TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sat Apr 02, 2016 11:56 am

Your posting in a little under read forum. If you were to post in the 68 and up forum you will get more attention. Sorry to read about your difficulties, especially on the Bay Bridge. Damn I would never like to have a break down on that sucker. I am glad to read that you got your brakes sorted. After all they are a little important in the Bay area. I know. I used to commute from Vaca. To S. SFO daily :shock: A true hair raising experience.
When I miss spelled "loud." I meant loud does not equal horsepower. But you have already figured that out. Your street side repairs remind me of a time when I installed a stock muffler in the parking lot of my apartment complex in Fremont without a jack. What a pain.
Keep posting.
Good Luck.

Mon Apr 04, 2016 6:50 pm

Drained nearly seven quarts of Mother's Milk™ emulsified oil and a quart of water from it. Changing out the EMPI sump for a better one I have to get the oil filter off of the inlet side of the oil pump. The case is already full flowed, so there's no reason for two filters. I was not expecting this mess though.

More pics later...

Wed Apr 06, 2016 2:26 pm

Current engine pic.

Swapped back in the bosch blue, and it now runs right.

This car is the typical basketcase car that was thoroughly molested by the PO.

I'm getting it there now, lol.

Thu Apr 07, 2016 9:46 pm

Remote oil filter line burst on the bay bridge. fun. I look behind and see blue smoke from it squirting all over my exhaust! i coasted off the treasure island exit and proceeded to kludge a loop in (straight out and back into the case) to at least get myself to work. ugh. bought a pair of new stainless braided lines to put in at a local speed shop (Gotelli's in South San Francisco) and babied it to work.

This car is the weirdest mixture of issues.

Tue Apr 12, 2016 10:17 am

Hi,
keep up your fight, soon you will have finally chased all those bugs out of your car! Thumbs up and cross fingers,
Alex

My motivation picture for you (sorry, mine is sahara beige but still similar):

Fri Apr 15, 2016 12:51 pm

Thanks!

I fixed the oil lines up, and got the car tuned very nicely. It's a lovely car, just can't wait to give it more pedal time and be certain that it's reliable enough to be my daily. I've driven it maybe 50 miles since the repair and everything seems to be doing well, although I'm pretty sure I'm going to replace the bellhousing mounts with the earlier style before driving this guy to work everyday... the existing mounts are so soft you can grab the tailpipe and tilt the whole engine :shock:

I ordered the anti-wiggle (pre 73 style) mounts from top line, so next day off that I have the help I'm dropping the engine, giving it a once over, swapping mounts, and buttoning it all back up.

Mon Apr 18, 2016 1:24 pm

I like your car--even with its challenges, it seems like a fun car. I've got a '73 Super myself, so I'm rather biased, of course.

Wed Apr 20, 2016 12:54 pm

Car has proved itself pretty trouble free this last week. I installed an ignition module (ford TFI) and got everything dialed in nicely. This car is craaaaazy powerful and revs very quickly. It's been running great and has been doing well.

Hers the original thread on the module for anyone interested...

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=650662&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Thu Apr 21, 2016 1:03 pm

Didn't do much to it today, went and grabbed New rear tires for the back, as the mismatch ones weren't in the greatest shape. Keeping the nicer of the two as a spare. I'm running 185/65r15 front, and 205/65r15 rear. Sits nice, but I still wish I had it a couple inches lower up front. It's got top line sport springs on stock struts up front for now, I'm thinking my tax return will be a super low kit and some new front end bushings...

Sun May 01, 2016 10:50 pm

been driving it to work the last fews days, and havent had any issues, it just doesnt like to idle very well until you feather it for a few minutes before driving off. i have a feeling it is running a bit rich, but it also spends a good bit of time sitting in traffic nearly a third of the time i'm driving it. after a few tanks of gas i find i'm averaging 24.5 mpg, and i feel that i can improve that a bit with a better distributor, such as an SVDA that has been adjusted for the vacuum pull of the kadron carbs. my goal is to get around 30 highway MPG, and i dont feel that to be unrealistic with the right jetting, ignition, and tune. probably would do even better with a pair of IDF's, but thats not in the plans for now.

redid some wiring, and mounted up some foglights/auxiliary low beams. they work very well on poorly marked roads...

