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SS100 "replica" Kit Kar
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Ulu
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 8:51 am    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

I took all the remaining cardboard out of the tail section with a steel hook, without cutting off the remaining fiberglass reinforcement itself. I kept a bit on each corner where I want to form body mounts from fiberglass and epoxy, & they will form a basis for that. They will have rubber mounts to the steel tube frame.

I continue to struggle with the body warp/twist & rear body alignment. I lowered the new rubber under-tub mounts, removed all the carriage bolts, and pulled the rear body just loose.

Then I removed the brackets that attach the lower cowl to the pan, jacked the front body up at the cowl and firewall. (reforming the pan slightly by using jacks from below)

I moved those brackets above the pan, and shimmed the cowl/pan assy up from the front of my welded mid-subframe. (Which holds up running boards, front fender tails, rear fender noses, and reinforces the pan at the footwells and seat attachments.)

This all corrected alignment of front-to-rear body, but I am still trying to reduce the twist.

All this while remembering that this is a roadster without a cage. It will twist all the time as I drive it.
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Ulu
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 18, 2021 12:02 pm    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

I am getting the runningboards and fenders aligned and attached and the rear body & alignment is looking much better if not nearly perfect.

I still have two problems to solve with the steering. The first one is the clearance problem. It’s either rubbing the steering shaft on the chrome shell or on the body. It is just too damn fat and I need a thin shaft at that point.

The other problem is the steering column is screwed up snugly under the dash but the tail of it is unsupported. Only the tight clearance hole in the firewall keeps it from being movable under pressure. I have removed this contraption of the steering column support which was doing nothing but damage the plastic of the foot well.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


I didn’t put all the nuts and washers back on it for this photograph but you get the idea that this is a piece of thin strap from a U-bolt, stick welded to the head of a carriage bolt and it is total poop.

Also you can see that the firewall has been turned into Swiss cheese. I have some serious reinforcement to do there.
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Ulu
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 29, 2021 11:28 am    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

Many holiday-type interruptions have delayed my wiring job. I have been slow and methodical, but I still made a couple errors. My wipers currently have no fuse and still have the lone remaking bit of uncorrected & unsoldered wiring. I was trying to decide if the wiper switch should be relocated

The wiring is however getting closer . . .

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Starter switch, horn switch, & hi beam switch still need a wire each, but my new loom is nearly complete.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


I cranked the engine over but didn’t start it. The gas in my can was old and stinky. I will get some fresh gas first.

Everything got soldered and double heat shrink. It’s a slow process, but I don’t want to rush at all.
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Ulu
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 29, 2021 7:42 pm    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

Yippie! Today It started and ran, but I did not drive it. I just poured some gas in the carburetor and ran it a little bit in the garage. It revved up and it idled down ok. Nice!

All the wiring is complete but there are 3 terminals I did not solder yet. Just crimped. Also there is no switch panel and I have four switches just hanging loose under the dash.

I only have one seat in the car and there's no doors yet. But it’s coming together fast now.
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 5:33 am    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

Nice! Looking forward to a picture or three. Maybe a video of it driving?
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Ulu
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:55 pm    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

Driving? We can’t have video evidence of that lying around! I don’t have a license plate on it yet. I still have to take it back to the DMV.

I did put some gas in the tank. So far there are no leaks. Waahoo!

I got the fuse panel screwed down on the firewall but I’m still cleaning up the wiring so no photos yet, ha ha.

The garage floor was so covered in steel shavings and sawdust and fiberglass dust that I could not lie on it to put the seat bolts in the car. Anyhow, I spent a few hours today cleaning out my garage so it is possible to work in there without injury, and also I can now park my Camry in the garage again.

It’s been in the driveway for two months so this will make my wife very happy.
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Ulu
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 3:13 pm    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

OK some photos this time instead of my normal wall of text.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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EVfun
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 5:42 pm    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

Ulu wrote:
I am getting the runningboards and fenders aligned and attached and the rear body & alignment is looking much better if not nearly perfect.

I still have two problems to solve with the steering. The first one is the clearance problem. It’s either rubbing the steering shaft on the chrome shell or on the body. It is just too damn fat and I need a thin shaft at that point.

The other problem is the steering column is screwed up snugly under the dash but the tail of it is unsupported. Only the tight clearance hole in the firewall keeps it from being movable under pressure. I have removed this contraption of the steering column support which was doing nothing but damage the plastic of the foot well.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


I didn’t put all the nuts and washers back on it for this photograph but you get the idea that this is a piece of thin strap from a U-bolt, stick welded to the head of a carriage bolt and it is total poop.

Also you can see that the firewall has been turned into Swiss cheese. I have some serious reinforcement to do there.

VW mounted the steering column in rubber lines holes at the dash and firewall. The one at the dash end had a clamp that made it tight enough to hold the steering column tube in place. You can loosen that clamp and slide the tube as needed to set the gap between the turn signal switch and steering wheel.

