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Sun Jan 17, 2010 4:08 pm

Lotrat wrote: Define "German"

This is what I am using right now. Got them from McKenzies. Although the box says made in Turkey, the joint has stamped in it "Germany".
The new ones also came from there, but are in an orange box that says Febi-Bilstein. Made in Germany is stamped on all of the ball joints.
I took the boot off one of the new ones and found that there isn't much room to remove material. For $15 a joint, I will take away what I can, knowing that the hook stops will prevent it from breaking anyway.
I'm leaving for Kauai in a couple of weeks and will be there for 2 weeks, so it may be a while before I get to it, but I will measure the angle before and after and see how it translates to travel. I've got a money-making project to get working on before I leave.

Sun Jan 17, 2010 4:44 pm

It is suprising where parts that we think are german, are actually made.
I retired fro Mahle Filter systems. From a plant in the USA. But we shipped a lot of our product to Mexico, and Canada, in bulk. There it would be repackaged, into service packs, and distributed.
We moved a complete oil filter line to China.
I do know that Mahle has piston plants in Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, and China, as well as Germany.
They are the sole owners of Cofap, and Cima, not sure about AA.

Tue Jan 19, 2010 9:22 pm

sxuxrxf wrote: I made the best possible upgrade to the car this weekend - a removeable apron! It only took about an hour to remove and bolts back in with (4) 3/8" bolts.

-Robb

OK I did a search, but nothing I was expecting. Do you mean just your apron was bolted with 4 bolts? Did you also bolt the fenders on?

Thanks!

Tue Jan 19, 2010 10:33 pm

The fenders bolt on as usual, but don't have to be removed to get the apron off. Just loosen the fenders, remove the 4 bolts to the apron and wiggle it out.

Tue Jan 19, 2010 10:58 pm

Wow I must say your bug is amazing, i'm so far from being able
to drive mine and seeing yours makes me wish there were more
hours in the day to work. Great job can't wait to see more.

Thu Jan 28, 2010 6:00 pm

Hey if you have that long range gas tank can you keep your back seat in or does it have to come out?

Thu Jan 28, 2010 6:24 pm

rubsterob wrote: Hey if you have that long range gas tank can you keep your back seat in or does it have to come out?

I am working on an extended range fuel tank for my V Star 1100 (Motorcycle) by cutting it in half and welding on extension plates. If it works for the bike I will also do it for the VW, maybe an extra 1.5-2 gallons. I would also like to know if the tank requires the rear seat removal.

Thu Jan 28, 2010 6:38 pm

Squeek151 wrote: Wow I must say your bug is amazing, i'm so far from being able
to drive mine and seeing yours makes me wish there were more
hours in the day to work. Great job can't wait to see more.

Thank you! I don't know about more hours in the day to work, because if there were, I'd be spending even more time at work. :cry: Being busy is nothing to complain about, though. The alternative is much worse.

Thu Jan 28, 2010 6:44 pm

tundrawolf wrote: rubsterob wrote: Hey if you have that long range gas tank can you keep your back seat in or does it have to come out?

I am working on an extended range fuel tank for my V Star 1100 (Motorcycle) by cutting it in half and welding on extension plates. If it works for the bike I will also do it for the VW, maybe an extra 1.5-2 gallons. I would also like to know if the tank requires the rear seat removal.

I thought about doing the same to the stock tank, but I'd rather have a full-size spare in there. I also want to hit the 20 gallon mark, cuz the current travel range is only about 150 miles per tank.

As far as removing the rear seat - YES it must come out. As you can see from the pics, the tank takes the place of the seat bottom. I will just carpet over the tank and have a nice flat surface with a few tie-down hooks for an ice chest.

Thu Jan 28, 2010 6:59 pm

That sounds pretty good but I wanted to be able to have some people in the back seat ( even with out leg room) do you think there is a way to pad the top a little and make it a seat?

Thu Jan 28, 2010 7:04 pm

sxuxrxf wrote: tundrawolf wrote: rubsterob wrote: Hey if you have that long range gas tank can you keep your back seat in or does it have to come out?

I am working on an extended range fuel tank for my V Star 1100 (Motorcycle) by cutting it in half and welding on extension plates. If it works for the bike I will also do it for the VW, maybe an extra 1.5-2 gallons. I would also like to know if the tank requires the rear seat removal.

I thought about doing the same to the stock tank, but I'd rather have a full-size spare in there. I also want to hit the 20 gallon mark, cuz the current travel range is only about 150 miles per tank.

As far as removing the rear seat - YES it must come out. As you can see from the pics, the tank takes the place of the seat bottom. I will just carpet over the tank and have a nice flat surface with a few tie-down hooks for an ice chest.

If the gas tank is extended upwards, I don't think it would interfere with the spare tire, would it?

Thu Jan 28, 2010 7:18 pm

if it was also angled back the stock tire might fit. I don't know if the stock spare fits with the Brazillian 15 gallon tanks or not.
Either way, I want to carry a full-size spare up front, so it will have to lay flat. I'll use the tank area for storage and the battery.

Tue Mar 23, 2010 2:30 am

Ok surf I've been looking at your car again and noticed a few things I have to ask about.

