UK Spec 1300 '67

[brewsy]

Hi All,
Its been long enough now so no more lurking! 

Ive been into VW's since I was a sprog and my 1st car was a '72 1200 which I basically ragged to death and (static) lowered excessively!
Been without any car for the past 20 odd years but now back in the UK and bought the family (me really) a car.

Meet Ruby (as shes Ruby red) a 1300cc UK spec 1967 car.
As its the family car the plan is to get it into a reliable daily driver with modernish safety bits ie all round inertia seat belts, refurb all braking, steering and clutch parts so that the driving experience is as close to a 'modern' as possible. That way my partner might actually drive it once in while rather than waste money on buying another car which in London we really don't need!!
Shes currently been converted (badly) into 12V and has the chrome eyebrows and window highlights which I want to throw away but partner and daughter love!

Overall plan is to gradually turn her into a road burner but keep it stock height and look but with killer performance.
My crazy idea is a 1300 DP turbo...

Cheers,
Marc

[brewsy]

Basic work completed so far:
Rebuilt windscreen wipers/motor (12V) - the garage that did the 12V conversion just used a voltage dropper (meh)
New ball-joints and extended adjustment camber/castor adjusters.
Gearbox oil change
New rear drums and slaves
New indicator stalk inc 12V flasher relay and some rewiring as again the garage didnt swap the 6V relay and actually left the high beam flashers disconnected!
New vacuum only stock style distributor and pointless ignition http://www.simonbbc.com/electronic_ignition_kits/by_distributor_model/bosch_distributor_009_and_034_powerspark_electronic_ignition_kit So far really impressed with this. Starting is much improved and engine revs out much better.

Work left before I get tuning!!
Fit new front drums, slaves and a new dual circuit master.
Make an Empi camber compensator AND Z bar work together.
Fit beam joint stiffeners.
Choose and fit new shocks.
Fit my rebuilt steering box. Waiting for it to be finished off by Type3Tim from the Samba  ! https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=660446&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=trw+steering+box&start=0
Fit urethane anti roll bar mounts.
Four wheel alignment.

ENJOY and then
      Start TURBO motor build     

[Neil Davies]

Nice '67, and nice plans. I think I'd be tempted to go for discs on the front with a turbo motor, especially if you want the wife to drive it! If you've got to get new drums, wheel cylinders and shoes, you're probably not far off a dropped spindles and disc kit.

[glassback kid]

I like that, Nice looking clean original 67 i also like the idea of a warmed up little motor, However i would consider upgrade to disks at the front. With regards to the eyebrows i would loose them, tell the good lady they fell off somewhere 

[Neil Davies]

I like that, Nice looking clean original 67 i also like the idea of a warmed up little motor, However i would consider upgrade to disks at the front. With regards to the eyebrows i would loose them, tell the good lady they fell off somewhere 

And the bumpers...
Richie shows just how cool a '67 can look with his latest cab: http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,25367.msg340566.html#msg340566

[brewsy]

With regards to the eyebrows i would lose them, tell the good lady they fell off somewhere 

Cheers for the comments Gents.
Im totally with you on the disks and will certainly install the CSP wide5 disc conv. when the motor is ready to go.
With a young child and living in London my 'garage' is non existent and time not my own so the new motor is going to be some time...

Glass, if the eyebrows 'fell off' I think my Mrs would make something of mine fall off.....

Not completely sure about lowering it either at the mo. Sacrilege I know on the Cal Look forum but Im thinking about the handling and ability to negotiate the mean pot holey streets where I live!
Showed my partner the wheels I like (Cosmics) and got a very negative response...
https://www.vwheritage.com/ac601025bp-wheel-ssp-cosmic-tuv-black-polished-5-205-5-5x15-et2
Thinking 155 at front at 165 at rear....

Marc

[brewsy]

The car passed the MOT on Saturday.
Haven't owned a car for at least 20 years, took it back to the place that I used to use and the guy remembered me!!

Just had 4x inertia diagonal seat belts installed so the sprog will now go in the back.
Front brakes and new (rebuilt) steering box to go and I'll see what my partner thinks about driving an old Beetle!

Marc

[glassback kid]

[quoteNot completely sure about lowering it either at the mo. Sacrilege I know on the Cal Look forum but Im thinking about the handling and ability to negotiate the mean pot holey streets where I live][/quote]

think we both might get thrown off the forum now but i kind of agree with you on this one or may be fit adjusters but just use them to lower the front slightly not fully, or go the dropped spindle route but then you got the hassle of making the front track wider, may get away with it if you keep stock steels on it.

[brewsy]

Work left before I get tuning!!

Fit my rebuilt steering box. Waiting for it to be finished off by Type3Tim from the Samba  ! https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=660446&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=trw+steering+box&start=0

GOT IT!!
AS the old expression goes "the only certain things in life are death and taxes" and good old HMRC got me with import duty! Boooo hisss
Anyway its a work of art and I cant wait to fit it.

Cheers Tim!

