68 bug sitting in shop for 18yrs

[zodlaw]

I feel like my momentum is picking up. Rain is on its way and Oct is when it really starts to rain every week. I just filled up the tank so going to drive it for another tank full and put it up on stands.

I started sand blasting parts at work. I have a cool boss who is into cars so I get to use the all the equipment on my own time.

Been sand blasting and immediately when I get home I paint. I might have to touch up but otherwise pretty good.

I thought I was going to be able to save my bearings. One was ok the rest had some pitting. So I ordered up a full set with seals, might as well know what I got into this thing.

Bunch of grease and I had a hard time getting one out and scratched one side as I was caught on the C clip slot. Buffed it out with a 3m wheel should be good.

The grease was pretty old and bit of a mess to get out. got it done though.


If you looking for stuff to clean your parts do not get "Purple Power" that stuff sucks eggs. I will stick to my mineral spirits, it never fails me.

Cleaned up. Notice the slots on the the side for a drift to get out the bearings. I really could not see what I was doing because of all the grease in there.

Clean enough for now. I will blast them when I get the bag plates on. I also might have to notch them to clear the shock mounts. On my 69 I just cut off the shock mounts, so don't know if I will do that on this one.

Took them in on Friday and cut the bump stops off and and flipped the shock mounts. This will give me +
2-3 deg positive camber. I want my tires to sit flat when I am running low.

So I am going to grind down the old bearings so they just drop in. I will be using them for fit up so I can get rims on and have everything together. I ordered my airlift dominator 2500 bags should be here next week a long with all the fittings I need to run it. Everything else is ready to go air ride wise as I planed a head for the rear bags.

Next on the list.

Clean axles and repair one boot and have those ready to install.
Transmission clean up and paint. Need to find new seals for the shafts.


All for now hopefully I will get going on this. There are some nice days in the winter and would really like to do some driving during those days.
_________________
68 build that had been sitting for 18yr in a garage.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=657472&start=0

Bagged 69 pile (SOLD)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=591100&start=0

[zodlaw]

I have been thinking about flatten my pans. I have been trying to come up with a sheet metal die. I ended up with this.

Did my first piece.

Did a few on larger piece but I ended up cutting the die down so I can put them closer together.

This last two I did, one on the left has not rubber stopper the one on the right does. The heights are little different.

All for now..
_________________
68 build that had been sitting for 18yr in a garage.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=657472&start=0

Bagged 69 pile (SOLD)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=591100&start=0

[zodlaw]

It's started.

Up!

And out!

Hopefully I will be able to take you along on the IRS conversion. New uncharted waters so well see how it goes. I will try and document it so possibly I can help others out doing this swap.

Test fixture out see what I need to do.

Cut..

And cut some more. The brake line will have to be moved but more on that later.

Any locals need some notched and extended plates PM as the are up for sale.
All for now.
_________________
68 build that had been sitting for 18yr in a garage.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=657472&start=0

Bagged 69 pile (SOLD)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=591100&start=0

[vw356]

I've done this conversion and few times. Last one was 3-4 weeks ago in a '64 ghia. I remove the car bodies and do all needed pan work and then put the body back on. I think you are going to have a hard time welding the new irs cups in all the way with the body in place.
Also, on earlier cars I have to cut into the center tunnels wishbone forks to get the irs cups in the right position. I think you will need to do this too. I mark the area out with the irs cup after cutting the flange out of the way. Plasma cutter does a very good job for this. Be carefull not to cut into the emergency brake tubes also.
And I had to extend these tubes a little and move them towards the rear of the frame to make room for the new cups too. Maybe there are different cups that do not need this, I do not know.
I converted this ghia to irs and installed a porsche 5 speed.
Best of luck!
_________________
Current projects:
1950's Volkswagens!
51,52,54's,55,56's,57,58's,'60's And then a bunch of '60's, but the '50's are my favorites..

[zodlaw]

Thanks for the pointers. I have to replace my rear luggage tray eventually so might cut that out sooner than later to get access. I rather not split the pan but it could be tight but the 220 miller has a small lead. Fell free to post up if you have anything else I am missing.
_________________
68 build that had been sitting for 18yr in a garage.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=657472&start=0

Bagged 69 pile (SOLD)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=591100&start=0

[vw356]

I'm no expert, but happy to help if I can.
Taking the body loose is only around 30 bolts.

You can do it your way of course, but I never cut metal out until I have the replacement metal there and look at it all good and make the best plan. And sometimes I decide the new metal is junk and buy a cut from another vw.

Only other thing I'd say about the irs cups install is that the cups sit a little bit inside the tunnel area. And what I did was hammer the stock tunnel/wishbone area inwards a little to like up with the cup inner sides.

Best of luck!
_________________
Current projects:
1950's Volkswagens!
51,52,54's,55,56's,57,58's,'60's And then a bunch of '60's, but the '50's are my favorites..

