Installed a nice little hoist in the shop

Finally we can get some of the bigger items out of the way and up in the attic.

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You're doing it wrong.

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My Chassis Grew Legs

Ahahaahahahohohohoehehehee.

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At 4.5 months, my little dude laced his first set of wheels

powdercoated 21 inch rims to 69 bsa 441 hubs with dish none the less. That's my boy!!! DCW's newest member is clearly pulling his weight. All 15 lbs of it. Go Cameron!

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Cut and Hack: VW Adjustable Front Beam

Simple weld in adjusters allow for 2 inches drop or 1 inch rise from the stock position in the front end. Remember tothe compensate for caster when you drop the front end more than the rear. Otherwise you may notice your low speed steering has become a bit twitchy.

Mark the position of the stock grub screw outside of each line where you will cut to splice in the adjuster. Make sure that its spot on.

Set the adjustment range by first measuring the angle of the adjuster block relative to the screw plate to allow for 1 inch of lift from stock height for this setup. If you want a different range, just change up the rise value and lock the adjustment screw down. when you lay the assembly in to weld, just make sure that the adjuster block is pressing firm against the screw. Then you just line up the grub screw with the scribed mark that indicated the original position of the stock grub screw. Weld it up, pile in the grease and reassemble.

I want a slammed buggy for the most part, but variability is always intriguing. I may one day lift it up just for a change. I am also considering just building another front beam and swapping them when I want to go from dropped to lifted for some offroad fun.

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VW Engine Build: Type 1.3?

After looking at a lot of different engines and seeing the various designs of cooling systems that VW used on the flat fours, I started feinding over the Type 3 setup. It seems more logical to me to have the fan mounted directly to the crank, rather than belt driven and sharing a shaft with the Alt/Gen. And for what I wanted to build, the Type 3 cooling system allowed for more flexibility.

I first junked all of the Type 1 cooling goodies and other pieces of metal that werent going to be brandished on my steeeeeed. While doing so, I noted a lot of differences between the Type 1 complete engine and the Type 3 basketcase engine that I had. First of all, I ran the numbers on my T1 and it apparently is a replacement case after VW merged with Audi. It's a replacement case, yet it's not generic and only accepts a T1 setup. Interesting. It does have dual oil reliefs though.

The idea behind this whole project is a cheap, but clean looking tinker toy. That being said, I intend on trying to use what I have before purchasing anything else. I had a whole T1 and a pile of a T3 engine. Mix it up and see what happens. I ended up with modified T1 intake, custom cooling tins, a T3 shroud and thermostat system, a 100 amp GM alternator, and a T1 distributor. This took a lot of modifications to make work.

The intake is make from two pieces of prebent galvy conduit and stock dual port manifold castings. In order to run this intake with the neato looking T3 fan shroud, I had to make my own lower profile cooling tins. The original T3 cooling tins incorporated a rise on the left side to cover the oil cooler and a large circular boss on the right side to mount the intake filter. The T1 intake sits very close to the cylinders and interfered with the tins. So off to TSC for some sheet metal. I ended up buying a beater bag and a tear drop hammer so I could form the metal better.

Another issue with running the T3 shroud and curvaceous T1 Dual Port intake is that the distributors were quite different. If I were to run the T3 distributor, the vacuum diaphragm would hit the intake. If I ran a T1 dist, the vacuum diaphragm would hit the fan shroud. Well.... Hmmm. The fan shroud has a lot of room for changes. The intake, not so much. In addition, I already had the fan shroud off for mods to make room for the T1 full flow 26 mm oil pump. I pocketed the back side of the fan shroud in a few areas and reformed it on the inside to keep the airflow smooth and uninhibited. The Distributor is now a pretty tight fit, but very easy to access and work on.

The T3 fan shroud was heavily modified because of the GM alternator and the fact that I wasnt running all of the tins that were OEM. The mounts and bosses for the pulley casing were removed and the bore for the original generator were cut out to make room for the GM alternator and tensioner. Once the modifications were finished to the fan shroud, I sand blasted and wheeled the aluminum. This lead to a clear sign that the shroud backing and front were two different qualities of aluminum. With the same finishing treatment, the fan shroud backing was a dull gray (what I wanted). The front plate was gloriously shiney. Damn. The front plate came off of a different engine that I got from a friend of mine. To dull it up, I scuffed the crap back into it with a 3m pad and hoped for the best. It turned out ok.