[brewsy]

Latest update.
Still bringing her up to a decent standard..
Was supposed to have 3 days off work but ended up being 2 so will have to carry on working on Saturday. Shame as I was hoping to make it to my 1st VW show in 20 years! (http://grill-n-chill.co.uk).

Anyway fitted the new drums, slave cylinders and shoes. A PO had painted the inside of the backing plate inc springs!
Fitted the new dual circuit master but could only hook up the rear line as the front ones wouldnt fit.
Also started to unhook the old (new Varga) box and found that the inner tie rod ends, the ones that bolt to the pitman arm, were super tight which would also add to the supper heavy steering! Annoying as rubbers look OK so I gues theyve just dried out. New ones on order.
Lastly and most annoying was to find that at somestage the beam was off and the PO didnt manage to bolt down one of the top bolts fully and sheared OFF the other.
New or replacement beam will therefore have to be sought..
grrr

Oh and notice the swiss cheese effect on the head as a PO tried (in vain) to do 'something' with the petrol feed which failed so the current feed comes out where a LH drive cars master cylinder would be!!

[Neil Davies]

That's an "interesting" set of holes in the top of the framehead! I'd get that plated up as soon as possible, certainly before the next MOT.
A previous owner of my car had cut the framehead open with a giant x shape so only the bottom plate of the framehead was holding the beam on! If someone rocked the car by the gutters the beam stayed still...
While you're elding up the top of the framehead, put a large nut over that snapped stud and fill it with weld. The heat will help to unfreeze it and you'll be able to get a spanner on it. Might take a few goes, and obviously the end of the stud should be clean, but it might save the beam. If not, drill it out and re-tap it.

[brewsy]

Cheers Neil.
No welding yet. Whilst it looks bad the hole(s) arent actually too bad. Im more worried about the beam not being fully supported so have ordered a set of removal tools and will drill out the bad bit of bolt.
Also got new inner tie rods, steering damper and top beam rubber mounts/bolts so fingers crossed will have a nice solid friend end.

[brewsy]

Gah.
Seems that the PO heard Neils advice, they had actually welded the square washer ONTO what was left of the snapped bolt AND neither side of the body to beam mounts had the rubber under the body...
[ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Good news is that the 'new' box is lovely! The actual new TRW box was super tight and notchy.
[ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Still not completely happy with the steering as the tie rods were super tight, even with the drop link disconnected from the steering box I could hardly move the tie rods by hand!
Next is the brakes as the new drums seem to be rubbing on the shoe retaining springs

[brewsy]

New German quality drums ordered.
Also compared quality of new 'repop' shoes [ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ] to the old 'repops' [ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ] and the quality seems to have detoriated. Doesnt seem that anybody offers new performance shoes but did find EBC offer a set of shoes. These are now ordered so hopefully they are nearer to OEM quality.

[brewsy]

Heres pics of findings.
I reckon the drums are machined poorly where the rear bearing cage sits therefore brings the drum 'closer' to the backing plate.
So with that and the bad shoes Im getting friction in all the wrong places!!!

[brewsy]

Quick update.
No pictures as I just wanted to get my brakes back in action.
German sourced drums were WAY better quality. Machining seemed much better quality as did the actual casting, for instance I hadn't noticed but on one of the Brazilian(?) drums one of the cutouts that allows you to tap out the bearing races wasn't even there!
Can also recommend the EBC shoes over other pattern parts as the friction material seemed much better quality and more 'even' and the way it was glued to the shoe was more consistent that the other units with no friction material overhanging the shoe itself.

Needless to say there was now obviously much more clearance looking through the adjuster hole and there was absolutely no 'scraping' noises when the drum was rotated!
Cant waiit to bed them in, re-adjust and then PIN the brakes!!

[Nico86]

Nice car

You always have that kind of surprises when buying a car. What I've learnt with time and successive cars I've bought, is to check everything and every single bolts and parts after purchase. That's how I discovered some people were okay with mounting an engine with only half the bolts, some others were okay with driving everyday with the front spindles bolts un-locked, and others who were wondering why front wheels were locking hard immediately when braking when they've mounted contact rain tires with the rotation backwards...

Thankfully it will soon be as you want it to be!

[brewsy]

More 'fun' found today.
Rear left wheel has been 'squeaking' for some time but I put it down to the drums not being adjusted correctly. Rear brakes were done by a garage, not me, as I didnt have a breaker bar/torque wrench to set the hub nuts correctly.
Surprise surprise but the hub nut doesnt look like it was seated correctly before it was torqued and the split pin inserted.
Will let you know what the garage say about it!!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tzoQ5hFz6M2INxau1

[brewsy]

All good.
Garage took the car back in and sorted the hubs. Apparently both werent fully up to torque.
Ride is nice and silent now.

Normal service resumed...

[brewsy]

Quick update:
Seems the garage didn't tighten them up enough and some miles later the noise was back!
Ended up tightening it the old fashioned way using a breaker bar, me as 'calibrated' ballast and a set of scales!!
All good now...

