I aquired another VW

[trikertroy]

With the trikes, we only have two clyinders or calipers to fill, instead of all four.. so we use a smaller bore and taller pedal to keep the effort down..

Its all about hydrolic leverage..The longer the stroke,, the less effort needed..but you foot has to travel more..

[metalmaster1766]

I got the bigger bore master cylinder on my V-Rod over the weekend, talk about stopping power, I about had to pry my face off the glass the first time I hit the brakes hard to see how they worked, and lets just say it stops so much better than it did
All I did was go from a 3/4 inch bore to a 7/8 inch bore and it stops on a nickle now

Oh yeah the reservoir didn't fit because of the fuel tank, so I went and bought 2 45 degree angle pi[p fittings and off set it so it fits, I'll get a picture tomorrow with my phone, batteries are dead in our good camera


Ron

[Daddy o's 67]

Ron for front fender mounts check out the Can-Am Spyders. Might give you some more ideas on how to mount yours or just confuse you even more.

[Poomwah]

Good deal on the brakes. I'm going to have to do that to mine now

[metalmaster1766]

Originally Posted by Daddy o's 67

Ron for front fender mounts check out the Can-Am Spyders. Might give you some more ideas on how to mount yours or just confuse you even more.

Thank ya, I looked at them, basically what all the other cars have that I looked at are done, I still haven't looked a Prowler, but I think I have my mind made up on how I'm gonna hang them

Since putting on the lowered spindles I can use 2 longer bolts that hold the disc brake calipers brackets on or backing plates on drum brake, then use them with nuts to mount the fender brackets there

I have also thought about putting some wheel spacers on to push them out about an inch so I can use a straight piece to go from the spindle to the fenders, with the wheels where they are the brackets need to be curved, but if I do it right that way it would look so much better

And here are 2 pics of my master cylinder reservoir I constructed using what I had laying around, well until I needed to off set it and bought two 45 degree fittings a pipe nipple and then the plug/cap

I may just keep it this way, I think it looks kinda cool

I can't tell if it's leaking, or if the fluid is just splashing out the top because I didn't screw the plug in tight so I can get it off if I need top add to it, I need to wipe it clean with something and then drive around to see if it's coming from the top of one of the other pipe threads





Now I need to come up with a fuel gauge, I'm tired of putting gas in it everyday and using a stick, I have the gauge out of my 66 bug, but mounting the float to the poly tank I have kinda creates a problem

I'd hafta cut a hole in the plastic tank and make some way to mount it without causing a leak, thinking about making a piece with the tanks radius and a flange with a bolt pattern to bolt it to the tabk with a gasket, then the top have the mounting flange for the stock float mechanism on the top

Think it would be worth trying?

I'd hate to cut a hole in it and it not work

Any suggestions or ideas anyone?


Ron

[metalmaster1766]

edit - Oki I'll just edit this at the begining, I did another search here and on Google using the words Header Wrap and I think it is what I'm looking for, I'll keep on searching



Well I was told not to cut the poly fuel tank so I'll hafta A- get one of the clear poly tanks so I can see how full it is before running it out of gas again, but I have only had that happen 2 times now in about 5 months, or B- make some sort of float gauge into the fuel cap so I can see how full it is without using a welding rod, it works nice because the gas leaves a nice line on the flux coating, I tried other things but it's tough to see where the line is

I also just finished up my full flow oil filter today (no pic's yet still on my phone) I started it and let it run for about 20 minutes to make sure it wasn't gonna start leaking oil, it didn't start yet but, (yes the BUT word, like the P/O stories, "it runs great BUT it needs a good tune up") yeah right how can it run great if in need of a tune up

