Dude’s 58 Ragtop Beetle

[Deanodynosaurs]

Wow Dude, that's looking great!  You've got more patience than me...

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Cheers Neil. Dunno about patience, some just say I got to much time on my hands!! 

Dude 

I cant believe it hasn't got deanodynosoars valve covers on it  

Looks real good apart from that

cheers Richie

LOL! Cheers Richie, that's a sore point! I DID have DDS valve covers which the Mrs spent a lot on as a birthday present. However when I went to bolt them up I realised they were ether very early and rare 1200 ones, or just shitty Randar copies!!  Not selling them though as Paul Schley has signed them.

Also had a DDS linkage for it, but they don't fit with a MSD dizzy, believe me I tried lots of modifications to get it to fit!!

Dude 

[aussie]

Awesome job! Can't wait to see it in paint. 

[Jesus]

looking great dude!

[Deanodynosaurs]

Awesome job! Can't wait to see it in paint. 

Thank you! Me neither!

looking great dude!

Cheers mate.

[GASBNR]

Just read the thread from the start. Great work dude.
Inspiration 
OL

[butterskotch]

Good work Dude.

Nice to see the works still going on.  
It really is unbelievable to me to see how many similarities there are to my build (which is still on going), to the point that Steveo did all of my paint, the pan stand which he painted your pan on is what I made to do mine and ended up giving to Steveo when I'd finished with it.  I too polished all the copper/nickel brake lines and have fabed a boat load of small detail parts from stainless and aluminium.

We really need to get together at a show and discuss our projects, lol  

Keep up the good work fella

Brad

[56BLITZ]

Just read the thread from the start. Great work dude.

Same here. Nice work . . . and thanks for the ideas! 

[Deanodynosaurs]

Thanks all for the kind comments.

Brad sounds like great minds think alike! I love the car your building. One of my all time favourite cars.

We deffo need to catch up at a show soon and talk cars.

Done a little bit more. I've detailed the starter motor!! I really need to get out more!! 



Dude 

[puz79]

Looking soooo nice Dude. Really impressive workmanship  That's exactly what I want to do one day!!!

[Deanodynosaurs]

Looking soooo nice Dude. Really impressive workmanship  That's exactly what I want to do one day!!!

Ello Puzzy!

Hope all is good in Sweeden ya! Gutted i cant make it, but look after Stretch n Rodders.

You can do this Puzz, you swapped engine, gearboxs n everything now.

Dude 

[puz79]

It's not too late to jump in the nun bus and hard-pedal it to Sweden!!!

I can't wait to see that car done Dude, I'm loving the build. Keep the updates coming 

[Greasy Dave]

Good morning, do you know if your Porsche brake master cylinder is the early or late type ? Are the parts numbers still visible ?  Thanks

[Deanodynosaurs]

Good morning, do you know if your Porsche brake master cylinder is the early or late type ? Are the parts numbers still visible ?  Thanks

Hi Dave,

Doh, i know there was something i was meant to look at yesterday! 

Not sure of the top of my head mate, i'll chewck tonight.

Dude 

[Black_65]

WOW...! 

[Deanodynosaurs]

Greasy Dave,

Finally tried to find some numbers on the master cylinder for you. 

Looking at some photos I took off the car, the road side has 04537 with a 27 in a circle next to it.

On the tunnel side there is the letters HA and VA near the reservoir plugs, and the number 987/4 (I think!) on the main body, with a 84 in the circle.

I hope this helps.

Dude 

[Deanodynosaurs]

WOW...! 

Cheers fella, its getting there.

Dude 

[Greasy Dave]

Thanks for that ,much appreciated.There is an early & a late type.Don't want to buy the wrong one.

[Deanodynosaurs]

Thanks for that ,much appreciated.There is an early & a late type.Don't want to buy the wrong one.

No worries. Out of intrest is it a early or late one?

I just brought it off a vw guy, and he'd fitted it prevoius so i know it fitted, but not much else about it.

Dude 

[Deanodynosaurs]

Well it’s been a while, but time for an update, and it’s a good one. The chassis is finally finished and rolling.


