Anthrazite bleeding...

After a few "allnighters" I was really hoping to get the 62 out of the garage last friday, but one hour before the barbeque it was all ruined with a massive oil leak from the engine... Don't really know what the problem is exactly but I' m hoping that I've kind of made a novice mistake and left an oil passage without a plug or something. The engine run about 15 sec and there was about 1/2 liter of 20W-50 on the floor, so I'm guessing it is not just a tiny leak. So out the engine again and try to fix the problem and back in again.

Good news was the long hauls at the garage really resulted in working brakes and whole lot of other stuff too. Looks as if it might actually be in driving condition soon! Discovered also that you can't fit CSP valve covers to a standard 62 engine bay without cutting the inner wheel wells a bit. Also some maintenance holes for the carbs are most likely necessary with the BigBeef manifolds as the carbs do come quite near the sides of the engine bay. Otherwise it will be a pain to get the manifolds tightened, plugs in etc... Good news is that the Dell'Ortos fit inside the bay just fine allthough this is with the soft Pipercross cleaners. Not done the K&N order yet since I think they will hit the lid at least on the right side of the car.
Some other things I need to work on is a small oil leak from the CSP breathertower. Seems that the O-ring and the paper gasket are not enough to keep the oil inside, so I'll just glue to bugger tight I assume. Also the "leak proof" JayCee tubes are leaking from the case side. Or to be more exact, it's 2 of the white CB gaskets between the tubes and the case. So, some more glue stuff to do? 8-) There was also some small issues witht the fuel line when the pump was turned on. Some of the clips were not up to the task to hold the pressure. Will replace those with a bit beefier clips and that should do it.

Anyway, here are some images of the car at this moment. The rear wheels do need massive spacers to get them right. On the images there is around 27mm of stuff between the brake and the wheel. And you could still put more. Fronts are ok, can't really go too much lower or the wheels will hit the fenders when cornering, and besides I'm old enought to go for the more comfortable solution...

Delaydelay

Forgot to post this image before. I tried the popular 2'' narrowed beam on the split. Worked, kind of. Have to go narrower, maybe 3-4'' narrower, not sure. So that's why I'm doing it myself this time to get it perfect. The car will just look so much better when it sits really low and the wheels actually turn... Sorry about the greenery - we're going really enviromental at the garage these days. Bio ethanol and all that shit you know...

Almost there...

Getting ready for the break in run soon! Well, I was hoping it to be a week or 2 sooner but seems that it will take a few "nights" to get this baby into the car and finnish all the small little details. But, I'm sure it will be worth it in the end...

Worked on getting the engine all lined up, loads of small cutting of the sheet metal to make it fit... By now I'm absolutely certain they've not seen a beetle in China or Taiwan. Anyway, better than nothing but for a top notch engine bay, one surely needs the OG VW sheet metal... Some foggy images below for you to get the idea where I'm heading. Some plumbing and wiring to do, but other than that, all it needs is a car to stuck it into.

PS: Not sure if it actually fits the stock engine compartment due to the CB BB manifolds... Will tell you all about it with some deck lid stand offs (or hopefully not).

Side Project

I suffer from random "burnouts" with my Split project, or so it seems... Happens to many I've learned. After selling my 911, I've been building slowly my Anthrazite '62. Should be a daily driver with some of the usual spices. The car had only minor imperfections such as some rust at the rear wheel wells where the pan meets the body. Also the pan had a hole at the driver side floor (turned out to be a drilled hole for water or something?). Stripped the pan from the engine, tranny, axles, brakes and took of the rear fenders. For some odd reason, it made sence to take the body off the pan, and then it made sence to have it sand blasted and painted and.... You know how it goes. ;)

Technically speaking, I'm building a 1776cc streetable engine. Mild but reliable. Dual Dell'ortos, 40x35.5mm valve heads, regular VW casting, and ported by yours truly. Engle W110 cam, Vertex magneto, some black goodies to dress it all up. Post some images when finished.

Managed to buy a longer ratio tranny. Affordable stock tranny, not a flyer. Bought also a set of GasBurners. Painted/polished then, and put some Vredestein Sprint Classic tyres on them (155 front/ 185 back). Very pleased with the combo. Front brakes are vented discs with Porsche Boxter rear calipers. Should be enough? Front axle is a CSP 2'' narrowed link beam. Some images of the first trial fit below. Rear is sky high on the images!!! No engine and needs a drop of a spline. A slight miscalculation since I replaced the original '62 torsion bars with Split ones. Beefier indeed!

Trial fit

During the carage cleanup I got some help from the buddies and we lifted the body back on the pan. I've managed to assemble the back with some brake hubs in 5x130 pattern and also got that front axle working. So that should enable me to trial the big-O tyres. I gave the fuchs a rough sanding/polish job and painted the wheels with the obvious paint scheme. Well, the later 8 inchers might differs slightly from the usual with only the outer lip polished. I wanted to see if that goes smoother with the early 4.5's. I do kind of like it, maybe the old school police will fine me now?

The rubber in the front is 3.6/24-15 M&H and the back fatties are 10.5/26-15'' inchers. That should be way enough grip even on bad tracks to keep this heap on track. There is not a whole lot of room for the tires to move up in relation to the body. They will hit the inner arches quite easily even though more room is crafted. Hopefully the beefier 28mm saw torsion bars and stiffer shocks will make the rear stiff enough.

The trial fit proved to be correct and the 10.5's have just enough room to spin. With a right spacer it should be perfect in the end. For some reason it looks a bit odd to have "bucket" wheels at the back but I guess that is one of the only easy ways to get that big tyre in. Fonts are quite nice. The axle was narrowed about 1.5 inches so it only takes away the widht that came with the brake setup. So what now? Putting back the pieces into the tunnel (new gaslines and modified cable tubes etc.) and welding it shut again. After that I think it would be time to put in the full roll-cage... That should be fun eh?

Wheelingdealing

A whole lot happened during the summer months. Went bizarre and sold my historic 911 to a fellow hobbyist. I'm sure he had a fantastic time with it over the weekends this summer. I think my cup had become full with that car. Even though it was a fantastic ride, it was nowhere perfect by any standards... Then again, a true riders car should not be perfect?

After closing the deal with the 911, I went ahead trying to find an early Type2 bus, but that seemed to be very difficult. I did not have enough funds after selling the porsche to buy a decent bus!!! That is mad I tell you. There were some projects that could have been great when finished but my current plans did not include welding anymore... So I loosened my radar a bit and went to see some beetles and bumped into a 62 athrazite which was for sale at Kuplapaja. For some odd reason it really hit me hard and I closed a deal on it day later and went driving to the sunset with a smile on my face! I must be a loony but driving an early beetle gives me so much more kicks than a 911. After tuning the stance a bit and maybe giving the engine some kicks we can really see how that car behaves. The seller Jussi actually pointed out that it was stored as "a good launch platform for a stroker engine".

Photoshoppin' at the garage

Since I got that rear end narrowed it would be time to head for some tyre fitting. Borrowed some 10.5 inch M&H slicks from neigbours lot and they really seem to fill the arches full! Since I got a pair of 8inch fuchs now at the shelve it would make sence to go really big. So I went ahead and ordered some DOT 10.5's and I'm very eager to see the results with them mounted... That should also show if there is any other mods needed inside the inner arches before stitchin everything up finally.

Engine has not really developed at all, running out of funds kind of. Seems that you can throw truckloads of euros to it and it doesn't really show at all. Waiting to find some gold or win lottery, or I might just have to save up like every one else?? ;)