Getting ready for summer

[oprn]

Clonebug, take this thread as a compliment, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." they say!

In years past I have neglected spring prepping my Buggy until... spring! I am an old guy and do not enjoy crawling around under vehicles freezing my hands off in the winter anymore! So I would put off things that needed doing until it was warm enough to drive the car. Then of course some of it would not get done.

This fall I hooked up the in-floor heat on my garage. WOO HOO! What a treat! Previously I just used a home made barrel wood stove. After an hour or two the garage was pleasantly warm... from your knees up, 20,000 pounds of concrete at -30 says it stays cold down there... now I can lay on the floor all day and never feel a chill!

So, starting with the sporadic and annoying valve train rattle, I made solid spacers to replace VW's springs between the rocker arms.

All done, installed and the valve lash set at .004". Once the battery is charged I will start it up and see what the difference is. Note: the tappet cover gaskets they sell us for these engines now are JUNK! It takes a 1/2 a tube of silicone sealer to take up the gaps and get them leak free! Even then they shrink up and slip and slide out of place as you drive.

On to the clutch that failed last trip out, pulled the peddle cluster thinking I will find a broken cable. Nope! Hook worn through. New shaft on order.

This car has always had uneven pedals.

It seems someone replaced the original clutch pedal and the new one does not match either the stop position...

...or the lever length.

Last fall I put Empi discs on the front and was very disappointed to find that it now takes a lot more pedal pressure to lock up the brakes than it did before. The drum brakes were more effective! Well, I am not changing back because I know that the disc brakes will be more fade resistant down a mountain pass pulling a small trailer so... I am thinking of lengthening the brake pedal arm a couple of inches while I have this pedal cluster apart to gain back some of the lost mechanical advantage.
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[slayer61]

I feel your pain oprn. I woke up to 32f temps this morning. The buggy is on a battery maintainer, but there's no heat in the garage. I took the Toyota truck to work this morning. It has a heater!
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[oprn]

A bit more progress on the pedal cluster today while waiting for parts. Starting with the uneven resting position of the clutch and brake pedal, I bent the tab on the clutch pedal until the two pedals line up top and bottom.

A piece of flat stock to prevent it from bending back cut to fit. Ok a bit overkill but it was handy!

And welded.

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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[oprn]

Now I believe I mentioned being disappointed with the increase in pedal effort that resulted from the EMPI disc brake conversion? How about a farmer fix eh? A poor man's power brake of sorts... lengthen the brake pedal lever length for more mechanical advantage. I added about 2 1/4". Why that much? Simple, that was the length of the piece of flat stock left from what I used for the clutch pedal stop! Looks about right engineering...

All painted up ready to go.

There you go! A quick measurement shows me that the increase in mechanical advantage is about 27% going from a 8.25" pedal arm to a 10.5" pedal arm. Not a big change, from a 6.1/1 mechanical advantage to 7.78/1.

Will it help? I think so. Enough? Don't know... Does it look funny with the brake pedal higher than the clutch? Yup and if you don't like it feel free to look at something else!
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[oprn]

Pedal shaft and clutch cable came came today! I have had 2 versions of a shortened clutch cable in the past and have not been entirely happy with either one...
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[clonebug]

[oprn]

Thanks Clonebug! I had in mind to try exactly that but wasn't sure the cable clamps would hold! Now I know that they will.

Before putting the pedal cluster back in I took a serious look at the action of the gas pedal. I knew it was less than ideal and the hole the throttle cable attaches to was badly worn too. Welded that up and re-drilled it.

The roller did not follow the pedal track properly at all! It started out up on the heel of the track, then would snap down in place with some pressure. I often wondered what was going on as sometimes the engine would idle at 800 rpm and sometimes 1100 rpm. Now I know why. Sometimes it would sit up on the heel and sometimes not.

