old school California look GTX

[Vonlard]

not touched the car for a bit as I got all air cooled with my latest acquisition to add that 70's gasser flair (pardon the pun) to the 61.



but with the rocco running lumpier than my attempts at mashed potatoes it became time to get back to it.
I'm sure it is an air leak somewhere so I have decided to sort the cda induction kit while I'm taking the manifold off to sort the gaskets and make it air tight.
But in order to fit this

in place of the old airbox I have to get rid of that huge fan motor that sticks into the bay so the best way to do that is with a slimline rad fan but I didn't want to lose the cooling advantage of the fan shroud so I have fitted the fan in the original shroud.
I went for an 11" fan but I think I will redo it with a 12" and a bit of trimming.


got a bit carried away with getting it fitted so forgot to get a pic before I put it back in but you can see the clearance is much better without the motor sticking out


hopefully I will get the rest swapped over tomorrow and will put some more pics up.

[Risocco]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiice. Like that fan a lot. Maybe worth investigating for myself in the future.

Still loving those rims too dude, keep up the good work

Alex

[Vonlard]

gonna go bigger with the fan cos I don't like the way it sits in there as for the rims I love BBS but I will never get another set as they are a pain in the arse to clean, so looking in to fuchs rims or gas burners and trying to figure out what thickness spacers I'm gonna need.

[Vonlard]

not been on here much lately cos the car has been running fine with no work needig doing..
untill yesterday that is, on sunday I think I cracked the sump on the way to a job up a tiny country lane and last night knowing about the leek took it easy on the way to a east coast dubs meet when the brakes failed and pushed through to the floor.
turns out one of the rear solid lines was too close to a drive shaft and over time had worn through and was spraying a mist of brake fluid all over the engine bay.
so tonight just picked up some hard lines and not looking forward to spending the night on my back pissing around with flareing tools

[Vonlard]

Hard lines have been redone rerouted and working great, After getting the new sump had a better look under the car and looked like the oil filter bracket was where the oil was escaping from so thought I may as well give it a service as it was already getting new oil

Parts fitted this time
set of Bosch super 4 spark plugs
Bosch oil filter
Bosch fuel filter
FORMULA POWER 10mm racing plug leads
Bosch dizzy cap
fresh oil
fresh coolant

also painted up the manifold I had matched to the Audi TB about a year ago ready for swapping in.
Cleaned up the filter bracket and bolted it back together with a bit of instant gasket and took it out for a test run.
Running a million times better and I had forgot what it was like to stamp my foot to the floor and spin the wheels on gear change and not cough and fart fire, but where the coolant pipes have been removed and reattached has revealed cracks and is now leaking plus the oil filter bracket is still leaking so decided to upgrade to a mocal external oil cooler and replace the gaskets.
also when looking at the mess of pipes around the front of the motor realised that when the previous owner done the 2l bottom end swap he didn't fit block off plates for the breather so got a set ordered up from the states. Also got some new vacuum pipe on their way will get some pics up when all the parts arrive and hopefully all the leeks will be fixed and will be purring like a like an angry lion again

[Vonlard]

parts arrived and fitted now


as a temporary fix I plugged the coolant hoses for the old oil cooler with a pair of rear body mount bolts from my bug and fitting the Mocal sandwich plate is simple replacement for the old cooler. mounted the new cooler in front of the rad then ran the oil lines. I got the stainless oil lines but for where I mounted the cooler I recommend just using rubber as they pass by the back of the alternator and I had to wrap most of them in electrical tape so they don't cause shorts. The breather block off plate is simple replacement too and just have to fit the core plug with a tight fitting socket and a hammer. was cheaper to order it from http://www.jrenw.com/jrenw-breather-block-off.html in the US than get it over here and only took just over a week to arrive.
ended up redoing the oil filter bracket gasket 3 times as the leek wasn't fixed then realised that it wasn't the course of the leek in the first place as it was the oil pressure switch that is leaking out the spade connector so could have saved a load of cash and and oily hassle with a simple £5 part.

[Vonlard]

Not been on here much for a while but due to snow and having nothing better to do I have been playing with the rock again and finishing up some bits.
I got bored of looking at the stack of amps and false boot floor with a sub in it in my garage so chucked it all back in the car but the sound was rubbish and as the back seats are unusable through legroom and tyre contact I figured they needed replacing so got my jigsaw out n built this



still not finished the install but mocked up the electrics and it sounds great. just got to pick up some textiles to cover the rest of the enclosure but it is so cold outside my fingers went numb putting the door panels back on so outdoor work was over giving me the kick in the arse to finish the de-badged grill I started a year ago and failed on.
the grill was made out of two stock grills, one broken that donated the section to fill the middle of the good one.

The slats needed reinforcing as the supergluing alone kept braking so I used strips of plastic to brace the underside of each join with lots of superglue then used body filler to tidy up the joins and painted it all satin black.


will post pics of the finished install when its warmer and I finish it.

