Aircooled VW South Africa

Progress is slow but sure. Today I collected the refurbished wheel discs. They came out pretty well considering the condition they were in when I got them from VDB. I recon the clearcoat will benefit from a good buff before they go onto the car. Below is a pic of them with the new trim rings and hubcaps. Hopefully I'll have some time on Wednesday to paint the steering knuckles and related hardware.

porn!!!

Tony Z wrote:porn!!!

Yes just have a look at those cans

A quick update in case you guys think this project has gone to ground... Work has been seriously interfering with my hobby lately - had to go to Berlin earlier this month for annual simulator training and that had to be preceded by plenty serious study time, all while operatine the usual airline schedule. Didn't complain too much as I had enough free time over there to make a trip to the VW museum at Wolfsburg and spent an awsome time looking through all their type 3's. More about that later.

Anyhow, I've discovered a QC issue with the imported EMPI discs. As this is in the process of being investigated I have to refrain from giving details until I have answers rather than issues...

Regards,

Variant wrote:Progress is slow but sure. Today I collected the refurbished wheel discs. They came out pretty well considering the condition they were in when I got them from VDB. I recon the clearcoat will benefit from a good buff before they go onto the car. Below is a pic of them with the new trim rings and hubcaps. Hopefully I'll have some time on Wednesday to paint the steering knuckles and related hardware.

These wheels looks bakgat

Who did you send them to for refurbishment I need to do Mine
I got the double master cylinder and front discs and the 4 stud rims to fit on to the 66 Square back so got some work to do

I hope you got to Stuttgart too....

Greetings everyone

This past week I actually managed to complete the first two parts of the Notch's brake upgrade. I started with the rear brakes since that simply involved removing the old components and fitting the new shoes, hubs and drums plus I wanted the existing hydraulics available to properly centre the new brake shoes before adjusting them and moving on. The new EMPI drums are great - they fit the VW hubs perfectly but they have approx 5mm more offset which means the rear track will increase by about 1cm. Thats probably a good thing. I was worried that the wheels might rub against the rear fenders but there is still plenty of room when using the 411/ early 412 rims and Khumo 165R15 tyres. The pics show how it was done:

Bugger wrote:

Variant wrote:Progress is slow but sure. Today I collected the refurbished wheel discs. They came out pretty well considering the condition they were in when I got them from VDB. I recon the clearcoat will benefit from a good buff before they go onto the car. Below is a pic of them with the new trim rings and hubcaps. Hopefully I'll have some time on Wednesday to paint the steering knuckles and related hardware.

These wheels looks bakgat

Who did you send them to for refurbishment I need to do Mine
I got the double master cylinder and front discs and the 4 stud rims to fit on to the 66 Square back so got some work to do

They were done by BG Wheel in PTA North. They're expensive but they do a great job of straigtening bent rims.

The front brake job took a little longer to complete as the steering knuckles had to be changed as well. Once that was done the rest of the components simply bolted on as usual. I ended up using 411 discs that I had machined to fit inside the new EMPI calipers as I still haven't resolved the QC issue with the EMPI discs. Despite my earlier comments - I'm actually rather taken by those EMPI calipers - they seem to be well made after all and they use standard ATE pads. They also use a slightly smaller piston than the OE ATE's which means that the brake pedal feels a bit lighter - much lighter that my SQB. Some more pics to tell the story:

Looks Great ! Now , the question, what sort of difference in brake feel and reduced braking distance was achieved?

karmakoma wrote:Looks Great ! Now , the question, what sort of difference in brake feel and reduced braking distance was achieved?

Thanks - I also like the new look.

I've driven about 150 miles since completeing this part of the conversion so the new brake pads & shoes should be pretty much seated by now. The brake pedal feels a lot more solid, the pedal travel is less and overall there seems to be a little less progression than before - i.e. the brakes just feel a lot sharper and inspires much more confidence than before. Best of all - the shudder caused by oval brake drums is completely gone and the car now stops in a straight line as it should.

I'd say the pedal effort required to stop the car is slightly more than before but less than my Squareback. Bear in mind that I haven't converted the Notch to the tandem master cylinder yet so that might have some influence and also the Square is automatic so she tends to creep forwards unless the brakes are held fairy firmly.

The braking action is greatly improved - I have done one max effort stop from 50 mph which impressed me. I'll do a few stops from about 70 mph and compare the results with the data for the '69 Fastback Auto that was tested by CAR magazine back in the day... I do have test data from VW but the problem is finding a brake shop with a proper brake test stand as well as a dude who knows how to operate the thing - or who is willing to let me do it

Overall I'm satified with what has been achieved so far - the brakes have been improved, the car is certainly more drivable than before and it looks completely standard.

Went for a Sunday afternoon drive earlier... She actually looks like a '69 now.

Thats a fine looking car

Nice pic on Klapperkop!

Variant wrote:Went for a Sunday afternoon drive earlier... She actually looks like a '69 now.

Well Done.

Looks Good man,

Enjoy the drive.......

Herman