TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:56 am

Hello ladies and gents. I've been lurking here for a while and been gathering as much information as I could before I purchased my new to me Type 3. For a while now, i've been searching for an early notch. However, in Hawaii it has proved to be an impossible task...Recently I made a trip to California to check out many notches, but I felt that it was not worth purchasing and shipping it back to Hawaii for restoration. I just can't justify purchasing a notch for 5k+ that need a lot of work, especially rust work. Purchasing repair panels and having them shipped to Hawaii would cost me a small fortune. After about two weeks, I went home empty handed. A couple days later, a 68 fastback turned up at home. I went to see it and to my surprise it was a nice rust free Cali car that was brought over in 2010. I picked her up on Monday June 13th and drove her home. She does need a lot of work, but she is complete and rust free.

Now onto the pictures:

Accident Free!!

Fri Jun 17, 2011 12:01 pm

That thing is spotless compared to mine. I will be a gentleman and attempt to set aside my shameless jealousy. I'm not promising anything though. :D

Fri Jun 17, 2011 12:04 pm

great looking car! doesn't look like it needs too much. those gravel guards are sexy 8)

what are your plans for it?

Fri Jun 17, 2011 12:09 pm

The main issues with the car is the following:

1. The front fenders have been blended in with only the front apron. Hopefully this will be an easy fix.

2. The engine mount at the rear was cut off and some hack tried to fix it by making their own with some sheet metal and square tubing. It is too short for the arm that hangs off the engine fan housing and serves no purpose at the moment. Hopefully i'll be able to source out a new/used rear portion and have it rewelded back to original. Can anyone help me find one?

3. The engine seems to hang a little low. I'm assuming its because the rear most engine mount is bearing no load. Can any of the type 3 gurus confirm this? In the picture below, you can see the gap between the firewall and the engine tin. I'm hoping that once I get the engine mount fixed, then the motor can be raised to attach the arm on the fan housing to the engine mount.

The car has its fair share of dings and dents, but overall i'm happy with the car and will do a full restoration. I'll keep updating this post with my build. I look forward to talking and learning a lot with you guys!

Fri Jun 17, 2011 12:28 pm

Thanks guys, the car does need some work as I pointed out above. I plan to do a resto/custom since she is not a desireable early model. Once I gather the sheet metal for the rear engine mount, I'll take her to the body shop to have the body taken off, worked on for a nice show car black paint job. While the body shop is doin their thing, i'll be working on the pan. I'll powdercoat it and have some undercoating sprayed on the bottom to hopefully prevent any rust issues. I have some porsche repops that I will slap on, 4.5's with 155/60/15 on the front and 5.5's with 195/50/15 or 195/16/15 on the back. I would like to upgrade my brakes on the front to the airkewled wilwood kit and the cp performance disc brake kit on the rear. She stops ok now, but I really like the piece of mind with new brake components.

As for the engine and transmission, all I will do is install a megasquirt controlled EFI system. I have all the pieces, just have to start building and fabricating. The previous owner told me that there was a 1776 cc engine and a freeway flier transmission, but the engine feels weak...def not what I expected from a 1776! I think i'll leave the long block as-is for now since she runs decently well, just lacking power. Maybe its because of the freeway flier tranny. It has dual carbs, dunno which ones yet since I haven't really looked into it. Looks like the dual webers that CB Performance sells.

Sat Jun 18, 2011 3:52 am

Does anyone know if it is ok to run the engine without using the rear engine mount? I see that bugs didn't have it...It doesn't seem like the engine and transmission is supported any different from the bugs. Am I missing something?

Sat Jun 18, 2011 5:22 am

SA cars have a rear engine hanger, IRS cars just use the mustache bar. I think the PO tried to make a home made rear hanger, which makes no sense. It looks like you have IRS from the pics of your car, factory that thing came with IRS.

Take some pics from the underside of the engine.

Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:30 am

68 was still swing-axle, not IRS.

Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:48 am

Very clean looking car WOW . Congrats

That hanger is easy to find. You will love the popouts I call it the incredible bending glass.

Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:53 am

Wow it's like a twin of my car, especially with the rear gravel guards, but it much better condition. Very nice car!

Not early? It the second year of manufacture for a fasty. But I can't wait to see what you do with it.

Sat Jun 18, 2011 5:03 pm

The car is def a swing axle. A piece of the original rear hanger is there. I dunno why they cut it off in the first place... Still safe to drive?

The pop-outs are def cool, literally! I was looking for a hinge, but then noticed that the glass was bending.

Isn't 68 the third year of production for a fasty? Thought they were produced since 66...

Fastbackdon: could you lead me to a source of the rear hanger and sheet metal back there? I looked behind there and found that a small piece of the sheet metal is missing too, most likely letting hot air into the cool air stream.

I appreciate all the compliments! Thanks guys!

Sat Jun 18, 2011 7:21 pm

supersuk wrote: The car is def a swing axle. A piece of the original rear hanger is there. I dunno why they cut it off in the first place... Still safe to drive?

The pop-outs are def cool, literally! I was looking for a hinge, but then noticed that the glass was bending.

Isn't 68 the third year of production for a fasty? Thought they were produced since 66...

Fastbackdon: could you lead me to a source of the rear hanger and sheet metal back there? I looked behind there and found that a small piece of the sheet metal is missing too, most likely letting hot air into the cool air stream.

I appreciate all the compliments! Thanks guys!
I would check with Mie Fisher here on the samba that is his screen name. He is a great guy and he will do you right.

Sat Jun 18, 2011 8:38 pm

That would be Mike not Mie, Don! Sorry supersuk, but I've already cut off and sold the only early rear engine hanger I had to sell. Tram might have one?

Sat Jun 18, 2011 8:48 pm

I'm diggin' the curb feelers!

Sun Jun 19, 2011 12:26 am

Thats a really clean fastback, I like it!

Sun Jun 19, 2011 2:56 am

Thanks for the contacts Don! BerT3 contacted me and he had an entire NOS rear apron w/hanger that I will snatch up! Once I get this, I'll begin the tear down and send it to the body shop. Hopefully I won't find any surprises lurking behind all the fenders and carpet.

I like those curb feelers too! Those will def save my rims. hahaha

Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:39 pm

If i'm remembering correctly, 68 is the first year for irs if the car is automatic trans. but manual trans is still swing axle. One of the seasoned type 3 mechanics confirm or correct please.

Sun Jun 19, 2011 11:11 pm

KIDSPEED wrote: If i'm remembering correctly, 68 is the first year for irs if the car is automatic trans. but manual trans is still swing axle. One of the seasoned type 3 mechanics confirm or correct please.

You are correct !

BerT3

Mon Jun 20, 2011 6:00 am

That is one awesome Fasty... Cool one, buddy...

Fri Jun 24, 2011 12:29 pm

Ok, I feel like a real dufus...I've searched around the forums looking for a how-to or something along those lines to set timing. This is my first type 3, but I have had many type 1's in the past and those are easy to set timing. How do you do it for these pancake motors? I see a hole in the fan shroud and can see the pulley, but I haven't seen any type of markings to indicate what degree i'm at. I connected it to the number 1 cylinder and can't see anything! I really hope this is the cause of my "no power"... Also, i'm assuming you have to line up the timing mark with the little arm protruding from the block?

Boy...I feel really dumb.