Tony's 1302S

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Tony Z
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Re: Tony's 1302S

Post by Tony Z »

I suppose I can add an update...

A few weeks ago I took the front suspension apart. You can see the shocks out of the car in my previous posts.
I took the rest of the steering apart too, steering box, idler arm, ball joints....
Unfortunately it is all still apart.
I tried locally sourcing tie rod ends and it seems that no-one stocks rod ends that will fit. They look like the beetle units but the shafts are fatter. Amazing that VW would make a custom unit for a car when they had the beetle, T3 and kombi to choose from, but no, they had to add another part number to their list...
Then to make it worse, the steering damper is again only used on this car - so that isnt available locally either.

The steering box was a bit worn and sticky. So I took it apart. The upper ball bearing was pretty tired. Hmmm, ok, so take apart a stock beetle's steering box. Fork me, again!!! These are different sized bearings to the stock beetle box. So do some online searching - once again, these bearings are unique to the 1302 and some 1303's.
OK, one bearing has a VW number and the other bearing has a FAG number.
VW - no sorry, part not listed here or in Germany.
FAG - no sorry, part isnt listed in any of our catalogs.
WTF???
More online searching. OK, new steering boxes are available, but only for LHD cars. Maybe it can be converter to RHD using my parts, maybe not. Pretty expensive chance to take.
Now, since I have been to every bearing supplier I can find, I start going to gearbox repair shops, drive shaft and CV joint centers and power steering repair shops. Finally I find one power steering shop that tried to help. The guys took apart various steering boxes including a Nissan 1400 steering box. Guess what? No, it didnt fit either.
:mrgreen:
They found a steering box from a 1969 ford mustang that they did a power steering conversion on a few days before I walked in. Amazingly this box had the same bearings as mine.
Now the guys knew how desperate I was, so they wouldnt sell me the bearings without me paying them to refurbish the steering box. Hmmm.... what options do I have. So, R1700 for a new bearing, along with a refurbished steering box. Ok, they did renew the bushes inside the box, so it wasnt all just money thrown into the wind...

Then I took the idler arm unit apart and found the bush pretty damn worn out.
Online searching I found that a few companies offer a brass bush instead of the rubber bush which reduces play quite a bit. So I made one up out of brass stock I had lying around.

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The bush is a slight press fit and the inside diameter is approx 0.03mm wider than the shaft it supports. So hopefully this serves the purpose it is intended to serve.

For now however, the suspension has to wait until I get to it.



I then moved onto some of the electrics. Fk me, what a mess. And the guys that Bugger used to install the alarm really didnt make things better - in fact, I would highly recommend that they never touch another car again.

So anyway, the alarm system doesnt work and the only way I could get things to work previously was to bypass the alarms wiring.
So now, I traced out the alarm system and figured out what each wire does and labelled the wires. I then removed the alarm system with the intention of getting the car running properly and then re-installing the alarm in the hope it was just badly wired up and not actually faulty. I am thinking this because I found at least 5 wires loose which should have run to various areas, but instead were hanging in the air, one of which is the main power supply to the alarm and to the coil. No wonder the car wouldnt start.
The mess of wiring from previous repairs is also mad. I found some wires still connected to the fuses which had just been cut off about 10cm further down. No insulation tape, no efforts to isolate...
While tracing out the interior door light, I found all 3 wires going to the light but could only find 2 wires in the front of the car. I searched all over and eventually decided that it had to have been cut off somewhere. I pulled the wire and found it free - it hadnt been cut off, it had been pulled out until the wire snapped. Anyway, so this is also fixed.

My alternator conversion was done but the wires which needed joining had just been twisted together. Come on, one pays good money for this and then I have to solder it together myself afterwards?
Then under the back seat I find a loose wire just hanging there. Thumbsuck and hazard a guess - got lucky first time, this was the ground terminal for the alternator. So I attached this to the body instead of leaving it to hang in the air.

The list of wiring issues goes on... But for now, I am done to the point where I need the battery installed to make tracing the wires a bit easier.
Maybe I'll try this before fitting a battery if I have time. Its already a vast improvement.


