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DUNGBTL  Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2022 Posts: 504 Location: Ashland, OR
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Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2025 1:40 pm Post subject: Re: The DUNGBTL Build |
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bruceo98 wrote: |
I wish it was just a break. I’m thinking of writing a country song about my life lately. Radiation treatments, then finished that and got a kidney stone I still haven’t passed, my dog had a stroke, my painter had to get a gallbladder removal, so no help at the shop and my helpers daughter was pregnant and lost the baby the other day . All I need is to some way get a truck and train in there and I have the making of a hit country song. lol
So I been a lil bust needless to say . |
Don’t write that country song just yet…we’re wishing you a speedy recovery!
J. |
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DUNGBTL  Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2022 Posts: 504 Location: Ashland, OR
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Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2025 4:41 pm Post subject: Re: The DUNGBTL Build |
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Drillium zurück in der Garage!
Continuing the drillium theme…
…bonnet hinges…
…strut tower truss brackets…
…roll cage rear diagonal attachments…
…bumper brackets…
…and my custom seat brackets…
Embracing the spartan mechanical aesthetic…HOLY HANDBRAKE BATMAN!
I was hoping for a quarter pound reduction but will settle for an eighth…
I’m purposely not using the OEM rubber boot but rather letting all the mechanism and cabling hang out for all to see…so I tidied up the bracket w/some paint as it will be exposed, with carpet going around. Put some rubber caps on the heater levers studs because no heat.
Painted it the same color as the roll cage (Steel It grey)…should look great with the charcoal Perlon carpet on the tunnel. The release button’s color was inspired by the ignition switch…
and Porsche spare…
This was a fun little project while I waited for the rest of my gauges to arrive…they came today. I’ll have a post on the Speedhut gauge install soon!
Cheers,
J. |
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H2OSB Samba Member
Joined: April 14, 2013 Posts: 1520 Location: Modesto, CA
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Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2025 8:35 pm Post subject: Re: The DUNGBTL Build |
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Adding lightness? Your car is going to float away.
H2OSB _________________ (o\_i_/o) Funny thing about pigs, they're cleaner than you and me. Well....you. |
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EVfun  Samba Member

Joined: April 01, 2012 Posts: 6131 Location: Seattle
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2025 2:14 pm Post subject: Re: The DUNGBTL Build |
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Drillium is one of my favorite elements!  _________________
Wildthings wrote: |
As a general rule, cheap parts are the most expensive parts you can buy. |
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bruceo98 Samba Member
Joined: February 23, 2021 Posts: 661 Location: LA
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2025 4:19 pm Post subject: Re: The DUNGBTL Build |
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With all the paint work, you’re doing on the i interior you should paint the outside also. Do you think if you pull that emergency break odd enough it will bend with all the holes in it? Looks great btw _________________ I may not be the best, but when the top 10 get together, they all talk about me. |
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DUNGBTL  Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2022 Posts: 504 Location: Ashland, OR
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Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2025 7:03 am Post subject: Re: The DUNGBTL Build |
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H2OSB wrote: |
Adding lightness? Your car is going to float away.
H2OSB |
“Float like a butterfly…sting like a bee!”
bruceo98 wrote: |
With all the paint work, you’re doing on the i interior you should paint the outside also. Do you think if you pull that emergency break odd enough it will bend with all the holes in it? Looks great btw |
What and ruin all that cool patina!
Back in black! The release button started looking weird to me in red after the fact…we’re back in black…
…mo better.
No, I don’t think the ebrake handle will bend in normal use.
Thanks Bruce!
J. |
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DUNGBTL  Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2022 Posts: 504 Location: Ashland, OR
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Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2025 10:26 am Post subject: Re: The DUNGBTL Build |
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Finished the dash.
Originally I wanted to use vintage Porsche 911/914 ‘silver-dot’ gauges in my custom dash…
However I decided that as cool as the old VDO clocks were, I didn’t want to restore AND modify them to function with the Subaru engine’s ECM and fart around trying to make a 50+ year old fuel gauge function properly. The speedo probably wouldn’t be much of an issue as I’m running ‘80’s 911 sized Carrera tires (16’s) which are very close to the rolling diameter of the stock SB tires.
All these adjustments can be made to the vintage VDO Porsche gauge from what I’ve read on the interwebs…I just didn’t want another hobby!
So I went with Speedhut gauges. Solid state, digital, LED gauges in the vintage Porsche 911/914 style. Lifetime warranty too. They weigh around half the weight (adding lightness) and about half the depth of the OEM Porsche units (leaves more space for wiring). Every gauge comes with simple clip in harnesses which makes install relatively easy.
I used a 914 gauge binnacle behind my custom dash…
Speedhut makes adapters to fit their gauges in 911/914 style dashes…
The speedometer is a GPS unit with many functions besides vehicle speed display… I’m looking fwd to doing some 0-60/quarter-mile runs with that function
I mounted the GPS antenna on the cowl and made a custom grommet for the wire to the gauge and used the windshield squirter hole. “We don’t need no stink’n windshield squirter!”
The tachometer has the turn signal and high beam indicators…
I tapped into the front left and right signal wires for those signals, and used the OEM VW high beam signal for its gauge indicator.
Because I was using the factory ECM, per the Speedhut instructions, the tach requires a resistor to amplify the ECM signal…
Per instructions, it was spliced into the signal wire to the tach and the key-hot 12V…
The tach has a small push button to program it to work with the engine’s ECM. I located it in one of the left over holes for the padded dash…
The fuel gauge can be programmed for the resistance range of the sending unit (~10-80 Ohms according to the Bentley manual)…
…and has a small push button to do that. I mounted it and the button to set time for the clock under the dash in two new holes I had to drill…
For the water temp I added the Speedhut sending unit to the EJ25 water cross over manifold adjacent to the OEM temperature sensor for the ECM…
The oil pressure gauge comes w/the sending unit and Speedhut sells an adapter that allows the gauge sending unit to be installed in the EJ25’s oil pressure sensor location…
I incorporated the water temp and oil pressure gauge wire harnesses into the engine’s wiring harness…
The rest of the wiring was relatively easy and straight forward. The instructions provided are excellent…
Got to tell you, seeing the dash with gauges and wired is damn motivating!
J. |
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H2OSB Samba Member
Joined: April 14, 2013 Posts: 1520 Location: Modesto, CA
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Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2025 5:57 pm Post subject: Re: The DUNGBTL Build |
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I probably would not have considered those gauges until now. I've been thinking about 914 gauges, which is a dilemma with my dash space restrictions. Those, however, are very nice from a retrofit perspective, and look sweet.
H2OSB _________________ (o\_i_/o) Funny thing about pigs, they're cleaner than you and me. Well....you. |
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bruceo98 Samba Member
Joined: February 23, 2021 Posts: 661 Location: LA
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2025 3:13 pm Post subject: Re: The DUNGBTL Build |
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bruceo98 wrote: |
With all the paint work you’re doing on the interior you should paint the outside also. Looks great btw |
What and ruin all that cool patina! J.[/quote]
Patina= rust waiting to happen. Could never understand that fad, it's just rust most of the time and rust doesn't get any better. I hear people say, It's original paint. no it's not. that paint is long gone.original paint was one color and had gloss.I just think it's a shame to put all that work into a car and not finish it off.but to each his own. _________________ I may not be the best, but when the top 10 get together, they all talk about me. |
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