Aircooled VW South Africa

Cool. I was just thinking with my engineer's hat on. I guess, like is so often the case, the engineers design things (obviously for a LH one and a RH one otherwise it would have been simmetrical) and then the bean-counters reduce the quality engineering until you have what we call on site here "value engineering". But thanks for clearing that up for me. It's a bit sad to see "value engineering" on a ACVW, I thought it was limited to those Japanese cars of the same age.

I'm still a bit puzzled by this little plate. VW could have just made the 'double-cut' on the other side for a mirror image of it? They are U$ 8.99 new, btw

EXACTLY!! And 'lo it would've been simmetrical and be same both sides... What were they thinking...??

Update 21/02/09 - A setback

Rust is a general term for a series of iron oxides, usually red oxides, formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the presence of water or air moisture. Several forms of rust are distinguishable visually and by spectroscopy, and form under different circumstances.[1] Rust consists of hydrated iron(III) oxides Fe2O3·nH2O, iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH), Fe(OH)3. Rusting is the common term for corrosion of iron and its alloys, such as steel. Other metals undergo equivalent corrosion, but the resulting oxides are not commonly called rust. Given sufficient time, oxygen, and water, any iron mass eventually converts entirely to rust and disintegrates. The corrosion of aluminium is extremely slow because the resulting aluminium oxide forms a conformal coating, which protects the remaining aluminium. This process is known as passivation.

I've had a (minor) setback on the project, which I only realised last night. No-one else except myself to blame, though...

I've cleaned the front suspension parts completely by wirebrush on the electric drill several weeks ago (see earlier posts in this thread), with the idea to have it either powder coated or electro plated. Haven't done it yet, due to the costs of the George trip. But I have stored the box with the clean suspension parts under the semi-covered staircase leading to my front door. This is a storage area generally used for the garden tools, but I have completely forgotten about putting the box there. With the abnormal high rainfall Gauteng has had the past few weeks, the box got wet, and you can imagine the effect of moist on the bare metal of HW2's suspension parts.... yep, bright orange RUST all over

So I spent the entire afternoon and this evening re-wirebrushing all the affected parts. Luckily no damage, they are all shiny and clean again, but at least stored in a DRY place now, till I have it covered in the next few weeks. As I said, no-one except myself to blame for the double work! *kicks own arse by count of 3*

Planning for the upcoming week: completing the rear brakes

This week will be spent sorting out the rear brakes i.e. having the drums skimmed and shoes bonded, and getting the bearings inside the IRS trailing arms. Hopefully I'll also be getting the reconditioned steering box back as well. Expect yours truly missing an arm and a leg by this time next week....

It is heartwarming to see how many other members on the Forum are also busy with buggies at the moment - or in the planning phase. Well done, guys!

(Search 'Baaise Buggy Brigade' on this Forum to see how we are gonna create fear in hearts of the Kult members VERY soon )

Pine wrote:It is heartwarming to see how many other members on the Forum are also busy with buggies at the moment - or in the planning phase. Well done, guys!

Just because of that comment, I will post my project... being Gill's buggy...

hey pine hows the buggy coming....here is some motivation for you...its a picture of hotwheels 1 in acvw heaven having the time of his life....and he said that you should move on with hot wheels 2 he gives you al his blessings....

dubster wrote:hey pine hows the buggy coming....here is some motivation for you...its a picture of hotwheels 1 in acvw heaven having the time of his life....and he said that you should move on with hot wheels 2 he gives you al his blessings....

Thanks Dubster, it is pics like those that makes me feel a lot better

The project is coming on - slowly, but surely. Got the rear brake shoes back today after they were re-bonded. Suprisingly, only R 60.00 for the four

Pine wrote:
Planning for the upcoming week: completing the rear brakes

Update 01/03/09

Well my plans of last week didn't realise quite as well. I did receive some of the brake parts back from the electroplaters this week, and also had the brake shoes bonded. The backing plates and sideshaft axles will be handed in for powder coating tomorrow.

Thanks to Buggyfan I managed to source a complete Type 3 IRS chassis, went to go and fetch it with the help of Bugger yesterday, and will strip it this week for the rear trailing arms. YES BLITZ, I WILL TAKE PICS (The trailing arms I wanted to use initially were from a SandMaster, and have the shock mounts removed). Will also be able to source some spare brake parts as well. The Type 3 chassis was from an automatic car, so unfortunately the side shafts are of unequal length, but I will store them anyway for a rainy day

Is that front suspension available?

Not at the moment. Will have to make a tactical decision some time though, as I might need some of its spares for the SP2. Stand by...

Blitzkrieg wrote:Is that front suspension available?

blitz,remember at the kkkak you were told of another front suspension !!!!!!!!!!!!!

No problem. First dibs on anything that becomes available
buggyfan, was that the other type 1 disc brake one that you are referring to?

yes,the one from buggoff

If i can find type 3 disk brake spindles, then i can buy that one and use the discs and calipers from there..

buggyfan wrote:hey pine,you must still let me know about that chassis that we talked about before you went to george ,nudge nudge ,wink wink ,you still remember what im referring to?????????????

Update 5/3/09: IRS - the next generation

As said earlier in this thread, one of the most exciting features of HW2 will be its IRS setup at the rear. The rear half of a 1303 Beetle is already merged with a normal king/link pin front half, I got the IRS 'box, the only problem was the rear trailing arms. The set I got from IMPI were used in its previous life on a serious sand master, and the bottom shock brackets were removed for a custom multiple-shock setup. Not quite what I had in mind for HW2, but I couldn't find another set for a long time. (The trailing arms are exactly the same as those fitted to a Porsche 924/944, so you can imagine the prices they go for )

But thanks to Buggyfan (Jaco), I managed to get hold of a complete automatic Type 3 chassis, with the correct trailing arms! Bugger and I went to go and fetch it on Saturday, but I only managed to start stripping it tonight. Let the pictures do the talking....

Complete IRS pan, with front suspension and wheels, as I got it



Two-pedal automatic transmission setup



IRS rear with Bugger, the sideshafts on an automatic Type 3 are not the same length



Double rear spring plates per side of the Type 3, compared to the Beetle IRS with only one spring plate per side



Six bolts keeping the ball joint front suspension with disk brakes to the chassis



Front part of the chassic completely different to that of a Beetle, this chassis is structurally still very good. (Dirk, do you still want to save the Fasty???)



Front and rear suspension parts after being removed from the chassis (everything just bolts off)



This is one of the trailing arms that everything is all about!!



The remains of the floorpan - I will cut the rusted bits out, but keep the centre tunnel for future use



A HUGE thanks to Bugger for all his help, the use of his trailer, his tools, his yard, the drinking of his beer and the eating of his seat cover's delicious food!!! I owe you BIG time