Finally, again - twomonkeysayoyo's resurrection post

[twomonkeysayoyo]

Been driving it to work for the past two weeks. It's been good enough to give me the confidence to go someplace that I might not be found at. So took 15 minutes at work and tore ass down some power lines.

Holy Crap. I can't remember driving this thing in the before times, but I now understand why I never liked riding off road in a pick-up, Jeep or an SUV and why I hated my dad's 4x4 Ranger. What an amazing little car! Other than some door vibration/clacking the car was as comfortable off road at 35 as it was on the road.

I am sore amazed.
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[STOICH]

[twomonkeysayoyo]

well, it's a stupid design, clearly 3 inches deeper than it needs to be. Right now I'm running the 9 dollar Harbor Freight 55watts up front for low-beam only (as far as I can tell that's all GA requires, and AL is gonna be more lenient. I've seen sparks serve as signals in AL). I haven't decided what I'm gonna run for highs yet, but I'm guessing 100watt cheapo's for now.
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[twomonkeysayoyo]

And we're back.

A brief update:
After much failing, flailing and loss of monies I finally took motor to Steve Sands in Dallas who rebuilt the entire motor. It was a wreck by the time I got it to him and he ended up rebuilding the whole thing, pulling several supposedly nice bits off it (Berg Oil Filter, etc..)

So it's got a nicely running (THANKS STEVE) 2110 mated to a stock tranny. Everything about driving it is good, but...

I've got to get the lights fixed, and the fasteners for the front end.
Anyone recommend how I can re-align the dzus fasteners? I'm thinking I will probably need to weld up the existing holes in the sheet metal and cut them anew.

Also, I am COMPLETELY OPEN TO A BETTER IDEA ON HOW TO KEEP THIS CLOSED AND YET BE ABLE TO OPEN IT MORE EASILY.

Thanks,

Pics below:

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[dustymojave]

So what's exactly is wrong with the dzus fasteners? It looks as though they were used for a few years at least.

I have hood pins at the top and latches from old ski boots at the bottom. You could get similar latches from Grainger or McMaster Carr.

You can see the pins here:

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Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[twomonkeysayoyo]

Thanks Richard,

They are no longer aligned after I replaced the flimsy flipper bumper that it was originally installed with. I can only get two to latch and that's a 20 minute treadmill into hell with 3 people twisting and pushing. I like the latch you are using but will still have those holes in the side of the fiberglass and sheet-metal. So, really, I'm looking for something like the existing DZUS fasteners that are maybe twice the diameter so I can drill out with no filling of the existing holes or using pins or something. This install is now 30 years old, btw, so I'm feeling out the area for improvements that might have been made.

-twomonkeysayoyo
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[dustymojave]

You could maybe remove the springs, then enlarge the holes in the sheetmetal with a stepdrill. Then re-drill the spring holes at 90° to re-fit them.

It sounds like the hood was not fastened when the new mounts were drilled. Maybe it would be better to unbolt the hood, fit the existing dzus buttons, then re-fit the new pivot mount.
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Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[twomonkeysayoyo]

That's a pretty good idea. I'll look into whether that might work.

The new tilt bumper mounts the front of the fiberglass hood just a bit higher so when I mounted it I had the 4 dzus attached but had to release two of them to tighten down the fasteners on the 'tilt-bumper-to-fiberglass'. They just don't line up. The other bumper was also super flimsy and the joints were pretty flexy. This new bumper is the opposite of that.
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[dustymojave]

So maybe a spacer or some washers at the hinge to hood mount?
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Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[twomonkeysayoyo]

I don't remember exactly why at this point but spacers weren't going to fix it.
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[twomonkeysayoyo]

So I did some research and just filled the holes with weld.

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[twomonkeysayoyo]

There was a lot of existing body filler (less than 1/4 inch, but more than 1/8 in places) so I tried to fill as much as I could with metal, grind and then even out with the bondo.

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[twomonkeysayoyo]

The hood always just sat on the top of the car. I lost windshield wiper squirter and, probably because it was easier, all the fresh air and heat was just ripped out. I will fix that eventually but, first things first:

I finally got the hood fitted to the contours of the beetle:

The new holes drilled out super nice:

and attached like champs:

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Looks like trouble.