'56 Oval Baja Build with RGB's

joescoolcustoms · Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 12:36 pm Post subject:

Finally got some time to work on the '56.

Did some cutting, hacking, picking, pulling and general ripping apart.

The front fenders where so bad, I had to cut them off the car, then deal with the fender bolts.

The front lower wheel wells had been fixed with bread wrapper bags and roofing tar. Not kidding! I pulled about 8 Wonder Bread plastic bags out of the front firewall, wheel well area! No additional metal, no bondo, no pop rivited aluminum, just plastic bags and roofing tar. ????????

Made the first rough cuts of the front and rear to get the rusty aprons off of the car and see just how many and what rust repair panels that will be needed.

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The rear was easy, just hack it off.

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I can stick my hand flattened out into the interior of the car through these rust holes.

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Initial front hack.

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Pass front is rough. Not as many bread bags on this side tho...

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The fender mount area is almost gone and will have to be replaced before fenders can go back on.

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There was 7 bags stuffed up into the rusted out areas and then coated over with roofing tar.

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PO had scrapped here to see what the Original color was. Small tag states "Made in West Germany".
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tanner_122 · Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 12:43 pm Post subject:

lol hungry for wonder bread? Laughing

cant wait to see the progress
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thefladge · Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 7:29 pm Post subject:

Wow! That is one rusty machine!

My Baja has a few rust problems here and there that I have been avoiding for many years. Eventually the body will have to be unbolted from the pan in order to do all of the repairs.

I think I will watch what you do before I try and do the same to my car.
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joescoolcustoms · Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 7:55 pm Post subject:

joescoolcustoms · Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 7:16 pm Post subject:

I traded some parts for a nice set of early pop outs for the rear quarter windows! Major score, had all the parts and in great shape.

I have soooo much rust to repair that I think I will bolt the heater channels onto the new '67 pan and then lower the '56 body on top of it until the forward and rear humps line up. It is the only way I see to make sure everything lines up once it is all welded. I will then pull the body back off to make the 2 inch lift.

So, the next step was to shut and shim the doors to creat the perfect gaps and weld in door braces out of 1 inch and 3/4 inch boxed tubing. I removed the rear quarter glass so as not to "weld Spot" the good glass and make it easier to weld the braces with the doors shut.
I then removed the doors. I was very suprised that the screws came out so easy.

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I also installed a brace between each side to keep the bottom of the B piller stable.

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Both quarters are rusted away from the heater channels.

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The front of the heater channels and the front firewall lower section is gone also.
_________________
The closer your tattoos are to your body holes, the crazier you are.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

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joescoolcustoms · Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 10:14 am Post subject:

I put the Large nut Reduction Gear Box (RGB) transaxle on the stand. It will get a good going over. I will replace the syncros, any bearing that are questionable, all gaskets and seals. I will also make a custom longer throw out arm to ease the "clutchities" in my left leg.

First thing is to take the 46mm nuts off the axles and remove the drums. I have read where some drums get so stuck, they have to be cut off. Next is to drain the RGB box, romove the outer housing, then the gear/bearings stacks to get to the axle tube.

I will have to make my own tools to press the tubes out of the inner RGB box halfs so I can install the JJ no hop parts onto the tubes and re-press the tubes back into the box halfs. Also the inner box half has to be machined 1 5/8 inch off to make it fit up to a Type one torsion houseing spacing.

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_________________
The closer your tattoos are to your body holes, the crazier you are.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

Member of Wagenfolks
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joescoolcustoms · Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 1:48 pm Post subject:

I have the trans pulled down. It is either a '65 or a '66. It is a large nut with a 6V bellhousing.

1.26:1 RGB's
4.375:1 Ring and Pinion
3.80 first
2.06 second
1.26 third
0.89 fourth

I will have a final drive ratio of 5.52:1

With 31 inch tall tires, I will run 56 MPH at 3000 rpm and 66 MPH at 3500 rpm. 70 MPH will be about 3750 rpm. My usable rpm range will be between 2000 and 3500 rpm, very sweet spot for a 2276 with 041 heads and a W110 cam. Major torque.

Everything looks to be in nice shape, but I will still change out the syncro's while I am in there. Have been playing around with the gear calculater to see what it would be like with a 4.12:1 ring and pinion, but if I stay where I am, I can run 32 inch tires and be OK at a later time.

I do think I will go ahead and install a superdiff in it while I have it apart.

