Aircooled VW South Africa

Glad to hear you made some progress no need to come and camp out in the front garden you and Hoffie

Pine wrote: Will take and post pics tomorrow...

Didn't get to it yet, sorry.

Connected all the brake hoses on HW2, installed the master cylinder and bleeded (or is it bled??) the brakes today!

Everything seems to be fine, there was a small leak on one of the rear connections, but it was only because I didn't fasten it tight enough. The dual circuit works perfectly, and the front callipers grab the disks firmly, working independently from the rear drums. Actually I havent bleeded (or is it bled??) the rear brakes, since I couldn't find my no 7 spannertjie

Bugger wrote:no need to come and camp out in the front garden you and Hoffie

You have no idea how close we were to doing just that!

But, being the gentleman that I am, I thought I'd rather not disturb the street vendors...

Update 30/12/2009: First ride in HW2!

Well, not actually under it's own power - towed it uphill, sat crouched on it and let it go freewheeling downhill, in order to test the brakes at the bottom of the hill. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and the brakes worked, thanks goodness... *phew!*

Is that a shockless front beam??

Tony Z wrote:Is that a shockless front beam??

Watch my latest movie and find out

Looks great and I love the stance and wheels!

Thanks, Frank - the stance is however not what it will be in the end, the nose will be raised a bit. The rear steel wheels are just temporarily, while the Sprintstars are being detailed.

looks like the brakes work abit tooo well. u stoped way before the stop markings on the road .
well done pine

Update 8 Jan 2010 The CV Joint blues

Constant-velocity joints (aka homokinetic or CV joints) allow a rotating shaft to transmit power through a variable angle, at constant rotational speed, without an appreciable increase in friction or play. They are mainly used in front wheel drive and all wheel drive cars. Rear wheel drive cars with independent rear suspension typically use CV joints at the ends of the rear axle halfshafts, and increasingly use them on the propshafts. Audi Quattros use them for all four half-axles and on the front-to-rear driveshaft (propeller shaft) as well, for a total of ten CV joints.

A Rzeppa joint consist of a spherical inner with 6 grooves in it, and a similar enveloping outer shell. Each groove guides one ball. The input shaft fits in the center of a large, steel, star-shaped "gear" that nests inside a circular cage. The cage is spherical but with ends open, and it typically has six openings around the perimeter. This cage and gear fit into a grooved cup that has a splined and threaded shaft attached to it. Six large steel balls sit inside the cup grooves and fit into the cage openings, nestled in the grooves of the star gear. The output shaft on the cup then runs through the wheel bearing and is secured by the axle nut. This joint is extremely flexible and can accommodate the large changes of angle when the front wheels are turned by the steering system; typical Rzeppa joints allow 45-48 degrees of articulation, while some can give 52 degrees. At the "outboard" end of the driveshaft a slightly different unit is used. The end of the driveshaft is splined and fits into the outer "joint". It is typically held in place by a circlip.A Rzeppa joint consist of a spherical inner with 6 grooves in it, and a similar enveloping outer shell. Each groove guides one ball. The input shaft fits in the center of a large, steel, star-shaped "gear" that nests inside a circular cage. The cage is spherical but with ends open, and it typically has six openings around the perimeter. This cage and gear fit into a grooved cup that has a splined and threaded shaft attached to it. Six large steel balls sit inside the cup grooves and fit into the cage openings, nestled in the grooves of the star gear. The output shaft on the cup then runs through the wheel bearing and is secured by the axle nut. This joint is extremely flexible and can accommodate the large changes of angle when the front wheels are turned by the steering system; typical Rzeppa joints allow 45-48 degrees of articulation, while some can give 52 degrees. At the "outboard" end of the driveshaft a slightly different unit is used. The end of the driveshaft is splined and fits into the outer "joint". It is typically held in place by a circlip.