[markh]

Nice bud, very neat job on the grill.

[DT1]

Grill looks good.

But a proper plastic glue is better than superglue for hard shiny plastic bits if you plan to do anything else like that in future.

[Vonlard]

latest work done: front bumper came off so I can fit mk1 golf indicators in it but cut one side out and not touched it since as I have had lots to do on the bug.
Fitted a new shifter bearing to sort out the wobbly stick but hasn't seemed to have made much difference so when the engine is out I will have a look at the bushes in the linkage.
had a bit of a water leak to the passenger side footwell so pulled out the carpet and being a fan of race cars decided not to put it back so pulled the rear cards, boot side linings boot carpet ect (headlining was long gone). pulled out the sub and fitted the harnesses I had at the back of the workshop. Hasn't bloody leaked since lol did think it was the heater matrix though so will replace that engine out time too. Did hope to win a rear cage on ebay but it got sold privately so will keep looking. found some rust under the rear speaker shelf where the filler neck bracket is welded so gonna weld a plate in and remove the speaker support/parcel shelf brackets then for the time being satin black the interior and ally sheet the front door cards.
Got sick of looking at the dented and rusty bonnet and got sick of the spare taking up space in the workshop so a quick bit of satin black later it is fitted but needs lining up properly.
Car went through its MOT Monday with no advisory's but in the MOT prep I noticed the oil cap is looking a bit foamy so the head gasket job I have been putting off is a bit more urgent. The only other prep was a new hazard light switch (only flashing one side), re aiming the new washer jets and swapping out the lights on buzzer for the fog light relay.

parts stockpile to be fitted:
head gasket set
oil sump
timing belt
AUDI TB
alternator belt
Black Diamond clutch
polly side engine mounts
bulkhead repair plate

Parts ordered
radiator
oil and fuel filters
cam belt tensioner and stud

When the bulk head was welded up last year the plate was put in about 10mm out so the cable isn't pulling straight so I will extend the hole sideways and put another plate in so it pulls cleanly and doesn't eat cables any more. Was planning on fitting a hydraulic pedal box but this is much cheaper for now.
I'm using the head gasket as an excuse to pull the engine for a clean up and paint and get the bay looking nice and sort all the jobs in one go so I don't have to do anything else to it for a while and I can concentrate on getting the floor pan built up for the bug.
Just need a engine lift and a couple of days that I don't need a car
I think this is everything I have going on Rocco related atm so will have to post some pics when I start

[Vonlard]

Started the tare down of the motor today, didn't get out till 5 after gsf and motor factors run so didn't get as much done as I wanted.
This is what I started with.

now all that is left is the long block hooked to the exhaust manifold so gonna pull it out in the morning and start preping the bay for a coat of paint or 2 so will post more pics tomorrow.

[Vonlard]

progress so far..
engine and box are out, Had a mission with just the engine so took it out with the box and then had the socket spin in one of the head bolts so had to drill it and hammer another head bolt in so I could remove it, Also discovered I had bought the wrong head bolts (16v I think) so my 3 day freshen up has gone on a bit longer.
spent ages trying to get the old clutch off but ended up putting the flywheel back on and leaving one of the bolts sticking out and putting a rear beam bolt in one of the engine/gearbox bolt holes and wedging a big spanner between them to lock the crank.
As of now the head is striped and in my lounge, The rocker cover, alternator stand and lifting bracket are painted gold.
All the engine mounts, oil filter bracket and other bits n bobs are hanging from wires in the garage and drying gloss black.
Block and gearbox are clean and ready for a couple of coats of black tomorrow.
while that is drying gonna prep the engine bay for a coating of satin black and as I had to strip the head to clean up the bits of bolt gonna pull the valves and tidy up the ports/match them to the manifolds. nothing heavy just tidying.
Hopefully the new head bolts + gaskets will arrive from euro tomorrow so Friday I can start puting it all back in.
I have got some pics I will put up when photobucket is fixed.

[Funky Diver]

The rocker cover, alternator stand and lifting bracket are painted gold.

You sure this is California look and not Las Vegas... might go with your chaps and thong better ;)

[Vonlard]

The rocker cover, alternator stand and lifting bracket are painted gold.

You sure this is California look and not Las Vegas... might go with your chaps and thong better ;)

lol those chaps are pure San Francisco! eventually the car will be the same brown as the bug and on gas burners with slightly higher profile tires on the back with all the side trim removed. I have held a stinger up at the back but got a semi then realised it would be too much fannying about for something that would drive me nuts with no soundproofing in a daily. Come to think of it I have got a twin quietpack in one of the garages.

[Vonlard]

got fed up waiting for pootobucket to sort itself out so here are some pics






Still trying to find one of these but without the hose coming off the bottom

you can see how knackered the old rad was so good gob I have a shiny new one to go in