Cipica, VW 1303S from '74

[tzepesh]

And I think I forgot to brag about a small 1303 part. Well, I wanted a dashboard switches plate, because I have 3 and none of them is in good shape. A friend offered one with hole cut for dash clock, so not good. But I did a quick search on ebay for a clock, maybe there was a cheap, broken one. And it was, advertised as not functional. Together with the plate. I took the chance, made the highest bid and won. I received it and guess what? It is actually functional. Only when it is upside down, but that is an easy fix (just needs lubing). Problem is that I will not install it in the car, because it does not fit with all other gauges (VDO Vision all of them), but I want to make an all original dashboard to have it in my office/bedroom. And I am collecting all the rare 1303 optionals anyway. Did I mention I have the original intermittent wiper switch, with relay that also makes three wipes when you activate the washer? Or the original fog light button? Or the original 1303 Eberspacher BN2 heater? Or the headlight washer system?

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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

While the body is worked on the underside, there is activity in other areas, too:

Headlight washer system, original for 1303 exported to Sweden. I needed just the bottle, but only found a complete system. I made the small pump work (WD40), now I am working on the high pressure one. I guess they are stuck from not being used.

The wheels will get a nice touch. This was just a test on the spare wheel, in the end the lip and accent will get polished.

And work on the interior. The upholstery is not yet fixed, and the backrests need to be done.

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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[offtherailz1]

Coming along nicely Radu, well done.
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“ My worry is, that if I die suddenly, my wife will sell everything VW for what she thinks I paid for it.”

Cuppa tea man, living in a latte world.

1973 1303, one previous owner, my Dad
1975 1303, Fourth owner, mum 1975 to 2014, me from 2017
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711269&highlight=
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=740901

[tzepesh]

How on earth can I get this pump to work? That is the high pressure pump for headlight washers.
I guess it is stuck from not being used. I tried to soak it in WD40 for some days and it will still not start. It will draw a lot of current, however (I only gave it pulses of current, because I don't want to fry it). Brake cleaner? Acetone? I see no way to disassemble it to get to the moving parts, and I do not want to damage it.

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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

I made the pump work! I opened up the bearing end and moved the rotor. Then more WD40, more rotation and it freed up pretty well. Now I have to find a way to put the cap back on, either weld it or make some kind of fixation element.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

Waiting for a condensation filter for the air compressor to start painting the chassis, I worked on making the Porsche 944 rear sway bar and tow hook live together under the car.
I did not save the sway bar brackets from the Porsche frame, so I made new ones. Dodgy, are you with me? I made the supports removable! I used some 65mm exhaust clamps. It was quite hard to torque the nuts (in between the metal plates...) so after a good night sleep I got the answer: use sheet metal parts of the clamp also on the opposite side, instead of the threaded U. I have to weld the nuts in there, and just use bolts to fix everything. And the idea I stole from you: I extended the sway bar to get to a nice geometry with the down links. The down links shall be 90 degrees angle to the spring plates? I get an extension of 50mm compared to your 60mm. Anyway, very good idea.

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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[Dodgy]

Nice!

By my measurement we need a 4mm spacer behind the torsion bar cover to allow for the doubled thickness of the arm. I also turned down the 2x bolt heads (camber and toe adjust) on the spring plate to 3mm thick. Assemble the diagonal bar with 1x spacer inboard and everything should line up with enough clearance.

I also welded a couple of pieces onto the trailing arm either side of the smaller bolt head to prevent it turning after the suspension is assembled as there is no access afterwards. The larger bolt head can be accessed with an open ended 36mm spanner thinned down to 5mm or so.
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'75 1303 (current project) owned since 1989!
'72 Squareback - full resto completed 2008 - now sold
356 Speedster kit, completed 2005 - now sold

[tzepesh]

Yes, the 4mm spacers are already installed (between the inner rubber bushing and the spring plate, and for the covers). I had this setup for some years. I did not have to grind the bolt heads.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

Update before vacation. Nothing much happened to the body, the guys from the shop cleaned it very well underneath and started to apply epoxy primer, seam sealer and sprayable sealer.
I prepared and painted the chassis: top side epoxy primer, brushable seam sealer and epoxy paint, bottom side same but with sound deadening paint in between primer and paint. This is why it looks so uneven. I had some issues with the paint gun on top side, too high pressure and I did not identify it in time, therefore it looks rough. But anyway it gets covered in sound deadening panels.

