Racing Wolfgang for the longest speedster build in history...

The 60s and 70s were such a strange time in history.

My dad was drafted and became a medic in the Army, and was discharged just before they started sending "advisors" to Vietnam in the early 60s. The whole thing went on long enough that I remember reading the paper as a kid, counting dead and wounded teenagers from my hometown and the small towns around us.

The draft and the war ended before I came of age in 1981, but I was keenly aware of the horror of the entire thing. "Alice's Restaurant" and all of the other antiwar protest songs were part of the soundtrack of my adolescence - not front and center, but there. They all resonated with me.

To those who served - thank you. This country owes you a debt of gratitude for not shrinking before a call to duty in a place you didn't want to go, for a reason nobody ever explained adequately.

You are heroes.

My whole "tour" in V.N.  was four days at Da Nang in July, 1965.  Four days later I was standing at the bus stop in front of the 32nd Street Naval Station in San Diego with my discharge papers in my duffle bag.  Advisors ?  Not what I saw........Bruce

@Gordon Nichols posted:

Become a supporting member

OK Gordo, you shamed into it.  read your article and yep totally agree, it tells how to get to where you want to go AFTER you build the car. I was referring to an INITIAL starting point to set the spring arms BEFORE you go installing the engine, transaxle, wiring, body, seats etc.  I needed this because when you removed these for sandblasting the chassis and re-painting all these parts, there are no marks when you start putting it back together.  I was also hoping to let folks know about the fact that if you have both springs out, it's easy to get one set too far in, then you can't the other one in far enough. Once it's all together I'll have to re-adjust.  Then it's one side at a time.

Lotta Memories in that video!

I started in college in 1969 in Northeastern University's Engineering program in Back Bay Boston, and one of my room-mates was a Mechanical Eng. major, but we both were musically inclined (he retired from a career building Electric Generator plants and drives an original 356 coupe).

In our second year, we moved to a Brownstone in "The Fenway", which is a large park and community gardens surrounded by apartment buildings in the shadow of Fenway Park, of Red Sox fame.  We were just around the corner from the Berklee School of Music and another 2 minutes from the "Unicorn Coffee House", which is now the Apple Store for Back Bay Boston.  Every big name music act in the 1960's - '70's played there, many of them still students at Berklee (like half of "Blood Sweat and Tears", among many others).  The J. Geils Band, which played the Unicorn often, didn't go to Berklee, but they were Engineering students at my wife's college, the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA, until they got thrown out for trashing their Frat House (A Σ Pi) after a free concert they gave out in the street.  

Don, my room-mate and I saw Arlo Guthrie at the Unicorn, along with a host of others - like a different band every few days - but the incomparable Paul Butterfield Blues Band recorded an entire gig there which is on Youtube:

Just for the helluvit, I looked up the Unicorn's playlist from back then and it's no wonder my grades (and hearing) suffered with all the acts we saw there (just scroll through the pages - It's mind bending for a club that small):

https://www.setlist.fm/venue/u...ma-usa-6bd4ba16.html

Here's why there's such a wheel/tire to body clearance issue at the rear -

1958 356

1965 beetle  Swing-axle

1973 beetle  CV joint-Axles (AKA IRS)

Progress..  rear axles (w/ new bearings) and brakes back on.  E brake cables run back through but need new ends.   I had some other issues with a compressor and got so frustrated with stuff I forgot to measure the e-brake cables... does anyone actually know the wire rope spec?  wire twist  & diameter :  1x19 x  3/32 is guess ?        I'm looking to get threaded swage ends before my next trip up.

Try   McMaster.com...........Bruce

Ok, Brake line cut and flared. Note that you have to used ISO bubble flare not the SAE double flare.  (German so ISO )   and got the rear stub axles & drums installed.  so bleed said brakes and see if they hold pressure.

Next  tasks-

1. pedals & steering column, trim the hole in the footwell wall and figure out the steering.  I think the column I have is too long, and missing some parts.

2. install transaxle/engine.  