[Busstom]

Not sure if you've seen @oprn's thread, but this pic was posted in it recently, you might try something like this to validate your bracket alignments...I know those jigs can be "off" sometimes. oprn has many "lessons learned" in his thread. And by the way, I strongly agree with vw356 above, you'd be MILES and MILES ahead by just taking the body off, and FAR fewer frustrations along the way.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10282101#10282101

Credit Dan Lockwood

_________________
My name's Steve and it's pronounced "Bust 'em" (cuz people think I'm Tom)

[zodlaw]

So started cutting and not having the correct tools for the job. I was getting frustrated with what I was working with. Got this far.

Ordered a DeWalt electric die grinder. For those who want to know it's the DeWalt DWE4887
and cheapest place is Amazon. I also got two debur bits a flat and tapered.

My gap is a little bit larger on the bottom but it can't really be helped. I'm going to have to tappy tap it in some anyway.

Would like to trim some more so the bracket sits better on the tube. The e-brake tube needs to be moved back a little but no big deal. I'm going to try and fit up the swing arms up after I tack it in. Looks like there will be plenty of room to weld it up.
All for now ...
_________________
68 build that had been sitting for 18yr in a garage.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=657472&start=0

Bagged 69 pile (SOLD)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=591100&start=0

[zodlaw]

So I took my old Barings and ground them down. I wanted them to just drop in so I could do fit up with the wheels on. I got my German replacements but don't want to put those in yet.

Found one of my old videos of my old pile. It is pretty low but that was on 15s.

Got one pivot side welded out. needs to be cleaned up will do that before paint.

Started the other side and I think it went better.

Bottom fitup was good too.

So I fit up both sides before welding them out and they looked good.

On to better deeds. I have finally come to the conclusion that will probably have this car for very long time. I read through chris333 thread for the second time. Funny he has the same year as I do and went through similar conversion. We have a recipe and it seems to work out well. There are defiantly different ways to tackle this but it worked out well on my old Pile before.

No turning back now, I am all in. Cutting the shock mounts and trimming the frame.
This is going to get my to lay pan I hope. Before it was easy with 15s but now I am running 17s soo I guess we will see.

Going to have to figure out some shock mounts but that will be the easy part I think, well at least I hope. More things to come..
_________________
68 build that had been sitting for 18yr in a garage.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=657472&start=0

Bagged 69 pile (SOLD)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=591100&start=0

[zodlaw]

Got little bit of time and my CIP parts showed up really fast, love that place.

I had to order a set of drums and everything. I did not want to pull all my stuff off of my trans etc. I would say the quality on these drums is decent. We will see how they hold up. I don't think I will have to run spacers but we will see how that goes. I had 1" spacers in the back and they really suck to mount the tire etc.

I had to roll the fenders a little but not too bad.

Got the wheel on and tucked up in there. Plenty of room for the tire.

The fender is even with the tire but I did not tighten down the axle nut down so I should get little more clearance.

Yeah need to do some cutting for some clearance. Its all the way up and bottomed out.

So with it all the way up my camber is just a little bit. If your going this road defiantly flip your arms.

On the ground.

I feel like its about 2-3" lower. My swing axle had more travel but the top of the boots were getting cut from the inside. LOL

Here is the before with swing axle and after with the IRS

Need to work on few things like clearance the frame horns for CVs. I have them marked up just need to cut and weld. A lot of the bigger projects I try to do when I have enough time to finish them and not get interrupted.
All for now.
_________________
68 build that had been sitting for 18yr in a garage.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=657472&start=0

Bagged 69 pile (SOLD)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=591100&start=0

[zodlaw]

Photo drop..
Been going ape on this thing all day and couple couple hrs here and there.

Needed clearance on spring plates as spring plates delete kit is not in the budget.

Love my plasma cutter at work. Took about 30 min to cut and clean them up.

Lots more travel when I need it. I'm not really concerned about taking that much out of the spring plate as it's double and a lot stronger.

Finally got around to clearance the frame horns. Going to eventually run 930 CVS so I figured I would leave room for them. Those have 25deg of travel and I'm going to need it.

I opened up the sides as they would be in the way of axles. There is a lot more problems coming I'm sure.

All for now will post more later.
_________________
68 build that had been sitting for 18yr in a garage.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=657472&start=0

Bagged 69 pile (SOLD)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=591100&start=0

[zodlaw]

So been trying to come up with some brakets. A buddy here on thesamba sent me his DFX files. I changed them up some. Haven't really had a chance to see if its going to work or not. Ran test parts.

Here is the top bag mount plate.

Also made a temp spacer for mock up. The bag flattened is under 3" so my spacer is 3".

It has same hole setup so its correct for the plate top and bottom.

This is how she is sitting currently with what I have done sofar.

The pan is still not hitting.

But definitely looking killer and I got that extra 3/4 of an inches I needed.