I'll find out at 3:30 am when I gotta get up and take my son to work, it's only a 14 mile round trip so that will be my test drive. The only parts I bought was the remote filter adapter and the oil pump cover, I have never put on of these on a dual carb'd engine and didn't even give it a thought about the air filter, I couldn't get it back on after I hooked the oil lines up
So I went digging thru my pipe fitting and found everything except one 3/8 inch 90 degree elbow, I had to use a 3/4 inch to 1/4 inch adapter where the oil enters back into the case then put a 1/4 inch elbow there and I had an oil line which had a 3/8 pipe fitting end for the filter adapter and 1/4 inch on the other end to fit the 1/4 inch elbow

I filled it with 3 quarts of oil like I always did which over fills it by .4 of a quart, (my VW book says they hold 2.6 quarts of oil) I ended up adding almost 1 full quart of oil to get it completely full, I'm gonna pull the oil screen out after about 100 miles and clean it just in case any chips got into the case while drilling and tapping the main oil galley plug for the return line from the oil filter

I took my oil sending unit out and installed a fitting (1/8 inch to 1/4 inch pipe fitting and hooked up my compressor to it so it blows all the chips out while drilling and tapping it, it's tough to tell whether any went into the oil passage, but when I pulled the oil pump cover off to install a plug to make the oil come out the pump cover, anyhow a few chips had fallen into the oil pump, but it had to come out anyway so it wasn't a problem

Since I have already typed a short story book I may as well add one more thing
My headers started cracking at the bend just after the mounting flange, I tried some of that muffler tape to fix it a few months ago and it didn't work it just got brittle and broke off in little pieces, so, I Googled to see if there is someplace that sells some type of ceramic coating tape that you wrap around your exhaust pipes and I only found ceramic coated header exhaust which is already put around the pipes, so maybe I didn't search for the correct thing, anyone have any ideas on what I should type in and search for?
I might just be using the wrong wording so I tied a few other things which didn't show anything like I'm looking for.

I have some Kaowool (ceramic fiber insulation) I used it for my foundry furnaces as well as lined my forge with it.
I may try to wrap that around the cracked section and then wrap that with some of that real metal duct tape, I did wrap a piece around another part of the header pipe to see how it would react from the heat, well it started smoking and burnt all the adhesive off and then the metal tape just loosened up and pulled right off after it was running for the 20 minutes when checking to see if my oil filter and fittings were leaking

I may try the Kaowool to see if it keeps from burning the adhesive from the tape. I'll post pictures tomorrow of the stuff I hope it works because I have no idea what it's called, my son brought it home from work, he's starting his Pipe Fitters Apprentice program a week from Labor day for the company he works for, he calls it "Real" duct tape

Well I suppose I won't get to bed by 10:30 tonight like I had planned

Ron

[RickIntihar]

Who said you can't cut a poly tank? I've put a couple sending units in fuel cells before with a hole saw, never had a problem.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-290180/

Its a little spendy, but they work great and come in a few different lengths. Just pick a gauge and go.

[Daddy o's 67]

Also check boating supply stores for universal fuel sending units. The old style portable 6gal fuel tanks built by Tempo or Moeller used to have a cap with a sending unit built in. The cap threaded on, but I believe you could modify it to work.

[RickIntihar]

Hey Ron, where did you get that front bumper from? I've been looking for something like that for a back bumper and haven't had any luck.

[metalmaster1766]

Originally Posted by RickIntihar

Hey Ron, where did you get that front bumper from? I've been looking for something like that for a back bumper and haven't had any luck.

I bought the "Buggy" bumpers from some one on here, it's been a while now and I forget who it was

I got them as a set, front and rear, I just haven't gotten around to mounting the one on the rear yet

As for my Poly fuel tank I can do 1 of two different ideas, the easiest is to modify a cap with a gauge of some sort on it, then take a piece of 16 gauge sheet metal about 1 inch wide and a bit shorter than the tank is deep (10 inch diameter) give it a nice even twist, then attach 2 round pieces to the inside of the cap with the twisted pieces between the 2 round rods, get a piece of cork and cut a slot in it so it goes up and down the twisted part and turns a needle in the cap showing whether it is full or empty. I had a riding mower years ago which had a gauge in the cap like this