Then at the other end of the range the roller only went 2/3 of the way to the end. So - out with the welder, build up and grind away on both stops (the "ears" at the bottom) until it all fits and works properly. Now I should have more stroke and a repeatable idle!

Here is the finished product.

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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[clonebug]

I installed the CB Performance Turbo Pedal.
It comes with a new arm and nice aluminum roller. It does need a little shimming and mods to tighten it up but it is a great addition for long distance driving.
I used to have just a roller pedal and this is much better.

I'll post some pics later as I'm adding a new brake light switch right now to take care of the late light I have with the stock switches in the master cylinder.
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[oprn]

I threw away the stock badly damaged gas pedal on my sand rail and turned up a roller on the lathe for it. It works fine and is simple but others driving it for the first time find it awkward.
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[oprn]

I got the old clutch cable out and new one in... until I hit the Bowdon tube. Not going through. Makes sense that the solid adjuster end will not make the curves so I pull the Bowdon tube out and slide the cable through and put the whole thing back in. One small problem though, putting it back in... in order to get it in I had to flex it pretty extremely and it cracked in two places.

Done! Need a new one now. Here is the problem, there appears to be two choices. Up to '71 it is 11 3/4 and from '72 on it is 12 5/8" long. Presently the pan is a '72 and the transaxle is a '67 according to serial numbers. I have plans the change to a '73 IRS transaxle shortly.

So... which one to buy... and will is fit both trans axles? Do I need the short one now and the longer one for the IRS? Which end did VW change, the pan end or the transaxle bracket? Anyone know?
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[joescoolcustoms]

The bracket was changed needing the longer boden tube. You can tell by the rear holder. If it is a tube, short boden tube. If the bracket is just a hole, longer boden tube.
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Bad News Racing 2018 NORRA 1000 3rd in Class
Best Day Ever Racing 2022 NORRA 1000 2nd in Class and first All Female team to complete the race

Everyone is gifted. Some just do not open the package.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

[oprn]

Thanks! I will take a look.
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[oprn]

$13 for a new one and $42 to mail it 3 hours to me. Doesn't make much sense now does it? The broken one is going to have to stay until I am in the city for something else.
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[slalombuggy]

When you welded that piece in on your clutch pedal you should gave made it bigger so it went out past the tube that the shaft pins into. Those stamped pedals are notorious for breaking at the end of the tube. If I use those pedals I always box them in from the base, up around the curved section

[oprn]

Funny you should mention that! When I was working on it I thought about doing exactly that but didn't with the thought that I had not seen one fail with a stock pressure plate. The stock 210 mm Bus clutch is doing the job right now but I will keep that in mind if I upgrade in the future for sure. Or even if I have the pedal cluster out again. Thanks!
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[oprn]

Bad news on the clutch front. The pedal cluster is in, cable in place but... adjustment not feeling right. There is virtually no resistance on the clutch pedal aside from the return spring on the cross shaft lever. I started the engine and confirmed that the clutch does not disengage and with the engine running there is only neutral, not possible to select a gear. All the gears are there as normal with the engine shut off.

So when the clutch pedal shaft hook broke off the jar must have dislodged the release bearing I'm thinking... no rattling of clunking back there though...

Time to take the engine out once again!
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[oprn]

With the engine out is this the time to do the IRS conversion? And can I do it with the body in place?
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[joescoolcustoms]

[clonebug]

I can pull my body in about 2 hrs.
Another two hrs and the engine is out.
Two more hrs and the transmission is out also…
It makes it soooo much easier to work on that the time spent on the above saves time and muttering under your breath trying to work around everything.
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[oprn]

No body lift, not my style. The wiring is not set up for a quick lift off of the body either. I will see what I have to work with once the engine and transaxle are out. The battery box lifts out and will have to be modified anyway. I am not opposed to making an access hole under the rear seat cushion. I am thinking of a glove box under there anyway. Maybe open the whole area up and line the hole with 3/4" angle iron and a couple cross pieces... several ways it could go.
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)