Budget rail rebuild and dual carbs project

[GoMopar440]

My back is still hurting like a som-bich, but I'm pushing through the pain so I can make progress while the weather's cooperating.

Today I welded the tunnel halves together with the little 1.5" pieces in between. I welded all the little pieces to one side first. Then I clamped the second half to the other and welded it together one section at a time. That allowed me to tweak the halves as needed to keep the tunnel straight. It worked out well and it's all together and everything looks good so far.

Next I placed the tunnel in the rail between the seats and butted it all the way up against the rear torsion tube. The passenger foot rest was preventing the tunnel from being able to rest on the floor. I'll need to remove the foot rest before I can fit the tunnel properly. For now I just wedged a glove between the seat and shoved a paint can under the tunnel to hold it steady so I could get a look at where it was roughly going to be.

The foot rest is holding the tunnel up about 3" near the middle, and even more up front, so that's making a big difference in the height.

I took the old shifter mount box and cut it up so I just had the top and rear part of it left. After straightening the edges, I notched it at the bend so I could fit it around the frame and have it sit flat on top of the tunnel.

That allowed me to move it back and forth with the shifter sitting on top of the mount. I won't be able to figure out where I'll permanently attach the mount until I can get the tunnel sitting flat on the floor though. Most likely it will be welded in either one of these two positions.

Last thing I did for today was to hang the tunnel up and give it a quick coat of black paint. I still need to flip it over and get the areas I couldn't reach with it hanging like this. I'll get that done tomorrow as long as the weather stays nice.

_________________
Homemade rail for street & off road: BJ front beam (bent), IRS rear (boxed/maybe bent), stock T1 DP 1600, 009, 34PICT-3 (soon to be dual 40HPMXs), 4-1 glass pack exh, T3 brakes (F disk, R drum & Dual MC), Bug trans (002, 5 rib going in soon).
Link to my rail (re)build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629493

[GoMopar440]

I cut all the inner surfaces of the tunnel sides down to 1/4" on the Bridgeport mill today. I'm still not feeling so great today and I made a few stupid mistakes as a result. It wasn't too serious, just went a little deeper than I needed to on a couple of the ends (visible in pic). After I round over the freshly cut edges it'll be ready for welding. I'll MIG the sides together, with the short pieces in between them, tomorrow.

_________________
Homemade rail for street & off road: BJ front beam (bent), IRS rear (boxed/maybe bent), stock T1 DP 1600, 009, 34PICT-3 (soon to be dual 40HPMXs), 4-1 glass pack exh, T3 brakes (F disk, R drum & Dual MC), Bug trans (002, 5 rib going in soon).
Link to my rail (re)build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629493

[GoMopar440]

Nothing new to report here lately since my back started acting up pretty bad over the past two days. The temps here have turned mild again (40's to 50's) along with the damp weather again. That weather combo has always given me problems since my second back surgery.

If it's going to be more of the same weather for tomorrow, I'll just bite the bullet and try lighting a fire in the shop stove so I can get back to work. I really need to finish milling the tunnel halves so I can weld it together.
EDIT: The weather forecast for tomorrow looks like high 60's to low 70's and 0% chance of precip. Yay.

The second HPMX carb, the snail gauge and the throttle cable kit all finally showed up in the mail today. With the cable kit here, now I can figure out where I want to route the throttle cable through the tunnel. Like mentioned above, I'll also need to be mindful of where I want to route the heat hoses in the future. That will just be a guessing game though until I can get one of those heater units in hand and the insulated duct hoses for it.

After the tunnel is sorted out, I'll move onto the rear engine cage next. I still need to add about 6" of clearance between it and the engine/exhaust before I can putt the muffler on. The dual carbs will be next up after that.
_________________
Homemade rail for street & off road: BJ front beam (bent), IRS rear (boxed/maybe bent), stock T1 DP 1600, 009, 34PICT-3 (soon to be dual 40HPMXs), 4-1 glass pack exh, T3 brakes (F disk, R drum & Dual MC), Bug trans (002, 5 rib going in soon).
Link to my rail (re)build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629493

[Q13931152]

Insulated ducting would be a smart idea if you have room to run it inside the tunnel, and is readily available along with a variety of air outlets and things of that nature.
http://sales.butlertechnik.com/eberspacher/eberspa...ccessories
Just one source, but its a start at least.whatever you use, you definitely want it to be able to withstand the heat.