Next job was a touch of cosmetics as I replaced a cheap chrome headlight rim and removed the eyebrows (much to the annoyance of my wife and daughter)..

https://photos.app.goo.gl/PtGB3GtLjCjNQgNW7

[andy198712]

no washer under the nut too so it may have been the nut was bottoming out on the thread but not clamping the drum.....

on the heavy steering, one thing i found helped was a stock steering wheel too (if you have a smaller one) going from a small wheel back to stock felt like i had power steering.... well, comparatively

nice build!!

[brewsy]

Cheers Andy,
I cant find a record of a washer for the rear nut in the Bentley or any of the veedub shops. Do you know of any reference to it?

Already got a stock steering wheel! 
Im positive that its the joints as when I changed the box it was SOOO stiff to move the steering rods using my hands.

no washer under the nut too so it may have been the nut was bottoming out on the thread but not clamping the drum.....

on the heavy steering, one thing i found helped was a stock steering wheel too (if you have a smaller one) going from a small wheel back to stock felt like i had power steering.... well, comparatively

nice build!!

[andy198712]

Cheers Andy,
I cant find a record of a washer for the rear nut in the Bentley or any of the veedub shops. Do you know of any reference to it?

Already got a stock steering wheel! 
Im positive that its the joints as when I changed the box it was SOOO stiff to move the steering rods using my hands.

no washer under the nut too so it may have been the nut was bottoming out on the thread but not clamping the drum.....

on the heavy steering, one thing i found helped was a stock steering wheel too (if you have a smaller one) going from a small wheel back to stock felt like i had power steering.... well, comparatively

nice build!!

sorry my brains a little hazy, alot of the nuts i've seen have been flanged nuts (washer built in, if you will)

it could be that the nut is bottoming out on the thread and not fully clamping the drum, if you have that movement, the nut should be hand loose once the pin is out, if its still tight then its bottoming on the threads.... hope that helps

[brewsy]

Following on from the 'Beam Saga' I finally got the time to take the front end out and drop it on the floor.
Unfortunately drilling out the previously stuck and then welded bolt didnt go so well!!
[ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ]
I simply couldn't get through the existing bolt/weld even with titanium coated drillbits and bolt remover tools (the ones that are LH threaded). Heat didnt help either.
Compared to the good one on the other side.
[ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ]

[brewsy]

So looked high and low and luckily fleabay came up trumps and I found this at a cheap price within 75miles of home.
[ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ]

Was described as refurbished but the seller didnt know what had been done to it as it came from a previous project he inherited.
Looks OK and better than my existing beam but I already have new end grease seals and my 'ends' already had new ball joints and extended camber/caster adjusters fitted so will swap those in before I get back onto the road.

Only bummer seems to be that the refurbisher ground off the steering box retaining 'nubs'
[ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ]

Am I OK to just bolt it up anyway as the clamp exerts a shed ton of clamping force or is that an absolute 'no no'?
I dont have easy access to a welder apart from getting one of those mobile welding vans to come round to my street.

Thoughts?

[baz]

Those nubs are just to align the box at correct angle, most in not all aftermarket beams don't have them. You'll be fine without, it'll just take time to align correctly.

[brewsy]

Those nubs are just to align the box at correct angle, most in not all aftermarket beams don't have them. You'll be fine without, it'll just take time to align correctly.

Cheers Baz.

Managed to get the 'new' beam fitted including fitting the 'German quality' rubbers below and on top of the beam (which was the point of this WHOLE escapade) which made me very happy.
One side trailing arms and drum fitted so just the other side to go and then onto fitting all new:
tie rod ends (mayle)
shocks (sachs)
shock rubber top things
steering damper (sachs)

Compared the action of the old shocks which were also sachs to the new. Surprisingly the rebound felt exactly the same but the old shocks had ZERO compression damping.
Cant wait to feel the ride now with all new rubber in the right places and the dampers damping!!

[brewsy]

Still got work to do but finally got the beam installed WITH the rubbers under the beam!! (pretty much the main reason I started this whole front end business!!)
[ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ]
And after ordering all new tierod ends I STILL have one thats incorrect.... ahhhhhh

Still, nearly done!!
oh and the tank is now a wobbly fit... Wonder if the front end has been changed and they fitted it without the front end being supported correctly? (sigh)

[brewsy]

WOW.
Got to say that all this crap was worth it. The ride is now pretty much like a modern! The new rubber axle mounts and shock tops seems to have made all the difference.
Loudest thing in the interior is now the squeaky seats and glovebox.
Steering also feels great with all new Meyle tie-rod ends, rebuilt steering box and all bar one new ball joints.
Just need to get an alignment done. I would love to do it myself with string etc but I literally know no-one with a flat garage and or any flat parking areas...
Then will refit the stock anti-roll bar but with the urethane mounts so that there is no 'wasted' motion. Considering the a-r bar doesn't touch the chassis this shouldn't add any NVH issues

Next thing is going to be the rear shocks and rear body to chassis rubbers...

[brewsy]

Got an alignment today and super pleased with the numbers and the feeling.
[ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ]

Went at stock settings for now and was super pleased with the numbers at the rear being spot bollock on.
That shows that at least the car a) hasnt been messed with (at the rear) and b) is straight!!!

If anybody wants to get their stuff checked/adjusted in S.London drop me a PM and I'll give you the deets.