The thing header you use has flanges on part that goes to the heater box.
Are those thing heater boxes as well?

Second why do you have the passenger side heat riser coming from around the normal place (right where the header conects to the head) and the drives side come from way down at the output of the header is there a reason for doing that?

And third how are you holding your car down when you Jack up the spring plate?

I use a chain from the Jack to the shock tower but it's a pain in the ass and always gets in the way. I could figure out how you were doing it

ohh and did you ever get skid plates?

Thanks

Tue Mar 23, 2010 5:32 pm

The flanges are not specific to Things. You can buy headers that have flanges and get 2 more to add to the heater boxes. This does away with the crappy clamp connection. I just got the flanged version of the header and then welded the flanges onto the heater boxes to match.

As far as the heat riser locations, the reason is...with them in the usual locations the riser tube tends to get full of carbon because the #2 and #4 exhaust pulses are pushing against each other.
After a lot of reading, I learned that #2 is used to supply the heat and the other end attached to the collector is used to PULL the exhaust heat thru the pipe. This is apparently how a stock VW muffler works. (not the aftermarket header/mufflers) This way there is good heat and no build up. My carb never ices up and warms up pretty quickly.

In the pictures of cycling through the suspension, the torsion bars were removed. I just loosely bolted the spring plate, bushing and cover in place. No shocks either. With the cv's and axles bolted up, you get to fully cycle everything, checking for binding of the cv's and measure for shock length.

No skid plates yet. I've just been driving the car. The cage and fuel tank are still next on the list.

Check here for more info on the heat riser stuff:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3552812&highlight=#3552812

Tue Mar 23, 2010 5:52 pm

sweet thank you
thats good to know

Sun May 23, 2010 10:12 pm

I've been playing with the car some more. Haven't done anything with the front end or ball joints. I did get the Empi 6-point cage installed. I did some tweaking here and there to get it to fit just right. I can roll down the windows with the doors closed, as well as still open the glove box door.

I went through the front wall to the beam. This is a much tougher job in a full-bodied car. There was so much room to weld in my last car with all the sheet metal cut off. Foot rest is the stock gas pedal. I wanted to put a diagonal bar from just under the dash going down to the lower bar at the front wall, but I just can't get in there to weld all the way around. Makes it very tight on the pedals too. I will be putting triangle plate at many of the joints instead. I have been looking at soo many pictures and reading everything I can and then I just go stare at the car in the garage. Too much thinking and not enough doing.

I'm doing all of this with a headliner, door panels and carpet all in place! It hasn't been too bad. No damage yet. I can roll the carpet out of the way in many of the spots. I have been using a thin piece of sheet metal to protect things, as well as a little square of "something" that is supposed to absorb the heat. Using MIG for most stuff so far, and my TIG with all of the tiny attachments to make the torch as small as possible for the tight fit areas or where I just can't have sparks.

From the center piece, I will add a "V" from center out to the sides and then a cross bar just above the window at the bends. This will be a while before the cage is finished. I will be boxing the trailing arms and bringing the shocks inside. So when that happens, I will continue with the lower back half of the cage. I will attach to the torsion housing at the same time and then add the door bars.

I attached the cage to the seat belt bolts on the body. I kept the stock bracket at the bottom that holds the belt reel as it fit perfect with the middle hoop. I just welded to the cage. My after-market reels bolted right up (facing the rear).

I'm over the idea of a Long Ranger tank inside the car. I will keep the stocker up front and put the spare on top of it. That's right...the full size tire just fits with the hood closed.
I redid the exhaust too. I put on a Flowmaster Delta 40 muffler. It now sounds like it should! It was a much tighter fit than the little turbo hideaway muffler. It is still tucked up like before, just tighter.

This is a much slower build than I thought it would be. No money = no motivation. :|

Mon May 24, 2010 3:49 am

Love the cage. Really smooth job. But the fit and thinking before it went in..... The door handles I made the same mistake when I had a baja.

Sun Jun 27, 2010 10:42 am

sxuxrxf wrote:

The new ones also came from there, but are in an orange box that says Febi-Bilstein. Made in Germany is stamped on all of the ball joints.
I took the boot off one of the new ones and found that there isn't much room to remove material. For $15 a joint, I will take away what I can, knowing that the hook stops will prevent it from breaking anyway.
I will measure the angle before and after and see how it translates to travel.

Have you had a chance to play around with the Febi-Bilsteins? I just picked up a couple of these (upper) and was wondering if you have any feedback on them (good, bad, etc) before I put them on my car.

Thanks!

Sun Jun 27, 2010 10:53 pm

I haven't touched them. You are going to have to take a chance on 'em.
I believe the main advice giver on Class11Coalition recently used them and said they are his new favorite ball joints.
I've been all over the map when it comes to working on this thing. Work on something for a bit and then move on to something else. I'm moving to Oceanside in 2 weeks, so it will be a while before I am able to get back into it.
Update your thread regarding the ball joints when you get them installed.

-Robb

Mon Jun 28, 2010 3:58 am

i have pressed a few of those in some trailing arms and the went in nice and seem too work good as well! let us know what you think when you get that far!