[GoMopar440]

I'd only consider it if I have enough room to run an insulated tube in there. The wires and other lines running through would most likely get some sort of hear shielding as well. Maybe I should just install a sheet metal partition to divide part of the tunnel interior?

The main gas tank is behind the seats and the diesel tank would be up front behind the battery box. There wouldn't be any fuel lines in the tunnel except for the short (12" or less) diesel fuel line feeding the heater. The heater exhaust won't be run though the tunnel if that's what you're talking about. That will be run directly out the side of the frame and through the sheet metal skin. I'm also going to put on a little tail pipe tip that turns rearwards with a slight down angle so it doesn't fill up with mud, rain and crap from the road and the tires.
_________________
Homemade rail for street & off road: BJ front beam (bent), IRS rear (boxed/maybe bent), stock T1 DP 1600, 009, 34PICT-3 (soon to be dual 40HPMXs), 4-1 glass pack exh, T3 brakes (F disk, R drum & Dual MC), Bug trans (002, 5 rib going in soon).
Link to my rail (re)build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629493

[Q13931152]

I like where you're going with your tunnel idea, but I wouldn't recommended running the heater output inside of it especially not if you're planning to run your wiring inside as well. Those heaters get VERY hot when running, and you could very easilly run the risk of melting wires in an enclosed space like that. I've seen first hand the damage they can do to objects placed near them, and its pretty impressive to say the least!

[GoMopar440]

I didn't describe those 6" tunnel frame pieces very well so I got a pic of them today. This shows how I notched the 6" pieces to clear the 5' edge pieces where they nest in/on them. The notches are sized so the vertical dimension will end up at 6" after everything is all welded and cleaned up.

I was thinking about how little space I'll have down the middle of the tunnel frame so I decided to open it up a bit. The short 1.5" long pieces had one side chopped off with the cut off disk and they were reduced from 3/4" to 1/4" on the cut side. The other side was left alone and is still 3/4". I think it'll be easier to handle thinning the inner edge of those 6" long pieces if I wait to narrow them until after they're all welded to the long edge rails. I'm going to use a 1/2" ball nose end mill to put a radius on the inner corners of all the cuts.

Since all the pieces were already shaped, today went a little quicker than the last day. I built the second tunnel frame side identical to the first. It had the same bends in it at the halfway point, so I straightened it out before welding the second long edge piece on. When I checked it over after the last welds were done, it was warped again. I'm not sure what was different this time. I thought I did everything the same as the last one which turned out perfect at the end. It wasn't a big deal over all, it just needed some more love taps from the hammer to line it back up. After the second side was cleaned up with the flap disk it now looks just like the first side. I didn't take a pic of it since it's so hard to tell them apart now. If you need a pic, just look at my last post.

Tomorrow I'll start notching the inner edges of the 6" pieces on the mill. I'm going to make all the edges that point towards the inside of the tunnel 1/4" long. That will give me 5.5" x 2.5" of room all the way through. Without that modification there would only be 4.5" x 1.5" at most. That's a little tighter than I feel comfortable with having. I want to run all my wiring, brake line, clutch line, throttle cable tube and the shifter shaft through there. I'm also going to round off all the edges inside the tunnel with the flap disk and Dremel. That should keep the risk of sharp edges cutting anything passing through the tunnel to a minimum.

