TheSamba.com :: View topic - Spencer's 1970 Beetle Build (Air-ride)

Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:22 pm

Hi guys! My name is spencer, I'm 19 years old, and I've been a lurker on thesamba for years. I previously owned a 1973 beetle that was a failed attempt at a volksrod. This summer I decided to give up on that project, and I gave away the pan and scrapped the body. I sold most of the parts, and kept anything valuable. I did learn a lot from that project though. I would've finished it, but college was coming soon and I had no time to finish it, and I didn't want it sitting at my parents house for 4+ years. I found a roller at the beginning of the summer for $450. It was complete besides an engine, as it was in an engine fire somewhere around 30 years ago. It has all the documentation in it from the original owners and I have reason to believe that it only has 54000 original miles. It's rust free, and most of the interior is there, but damaged from sitting in the sun. The paint is trashed and the body isn't perfect from it sitting and getting hit by other things being stored around it. I'm just happy I don't have to deal with any rot.

Heres me the first day I bought the thing

The night I got the car I stayed up all night and swapped the 1600 dp by myself in the middle of the road. I required all the engine/tailight wiring the next day since it all melted in the fire. Started up on the first try!
I've also stripped the interior of all the tar boards and threw in a carpet kit I had left over from the '73 after I stopped all the surface rust. The car looks a little rough, but it's a solid body and pan which is all I wanted. It drives like the miles are low. I'm now moved up to Fort Collins, and living in an apartment with the bug right outside my window. I have an adjustable 3" narrowed beam with drop spindles, drum to drum, under my bed that should go on any day now. I'm not completely sure what I want to do with this car, but in the near future I'm just going to put this beam on and reminded the rear and roll around real low. I'm thinking in the future I'll do air, starting with just air shocks up front and then bags in the rear eventually. Then bodywork and paint and stuff.

First day driving to classes

You can see the hose coming off the alternator stand and the kind of filter I have. It has a nipple on the filter, should I hook those up? Or just find a stock oil bath filter to put on there?

For now I have a question. The oil filler area has that hose that originally connects to the oil bath air filter. My engine doesn't have that, I have a crappy chrome filter. It has a male nipple that the hose fits over, should I put it on there? I'll add a picture in a little while.

Thanks for reading! Pics will be added when I'm at my computer!

EDIT:

Here it is getting towed up to college!

And the view from my apartment window, next to my dd :D

I fixed most of the oil leaks, coming from the valve covers and the strainer, but it looks like its still leaking from some pushrod tubes. Should i get some of the nicer collapsable ones? Or just do the ones that require removal of the heads?

Sat Sep 06, 2014 12:45 pm

So the brakes were good when I first got the car, I just needed to bleed them. After driving a bit the brake pedal felt weird, it would slow down the car but if I pressed hard enough the brake pedal would fall to the floor. I ended up noticing that both brake light switches were spraying fluid out like a mIst, so I quit driving until I got new ones. Installed the new ones, bled the system, and everything works well again! Locks up the wheels prey easily.

Sun Sep 07, 2014 11:15 pm

So I had a few free hours today so I decided to tackle swapping my beam!

This was the first time I've had the front end apart besides pulling the wheels off to swap to my rivis since they had good tires and the stocks it came with didn't.

I pulled both of the tie rods from the pitman arm and spindles so I didn't have to move the tank since I just filled it up

I figured it would be a pain in the ass since on my last bug it took me a few days to get the tie rods and balljoints off the spindles they were so rusted on, but a few taps with a hammer and they popped right out!

Had a few of my roommates help lift the beam up to the panhead and everything went smoothly from there.

I dropped the car back down on its wheels after finishing everything up and...
It gets caught up on the tires :x

Im pretty sure my adjusters are all the way down and with drop spindles so Its not that surprising since I'm only on a 3" narrowed beam. I need to get my stock wheels back and figure out what to do with tires now.

It looks way better though!!!

Still need to reindex the rear, not sure how many clicks I'll go just yet...

