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TDCTDI
Samba Advocatus Diaboli
Joined: August 31, 2013
Posts: 12897
Location: North Carolina
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 Posted: Wed May 01, 2024 7:53 pm Post subject: The Green Latrine |
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I was given the opportunity to buy this ‘81 Caddy with a turbo diesel in it, & needing a multitude of repairs. With fuel prices ticking up, I decided to save $20 a day in fuel & run up the clock in this while addressing it’s ailments a bit at a time.
First up, let’s get rid of the donuts of death.
And replaced them with a set of 1” wider steelies off a Jetta.
Since the front struts were pretty sloppy, I scrounged up a pair of Bilstein struts I had laying around & slipped a pair of H&R springs over them that I’ve had so long, I don’t remember how long, or what they came off of. 
Oh well, it’s a start.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.
GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!
An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.
Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.
Last edited by TDCTDI on Fri May 03, 2024 9:05 am; edited 1 time in total |
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vwjunkie3
Samba Member
Joined: April 22, 2010
Posts: 75
Location: Michigan
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| Posted: Fri May 03, 2024 5:58 am Post subject: Re: The Green Latrine |
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| That looks in great shape!! Nice VW pickup! |
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TDCTDI
Samba Advocatus Diaboli
Joined: August 31, 2013
Posts: 12897
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Fri May 03, 2024 10:15 am Post subject: Re: The Green Latrine |
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| vwjunkie3 wrote: |
| That looks in great shape!! Nice VW pickup! |
Thank you sir!
Today I carried on with picking away at stupid shit
After tracking down why the driver side turn signals didn’t work, I removed the front turn signal bulb that had the incorrect single element bulb (1156) & replaced it with a correct one (1157. Well, that at least made that side hyper blink, so I used that bulb & put it in the tail light.
Now that the turn signals work, I thought it would be pertinent to get the seat belts working. First up, extract the remains of the originals.
Pilfer a pair from a donor car…
And bolt them into place.
While putzing with the seat belt latches, I found the driver side vent wing glass under the seat, wanting close off that one side, I ran a bit of sealant around the perimeter, slipped it in place & secured it with a screw & washer at the leading edge.
Apparently, the PO attempted something similar with Great Stuff, judging by the missing passenger window, & the placement of this one, his hack wasn’t successful.
Having recently purchased another car with some sporty alloy wheels, I thought I might try them out on the Caddy.
However, after a quick drive, I realized that these were adding significant rotational mass & drag to the vehicle. And there was something else that bothered me about them …. Then I realized what it was, they look exactly like those horrible late mk1 hubcaps.
So off they came.
Then I decided to slam the rear end.
Just kidding, that’s how much it droops with 22 batteries in the bed. 
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.
GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!
An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.
Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it. |
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TornadoRed06
Samba Member
Joined: August 30, 2020
Posts: 201
Location: Porto - Portugal
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| Posted: Fri May 03, 2024 2:53 pm Post subject: Re: The Green Latrine |
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Oh no! Another one that should be great to follow! 
| TDCTDI wrote: |
First up, let’s get rid of the donuts of death.
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Interesting, what width rims are these? 4.5 or 5 inch? I find tire width already meatier...
| TDCTDI wrote: |
And replaced them with a set of 1” wider steelies off a Jetta.
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Those look nice, but aren't they with a chrome ring? |
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TDCTDI
Samba Advocatus Diaboli
Joined: August 31, 2013
Posts: 12897
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Sat May 04, 2024 4:48 am Post subject: Re: The Green Latrine |
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| TornadoRed06 wrote: |
Oh no! Another one that should be great to follow!
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Thank you.
| TornadoRed06 wrote: |
Interesting, what width rims are these? 4.5 or 5 inch? I find tire width already meatier... |
These are the stock 4.5” with 175/70-13 tires.
| TornadoRed06 wrote: |
Those look nice, but aren't they with a chrome ring? |
These are the Jetta 5.5” and, yes, they have the beauty rings on them. In my opinion, the beauty rings pull off an optical illusion that enhances the width of the wheel a bit. These wheels are shod with the same size tires as the previous set.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.
GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!
An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.
Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it. |
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vwjunkie3
Samba Member
Joined: April 22, 2010
Posts: 75
Location: Michigan
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| Posted: Sun May 05, 2024 8:02 am Post subject: Re: The Green Latrine |
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Gotta love the nit picky things to repair/ Necessary evil...
It looks good with the steel wheels and small center caps.
What were the aftermarket wheels? |
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oprn
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016
Posts: 12907
Location: Western Canada
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| Posted: Sun May 05, 2024 8:04 am Post subject: Re: The Green Latrine |
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I love those little pickups! That is quite a rare color too. And to find one that rust free would never happen here!
_________________
We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age) |
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TDCTDI
Samba Advocatus Diaboli
Joined: August 31, 2013
Posts: 12897
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Sun May 05, 2024 11:26 am Post subject: Re: The Green Latrine |
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| vwjunkie3 wrote: |
Gotta love the nit picky things to repair/ Necessary evil...
It looks good with the steel wheels and small center caps.
What were the aftermarket wheels? |
Thank you.
The wheels were Ronal R10.
| oprn wrote: |
| I love those little pickups! That is quite a rare color too. And to find one that rust free would never happen here! |
Yes, me too, I’ve had about a dozen over the years. I dunno about rare color, this will be my third in this color, although it’s much rarer. While I went back to green, I was never too fond of the ‘70s-esque gold-green this color is close to. I had my last one shot in the 2000-ish Jetta green.
