my new 53 oval

[smclean]

went with a dual circuit master, new hardlines and soft lines

[smclean]

Grandpa came over to help us wrestle the beam back in. We won the wrestling match!

[smclean]

narrowed tie rods, new ends, steering damper, coupler, where's Waldo?

More man skilling...

[smclean]

we went with the Empi setup on brakes, I hear mixed bag reviews, luckily it worked fine for us.

mounting calipers, needed to use a couple shims to get pad to rotor clearance equal on both sides

Another milestone!

[smclean]

tweaked the front adjusters about 9 notches from all the way up. This, along with the dropped spindles have us about 4.5" drop with 145 Continentals up front. Bought 205/65 Conti's for the rear. Rolled it out of the garage to get a look...decided we would need to tackle the rear next...little too much rake for my liking.

[smclean]

now onto the rear, hard and soft lines first...

[smclean]

Getting the rear torsion bars and springplates out was not too bad. Went ahead and bought the tool to hold the plate in tension and ease them down slowly while while using a large screwdriver to pry them towards us and out. Could be done with a jack but I want to set a good safety example for my son.

[smclean]

Decided to go with adjustable springplates, they came in silver so we cleaned them up and painted them black. Probably should have powder coated them but this gives our son the chance to hone his painting skills...

[smclean]

now we start putting things back together. Cleaned up and painted the rear framehorns and torsion housings. Reused the original german torsion bars after a huge fight to separate them from the original springplates. Installed bars 3 degrees up (lower) than their original position with plan to use the adjusters for the fine tuning. With the new rubber bushings, assembly was not as easy as sliding it all together. Had to use 3 different length bolts, starting with the longest to eventually compress everything in place. As there are 2 plates in the assembly, we had to 1/4" shim between the torsion cover and housing to give clearance for the extra width of the second plate.

Drivers side

and Passenger side, here you can see the shims between cover and housing.

[smclean]

Put the car back on the ground and check clearances. could barely fit my pinky finger between the rear springplate adjuster and the 205/65 tire. Decided to return the 205's and go with 195 for a little more clearance. At the same time, ground down the sharp corners of the adjuster block in the event of the tire interfering, perhaps less damage to the tire... then repainted the springplate in place. Sorry for the blurry picture, you get the idea, probably a 3/16"-1/4" radius all around.

[smclean]

With all the excitement in the garage, our 11 year old daughter decided she wanted in on the action. Here she is putting running boards back on...the family that wrenches together, stays together.

[smclean]

OK, here is the finale for now....
Next move was to get the front aligned with a tape measure, close enough to drive to alignment shop. Bought a Motive power bleeder to bleed the system which worked real slick. I did have to pop the front calipers off and hold them up above the rotor to get all the air out. Strange design EMPI...mounting them down low...I understand why they did it as it's easier with their dropped spindles. PITA but it's only 2 bolts to get the caliper up where it needs to be for the bleed, not a huge deal. Now I have a solid pedal.

Put a new fuel valve from WW under the gas tank, installed the tank, put it back on the ground. Had to do some minor adjustments to the rear springplates to get both sides level, it was about 3/8" lower on the driver side before adjustment.

Rides nice after alignment, not too rough at all. Might end up attempting to adjust the steering box as I have about 4" of play at the steering wheel. I realize it won't be perfect but would like to have a bit less play. Forgot to mention earlier but I will now, Stuart at Kustom 1 Warehouse supplied most of the parts (beam, spindles, brakes, brakelines, wheels, rear springplates, steering, etc..) The wheels are Empi and he has someone doing the paint detail, look like jewelry out of the box. Thanks Stuart!

[txoval]

Great car and good to get your son involved

On another note, that’s some serious undercoating

[Yustrn]

Nice way to get the kids out in the garage...if nothing else congrats on that!

[scottvw]

Nice job.....the good thing is that it can always go back to stock. Enjoy driving it.

[slave1pilot]

I'm partial to the before pic.
but, it's your car and you do as you please.

good looking work you and your son are doing. the time together is invaluable.
_________________
My Photobucket for my Herbie Project - http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/TK-439/library/Herbie?sort=3&page=1

Currently:
1963 Ragtop Beetle
Previously:
1967 Beetle
1968 Beetle
1970 Beetle

[wcfvw69]

It's a good looking car for sure. I had a cal-look bug in the early 80's while living in San Diego. Loved the car, hated the ride.

Fast forward a few decades and I certainly prefer the stock bugs now. Age does funny things to us.
_________________
Contact me at [email protected]
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Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.

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