Anyone have any tips on tire sizes? I have no idea what to run up front. I'd like to be really low though. And I think I decided I'll run stock wheels all around until I get some cash then get some widened 4 lug, probably around 7", for the rear :twisted:

Mon Sep 08, 2014 4:17 am

smart car tyres bro, 145/64/15R

good job fixing up the ol'fatty, please fix the brakes!

Mon Sep 08, 2014 7:31 am

63Ragtop NZ wrote: smart car tyres bro, 145/64/15R

good job fixing up the ol'fatty, please fix the brakes!

They're fixed! And as of yesterday 100% new front brakes. Just needs to be bled though. Won't be driving it until I figure out my tire situation and bleed them though.

Thanks!

How would 155/55r15 work? theres some local for sale

Mon Sep 08, 2014 2:06 pm

good good, brakes are important.
155/55 will properly be okay, be aware any of these lower profile tyres lower the car even closer to the ground than it already is, they are pretty small!

have a read here to get an idea

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=247735

I have only used 145/65's

Mon Sep 08, 2014 6:56 pm

So today I went about trying to figure out my alignment, attest get it acceptable to where I can drive it once I get my new tires and wheels.

Both sides had an obscene amount of toe in, so I corrected that.

Something came up though. My steering is squeaking and really rough to turn, and sounds and feels like metal on metal. I look underneath and ee that the steering column is rubbing against the sleeve :?: Im not sure what to call it
Pictures explain it better. The expanded part is rubbing up against the tube it goes into

Im not sure how to remedy this... or why it happened. Any tips?

Tue Sep 09, 2014 12:40 pm

So I found how it needs to look. In this picture there is a gap betweent the expanded part of the steering shaft and the steering tube.

Mine are touching. Should I just listen the two bolts under the column and try to pull it back? How should I go about this?

Wed Sep 10, 2014 2:21 pm

Got the stock wheels back on and sold the rivieras for $250. Ordering some 145s to go up front and keeping the current tires on the rear until I get widened wheels.

I think it looks better with the stock wheels though

Will look way better when I do the rear. Thinking about notching my spring plates. How necessary would this be if i go down two outer splines?

Still haven't figure out the funny steering, Trying to get people to take my gas so I can pull my tank and get to it from the top. Too bad its a full tank.

Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:51 pm

Tires should be here friday.
Had some guys from the local car club come take my gas so I can pull my tank haha. Shouldn't have filled my tank full I guess

While Im in there I'm gonna figure our the steering and redo the fuel line there since its still the original one.
I'll probably get that stuff done tomorrow since I'm free for most of the day

Sun Sep 14, 2014 9:37 pm

I got the new tires mounted and put on! They're so small haha.
The stock wheels look good and now theres no rubbing at all, even when I turn full lock I'm pretty sure... Why do people ever go narrower than this? haha

Adjusters are basically all the way up and I'm this low... haha not sure how I'm gonna deal with that. Guess I need to get air shocks sooner than later.

I also pulled the tank, fixed my steering, and re-did the brake line right there and added a fuel filter.

You can see how I got there to be a space between the shaft and the tube.

It ended up being one of those splined flange things was too far down on the shaft forcing it into the tube. Easy fix and I needed to do that fuel line anyways.

I also bled the brakes, and they work... Sort of.
They only grab at the very bottom of the pedal, even though I've bled them like 3 times. I know the pushrod on the master is fine because it was ok before the beam swap so I'm assuming i just need to adjust the shoes up front, I just think they aren't making contact with the drum until the end of the pedal. And don't worry, I'm not driving it until I figure out my brake situation, and reindex the rear. Could this be correct?

Mon Sep 15, 2014 4:37 am

spencerbai13 wrote: .. Why do people ever go narrower than this?

Fashion victims.....

coming along nicely, with your brakes, definitely adjust front and back before bleeding, if they are way out it gives a terrible pedal feel which can feel like you haven't bled them right.

Its had a fairly decent front end accident in a past life by the way that inner left fender has wrinkled and split, been repaired with a 73+ hood too.

Mon Sep 15, 2014 8:32 pm

So I took apart the front brakes because I had weird slop in the passenger side... I was missing the from wheel bearing woodruff key? I think thats what its called. So I pulled it off my old beam and put that there and fixed it. Also apparently the springs on the shoes were on the wrong side, so i fixed that as well.

