My 69 Fasty education and build

[n1ftyneil]

As noted in a couple of other posts, I bought a 69 fastback sight unseen off ebay without even knowing what one was, because my wife adored it and it reminded me of an old Aston. I'm now reading hours per day and reading reading reading. Here Ill document the labor of love.

After having it for a day it died and left me at the side of the road 3 times, so the investigation began.

By Yesterday the following had been completed:

New Voltage regulator: My first issue with the car, no charging. Easy fix

Rewiring of the fuel pump: PO had done a horrific hack-job and it was hanging with a loose connection under the car.

Electrical: Blinker went on with the lights, lights went off with the blinker. Stuff got rewired and cleaned up. Seems to work well now, though there is a phantom wire I have to post a picture of. Its under the bonnet by spare tire and has 2 rubber contact plugs.

Full tune-up: Nyscoe did this as I wanted it running first, then my valve/points etc learning can begin

Ignition: It was burning points within 15 minutes at idle. Coil was bad and has been replaced, idles like a champ now.

Brakes: Front right caliper was as good as seized. A call to a good friend at Stoptech was my savior here. Their parent company is Centric and they have a disturbingly large back catalogue of oem parts back to the beginning of time. A day later I had new front loaded calipers, discs and hoses and he's having the Stoptech gang make me some slotted discs for fun. They will be here in about 2 weeks. The braking is incredibly reassuring now.

SO Saturday was my first drive and Russ, Tram etc etc yes, you were all correct, stock is AWESOME. I LOVED it, it cracked me up the whole time. It has a Hurst style shifter and the gear box is brilliant. The shifting is tighter an more satisfying than a lot of modern cars. Took it down to Cars and Coffee on Sat Morning in Irvine and it received a lot of love then went house hunting with my wife in it the remainder of the day. I have no horn, that is not good.

Let the fun times roll...





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[n1ftyneil]

Now it's Sunday am and the car is up on stands int he garage for the suspension to be raised. I've watched the videos etc an am confident unless anything is well seized.

Its rubbing and bumping BADLY, from reading I'm guessing it's a 3 spline drop in the front compounded by the fact that it has the 8 spokes with the wrong offset making it even worse.

I'll bring it up 1 spline and see how it looks.

Pics and stuf later on..

[Bobnotch]

Just keep in mind that after you raise it up, that you'll have to reset the toe in. If you don't, you'll eat the tires off the front of it due to too much toe in/ toe out.
I use an angle finder (available at HF or sears, or other good hardware stores) to make sure both sides come up equally. You'll have to decide whether you're doing an inner spline raise (easier) or an outer spline raise (at the trailing arm). If going with an inner raise, get a longer 10mm bolt (about 3" long), and thread it into the bar (after you remove the clip on the opposite side), as this will make it easier to reset the bar back into the splines (it won't drop out). Take your time, and don't get in a hurry.
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Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[n1ftyneil]

Thanks Bob,

Noted. I'm off to get the 30mm socket, so I'll pick up the bolt too. I'm still confused on the choice between inner and outer, but I waas assuming I'd do inner. I feel like it would be best to know what was done to lower it though an undo that instead of potentially just compensating for it by doing the opposite.

I also have not fully understood the "tuning moves" yet, but I've also not studied the set-up on the car. I think it will become clearer as I do.

[Bobnotch]

Yeah, the inner spline adjustment is the easiest. The turning moves are pretty simple, especially IF you have an angle finder. In your case, since you're raising the car, you'll want to rotate the lower trailing arm down the number of splines you want to raise the car up (opposite of lowering).
Look at the outer part of the lower trailing arm to torsion bar connection. If you see visible rust on the ends of the splines, or it's still painted up without looking like it's been disturbed, then it will tell you whether it's had an inner adjustment or an outer adjustment. Most times the trailing arm is rusted to the torsion bar. This is common, and sometimes you need a puller to release the trailing arm from the torsion bar (the connection is rusted solid). My first time trying to lower a front end, I found this, so I put that part back together, and just did an inner adjustment. The next one I did, it came apart like it was supposed to. When we did my son's car, we had to do both, as the PO didn't get both sides even. That's where the angle finder came in handy, to get both sides to match. For fine tuning moves, thats where you move the inner one way, and the outer the opposite way. Sometimes you have to move the inner 2 splines, and the outer either 1 or 3 splines to get the fine adjustment you want. This can be time consuming, but you'll get exactly what you're looking for (matching both sides) eventually.
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Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[supaninja]

My guess is those phantom wires are for the horn. I'm glad your sticking with it.
_________________
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y163/chucky1974/ninja.gif

Nick
Megasquirted Type 4 powered Notch http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=427890&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Blog of Doom http://supaninjanick.wordpress.com/

[n1ftyneil]

Thx both. Seems like a great forum. You guys seem to have great thoughts a descriptions. Most of the modern cars forums are full of knobends that think they are geniuses because they paid to get a Borla exhaust. This place is a wealth of info.

[Bobnotch]

[sharkskinman]

yes that is where the bolt to hold the torsion in goes

it also has a bent peice of metal that holds it

i looked in the classifieds but dont really know what its calld

someone else will!

also
if you are without that

take a look at ALL the bolts on the beam
Esp the ones that hold the bottom of the bottom ball joints in

Crazy what bolts go missing over time
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74 Mexi Swamp Thing. 70 square volksrod (Swamp Rat)..65 C10

[n1ftyneil]

Thanks Shark,

I actaully edited my post and made it a seperate thread - didnt know if anytone would continue to read this one. Then I realized I shouls have left it here. So it's below.

[n1ftyneil]

Sorry.. made a new thread, should not have. I have established my car is missing the upper torsion bar bolts and little retainer thingy. I'l have to find some.

What I'd like to know is a) is this unsafe? b) could I continue with the raising suspension steps and but a big M10 in there to hammer out the other side and move the splines?

Thanks!

[/quote]

[Mike Fisher]

I was able to wigglepullwigglepull on the torsion arm to get the opposite/inner spline loose. You could try a Longer Correct bolt on the opposite side w/wrench or a heavy punch w/hammer?
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https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

[n1ftyneil]

[supaninja]

[JSMskater]

[supaninja]

Ya if I want to sound smart i parrot russ, if i want to sound like a jerk i parrot tram, lolololol.

russ was trained by volkswagen and has 50 years of experience working on vw's. i thing tram's a bit younger then russ but they both have done their time working at a dealership.
_________________
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y163/chucky1974/ninja.gif

Nick
Megasquirted Type 4 powered Notch http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=427890&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Blog of Doom http://supaninjanick.wordpress.com/

[Bobnotch]

[n1ftyneil]

Took a wee jaunt up to ISP today and grabbed the bolts with retainer plates for the torsion arms, amongst some other goodies. I managed to stock up on a lot of little missing trim bits all in the $1-2 range that will help tidy up the interior.

On left hand turns I'm smelling gas big time. Guess is the breather tube in the passanger wheel arch. They are apparently regular crackers. Picked it up too for $5

I'll proabbly be parroting a bunch of you before too long...

[KTPhil]

Typically that is an overflow tube, not a breather. Even replacements fail in a couple of years or less. Jim Adney had developed a kit that is much more robust than the rubber OEM part. That part is crucial! When it fails, it lets water and dirt kicked up from the wheel to get into the fuel tank. It then travels down to the fuel pump, and rusts and clogs it, especially if the car sits for long periods of time. This failed overflow pipe is probably the cause for most of the pump replacements as we restore these cars.

[n1ftyneil]