Cipica, VW 1303S from '74

[tzepesh]

H2OSB, it is a repro frame head, it comes with the clearance for rack and pinion. It is the frame head I changed ~12 years ago, because the original one was bent, cut and welded wrong. But I also welded the new one wrong, because I did not have chassis diagrams at that time and I used some measurements from the original one.
Vamram, the tubes are there and well fixed, I checked them.
Buggee, yes I have to cut a lot to remove all rust and bent parts. But There are other topics here with similar work, which inspire me (your included, but also JeremyG's and Chinaclipper's)
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

What do you find when you finish patching? You guessed, it, more rust!!! Well, I kind of expected this, I had some old, ugly patches that I wanted to re-do. So more work to do.

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

[H2OSB]

TZ, I asked you a question over on STF, but I'm guessing you didn't see it. On your control arm mod(to use Passat ball joints), did you need to clearance the bottom end of the strut housings? If I recall correctly, you have Kersher struts, or something similar. Perhaps they already have plenty of clearance?

H2OSB
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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]

[tzepesh]

H2OSB, I haven't checked STF for a while. No clearance was needed for the Kerscher struts. They went right in. And the good part about them is that they have elongated holes top and bottom, so camber can be adjusted without the Topline Camber+ bushings. Problem is that they do not have stops to use eccentric bolts as on the Porsche struts. But I will add the stops, I did it also on the Topline suspension and it was really easy to adjust.

Dodgy, thank you for the picture. Until now I just cut a larger hole to be able to test fit it, and beaten the panel to make some clearance for the top joint, as you have described. Now I can do it factory-like.
I know your topic, it is a very good reference I used. When I get discouraged, I look at some rebuild topics and get confident again. Yours was in a similar shape, if not worse in some areas. I do not have the tinwork skills as you or Jeremy, but I'm satisfied with what I get.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[H2OSB]

TZ, if you look at the pics from Mike's Boxer Service that inspired your mod( and subsequently mine as well), the strut in the pic does appear to have a weld around the bottom end...and has the needed clearance.

On my 944 based coilovers, at full droop of both sides(which, admittedly, is unlikely to ever happen), while on jack stands, and at full adjustable negative camber, the bottom inner edge of the strut housing would fully interfere with the top of the control arm. I "beveled" that edge of the strut, which eliminated the weld there, so I had a fabricator buddy of mine tig weld that new seam closed. Now I have aproximately 9-10mm of clearance under those extreme circumstances.

For camber adjustment, I do have the Topline extra eccentric inner bushings, but I also have quite a bit of movement available where the strut meets the spindle due to the slotted top hole of the 944 strut housings. Plus, I use a M14 12.9 socket head bolt in the top hole which gives the most movement possible.

Anyway, I was curious if you'd had the same clearance issue, and it appears you did not. One more point for the Kerscher struts.

H2OSB
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(o\_i_/o) I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals, I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants.

[tzepesh]

Yes, very good quality on the Kerscher parts. That is because they also have a TUV for them. It was a night and day difference when I changed from Topline.

Back to the rust bucket: Progress, a word high on my appreciation list.
I repaired most of the body, I now have to deal the body support bracket and tin. On the right side I forgot to take pics of the hole cut... On the other side I forgot the intermediate, tack fixing.

I mounted the rear bumper supports. I used a good rear valance as a reference. Problem seems to be the rear hood. It is from a 1300 VW, not 1303, but I expected it to be the same. It does not line up well at corners. I tested with the old hood (green) and that one fits well.
And one more think I missed: I should have mounted the rear wings to check rear valance alignment. I hope all is well done, I will see next week. I realized the car was also hit from behind. The tray on the left side of the engine was bent.

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

[offtherailz1]

Some great work here. The photos are so helpful for reference. There is some really good 1303 detailed builds going on at the mo.
Thanks for sharing and keep it up

[oldtimercraiova]

Good luck, my friend !

[jeremy.g]

I hadn't caught up on your thread in a while.
Wow, you've been busy!
Looking great.

-JG

[tzepesh]

Oldtimer, it's not luck, it's hard work. Luck would have been to having found a good body two or three years ago, now I spent the money on parts and I am already too far with the work to swap it now. But thanks!
Thank you, Jeremy, with good role models around this forum, it makes things easier. When I get discouraged, I just browse through several topics and see how much more others are doing on their cars, and take gooood look at your metal working skills. So I try to accomplish similar results, but with limited success.
I will post some progress at the end of the week.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

Time to show some progress, and you all like pics, right?
I welded, drilled and tapped the body support holes on shock supports. They were drilled for bigger bolts, not even straight.

The I finished the body support panels and prepared them for welding back on the car. Weldable primer on the back on all areas where I will not have access later.

One is already on the car:

And I made a tool to help me keep the tins close together when welding. A form of long snap pliers. I can use the long, threaded bar at the bottom to squeeze them as tight as possbile.

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

[tzepesh]

I need two more measurements: one on the frame horns, the distance between the bolts centers of the body supports - dimension A, (and also the distance between the outer edges of the body support areas - B). Second one would be the corresponding distances on the body, center to center of the mounting supports, and outer edges. The picture says 1050, but I do not know which of the two dimensions is: I have 1020 between the centers and 1050 between the outer edges.

Reason is that I placed the body on the chassis, and now it does not fit properly. It should go more to the rear by ~5mm, but the body hits the shock horns. Not an issue that can not be solved with my heavy hammer, but I need to know what is wrong and how much I shall beat.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

I got the measurement for the chassis, it is 1020mm between the holes centers. That is what I also have on my chassis. So the body is off by a few mm. Most probably when I welded the body supports back (although I kept several sport to be sure I place it in the same position). (Big) Hammer time!
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[Dodgy]

Hi Tzepesh
A=1020mm
B = 1055mm
Hope that helps !
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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]

Thank you, Dodgy, one more confirmation leads to perfect fitment.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[tzepesh]

I know you all like pics, so here it goes! Busy week. I put some finishing touches to the front end: splash panel welded in position, all fitted very well and to the same old sport welds (where I kept them as reference). I also installed the front valance.

And I cut the old complete front end and fitted the "new" one. I bolted the rear end down on the frame horns. The front end fitted very well to the chassis, the distance at the bottom between A and B pillars is correct, however I think that the frame head is still not at the correct tilt. It looks like it should have been upper by 10-15mm at the front. But I will align all body and then come back to the chassis.

Time for heater channel re-positioning and welding back the body.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[jeremy.g]

WOW! This is an extreme rescue. I love it.

-Jeremy

[tzepesh]

Yes, extreme indeed. Not being the only one with such extensive work (minus changing the complete front end) makes me continue. As I said before, it would have been better find a better body. BUT: in my country IF you find any, it is in very bad shape (lack of parts during lifetime, bad repairs etc); If I buy one from another country it might also be in a bad shape (how many times did the tin look good and underneath it was rot?), so I would expect a similar amount of work in the lower 20cm. Or a restored one at a huge price. Now I'm not too far away from having a solid body. Just some more work.
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'74 1303S, L98B Viperngrun (extra glitter), German Look
'64 1200, Sea Blue, under restoration

[offtherailz1]