Rhonda is gone

Breaks my heart, but I'll be watching your Spyder build.

Paul

Love the engine turned engine bay...can't wait to see what you do with a Spyder !

I'll be able to help with most Spyder things if you need it. I'll bow out on some of the Suby stuff, especially the wiring.

Best of luck to you, Bruce. You'll be pleased with the fit and finish.

Alan....The same treatment would look good in a Spyder.  Just from looking around at them, it looks a little more difficult. A Spyder with real roll bar mounting (four point) is where my mind is today. The leather straps to keep the engine lid closed is not very nice looking as well. I know that they are original and traditional but I feel they are out of place. They are incongruous with the overall sleekness of the body style Something of an after thought when someone remembered  that the engine cover needed to be held closed. So someone came up with what was used on cars 20 to 30 years before the Spyder.  I have been looking for a couple aircraft door latches I've seen where you just push a button that says push on it and the latch pops up and open. Hartwell makes an adjustable one but I can't find anywhere to buy a couple.

Anyway, here I am, already starting the walk into another exciting adventure of heart ache and happiness with nuts and bolts.......possibly with a little help from all you "Wing Nuts" out there !................Bruce

Danny....I'm lucky too.....Greg's shop is only 30 min. away.... Thank you for your offer to help.  You seem to know a lot and I won't hesitate to ask you...........Bruce

Thanks, Bruce. I don't have those straps either, not my preference.

Greg makes a really nice billet lever for clamshell release. It has two cables that get run to each side, where VW Bug hood catches grab each side. Works great.

I also have a 4 point bar, but the down tubes get in the way, as they typically go forward of the cockpit bulkhead. I only use it on the track or autocross. I do use the 5 point belts all the time. The crotch belt isn't fun to install, I ran it through the center of the seat bottom. The others are fairly easy, the shoulder belts go through the firewall and wrap around the frame. The hardest part is cutting the carpet and fiberglass.

@aircooled looking forward to following your Spyder build, Bruce! 

I'm glad I got to meet you and your Red Rhonda at the Cars & Coffee!  Can't wait to see your next project!

Is Rhonda's new owner on the SOC and can we expect to see her next year in SLO? How long do you expect your Spyder build to take? 

No Troy, he's not on SOC.   I recommended it to him so maybe he'll join.

I expect that a year or more, at my speed, to be happy with the completion of my Spyder. It took that long with the Rhonda. I had the engine out of Rhonda 11 times before I was satisfied. Also 3 fan shrouds and a bunch of other stuff. Tinkering, playing, and making things better along with lots if beer makes me happy.   Steep spikes in my learning curve are enjoyable as well. I'm sure the Subie engine will mystify and satisfy me substantially.  Oh, Troy, for the record, the official price I got for Rhonda was 35K. That should spike up the new average of the resale price for you a little.

I wanted to use a bus transaxle in the new build but have been told by two sources that it can be done but it would be dangerous in the event that an axle u-joint broke. Apparently, it has something to do with the bus box being IRS and the Spyder suspension is swing axle, the axles are a morphed conversion and if the axle or the joint broke, there's no support and the wheel comes out/off with disastrous results. I'd like to use the bus box but maybe it would better to just use a rhino case with all the good stuff in it.  I'm not interested. in a 5 speed but am trying to look at gearing. Right now I'm leaning towards a 3:89 R&P and 1:48 for 3rd and 1:00 for 4th. I may just go 250 hp turbo for engine size. If I can get that much out of a non turbo I would go that way. I don't get nuts on open curvy roads (too risky at my age) but do like to take my toys to the drag strip. Every Thursday I go to Irwindale Drag Strip during summer months and either watch some of my friends or put my new Canyon PU on the starting line and practice on my reaction time in the lights. Last nite I made it under 10 seconds for the 1/8 mile with a reaction time of .076.....9.97ET at 74 mph.....not too bad for a V-6 non turbo Ha Ha!!   Both reaction time and ET are improved if I stand on the brakes rev the engine up to 3k...release the brake and stomp on the gas anticipating between the last yellow and the green. Gonna go over today and watch some drifters do their thing. Thats another thing I'd like to try.............Bruce

On no... He mentioned the G word...

This should be an interesting build. 

Bruce, on the clam hold downs, be aware that the original 550s has a key latch on each side. Looks something like

Straightforward design (except for a tiny leaf spring detent in the latch mechanism to keep it either out or in) and not so hard to make on one's own.

Thanks ED. It almost looks like a truckers tee-handle is used to turn and unlock the clam latches. Is that what I'm looking at ??

Congrats on the sale Bruce, and I look forward to the next adventure...Think real hard about that 5th gear with all that power!

That square hole in a round hole thingy looks like it is for a garage door chrome tee handle that has a square shank. Did you know that a Cobra replica trunk tee handle is about $99 and the same exact garage door Tee handle is a whopping $19 at Lowe's.

Didn't the VW Bus come with a square, tapered church-key t-handle thingy?

Man, I love that story, Alan! I think the garage door square shaft is a little too big at 5/16ths but I might pick one up just to try it.