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J1
Samba Member
Joined: February 10, 2014
Posts: 698
Location: SoCal
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 Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 8:49 pm Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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| rockerarm wrote: |
Hi. Good job. But, on those cup shaped metal washers that are above and below the rubber bushings, the lower one is installed wrong. It needs to cup the rubber bushing.
Bill |
Are you sure? I don't think I changed the configuration out of the box and the photo from CIP1 has it the way mine is installed... http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=VWC%2D131%2D498%2D441%2DCP
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1971 Ghia coupe. Assume I know nothing and you'll be pretty darn close to the truth. |
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rockerarm
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Joined: December 16, 2009
Posts: 3552
Location: Los Angeles
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| Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 9:36 pm Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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| J1 wrote: |
| rockerarm wrote: |
Hi. Good job. But, on those cup shaped metal washers that are above and below the rubber bushings, the lower one is installed wrong. It needs to cup the rubber bushing.
Bill |
Are you sure? I don't think I changed the configuration out of the box and the photo from CIP1 has it the way mine is installed... http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=VWC%2D131%2D498%2D441%2DCP |
I see and might have to retrack my last post. Various supplier links show what you have. The Bentley is not very clear on the pic. I have always installed those cupped washers to encompass the rubber bushing but maybe I'm wrong here. But, it seems kinda weird the upper cups the bushing but the bottom faces away.  |
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J1
Samba Member
Joined: February 10, 2014
Posts: 698
Location: SoCal
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| Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 5:55 am Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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I believe this one is the same as mine and the bottom cup is attached to the threaded part so there's not even a choice... http://www.mtmfg.com/part/view/Mounting-Kit-for-To...oC0nzw_wcB
Nonetheless I really appreciate the second set of eyes. This is exactly the reason I post up seemingly obvious things with photos... so that someone will chime in when I unknowingly make a bonehead mistake!
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1971 Ghia coupe. Assume I know nothing and you'll be pretty darn close to the truth. |
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J1
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Joined: February 10, 2014
Posts: 698
Location: SoCal
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| Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 7:50 am Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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Beam reassembly step 8: Install tie rods
Centered steering wheel. Straightened spindles. Attached tie rods and steering damper. All new except long tie rod and steering damper. Slapped on some Masterseries.
Only trouble was one of the nuts with the plastic locker kept spinning the ball joint and wouldnt lock. I guess that means the ball joint is not quite tight enough but oh well. My ghetto solution was to take off the plastic locker and just use blue thread lock.
Tie rods in
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J1
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Joined: February 10, 2014
Posts: 698
Location: SoCal
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| Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 11:08 am Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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Beam reassembly step 9: Install wheel bearings and rotor
New inner seals. Keeping everything else. The wheel bearing grease:
After packing and installing the inner bearing and installing the inner seal, I noticed there is a sizable gap, so I packed there too:
I was also generous with the grease inside the rotor cavity. Then install the rotor, use solvent on the spindle thread to get all the slippery grease off, and install the locking clamp backed out 1/8 turn:
I'm a little puzzled why there is no outer seal but I guess it hasn't been a problem.
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1971 Ghia coupe. Assume I know nothing and you'll be pretty darn close to the truth. |
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c21darrel
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Joined: January 22, 2009
Posts: 8211
Location: San Dimas
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Evil_Fiz
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Joined: May 06, 2011
Posts: 1049
Location: Jacksonville, FL
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| Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 3:35 pm Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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^^^^ That's what I was thinking.
Excellent documentation J1, your threads will be huge time savers when I get to the assembly stage.
Thank you
Emil
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It's not just about what's interesting. It's also about what's helpful, and it's helpful even if it helps just one other guy working on a Ghia.
kiwighia68
See my build on TheSamba at:
The K_R_A_K_E_N_N : a 70 Ghia Convertible reinterpreted |
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J1
Samba Member
Joined: February 10, 2014
Posts: 698
Location: SoCal
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2017 9:20 am Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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| c21darrel wrote: |
| Your rotor is saying "masterseries me" |
You should have seen it before! I sanded off the loose rust and applied phosphoric acid. I am leaving it for now so that I have a reason to get new rotors and wheels!
| Evil_Fiz wrote: |
| Excellent documentation J1, your threads will be huge time savers when I get to the assembly stage. |
I'm glad it is of help. The documentation is for me to remember things but hopefully others doing this for the first time like myself will find something useful in here.