My first buggy was the same but the opposite. At the dash it went through a hole in the dash, no rubber but from an insulation standpoint fiberglass preserved the horn wiring function. The bottom when through a hole in the firewall and there was a strip of steel, 3/4 inch wide and 1/8 inch thick. It bolted to the firewall and bent a little less than 90 degrees so it could be held to the steering column tube with a hose clamp.

My current buggy has an extended steering shaft (Mini-T.) I put a second stock upper bearing at the bottom. Instead of a spring, washer, and clip, the lower bearing is held together with a short section of tubing with about the same ID and OD as the spring, and a shaft collar on the steering tube. It becomes a self contained steering column, nothing needed to hold it together like stock. At the top is passes through a hole in the dash with a rubber grommet in it (I used a stock Bug lower column tube firewall grommet.) bottom ends in free air before the firewall, just the shaft passes through the firewall. The tube is not bolted to anything. The shaft is bolted to the rag joint.

I'm tossing out ideas because there is no ONE way to do this. If the clamp you took a picture of was replaced with a muffler clamp with allthread welded to the bottom it would be a stronger clamp to hold the column. You could then have large OD fender washers on both sides of the fiberglass, with nuts on both sides of the fiberglass, to adjust the position of the tube and hold it from moving in any direction.

Pictures of my Mini-T setup:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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Last edited by EVfun on Tue Nov 30, 2021 5:46 pm; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 5:43 pm    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

Wow the momentum has definitely shifted. It's a race to the finish line now. Applause
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Ulu
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 6:15 pm    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

EVfun wrote:
VW mounted the steering column in rubber lines holes at the dash and firewall. The one at the dash end had a clamp that made it tight enough to hold the steering column tube in place. You can loosen that clamp and slide the tube as needed to set the gap between the turn signal switch and steering wheel.

My first buggy was the same but the opposite. At the dash it went through a hole in the dash, no rubber but from an insulation standpoint fiberglass preserved the horn wiring function. The bottom when through a hole in the firewall and there was a strip of steel, 3/4 inch wide and 1/8 inch thick. It bolted to the firewall and bent a little less than 90 degrees so it could be held to the steering column tube with a hose clamp.

My current buggy has an extended steering shaft (Mini-T.) I put a second stock upper bearing at the bottom. Instead of a spring, washer, and clip, the lower bearing is held together with a short section of tubing with about the same ID and OD as the spring, and a shaft collar on the steering tube. It becomes a self contained steering column, nothing needed to hold it together like stock. At the top is passes through a hole in the dash with a rubber grommet in it (I used a stock Bug lower column tube firewall grommet.) bottom ends in free air before the firewall, just the shaft passes through the firewall. The tube is not bolted to anything. The shaft is bolted to the rag joint.

I'm tossing out ideas because there is no ONE way to do this. If the clamp you took a picture of was replaced with a muffler clamp with allthread welded to the bottom it would be a stronger clamp to hold the column. You could then have large OD fender washers on both sides of the fiberglass, with nuts on both sides of the fiberglass, to adjust the position of the tube and hold it from moving in any direction.

Pictures of my Mini-T setup:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Could you show a photo where it goes through the instrument panel? My column is from the 1973 chassis. What year is your column from?

The whole thing actually feels very solid without that bracket.
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Ulu
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 6:19 pm    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

Buggeee wrote:
Wow the momentum has definitely shifted. It's a race to the finish line now. Applause


I’m not actually actually trying to finish the car but I am just trying to get it approved by the DMV. Once that happens it can come on back part again and I can actually finish it. Until that happens I don’t want to do the labor.

There are many many things that I am not delving into here and not showing you in photographs but they are things that desperately need attention.
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Ulu
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 01, 2021 12:18 pm    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

This aluminum channel fits my switches perfectly, and will make a secure mounting point for them under the dash. It can get a decorative face plate later. The whole dash is planned to get a wood facia with an upholstered surround.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


I still haven’t patched the holes in the firewall, but compare the wiring situation before . . .

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


. . . and after.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


A huge part of my effort was to improve access. It was impossible to work on the fuse panel or modify the underdash wiring, when everything was mounted on the driver side of the car.

I did not take good photographs of my wiring loom penetrations.

I put three PVC tubes in the gap between the firewall and cowl, rather than just drill holes in the fiberglass and start sticking wires through as done by the original builder. These tubes are about 2 inches long and I epoxied them in solidly. Now that all the wiring is loomed up you really can’t see these but maybe I will get a photograph from underneath as I tidy up the underdash wiring.

Anyhow, the idea is that you want a tube that you can pack weatherproofing in to surround the wiring loom tightly, that way it doesn’t leak, and you don’t need complicated multi-pin plugs at the firewall. I won’t be able to separate the wiring at the firewall but you can’t separate the firewall from the car anyhow, as it is glued in place for ever.

