road trip competition.

Your entry has been selected to join a shortlist of our 5 favourites, so you are in with a great chance of winning!

We will be announcing the shortlist in our newsletter at the end of the week, and will open up a vote to find the winner (the vote will be open until the end of Jan).

Each trip will be detailed on our website, blog and Facebook – we will provide the answer you gave, and accompany it with a basic map showing where you plan to travel.

We would love to feature your VW, and a picture of you and anyone you were wanting to travel with to help bring the story to life even more.

The more information you can provide, the better your story, the better chance you have of winning!

We will provide you with web the links as soon as they are created, so you can inform friends and family, and get them to support you from the start.

Congratulations on making the final five, I look forward to hearing more about your trip shortly.

Happy New Year!

Andy

 Andy Gregory
 Marketing Manager

DDI: 01273 444014


VW Heritage Parts Centre Limited | Registered in England & Wales: 3294341
 47 Dolphin Road, Shoreham-By-Sea, West Sussex, BN43 6PB, U.K.
 

International Tel: +44 1273 444000 | International Fax: +44 1273 454986
 

http://www.vwheritage.com


CAN I GET YOU GUYS TO VOTE FOR ME??

[Fiatdude]

I had to back out of the VW Heritage promotion,,,, part of their deal was they wanted the owner to drive their VW to the location and back....

After I started looking at all the stuff I needed to have with me to participate on the salt, and looking just how small the Ghia was, I knew that I needed to have a truck and trailer to haul my junk and car up there and back, and I couldn't afford to drive two vehicles. So I told them of my dilemma and offered to withdraw and they accepted my decision and thanked me for being upfront on my attentions.... So now I need to start saving my nickels and dimes to see if I can afford to make the trip on my own. DAMN ,,, I was sure excited there for a minute or two

[Peter]

That sucks Harold!
cant you hook up a trailer? 

[Fiatdude]

Hmmmmmmm

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[Fiatdude]

The Ghia has been setting like this for about a month chasing push rod tube oil leaks -- -- been so pissed at it I haven't even put the tools away,,,, Did leave a BF hammer right there in case the need arose LOL

Just got a set of super whammy killer push rod tubes from Roger Crawford and it looks like they are gonna solve my problems (I've installed them on the "problem" side and they're sealing) -- so now I've got to get motivated and do the other side -- you can see the problem ones (blue) and Roger's new ones (silver)

[Fiatdude]

I have had good luck with JayCees spring tubes.

One of the biggest issues I've had with having an engine this big (2989cc), is the amount of growth during the heating/cooling cycle. And a lot of stuff that works fine on smaller engines, just doesn't hold up with this duty cycle. So I very rarely complain about parts issues I encounter. That said, I've been looking for some super whammy large diameter tubes (to fit the bigger push rods) to address this issue.

During a casual conversation with Roger Crawford, I found that he had had these same issues on his race engines, and had developed these tubes with a higher spring rate and triple oil O-rings -- -- From first impressions, these are perfect (I had to hit the gym to get enough strength to collapse the springs for install LOL)... And instead of using oil for assembly, I used some high temp anti-seize goop I had laying around. SO, I'm thinking (fingers crossed) I've finally solved this issue!!!!

[Peter]

Fingers crossed indeed!
leaking engines can be a pain 

[Fiatdude]

So today the wife and I were coming back from Home Depot, and this primer Oval is making a left turn in front of us and I'm looking at it...  and looking at it ... thinking could it be ? could it be? ----- 

Sure enough, there's the Ovalholio sticker on the side window -- The kid I sold it to, has it running and going down the road -- I got pretty excited to see the kid had done what he said and got it running -- It's been two years since I sold it to him, It's still primer and still has the same wheel and tires on it..... But it looked way cool going down the road --

Wife couldn't understand why I got so excited...... LMAO

Here's some pictures I took the day I took it over to his house......

[Fiatdude]

Well,,, The EFI has been in the shop for a while and I've been staring at the car, kinda just walking by and giving it the middle finger because of the EFI screwing up again big time,,,,,, FINALLY, I get a call yesterday from the head honcho, and "they" have finally been able to duplicate all the "issues" I've been having with the unit forever --- --- HOLY CHIT,,, I'm not insane, so they are shipping me a brand new unit as a form of an apology for all my freaking banging my head against the wall trying to get this damn thing to work.....

YYYEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I've found my ambition for the car again and been out welding and cutting and fixing and cleaning up and .. .. and  .. .. you get the picture...... So I've done a couple of thing of note





Also, I've made an appointment with the EFI Guru (His is a wiring harness super dude) and I'll finally be making the change to sequential on the injectors since I've had Mario's cam sync setting in tool box for a while....

So , It's about time I've gotten a happy face about this POS car I've got!!!!!!

