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Post by Volktales on Jan 14, 2018 21:48:20 GMT -8
What's with all the fancy schmancy electronic stuff in that Notchback? I thought this was a simple air-cooled Volkswagen, it's not even carbureted. Amazing detail work Russ! We don't need no stinking carburetors!
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Post by Volktales on Jan 14, 2018 22:14:35 GMT -8
Back to the calipers again... Everything cleaned and ready for reassembly. All these seals were undamaged and reusable. Note that I did NOT split the caliper. Despite what you may have read in Volksworld and other VW magazines, it is NOT necessary to hone the cylinder bores in the calipers. The sealing surface is on the piston, and this has to be nice and smooth. The bore has to be free of rusty chunks, but pitting will not affect operation. Also most caliper rebuild kits do not contain the necessary seals that go between the caliper halves... The first step on reassembly is to install the internal piston seal into the groove in the bore. It is a square cut seal and can go in either way. Just make sure it is seated properly and has not twisted. Then you have to think about which way to orient the cutouts in the pistons. Use the shims as your guide to how to position them. Use some brake grease on the seal and pistons to ease them in. This shows how those shims are installed in the caliper, thus how the pistons need to be oriented. The shims go to the bottom of the caliper when installed. Just put them opposite the bleeder screw hole, and you will be fine... The purpose of those cutouts and shims varies depending on what you read. Supposedly they prevent the piston from rotating in its bore which might tear the dust seals, and/or act as anti-squeal shims. Buses use a different design shim to accomplish this. This system was obvious not necessary, because newer VWs and other makes don't use pistons with cutouts like this... Now that you know which way to orient the piston, push it in until the working surface is just flush with the caliper body. This position is where you install the dust boot. Install the inner lip of the boot around the piston first. Now push the piston all the way in. It is now easy to install the outer lip of the seal over the rim of the caliper. In this position, the retainer ring can be pressed over the dust boot and you are done. Now paint them up! Installed and done. Pads were like new and reused. New flex hoses obviously... Now onto the rear brakes...
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Post by busaddict on Jan 14, 2018 22:25:55 GMT -8
That was educational, thanks Russ
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Post by Volktales on Jan 14, 2018 22:31:03 GMT -8
We have discussed drum brakes like these before, as Bus, Beetle, Ghia, and Type 3 brakes are all similar. One thing to be aware of is that innocent looking adjuster assembly harbors a secret. The cutout in the screw in which the brake shoe fits is NOT straight. It is actually cut on an angle, and must be installed so the "deeper" end faces up. Many seem to get this wrong, and wonder why new shoes don't seem to want to fit properly and why the drum won't go on. This is a feature on VWs with four bolt wheels including Beetles, Ghias, and Type 3's... Also some folks just don't use brake grease on these adjusters and they then sieze up. It really is not that hard... Note that unlike Beetles, Type 3's have a hub that is separate from the brake drum. This means you don't have to undo the big 36 mm nut to do the brakes. On this design it is easiest to install the rear shoe completely first, then attach the top spring to the front shoe, then the bottom spring, then the central hold down spring. This is one of those procedures that a video would be better to explain it. Oh well... The drums were wire-wheeled and painted because it is just the right thing to do... They were in good condition. The old shoes had little wear, but were replaced anyway because Reagh had some NOS items for it. Reproduction wheel cylinders were installed, along with new flex hoses and I also fabricated new rear brake steel lines. As always when working on back brakes, you MUST un-adjust the park brake cables before adjusting the rear brakes. Only after are the brakes adjusted correctly, do you then adjust the parkbrake cables. It is amazing how many owners don't do this properly... Tomorrow is time to bleed the brakes then they will be done! Then it will be time for the fun stuff, improving the cosmetics!!!
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Post by busaddict on Jan 14, 2018 22:49:32 GMT -8
Yes, I'm glad you said painting the drums is the right thing to do, otherwise they just get all rusty and dusty. Books say not to if I remember correctly.
