TX-73 Bug Rebuild

[TX-73]

Thanks
That's a standard tubing fitting you can find on ebay. I would not use this for fuel under pressure.
Springs were from diyupholsterysupply.com
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[TX-73]

I ended up adjusting rear toe at each wheel to 1/16", barely a bump from the 3/32" I started with, may be not even worth adjusting lol.
I got to thinking about front camber and decided that the current 0 deg represents .5 deg negative from alignment spec of .5 the so I left it at 0. Front toe was adjusted to - 1/16" at each wheel.
Drive test was surprisingly different, I guess correcting the mismatched toe in and toe out made an impact. The car had a strange slight delayed reaction to steering left before that is gone now. Steers straight and goes down the road nicely. I'll pay attention to the tires for any abnormal wear but I'm pleased with my efforts.

This may be a totally dumb statement but it runs to 70 without much effort at all, seems to be more left as well. I guess my own silly preconception was that these cars do well to run 60 so this was a pleasant surprise. Because of alignment being off before I hadn't really run the car up. Temp was almost 90 here, I checked oil temp when I got back and it was 190 about 5 minutes after running on the freeway for about 30 minutes All in all good - Mr D builds good engines and having all oem tin in place never hurts either lol.
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[heimlich]

[TX-73]

I may have misunderstood you. The tee is ok for fuel vapor recovery. That's what I use them for. But I would not use them for fuel supply line (fuel under pressure) as I'm not sure they are leakproof over time.
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[heimlich]

[shakers73]

[TX-73]

That's strange, I looked and can't find that tubing either.
I would not use any material exposed to fuel/vapors that is not rated for them, maybe consider something like this:
https://www.mcmaster.com/#fuel-tubing/=16k35vw

Look under Hard Tubing for Fuels.

Remember that in my case I wanted to install formed hard line tubing (semi-flexible, shaped with heat gun), you can always go with fuel rated hose.
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[owdlvr]

Jumping in here on the tubing and fittings as I know a touch about them.

1) The tubing most often used with these types of fittings (in the smaller sizes we're likely to use on VW's is Polyethylene tubing. It has "excellent resistance to chemicals and stress cracking. It is suitable for air, water, beverages, most chemicals, acids, solvents, and alkalis." It's considered to have "good" chemical resistance to gasoline.

2) The one-touch fittings such as pictured are intended for air and liquid delivery, but _not_ for petroleum products. Using them for the fuel vapour return system is outside of the design designations, and often they are sold with the following warning: "'Push-In' tube fittings are NOT to be used with explosive gases, petroleum fluids, propane, natural gas, certain chemicals, radiant floor heating, or central heating systems."

Technically, they shouldn't be used in the fuel vapour system, definitely not used for fuel delivery or return.

-Dave
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Instagram: @DaveHord
1971 1302s - Salzburg Tribute the #RallyBug
1958 Beetle
1975 Beetle
1973 Super Beetle
1993 C3500 with Cummins swap
1967 MGB
1963 MG Midget

[TX-73]

That's a great point to avoid a possible weak link in the system. The push-in fittings I used were noted as chemical/fuel resistant. I should not have ID'd them as a standard fitting found anywhere.
I have checked them several times just to see if any issues, they have not shown any internal deterioration. Thanks for noting this though, sometimes we post info and leave something out.
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[owdlvr]

I specifically avoided putting any 'advice' or personal thoughts on the subject of using the fittings for the vapour return system simply because I didn't want to post the facts about the fittings and then be perceived as contradicting them.

...but I too may use them in a manner in which they aren't designed. I have them in places on my engine where they are potentially exposed to heat well outside the design parameters. If one checks these things regularly, and knows how to confirm they're "working" or "failing", educated decisions about using them outside of the design parameters can be made. Don't get me wrong, you're at a higher risk for vapour system failure than if you were to use the OEM system and tubing...but I suspect you've weighed the risks and know to check on the system often.

Just have to be careful we don't suddenly get folks who don't know better installing them on their cars expecting that they are the same, 'better' or 'safer' than the factory designed system. Lest we end up with 20yrs of "dont put your fuel filter in the engine bay" style of posts

Carry on! The car is looking great, btw. I'd have gone a touch lower, not slammed, but maybe an inch lower? Looks pretty good as is, but personal preference

-Dave

p.s. I should add, I know the ones you bought were sold with a "chemical / fuel resistant" statement, but having been on the manufacturing side of things, I know how many factories actually produce those fittings and when I last checked (which has been a while), you couldn't buy any that were fuel or fuel vapour rated. The resistance they're talking about it external conditions, not fluid transfer. They aren't going to melt away, but they also shouldn't be trusted to run fuel to the engine!
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Instagram: @DaveHord
1971 1302s - Salzburg Tribute the #RallyBug
1958 Beetle
1975 Beetle
1973 Super Beetle
1993 C3500 with Cummins swap
1967 MGB
1963 MG Midget

[TX-73]

Dave, I agree completely, well said on all counts, thanks. Often on build posts its a trade-off on what one particular individual did vs. across the board applications.

