Kick Azz 1975 LaGrande Super Rebuild

[baxsie]

Thanks for the kind words VWCOOL and Chanbob.

The old tubing for the sunroof drains was still intact, and in pretty good condition, but where it connected to the metal tubes, it was kinda loose, and one of the rear ones was cut off short.

We got some polyethelene tubing at Home Depot, used the heat gun to gently warm it up to where we could work it over the metal tube and then secured it with a clamp:

For the front two runs, we just followed the factory routing, and the sunroof will drain into the body and from there hopefully through the drain holes and onto the ground.

For the rear runs, the hose was still embedded in more of that darn foam of death. We found that by relentlessly twisting the tube in a single direction, it will collapse on itself and pull out of the foam. The new tubing in the back follows about the same path as the original, but instead of dumping out into the engine compartment as the original did:

We diverted it and made it drain into the wheel well:

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1975 LaGrande Super Beetle Build Log / Farm boy hinge pin puller / Farm Boy Chassis Rotisserie
"I'm not getting older, I'm getting bitter."

[baxsie]

We have a paint shop lined up -- third time is a charm. Since the chassis is painted and the body is not painted, we decided that the best approach would be to take the body to the paint shop and have them paint all the interior surfaces. Next we will install the body to the pan and deliver it back to the paint shop. Then they will do the collision repair to the front of the car, complete the body work, then paint.

Here are some shots of the prep on the body before taking it to paint.

Below the pocket for the passenger-side rear pop-out window actuator, the metal was not rusted all the way through, but it was pretty darn thin, so we added an extra patch below that:

We wanted to coat inside the foam of death area. We got a round brush at the grocery store, and used RustSeal black to coat as best we could inside that area:

The coverage is pretty good where the brush could reach, and coverage on my face was excellent. We have some RustSeal cavity coater, so we will spray that in the hole after paint is done to try to catch the last places.

We then welded both the rear pop-out window actuator buckets in:

Ground them down, and bead blasted:

Here is a shot of the interior front, seam-sealed, cleaned and ready for paint:

and the rear:

The fender wells had survived quite well, they were undercoated and to a large extent the factory paint was intact, protected by the undercoating. Some time wearing a filter and rubber gloves, using brush cleaner worked in with a chip brush, rag and a small wire brush for the fender wells cleaned up good:

You can see some of the RustSeal paint that we brushed inside has leaked out a fender mounting hole:

Off to the paint shop:

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1975 LaGrande Super Beetle Build Log / Farm boy hinge pin puller / Farm Boy Chassis Rotisserie
"I'm not getting older, I'm getting bitter."

[baxsie]

We asked the body shop to shoot the engine tin for us in the body color. It looks very pretty, can't wait to see it assembled:

The body shop has been working on smoothing and straightening the car. Here are some early shots in primer:

Those guys can do more in a couple of weeks than I can do in a couple of years.
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1975 LaGrande Super Beetle Build Log / Farm boy hinge pin puller / Farm Boy Chassis Rotisserie
"I'm not getting older, I'm getting bitter."

[Chochobeef]

Holy hell that is nice. Awsome color to (my favorite of course). Cannot wait to see this one come together as you have done a very nice job. How much to paint all the tins and body work?

[fabricator john]

you should fab up some sort of strut tower brace ,like on early mustangs that ties to the top of the cowl then connected like they called an export brace ....just a thought .......................................fabricator john

[Maddel]

[talljordan]

Those braces are only $60 from CIP. Sorry for the Canadian link, they do have an american site too. http://www.cip1.ca/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C26-412-011
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1972 Super Beetle, Parked until adequate restoration funding is acquired in restoration!

Wanted: Male computer diagnostic plug end

[baxsie]

[fabricator john]

http://www.maiermotorsports.com/images/content/IMG_3564.jpg like this is the kind of design i prefer leaves access to the front ,would leave useable space and triangulates everything to the firewall , maybe you could sneak in between the tank and the superbeetle air box n tie in to the bottom of the dash area... the early mustangs .. http://home.netcom.com/~skent/mustang/1967/clutchcable.jpg us this setup then tie the towers together with a aftermarket "export brace " is what they call the tube that goes from fender to fender ,, i like the tower to cowl design ,,, im sure you could come up with somthing crafty and functional/attractive ........ fabricator john..