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Post by Brenticon on Jan 15, 2018 7:18:58 GMT -8
Yea, fun stuff, lol
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Post by Volktales on Jan 20, 2018 20:48:35 GMT -8
Lots accomplished so far this weekend. Pictures will be up tomorrow...
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Post by Volktales on Jan 24, 2018 19:22:02 GMT -8
Continuing Notchback fun... Doing some cosmetic type things for now. One problem that affects Type 3's is failure of the factory undercoating. The rear inner fender structure was coated at the factory with some kind of rock-guard like material which was then painted over body colour. The problem is that the coating tends to crack along the seams in the wheel well, which of course is in direct line with the tire. As you can guess, the water is now trapped behind the coating and very happily rusts away... Reagh's car had suffered in this way, and the rust was neutralized than seam sealer applied to seal up the cracks in the undercoating. The goal here was to stop any more water getting in, which will at least stop things from getting worse. After the sealer dried, than it was overcoated with new rock-guard type material. This is the same stuff I used on the Ghia in the past. It can be painted over as well if desired. Next up was dealing with the wheels. Even though the hubcaps and trim rings cover up most of the rim, they really still needed some sanding and new paint. Getting better... These wheels were originally all black on this model, unlike Beetles which were two-tone black and white in 1969. Much better. Reagh found a decent set of original style trim rings in his stash. All the original hubcaps that came with the car were in poor shape. I was able to use a set that a customer gave me awhile ago and they cleaned up decently. You know if it was my car, it would be getting some narrow whitewall tires!!! Continued...
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Post by Volktales on Jan 24, 2018 20:01:27 GMT -8
That dented bumper needs to be dealt with. Don is going to have a try at straightening it out. It has been removed in anticipation... And here is a mystery. This piece of hardboard was loose in the rear trunk. It kind of looks like it might be from this car, but have not yet been able to figure out what it is for yet... Any ideas??? So now time to do something about those front fenders. First is to remove the remains of the headlight bowl. As you can see, you cannot just pull out the wires because the headlight plug will not fit through the hole in the bowl. So how to remove this? All you have to do is insert a small screwdriver as shown and pry to release the small locking tab that keeps the connector inside the plug. Do mark down how the wires are oriented in the plug for re-installation. You would be amazed at how many people were too dumb/lazy to do this, and cut the wires under the fender instead. Unfortunately someone did exactly that on the passenger side... The inner fender on this car was actually not too bad; much better than the terrible outer panel. I again used a combination of Rust Mort, and seam sealer to stop rust from gaining any further foothold. Note that I plugged up the large round hole where the gas heater exhaust pipe once was. This pipe and the special sealing ring were long gone, so it was decided to not make the heater operational at this time. The hole was plugged with a plastic circle cut from a 4L milk jug, which was "glued-in" with seam sealer. Don't laugh, this was meant to be easily removed in the future if necessary and it will work just fine. Later the sealed areas were sprayed with primer, as well as the surface rusted areas. This will at least slow down any further deterioration.. Then the replacement left fender was installed as is. This one is off an earlier car (1964 era), so the cutout for the signal light and holes for the side trim are different. Reagh was OK with this until better correct fenders turn up. He also found a much better fender for the passenger side as well and things were put into motion to install this... Removing the right headlight assembly on the old fender revealed one of the terminals had detached itself from the headlight plug. Note the missing grommets around the wiring. The old fender was truly a mess with lots of deep rust and Bondo falling out in big hunks. Why? Looking at the back revealed much welding had been done in the past to this fender, with poorly overlapped panels and no seam sealing done on the back side. It turns out the whole wheel arch had been cut away at one time and then another poorly lap welded on. This was not the original fender to this car, and it makes you wonder how hard the body shop looked to find a better example to install! The replacement fender Reagh had looked much better at first. Then a closer inspection was given. Look at all that welding in the bowl area. And very poorly sealed from behind. Lots of filler above the headlight... This is the backside of the top rear of the fender, right up top where the cowl, door, and fender all come together. That shape is very wrong and it became apparent this fender had never been installed on a car after being significantly worked on. I cut this part down to the correct shape using the old fender as a guide. But is was not to be... The whole corner of the fender had been cut off and re-fabricated by someone. Unfortunately the repair was made wrong and everything was out in three dimensions. No amount of mickey mousing is going to make this thing fit. The car deserves better then this, but what can you do? Rust free Type 3 front fenders are like gold, and used ones currently available on TheSamba are awful too. Reagh has decided that the only way forward is to buy new fibreglass reproduction fenders. www.glass-action.com/ lists new repro fenders that sound nice. I have not found feedback on them yet, so can't really comment on how good they are. Hope they fit!!!