[Fiatdude]

She wanted to drive the Ghia and she said she knew how to shift a stick -- but I've got my doubts -- I'll have to keep an eye on this

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[Fiatdude]

So been working on the Ghia -- -- This car when I first got it had a Porsche 901 trans in it, that lasted about 30 miles, then I got a 091 from BENCO trans in Riverside CA -- This thing has been bullet proof so far, but I was broke when I first had it done and didn't have a LSD installed...... So after a few track days it was very apparent that the LSD was needed as I was frying the inside rear tire off as I left every corner --- -- So I had the LSD put in and the trans freshened up. BUT because the 091 hockey stick comes out above the tunnel, I've always had some funky linkage for the shifter... I've just welded in and above tunnel shifter and rod and got it all aligned up.........



here's where the 091 comes into the cabin,,, all the lines are for my air-to-water intercooler system



Also been meaning to change the EFI over from batch fire injectors to sequential fire -- I've been running a crank fire but never had the cam sensor on the car to be able to do it.... Found 'The Dub Shop' up in Washington and Mario has developed a cool little cam sensor that plugs into the distributor hole,,,, so been working on doing this change over

[spanners]

That is a jewel cam sync flat, but sequencial fuel ? Hmmmm,  ok for cruising lol! just do the ignition sequential for per cylinder trim and knock retard, many ECU's also do wheel speed input for traction control, that may be better for you if your local regs allow it,  sequence fuel won't get enough in at your power output, are you staging the injecting already?

[Fiatdude]

Got the new Cam Sensor installed -- What a PITA!!!!!! -- -- everything that could screw up did.... Finally went and got my Engine Guru and between the two of us we were able to get the Distributor drive in,,,, it fought us all the way... the sensor dropped right in after that  -- Looks good in there now

[Fiatdude]

Somebody provided me this link for a great technical resource for driving in a crooked manner -- thought I'd share

http://www.turnfast.com/technical

[Peter]

cool!
thanks Harold!
I d like to have my car handling well..
I am thinking of getting better tires for my cookie cutters so i can swap them out if i want to take some corners
I d like to still have a bit of rake though, no lowered ass for me,
so it will be a compromise. I wonder if i can make it handle without changing the look too much

[Fiatdude]

SO after 3 years .. .. .. enuff said

[BeetleBug]

SO after 3 years .. .. .. enuff said

Ouch.. better find a decent ECU and re do the wiring 

[Fiatdude]

Spent the day making some brackets to mount the new coils -- Slowly laying everything out so that I will not get any ignition and injector feedback into the crank and cam sensors

[Fiatdude]

Man, With each coil sporting 5 wires, it is making this wiring job a bastard to keep it looking clean, I could of 'hid' it better with longer wire runs, but I was wanting to keep the power wire as short as possible after looping it thru a ferrite core to kill the 'noise' from the coils -- -- I do not want any interference getting into the cam and crank sensors this time ====

This took me 5 hours with building the harness and doing the plugs and it is still not done, This is with only 1 wire connected, 4 more to go -- hitting it hard today,,, again

[Fiatdude]

The wife took me on a little jaunt to San Fran this past weekend -- Got there, took the BART into town and decided to walk to the hotel up Mason street -- to Knob Hill -- dragging a 55 lb suitcase -- -- -- Not for the weak of heart and diffidently not for me LOL -- -- The last two blocks were straight freaking up, and I had to stop about 6 times to keep from leaking to death LOL



But once we got there the view out our window was beautiful

[Fiatdude]

After::::::::::::::::::



Now I'm waiting on my Metricpak connectors to get here --- Should of ordered them before the weekend but couldn't find what I wanted until last night late -- -- coming from Texas -- --

[Neil Davies]

Wiring scares me! As far as I'm concerned, electronic things run on smoke - when the smoke escapes from the wires, it doesn't work any more! I do like reading about your Ghia, Harold!

[Fiatdude]

That is a jewel cam sync flat, but sequencial fuel ? Hmmmm,  ok for cruising lol! just do the ignition sequential for per cylinder trim and knock retard, many ECU's also do wheel speed input for traction control, that may be better for you if your local regs allow it,  sequence fuel won't get enough in at your power output, are you staging the injecting already?

Sorry Spanners -- Missed your comment -- -- The Electromotive was full batch fire on the injectors and wasted spark on the ignition -- Finally ended up with it not wanting to idle, so just pulled the whole system out and I'm putting in a AEM EMS4 system I've had setting on the shelf for over a year....... I've never ran knock control on my flat four engines, I found there were just too many noises floating around in there for the knock to work OK for me -- -- The EMS does have wheel speed capabilities, I have a spare sensor but no slotted wheel, so I won't be running them right now... I've got 1800cc injectors in the car currently so I believe there will be enough to get me by - I do have a few more sets of injectors laying around, but I've never staged two sets,,, I do have my regulator boost referenced so that the pressure rises from 40 psi -- and I've never reached the upper limits of the injectors even at 24 psi boost, but that was on batch fire so I'll have to keep a eye on that when I start this sequential setup

Wiring scares me! As far as I'm concerned, electronic things run on smoke - when the smoke escapes from the wires, it doesn't work any more! I do like reading about your Ghia, Harold!

Thanks Neil -- as far as the wiring -- I like to think of it as plumbing,,, LOL -- -- Got to keep it flowing to the drain (ground)

[andy198712]

Nice job! making wiring look nice is a fine art! mine always looks a bit rats nest like, i was to start using that expanding sleeve stuff (like you have on your cam sync) that seems to make it look pretty!

