Lickity Split

[richie]

Coming together really nicely   I can highly recommend some sort of head support to be added to the cage, that lowback seat wont help your neck at all

cheers Richie

[hotstreetvw]

Thanks Richie.  I've been following your thread.  I tired to keep up for a while but you have pulled away from me.

I ordered a head rest kit.  My plan is to make it removable so I can take it off when not racing and keep the nostalgic low back look.

[hotstreetvw]

Can you tell me if this window net install meets the requirements for "inside" of the roll cage?  I can take a straight edge and run it along the tube surfaces and never touch the net.

[Ragtop]

Looks alright to me

[hotstreetvw]

Thanks, I'll keep moving forward.

[hotstreetvw]

Evan (5), Finn (2), Nina (GSD, 2)

[hotstreetvw]

So I had some questions regarding attaching the main hoop rear braces to my subframe.  A lot of guys use 6"x6" plates on the luggage tray, but since there might be a magical scroll back there one day I opted to leave the tray area cutout.  To allow for the body and pan to be separated, I welded a 1-5/8" cross bar between the inner fenders, attached with 1/8" 6"x6" plates.  The rear braces drop down to this and get "welded in".  The cross bar has 3/4" drop tubes with 1/4" thick flanges, 4x 3/8" grade 8 fasteners on each side.  In addition to the 1-5/8 tube from the top of the hoop, I also ran bars from the mid section of the hoop, opposite of where the door bar lands, down to the rear brace at the horizontal bar.

"Section 20, page 23 General Regulations in front of main hoop. If helmet is behind or under main hoop, additional tubing same size and thickness as roll cage must be added to protect driver. Main hoop may be laid back or forward, but driver must be encapsulated within the required roll-cage components. On unibody cars with stock floor and firewall (wheel tubs permitted), the roll cage may be bolted or welded to the floor/rocker box via 6-inch x 6-inch x .125-inch steel plates similar to the roll-bar attachment requirements of paragraph 4:10 in this section. Unless attaching to OEM floor or frame, the minimum requirements for a frame member or fully welded in place frame connectors on unibody cars to which a roll-cage member is attached are 1 5/8-inch x .118-inch MS or .083-inch CM round and/or 2-inch x 2-inch x .058 MS or CM rectangular."



I'll need to separate the body and pan to finish welding the plate.

[hotstreetvw]

Spent some time this weekend building a battery box, sealed and vented.  Now to clean up the wiring.  I went with a 52 harness, no need for cloth covered wiring at 2x the cost.  In addition I'll have a 7 circuit system from painless for the line lock, ignition/injection controller, fuel pump, tach, etc.



Im waiting on a Wolfsburg west seat belt for the lid clamp and it will be complete.



All the roll cage padding is in.  SFI rated around the helmet, "pool noodles" in non critical areas.  This is getting seriously close, ordered Phoenix front runners and all the fittings for the breather box, which I'm going to make a smaller version, similar to the one offered by Doug berg.

[richie]

Nice progress   biggest catch tank/breather box you can is way to go for me, doesn't do any harm and is better just in case!!!

cheers Richie

[hotstreetvw]

Thanks Richie.  I was planning on making one 4x6x2-1/4 similar to the Doug berg on the samba.  I built a much larger one and had plans on mounting it on the firewall inside the cab with bulkhead fittings, but decided against it temporarily.  It's a tight fit getting one on the firewall in the engine bay with the 1" trans raise.  I might be able to go a little larger, just have to see this weekend.

How is your project going?  Have you made it to the track yet?

[hotstreetvw]

I'm no Big Wig, maybe a Lil Wig.

[Rich_h]

Nice panel work 

[hotstreetvw]

Thanks.  It's not pretty, but functional.  I have one access panel for the shifter bushing and a second opposte of the battery behind the drivers seat for fuel injection controller etc.  The rear seat area is made from .080" aluminum with a few cross braces made from .125".  It's strong enough to sit/stand on to access the trans and luggage tray area.  Rather than using dzus fasteners, I went with press in M6 sheet metal nuts and hex head bolts, which makes everything tight and pulled together.  I plan to carpet the rear seat area and the luggage area once it's complete.

I'm on the fence whether to go turbo, or build the big motor NA and maybe add nitrous later.  I still need the luggage area to mount a oil cooler, since the 4" motor blocks off the doghouse cooler.  Decisions decisions.

.

[BeetleBug]

I'm on the fence whether to go turbo, or build the big motor NA and maybe add nitrous later.  I still need the luggage area to mount a oil cooler, since the 4" motor blocks off the doghouse cooler.  Decisions decisions.