Beam reassembly step 10: Install brake calipers and loose ends
Speedo cable and dust covers on. Install calipers. Bentley had me unnecessarily detach the rubber brake hoses so now they are back on and the lines are all bled.
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J1
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Joined: February 10, 2014
Posts: 698
Location: SoCal
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2017 9:43 am Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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Beam reassembly step 11: Install wheels and get car on the ground
The big moment. Seeing how CB's 2.5" dropped spindles on a stock beam look. Boy, 2.5" doesn't sound like a lot but I was shocked at how much lower it appeared. Please ignore the unpainted rockers from the heater channel replacement... nearly 2 years ago. I'm wearing it as a battle scar.
Important question!!!
Left side wheel clears the lower ball joint by 6mm:
Right side wheel clears the lower ball joint by only 2.5 mm. In fact, when the car is jacked up, the ball joint touches the wheel and I am just able to get the wheel on. Problem?
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swavananda
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Joined: February 14, 2009
Posts: 889
Location: Can o' Scruz
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2017 10:22 am Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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[quote="J1"
Important question!!!
Left side wheel clears the lower ball joint by 6mm:
[/quote]
Looks good but I don't think zip ties are a good choice to secure the sway bar 
Just kidding, But I'd suggest its a good time to up to the 3\4" sway bar. If you really want to spend some more , Get the rear sway bar while you're at it. I finally got one last year and can vouch for the handling improvement . |
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c21darrel
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Location: San Dimas
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swavananda
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Joined: February 14, 2009
Posts: 889
Location: Can o' Scruz
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2017 11:36 am Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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| Keep in mind if you switch wheels in the future that you may have to really deal with clearance issues. I recall the 2.0 L repos where really bad . |
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J1
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Joined: February 10, 2014
Posts: 698
Location: SoCal
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2017 2:40 pm Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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| swavananda wrote: |
| Looks good but I don't think zip ties are a good choice to secure the sway bar |
How about two zip ties? 
Well thanks for the confirmation about the wheel/lower ball joint clearance. I'll see if 2.5 mm is sufficient.
Now an alignment question:
Here's what I did. Is this about right?
1. Backed off the limiter bolts for the steering box drop arm.
2. Centered steering wheel (attached to steering box).
3. Set spindles to be very slightly pigeon toed.
4. Attached tie rods.
5. With car on the ground, turned wheels extreme left and right, adjusting drop arm limiter bolts so that they prevent wheels from rubbing anything.
No rubbing found yet (gas tank out, no one inside, 165 80R15). Looks like the pivot point of the lower torsion arm is the only part that could touch for now...
Clearance on the left wheel. Does not go any closer:
Clearance on the right wheel. Touches if I back off the limiter bolt. I'm thinking something must not be quite symmetrical if the clearances are this different :
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c21darrel
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J1
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Joined: February 10, 2014
Posts: 698
Location: SoCal
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| Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 1:38 pm Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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| c21darrel wrote: |
| One of the other smart guys will chime in with your answer. |
Hello, smart guys, anyone there, Bueller?? While I wait for input about my alignment question...
Beam reassembly step 12: Install sway bar
This should be done before step 11 so that the wheels are not in the way, but of course I can't do things in the right order and just love rework.