If there's any room left, I'd also like to try to plumb the heat ducting through the tunnel. If I'm careful I should be able to mount one of those compact semi truck cab heaters on top of the very front of the tunnel. They run on diesel instead of gasoline like the optional VW heaters so I'll also have to add a dedicated diesel tank for it up front.
_________________
Homemade rail for street & off road: BJ front beam (bent), IRS rear (boxed/maybe bent), stock T1 DP 1600, 009, 34PICT-3 (soon to be dual 40HPMXs), 4-1 glass pack exh, T3 brakes (F disk, R drum & Dual MC), Bug trans (002, 5 rib going in soon).
Link to my rail (re)build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629493

[GoMopar440]

Honestly I looked at doing that, but the floor up front is pretty well locked in place by the frame for some reason. It looks like the PO built the frame around that piece of 1/8" diamond plate floor. I can't see any other way for them to have gotten it in there. I'd have to cut it up in order to remove it now. The PO also ran this rail pretty hard off road from the looks of the tubes on the bottom of the rail. I'd have to straighten or replace more than a few tubes in order to make it flat enough to put a sheet of plate under it and have it sit flat. For now I'm just going to keep this rail like it is and run it with the floors on top, until I get the new frame anyway. I'll be doing a lot of things differently with the new frame. Putting the diamond plate UNDER the frame being just one of the many needed improvements taken care of during the upgrade.

I put a few pieces of steel under the driver side seat base to support it so I could sit in it. The seat back angle is better, but not as far back as I'd like it to be. It's close enough though so I'm going to make the mounts to set the position where I have them now.

Today was another day of nice weather and warm temperatures so I went back to work. I decided to start on fabbing up the tunnel since I need the base part made so I can measure a few things from/on it. In order to decide on a permanent location for the shifter, I need the tunnel in place so I have somewhere to put it. For now I'm starting with the steel frame for the base which is made from 3/4" x 3/4" angle. I have the tunnel figured at 5' long, but I may have to shorten it to 4' if I run into any interference issues with the pedals. The sides and the top will be made of the same 16GA diamond plate I'm using for the floor.

The first step was to notch the twelve 6" long pieces of 3/4" angle so I could nest them into the 5' long pieces. That took quite a while to get done as I measured and cut each of them one at a time. I made sure the first one was perfect and then marked it and used it as a pattern for the rest of the pieces. It took me a couple of hours to get all the pieces cut and my arms felt like rubber after holding up that grinder for so long. I also cut twelve 1.5" long pieces to go in between both sides and make the tunnel base frame 6" wide overall. I already had the four long edge pieces cut to 5' lengths so those were already ready to go.

I set up the MIG and a work table in the shade and started to make sparks. I used magnets to hold the pieces together and used a square to make sure they were aligned properly at each joint. I worked until I had all six of the 6" long pieces welded to the first 5' long edge piece. The long edge piece warped a bit so I had to get it straightened back out with a little help from a hammer. After It was brought back into shape I placed the second 5' long edge piece into the notches in the 6" pieces. Once again I used the square to align the pieces, but this time I used long clamps instead of magnets to hold everything together. I verified the distances at the loose ends (12" from face to face) of the 6" pieces before tacking them in place. Once the entire length was tacked at all the corners, I started making 3/4" beads between the tacks. I only did one bead at a time on a joint and then I moved onto the next joint, and so on and so on until I had all the welds done. When all the welds were done the time spent making sure everything was aligned paid off. It was still perfectly straight after the second round of welding was finished. Lastly I fired up the angle grinder again, this time with a coarse flap disk on it, and proceeded to clean up all the welds and flux core spatter. Don't let the pics fool you, I'm not a professional welder by any means. I have gotten a lot of practice at grinding though as a result though.

Pics:

The first side is now done and I have one more to go just like it. Then I have to connect the halves together with all those little pieces. After I took the pics, I stuck this piece of the tunnel into the rail to see how it was going to fit. The roller on the gas pedal is sitting part way inside the last section of tunnel, so I may have to shorten it after all. I'll wait until I have the tunnel frame completed and try it again then to see if it will indeed be an issue or if I can figure out a work around for it.
_________________
Homemade rail for street & off road: BJ front beam (bent), IRS rear (boxed/maybe bent), stock T1 DP 1600, 009, 34PICT-3 (soon to be dual 40HPMXs), 4-1 glass pack exh, T3 brakes (F disk, R drum & Dual MC), Bug trans (002, 5 rib going in soon).
Link to my rail (re)build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629493

[dustymojave]

I see where you're going with this. My only comment is that I would install the floor sheet UNDER the frame rails. For one, then it could be a full one-piece floor with no little pieces to fill in around the edges. If you need to have multiple pieces, then the forward piece should be under the rear piece so the front edge wont snag.