[Maddel]

There are also ways to improve the rear axle mounting/suspension:

But I guess there's a good chance it wont fit because of your tight engine, oil cooler and condenser setup.
May be the heater boxes will cause some trouble too.

[baxsie]

Dang, those are some pretty serious suspension mods.

We installed our Awesome Powdercoat "German Style" new thermostat:


Link

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1975 LaGrande Super Beetle Build Log / Farm boy hinge pin puller / Farm Boy Chassis Rotisserie
"I'm not getting older, I'm getting bitter."

[baxsie]

Body back from the paint shop, with the interior and jams painted:

Once we installed the emergency / parking brake handle and cables, we could not adjust it to where the rear disc calipers emergency lever would actuate properly. The cable was too long. Additionally, we would have liked the bowden tubes to be a bit longer so we could curve them at least slightly away from the axel drive shaft. We ended turning a spacer/extender on the lathe that extends the tube by 18mm:

The parking brake bowden tube now routes acceptably:

We installed the pedal cluster and master cylinder, as well as new brake lines:

For whatever reason, the struts seemed to be a bit closer to the wheels than we remembered from the first test assembly. We clearanced the strut a bit where it holds the spring, that gives us about 3/16" more room. Still damn close, but better:

Getting ready to lower the body onto the pan / chassis:

After 3 days of intense hours, we were on our way back to the body shop:

Back at the shop, fenders installed, hood installed, they are getting ready to do the collision repair on the front end:

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1975 LaGrande Super Beetle Build Log / Farm boy hinge pin puller / Farm Boy Chassis Rotisserie
"I'm not getting older, I'm getting bitter."

[TedzBug]

This is a really spectacular project! My dream car right here, absolutely love that color. Really nice, can't wait to see it done. I think you will have inspired me to correct some of the wrongs in my car.....[/img]
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'75 Super Beetle
http://www.pbase.com/tedzillich/1975_super_beetle

[baxsie]

Thanks for the kind words, TedzBug.

We have a pretty good pile of aluminum parts that did not have surface treatement:

A quick trip to Noavation for red anodizing yeilded this beautiful pile of parts:

Now it is time to get serious about the final engine assembly
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1975 LaGrande Super Beetle Build Log / Farm boy hinge pin puller / Farm Boy Chassis Rotisserie
"I'm not getting older, I'm getting bitter."

[baxsie]

Way back in the early stages of this project, we started to do the re-repair of the poorly repaired front end collision damage (ref: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6394762#6394762 ). We got to the point of deciding that the work was really beyond our skillz and that we would let the body shop do it.

That day is here.

Of course the professional body guys make it look great and easy.
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1975 LaGrande Super Beetle Build Log / Farm boy hinge pin puller / Farm Boy Chassis Rotisserie
"I'm not getting older, I'm getting bitter."

[Maddel]

[baxsie]

[baxsie]

A while back, we made some throttle cable brackets that worked with the Sync Link pulleys we have.

On testing, we found that the motorcycle throttle cable tube that we used to make a 90 degree bend in the cable path makes too much friction. It is plastic lined, and we tried cable lube, but there is still a lot of friction in that tube. We think the high force of the IDF return springs are making the cable dig into the plastic liner, where a smaller force would just ride along the top as it is designed.

Additionally, since that design used two of the IDF mounting studs, there is a conflict with the fuel injector manifold hold down clamp on the center stud on one side -- the side we did not test on.

So now we have a new design, that uses a ball-bearing pulley for a near frictionless turn.

We started with the CAD model and FDM 3d prints as usual:

Stuck it on the mill -- getting better at that process:

Link


Then gave it a test on the bench:

The action is much better. The force to actuate (both) throttles looks to be about two times the force needed to operate a stock carb. We have a lined throttle cable from the pedal to the splitter, so I guess we will have to cross our fingers that the increased force will not lead to short throttle cable life.

The cable adjuster and stop nut are from a Lokar throttle cable kit.
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1975 LaGrande Super Beetle Build Log / Farm boy hinge pin puller / Farm Boy Chassis Rotisserie
"I'm not getting older, I'm getting bitter."

[fabricator john]

ayep , like that ...
fabricator john

[baxsie]