Fan shroud on, fans and pulleys in place, intake mounted, various tabs bolted down, thermostat calibrated, bla bla bla. Ohh and a lot of degreasing. It is a VW after all. I really like the way this engine turned out. It's pretty funky looking. For someone who knows what they're looking at, it's an interesting piece of work in my opinion. I'll be happy to see it in the buggy soon.

Please let me know what you think. Sadly I forgot to take a picture of the engine completely together. ill add one later.

Also, Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been settling in to a lot of new things recently. Now that my son is a little over 4 months old, I've put him to work and it's helped increase my time in the garage. I'll be able to post up more pointless babble thanks to good ol' child labor!!!

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I got one.

mmmnmmmmmmmmmm. Disclaimer: This was written before I took a bite.

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transaxle rebuild

For the love of God, keep an eye on the half moon axle shims. This took four hours longer than it should have because the shims slipped behind the axle and wouldnt allow the axle tube to seat completely. This transaxle came out of what I believe was a 1968 type 3. These rears had longer axles, bigger drums, and had the option of a 4.12 final drive ratio. This was a popular swap for off roaders because of the wider stance and added braking power. I removed the zbar mounts and smoothed the tubes because im going to use a camber compensator instead.

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VW Transaxle Clean Up

I stripped the transaxle apart over the weekend and gave it a good cleaning. I intended on putting in a freeway flyer ring and pinion (3.88:1) but it turns out to already have a 4.12:1 set in it already. Close enough! This transaxle is actually a type 3, which has longer swing axles and bigger brakes. It also originally had a z-bar on it and the mounts were still on the axle tubes. I removed them and smoothed the tubes for a cleaner look. I went ahead and replaced the disintegrating trans mounts with new urethane ones and installed the lower brace. Next I need to replace a few leaking seals before it all goes back together.

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My next catastrophe begins!

1961 vw dune buggy. Its all in parts and the guy I bought it from laughed when I said I was going to stuff it all in the buggy back of my truck. It came with two engines and two spare tires too! Woohoo!

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Back to the BMVW Trans

Had to get creative again on this project. Bought a precision-ground plate from CycleWorks for setting the end-play clearance of the transmission shafts, but it's only for a stock transmission. The countershaft of the BMVW trans is off set by almost 1/2" from the stock location. Transferred the locations of the old and new bearing bores into CAD to determine exactly where the new hole needed to be:

Took the measurements from the CAD model to the bridgeport and with some careful figuring I machined the new bore hole into the plate. Matches up exactly with the trans cover:

Now all I have to do is figure out how to clean, check, and reassemble all the trans parts and clusters. Here goes nothing...

Wheel Covers for Saint

Some day I'll learn to avoid Jeff at Saint Motorbikes when he gets a new idea into his head. On his latest bike he decided he wanted 'salt flat inspired wheels'. He asked if I could cut out a set of covers for him to make a modern pair of sportbike wheels look like a vintage set of salt racing rims. After a lot of figuring I bolted a blank down to the rotary table and spent the next couple hours working away at it while Jeff took pictures and wandered around the shop. The result was actually quite convincing. Fortunately, attaching it and clearing the caliper is Jeff's problem. Mine is making 3 more of these exactly like the first.

home brewed champagne cider vintage 2008!

I found this out in the garage. It was my first attempt at hard cider. Really hard cider. It specs at about 18% alcohol.... Proof: One bottle made 250 lbs of Carl sloshed.

It is incredibly dry, but with this accidental aging, it has become very clear and somewhat flavorful. 11 bottles left! Woohoo!

Im going to make another couple batches for the fall using different recipes. One strong again, and one about 8-10% with the aim of a strongbow or dryer flavor.

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insulating the shop...errr shed

I just boxed up all of my goods from the shed so i can finally insulate, and add ac and heat. Working on multiple projects in a shared 12x25 ft shed is already hard enough. I might as well be comfortably cramped.

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Check out the aux gas tank

God I love Goldwings

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Anyone have a 7.50 cc SOHC four for my new boy?

Cameron James born 7/21/11 7 lbs 7 oz 20 inches. Lots of luck there!!!

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Mmmm. A good ride and some good drinks.

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2011 World Honda Chopper Meet. Random Pictures

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