Anyway, the sway bar clamps from the mounting kit that I naively bought was not going to fit at all. Shame on the manufacturer and retailer:
Being the type who would rather spend two hours cleaning up an old part instead of one hour going to the store for a new one, I decided to just refresh my old clamps. Definitely rusty but still some good metal :
So after some wrestling with channel locks and a hammer, the refreshed clamps with the new retainer and rubber bushings are in. And in case those old clamps don't hold , I may leave the zip tie as my back up
| swavananda wrote: |
| I'd suggest its a good time to up to the 3\4" sway bar. If you really want to spend some more , Get the rear sway bar while you're at it. I finally got one last year and can vouch for the handling improvement . |
Thanks for the suggestion. At this point I'm just happy to have the car nearly roadworthy. I will consider this upgrade after the middle third and the rear third are done as well!
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swavananda
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Joined: February 14, 2009
Posts: 889
Location: Can o' Scruz
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| Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 3:02 pm Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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| J1 wrote: |
| c21darrel wrote: |
| One of the other smart guys will chime in with your answer. |
Hello, smart guys, anyone there, Bueller?? While I wait for input about my alignment question...
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Ok i'll put on my Ben Stein hat.........
Muir has good write up for adjusting toe, by using two wood yard sticks.
I use a digital level to set Camber, I suppose an angle finder like the kind for checking rear torsion setting would work. Take a reading then roll car half wheel turn and check again.
There is a method of using 4 jack stands and 15 + foot of string running each length of the car at wheel center height . Once the string is 'squared' you can use that as you baseline for alignment.
Just make sure the car is sitting level when measuring and adjusting.
Pretty easy to fine tune once you get the feel of it. But you'll have to look up the proper camber pitch and toe settings. |
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kiwighia68
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Joined: October 20, 2013
Posts: 2878
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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| Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 6:19 pm Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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Yep, I also bought new clamps for the sway bar and ended up, like you, cleaning the old ones. I've learned since that re-using the old part should be the default setting, not the first option after failure of the repop part.
I have a similar discrepancy between the ball joints and the wheels in front. But the car drives without problems.
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1968 Ghia named Emiko
Resto completed Dec 2015 |
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J1
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Posts: 698
Location: SoCal
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| Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2017 3:02 pm Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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Thank you for the input and confirmation. At this point, I am calling the beam reassembly done.
The goal of this thread was to capture refreshing of the entire front third (essentially everything in and forward of the hood). But this is a good place to pause, now that the car can go back on the road.
To recap, what I've done is refresh/replace everything that is convenient to do while the fuel tank is out and the beam is off. That would include:
- Fuel tank and rubber hoses
- Beam and torsion bars
- Everything attached to the beam, with new dropped spindles
- Master cylinder and rubber brake lines
Here are some before and after shots under the tank:
The fuel tank:
The beam:
There's more to do on the front third, but the above is all tightened up, fuel is in the tank, battery is hooked up, and hopefully this weekend will be about getting it running, roughly aligned, and testing out the new dropped spindles
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xzener
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Joined: June 03, 2006
Posts: 1777
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| Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2017 3:10 pm Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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Excellent work!!
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My 70 beetle was totaled Now to build the Ghia I always wanted. Rest in peace Ruby, I will miss you. Hello <insert Ghia name here>! |
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J1
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Joined: February 10, 2014
Posts: 698
Location: SoCal
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| Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 3:04 pm Post subject: Re: Front third refresh of 71 Ghia |
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Why did I think that all would be well after I put everything back together?
Test drive issue #1: New master cylinder. Brakes are spongy.
Bled the brakes 3 separate times. Getting better but not great. Research tells me I may need to do it several more times and/or drive around to let things "settle".
Or should I adjust the pedal free play first, which is about 17mm (1cm too much):
In order to loosen and lengthen the pushrod, I should be turning the nut near the rubber boot to the right from this angle, correct?
Test drive finding #2: New drop spindles on stock width beam. Tire rubs.
CB drop spindles. 165 80r15. Right tire rubs fender on left turns.
Same tire also rubs lower torsion arm:
No rub on right turns. Not sure I have a specific question here! Just sharing for sympathy.
Test drive issue #3: Fuel leak from sender
Novice mistake. Didn't tighten the bolts enough. Filled up the fuel tank. And guess what... fuel spillage and exposed wires. Luckily it was a short test drive. I think this one I know how to fix!
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