I guess ill have to go out and adjust the brakes out... I guess thats gotta be the problem.

So I've been really thinking about air ride... and decided to go with monroe air shocks up front, probably with a 5 gallon tank and a viar compressor. I won't being ordering it immediately, but later in the future.

I'm not sure what to do about the rear though...
I was thinking I could remove the torsions, and strengthen the stock shock mounts by gusseting them and stuff. Then run something like these

I would probably have to clearance some things around it, but I don't see how this wouldn't work. People say the stock shock mounts weren't made to hold the cars weight, so if I reinforce them wouldn't that fix that?I'd like to do it as unobtrusive as possible and this looks like a good way to go. Can anyone tell me why this might not work?

And Joel, I noticed that it had been wrecked after I had it for awhile... Hopefully it doesn't present itself to be too much of a problem when I start doing bodywork and stuff getting it ready for paint. Im not goon be to anal about it, and as long as the body work looks ok from the outside ill be happy, So I'm not too worried since it lines up pretty decently well how it sits.

Tue Sep 16, 2014 1:59 pm

So yesterday when I was cruising around the parking lot the car died. I couldn't get it to start back up so i pulled off the air cleaner and looked down the throat of the carb and saw I was getting no fuel. I figured it was a clogged filter. Checked the one by the tranny, and it was fine. So I pulled the front passenger wheel and that one was fine too, but since the hose has to make such a sharp curve from the tank to the tunnel, it bonded up the hose and kinked it since I added a filter there. Today I threw on a longer piece of hose and it started right up after pumping the fuel back again.

Thats a relief.

But now I have another problem...

When driving at any speed, there is a clunking noise that comes from what sounds like the front passenger wheel area. I noticed this before which is what prompted me to replace that outer bearing seal woodruff key thing, because without that there was a lot of play in the drum. Now there isn't... and its till doing it. This scares me off from driving the car, because I have no idea what it is. I can't replicate it if i jack up the wheel and spin it....
The noise is proportional to the speed that the car is moving, so it speeds up as the car speeds up. What could this be? The wheel bearings are new, the drum is torqued on tight enough, the wheels are tight... I though maybe a trailing arm was coming loose from the torsions but checked that and it seems fine. I also currently have no shocks on it so thats not the source of the clunking. The tie rod ends are new, and the balljoints are new.

So what could this noise be?

Wed Sep 17, 2014 9:01 am

So I just went out to the parking lot and did a few laps in the bug. I figured out it only scrapes whenever I'm turning left. What could be the cause of that?

Thu Sep 18, 2014 1:11 pm

In the pictures, it looks like your beam is adjusted to the full down position, not full up. Put a decklid on that thing before dumps something down the oil fill and fubars your engine. Oh a stock oilbath would be a better choice.

Thu Sep 18, 2014 1:16 pm

Teeroy wrote: In the pictures, it looks like your beam is adjusted to the full down position, not full up. Put a decklid on that thing before dumps something down the oil fill and fubars your engine. Oh a stock oilbath would be a better choice.

Nope, It's all the way up... I have no question about that. And it has a decklid on it now. And I would run a stock oil bath if i had one, but i haven't seen any come up for sale local.

I drove it a few laps around the parking lot today, and the knocking sound is gone... So now I'm really confused. I guess I'm just gonna ignore it until it comes back haha

Fri Sep 19, 2014 2:10 pm

I had a little time today to mess with the bug, and I got the rear down to a decent level. Definitely looks much better.

I really like it haha

It actually scrapes less now that theres less rake. Drives a lot better like this too

Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:16 am

Been ridiculously busy the last two weeks with college classes and exams. Just took my last one yesterday so no more tests for about a month. I should be able to get some work done on it, possibly today. I really want to adjust the brakes just so I can drive it to/from class

Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:05 pm

Managed to work on the bug today and adjusted the brakes. Stops super well now, thankfully that was the only problem. Pedal grabs quick and stops the car really easily.