My other option would be to use the stock cable operated gauge from my 66 bug, take the sending unit (float) and cut a hole in the center of the poly tank then make a mount so I can mount the stock float inside my poly tank without it leaking
I'd need to cut a hole a bit larger than the float, then make some sort of flat spot like on the top of an original Bug fuel tank to bolt the float to, I could J/B-Weld something in it then make a flange and screws and gaskets to keep it from leaking, hell the original doesn't have but a paper gasket where it mounts to the original steel tank

I'll come up with something, I have been using a stick, but if I forget to stick the tank just once before going someplace I most likely will run out of gas, hell I do it in a car that has a working fuel gauge in it, i just never look at it until it's on E, and as soon as I look at it, the dadgum car runs out within the next 30 seconds

Like I said I'll make something work



Ron

[carcentric]

Originally Posted by metalmaster1766

. . . As for my Poly fuel tank I can do 1 of two different ideas . . . My other option would be to use the stock cable operated gauge from my 66 bug, take the sending unit (float) and cut a hole in the center of the poly tank then make a mount so I can mount the stock float inside my poly tank without it leaking . . . .

I can tell you that the stock 914 fuel gauge sender fits nicely in a Jaz 12-gallon drag cell and I would be surprised if that sender wouldn't work with a VW fuel gauge.

In my modified class autocross car:

[metalmaster1766]

Not to much to talk about with the V-Rod other than trying to fill in all the sheet metal up front under the hood, my dadgum little mig elder is acting funny again so I had to use the BIG stick welder, I suck at stick welding until I have spent about 3 hours welding and by the time my welds start looking better and better I'm finished for the day.
Plus whenever starting with a new welding rod it wiggles all over the place do to my shakiness, once about half the rod is gone the shakiness gets less and less, I sometimes cut my welding rods in half so it's not so much of a fight from shaking and getting the pod stuck on anything near what I'm welding
'
Here's a few pictures and I'll just update this post with the pictures of the bottom sheet metal so I can put a spare tire up there, I so hate driving around without a spare tire and jack, maybe I should just put tubes in all my tires that way I can just break a bead then pull the tube out and patch that and be on my way, I even have a spark plug made up to screw into a spark plug hole and run your engine on 3 cylinders and fill your tire with 1 cylinder, I need to put that in my car today

A few pics now and a few more wil be aded later tonight if I get time












B'd, B'd, B'd, that's all folks

for now anyways



Ron

[metalmaster1766]

Well it's been a year now since acquiring this V-Rod and I have been driving the shit out of it, as well as driving the gas out of it, I don't like sticking my gas tank (gas gauge), and I should start doing it rite along with the oil, 1st thing before I start it daily.

I think I'm gonna modify the bottom of the gas tank from my 66 Bug. I'm gonna hafta make another rectangle for the tank to sit on and raise it up as high as possible so I can keep it at 10 gallons, that will take care of having to stick the tank everyday because it has a mechanical gas gauge which uses a cable to move the needle from "E" (which mean Enough to Run out once I'm 1 mile from a gas station) the cable also moves the needle to the "F" which means I'm "Fine" to drive it a while without worrying about gas.

I have also been wanting to cut my rear fenders down and then lower the ass end down a few notches, or 3 to 4 inches how ever many notches that is, in the past I have only raised them up on my dune buggy and a baja I once had so it shouldn't be all that bad, altho it may take me 1 day per side rather than both sides in a few hours, I'm much older and move much slower than I could 5 to 6 years ago.

So before cutting the original fenders down I used a set of baja fenders that were in bad condition, I bolted 1 of them on and marked it where I wanted to cut it, took it off and cut it, then used it so I could cut the other side to about the same amount, I also cut and drilled holes for my tail lights and turn signal lights.
So then I mounted the fenders onto the car to see if it looked as I thought it would, well it was close (pics to follow).

