TheSamba.com :: View topic - 1958 Rag, Resto-Rod Build "El Mirage meets The Autobahn

Thu Aug 02, 2012 10:41 am

The pan from the 67 turned out to be pretty decent...just a little rust but plenty of gunk. Still running the original VW pans...it's a beautiful thing.
Went ahead and cut out the small areas of rust and repaired them...got the wife involved and stripped the pan to the metal

Thu Aug 02, 2012 10:50 am

Treated the surface rust, spot primed and painted. Coated the bottom of the pans with a tough spray-on bedliner for protection and sound reduction.

Thu Aug 02, 2012 8:09 pm

Started on the trans. Got the axles off and took a look inside...as nasty as the outside looked the inside looked clean, so I have no reason to doubt the PO's claim that it was a good trans.

Cleaned it up, changed out the external seals, cleaned and inspected the wheel bearings...good to go.

Thu Aug 02, 2012 8:18 pm

Starting reassembly of the pan. Leveled it.

Reinstalled the rear torsion bars to stock then dropped one outer spline to start. We'll see where it sits when all the weight gets on it. I'd like it down a little but not with the extreme camber.

Thu Aug 02, 2012 8:36 pm

I decided to custom make a shifter.
I figured since I was such a fan of Ed Roth and Rat Fink as a kid...I'd have a little fun and make a shifter as a tribute to his monster drawings.
Dug around in the swap meet parts pile and found a Hurst Indy shifter for a pickup.

Cut off the shaft

Cut down my stock VW shifter

Welded the two together

Add one crazy metal flaked 8 Ball...VOIL'A! one Hot Rod custom shifter

Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:17 am

More fun stuff...

Hung my new set of KYB's and thought to myself "As cool as these shocks are, they just dont fit my build theme"
After a little head scratching I come up with a plan that I think will work. I looked to the early 356 Porsches for inspiration and disguised my shocks as early red Konis.

Before

After

Sat Aug 04, 2012 12:13 pm

Very Nice. :D

Sun Aug 05, 2012 1:08 pm

Looks like a fun project. I like the direction it's going!

Sun Aug 05, 2012 4:25 pm

Looks like you have a great start!

Sun Aug 05, 2012 7:12 pm

Thanks everyone for the comments...

Here's some more fun stuff

Inspiration from the Hot Rod world

Sun Aug 05, 2012 7:33 pm

Got all the rear of the pan reassembled, bolted up the beam extender and beam and threw on the wheels to get an idea of stance

Diggin' the rake...but hoping the weight of the body and engine will bring it down dramatically

Thu Aug 09, 2012 7:09 pm

Working on the front axle...ordered all new brake parts.

Got more inspiration from the Hot Rod world...decided that since I'm staying Old School and running drum brakes for the look I might as well Hot Rod them as well...what better way then to add cooling scoops to the backing plates.

Started researching and found a cast aluminum possibility through O'brien Truckers, but it was too big and bulky looking for the VW backing plates...plus they are like $80 a set....ouch.

So I got myself a comfortable spot in the garage and sat there and looked around...once again, my swap meet pile of parts caught my eye. Right on top is a broken half of a 61 Oldsmobile grille that I've been hanging onto.

Cut off a piece

Got some sheet metal...hand formed a scoop to fit around it

Fitted it to an old backing plate

Trimmed up the grille piece

So I will make a matching one for the other side, clean them up and paint and probably find some cool copper rivets to attach them to my backing plates when the time comes.

Fri Aug 10, 2012 8:13 am

Great backing plate idea. Kinda Pete & Jake. I drew up a fantasy disc brake set up a while back.

Your chassis is starting to get that 60's drag car look which is fun as hell to stand beside isn't it? Keep going man,looks killer. Andy.

Fri Aug 10, 2012 7:36 pm

Awesome brake design...

I really dig that type of stuff.

I got plenty more ideas for other areas of the car

Sat Aug 18, 2012 1:06 pm

More on the brakes...

Started with solid 67 backing plates I picked up here on The Samba.

Drilled venting holes in (blue arrows) and out (red arrows) to make the cooling scoops functional

Glass beaded, painted and assembled the backing plates

Figured, since Dr. Porsche would have been the one to design these brakes, he would want his signature on them.

Sun Aug 19, 2012 12:54 pm

Found out part of the reason my front suspension was so tight. Check out the misaligned ball joint from the PO.

If you look, you can see where the original factory clearancing path is (yellow line) this machining is in line with the alignment notches on top. The PO obviously didn't read his Bentley when he cave-man-style pounded (yes, I said pounded) in the new joints.
I marked the new joint path that wore in from binding (red line).

Sun Aug 19, 2012 8:24 pm

Got the old ball joint out, cleaned up the torsion arm and deburred the hole.

I always remove the grease boot from the new ball joint before pressing it in, so it doesn't rip

I also like to coat the hole with a good heavy oil (like Lucas assembly lube) so the new joint doesn't gall going in

This is the tool to have if you are going to be doing ball joints yourself.

Make sure the notches are oriented correctly

Install the boot...done

Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:49 pm

Frankie looking good! :)

Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:24 pm

Cool build. I dig the wheels and tires. How many inches are you planning on chopping it ? I cannot wait to see pics of the sheet metal work.

Wed Aug 29, 2012 7:02 pm

I wish I had half the talent you possess. Great project! I will enjoy watching.