Turbo! No doubt. Or even better, all 3: Big NA motor with turbo and nitrous 

Take a look at Mr Shattocks oil cooler solution:





Best rgs
BB

Former Big NA and Nitrous engine owner. Now turbo, high boost and mouse engine. Much more fun and a lot less money

[hotstreetvw]

That is a very good idea, but with the narrowed torsion housing I don't think it would fit.

I had my crank swapped for a 84mm, so it will be a 2724 , still a beast.  I've been researching turbos, looks like something in the ball park of a gtx3582 would get it done.  Maybe too big?

[Neil Davies]

There's no such thing as too big!  How about a large turbo with a hit of gas to overcome the lag?

[hotstreetvw]

More sheet metal work.  I need to finish the top, which will be another 4 pieces.  My plan is to use aluminum tape, same stuff used for duct work, to seal all the seams.  Then cover everything with dynamat.

I'm really considering removing the firewall below where the shelf ties in.  It's an hack job clusterF anyway.  This would give me better access to the trans and engine, but cooling would suffer while on the street.

[hotstreetvw]

As we sit.  The top needs the press in nuts, currently held together with sheet metal screws.  Then tape the seams, some seam sealer around the firewall and it's ready to dynamat.

The faceted edges look cool, but they made for some compound angles.

[hotstreetvw]

A couple Italian ladies came home with me the other night...

These are going to Jaycee for some "work".

[hotstreetvw]

So the turbo is very appealing but, I think I'm going to stick with big NA (KISS principle) for now and enjoy the sounds of the IDAs.  It should still make for a fast car and not completely get a head of myself.  NA will give me a chance to get some seat time in without an absolute monster hanging out the back.  This car hasn't seen the road in 30+ years prior to me putting it together! and nothing over about 25mph in the neighborhood since then.

This will also allow me to focus more on high quality parts that will last into the next generation for this car.

[Neil Davies]

A sensible idea, and being built with one eye on future upgrades is always smart. Coming along nicely - makes me wish I'd held on to my '51!

[hotstreetvw]

Busy working on electrical.  One terminal block for 7 circuit switched power to feed all the toys.  One terminal block for the MSD.  Both are wired in, still need to build a harness to all the accessories and one to the distributor and coil.  Ground bus built from 1/8 copper plate, holds ten grounds and one 6ga to the chassis.



Added a switch panel to the cage, just below the drivers glove box.  Switches for two step and lineloc arming.  Shift light and tach mounted.  My goal was to preserve the look of the split dash.




This may be really hard to see, added a clutch switch.  I used an old micro switch from a golf cart? And modified the clutch stop to have a small notch to allow for the switch to protrude through.  Switch is closed with clutch out, open when pressed.  Couple this with a "pull-up resistor" and it can be used to trigger the two step.  It's not wired yet, but the switch functions well with the clutch in and out.

[hotstreetvw]

Wiring

[hotstreetvw]

[hotstreetvw]

My new fav

[hotstreetvw]

Giant breather, -10 lines for oil filler, fuel pump block off, valve covers and a -12 for the drain.  Baffled internally and two K&N filters.  Took about a day to build.  I figure all in cost about $100 bucks and a bunch of fun!

[Neil Davies]

I like the breather! I used an old  fire extinguisher with several fittings welded around the top. Worked tho!

[hotstreetvw]

Great idea on the extinguisher.

This one was the third incarnation; the previous two where just boxes, no fittings so the cost low.  I found a local place that sells aluminum cutoffs and I was able to score 6061 plate for cheap.  6061 is awesome to weld compared to some of the garbage I've messed with.

[hotstreetvw]

Electrical is pretty much finished.  Engine back together and running.  I checked the two step, by using the clutch out = switch on, I used two 1k ohm resistors in parallel, giving 500 ohm resistance and passing 9.95v to the MSD box.  The MSD has an internal resistance of 3k ish ohms.  Why it isn't designed higher, like most modern electronics is unknown.  Because of the low internal resistance, it's difficult to pass battery voltage with this type of circuit, but apparently 9.95v is enough to trigger the two step.  It was working flawlessly on the street.

Line lock is confirmed working.  Tach is good to go.  Still need to shorten the wide and sensor cable, minor thing.

Padded head rest is installed.  I used a medic type bag with MOLLE attachment stuffed with 2" foam.  Good place to store something???

[hotstreetvw]

Added a seat brace today, makes the seat feel much stiffer.  Bandimere in a week or so, get the suspension close before going to Vegas.  Needs an alignment first.  I haven't been able to get after it yet, so my expectations from this motor are low.