I think I need to leave them a bit wider, like maybe about 2 inches per side, or maybe more, then my plan is to bend some light weight tubing (I may use conduit because I have several pieces of 1/2 inch diameter about 8 foot sections with a 90 degree bend at one end, I'll weld that to the edge of the fender where I cut them so it has that rounded edge rather than a sharp edge, I'm just trying to decide if 1/2 inch conduit will do the job or if I should go get some 3/4 inch conduit, guess I'll use the 1/2 inch because I have lots of that, if it looks good I'll go with it, if not I'll try 3/4 inch.

Now for the pics, IT DEFINITELY needs the ass end dropped down at least 4 inches

Front view


Left rear angle view


Right rear angle view


Rear view


Side view


As you can see it needs to be dropped a bunch, so tomorrow I'm gonna start by dropping it a few splines, or 3 to 4 inches. I plan to drop the body down over the chassis as well, basically a tranny raise and possibly a beam raise as well, then once I get it to where I want it, I'm a chop the top, or maybe I'll chop the top 1st then drop the body.
I guess we shall see how things go once January gets here who knows.

The reason it looks as if I was driving out in the mud is due to some road construction they were doing yesterday (Monday Oct 24th) when I was driving over to "Wraithblade's" house to check out his V-Rod, which I must say looks super nice when he gets it all finished, especially all the billet aluminum parts he machined for it himself.
Kinda what I had in mind for mine except I plan to cast as much as I can so I don't need a big block of aluminum that will reduce it's weight well over 3/4 of what it weighed before cutting anything

The one thing I know I'm gonna do differently when cutting the original steel rear fenders is to leave more on the sides so they are about 2 to 3 inches wider per side, then cut them lower in the rear so I can put an early deck lid on it and make it flow together when finished.

I'll try to modify the rear view picture using the "Paint" picture editing software that comes on all the computer I have ever had, or I may try the picture editing on Photo Buckets and see if I can do a better job with that, I have no idea what all can be done using that.

So I'm gonna play around with editing the rear view picture using my Paint program that came with the computer or Photo Buckets, so it may not look exactly what I want it to look like.
IF I had ink in my printer I would just print a few or the pictures and then do my kind of old fashioned picture editing.
It involves literally "cutting and pasting" using scissors, glue, and marker or crayons as my "Poor Man's Photo Shop" program, it takes less time for me to do it that way than it does on this here computer

That's it for now



Ron

[metalmaster1766]

Before I forget

It was nice to finally meet you in person Chris AKA "Wraithblade" I really like your V-Rod, and I really like all the small parts you machined from billets of aluminum, they all look very well made and look awesome.

Maybe next Spring and Summer we can get together and go for a cruise, you never know we could get a few other VW's to join in with us.

Yesterday when I left your house I had just crossed 275 when I had to stop at the traffic light and in the left turn lane there was a newer Red VW Beetle, then a few seconds later another all Black newer VW Beetle pulled up on my right side, we all waved back and forth to one another as well as the thumbs up sign , both of the newer Bugs were driven by a couple of good lookin gals too, I was hoping that at least one of them would have been driving the same way as I was for a few more miles than we did, but it's always great passing any other VW owner in their VW, almost like a BIG Happy VW family !


Ron

[metalmaster1766]

So I dropped the ass end down a few notches, 3 outer notches to be exact, I ended up raising it back up 1 notch the next day because it was really bouncy and the rear spring plates would hit the upper stop with every bump I hit and I had to get my Trigger Finger fixed Friday October 28th and didn't want it riding like that for about 2 weeks when i can get back to normal activities

I plan to notch a set of extra spring plates so there is more room between the spring plate and the upper stop, I don't wanna notch out the spring plates on it because they are the dual plates and I wanna use them on my Dune Buggy

A few pictures

Left side, and the date is wrong on the pictures, the time would be correct if it said PM rather than AM


Right side, and that's the front of my house in the backround


Rear quarter view


Rear View



I never did edit the rear view to show how I plan to cut the steel fenders, but I plan to leave much more on the rear so it blends in with an early deck lid, I plan to replace the late model deck lid some time this week, then I will start cutting the original rear fenders
I almost hate to cut them because they are in purty good shape, but what the hell, after I cut them maybe I'll post a For Sale add on the Samba to sell what's left of the rear fenders once I cut them up

I also think I'm gonna need to add a set of coil over springs to the rear to make up for the worn out torsion bars on this here V-Rod, I'll just see how it goes and how it rides and go from there. I also wish I had a PhotoShop program and knew how to use it, I can draw a line on one of the rear view pictures to show about how I want it to look.