I'm pretty sure I'm sticking with this for now. The tire is hitting the inner fender well. I'm not up for a mini tub right now. Going to probably do that down the road. Right now the rear sits lower than the front. Going to fix that after I get the rear done and it driving. For me to lay pan I'm gonna have to change tire size and don't really want to do that just yet.

Next up is bag bracket and its probably going to take few prototype parts. I still have my old bag plates might end up using those or some rendition of my buddies stuff. Hopefully this next week. All for now.
_________________
68 build that had been sitting for 18yr in a garage.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=657472&start=0

Bagged 69 pile (SOLD)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=591100&start=0

[zodlaw]

So A lot has been done.

Did this and cut way more than I wanted but I needed the room.

Tacked these bottom plates on.

Did not want these to move while I did the deed. Yeah I know probably should have made a fixture bolted everything down. But these will do.

Made this 3/8 plate bad boy up, you can see where this is going right?

I don't think its going anywhere.

Mostly complete and I also used 3/8 plate to cap the ends also.

Test fit of the bag.

All cleaned up and ready to take home.

You might have noticed I did not fully weld the back and side of the shock mount. The shock mounts might be coming off.

Got them test fitted and they look really good.

I have about 8" of travel so going to have to figure out some different shock options. Will probably do that after its working.

All for now... anyone still following this?
_________________
68 build that had been sitting for 18yr in a garage.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=657472&start=0

Bagged 69 pile (SOLD)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=591100&start=0

[zodlaw]

I forgot to post about the templates for the top mount brackets. Spent most of Saturday trying to figure out how I was going to get brackets in there with out cutting the rear luggage tray.

Two cardboard templates and 5 paper templates later for sizing.

This will be made out of 3/8 plate and I am going to tie the shock mount area in and partially box it up. The front side will have 3/16 wall square tube That will give me plenty of room to mount the shock mounts. Going to cut the plate out tomorrow.

Another task is to take 2" off and drill another hole for the air fittings. I could prob get it in there but feel like having it face toward the engine will give me a bit more room.

That should be it for now might have some updates later in the week hopefully if I can get most of the stuff cut. Maybe some fitup tomorrow night.
_________________
68 build that had been sitting for 18yr in a garage.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=657472&start=0

Bagged 69 pile (SOLD)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=591100&start=0

[kpf]

I'm following along. Very impressive!
_________________
1971 Super Beetle

[zodlaw]

Been chugging along and got a cold so slowing it down a bit.

Finally got the upper bag brackets done. Few problems though which I will explain later.

Saturday finally got the bags in . I could get the bolts but not the fittings. Unfortunately I had to cut access holes in the luggage tray. This wouldn't be a problem if I ran 15" and didn't want to go so low. It gets to be a can of worms at this level.

But I got them in.

Compressed which turns out is more than 3" again more on that later.

Extended I think I have about 6-7" of travel.

So this is all the way up.

All the way down. I'm not laying pan because the tire is hitting the inner wheel well. Like I mentioned before if I didn't have 17" the would not be a problem.

The sweet spot at 25psi.

It's probably going to be lower with the motor and trans in. But I think I am pretty close to where I want to be and It should ride good. Going to cut off the shock mounts and fab my own tabs up. The stock ones don't have as much pivot as I need. I ordered some Boge oil filled
stock shocks. I'm going to adjust the travel with the mount so it doesn't bottom out. Back
to the holes in my luggage tray. From the previous picture you can see no room for heater tubes. I'm going to be fixing that down the road. For now going to add access panels until I either raise the luggage tray or figure out something else. I have to replace it anyway down the road and might throw in a mini tub. All or now .
_________________
68 build that had been sitting for 18yr in a garage.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=657472&start=0

Bagged 69 pile (SOLD)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=591100&start=0

[VW_Jimbo]

I am following along. Just amazed at the engineering. Very cool!

On those heater tubes. Maybe run them in the lower shelf towards the middle, off the side of the seat belt bolt holes. Punch through there and weave it back over the transmission. Maybe? Or on the interior, over the top and through the floor of the luggage shelf. That way you can avoid all those suspension items!

Nice work! I will circle back around. Keep making progress!
_________________
Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[zodlaw]

I was actually thinking about oval exhaust tube. Not sure if the axle is going to hit the heater boxe on the drivers side. Might have to angle up the tubes. It's pretty much rain now so painting stuff is not going to be easy. I want to have everything functioning like stock as there are time is super nice out but really cold in the winter time.
_________________
68 build that had been sitting for 18yr in a garage.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=657472&start=0

Bagged 69 pile (SOLD)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=591100&start=0

[VW_Jimbo]

[zodlaw]

Been working on the mounts and took me a few days to come up with this.

This is roughly how its going to mount the shock.

The extra holes are spaced out an inch each so I have some options down the road or change where I want the shocks to be.
_________________
68 build that had been sitting for 18yr in a garage.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=657472&start=0

Bagged 69 pile (SOLD)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=591100&start=0