Here is the gear calculater I have used for a number of years. It is a lot quicker than using the old TI-35. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and input your ratios and tire size for comparison.

http://www.shining-wit.net/rick/buggy/design/transmission/#Transaxle%20Ratio%20Calculator
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The closer your tattoos are to your body holes, the crazier you are.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

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badseed74 · Samba Member Joined: March 01, 2009 Posts: 19

this build reminds me of a jeff goldblum quote,"Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should
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joescoolcustoms · Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 1:36 pm Post subject:

joescoolcustoms · Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 1:46 pm Post subject:

Here is some of the most difficult part of this build for me. Installing the axle tube pivits of the JJ No Hop kit. The axle tubes have to be pressed out of the inner RGB box. This is not for a novice to take on.

I built a press jig to hold the RGB Box in a verticle position so the tube could be pressed out.

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Then, crossing my fingers, set it up in my press.

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That thing worked great!

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Now I have both tubes pressed out of the RGB boxes.

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One cool side effect of pressing the tubes out of the RGB Boxes is being able to use the completely sealed axle boots! lessons the likelyhood of leaks by leaps and bounds. No more bolt seams to contend with.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

So the next step is to machine the RGB to accept the JJ No Hop pivit sleaves and then clean up everything and start pressing it back together.
_________________
The closer your tattoos are to your body holes, the crazier you are.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

Member of Wagenfolks
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Gregorio · Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 7:20 am Post subject:

Looking great, keep up the good work!

kadub · Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:05 am Post subject:

Cool build project! Looks like you're gonna have your hands full with some rust repair on that oval, but what a great opportunity to build a baja Very Happy

.

Your gear combo looks just about perfect too. I wish I'd spent some more time on a gear calculator before having Rancho build my 091. I'll be @ 4,000rpm @ 66mph w/31's Sad

. Guess I won't be speeding much...

Best of luck with your progress!

joescoolcustoms · Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:54 am Post subject:

Thanks for the props guys! Motovation is a key in success.

kadub can you go with a taller tire? 32's maybe to get just a little extra.
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The closer your tattoos are to your body holes, the crazier you are.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

Member of Wagenfolks
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kadub · Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 9:38 am Post subject:

joescoolcustoms · Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 7:35 pm Post subject:

The next step on the chassis is to cut the inner RGB case to fit the JJ No Hop Kit.

The bus spring plates bolt right up to the RGB inner case under the axle tube. The JJ No Hop Kit keeps the Type 1 spring plate in the stock position (splitting the axle tube) by installing a rotating sleave on the RGB axle tube and bolting the T1 spring plate to the rotating sleave.

The modification to the RGB inner case is to trim the tube snout so the width matches the T1 measurement.

The outside of the bus spring-plate-to-spring-plate in exactly 3 inches wider than the T1 spring-plate-to-spring-plate outside dimension. Since I want the trans to be centered in the chassis, 1/2 of the difference needs to be taken off each side.

This may be hard to follow without installed pictures, but if you follow the build you will eventually see what I am talking about.

The T1 needs to be 1 1/2 inch narrower at the spring plate mount on each side than the bus spring plate mount. This picture I am marking the cut line 1 1/2 inch from the bus mount location.

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This picture is after cutting the excess 1/2 inch (very close to 1/2 inch, but will vary due to casting differences) on a band saw.

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Now that my modifications are done, the next step is to clean, blast, clean again and start putting the RGB's back together.

Cleaning and blasting starting tomorrow.
_________________
The closer your tattoos are to your body holes, the crazier you are.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

Member of Wagenfolks
http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/870707.jpg
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=479740

joescoolcustoms · Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2010 2:18 pm Post subject:

I have worked media blasting about everything I could get my hands on for this build. Before blasting, all parts are scrubbed in the parts washer first, then scrubbed again to remove the dusting of grit before putting together.

So, after painting the freshly cleaned up parts, it is time to start asymbly of the RGB trans and axles.

Here I am pressing the axle tube back into the inner RGB box. Careful to line up the "notch" with the "pin". The pin pressing into the housing and clocks into the tube to hold the tube in and from spinning.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Both sets pressed together and ready for the reduction gear sets and the 8 wheel bearings. I had one NOS axle tube retaining ring that I finially used to replace the worst beat up retaining ring.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

_________________
The closer your tattoos are to your body holes, the crazier you are.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

Member of Wagenfolks
http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/870707.jpg
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=479740

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'56 Oval Baja Build with RGB's
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