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Post by Brenticon on Jan 24, 2018 22:14:27 GMT -8
Cool move on going glass. Looking forward at going for a spin. By the way, I google searched that cardboard thingy you found. It’s the right side pedestal for the carbon fibre whale tail, one year only, og notchback wing. Looks like you have the only original German template ever found
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Post by Volktales on Jan 25, 2018 8:17:59 GMT -8
Suuuuuuure...
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Post by Volktales on Feb 1, 2018 22:50:14 GMT -8
So onto some more cosmetic issues this week... One of Reagh's few requests on this car was to replace the missing reflector on this side, and luckily he had another unit in his stash. To remove it, you must remove the tail light assembly above it. This is simply removed with a couple of screws, once the lens is off. It was then I noticed the tail light housing was badly cracked on the corner... Don't know how I didn't see that before, but fortunately the stash contained a spare assembly in decent shape. These tail light housings are of very good quality and do not seem to pit. A clean and transferring over of the bulbs and testing them had it fit for service. Then time to deal with the ruined dash pad. This was very badly split and not savable. Luckily years ago a customer had brought in a bunch of Type 3 parts to the shop and said he was going to take it to the dump if we did not want the parts. Back then I did not own a Type 3, and the last one that ever came into the shop was long gone. So I gave the parts that the shop did not want to Reagh, because he was the only person I knew with a Type 3. Included in this stash was a few dash pads, and now one of them has ended up in his car at last! One of the others ended up in my Fastback, so thank you Mr. Customer, whoever you were... Removing the dash pad is not too difficult. You must remove the glovebox liner to access the nuts that secure the grab handle on the dash. Next carefully pry off the chrome strips under the pad, then undo a series of screws below the windshield and below the chrome strip under the dash pad. The tricky part is removing the instruments. These are held in simply by spring "tangs" on either side of the gauge, that are accessed by reaching under the dash. These tangs are tough, and require a good squeeze to release in confined quarters. Not fun, but they released without too much grief this time... Next the rusty rings were removed from each gauge. Gently prying the chrome bezel off each gauge releases the metal ring and the lens. I removed the rust and paint with a wire wheel on an electric drill for this purpose. Then some decent quality primer followed by silver paint... Again I used the Rust-oleum product as seen in the background and was happy with its performance. No more crappy Valspar Plasitikote products for me! Continued...
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Post by Volktales on Feb 1, 2018 23:05:29 GMT -8
All three gauges were cleaned and the repainted bezels installed. Each light was tested before re-installation. The clock is not working, and given my poor success rate on repairing clocks, it was not taken apart... The dashboard pad required a fair amount of gluing various cracks up, and repairing the plastic ring inserts that help position the gauges in place. This pad had been removed from a junk car in the past, and whoever did it was not exactly careful in their procedure. In the end it fit decently after much scrubbing years of ingrained dirt away. It still needs a couple of minor repairs, but these will be done later... Type 3 dashes have always been one of my favourite features of these cars. Remind me of a '59 Chevrolet dash which is not a bad thing... Tried to get a "night" shot showing the dash lights working, but couldn't figure out how to disable the camera flash... Damn technology... And finally, this was found fallen down in the defroster vent. There is a very faint date and time legible on it, but sadly not the year. Anyone know what "Victoria Janes" is/was??? Next up, more cleaning until the fenders arrive...
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Post by Volktales on Feb 1, 2018 23:24:08 GMT -8
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Post by Brenticon on Feb 2, 2018 9:09:06 GMT -8
That’s gonna be a cool ride.
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