Rod's Chenowth 4LWD Build

[racecougar]

As promised some time back, I'll share info/pics as I dig into fixing up this Chenowth. I bought this at the end of July as a 40th b-day present to myself. I've enjoyed every sand rail I've had the opportunity to drive, and I want to learn about air-cooled VW's, so I figured this was perfect.

It's a '81 Chenowth 4LWD chassis with a '72 1600cc engine, 5-rib trans, and a link-pin front end. It runs/drives well, but there is plenty to straighten out on it.

One of the very first improvements I made was the installation of front brakes. The rail already had drilled front rotors, so I purchased the EMPI front caliper brackets, along with calipers and pads for a VW Rabbit. I turned down a set of caliper slide pins for a '15 Jeep Grand Cherokee to mate it all up.

My first first-hand taste of EMPI's quality control: I had to file out the end of the slide on both brackets in order to install the pads.

As I'm working to get this car street-legal, one of the next jobs was to add headlights and turn signals up front. I used the lights that the P.O. provided with the rail (as we know, every rail comes with a BIG box of additional parts), and whipped up some mounts.

I also added a GPS speedo, a passenger side rear view mirror, a second fire extinguisher, a shift bushing from fellow member jimmyhoffa (thanks Jim!)...and then I blew it all apart.

The battery and kill switch was mounted behind the passenger seat, and the seat was positioned well forward of the driver seat to accomodate this. It looked funky, and it cramped the passenger. I relocated the battery up front in a Moroso sealed box, and I'll be re-working the passenger seat mounting soon to place it in-line with the driver.

I sliced and diced a roof rack from HF to fit the rail properly, and moved the four yellow pod lights from the base of the windshield area to the new rack.

Some of the upcoming work includes installing 4-piston rear calipers, a hyd parking brake valve, an old Neal cutting brake, re-plumbing the fuel, clutch, and brake systems, re-wiring the vehicle entirely, producing mounts for the rear shocks to place them in double shear, raising the rear bump stop perches and installing actual bump stops on them, and who knows what else I'm not thinking of at the moment.

So hello! Glad to be here, and I look forward to learning about these vehicles as I go along.

[indianpeaksjoe]

That looks amazing! Super cool work.

-Joe

[racecougar]

Thanks, Joe!

[jimmyhoffa]

Yeeeeaaaah buddy, lookin' good. Make sure everything is tight because we're gonna be pretty high in the air. Best looking buggy chassis anyone ever made IMHO. I have so many 4LWD pictures saved in my favorites. I'm so happy this car is gonna get "The Works"

(Also I found the .STEP file for my trick shift bushing if you ever wanna try a different material)

_________________
1974 Chenowth 2RL #1244 Street Legal
My other car isn't ridiculous.

[racecougar]

Thanks, Jim! I just sent you a PM for a little guidance on what all is and isn't required for the special construction titling process here in MO. I want to make sure I'm not missing anything.

[cbeck]

The hardest part is a sacrificial title.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604078&highlight=street+legal
_________________
My cut in half and rebuild thread
www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647779

[cbeck]

This can't hurt either. Like knowing parking brakes are only mentioned for commercial vehicles. mhp inspection is looking to prove you legaly own all of the parts.
The safety inspector is to vetify all lites,ect are proper.

_________________
My cut in half and rebuild thread
www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647779

[racecougar]

I have the title for the engine. I was curious if a cable-operated parking brake or an interior rear view mirror was required. Additionally, from what I've read, a windshield is not required, but if you choose to install one, then wipers are required.

[cbeck]

Brake component's ( 11 CSR 50-2.160) hydraulic system. No mention of parking brake
.
(11 CSR 50-2.170) air and vacuum brake systems
Every vehicle equipped exclusively with an air brake system and every commercial vehicle equipped with a vacuum, air over hydraulic, hydroboost,or electro hydraulic booster brake system shall be equipted with parking brakes to hold the vehicle........

My oldest had an inspectors license that he let expire. He told me that if a parking brake system is present, required or not, must work.

Mirrors (11 CSR 50-2.220)
All motor vehicles which are so constructed or loaded so the operator cannot see the road behind by looking back or around the side of the vehicle shall be equipped with either an inside or outside mirror, or both, that will reveal the road behind.

Glazing (glass) (11 CSR 50-20270)
All 1936 and later model motor vehicles WHICH WERE ORIGINALLY EQUIPTED with glass must have approved safety glass in all doors, windows, and windshield. No windshield, no wipers required. Windshields must be marked AS1
_________________
My cut in half and rebuild thread
www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647779

[racecougar]

Thanks. Sounds like I'm good to go with just a hydraulic parking brake, no interior rear view mirror (already have mirrors on both sides), and no windshield.

[jimmyhoffa]

Hey I saw the PM, but I figure I'll just make it public. There's not much to say that cbeck didn't cover because he did the same thing with his car a few months before me getting mine inspected. Here are things I did to ensure that I both passed inspection and was making safe decisions.

