Invader GT

[akokarski]

Yeah whenever pizza tastes a bit different it always makes you wonder if the recipe or ingredients are different or somebody was making doors for their kitcar the night before..

Here is the shot of the tank filler. I may need to open up the hole a bit more for the grommet...

I was able to make progress on the inner tunnel window. Got it fitted with the help of screws and clamps. It got very snug in side. I started with fastening at the to of the tunnel and then corners and bottoms.

Then drilled all the holes to a 1/4"

plug welded all the holes in the filler piece

and almost finished welding it back in when i ran out of gas.

It's a tight fit in there to get close to the tunnel and around shifter, parking brake and steering column.. Once I get it all grinded down and top piece with cover in place it should look presentable.

Cheers!
Anton

[akokarski]

Last week I was able to wrap up this tunnel window and also added a bracket for dashboard mounting to the tunnel. Before it was just attached to the body at each end now it is bolted in three spots..

I also got lugnuts sorted out for one wheel. I was missing just 4, couldn't find exactly the same ones so ended up getting mag lugs and trimmed them down as they were just way too long.

I also found a working wiper motor/assembly that is going to be next inline to get installed. Need to "just" fix the pivot, unfortunately I don't think there are replacements but out of two sets that I have i think i can make one decent.

Cheers,
Anton

[akokarski]

Today I wanted to get wiper assembly sorted and installed. Made a wiring harness with labels and figured I would rebuild the pivots. I don't have a lathe so it was going to be welding, grinding and filling...

I had "original" assembly that would not return to park with really badly wiped out and bent shafts at the wiper side. I did find another part # to part # assembly which worked really nicely with better pivots. I figured I would take the worse pivots and see if I can make them better.

here is what I've stared with

and here are the pivots after welding and reshaping

They turned out way better than I expected. I just stayed out of the clip groove and bearing surface.

Put everything back together and re-greased all points, went to put it in and it's a no go. Motor is hitting the body and it's just a tad bit misfit. Now I am going to have to take everything back apart and see if I can "adjust" it to fit.

[akokarski]

After getting my wiper assembly sorted out i got my "new" gas tank bolted in and plumbed. I wanted to make sure that it would work since the outlet is way lower than where it would normally be in the beetle. This is how invader was designed/built to begin with but since I never had the engine run off the tank, and had problems with priming before I figured I need to have this sorted before buttoning up the wiring. I've added maybe a gallon and primed it by putting air in the tank through the vent. It actually worked and I was able to see the fuel in the filter next to transmission. Then I bottle fed the carb bowl to give it something to run until fuel pump can prime. A little bit of cranking and it fired right up.

Then I figured I would get wiring tidied up. Some wires were extra long and where not yet zipped tied in place. I used a buggy harness to start with but had to extend and add a lot of wires for headlights and signals. I tried to have everything in the vinyl tubing so that it loom can be zipped up to the body easier and stay neater.
Not a big deal but added cap on the generator and put reverse lights in the tube.

Shortened and reterminated starter wires.

I also added a body grommet for the batter and negative wires.

I figured it would be better to run a dedicated negative wire instead of chasing grounds...

Now everything electrical and mechanical works, short of missing mirrors, i think it should be street legal.

[1stindoor]

Looks great!

[akokarski]

got a few updates here. I was making small progress here and there and just buffered all the updates into this one...

After getting everything back together I took it all apart. Seat, dashboard and steering column so I can unbolt the body from the pan. Here is what was done when this kit was built. Not all body bolts were in place I think there were maybe 14 in total. No 10mm bolts upfront nor the 4 on the very back. Also close to 1/2 side bolts were missing. Bolts that were there, had a shoulder long enough where nuts just bottomed out and didn't bolt the body tightly. To make matters worse there were small washers on the bottom. To remedy this, I bought full bolt and plate kit, and made more washers for the back.

A bit over done, but, that's the thickest material I had and it won't hurt with thicker plates since I can't put bends in them like the factory ones. They did get painted...

Then I got all missing bolt holes drilled and added more rubber between napolen hat and the flange. I don't know why, but original fit was sloppy and you could stick a finger between the flange and pan.

I then scrubbed, sanded and got all the lose rust and primed with rusty metal primer, followed by gloss black rustoleoum paint.
this is what I started with:

not perfect but functional and I think I will do another coat just to get everything well covered.

While this was drying i figured I would try to make a flange for the gas tank. I had some random piece of aluminum and using hole saws I was able to cut out a circle and layout 6 bolt hole pattern. To get the gap closed I used a bicycle tube:

Earlier i had to move the hole a little bit as it was off center and need to line up with the tank filler.

Here it is installed.

Then I figured I should try to template engine lid. First paper pattern, pretty rough because the aperture is sort of concaved and then to the plywood. I need to sand the edges to get better fit, but it's getting there...

I am sort of back dating here since I don't have the louvered back cover, which I hated anyway. and I want to show those body lines on the back. So I would need a backpanel with window and "trunk" lid. These seem to be easier to execute than doors so I am starting with the back lids.

Cheers!
Anton

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[akokarski]

Got a little bit more time into engine lid buck. Got the outside contour sanded for a better fit to the body and found a way to get the plywood to concave on my terms.

So I figured to put some ribs on the inside, screw them to the plywood in the center and shim them at the ends

Here it is upside down

Now I just need to trim the front of the lid and figure out how to keep them in place. This gives me a solid form to build an internal structure and skin. The middle will be a low profile scoop. I need to get an air cleaner so I can tighten it up a bit.

[Buggeee]

Cool build. The tunnel window turned out awesome!
_________________
Big Time 1988 Vanagon Westy
Release the Krankenwagen! 1966 Sportsmobile Camper
Dr. Kompressor 72 Super Duper
61 Turkis Pile (adopted out)

[akokarski]

Thanks Buggeee!

Today had a bit of time and pans have been drying for almost a week, so I wanted to reassemble everything. It was mainly getting dash back in. Zip tieing wiring, refitting steering column, reinstalling shifter, parking. Brake lever and seat.

I’ve tried to lift the back side of the seat and it’s much more comfortable position.

I also added mirrors a while back, and today got to test them out. Much easier to reverse.

I was kind of going back on the electric fuel pump, but today it started right up (after I removed tape from the carb). So maybe we’ll just stick to mechanical.
Now I am working on the engine lid buck.


Now

[ALB]

Just read the thread and have to say, great work! How will the engine get it's air?
_________________
On a lifelong mission to prove (much to my wife's dismay) that Immaturity is Forever!!

[akokarski]

There is a ton of space around and in front of the engine that it’s more of a buggy set up than sealed engine compartment. I am also adding a scoop in the engine lid that will have open front to get fresh air in. Yes I know a lot of people take an issue with cooling set on this one. Keep in mind that original louvered cover did not let in air at the top at all.

Anton

[OCD Garage]

The body for my buggy was originally designed to be built with a 1200cc motor (so I'm told), the rear bulkhead was very close to the motor often resulting in an overheating 1600cc. I was advised that a 'bump out' on the rear wall would allow more air to flow through the fan.

[ALB]

[akokarski]

This has turned into a bit of a wood working project…

I made all sorts of bucks for the engine cover and scoop

Nearly ready with my stump for metal shaping:

Everything is from scrap if you are wondering why all the plywood looks like it’s seen better days.

From the look of it, I think engine cover is the toughest piece to make, everything else is flat with only one curve. We shall see how this goes…

[oprn]

I can't help but think that a type 3 engine would be a better fit.
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Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!

[akokarski]

Hight wise yes, length wise probably not because fan is at the back and it will right up against the back of the car. Also weight is a big concern because this car is really light on the front.

[jspbtown]

I am always amazed with the level of fabrication I see here. It reminds me of that I was such a hack in building my kits

[oprn]

[Jacks]

A Puma style fan shroud with dual carbs would give a lower profile bulge by a couple inches on your rear deck
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2766381
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Jack Staggs
Actual name

[akokarski]

I have no idea why I didn't get notifications on last updates, but here is my take on the puma shroud and t3 engine. I actually have 2 shrouds. yes it's an inch or so shorter and will have a little bit of hight but it would still not be below the deck, I would still end up having to make some kind of scoop on top of the deck.

T3 engine is up to 350lbs where as T1 220lbs, so I would say it's a bit more than few pounds. I have them side by side and you can tell the difference trying to get them on/off the jack while installing or removing from the car. I can assure you it was a project on it's own to get fully dressed t3 engine moved around.

Either way I am making progress on the engine cover frame. It's 20 gauge steel shaped, formed and welded.

T3 may just fit in here, but there will not be space for fan intake and muffler may as well be the bumper....

To me it is more practical to modify the body as little as possible and make the lids and doors. Also this gives me opportunity to learn and practice metal shaping which I would rather do instead of fiberglass work...

I am also trying to see how much can be done with hand tools only, no english wheel, or pneumatic planishing hammer. I did get a cheap shrinker/stretcher for flagges, but I think that can be counted as a hand tool.

I should be getting hinges soon and start fitting and stitching together the frame. Then start working on the scoop and skin. Not shooting for perfectly smooth panels, but something presentable, sort of early race car type of finish.

Anton