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?? ;)

Finally some progress with the engine!

Got the parts back from a trusty machinist and just have to say that I'm really pleased with the results. They all fit really nicely together and all there is now to get it assembled. Yea right. Not exactly... The heads will need some alterations for some more beefy springs since the engine is using a roller camshaft. Case was machined for the roller lifters, which are heavy. The springs are mad, meaning there is huge pressure involved. So that means really beefy pushrods too. Haven't got those since I need the geometry measured first, but for that I need the heads ready. Which do urgently need some titanium valves and a handy port job too. The list goes on. I've almost given up.

So I decided that car will be running anyway and worked on that instead braking my nerves on the engine... ;) Some images of the machined case, dry sump and stuff... Notice how the parcel shelf on the car has been lifted up about 4 inches and fender wells widened inwards about 2, and the split window maintenance hole widened to the max. So it all became an ugly puzzle.


But I did get that rear torsion housing narrowed. It's narrowed and the housing ends swapped to modern ones to equip some proper shocks... Well that was the only thing in long time that really went through well.