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Tony Z
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Re: Tony's 1302S

Post by Tony Z »

I had a bit of spare time over the past few days, so I decided its time to get busy with my disc brake conversion.
I bought the kit for this about 18 months ago but havent had the chance to get into it yet.

So, start at the front. Hmmm, stub axles are a different size to those on a K&L car. So try to find bearings that will fit my stub axles and the hubs. Yea, no such bearing size exists. So I am currently facing 2 options. Custom make new hubs or make up inserts ti fit into the hubs to allow use of the bearings which I can find.
I'll probably go with the inserts for now.

So time to tackle the rear.
The kit I have has the Golf 2 rear disc, 236mm diameter. From experience with Angrrr, this looks too small with the 17" rims and also doesnt do enough braking when coupled to a 280mm front disc. My plan was always to fit larger rear discs.

For now however, we start by removing the CV joints and stripping the axles.
Sourced and installed new bearings and seals.

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I then sourced rear discs which would fit my calipers, 280mm diameter. These now match the front discs and will look much better when behind the wheels. Yes, this car needs looks and functionality together.
However, being a different diameter and height, the caliper now needs to move. So I had to make up caliper mounts.
Measure twice, cut once.
I wish it was that quick and easy. Anyway, about 10 hours later we have this

mocking up after first marking out and cutting
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Back in milling machine
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mocking up again
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I then had to redrill the discs to my 5x100 pcd that I'll be using. While doing this, I decided that I needed to make inserts to fit over the hubs and fit inside the discs to locate them and allow the discs to run properly true to the hub without affecting balance and causing wobbles. I am proud of this one - the inside of the insert is 0.02mm larger in diameter than the hub and the outside is again 0.02mm smaller than the disc spigot. So things fit easily and sit properly.

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Final pic

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I am still busy with this project, but its nearly done. But its good enough to post pictures so long.

Even though I am making progress, the progress is slow and there is still plenty left to do.
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freddiebooysen
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Re: Tony's 1302S

Post by freddiebooysen »

Wow Tony skills there that I can only dream of. Well done keep at it !


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Re: Tony's 1302S

Post by Vintage man »

Awesome job looks good
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Tony Z
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Re: Tony's 1302S

Post by Tony Z »

Rear is nearly there. Not done yet, but here is the test fit of the rim with the 280mm disc rotor behind it.

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Definitely looking much better then the smaller golf rotor would. I need to do this for Angrrr at some stage too.
For now though, its time to move onto the front and make some progress there.
I've got a small shopping list of things I still need for the rear (more aluminium stock and longer wheel bolts for example), so I'll focus on the front end for now until I have no option but to go shopping for bits.
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Re: Tony's 1302S

Post by fourier »

Looks awesome Tony! Definitely agree that it looks much better than the small Golf rotors. See you fitted new rubber to the rims as well. Nice!
(o= i =o) (o\ ! /o)
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Tony Z
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Re: Tony's 1302S

Post by Tony Z »

lol, that is actually Angrrr's old tyres - the two that were worth keeping
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Re: Tony's 1302S

Post by acpaterson »

mad skillz buddy.
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Re: Tony's 1302S

Post by Wentzel »

Looking great Tony! I can only dream of the tools and don't have the skills either.
Oxyboxer Project

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Tony Z
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Re: Tony's 1302S

Post by Tony Z »

Slowly taking shape. Disc brake conversion is taking longer than expected, but its getting there.
Rear will need to be lowered and the rear rims are just on so I can move the car.

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Re: Tony's 1302S

Post by Eugene »

Looking good Dr Z
You can never have enough Garages :-(
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Re: Tony's 1302S

Post by Donovan D »

Good stuff Tony.
Really like the look and color of those front wheels on the beetle.
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Tony Z
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Re: Tony's 1302S

Post by Tony Z »

Thanks Guys.
D - yea, I am also wondering if I'll need to get them painted or not
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Re: Tony's 1302S

Post by freddiebooysen »

Tony those front wheels do look good. What colour do you want to paint them ?





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Tony Z
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Re: Tony's 1302S

Post by Tony Z »

not divulging all of my secrets just yet
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