[Fiatdude]

Thanks Andy -- I should take a picture of the rats nest I have inside the car LOL -- I'm still trying to sort it all out

[spanners]

Things have moved on since my turbo time, but my turbo days ain't done yet, I'm building back up to it bit at a time, yes, it's comming back, I couldn't get enough juice in then, they were forever squirting! Then, the bitch had no hot start,,,engine wrecking back fires etc,  that even with 8 boost refered injectors, but with some of the fuel pressure settings I hear about today, it may work ok in sequential. I had noise issues at first, but learned the art of screening and resistor plugs etc,.
shame to cover all that pretty coil wiring with plastic screens lol, I had to re do a lot of my connectors just last week, budget price= budget quality,  some fell of just working on the car, let alone on the track, I recommend Brands Hatch performance for UK connector supplies, very good OEM quality, but that looks like it's Coming on nicely Fiat, so frustrating waiting for the postman....

[Fiatdude]

Was planning on having a nice relaxing day today, It's a beautiful day, shorts and t-shirt weather here in Cali -- Well, My wife and I are recovering from having our kitchen completely tore apart from the ice maker line breaking and hosing the floor and cabinets and walls down -- but after about 29 hours of listening to the dehumidifiers drone on and on and on and on, I decided to go out into the garage where it's nice and quiet and plunk away at wiring up the engine harness for the AEM -- so I decide to make a few runs here and there and get some wires about where they need to be and complete the injector wiring -- I've got the ghia stripped down, all the seats are out so I can get my fat arse in to snake between the roll bars and poke wires thru the fire wall, then I crawl out backwards and get into the engine compartment and pull them thru -- I've been doing this for about 4 hours -- in and out, in and out -- so I finally got the injector wires half way shrink wrapped and I'm getting ready to put the connectors on and finish this chit up,, It's looking pretty good and then I cut them to the length I want -- -- Now AEM has some nice harness, each wire is labeled with what it is for, and they put the harness together with a zip tie about every foot, But all the injectors are the same color  and I just cut off the wire .. .. and the labeling can't be seen as it is under the shrink wrap,,,,, Damn it, So I get out the ohm meter and poke a lead thru the fire wall, walk around snake myself into the car, pop the connector off the EFI and start seeing which wire is for which injector,,,, easy peasy -- so I'm backing out from inside the car and suddenly there something cold, wet stuck up my arse -- -- I scream like the little girl that I am and almost launch myself out through the opposite side of the car --  -- -- The freaking neighbors Great Dane had got of its back yard and snuck into my garage was checking out what I was doing ... O Holy Chit, it skeered the living crap out of me

The wife comes running out thinking I have attempted to kill myself .. again ... --So I then end up hurting my back lifting the wife off the ground where she was rolling on the floor laughing and crying her eyes out -- F-it,,, I'm done for today......

[Fiatdude]

My old '56 Oval is for sale -- Ovalholio -- Looks like the disc brakes let him down

http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/cto/4964111242.html

[spanners]

Great post fiat, thanks, shame the oval got a ding, the rest had me creased up though lol.... 

[andy198712]

Was planning on having a nice relaxing day today, It's a beautiful day, shorts and t-shirt weather here in Cali -- Well, My wife and I are recovering from having our kitchen completely tore apart from the ice maker line breaking and hosing the floor and cabinets and walls down -- but after about 29 hours of listening to the dehumidifiers drone on and on and on and on, I decided to go out into the garage where it's nice and quiet and plunk away at wiring up the engine harness for the AEM -- so I decide to make a few runs here and there and get some wires about where they need to be and complete the injector wiring -- I've got the ghia stripped down, all the seats are out so I can get my fat arse in to snake between the roll bars and poke wires thru the fire wall, then I crawl out backwards and get into the engine compartment and pull them thru -- I've been doing this for about 4 hours -- in and out, in and out -- so I finally got the injector wires half way shrink wrapped and I'm getting ready to put the connectors on and finish this chit up,, It's looking pretty good and then I cut them to the length I want -- -- Now AEM has some nice harness, each wire is labeled with what it is for, and they put the harness together with a zip tie about every foot, But all the injectors are the same color  and I just cut off the wire .. .. and the labeling can't be seen as it is under the shrink wrap,,,,, Damn it, So I get out the ohm meter and poke a lead thru the fire wall, walk around snake myself into the car, pop the connector off the EFI and start seeing which wire is for which injector,,,, easy peasy -- so I'm backing out from inside the car and suddenly there something cold, wet stuck up my arse -- -- I scream like the little girl that I am and almost launch myself out through the opposite side of the car --  -- -- The freaking neighbors Great Dane had got of its back yard and snuck into my garage was checking out what I was doing ... O Holy Chit, it skeered the living crap out of me

The wife comes running out thinking I have attempted to kill myself .. again ... --So I then end up hurting my back lifting the wife off the ground where she was rolling on the floor laughing and crying her eyes out -- F-it,,, I'm done for today......

Lol! Some relaxing day huh?!