Grizzly Super Vee Tee re-build thread

[volksnut]

Just a little history, I've been a VW guy for over 40 years (bugs, busses,dunebuggys etc.) but have always wanted to build a Volksrod (T bucket with VW power) for ever....really. So that Rod & Custom mag from the 60's really got me dreaming. I then tried to find an original Dragmaster, Fuller, or Brizo T early on, even talked to all those guys but nothing came up. Well that is until last year. It seems back in the early 60's a guy by the name of Mike Griswold had started honing his skills on a nice black T bucket with Olds power and later built twin gold plated blowers to show off around Minnesota show circuits .It was amazing, and was covered in Customs Illustrated, Popular Hot Rodding etc. He later moved to California and became a Industrial Arts teacher at an area school and found a new love with VW's and Pikes Peak, Ascot raceway etc. He also had a shop close by building frames and cars for names like Roger Mears etc. Okay enough of his back ground and more on the car. It was a project started in 1974 with an idea of a mid engined vehicle to combine the traditional looks of a T bucket. Since Mike was a frame/chassis builder (Grizzly Custom Chassis) he would add independent rear formula styled rear suspension, transverse front and rear springs and rack & pinion steering. Most of the components were built in class with only his advanced students doing the welding/fab skills, and then later assembled at his shop. The car was finished in the latter part of the 70's and traveled around to sell his idea at Bug In 17, Ascot Raceway ect. He would later move back to Minnesota where the little T could be seen tooling around at the Minnesota NSRA 1979 to 1989. In 2008 Mike passed away and I bought this car from his estate in 2012. A barn time capsule for sure. I've had the car almost a year, it's apart now and will be changing a few things to make it safer, clean and paint it and update it to make it fresh for all to see, but first a few pictures of it back in 1974........ Eric

[volksnut]

The first and hardest part was getting the car shipped from Minnesota. I could not believe no one wanted to pick it up, now if it was going west to east no big deal but north to south good luck. Well I found a good shipper guy that helped me find a carrier and all went well. Here's the car as I rolled it off my trailer (I did pick it up from the main road) and into my garage. Oh you'll notice my 27' Hupmobile next to it.....that's another story.

[volksnut]

I'll tell you a bit about the car as I know it. It's powered by a type 3 VW motor (flat) which resides under the seat portion of the body. It is run mid engine style with the beetle transmission in the rear. The engine size is 1600 cc with dual port heads and a Weber DCO3 sidedraft carb. Homeade shift linkage and shifter shift the gears. The rear suspension has VW cv joints/axles with tubular upper and lower control arms, oil shocks and a single transverse mounted spring make it move. Onto the front suspension, it's 1969 vintage 850 Fiat, with disc brakes and spindles, a transverse spring connects to the lower control arm mount on the spindles. The upper is mounted by way of modified MG Armstrong shock/control arms. The rack & pinion steering gear is a small MG unit and uses a series of small U Joints to get the steering shaft up at a vertical height to a small model T wheel. The frame splits apart below the body for engine installation, the body's floor is raised up to conceal the motor. The car had no gauges and only a few wires to work. I'll be installing a 8 circuit fuse panel and electrifying the head and tail lamps. The car ran 14x10 rear wheels with L 60-14 tires, the fronts are 13x5 Fiat BWA wheels and 5.20-13 tires

[volksnut]

The front suspension is an awesome thing, It works beautifully. The spring is actually the lower control arm, the upper is a modified Armstrong dampener. It's all very small, the rack, well heck the Fiat 850 is a small car.....so it all goes in proportion. The aluminum radiator you see in the picture....nope it's the gas tank, hand made, and above it is the engine oil cooler. In fact another side note, I've talked to one of Mike's fellow students that actually worked on the car way back when, he welded the tank and the rear trailing arms among other things.....how cool is that

[volksnut]

First line of events was to remove the body, the pedals (VW) cables, and steering wheel had to come off. I had to unbolt the front package tray (yes it has one of those) and other various items and off with the body. I will improve on that as the car will now have gauges, wiring, and switches. I'm making it where all I'll have to remove is the wheel and pedals. You'll notice the header side pipes are real, the front area is not. From the motor it's 2 into 2, they exit into the collector area. I'm not a big fan of that set-up but I must keep those pipes. So I added a crossover pipe to join both banks. You'll also notice the oil cooler lines traveling up over the gas tank to the cooler. The motor is now rebuilt, sporting dual Weber DCNF carbs (yes they fit under the body) and the motor is now full flowed with a oil filter before the cooler and a stock type 3 oil cooler was added to the motor as well. It originally only relied on the front cooler, also note the generator is relocated farther out, well it's missing but the bracket is there....Updated pix on all that later.

[volksnut]

You can see here more detail where the header pipe join the side pipes. Also on picture 2 the generator bracket, it is now replaced with an updated Denso 12v alternator. The distributor cap is gone now too, he had the frame notched to accommodate the wires. It now has a DIS X set-up, the new coil which looks like a EDIS coil is mounted low under the body. The frame is welded up where it was notched. You can also see the shifter, made of aluminum (don't know why it has primer on it) and is welded to a heim joint below...smart! Also notice that steering linkage and it's u joints....another smart idea.