 
There was a lot of work in between my last post and the chassis getting finished, so if your interested please feel free to read on!

One thing I hadn’t done in the trial build was to fit the gearbox I was going to use. This was important as I needed to re-drill the nose cone hockey stick so that it correctly connected to the urethane gearshift bush allowing all gears to be selected.

Luckily the transport frame I built for the van also allowed me to install the gearbox without removing it. Here is the gearbox trial fitted with the nose cone drilled and all 5 gears working (4 forward and one backwards, not a 5 speed!!).



It was then time to finally fit the gearbox for real. Thank you very much to my good friend Stretch for his help with setting the axle play and also for fitting the gearbox with me (as well as fit the spring plates).





The rear mount is fitted using stainless framework bolts and washers. Rhino gearbox mounts are fitted both front and back, with a BERG mid mount in the middle. Again thanks to Stevo at Double H Restorations for the amazing paint on the rear and mid mount.



Here the clutch arm fitted. The original spring I had broke so I had to fit the new one pictures here. The nut has been replaced for a ‘six shooter’ style nut making adjustment of the clutch much easier.


Where I could I replaced the original nuts and bolts on the gearbox with stainless items I did. It was fun trying to find these m7 bolts for the nose cone, as it turns out these are not a very often used size, especially in stainless!



And the side plates (yes they’ve been polished!) nut changed for stainless items (before the axles were fitted).


The clutch operating arm is held in location by a dowel bolt and as ever I decide to change this for a stainless item as it let the rest of the gearbox down. Nobody actually sells these so I made this from scratch myself with a drill, a grinder, and a lot of careful measuring.







Here the gearshift coupling fitted up (correctly with lock wire), and the super shiney painted cover plate. Note the three stainless hex head bolts to hold it down rather than a self taper.





The rear suspension has been a bit of a nightmare, as I had issues with the original spring plate covers bending with the new rubber suspension donut as they were not strong enough. This was annoying as I had had these items painted and polished.



Being an ‘early’ car however, it was swing axle but had spring plate end which pertuding through the spring plate covers. However nobody sells swing axle spring plate covers with a hole in them!! Thus I had Paul at Bears Motorsport machine holes in some spring plate covers for me.



And finally them painted and fitted.





And here’s the shocks fitted up as well as the rear disk brake calliper bracket and bearing cover.





The completed rear end with the gearbox and suspension all fitted up.



Next up was to finish the brakes off. Now as the disk had sat in my damp garage for ages, a bit of surface rust had appeared. However this was soon cleaned off, and the centre of the drum was given a new coat of paint.

Here’s the before and after of the front brakes.





The calipers were also treated to a coat of paint as they were starting to look a bit shabby.



And the front brakes all fitted up. Please note, I HATE the gold grease caps, and these are currently away being powder coated black!





Turning my attention to the rear disk brakes these had also rusted a bit, but again this was soon cleaned off, and given a fresh coat of paint.





The rear calipers also get dismantled, and a fresh coat of paint.



And the rear disks and calipers fitted up.



Here you can see the handbrake cable and brake lines also fitted, using a custom made split bracket.



And all the brakes fitted.



Although there only copies, I thought I’d give the ‘workshop’ wheels a clean and polish. Yes I know I need 4! I still had one left to clean up at this point!!



And finally the rolling pan.








Well it’s nice to finally get it finished, and I’m really pleased with how it turned out. Hope some of you are still awake!

Engine ancillaries (tinwear etc) to paint and detail now!!

Dude

[Prowagen]

Neil this is looking ace, that chassis is gorgeous!

Rob.

[Andy Sykes]

Looks ace 

[Vwfreak53]

Nice job! Very detailed!

[Neil Davies]

Beautiful Dude! Its almost a shame to cover that up with a body...

[Deanodynosaurs]

Cheers all. :-) I am proper pleased to get it finished, as it taken a age!  

LOL! Neil, yeah it will be a shame, but i'll get over it!!  
How are you mate, long time no see..........

Dude 

[butterskotch]

Lookin good Dude.