I also painted a lot of other small or big parts: my take on the Porsche Teledials, I have to clean again the lips and holes and polish them. Other parts: all ragtop parts, the dashboard metal lip, rear bench holding tin, rear bench top fixing plate.

I can start building back the chassis! 2 weeks from now, I would say I deserve a break.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

Back from vacation, and I already did a bit of work. A work I like, this time, not like the tinwork I did until now. Half a day of preparing parts, finding all the bits and pieces I stored in labeled boxes, head scratching about some missing grommets (my bad, I thought the handbrake cables have some rubber at the entry point in chassis). It's so nice to open up the boxes of new parts I bought during the last years! And actually use the parts.
Another good thing that I marked the torsions bars when I removed them, so putting them back was a 45 minutes job. Easy peasy.

I tried to clean the gearbox housing with pressure washer and a variety of detergents, to a limited result. I guess that vapor cleaning and some heavy duty cleaners would be needed, none of which I have or have access to... Those engine cleaning stations were forbidden some time ago.
The gearbox is on only for test purposes. I have to sandblast and paint the gearbox support, buy new front and rear mounts and a new clutch cable.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[H2OSB]

Not sure how I missed the post about your rear swaybar set up. It's quite similar to mine. Although your bar looks quite a bit bigger than what I plan to run(mine is 14mm...unless I hate it, then 19mm).

Looks good. I like being grouped up with you and Dodgy.

H20SB
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(o\_i_/o) I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals, I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants.

[Dodgy]

Nice! You are racing ahead of me
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'75 1303 (current project) owned since 1989!
'72 Squareback - full resto completed 2008 - now sold
356 Speedster kit, completed 2005 - now sold

[tzepesh]

H2OSB, the sway bar I have is out of a 944 turbo, I will measure it, but I think it is 18mm. I bought 16mm bushings and they did not fit, so I had to drill them larger.
Dodgy, yes, I am racing now, not yet a straight line, but close. Quite easy and fun now. I want to get the complete chassis to a show two weeks from now. Apart from that, I only depend on the shop to prep and paint, and they move really slow, but we are discussing frequently so they can offer me what I want.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[H2OSB]

[vamram]

Nice to see your progress. Maybe I missed it, but what's the story with those spring plates? I've never seen them like that on any US-spec Beetle.
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Eventually, "we are what we pretend to be.’”
Give peace a chance - Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...waiting it's turn in line behind '74.
Click to view image
Save the Supers!!

[H2OSB]

[tzepesh]

[tzepesh]

And a small update. Quite a productive week. I installed the kafer brace. All that (front too) is done by me for a total cost of less then 100 bucks, most of which were the left and right taps. And maaaan was it hard to fit everything with the tow hook in place. It had brackets exacly where the brace needed welds.
And I made the brackets for the front struts brace. Did you think I kept the cut front end inside for nothing? 😁

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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

New pics! In September we attended a local VW meeting. Our chassis was present and it gathered quite a crowd around.

I have installed the sound insulation on the floors:

And changed the gearbox mounts, front and rear.

And some pictures from bodywork. Seam Sealer, under body sound deadening paint, wheel wells sprayable sealer. One side done, second side to be done.

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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

I forgot to mention one hell of an activity: changing all rubbers on the vent windows. This means also the rubber between glass and frame... I would say the hardest activity of all, it was very hard to align the moving part with the fixed frame. But I did it.
Frames were sandblasted and painted (somewhere in the first pages), all new rubber. The frames are not damaged, there are just some glue marks.

Next pics I would guess, interior upholstery. Almost finished all seats, bench, door cards, back cards.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration