My Detroit sandrail/pleasure craft... or "Carmela's Concession"

[heywebonya]

Dennis,

Before you remove anymore material. Spray the inside areas (along the areas of concern) with some black spray paint.

Fit your flywheel to one of your engines and try fitting it in the transmission. You should be able to quickly identify the high areas (the paint will be scraped off) The primary areas to remove are near the bolt holes.

I am concerned you may be removing too much material. It only took me 15 minutes to do my case. (I have done it twice)
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If I knew what I was doing; I wouldn't be building a buggy!

[dustymojave]

I've found a rotary burr in my drill motor to work well and take, as webonya said, about 15 minutes. A sanding drum in a drill motor will also work well.

Just be careful with the grinding dust. It's HIGHLY flammable and you CAN'T put it out!!!
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Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[Bashr52]

Old school way to do it is align the engine with the input shaft, get it started on the floor, and slowly push it in and let the flywheel clearance itself

[dennismcd707]

15 minutes? AAaarrrgggg, I won't remove any more material until I paint the suspected areas, attach one of my engines to a flywheel......and then mate and spin. After all the grinding that I've done, I've got to be pretty close. Thanks guys.
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1971 Super Beetle, 1776, dual Weber's, roller crank, big valve modified racing heads, close ratio trans, lowered suspension, 4 wheel disc brakes, car has over 368,000 actual miles. (RIP 1970 Beetle/Baja, 1986 GTI, 1999 Jetta, 2002 Jetta)

[dustymojave]

[dennismcd707]

.... I've still got work to do in order for this to work. Just minor twists and turns in order for the two to mate successfully on my workbench, which takes a little bit more time than I had this morning out in the garage. I'm using the engine with the stripped threads in the crank as my flywheel 'guide', and I also couldn't get the flywheel mated with the crank (tight dowels) .....close enough so the flywheel isn't sticking out farther than it should.

Plus, I've got a new Scat glad nut that is .250 longer than stock, but apparently I don't have a socket that will fit it. Another set back in just trying to mate the two components. All of this takes time, and I should probably tackle this on Saturday. It sucks working afternoons. I can only work/play until around noon, then everything stops.......... so I can go to work.

Just thought I'd post my progress so far....... with the new "plan" in motion.
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1971 Super Beetle, 1776, dual Weber's, roller crank, big valve modified racing heads, close ratio trans, lowered suspension, 4 wheel disc brakes, car has over 368,000 actual miles. (RIP 1970 Beetle/Baja, 1986 GTI, 1999 Jetta, 2002 Jetta)

[dennismcd707]

Well, as usual, it's not working out as planned. In order for this process to work correctly, the flywheel should not be misaligned or cocked in any way. And that's where the problem begins.

In order to mate the trans to the engine, while sitting on my bench, the two components must both be sitting at the same height. At the same height, the lower engine mounting studs should line up with the matching holes in the trans. Well, naturally it's off a little, but I twist and turn and manipulate everything a bit and start fastening the nuts.

As I said, in order for this process to tell me where I need to grind, the flywheel has to go into the transmission perfectly straight. If it's not straight, then when I turn the flywheel, it starts marking my painted surface, but not in the correct spots. The flywheel isn't perfectly straight.......it's cocked a little bit, so it marks where it's hitting, not where I still need to grind.

Ok, I'm running out of ideas, so I decide to just draw the two components together.......slowly, by tightening all the bolts and nuts. This will at least ensure that the flywheel is going in straight. Unfortunately, as I tighten the trans to the engine, mating the two components, I can't turn the flywheel at all, and if I can't turn it, the process isn't working.

My next idea is to mount the clutch assembly onto the flywheel, and then slide everything onto the splined transmission main shaft. This should tell me if I still have clearance issues, right? This sure seems like a lot of work, but I'm happy to do it............if I get results.

I tell ya, this has got to be the longest 15 minute grind job I've ever attempted. Here's a few photos of my current dilemma. By the way, I never tightened it completely down, drawing the two completely together. I figured if I can't turn the flywheel, why continue? Does anybody have any suggestions?

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1971 Super Beetle, 1776, dual Weber's, roller crank, big valve modified racing heads, close ratio trans, lowered suspension, 4 wheel disc brakes, car has over 368,000 actual miles. (RIP 1970 Beetle/Baja, 1986 GTI, 1999 Jetta, 2002 Jetta)

[Dark Earth]

Can you measure the distance from the transmission input shaft center to the pads you want to grind ? The total diagonally will be the flywheel diameter.

Edit: Or maybe slide the gland nut on the transmission input shaft and set the flywheel on it, while still supporting most of the weight, to get an idea of how much more you need to grind.
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My Build: '69 Baja - Dark Earth Version

~I'm almost done. I just lack finishing up.~

[dennismcd707]

That's a measurement that I can't make accurately, and if I can't trust the numbers, they do me no good. I'll try your second option, that might work, although that's a lot of weight for the input shaft to support. I suppose if I were to attach the clutch assembly to the flywheel and tried to slide that on the trans input shaft, that's a whole lot of weight also. Oh well, I'm just thinking out loud here. I have to try something.
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1971 Super Beetle, 1776, dual Weber's, roller crank, big valve modified racing heads, close ratio trans, lowered suspension, 4 wheel disc brakes, car has over 368,000 actual miles. (RIP 1970 Beetle/Baja, 1986 GTI, 1999 Jetta, 2002 Jetta)

[Dark Earth]

You've probably already seen this video …


Link


Here's the "after" picture of his transmission. I've never done this job myself, but maybe you'll see something helpful in the pic.