[volksnut]

With the frame now split.....(it took a bit to figure that out, and how to balance everything) the motor can be removed. Now you know why I want the body to be easier removed.
There's only 4 main tubes that hold the frame together, it's strong once it's bolted together, all aircraft hardware also. I have a few gussets to add as I'm adding seat belts to it and it's a bit stressed where the shifter is routed.

[volksnut]

With the body removed you can now see the raised floor to accommodate the motor. It feels okay, not to high, I did build a new windshield frame, brackets etc. it's higher (like a real T) and angled a bit rearward. The second picture you'll see a close up of the rear suspension.

[volksnut]

Here you can see everything is apart....man what a mess. The other pictures you can get a better idea of how the frame is constructed

[volksnut]

Here you'll see the engine mock up (see the previous post on distributor cap/frame notch) the frame is now welded up. I also rebuilt the motor as on leak down it had a dead cylinder. I added Weber DCNF carbs, handmade some low bell crank linkage, full flowed the case, DIS X distributor system, small Norris cam (cause I can't keep anything stock) and a small 12v Denso fork lift alternator.

[volksnut]

Here's a look at the Webers on the mock up motor well below the frame. The DCNF's are short as are the type 3 intakes. I also added a picture of the cross over exhaust pipe and you can also see the location of the ignition coil. Also in the second picture you'll notice I had to reproduce another # 3 cylinder header tube. It seems when I bought the car they loaded it with a skid loader because the tires were flat and bent the tube. That's another story for another day

[volksnut]

The car at one time has two Ford model T lantern tail lights but were long gone when I bought it. Mike had made a mount on the right side of the car to hang it from but there wasn't one on the left. So I reproduced what he did on the left side.

[volksnut]

I also added a front bar to mount the luggage tray and fuse panel to so there's nothing mounted to the body (remember easy removal), also note the throttle cable sleeve above that bar. He had the original cable exiting up through the floor, so I had to move that. I purchased a So. Cal Speed Shop spoon pedal to match my other pedals

[volksnut]

I then started working on a new windshield. I purchased a pair of Speedway brackets, but they didn't fit the contour of this body, so I got to looking and decided I can build them my self. I had some old 1" pipe I cut in half to make the cradles, and bought a piece of 1/8" steel to build the brackets from. On constructing the frame I found some 7/8" windshield channel stock on ebay, and cut and welded up a square frame. It's a bit high, but aren't all T's. I didn't want any bugs in my teeth so that's why. I lengthened the support rods Mike built and reworked the mid mounts to work on this frame.

[volksnut]

Next I started working on a new dash board. I wanted to run gauges...I love to look at gauges :mrgreen: The original dash didn't have enough room for gauges so I bought a piece of 1 x 8 oak from the local lumber yard. I laid out 6 gauges, speedo, tach, oil temp, volt, cyl head temp and fuel gauge. I also added a red oil light, head light switch and ignition switch. The speedo is electronic and will run off a sensor mounted to the cv joint axle flange. I reinstalled the dash using the same referenced holes and bolts as Mike used. I also have the 1979 dash plaque the old dash had mounted, I'll reinstall it after the car is done

[volksnut]

So this brings me to another decision, what to do with the rear wheels, with them being an odd size of 14" it's hard to get tires for them (cheaply) and also at 10" wide that was a bit much. I figured I would need to do some major polishing at best to bring them back to life, instead I would look for some 15" US Indy mags so I could use more common tires. I found a pair of 15x8.5 already polished and these will match the old units to a T, and are a bit narrower so the bearings won't be so stressed. Here's a shot of the old and new. I also took the rear chassis parts to the powder coater and had them stripped and powdered aluminum and gold. If you haven't priced it yet, chroming is out of this world. I also fitted the gas tank with a VDO gas gauge. So that brings me up to today....Stay tuned for more updates

[volksnut]

Got a bit of an update today. Just so you know I've been off all week doing a chemical peal on my face....yuck right, a pre cancer type thing, so I've been just puttzen around going little things like build threads and polishing brass . I found a guy who will make a new wood rim for the T wheel. So I did a bit of work to the center...looking good.

[volksnut]

My wife had made a video when we unloaded it from my trailer, seeing it for the first time in person.



Link

[volksnut]

Here's a before and after shot of my steering wheel. I found a guy on ebay building wood rims and can recommend him highly, you can look him up by his screen name (woodbykevin). He'll make the wheel to your spec's and out of what ever wood you want. Look him up, tell him Volksnut sent ya. Eric

[volksnut]

Got a few updates I would like to share. I modified the front rack once again moving the rear section forward and adding a recessed area for the master cylinder. I also finished the seat belt anchor section and added gussets for the rear cradle/trans area. And the last update for today...I had sent my Fiat BWA wheels out to Mag Masters for a polish, here they are together with the rear wheels. I do need to find 2 front center caps to fit the Fiat wheels, the hole is 1 7/8", maybe make something on the lathe....if I had one