A busy weekend just gone. Simon from WA managed to get a lift to Adelaide from Melbourne (long story) and lobbed at our place Friday afternoon. Been a few years so it was good catch up and have a chat.
Saturday came and with Sime in the old GTI, we went for a quick trip to the local fastener store to collect some hardware for the NOS Crown flywheel that is about to be installed into the 'S' (onto the SPG crank). With that out of the way, we got home just as another friend- Finn lobbed in his T34. I left the boys to it and while I was painting some NOS 90.5 Berg stroker cylinders (Dyke's 1st, Total Seal 2nd) in VHT paint, the boys struck a deal and the T34 became Simon's. Excellent stuff.
Once Sime dropped Finn home and came back, we got on with the task of sorting through the urgent works bearing in mind Simon was going to be driving to Perth on Monday morning! Lots of electrical works managed to get the headlights almost all working (earthing was crap, bulbs were blown), almost got the indicator's working properly (this is an original 6V car too so had to dig through some spares I had in the garage). We then drove it and found the gears were a bit naff- popping out of 1st and 2nd was difficult to engage. Awesome! So off we went to Bob's workshop in the afternoon and bought some spares for the car- fan belt, throttle cable and a few other odds and sods. While we were there, we put the Crown flywheel back together with new rivets, which was a 3 man job to heat the rivets, hold the oxy and bang the rivets. Bugger of a job, but I now have a flywheel that has almost zero run out and uses std VW 'O' ring. This flywheel has been huge undertaking and is worthy of it's own story.
So off we head back to my place where we replaced the shift coupler on the T34 - the old one fell to pieces which wasn't surprising. That helped the gear selection no end but I noted that all the engine & trans axle mounts were stuffed, so I wasn't expecting a miracle. With that done and a bit more engine tidy up we called it a day and caught up with Greg at the pub for a few drinks and dinner.
Sunday morning and we got energetic, moved the gear shifter (stock) over to the left as much as possible and messed around with the linkage which was binding. Starting to drive okay now. As it was my wedding anniversary, I left Sime with it for the day and he went and did some more work on the car with B4. When we caught up last night, Sime was pretty pleased with himself- the gears were now sort of okay due to some clutch adjustment and a new Black Mamba shifter. Nice shifter and not too badly priced for what it is. Of course the gearbox isn't perfect due to the lack of love this car has had previously but it is good enough to drive to Perth. I believe that Simon is going to put some shorter axles on when he gets home anyway, so I can see the car being semi dismantled soon. A good idea that will enable a few other things to be sorted out like the engine mounts etc- and get rid of the funky old muffler etc.
Simon hit the road this morning as I left for work and it sounds like he made it to Ceduna which is a good effort in a 1964 1500 'S' T34 I think. If it has made it that far, I am sure it will make it all the way to Perth without a drama.
So what else has been happening? Loads to be honest but not too many photo's have been taken.
First of all the MK 2 GTI has a new engine now- a MK 3 2.0 is now running perfectly and providing me with daily transport. I can't believe what a great engine upgrade this has been and apart from the nightmare of the wiring to integrate it into the MK 2 fuse box, it went very smoothly with no drama's and started up first go. An excellent conversion. But as the car is completely reliable, I am starting to get bored with it already. Perhaps it is time to look for another car...
The Okrasa 40hp heads are now ready to be installed onto the 1602 cc engine which is in the velvet green notchback. I bought the heads late last year out of California and in that time have had them sand blasted, then wet blasted, then machined to suit the 83 mm cylinders, had all the guides K-lined and also had the seats cut (originals). The heads look fantastic now and when time permits, will find their way onto the 'S' engine. While I am at it with that engine, I will install the newly refurbished Crown flywheel. I bought this flywheel last years as well (NOS) and was advised to check the run out at the clutch face as they were known to be a bit ordinary (sometimes) back in the day. So I checked it and of course it was completely out of whack. Why oh why did the Crown people rivet the hub to the clutch area on the piss and then tack weld it together? The hub (heat treated) was cracked due to the welding so I had to have a new hub fabricated. I cut the center out of an old (but perfect) flywheel and handed it to Bob to finish the machine work off- drilling for 10 x rivets, drilling for SPG pattern and generally altering it to reflect the original Crown one (which is now just a paper weight...). Anyway, the flywheel is perfect now so justified the work required to correct it. I sent the flywheel off with a clutch for balancing today and expect it back this week. I also sent off some other engine parts for balancing such as a 69 mm crank that I had ground to 69.10 mm as well as a pair of NOS Type 3 fans (steel and alloy). The crank and fan assemblies will end up in an NOS 1500 'S' engine I have been gathering parts for over the last 20 years. Apart from NOS single port heads, I am just about ready to assemble this engine now. Some of the goodies put away for this engine are quite hard to find now including NOS 83.50 domed 'S' pistons and cylinders machined to suit, a choice of either a ZV JCU 4R3 distributor or a 311 905 205 D distributor (early or late 1500 'S' only) (both restored to perfect condition), a pair of very first production run 1500 'S' carburettor's with the small venturi's etc (restored to perfection of course). I have avoided using the original crank and rods however, and gone with a later crank and brand new rods in an effort to maintain some long term life and reliability. Once I have all the parts in one place, I intend on taking some photo's of it spread out.
And the panel van engine... I have been thinking about the engine in the panel van for a long time now because it concerns me that the cylinder heads have minimal cooling (competition eliminators). I have decided to remove the 2276 cc from the car this year and install a smaller engine with heads that have cooling fins! The engine is currently in the engine stand and is based around a new AS 41 case, a new Scat 78.8 mm crank and new Berg stroker 90.5 mm pistons & cylinders. I still need to get the heads from the USA, along with the cam and lifters, but I am getting closer all the time. The engine will retain the current EMS ECU, tin ware, MSD ignition and exhaust systems. I am contemplating converting the engine over to dual IDF pattern throttle bodies as part of the build. Still not sure about it but it is likely to occur. As for the 2276 cc engine, this will end up in another car, along with the close ratio 4.375 based trans axle but more on that another time.
As for the 36hp turbo motor, I won't post up anything about that until I get a little more progressed because I am at the mercy of the owner of the car that the engine shall reside within. It could prove to be a very interesting build!