Earlier this week I (hopefully) made one of the final large amount purchases for HW2, namely the CV joints. Took the old CV's to a specialist in the hope to have them refurbished, but alas it turned out that high quality replacement CV's are actually cheaper. These are exactly the same as Mk1 Golf inner CV's, so I got four new ones and the CV specialist greased them for me and installed them on the side(drive?)shafts. All fair and good, but he gave me 24 nice shiny allen-key head bolts as well, which turned out to be a disaster. When I installed the CV's, the bolt heads started stripping when I torqued it!

So I went to our friendly Goldwagen rep Splitfan in Midrand yesterday, and bought 24 splined CV joint bolts, (they are more than R300 for 12 OG at VW, btw )

I am now relieved to say that HW2 has all 4 the CV joints installed correctly, and with the correct bolts! Fastening 24 mild steel bolts, stripping a few heads, loosening 24 mild steel bolts with extreme difficulty breaking a few in the process, and fastening 24 CORRECT bolts again, is not for sissies, even the ratchet needs a vacation now

Below an exploded diagram of the IRS setup of HW2, plus description



#1 Torsion Bar
#2 Inner Spring Plate Grommet
#3 Spring Plate
#4 Outer Spring Plate Grommet
#5 Spring Plate Caps
#6 Trailing Arm Pivot Bolt (M14x1.5mm threads)
#7 Trailing Arm Bolt Washer
#8 Trailing Arm Pivot Bushings
#9 Trailing Arm
#10 Control Arm Rubber Stop
#11 Inner Axle spacer
#11a Sway-A-Way Axle Spacer
#12 Seal Stub Axle Inner
#13 Control Arm inner snap ring
#14 Inner Control Arm Axle Bearing
#15 Axle Spacer between Bearings
#16 Plastic Emergency Brake cable holder
#17 Outer Control Arm Axle Roller Bearing
#18 Large "O" ring
#19 Small "O" ring
#20 Bearing Cap
#21 Outer Axle Spacer (Seal surface)
#21a Sway-A-Way Axle Spacer Kit
#22 Seal Outer Stub Axle
#23 Bearing Cap Bolts (M10x30)
#23a Spring Washer
#23b Flat Washer
#24 Rear IRS Brake Drum
#24a Lug Bolts
#25 Rear Axle Nut Flanged
#26 Cotter Key Large
#27 Upper Shock Bolt
#27a Nylock 12-1.5mm self locking nut
#28 Rear IRS Shock
#29 Lower Shock Bolt
#29a Nylock 12-1.5mm self locking nut
#30 Rear Axle
#31 CV Bolt
#31 CV Bolt Washer
#32 CV Bolt Plate
#33 CV Axle Boot with Flange
#34 Washer
#35 Constant Velocity Joint
#36 CV Axle circlip
#37 Stub Axle
#38 Grease Cup used in some CVs
#39 Large CV Boot Clamp
#40 CV Boot
#41 Small CV Boot Clamp

Those CV bolts are the absolute shits to get out. Ask Beetlepower and his auto box, I cut off all the heads of the cv bolts with an angle grinder, simply because most of them were rusted and the spline heads were stripped.

When I removed the old bolts off the yellow 1302, I carefully cleaned them first, by scraping the old gunk out with a needle-like tool. It is the junk inside the splines that strips your tool. I am considering pushing a blob of silicone from a tube on each spline head to keep them clean for the day I need to remove them again?

Silicone is going to a bitch to clean out(if the inside of the bolt-head is proper clean. I would rather put some tough CV-like grease in there, and check it as part of scheduled maintanance. I did something similar on my ZR-7 back in the day when I removed the stock mirrors. Stuck some thick grease in the hole and 'covered' it with black insulation tape. Nobody EVER noticed.....

Skiffy should have a cover that will push into that hole and cover the whole top of the bolt. Just pop some silicone grease into the hole and then put the cover on over! Skiffy is reasonably cheap. I need to pop by there some time...