Every bit of wiring is attached to the fiberglass car and it does not go through the metal framing at any point. This way I can unbolt the whole body from the frame as a unit with the wiring gauges etc intact, and hoist it all off assembled. This is not as convenient as having a flip up engine hood but to remove the body from the chassis I only have to unplug a few wires, disconnect the steering shaft, loosen the ground cables, cut a couple zip ties, and remove the battery
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:30 pm    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


The Final wiring is done. There will be changes later when I overlay the instrument panel, and I left some slack in the loom to accommodate that. Also, a couple of the wires were unnecessarily long. I will correct this when I put the panel overlay on. You can see from my photos below that I ran out of plastic loom, but it is secure enough for now.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


The seat mounting turned out to be another pita. There should have been 2 left hand seat rails and 2 rights. There were 4 lefts supplied. They were used anyhow, which threw off the hole pattern on the floor and throwing the driver’s seat in a tilt. The passenger seat had one rail upside down. This caused it to spin, dislocating the bolt holes. In both cases the seats ended up contacting the doors: one leaning out, and one rotating out of position.

I have already done a lot of fussing around to get these seats aligned in the car but I still need to do some bodywork to close the gaps at the edge of the floor pan here.
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 06, 2021 2:19 am    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

I made some steel pan edge angles to tie the body to floor pan in the door area. I used some 1.125”x1.125”x0.090” angle recycled from something else, and I heated and curved it to match the inside of the body. This angle is attached with bolts along with the floor to the crossmembers of the subframe, and helps tie the cowl to the floor and subframe front crossmember.

I ended up turning some right hand seat brackets to left hand, with a grinder and torch. The seats line up better, but still not in the right spots. They never were, and I didn’t really move them yet.

First I had to get the seats in the car to figure out how much clearance I was going to need and where it was going to come from. Now that I have done that and got the seats loosely mounted, I can work on getting the clearances correct. I also mounted the right door, and it was never in the correct location either so it’s going to take some work to get it straightened out.
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 06, 2021 9:21 am    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

<big yawn>

It was 1AM when my wife stumbled out to the garage and told me to stop drilling. I was on the last seat bolt: #8.

The seats are still not in the right position. They both need to move closer to the tunnel. They interfere with the doors.

This car will have a lot of extra holes to plug in the floor.;(
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 06, 2021 5:40 pm    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

Ulu wrote:

It was 1AM when my wife stumbled out to the garage and told me to stop drilling...


Probably because you were stuck waiting for someone to help you out from under the dash! Laughing (That does not look comfortable)
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 06, 2021 7:24 pm    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

Ulu wrote:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Buggeee wrote:
... That does not look comfortable

That's one of the reasons for building the instrument panel portion of my buggy's dash as a separate and easily removeable assembly.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Much easier to work on it at the bench!

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


BTW - what made this possible is the use of a curved windshield 'cuz it gives room that a flat windshield doesn't.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 06, 2021 8:40 pm    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

Ulu wrote:
[Could you show a photo where it goes through the instrument panel? My column is from the 1973 chassis. What year is your column from?

The whole thing actually feels very solid without that bracket.

I can get a picture, but it is pretty boring. It is a round hole, well slightly oval because the dash is at an angle, that the round steering column passes through. My steering column is likely original to the '64 frame. The outside of the older steering column is a round tube with no brackets attached to it. My column assembly is not bolted to anything, except that the shaft is bolted to the rag joint.

Up through 1967 the steering column and shaft was mounted in rubber, at both ends of the column tube under the dash, and the lower end of the shaft at the rag joint. In my setup the upper end of the tube passes through a grommet in a hole in the dash and the lower end is attached at the rag joint. I guess later Bugs had a bracket welded to the column tube to the top, but I have not owned later Bugs so I don't know much about how that setup worked.
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 06, 2021 9:57 pm    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

I got the seats and doors on today, and then I climbed in and out of that car for the first time in 19 mos.

Holy Frijoles it is tiny, and the doors are so small as to be worse than useless!

I am not kidding. It is literally easier to climb over the door, and I believe this will lead me to "weld" the doors shut with fiberglass and epoxy.

Also, my steering wheel needs to be 30mm closer to the instruments. I'm going to bob the column at some point.
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 07, 2021 3:50 pm    Post subject: Re: SS100 "replica" Kit Kar Reply with quote

I got a temporary permit today and took my car to the DMV. Meaning I drove it there 2 whole blocks. They looked at the car, gave me a a 30 day permit, and told me to take it to the Highway Patrol office for inspection. After model year 1970 they want a federal mvsc doc or sticker. Dang!

it has the necessary horns lights and mirrors, but I am not sure what the CHP will say about this car, except the muffler is quite loud. I must make an appointment to take it in.

Since I had a permit and 2 gallons of gas in the tank, I took my wife for a little ride and it was the first time she has been in this car since we bought it. It had 10 gallons of gas the last time I drove it and you can really tell how light the front end is.

It runs like a hopped up Volkswagen. It winds up high but there’s not a lot of bottom torque. There’s no weight in the front end so the spread suspension is topped out. This means it hops along on the road, and any bump shakes the entire car.
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