TheSamba.com :: View topic - The Edmondson Testimony- Judson Blowers

Thu Oct 06, 2011 6:57 am

J,

Lee Farms is the spot, it's awesome for the family.

http://leefarmsoregon.com/

Thu Oct 06, 2011 12:25 pm

This is, and always be one of the moast special lowlights out there- I LOVE IT! and you are doing it proud!!!! Keep up the good work! 8)

Wed Nov 23, 2011 9:13 am

The Edmondson ghia will be undergoing surgery this winter. The time has come to build the secret sauce engine that dominated the race track back in the day. We have every detail necessary to replicate it with 100% accuracy and have Phillip Edmondson on board to assist. We're going to get it right down to the spark plug wires and oil that was used.

Derek @ WagenWerks in Salem, OR will be heading up this phase of the project. Derek and I started the discussion last summer about the scope of the project, and the significance of getting it right. We share the same passion when it comes to vintage speed.

Stay tuned to this thread, the plan is to recreate a piece of vw speed history. And Frank Edmondson if you're looking down upon us, your legacy lives on.

Wed Nov 23, 2011 11:23 am

I'm loving every step of The Edmondson retro-evolution and it's great that you have Phillip helping recreate his father's racing innovation.

In all of the experimentation on the '59 daily driver did Frank have a spare development engine or were the upgrades performed in his spare time, while the Ghia remained his only mode of transport?

Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:03 pm

John, no spare engine and Frank used the car for daily driving throughout his ownership. The daily driving served as part of the R & D to make sure things would hold up well under use.

The Edmondson basement was turned into a quasi machine shop and Frank was constantly modding, swapping, & machining parts on a regular basis. He had a lot of equipment on hand. Phillip said his Dad spent a tremendous amount time in the basement preparing for the upcoming weekend's race.

He was constantly trying to shave tenths of a second off of his race times. He had an Engineering background and wasn't afraid to try things that hadn't been done before.

Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:21 pm

Ha! I understand perfectly...

Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:35 pm

Thanks John, I will never be able to get that 3.15 back.

Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:50 pm

c21darrel wrote: Thanks John, I will never be able to get that 3.15 back.

You don't need to Darrel...Tom Waits is a much loved American institution...don't bother, I've already guessed your reply. :wink:

Wed Nov 23, 2011 6:30 pm

Sitting on the edge of my seat... all winter!

Paul

Fri Dec 02, 2011 7:48 pm

I have been lucky enough to be around this car. Dustin's is doing a amazing job with the Eddy. I will just keep it at that :wink: . Awesome work D.

Sun Dec 18, 2011 10:40 am

It has been an exhausting journey to chase down missing parts to put the Edmondon back to its former glory. The original supercharger was found earlier in the year thanks to some very helpful samba members along with the Edmondson family and a lot of never say never attitudes from the vw community.

Drumroll please -

I'm estatic to report that we have also put another piece of the puzzle together. The original Edmondson transmission along with the empi camber compensator have been secured and it is once again with the car. It's well documented that every race was ran with this transmission installed. It's tired and will need a full rebuild (had a hard life, harder than most 1/4 mile at a time), but we have it, along with ever so important serial number reading A2073244.

Frank Edmondson had built a special short throw shift kit. He also formulated a transmission fluid that had a unique viscosity, lowering the drag amongst the moving internal parts. We will be duplicating that fluid after the rebuild.

Add popcorn

Sun Dec 18, 2011 11:15 am

Great work Dustin. :D

Mon May 14, 2012 9:19 am

Looks like I've been behind on updating this thread.

Transmission rebuilder called earlier this year after getting the original trans on his bench and taken apart. He said it was too far gone to rebuild, the worst transmission he's ever seen after 25 years in the vw / 356 tranny business. It was ugly and looked like it had been abused. Teeth sheared off every gear, bearings gone, like it came out of a race car with little to no use of a clutch :D

Part 2 of the conversation. If we throw enough time, effort, and $ into it, can it be saved? Yes, but noone with common sense would go that route.

After explaining the historical significance of putting this car back together he "got it" and said as long as I wasn't in a hurry he could make it happen.

Fastforward to today, the original trans is freshly rebuilt with a clean bill of health and in transit.

We saved and detailed the case with the oh so precious serial number but every internal part was replaced out of necessity thanks to 7 cores that were sacraficed. Hope to add some pictures of the rebuild this week.

Mon May 14, 2012 1:03 pm

That's great news on saving the original case! I wonder if the special trans fluid sacrificed protective lubricating properties for the sake of reduced drag...

Paul

Tue May 15, 2012 7:42 am

Thanks. I think the condition of the transmission is due to a few reasons. One is hard use. Original split cases weren't designed for track use. The second is the fluid, I'm sure it was more about performance and not longevity, the third is climate. Until last year it was in the Carolinas with some of that time being spent outside in the salty air, more than likely uncovered for some period of time.

Tue May 15, 2012 4:14 pm

Do you know the formula of the reduced viscosity fluid?

Was it some sort of 50% gear oil / 50% diesel fuel combo? Cooking oil? I imagine the inside of that transmission case wasn't pretty.

Wed May 30, 2012 9:17 am

I have the trans fluid recipe written down in some notes. I will have to dig them out. Current progress :D

Thu May 31, 2012 9:56 am

Looking forward to seeing what you do with the original camber compensator.

Thu May 31, 2012 4:30 pm

Wow that's an incredible build! Did this car actually race on the stock rims, bias ply white walls and stock brakes?

Thu Sep 20, 2012 7:43 pm

I've had quite of few people ping me regarding current status so I figured I'd update this thread.

Mechanical restoration should be done by end of the calendar year, and the car back on the road being enjoyed and raced summer of 2013.

Thanks to everyone who has shown an interest in bringing the car back to its former glory.