Tue May 03, 2016 5:00 am

Got myself a speaker tray for the back, installed a set of Pioneer 6.5" two-way speakers, and ran the wiring under the carpet alongside the original harness. Now that I have a nice set in the back it's clear that the front kick panel speakers (blaupunkt, they were here when I got the car) are worn out and need to be replaced. Also decided to paint my spare as a test for the set of wheels on the car. I used black epoxy paint, and high heat purple engine paint. I think it will look nice without being as gaudy as just solid purple would....

That's all for now. I'll try to get the car washed up and some better pictures soon.

Thu May 05, 2016 9:43 am

Pulled the engine to do my rear tranny mounts, decided to pull a head and pleasantly surprised to find out I've got a 1776! Changed out my pushrod tube seals, fixed my pulley tin that was mangled by the PO and was dragging on the rear of the pulley. Only had to work it with a hammer a little to make it fit. Looks like I'll swap out my main jet for something a little richer to make sure the engine is fed properly, since it's got stock jetting currently. Also found out that I have a lightened flywheel, 8 dowelled, and a Kennedy stage 1 pressure plate/exedy disc. Got it all back in, got to check timing because now it runs like a tractor and won't idle.

Thu May 05, 2016 9:53 am

I'll be pulling the 1776 out of my 70 soon to do the nose cone mount and possibly adding a mid mount and a torque bar.

Thu May 05, 2016 12:39 pm

Couple more pics of the process. The old tranny mounts were as squishy as a gummy bear. I installed the pre-72 style cradle and rubber mounts that I ordered from topline. Still can't get it to stay running for some reason, but ran out of time before work. It is set for static of 10°, which before dropping the engine gave this guy total advance at 30° and ran great, nothing was changed, firing order is correct and points gap set properly. Even just points and coil (bypassing my ignition module) I get it to fire, but it will not stay running without flooring it, and it backfires out the intake the entire time.

Yes firing order is correct and wires are routed correctly
Yes points gap is set
Yes I am at tdc for #1
Yes I am getting power to the coil
Yes I am getting fuel to the carbs, pump is squirting, etc

I'm getting frustrated. Ordered an SVDA but it won't be here for a week. This car is driving me crazy. Distributor was left in the engine and verified all still set properly.

Fri May 06, 2016 2:14 pm

Did your crossover pipe fall off of the Kadron intakes?

Tue May 10, 2016 12:12 am

jvulich wrote: Did your crossover pipe fall off of the Kadron intakes?

I was running it without and blocked off for a while. engine was noticeably more responsive off idle, but was idling like crap until warm. i threw one back on there and will see how things go this time around, i've got an SVDA on the way to put on in the next few days to hopefully get better MPG and off-idle performance.

Tue May 10, 2016 8:00 pm

Thought I would put up a few pics of the fog lights I installed. I bought these from eagle eye lights. They are sold individually, so make sure you buy a pair.

http://www.eagleeyelights.com/catalog2/index.php?m...cts_id=101

They are mounted through an angle iron piece that I got from ace hardware, over in the conduit hanger section. Wired up to a relay in the stock console, and to a rocker switch I put in an unused spot on the dash. These suckers make a huge difference when aimed as auxiliary low beams!

Wed May 11, 2016 11:53 pm

Put on my new Kuhltek SVDA. Timed it, and got it set up nicely. Added a pair of breather lines to my air filters, and Teed them off to my filler port. This car has no discernable blow by, and I have a pot scrubber stuffed in the filler port to keep oil from getting blasted in my carbs. My drivers side rocker arm set kept getting loose, so I had to thread the studs out a few turns to get correct engagement of the threads in the but. I noticed that pinching off my balance tube actually made the idle go up so i removed it and blocked the tubes.

Thu May 12, 2016 8:20 pm

Keep working at it! I'm finally getting close to having my '73 Super back on the road again, and it's just the happiest experience. It's good to see you hard at work on your car.

Thu May 12, 2016 8:41 pm

Hell, I drove it 55 miles to work today, no issues.

This car does like to go fast though :shock:

I had to back off a few times when I caught myself doing 80 :lol:

Paid for a used set of topline lowering struts, and kyb inserts, for 120$ shipped. Next parts order I do will be some front end rubber from topline, so I can do a bit of a front end refresh while it's apart putting them in....