I remember doing all this to mine a couple of years ago, it's very satisfying work.
Again, it's un canny how similar your build is to mine: cal look style using a early 60s sedan with an OG ragtop grafted in, lead loading, paint done by Steveo,, polished or painted everything, braided brake fuel and oil lines, etc.

We REALLY need to meet up and swap stories!! Ha ha.

Whens you projects finish date?  I'm hoping to get my off to the trimmer over winter, maybe I time for the Volksworld show.

Keep up the stellar work

Brad

[cedric]

Looking to nice to drive again....

[folkevogn]

Great project! I really like your attention to details 

I noticed you are using the Bugpack gearshift coupling, I'm not saying it doesn't work but I've had bad experience with them. It felt firm and worked well in the beginning, but after at season with only about 100 miles on the road and 5-6 passes down the strip it was ready for bin. I couldn't quick shift from 1st to 2nd anymore. The fact that the coupling was toast didn't come to my mind because i felt so solid when i mounted it, I just check that the screws where tightened. First I thought it was the synchro rings i the gearbox(since I'm using the heavy black magic disc) or maybe that the forks had moved so I pulled the gearbox apart and didn't find anything wrong. Assembled i again only to find out that the problem was still there. I offcourse then turned my focus to the coupling(which I should have done in the first place ) and saw that it was twisting when I moved the shifter from side to side. I swapped it for an original one and haven't had any problem since. Needless to say, I for sure will never use one again. And I have noticed that lots of people have had problems with the urethane mountings they sell for the gearbox aswell, but I noticed that you have gone for the CB mounts on your gearbox. I have the same mounts and they still look fine after 12 years.

Regards

Folke

[puz79]

I think I felt my winky wiggle! Looking REAL nice Dude.

Just out of interest, what disc brakes are you using mate? That's my next upgrade.

[Deanodynosaurs]

Great project! I really like your attention to details 

I noticed you are using the Bugpack gearshift coupling, I'm not saying it doesn't work but I've had bad experience with them. It felt firm and worked well in the beginning, but after at season with only about 100 miles on the road and 5-6 passes down the strip it was ready for bin. I couldn't quick shift from 1st to 2nd anymore. The fact that the coupling was toast didn't come to my mind because i felt so solid when i mounted it, I just check that the screws where tightened. First I thought it was the synchro rings i the gearbox(since I'm using the heavy black magic disc) or maybe that the forks had moved so I pulled the gearbox apart and didn't find anything wrong. Assembled i again only to find out that the problem was still there. I offcourse then turned my focus to the coupling(which I should have done in the first place ) and saw that it was twisting when I moved the shifter from side to side. I swapped it for an original one and haven't had any problem since. Needless to say, I for sure will never use one again. And I have noticed that lots of people have had problems with the urethane mountings they sell for the gearbox aswell, but I noticed that you have gone for the CB mounts on your gearbox. I have the same mounts and they still look fine after 12 years.

Regards

Folke

Hi folke,

Sorry only just seen this. Hmmm, that's interesting about the coupler. I have re-profiled the screws ends so the sit perfectly in the shift rod and gearbox hockey stick indents, but that wont address the twisting. I suppose the best I can do is wait and see, and see if i do have any problems with selecting gears. If I do, as per your suggestion i'll go back to a stock one. I got a good condition genuine one kicking around so its not a problem. As for the CB mounts, I've had them in other cars and the only problem i'I've had is the fit is terrible. when there fitted they actual pertrude past the bell housing. The easiest solution I've found is to trim them with a sharp knife. It good to hear they last though.

Cheers,

Dude 

Butterscotch, we deffo need a pint and a good gossip fella.

Puz, how you doing fella. It's getting there mate. Disk brakes are standard later ones at the front, with talbot horizon calipers, and at the back CB Roto Hubs. :-)

[Deanodynosaurs]

Right, it been a while, but time for an update. I apologise now, its not shiny stuff, it nerdy tinwear modification stuff!! 

Now although the engine is been built, and has been run in the car, there were always a few things I had wanted to change/ improve on it. One of these was the fit of the tinwear.