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My Build: '69 Baja - Dark Earth Version

~I'm almost done. I just lack finishing up.~

[Bashr52]

If you had a flywheel with a clutch and disc installed, you could use that as a template over the input shaft. It would be a ton easier than trying to slide the engine on and off all the time.

[dennismcd707]

The trans will now accept a 12 volt flywheel. Like everything else I do on this thing, this step took me way longer than I expected. Oh well, now it's on to assembling the trans back into the rail, and then attach the axles and axle tubes.
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1971 Super Beetle, 1776, dual Weber's, roller crank, big valve modified racing heads, close ratio trans, lowered suspension, 4 wheel disc brakes, car has over 368,000 actual miles. (RIP 1970 Beetle/Baja, 1986 GTI, 1999 Jetta, 2002 Jetta)

[Dark Earth]

Nice work !!

I'm glad you took your time and did it right instead of butchering the trans.
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My Build: '69 Baja - Dark Earth Version

~I'm almost done. I just lack finishing up.~

[heywebonya]

Good job, keep at it!
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If I knew what I was doing; I wouldn't be building a buggy!

[nshaddox]

nice work dennis, looks like you might be able to drive it soon!

[heywebonya]

Updates?
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If I knew what I was doing; I wouldn't be building a buggy!

[dennismcd707]

It's slow goin' over here. I've been working on my garage lately doing soffit and fascia repairs. Once that's done, along with the never ending work in my yard, I can focus on the rail. As far as driving it soon, no way. I don't know what I'm doing, and I still have a lot to do. I still visit theSamba regularly and visit my usual forums, which in turn gets me to thinking about my rail. Honestly, I'm working on my rail all the time in my head. Too bad that doesn't net results!
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1971 Super Beetle, 1776, dual Weber's, roller crank, big valve modified racing heads, close ratio trans, lowered suspension, 4 wheel disc brakes, car has over 368,000 actual miles. (RIP 1970 Beetle/Baja, 1986 GTI, 1999 Jetta, 2002 Jetta)

[heywebonya]

Dennis,

What does your "Buggy To Do" list look like?

One next step?

Have a great day, Jeff
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If I knew what I was doing; I wouldn't be building a buggy!

[dennismcd707]

Hey Jeff........my buggy "to do" list is as follows: transaxle, shift linkage, brakes and e-brake, install engine, fuel system, skid plate and rear bumper, and then finally.... wiring. Time frame? That depends on what I'm doing at work in the next 12 months. (because that kinda dictates which shift I work.) Hopefully I'll get really into it come spring time. Right now, I've attached a few photos to show what's been taking up much of my spare time as of late. My garage is my newest project. All the soffit and fascia boards were rotting away, and the back of the garage was a jungle of weeds, vines and small trees. Paint was chipping everywhere, and several boards were rotted away.

The whole garage "problem" couldn't wait any longer, so it's taking priority. To fix it right, I should also put a new roof on it, but instead I'm just gonna pass it off onto the next home owner. We're only gonna be here a few more years anyway. By the way, did I mention that I'm no carpenter? I'm learning as I go.

........and then here's my two engines and the whole mess that's become the inside of my garage.

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1971 Super Beetle, 1776, dual Weber's, roller crank, big valve modified racing heads, close ratio trans, lowered suspension, 4 wheel disc brakes, car has over 368,000 actual miles. (RIP 1970 Beetle/Baja, 1986 GTI, 1999 Jetta, 2002 Jetta)

[dennismcd707]

Installed my axle shafts and tubes today. It's nice to be done with the garage project. One of the issues I had today was figuring out a way to tighten "BOTH" front trans mount nuts. (the 2 on the nose cone) One can be easily tightened using your choice of tool, but the second nut is placed differently, and I can't get either a wrench or a socket onto it to torque it down. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? .........frustrating

I also had to ream out one of the front trans mount holes where the stud on the chassis fits through it. The stud is slightly bent, so I modified the mount hole on the mount itself to match it. I'm done for the day now, only because I need some help to fit the trans back in the rail. It was hard doing it by myself without the axles on it during mock up, but now..........it would be even harder. An extra person would make things so much easier maneuvering this back onto the vehicle, with all the twisting and pulling and pushing.

I still think I got a lot done today. The hardest part of the day was getting the C-clips into the trans, holding the axle shafts. Man, what a pain! And I also needed rescuing with a little help from Neil, the guy who rebuilt my trans. I hit a snag, and he gave me options to move forward. Thanks Neil!

After the trans gets installed, it's onto the trans shifter and linkage. For now, it was a productive day, just to be back working on Carmela's Concession again.

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1971 Super Beetle, 1776, dual Weber's, roller crank, big valve modified racing heads, close ratio trans, lowered suspension, 4 wheel disc brakes, car has over 368,000 actual miles. (RIP 1970 Beetle/Baja, 1986 GTI, 1999 Jetta, 2002 Jetta)