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Fri Oct 28, 2011 2:49 pm

IAMIROY wrote: Here's a picture of Mark's square back truck affectionately known as "The Blue Mule". This picture is from 1984.

I owned it later and put fully polished 2 liters on it. I am still trying to find a lost box of pictures from the late 80s and will post more pictures when I find them.

We have been trying to find this thing for a while. I sold it to someone and last we heard they had painted it gumby green. If anyone knows it's whereabouts in the Palmdale/Lancaster, CA area let us know!

I remember seeing that thing roaming around Lancaster when I was a kid. That and a guy named doug that had a Kawasaki green notchback got me into VW's

Fri Oct 28, 2011 3:25 pm

that looks like san fransiscito canyon or maybe solodad canyon...... gosh i miss those roads

Fri Oct 28, 2011 8:12 pm

Got the headlight rings polished today. They still have pits but look much better than they did, good enough for now. They wanted $75 ea. to re-chrome them!

Got a box of goodies from ISP today. New brake lines and dual circuit master cylinder.

Sun Oct 30, 2011 12:16 am

What was the purpose of this safety device in both door jambs? A cable runs to each seat.

The headliner is in great shape!

Sun Oct 30, 2011 12:45 am

it just releases the seat back, so that when the door is open, push the seat up, passengers can get in the back. most likely kids/groceries. close the door, seats locked and doesn't come forward. crazy German's, they think of everything!

Sun Oct 30, 2011 1:08 am

lovely square, looks like its coming along well

Mon Oct 31, 2011 12:09 pm

nice car. love those headlights

Mon Oct 31, 2011 1:10 pm

supaninja wrote: Why would he want to do that Mike? Those are the correct euro headlights, even in that condition they are still hard as hell to find.

Really? I see them for sale all the time on mein ebay.

Mon Oct 31, 2011 1:53 pm

Those headlights are really hard to find especially with all the pieces, and when you do find them they are a fortune. The headlight, adjuster, and bucket all screw to the headlight ring, which is why there are 3 screws in the headlight ring. To change over to anything else would mean welding in tabs for the headlight bucket to mount to. F that.

Mon Oct 31, 2011 2:00 pm

chaosisme wrote: supaninja wrote: Why would he want to do that Mike? Those are the correct euro headlights, even in that condition they are still hard as hell to find.

Really? I see them for sale all the time on mein ebay.

The euro ones? I don't look for type 3 parts on ebay, just porsche goodies. I ust checked on the classies here and there was only one set...NOS no less and $$$$$$.

Mon Oct 31, 2011 2:01 pm

I have a couple of questions regarding 12v conversion.

The push button switches: Anything need to be upgraded in the assembly to help it handle 12v?

Fuel gauge: Do we just need to get a 12v sending unit?

Clock and wiper motor I see we just to to add a resistor and the rest seems pretty straight forward.

Mon Oct 31, 2011 2:09 pm

supaninja wrote: chaosisme wrote: supaninja wrote: Why would he want to do that Mike? Those are the correct euro headlights, even in that condition they are still hard as hell to find.

Really? I see them for sale all the time on mein ebay.

The euro ones? I don't look for type 3 parts on ebay, just porsche goodies. I ust checked on the classies here and there was only one set...NOS no less and $$$$$$.

Yeah, ebay germany always seems to have at least a couple pairs for sale. Some of the buy it now auctions are $$$ though, but the regular auctions usually arent. I just saw a pair sell for $40.

Mon Oct 31, 2011 3:45 pm

IAMIROY wrote: I have a couple of questions regarding 12v conversion.

The push button switches: Anything need to be upgraded in the assembly to help it handle 12v?

Fuel gauge: Do we just need to get a 12v sending unit?

Clock and wiper motor I see we just to to add a resistor and the rest seems pretty straight forward.

According to Supa, nothing (for the fuel gauge or the clock). However if you ask me, Tram, and a few others, we'll tell you the sender is the same, but the gauge itself needs to be swapped to 12 volt (just the gauge, not the entire cluster with it, as it unscrews from the cluster). However, you'll also need to swap the bulbs, as the 12 volts will try to burn them out. Also, you'll need to find a later clock, or do a quartz conversion. The conversion is actually easy, and cheap if you ask me. I've even posted a how to of sorts in my 64 Ghia build thread (my 6 volt clock died and rusted up). The quartz conversion actually keeps very good time until the AA battery starts to die (almost 2 years).

According to Jim Adney (him and I had discussions on this), the PB unit shouldn't need anything changed to operate on 12 volts, however, since you're using the 6 volt wiper motor, you'll need to add a volt drop to the wiper power feed wire to it, so that the motor will run at the proper speed.

This is just a few things I've learned over the years though, and you can go that route or Supa's. My 65 has been converted for over 13 years, and everything still works like I set it up (other than a used voltage regulator dieing in 2010, and a used german blue coil dieing back in 2004).
I've also driven this car to Hershey PA, and Carthage MO from my home in Michigan, and never thought twice about doing so.

Mon Oct 31, 2011 5:01 pm

Thanks Bob, very good info!

Mon Oct 31, 2011 5:21 pm

It's a controversial topic, I'm using a VD for the 6v wiper motor(dropped the voltage to the switch). I'm running 12v to the gauges/clock. I got over 4500 miles and power has been hooked up to the clock for the last 6 months or so (the clock has been ticking the whole time). I do have an issue with the fuel gauge acting up but I'm about 95% sure it's the used 12v fuel sender I'm running, it has been like that since day one. If I jiggle the terminal around it will work correctly again (it's really a 2 man job, one to watch and one to jiggle...I'm friggin lazy).

Right or wrong this is what I'm running. I'm using red needle gauges and i'm too lazy to take apart 12v gauges and paint the needles. I have played with lots and lots of electronics a 6v difference isn't much. Voltage is just a measurement of potential and as long as the wire is insulated properly then there shouldn't be an issue. Since its a 6v component running 12v and the wattage is the same, we have heavier gauge wiring, plus them krauts liked to over engineer stuff.

Mon Oct 31, 2011 7:43 pm

Thank you Nick, as well. We are in the "collecting info and planning" stages right now. I'll refer back to both of you when the time comes to actually put the power to her.

One more thing I forgot, generator/alternator. What's the hot ticket nowadays? Re-wind a 6v generator and keep the 6v fan housing or go late model housing and 12v alternator? We don't have anything for engine stuff at this point so we are open to what's the best/most reliable.

Tue Nov 01, 2011 8:40 am

Can you put late model front disc brakes (4 lug) on a 64 front beam?

**EDIT**

I found my answer after more searching.

Now to find spindles, backplates, and calipers and rotors.

Which years front disc would be best? 68-71 or 72-73?

Wed Nov 02, 2011 6:04 pm

Does this look like what I need to convert? Ad says they are German Type 3.

Wed Nov 02, 2011 6:28 pm

those spindles look completely different to my disc brake spindles, I have never seen the late late spindles in person so they could be type 3.

the later (72.5-73) calipers have a 2.5" bolt spacing compared to the 2.3" of the earlier calipers. Type 4's and 914's used the same 2.5" calipers. They are super easy to upgrade to bigger BMW 320i calipers or older 4 piston 2002Ti calipers http://shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=133916, Volvo calipers fit too.

Wed Nov 02, 2011 8:26 pm

This is confusing.