My HiJumper got a 1-piece floor, from the front of cabin bottom cross member to the rear torsion housing. I left it open under the front. Then I had some trouble with damage to the brake lines and reservoir from rocks getting up in there. So I added another piece for that area from the beam to the front cross member with a 2" overlap at the back. Never had any more trouble after that. The 1/16" smooth 6061 T6 floor is still the original from the 1970s.

At the time, the thinnest aluminum diamond plate I could find was 1/8". But I wanted 1/16". If I were to build myself another buggy right now, it would get a floor of 1/16" diamond plate like you are using. Preferably 6061 alloy. I have my floor installed with 1/4" carriage bolts from below. The heads pull up into the round holes and I can work from above with a socket to install and remove the floor and the heads of the bolts don't snag on anything.
_________________
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.

[GoMopar440]

Ugg, I'm beat. I had to make a two hour round trip to drop the wife off at the airport by 7AM after getting a little bit less than an hour of sleep last night. The weather was really nice today for a change so I took advantage of it and started working on the rail as soon as I got home. However, my energy reserves were all used up a few hours ago, so I'm going to bed as soon as I finish this post.

I still had some of that crappy steel sheet metal floor (under the seats) beneath the old 1/8" aluminum diamond plate that came was on rail when I got it. The PO had it riveted, screwed and welded all over the place, so it fought me the whole way. I ended up basically chopping and beating it apart into a bunch of smaller sections in order to be able to get it out. Here's all the pieces of what used to be a single sheet (with holes everywhere).

With that finally out of the way I was able to prep the frame to remove the rust and prime it. I just quickly sprayed a heavy and messy primer coat as this frame is going to be replaced as soon as I'm able to get a better one. It's also going to be hidden under the new diamond plate floor section so I won't have to look at the paint runs everywhere. I laid on a foam mat underneath the rail to get coverage on all the exposed metal I could find down there as well.

After a bit of measuring, drawing and cutting this is what I ended up with for the new floor section. It's only 16ga aluminum diamond plate, so it's about half as thick as the old front floor section. I used a coarse flap disk on the angle grinder to remove the raised diamonds around the edges of the panel after cutting it to shape. That will make attaching it to the frame easier when I get to that part of the project.

With a little fine tuning I was able to get it to fit fairly closely to where I wanted it. I still need to trace the frame outline onto the bottom of the sheet from underneath. That will give me am exact location for the seat and tunnel supports so I can get the mounting holes lined up without guessing. I don't want a bunch of extra random holes drilled all over the place like the PO did on the old floor. The gaps around the edges will get filler strips to close them off and seal it up. If I have enough of this diamond plate left after the tunnel is finished, I'll use it to make a forward bulkhead to close off the open area in front of where our feet go.

With the new floor section temporarily in place, I was finally able to orient the seats to get them aligned where I wanted them. This is right about where I want it, but I need to move it back about an inch so the lower outer front seat corner slips under that diagonal frame tube. It was crowding the space down the middle for the tunnel with both seats sitting like this. In this pic the top of the head rest is almost at the bottom of that square tube right behind it.

To get the front corner of the seat where I wanted it I just had to nudge the seats back just enough so the top of the head rests were about even with the top of that square tube.

With the head rests moved up just that little bit, I was able to get the front seat corners to go under those diagonal tubes. That more than doubled the space available down the center for the tunnel.

I now have 4.5" between the seats in that position. The tunnel will be 3" wide, so I'll have 3/4" on each side to slip the seat belts between the tunnel and the seats.