Any and all comments and/or criticism welcomed

Just so ya's know about what I want it to look like is something similar to how the rear end of Timbo's light blue V-Rod looks (sorry if it's not light blue Timbo, but that's what it looks like to me and I'm color blind when it comes to certain shades of colors, I can get all thge primary colors right, but I can't passa test for color blindness all I know is my wife and I argue about certain colors, I say green, she says blue, I say pink, and she says purple

Yes she is ALWAYS correct, I have learned over the last 28-1/2 years that she is always right about everything, especially when it comes to colors



Ron

[metalmaster1766]

Well this past Friday, I got the set of piston rings I ordered along with an oil temp gauge and sending unit

Today I put the temp sending unit into the oil pressure port on the rear left side, I had to dig out a Tee fitting so I can run the oil pressure light, an oil pressure gauge (which I just leave installed on a Tee) then the oil temp sender goes in

I hope tomorrow morning to get the oil temp gauge mounted and a new piece of wire run to it, then it will be funtional

This Friday I plan to install the piston rings, It's one of those tear it down Friday as soon as I get home, then I hope to get it apart, hone the cylinders, then clean and install the new piston rings and get everything back together so I can drive it Monday morning

I'm praying for a rainless weekend and calm winds, nothing worse than tearing an engine halfway apart and then the wind starts blowing with 30 MPH gusts, just makes it tough to keep everything nice and clean

If I had a small heavy duty table I could bring into the house I'd bring it in and put the rings in it while inside

Next on the list of wants, a cylinder head temp gauge, but I'll get the heater finished before that, just gotta figure out how to hook up a 4 speed blower switch to the blower motor
What I have is a blower motor with 2 squirrel cage type fans, it works with the 2 wires hooked up but I would like to wire up the 4 speed switch to it.
The switch has 4 positions and 4 wire connections, the blower itself has 2 wires, one positive and one negative, I'm not real sure how to wire it up?

I can try to get it right before I even put it into the car by using my 120 volt to 12 volt converter, I can hook it up and change it until it speeds it up and slows it down, it will have it's own on off switch. After all that I'll just need to plumb all the ducting from the heater boxes to the heater channels and then back thru the heater boxes
It may not look all that good, but as long as it works, I'll be happy


Ron

[metalmaster1766]

Well after searching here yesterday I found the info I was looking for after an hour of reading (yes when you search, it may require lots of reading until you find what you need) I was looking to see what the oil temp of a AC VW engine should be once at normal operating temp

So, I bought a VDO oil temp gauge and sending unit and adapter for the oil pressure sender, hooked it up and it only reads to maybe 120 degrees, gauge goes from 120 to 300 degrees. It says to use a min 16 ga stranded wire which I had on hand, I kept it as short as possible

I may try a 12 ga wire because that's all I have and I don't wanna buy more wire just yet

One other thing, it has been in the upper 20's and 30's this past week, I've been driving it almost 90 miles a day with the gauge in for the last 2 days, and I know the oil is much warmer than 120 degrees, but then again maybe I should double check it using a regular thermometer

Any ideas ??
Others with oil temp gauge have any touble, or use larger wire than 16 ga?

I have went thru the instructions a few times to see if it had a minimum length wire to use, and to go the next size wire.
I also looked and found a trouble shooting page for VDO gauges and sender (when doing my search here), it is the exact paper that came with my gauge

Thank ya's

Ron

[Mikelrome]

Don't use sealer on the threads.