PS - there may be a slight suspension drop in the future but for now I'm "done" lol. Turning my attention to my 57 Chevy "re-resto" - I did the first one on it in 1990, time for a refresh....
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[evillrdnikon]

Hey I just got my bug back from paint! I need to put the body back on the chassis and complete the interior and install the engine! Any suggestions for not scratching/chipping the paint? lol so i was installing my door seal on my passenger side door and i chipped a small piece that the top corner with my thumb nail

[TX-73]

I've not been happy with the TRW steering box I installed. It's been getting more and more play in it, when I start to make a turn the car will continue straight for a second before responding. I did look at making incremental adjustments but it's really just a sore sport in an otherwise very dependable car. So, since I kept the OEM box I decided to give it an inspection and clean-up and install it back into the car if deemed fit. When I started on the car, I decided to get the TRW box to make it an "easy" swap, then I could go back later and look at the OEM box. It was leaking but that was about it, I don't really remember a lot of slop but then I didn't really drive it after I got the car.

I did look at the very good threads that had been posted here about TRW and OEM boxes, they provided a great guide along with my Bentley manual.

After a very general cleanup of the outside I took it apart.

I found everything inside in great shape, even the bearings looked very good. They will be re-used. I also decided to leave the factory shim and upper bearing race in place.

Inside of the cap was also good - the bushing here and at the bottom of the box were still a snug fit to the shafts.

Got everything cleaned up. I bought 1/64" thick gasket material to make a new gasket for the top. Looked like factory had a very thin gasket in there.

New double-lip seals installed.

Bentley describes setting the tightness of the worm gear to 1.2-2.4 in/lbs of torque needed to turn the shaft, but they also used a special tool for this. Rather than a complete guess I tied a 1.5 lb deadblow hammer to a clamp and set the tightness to where the hammer would slowly turn the shaft. The shaft can be turned by hand and feels smooth, no binding, so let's hope the steering gods smiled on me.

My simple tool to hold/adjust the allen nut. That's a bolt tightly cross-threaded into a hex nut. The hex nut fits into half of the allen nut recesses and actually works surprisingly well. I used pipe sealant on the allen nut threads to hopefully avoid any seepage out of the box.

This is where I stopped today. I'm thinking to use Valvoline Synpower grease rather than a liquid lube (oil) for the box. I also need to read the Bentley again to completely understand installing the roller shaft, adjustment, and centering the box prior to installing it into the car.
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[Eric&Barb]

You should use an oil instead of grease. In cooler weather the lubricant needs to flow back over that worm gear. Grease will often not do that, and especially since the steering box does not get hot like say the wiper box.
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[TX-73]

Ah, I didn't think about that, thanks. I'll look in the book but any recommendations or updates to what the factory used?
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[Eric&Barb]

VW used gear oil. In the later 1960s for the bus went to grease, but found out that problem, and went back to a gear oil.

Lots of posts in the type 1 and 2 forums of other products you can use. Just make sure it will not congeal in Winter temps you expect to encounter.
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[calvinater]

John Deere corn head grease
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[TX-73]

Thanks. I had looked up some stuff and came across issues if using the type of grease I had planned to put into the box. The gear can "wagon track" in the grease meaning that it can essentially carve out a hole that the grease won't flow into due to lower operating temp and slow moving gear. Result is lack of lubrication. That was the description Eric gave as well, makes sense now that I think about it.

I came across the corn head grease as well and decided to use that, a lot of the older car forums recommend it as well.
Glad I posted the box info , would be a shame to go through the work and put the wrong stuff in there.
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[TX-73]

You were exactly right about using the corn head grease.

Here's what I bought:

And here's the consistency, like a soft taffy inside the box. This stuff looks perfect for this application.

I used 2 rubber blind grommets for the box plugs. The pic below shows the adjustment screw all the way up per Bentley for initial installation of the pivot shaft.

Ready to go.

But I came across a little wrinkle when getting in there to see what I needed to do to pull the TRW box. I almost hate to post about my own lack of observation when trying to sort out the initial lack of steering response.

I could not initially figure out what the issue was with the TRW box, but it actually may not be the box. I got up under the car and got my wife to turn the steering wheel a bit so I could take another look. I had slightly adjusted the vertical play in the box but had since put it back where it was so the box was essentially as first installed.

In the pic below of the TRW box/coupler way back when I was ready to install it, note the right end of the coupler where it fits into the steering shaft.

I found to my dismay that the initial turn of the steering wheel actually caused the steering shaft to slip on the coupler shaft, which accounted for the lack of steering. Geez. Clamp was tight, maybe not tight enough? Hard to figure why this condition exists, I remember all splines were ok. The steering finally grabbing after the initial lack of response was the retainer bolt (that inserts in the coupler shaft machined recess) "capturing" the shaft to turn. Hope that makes sense.

So first thing is to evaluate condition of splines on the coupler and the steering shaft before just cranking down more on the clamp. My worry is that they have been worn down even in the short period of time this has been happening. If so, then I will replace them with OEM used. If I go to that extent I will probably use the now-rebuilt OEM box but even if I don't I'm keeping it.

Some days .....
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[heimlich]

You may have seen this. He did a very nice write-up of the steering gearboxes:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=660446&highlight=
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