These last two pics were real blurry. Like I said, I was pretty tired by this time so that's the best I could do. Also, the sun was already down by the time I finally saw how blurry these two pics were.

This pic is the height measurement at the front inner corner on the passenger seat. The bottom edge of the fiberglass seat is right at 4.5". The rounded top edge is somewhere around 5.5-6". It will be a little higher than that with the seat cover and the extra foam padding. The tunnel will be 6" tall and the base of the shifter will be fairly close to that corner of the seat. I'll fine tune the shifter placement after I have the seats mounted and the tunnel base built.

This last pic is about where the E-brake handles will sit. The bottom edge of the seat is about 6" right there and the top of the rolled edge s around 7.5-8" tall. The upward sloping curve at the middle of the seat right there is going to help shroud the E-brake handles quite a bit and make them less likely to snag on stuff.

So far I'm liking these seats right where I have them now. Once I can put some temporary supports under them to hold them in this position I'll be able to try them out and see if the seat back angle is acceptable or not. I'm hoping it's good as is since everything seems to be fitting together well with the seats where they are now.
_________________
Homemade rail for street & off road: BJ front beam (bent), IRS rear (boxed/maybe bent), stock T1 DP 1600, 009, 34PICT-3 (soon to be dual 40HPMXs), 4-1 glass pack exh, T3 brakes (F disk, R drum & Dual MC), Bug trans (002, 5 rib going in soon).
Link to my rail (re)build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629493

[dustymojave]

When torch cutting a small cable like a throttle cable, all that is needed is a regular welding tip. A cutting torch is not needed, but will work also without hitting the oxy blow through trigger. The ends of the cable strands will be fused together. Just don't burn yourself with the glowing ends when it lets loose.

As I said before: Google:
- "brake cable boot"
You'll find lots of cable boots.

- also "stainless throttle cable VW"
You'll find the stainless cable alone for about the same price as the whole EMPI kit with the tubing and the crappy cable.
_________________
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.

[GoMopar440]

I'm not worried about using this tube type setup at all. I've had a lot of experience with building RC aircraft that use the tube and rod configuration almost exclusively for the controls. The key is making sure the tube is aligned at both ends and that the aren't any excessive bends in the tube. I'll have lots of places to be able to attach the clamps to support the tube with the new tunnel I'm making.

I figure for the price I paid for the Empi cable kit, I'll be able to get the rail back on the road and running well for now. I'm very familiar with the cable boots you're referring to as I spent most of my life (before back surgery) on dirt bikes. The older bikes are a good place to find those long cable boots on the drum brake cables. If you have a link to where I can find them that would help also. If not, I still have a few links saved where I can find a bunch of old bike parts. Either way, I should be able to find something that will work.

I'll be looking around for some stainless cable to eventually replace this cheap one, but I doubt I'll have it ready to use on the roads in time for this coming winter season. I'll just keep the Empi cable and plastic tube packed with waterproof grease and the ends capped off with the cable boots to get it to last until I can replace it.

That's a good tip on torch cutting the cables. I have a full set of large Oxy/Acetylene bottles and a cutting torch, so I can do it that way fairly easily. I had always been shown (by the riggers in the Navy) to wrap the wire tightly with duct tape over the middle of the cut line and then use a thin high speed cut off wheel to part the cable. The duct tape works very well in keeping the wire strands all held tightly together so they don't fray and separate while cutting. If you don't get the duct tape tight enough it can, and will, still come apart on you while cutting it though.

I still have to enclose the cab first and work out a heat and defrost system before the rail will be ready for cold weather use. I've found a couple of those Webasto big rig truck heaters mentioned above on Ebay used for about $350. At that price point I think it will probably the way I go. I might be able to get a used VW unit for less, but I'll have to buy all the other hard to find stuff to make it work, and it will end up costing more in the long run. I poked around and was able to find just about every internal and external part for the Webasto unit at what seemed to be reasonable prices. The parts cost and availability means I'll be able to maintain the Webasto heater, easier and cheaper, if any problems arise.