-Schroth GmbH produces U.S. street legal US-DOT FMVSS 209 harnesses. I purchased deeply in-date examples of those harnesses, and installed them in my car with the appropriate 7/16 DOT-mandated hardware. The harness angles, pivot washers, harness belt installation angles and wrap techniques were all correct per specifications in the Schroth manual, which is thorough and illustrated beautifully. The knowledge there applies to most any harness install. This effort was noted and appreciated by the inspector at the time.

-My lights and signals are all DOT-marked for road use and work reliably.

-I had a folder of taxes-paid receipts thicker than a small-town phone book.

-I intentionally did not have a windshield installed, and had a DOT helmet with integrated eye protection with me. For windshield-wiper and AS-1 reasons, I believe this may have simplified the process. Can't say for sure. (This may be unnecessary because this occurred when MO had a motorcycle helmet law. Not sure if there's any legal crossover there.)

-All my tires had a DOT number on them. I watched him look at the numbers but he didn't make any comment.

I will say, once the inspector realized I had gone out of my way in a few areas, he seemed really enthusiastic about getting my car on the road. Like, he seemed like he was an advocate for me getting through everything, getting insured and legal. I have a $12,000 agreed value policy with Progressive. They have current pictures of my car, all my receipts, and all my registration info so if I get in my 4th "someone-else-texting-and-driving" accident and this time it's in my Chenowth, I'll be reasonably taken care of. I've already lost my killer fresh BMW 330i 5-speed and a MK4 5-speed TDI Golf, and a very special Honda XR650r supermoto to the slobbering phone-addicted idiot locals so I figure I better be prepared mentally, financially, and legally to lose anything I drive on a public road.
_________________
1974 Chenowth 2RL #1244 Street Legal
My other car isn't ridiculous.

[racecougar]

Thanks Jim.

I'll check out Schroth. At least a few of the mounting points are incorrect currently (already on my list to revise), so I'll make sure I follow their guide.

https://www.schrothracing.com/doc-share/competition_instructions.pdf

My lights and tires have DOT numbers, so I should be good there.

I'm quickly accumulating my folder of receipts. I also have the title for the engine donor and bill of sale for the rest of the chassis.

I plan to get it legal sans windshield and install one later on. I'll bring my helmet with me.

I'll trailer it to Rolla based on your (and everyone else's) advice regarding their hospitality compared to Troop C. My guess is that I won't get to that until Spring, as I want to fix all the unprofessional/incorrect stuff first. My hope is that tidy plumbing and wiring, along with good welds and thought-out designs, will lend to the inspector being an advocate for me as well.

Good to know that Progressive insured yours, as I have four policies with them at the moment, so I expect I'll be able to add this one. I'll check out Grundy as well, as I have agreed value policies on three vehicles with them.

[DesertSasquatchXploration]

How much do you guys pay to register vehicles in Missouri?

[racecougar]

As far as registration/license fees go, it really depends on how you license it. The typical passenger car rates look like this:

If you license it as a historic vehicle, it's a one time fee of $31.25 for plates. This is the way to go, IMO. I run historic plates on 4 of my cars.

To title a special construction vehicle, it looks like it costs $31 for the form (Form 551) plus tax on any parts that you haven't already paid tax on. cbeck or jimmyhoffa, please correct me if I'm wrong.

[cbeck]

Looks like the dept. of revenue main office in jefferson city also collected $29.
The local license offices would mail your paper work to jeff city. I just went to that office so any issues ( there were none) could be ironed out quickly, not weeks thru the snail mail.
So to recap
$31 form 551
$29 to dept. of rev
$12.5? For state safety inspection
$49.5 for 2 year plates.
$500 for sacrificial title.
_________________
My cut in half and rebuild thread
www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647779

[racecougar]

What's the $500 for sacrificial title?

[cbeck]

You need to supply a title to show where the engine, trans, and suspension came from. Direct quote from the nice people at troop c.
I bought a title, but not the car. I put that title in my name before presenting it to the state with the form551. This way I could show I paid sales tax on the sacrificial title, er vehicle. It was a salvage title issued to me, because there was no vin verification done . Vin verification is usually done during the safety inspection. But since I only had a title and no car...... There is such a thing as a vin verification form used for purchasing a vehicle that wont be licensed at the time of title application when a safety inspection won't be performed.
_________________
My cut in half and rebuild thread
www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647779

[racecougar]

Ok. What I'm unclear on is did you pay $500 for the title or were you charged $500 by the State due to your circumstances? I have the title for the engine.

[cbeck]

Sorry, I bought a title for $500.
_________________
My cut in half and rebuild thread
www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647779

[racecougar]

Gotcha. Whew. Had me worried for a second.

BTW, working on it again today. Found so many more Scotchloks and improper wiring practices. Also found that the alternator excite wire was routed to the oil pressure warning light and the oil pressure sender had been wired to an un-marked light. I say "had been" because the wire had pulled loose from the ring terminal it was once crimped to. Glad I'm rewiring the whole thing.