A big issue with the tinwear was the fit of the manifolds in the cylinder tin. In the picture you can see the D ported intakes of the cylinder heads. Standard cylinder tin is just not going to fit.



The size of the manifold bases also added to the issue. I’m using vintage DDS manifolds, and as standard the base of the manifolds did not fit the tin, and also was not large enough for the porting of the heads. Luckily my good friend James at Stateside Tuning was able to get the welding done for me, even keeping the all-important DDS Logo. (Yes, the manifolds still need porting!)





So how do I make the cylinder tins fit these enlarged manifolds? Well here was my ‘intermediate solution that I used during the trial build. Simply cut them and bend them back! Not pretty, and questionable effects on cooling ability.



Thus I decided that I needed to do this in a better way. The solution was to fabricate and weld in a whole new inner section in. This took a lot of careful measurement (and a lot of time!)





Now something I had always hated about aftermarket cylinder tin (there was no point using OG tin if it was going to be cut around so much!) was that they did not include the directional air veins. Thus I added them back in.







I also decided I wanted to fit the cylinder under tin. Most people chuck these away, but VW put it there for a reason, so I thought I’d keep them too. Unfortunately as ever the fit of aftermarket tin is terrible, and finding good (and realistically priced) genuine piece is nigh on impossible! 

In the end I found some genuine tin that was in reasonable condition and repaired/ modified this. (Note: The space between the bottom and top of the tin is due to the larger ports on the exhaust off the 044 heads. This will be sorted out later)





And the other side.



Another thing people always usual do away with is the front small pieces of under cylinder cooling tin by the pulley wheel. Again I decided to add these back in.



I also made some slight improvements to this under tin by putting back steel where VW had removed it for stuff like breather pipes etc, as I was not running any of this. This is it as VW made it.



And my modifications.







Now as pointed out earlier, there is a gap between the bottom and top of the tin due to the larger exhaust ports. Although I could have extended the head tin down, I did not want to do this as, 1) I didn’t want to mess around with the tin anymore, and 2) the profile of the tin where they meet internally was off in places and extending the tins wouldn’t address this. Therefore decided to fill the gaps with aluminium spacers.

Here is some example of the spacers fitted. Some needed more/ less spacing than others.







Now although not the prettiest solution, it did allow me to address the issue of the internals of the bottom and top tin not matching together great (in places leaving step between the two). It also had the advantage of smooth the flow of air from the top to the bottom tin. Therefore I put angles on the edges of the aluminium plates to smooth the air flow.







Now there no point putting all this under tin back and making sure there a smooth flow of air if there are huge gaps where the heat exchangers would have been. (I’m running a merged system with J pipes). Therefore I fabricated some industrial shields to close the gaps. These tins are similar to those used on industrial motors that did not have heat exchangers.







Turning my attention to the fanshroud, I am running a SCAT 1200 style aftermarket version as with a genuine fan shroud there was clearance issues with my carbs, and also I do not need heat exchanger outlets.

These SCAT fanshrouds are not as well built as genuine VW items, and although OK, they can be improved upon. One area where they can be improved is where the oil cooler sits in the fan shroud. Poor build quality in the aftermarket item leaves a large gap where air can bypass the cooler.



Therefore I simply welded a sealing piece on the mounting bracket, which closes this gap.





And finally the fanshroud was put back on.



Now a problem with larger capacity engines with long stroke cranks is that they are wider than standard engines. As the heads are further out, this leaves a gap between the cylinder head tin and the fanshrouud. A simple solution to this was to make some aluminium spacers. I thought i’d use some nice dress washers to finish them off.



Now the final thing I wanted to tidy up was where the ignition leads ran. Leads were kept apart using separator clips, and these were attached to a square bar running across the width of the engine, a nod to the oval style lead tube.



However, i decided this was a bit to ‘in your face’, so I used smaller brackets attached to tinwear screws (These are in the centre, its the camera angle!!)







So that it for all the tinwear modification. I'm tempted to fit a venturi ring to the fanhosuing, but not sure if i will or not yet. Gonna do a bit of research to see if there an expensive gimmick, or a worth wile modification.

Hope you enjoyed my nerding.

Dude