3. Figure out the wiring, perhaps my weakest area.  I have the original CMC harness still in the plastic bag, so hopefully it will not be too bad.

4. put some 'rollers' on the car and see if it will go forward-backward, stop & turn.

@Wrenn Smith posted:

The snail is back in the race...So now I know that when I go to adjust spring plates for ride height after I get it 'built', completely do one side then the other.    Also according the internet, the 'stock' unsprung plate angle is ≈22.5° for a Beetle.  (if any builders out there have a better starting point # I'm listening)

This is the case when I'm working on stuff..  I learn as I go & it always seems to take longer the first time..  You-tube helps but does not always tell you the "watch out for this"..   

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

If you haven't figured out the spring plate angle yet (I don't have a prem membership at the moment so I can't look at Gordon's article)- 22.5° will get you a rather high back end. I think a good starting point would be to rotate the spring plate 1 outside spline lower (1½? 2?") once you've oriented the bar and plate to the stock position.  If you still find that a little high (and want to go REALLY LOW), 2 full outside splines is down there.  It's ok if your roads are fairly smooth and you don't have an exterior sump hanging off the bottom of the engine, but if not you'll have to play with rotating both inside and outside splines (they have different counts) in different directions to get to where you want.  Swayaway has some info on their website.

If you're already past this, then carry on!

@ALB posted:

If you're already past this, then carry on!

yep, sort of past it.  Because there was no markings and all was being put together "for the first time" I went with a 19° starting angle...   there's no engine/transaxle/body installed so I'll see how it comes out and adjust splines from there.  It is not exactly easy to shift one spline but I was able to do it to get them both at ≈19°. 

One thing I noticed putting everything back together is that the left and right trailing arm bolt hole pattern to the spring plate do not match...  there may very well be 2 different year/model arms on the car..  hard to explain without photo and I don't have photo of the "right" arm..

@Wrenn Smith posted:

Next  tasks-

1. pedals & steering column, trim the hole in the footwell wall and figure out the steering.  I think the column I have is too long, and missing some parts.

2. install transaxle/engine.  

3. Figure out the wiring, perhaps my weakest area.  I have the original CMC harness still in the plastic bag, so hopefully it will not be too bad.

4. put some 'rollers' on the car and see if it will go forward-backward, stop & turn.

#1 partially done- pedal assembly installed and clutch cable connected, master cylinder push rod installed. ( brakes and clutch ready to work.)

#2 - engine, transaxle and shifter installed.   Missing 2 engine studs so I have to pull engine out again... but at least I can continue with connections.

#3 here into the breach we must go..

#4... still need wheels.

Lookout @WOLFGANG i'm getting closer to you...  (don't worry I'll fall off the cliff when the bodywork and interior sewing starts..)

Wrenn - it's like 104° here in NW FL.  Wife said I'm not long for this world if I keep trying to work outside in this.  It sure gets rid of water weight! Significant distressing family event and another birthday last week further slowing any effort.  Argh, now Idalia headed just a little East of me (ya, know how they wobble once approaching land).  At least it will cool down a bit and give needed rain (hope not too much).  Ha, didn't even get an insurance bill renewal on a family house here (expired 24 Aug and was 2.5x last rediculous bill!)

Ooo. We could sure use a bit of heat up here.

@WOLFGANG posted:

Wrenn - it's like 104° here in NW FL.  Wife said I'm not long for this world if I keep trying to work outside in this.  It sure gets rid of water weight! Significant distressing family event and another birthday last week further slowing any effort.  Argh, now Idalia headed just a little East of me (ya, know how they wobble once approaching land).  At least it will cool down a bit and give needed rain (hope not too much).  Ha, didn't even get an insurance bill renewal on a family house here (expired 24 Aug and was 2.5x last rediculous bill!)

Wolfgang, life sure gets in the way doesn't it?   I know you can take a friendly jab.    Which is all it was.  I gotta be careful not to poke to hard because it's so easy to poke me back.  [URL=http://www.sherv.net/][IMG]http://www.sherv.net/cm/emotic...-smiley-emoticon.gif[/IMG][/URL]