Super Convertible

[NIKLES1974]

NEW FIRESTONE TIRES MOUNTED AND BALANCED READY TO GO WHEN THE CAR IS FINISHED.

[Dual Port]

Nick's car arrived at my shop and I got a lot done today, pics to come. The fuel tank was filled with rust, glop, and 30 year old fuel. I hear aftermarket tanks don't fit T1s so great, does anyone know local companies that blast and line tanks? I dealt with Parma Rad for years and I know they did them years back, but I'm out of the loop lately. This tank looks like brand new on the outside, not so much on the inside.......

Thanks!

[Mike Kever Kombi]

http://www.leakoil.net/forum/viewtopic. ... r&start=50

Few posts in

[wwebner]

Call Dan (Lurch) http://www.superpages.com/bp/Elyria-OH/ ... 046899.htm
they do gas tanks.

[Mike Kever Kombi]

Call Dan (Lurch) http://www.superpages.com/bp/Elyria-OH/ ... 046899.htm
they do gas tanks.

Even better

[Dual Port]

Nick's car arrived by flatbed Tuesday afternoon courtesy of AAA.



We got right to work and racked it for an inspection, not finding much wrong. As suspected, I see no rot under the car, it was rustproofed when new so mostly there's just flaky rustproofing and surface rust.



The first thing I did was cut the fuel line under the gas tank and nearly nothing came out, at that point I'm thinking the tank was empty.
Here I'm blowing the crap from around the plugs before pulling them.



Next I pull the spark plugs, spray some WD-40 in the cyls, put in a fresh battery and spin it over a bit. Then I ran a thread chaser through the plug threads to clean any corrosion or carbon from the threads. In went a fresh set of Bosch plugs.

Action shot- gapping the plugs






I checked for spark, it was strong and blue, so time for fuel.
I use an outboard boat fuel tank for my run stand,


so I connect it to the carb inlet and pump the bulb to find the needle and seat stuck/plugged, so I connected it to the bowl vent. Gee, I wonder why the needle and seat are stuck?



I feed it a bit of fuel and have Nick hit the key and it lit up after spinning less than 2 seconds! A puff of smoke from the WD40 and it sounded great. I run it up for 10-15 minutes to get the oil warmed up, dump the oil and replace the screen.

Action shot- adding the oil.





Back up front, you can't pull the sender with the tank installed on SBs so I start to remove the tank, it feels kind of heavy- is there still fuel in here, even though nothing drained out? I stick a siphon hose in and get a surprise.



Nice looking stuff, eh?

I get the tank out to find a critter nest underneath.



I pretty much guessed what I'd find after pulling the sender and it was fugly.





As suggested, the tank went to Lurch's spa for a little R&R.

That's day one, 4 hours.

Day two, I started on brakes. Zip the tires off and the drums are stuck with a big ridge, it takes a hammer and punch to turn the adjusters to back them off.



The brakes aren't looking much better- rust city.




I bead blasted the drums before Nick took them to Napa to get cut, rust wrecks lathe bits and I know the guy will give a better finish if there isn't any.





The big lip on the drums all came right off in the tank.

New everything, but I also pulled the backing plates, it took an air chisel to get the old wheel cyls out of the backing plates! I bead blasted and painted them, but one of the adjuster spring tabs was broken. Bill gave me a tip years ago that I never used- commercial pallet banding works good to replace them as you can't buy them. I looked for months for a piece of this stuff to find 90% of banding is now plastic or Fiberglas. I finally found some but ended up not needing it for the bus. Anyway, I cut a piece, bent it, and migged it in place, it works perfect.



Back together with the fronts, new everything. I didn't hook up the lines yet because I need to flush or replace them. They actually look fine as they were covered with rustproofing.





5.5 today, total 9.5.

[Dual Port]

Back from out of town.

Rear hard parts blasted and painted:


Hardware soaked and blasted:




Rear brakes assembled:









Rear lines actually looked quite good but I changed them anyway:



BBQ paint on drums:



Clean/pack front bearings:




Crusty ground strap. Lots of torch action here!


What ground?




New stud, nut, clean the trans case, frame, etc:



Starter looks crusty but works fine, we'll leave it alone for now.



New cable, reroute/rewire/loom the VR feed. I'll put a 40A MaxiFuse in the main feed circuit:



Drain the tranny oil overnight, normal/minimal fuzz on the magnet:




Battery ground strap was also rotted, I had several German spares so I bead blasted one:




Pull the crusty MC off:



MC/pedal hardware blasted and painted:



Cleaned and painted the pedal area, it had a lot of surface rust:



To get it ready for the pedal cluster which got bead blasted, primed and about 4 coats of rattle can:



Day 3: Disassemble rear brakes, remove backing plates, bead blast and paint backing plates, soak hardware in vinegar overnight to break down rust, bead blast hardware, remove rear brake hoses, remove master cylinder.
3 hours

Day 4: Assemble/install rear backing plates, brakes, cylinders, etc, soak, clean, repack front wheel bearings, clean and repaint all drums with high temp BBQ paint, install drums and tires, clean axle threads and nuts. 4 hours

Day 5, remove and replace starter cable, rewire B+ feed to VR, replace ground strap, remove rear crossover brake line, remove heater tubes, drain trans oil, replace battery ground strap. 3 hours

Day 6, Fill trans, remove pedal assy, bead blast/prime/paint, free up MC pushrod, cut/flare/bend/install 3 rear brake lines, clean, wire wheel and paint floor near MC, finish battery cable install, 4.5 hours

24 hours right now.

Should get the tank back from Lurch's this week, brake system together, then do the fuel system- pull the dist, replace the FP, rebuild the carb, new lines, then maybe a road test.

[wwebner]

"then maybe a road test." got snow tires

[Mike Kever Kombi]

[Threadjack] Bruce, I notice you removed the "under construction" disclaimer from the 66 in your sig, but did not update you thread with "the completion"
[/threadjack]

Bruce,

Looks real nice, but I don't think we would expect anything less from you now. Way to keep another one on the road.

I will have to have you or bill explain the banding strap trick to me, so I can do that to mine.

[Dual Port]

MC installed and plumbed, new feed hoses, brakelight switch harness repaired:


Pedal assy reinstalled. Either these cars are getting smaller or I'm getting bigger. Getting my fat ass into that footwell is a trick.



Brakes bled and adjusted, and we have a pedal. On to fuel system.

Pull the carb off, and I notice there's a reman sticker on the alt.



Cool, VWOA reman! Uh oh, are those shroud bolts missing? The f'ing butcher left out the two lower shroud bolts. Grrrr.....


Carb off and apart to find the expected glop in the bowl.



The real problem is the idle solenoid threads are wrecked from having the solenoid wiggle loose. Bummer, probably end up with a Chinese one...



3.75 hours today, 27.75 now.