TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Apr 05, 2019 8:07 pm

Finally had time and warm weather at the same time to post an update. Garage has been rather packed with the Fastback, the Rabbit giblets and my new AutoX Integra I recently picked up. As of today I am down to just a few bits of panels from the rabbit people have claimed but haven't picked up and then the rabbit is no more. The Integra (which I probably won't bring up again here) is going through 5-10 years of neglected maintenance this weekend to get it ready for the first track day of the MN season on the 13th-14th. Finally, the Fastback is unburied from mountains of crap laying under around and on top of so i can finally get to trimming patch panels and welding. I also had a chance to look closer at the new rear suspension assembly and it is very clean (for Minnesota)
20190405_191502 by Andrew Pedretti, on Flickr
20190405_191445 by Andrew Pedretti, on Flickr
20190405_191523 by Andrew Pedretti, on Flickr
20190405_191540 by Andrew Pedretti, on Flickr
20190405_191546 by Andrew Pedretti, on Flickr
20190405_191555 by Andrew Pedretti, on Flickr

Might spend some time this weekend (when not working on the integra) getting the framehead trimed so i can tack weld it on and measure. Goal for the end of the year is to have the fast back sitting on it's own wheels again.

Sat Apr 06, 2019 11:49 am

Nice progress. 8) That's a great start, in that you need room to work. If trying to get something done on the Acura, you need to finish that first due to time constraints.

Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:35 am

Integra progress came to a halt due to a completely seized slide pin for the rear passenger caliper. working on locating a local one for rebuilding the brakes before Sunday Auto-cross day but we're getting a lovely 1"-40" blizzard rolling in which may stall that. Tonight I am going to go back to trimming sheetmetal to get a start on welding things back together.

Fri Apr 19, 2019 7:03 am

Picked up a set of wheels yesterday for the OutlaVw, They are IND Argentina 13x5.5 wheels (EMPI?) that are straight, blasted and ready for paint or powdercoat. I've already found some P185/80R13 Maxxis MA-1 90S WW White Wall Tires on Amazon that should fit close enough to the factory size (165/80r15).

Fri Apr 19, 2019 9:33 am

Polish the rim & powdercoat the center. 8)

Fri Apr 19, 2019 9:34 am

I'm not a fan of that look honestly. Probably going to powdercoat the entire rim one of 3 colors.

Fri Apr 19, 2019 2:42 pm

Absoluteyeti wrote: I'm not a fan of that look honestly. Probably going to powdercoat the entire rim one of 3 colors.

You might want to check and see if they will clear the caliper before getting too far along. :wink:

Wed Apr 24, 2019 6:57 am

Thu Apr 25, 2019 6:41 am

Continued trimming down panels yesterday. Theoretically someone is picking up the last of the Rabbit sheet metal today to free up space in the garage so I can start separating the pan from the body. Plan to keep the body straight starts with welding in the body side hump, then just under the wiper tray, then fill in the middle with the steering rack (hole) panel. After the body side is reinforced i can split the pan and cut of the remains of the old frame head and bolt the new frame head to the body and lower it to the pan for alignment and trimming. plan make sense in my head anyways :P

Thu Apr 25, 2019 5:20 pm

Looks awesome.. any timeline for the project?

Thu Apr 25, 2019 5:28 pm

DONGKG wrote: Looks awesome.. any timeline for the project?
eventually :D

ideally getting it back on it's wheels this year maybe running next year.

edit* adding an update/notupdate

I was hunting to see if anyone made aftermarket sheet metal or saved used sheet metal for the factory pedal mounting on the tunnel as mine is crusty and missing one of the mounting holes at this point. I accidentally stubbled on a dune buggy pedal mounting plate which should work great for either patching the existing spot or Restomodding the spot with a reinforced mounting plate. I'll take pictures of the rusted area once the plate arrives.

Fri May 17, 2019 6:50 am

I came to a bit of an impasse with welding the front patch panels in the other day during some test welding. The 110v non-gas Mig welder i picked up doesn't quite like thin gauge metal and ends up blasting holes in the sheet metal on the lowest setting with .030 wire. Rather than destroy the metal I've painstakingly sourced with my bad welding and wrong equipment, I'm waiting until i can either tow the car to my dad's shop to use his 220v gas shielded rig or I may see what someone locally would charge to do a restoration quality weld job on just the front end stuff (rust repair and rear trunk floor i'd still tackle). Otherwise not much else done while the weather was nice enough to hammer out some house and yard work projects and sourced some tail light screws, steering column bracket and foot panel for inside the car.

before and after some bodywork cleanup and primer.

and I finally saw enough advertisements and instagram videos of people using one of these that i had to buy one for myself and my dad. Not 100% what i'll use it for but i'll find something.

