My '63 ragtop's getting a resto-mod.

[DeathRay64]

I decided to make this thread into my restoration blog rather than a thread about color.

I'm going to shift gears here and keep changing the title of this thread to keep up to date with my progress and questions.

I think that is within the boundaries of the forum's rules?

Next we will be moving on to a lowered (not narrowed) beam.

I don't trust parts today, even more than I didn't trust them back in the day, so I didn't get a pre-made front end. My intention is to reuse everything I can.

So, on to the front end work.

[DeathRay64]

I have been working on restoring my tie rods.

The grease was mostly gone so I said F-it and dipped the ends in the ultrasonic cleaner with a simple green solution.

I can buy zerk fittings and new boots and I don't have to use the nylon locknuts.

The left side is just ultrasonic cleaner. The right side is also Evaporust and a wire brush.

There is no play on any of them so I see no reason this won't be successful.

[DeathRay64]

Here's the tie rod end taking a bath with car in background.

[DeathRay64]

Here's something more interesting than tie rods...

...a Kadron linkage, modified with heim joints.

I don't know how well it will work.

[DeathRay64]

I'm away from the shop during the week but I can still post some pics.

Here's the engine stand that I built.

It was made from an old satellite equipment rack, that I made into a fish tank stand years ago. It is now approaching its final form...

Next weekend, I'm going to try and make a mount for the front end beam, on the back side.
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Making VW's and America great again.

[Busstom]

Did you work at the old General Dynamics in Gilbert? I can't remember what it was named before GD, but then it became Orbital, now it's Northrop.

[bk63rag]

Cool stand!
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63 rag under construction for 30 years and counting.

[DeathRay64]

[Busstom]

[DeathRay64]

I've been trying to justify which ratio of rocker arms to use with my valvetrain based upon flow in my heads.

If there is a measurable improvement from more ratio, I'll do it.

I built a "flow bench"... not really.. but I did build an experiment, that I hope can show me relative differences in flow, not absolute values.

Here is my first attempt with a measly carb sync meter... which was easily pegged out. The holes in the cardboard tube was a fruitless attempt to get meaningful readings from the meter.

Amazon to the rescue.... I bought a anemometer and now can get readings with the tube holes plugged and the carb balance tube plugged.

I have some data from these single port heads that I will be comparing to DP heads soon.

I'm really just winging it here. One thing I think I have seen is that after about .250" lift... the advantage of more lift , seems to severely drop off.
_________________
Making VW's and America great again.

[DeathRay64]

Ok, so last weekend was not so great. The idea of installing grease fittings in my tie rod ends to restore them is a bust. The cap is too thin to install a fitting that can even hold the pressure of pumping in grease. The fittings that I installed blew out after adding new grease. I spent the rest of the weekend stalled out about what to do with fabricating the front end mount.

Moving on ...

This weekend I was able to successfully add a front end beam mount to the back side of my engine stand. It is a "copy" of the factory mount listed in the Bentley manual.

Luckily the base of the stand has adjustable "c" channel mating. I was able to slide the base about 1 foot toward the back.

Here is the mount on the stand.

...and here is the front end up on the stand.

_________________
Making VW's and America great again.

[DeathRay64]

This weekend was a greasy one. I dismantled the original front end and began building the new beam.

It is an adjustable beam... stock width. Like George Costanza, I'm a "no tuck" guy.

I found that the easiest way to clean off the torsion leaves was to drench them in WD-40 and wipe the grease off. The WD-40 cuts the grease and leaves them somewhat protected from rust.

I re-greased them with Super Lube and started assembly. Next weekend I'll try to finish the assembling the torsion arms and hopefully make progress rebuilding the pins.
The stock zerks did not fit the new front end. I have them and a few other things I need for assembly coming in this week.

_________________
Making VW's and America great again.

[DeathRay64]

I finished up the torsion assembly.

I cleaned up the torsion arms with an aggressive wire wheel and painted the bright steel. I used Por-15 Chassis black topcoat directly to metal and the results were great. I brushed it on. It leveled and covered perfectly and the final finish looked exactly like original. If I can get good results spraying, I'll use it everywhere underneath.

_________________
Making VW's and America great again.

[DeathRay64]

The biggest problem I had was the grease fittings. the holes were different sizes and they weren't well tapped, if at all.

Now it's done and greased up... I greased everything during assembly and pumped about 40 pumps into each fitting. I guess I need to add grease until it starts coming out of the seals.. I'll do that later.

Next weekend I'll start the pins. I have a good German set of all of the pins and shims. I have the reamer tool and a shop press so hopefully I can make some progress.

_________________
Making VW's and America great again.