Speaking of nitpicky stuff, with a few days of precipitation scheduled, i needed to plug the missing vent wing in the passenger door. Unable to source a replacement, I secured a piece of scrap plexiglass from a local hardware store & began paring it down to fit.
Unfortunately, when I took measurements, I failed to recognize that the divider is not at a 90° & is slightly laid back. This made the 15” height about an inch too short, oh well, I used the slight gap as a way to anchor the window with a screw.
Not pretty, but it’ll do until i find some proper replacements.
Another thing bugging me was the position of the wiper arms, I just wasn’t able to get them to align correctly, then it dawned on me & I swapped the arms & cinched them down.
Additionally, someone informed me that my passenger side brake light wasn’t functioning correctly & I traced it down to a bad bulb.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.
GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!
An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.
Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it. |
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vwjunkie3
Samba Member
Joined: April 22, 2010
Posts: 75
Location: Michigan
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| Posted: Sun May 05, 2024 12:05 pm Post subject: Re: The Green Latrine |
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Need to find some bolt through vent window setups. Seen some for sale on the classifieds.
Only way to fix it and not have to deal with it again... |
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TDCTDI
Samba Advocatus Diaboli
Joined: August 31, 2013
Posts: 12897
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Sun May 05, 2024 1:25 pm Post subject: Re: The Green Latrine |
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| vwjunkie3 wrote: |
Need to find some bolt through vent window setups. Seen some for sale on the classifieds.
Only way to fix it and not have to deal with it again... |
Yes, i contacted that seller several times & they finally got back to me & said they couldn’t find the passenger side, & I haven’t heard back from them yet.
I also found a pair in a local yard, but they would only sell the complete doors at $200 each. They haven’t sold anything off that car for three years.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.
GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!
An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.
Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it. |
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vwjunkie3
Samba Member
Joined: April 22, 2010
Posts: 75
Location: Michigan
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| Posted: Mon May 06, 2024 9:20 am Post subject: Re: The Green Latrine |
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That's sad of those folks. I have 2 sets in cars yet.
Seems typical anymore. |
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TDCTDI
Samba Advocatus Diaboli
Joined: August 31, 2013
Posts: 12897
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Mon May 06, 2024 12:03 pm Post subject: Re: The Green Latrine |
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Having had a couple of MKI chassis fracture at the frame horns, & knowing my tendency to… ummm… let’s say “conserve forward momentum”, today’s project is to build a lower tie bar, so let’s turn this into one.
After a bit of trimming, drilling, & welding, I turned it into this.
I still need to fab up the triangulation legs, but this is a start.
While under there, I found the cause of the horrendous rattle I hear when going over bumps. What I thought was just a lack of brake pad shims is also compounded by missing caliper slide pin grommets.
Looks like I’ll also need some CV boots.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.
GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!
An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.
Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it. |
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TDCTDI
Samba Advocatus Diaboli
Joined: August 31, 2013
Posts: 12897
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Tue May 07, 2024 8:13 am Post subject: Re: The Green Latrine |
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This morning I acquired the slide pin bushing kit.
It even came with the anti rattle shims.
So, let’s stuff them in.
First up is to install the shims.
Next, the bushings. My technique is to fold them over onto themselves & slide them onto the bores.
However, instead of them popping back into shape once in, they just wouldn’t. After removing it, I realized that some asshat tried to fill the void with epoxy.
Huh I don’t remember that being a factory friction surface.
So after some scraping & a final cleaning with a battery post terminal cleaner…
I finally got the bushings in & the caliper bolted back up.
While there, I took a moment to half ass a grommet for the brake hose by cutting a slit into a piece of hose
And slipping it into the bracket before stuffing the hose back in.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.
GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!
An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.
Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it. |
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TDCTDI
Samba Advocatus Diaboli
Joined: August 31, 2013
Posts: 12897
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Wed May 08, 2024 1:15 pm Post subject: Re: The Green Latrine |
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I rubbed a couple minutes together & cut up a few more pieces of angle iron & clamped them to the chassis.
And then tacked the remainder of the square tubing in place.
After scrounging up another piece, I repeated the process on the other side & fused them together.
Once fully welded, I drilled holes through the chassis & brace & bolted it back in.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.
GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!
An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.
Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it. |
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TDCTDI
Samba Advocatus Diaboli
Joined: August 31, 2013
Posts: 12897
Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Fri May 10, 2024 12:53 pm Post subject: Re: The Green Latrine |
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Well, as everyone knows, early diesels were noisy, & rattly, however, this one was ever so much more so. With a generator light that would flicker at idle, & light up solid if the roads were wet, I decided to address the drive belt issue.
With a too long A/C belt, compounded by the compressor missing several mounting bolts, today’s endeavors quickly went downhill & required removal of the alternator & A/C compressor.
This has obviously been an issue for a very long time.
As it turns out, one of the bolts had sheared off in the bracket & not having enough room to drill it out in place, & not having the desire to remove the bracket (which also requires removing the injection pump.), I cheated by heating up the bracket & & coaxing the sleeve out of the bracket.
Once out, I used a left handed bit & extracted the remnants from the sleeve.
And, well, after that I got a correct sized belt, & got so deep into putting everything back together & forgot to take more pics.
Oh, well, until next time.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.
GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!
An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.
Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it. |
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