On a seemingly less popular note, I think i have the framework for how i want the car will sit, drive and handle. The early specs as they are below:
Engine: 16v Subaru 2.2L na (Fuel injected)
transmission: DC Type 3 transmission i have from a IRS squareback with Kennedy transmission adapter plate
Brakes: full disc brake conversion to a 5x130 Porsche bolt pattern.
Fuel delivery: custom OEM mounted tank with Center of hood RSR style Filler
Cooling: couple of options to keep things hidden
- cut wide hole in side of factory air passage for small 3 pass aluminum radiator pointing to the fender air vents
- between the pulleys and the factory air intake oval at an angle
- plumbing cooling pipes down the car similar to water cooled 911's
Suspension: OEM IRS and front beam possibly with some drop spindles to start and Air ride if I end up keeping the car for awhile.
interior: Mauve/green tweed on black interior with custom lower knee bolster/dash extension, upholstery wrapped dash pad, racing seats (I currently have some 914 black seats but they look very small in the car.) adding an additional spot for some 52mm VDO gauges. (water temp, volt meter, other)
exterior: Pastel green/Cream or Metal fleck white/bronze or metal fleck black/metallic gold or British Racing green/white. I haven't decided on fixed or popout rear windows yet, i have a set of each.
Wheels: 5x130 Porsche bolt pattern, staggered (6" front 8" back, 7" front 10" back, something like that) looking at some limebug 3 piece wheels or fifteen52 wheels at the moment but it's a long ways off

other: thinking about making a duckbill or salt flats style spoiler for the deck lid and shaving the license plate light piece.

Fri May 17, 2019 12:49 pm

You might try changing the .030 wire for some .023 wire and turn up the wire speed. That's what I run in my gas Mig.

Fri May 17, 2019 12:53 pm

Bobnotch wrote: You might try changing the .030 wire for some .023 wire and turn up the wire speed. That's what I run in my gas Mig.
I have a non-shielding gas welder so I have to run flux wire which most vendors only make .030 as their smallest size. There's a few that still claim to make .023 but I don't have the feed rollers to run it.

Fri May 17, 2019 2:16 pm

I went to a 110v Hobart mig welder and it made a huge difference in my welds/blowthrough/penetration and often used it with flux core wire.

It is not ideal, but compared to the first welder, it is night and day. It does sheet metal spot welds really well actually. And, it comes ready to add a tank as you can afford it.

Mon May 20, 2019 10:19 am

I considered just upgrading to a better 115v gas welder but Ultimately after buying all the tooling, bringing my garage electrical up to code and such i would be just as well off installing 230v and getting a nice gas welder with more options. short term I'm still thinking I'll get someone locally to help or take it to my dad's shop to get it patched up and rolling on it's own wheels again.

On a similar but non-car project related note. My electrician let me know that garage and my addition's wiring were not permitted when built and MIGHT not be to code so i've decided to stop using my welder until i can confirm my house isn't threatening to burn down :P

Sat Jun 01, 2019 6:47 pm

Things got a nice boost ahead over the last few days with me finding a set of 5 Type 3 oem steel rollers, free front beam and free front seats. I also went to the Pre-Bug-in at Further Performance in Minneapolis today and got to see a 356 track car, 914-4, a bunch of Ghias, busses, bugs, a type-3 notchback and some other cool rides. While I was checking out all the cars there i realized that most of them were "Perfect" at about 15 feet away but were well loved when you got closer which had me rethinking my game plan for my project. So today I decided Half-ass Rattle can paint > Getting things running (air cooled) > restomod body work and proper paint. So when i got home I rattle canned some Satin Black over the primer and steel rollers for now.

Not sure if I mentioned it earlier but I also sourced some new tail light screws, both driver side and passenger side kick panels and the steering column bracket from ISP West recently. Well on my way to getting it back on it's own wheels by the end of the year and if parts keep flowing as they haver been possibly close to starting over the winter.

Sun Jun 02, 2019 6:22 am

As long as you understand the the prep work on rattle can can be twice as bad if you ever plan to get a real paint job on it. Looks good and great work so far.

Sun Jun 02, 2019 9:49 am

oxsign wrote: As long as you understand the the prep work on rattle can can be twice as bad if you ever plan to get a real paint job on it. Looks good and great work so far.

Agreed. Sometimes it makes a real mess, due to being incompatible with your top coats.

Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:23 pm

oxsign wrote: As long as you understand the the prep work on rattle can can be twice as bad if you ever plan to get a real paint job on it. Looks good and great work so far.

When it comes to that point I'll be having the body sand blasted to fix all the rust properly so that won't matter so much. There's already 5-6 layers of primer, paint, clearcoat, rust liner (after market), rattle can primer, etc .

So today I went to the Luther West Side Volkswagen 33rd annual Bug-In to see some friends, pick through the swap meet, pick up my type 3 seats from a friend and eat some brats. Ended up having a far greater day than even that.

I won a 68 Vw Beetle from the raffle! Super excited to pick it up tomorrow and expand the fleet :D