I also decided to get a radio for the rail, but not the KT8900R I had originally wanted. Instead I got a much cheaper ($35 vs $100) Baofung UT-5R-TP handheld radio instead. It seems to be one of the most popular hand held radios available today and has a lot of accessories available for it. In addition to the radio itself I also bought a mag base mobile antenna (NA-UT108 SMA-F), a better handheld antenna (I read the stock one sucks), a car battery eliminator, a 3800mAh extended li-ion battery (I read the 8W high power setting eats up the regular battery life fairly quickly), a carrying case and lastly a USB programming cable with the software CD. The UV-5R-TP radio and all the accessories all together were $62.67 total, which is about 2/3 of just the base cost for just the KT-8900R radio alone. This radio will only be dragged out occasionally for trips with other buggies and rails, so I don't want to keep it in the rail all the time. That's another big reason for wanting to go with the handheld radio vs the dash mounted unit. I'll still be able to take it out of the rail and use it as a hand held whenever I want/need to as well so that's another reason to pick the UV-5R-TP over the KT-8900R.

BTW, the "TP" part of the radio name stands for Tri-Power. This model of the UV-5R series of radios can be set at one of three different power output levels. Low is 1W, Medium is 4W and High is 8W. In the CGA thread over on STF, someone had remarked that their standard UV-5R radio was adequate at the regular 5W setting at the distances the vehicles were separated from each other on the trail. I don't really intend to go any farther than standard trail pace spacing so this one should work just as well, if not a little better since mine will be capable of 8W output and will have an external antenna. If the lead and tail vehicles get spaced pretty far apart I should be able to hit either end of the group wherever I may be at the time.

Radio:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/391404343500?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Mobile antenna:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/172063028023?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Handheld antenna:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/252323336022?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Car battery eliminator:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111954647763?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
3800 mAh extended battery:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/172088059505?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Carrying case:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331718774395?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
USB programming cable and software CD:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/262278275723?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

EDIT: I need to make a radio holder for when I have it in the rail. I hate having loose junk bouncing around in my vehicle when I'm off road. I saw a nice one listed on Ebay quite a while ago, but I haven't been able to find it again yet. I could just make one myself, so I can make it fit where and how I want it, and that's probably the route I'll actually take. I'll want to make it removable as well so I don't have to look at it all the time when I'm not carrying the radio with me.
_________________
Homemade rail for street & off road: BJ front beam (bent), IRS rear (boxed/maybe bent), stock T1 DP 1600, 009, 34PICT-3 (soon to be dual 40HPMXs), 4-1 glass pack exh, T3 brakes (F disk, R drum & Dual MC), Bug trans (002, 5 rib going in soon).
Link to my rail (re)build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629493

[cbeck]

Nothing like a sharp klien wire rope cutter. Mine will do up to 3/16 nice and clean. My craftsman didn't last 6 months, I can get 4-5 years on the klien's.

[dustymojave]

I prefer stainless cable and use drip irrigation 1/4" tube for the sleeve. The EMPI is rust-ready cable.

For where you live, I recommend some sort of sealing boot on the ends of the cable sleeve like motorcycle brake cable boots. I've had trouble here in the SoCal desert with getting water inside, freezing and locking up the throttle.

Google "brake cable boot".

Oh
When cutting the cable to length. Hold the end with a vise grip, pull a little light tension, and cut with an acetylene torch. Takes care of fraying and jacked up cutters and lots of little painful holes in your fingers.
_________________
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.

[GoMopar440]

That rain turned into snow yesterday and the day before.

The second 40 HPMX carb has finally been ordered and should arrive in about a week. I ordered a snail sync tool at the same time, so I'll be able to get both carbs dialed in properly when I start tuning.