[metalmaster1766]

Originally Posted by Mikelrome

Don't use sealer on the threads.

I didn't, I knew better

Not exactly sure but I'd bet the VW sending unit thread is most likely a "NTPF" which is a "Dry Seal" pipe thread

NPT threads are slightly different and require tape or sealant most times

Guess I'll try a larger wire tomorrow and see if that works, if not I guess I'm gonna hafta shorten it as short as possible
I'll poke a hole in the rear fire wall and run a wire straight between the seats and thru the radio hole on the dash then to the gauge

I ran the wire with the original wiring harness which goes from engine bay to fuse box under the hood, maybe it's just to long

When I turn the key on to start the engine, the gauge needle moves up just under the 120 degree mark, it doesn't move at all from there, even after driving it 50 miles
I know the oil is hotter than that, but then again with this cold weather maybe it is 120 degrees, but I doubt it

Maybe I should check it with an oven thermometer, I don't know if it will fit into the dip stick hole, but it's worth a try


Ron

[metalmaster1766]

Well after running all 12 ga wire it seems my oil temp gauge isn't working, that is unless my oil doesn't get over 122 degrees, yes it went above the 120 degree mark a bit rather than under

I have thought about trying to test the gauge by sticking the sender into a pot of boiling water, and hooking the gauge up to my 12 volt converter, it should be able to read the temp of the water, and water boils at 212 degrees so the needle should go up to that degree mark or close to it
I tried an oven thermometer this afternoon but it wouldn't fit thru the dip stick hole

Anybody think this will work?
Or should I not do that?

I have run out of ideas now other than testing it in boiling water, I have double checked to make sure I wired it properly which it is, The only other thing I can think of is that the wire is to long hell if it was any shorter I'd have a wire running thru the inside of the car pulled as tight as possible from fire wall to the dash

That's my next step before I take it out and see if it works in boiling water, now I wish I wouldn't have bought it and just saved for a CHT gauge


Ron

[66 Shorty]

Ron, (not speaking from experience, but,) from what I've read. You don't want to put the actual oil temp sensor in a "T" where you put the oil pressure sensor... From what I read it doens't get enough oil flowing over it, & won't give you a good reading, Maybe that's what you are experiencing???

[metalmaster1766]

Originally Posted by 66 Shorty

Ron, (not speaking from experience, but,) from what I've read. You don't want to put the actual oil temp sensor in a "T" where you put the oil pressure sensor... From what I read it doens't get enough oil flowing over it, & won't give you a good reading, Maybe that's what you are experiencing???

Well I bought the gauge and sender from CB Performance along with the adapter to keep your pressure sender, the oil temp sender has a 14mm thread which screw into the end of the adapter, then the adapter screws into the engine where the oil pressure sender originally goes, it has a threaded hole in the adapter for the pressure sender
So it's hooked up exactly how it's supposed to be hooked up according to the instructions

I may try tapping a hole into the bottom of the case so it sits at the bottom of the engine in the sump, then just put the pressure sender back where it belongs, that may take care of it

Guess I shall see as soon as I get around to more important things

Thanks again everybody

Ron

[V8Transporter]

I used to run a temp sender tapped into the pan of my Corvair engine. Maybe you could tap into the metal drain plate under the filter screen. Only drawback is proximity to the road.

[metalmaster1766]

Originally Posted by V8Transporter

I used to run a temp sender tapped into the pan of my Corvair engine. Maybe you could tap into the metal drain plate under the filter screen. Only drawback is proximity to the road.

I think I'll just drill into the side of the case below the oil level and put it there, it should get plenty of oil if the end is submerged in oil, plus it won't get in the way


Ron

[metalmaster1766]

I also mounted this earlier this afternoon

Before



After


I dropped the dadgum thing and broke a small piece of it off, I took my Dremal and cut a few grooves in the back of it, and drilled a couple small holes about an 1/8 inch deep so I can JB Weld it back together, then I'll use some of the emblem glue on it as well as the 3 screws



Ron