A universal throttle cable kit rounded out the order since my current throttle cable and tube have seen better days. I got the 9' Empi throttle cable kit with a plastic sleeve to run the cable through. It can't be any worse than the junk I've already got on the rail now.
_________________
Homemade rail for street & off road: BJ front beam (bent), IRS rear (boxed/maybe bent), stock T1 DP 1600, 009, 34PICT-3 (soon to be dual 40HPMXs), 4-1 glass pack exh, T3 brakes (F disk, R drum & Dual MC), Bug trans (002, 5 rib going in soon).
Link to my rail (re)build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629493

[Aerindel]

[GoMopar440]

I've been a bit under the weather lately so I haven't been getting much done on the rail over the last few days. The rain we've been getting for the last four days hasn't been helping either. In place of working outside or out in the barn I've been drawing up the new tunnel on AutoCAD Inventor. I already have the base of it drawn up, but I need to get the angles for the front and back kick ups before I can attach those parts to the base in the drawing. Hopefully I'll be able to get out there tomorrow if the weather and my health cooperates. Tomorrow's forecast calls for only a 10% chance of rain, so chances are good I'll be able to get the measurements I need.

If I feel up to it I'll start welding the pieces of angle I cut for the tunnel frame together afterwards. I've decided to remove the old shift box from it's current location on the frame and weld it directly to the new tunnel base. That will let me fine tune the shifter location so it fits me perfectly. The new tunnel base will be 5' long by 6" tall and only 2.5" wide. I am making the tunnel as narrow as possible to give the most room for the seats. I might have a little extra space when I'm done, but there's always the possibility I may want to change these seats down the road.
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Homemade rail for street & off road: BJ front beam (bent), IRS rear (boxed/maybe bent), stock T1 DP 1600, 009, 34PICT-3 (soon to be dual 40HPMXs), 4-1 glass pack exh, T3 brakes (F disk, R drum & Dual MC), Bug trans (002, 5 rib going in soon).
Link to my rail (re)build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629493

[GoMopar440]

I'm not opposed to other options at all. I was thinking about using an old VW gas heater unit, but only because that I hadn't heard about any modern alternatives yet. Thanks for that link BTW. I'll take a look into it and see if I can make something like that work in the space I have available. Diesel fuel wouldn't be a problem. If I go that route I'd just use a small dedicated tank for it. An I agree something modern would most likely have much better parts support than an old VW unit would. I'm not really a purist when it comes to modding vehicles, but I'd feel better leaving the factory VW gas heaters for the people trying to restore their vehicles back to original.

EDIT: It took a bit of searching around through that info in the link posted before I realized that they don't sell directly from that website. A quick google search looking for vendors that were selling the Air Top 2000 ST heater came up with this. http://www.amazon.com/WEBASTO-5000699D-0-9-2-0KW-vessel-27s-WEB-5000699D/dp/B00K8QR586 Everything about the unit looks like it would work great for my rail, except for that $2000 price tag on it. I don't think I even have that much invested into the whole rail at the moment. After looking around a bit further I was able to find some used ones listed on Ebay for about $350-600 and some new ones for around $8-900. I don't know why Amazon's price is so high on this heater. They are usually about the same or a little less than Ebay for most things.
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Homemade rail for street & off road: BJ front beam (bent), IRS rear (boxed/maybe bent), stock T1 DP 1600, 009, 34PICT-3 (soon to be dual 40HPMXs), 4-1 glass pack exh, T3 brakes (F disk, R drum & Dual MC), Bug trans (002, 5 rib going in soon).
Link to my rail (re)build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629493

[Q13931152]

Since you're planning to eventually add a heater of some sort (presumably old school gas heater ) have you looked into modern diesel heaters? For nearly the same price as some of the old units you could have a brand new heater that would occupy a fraction of the space and put out tons of heat, not to mention still have parts support if necessary .

Not sure if they make a gasoline fueled version, but 22 hours on a gallon of diesel is hard to beat, and the entire unit is very compact.

http://www.webasto.com/us/markets-products/truck/heating-systems/products/air-top-2000-st/

[daanbc]

Nice find for both items! I to every once in a while search the local thrift stores. Always keeping an eye out for hess trucks and model cars the dealers use to give away. They are becoming less common now then a few years ago. Toys are changing to electronics now. Still love the look of that paint on the rims!