My 1973 Refresh Project

[Semper_Dad]

Are your brake shoes adjusted all the way in?
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Walküre Restoration Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=737492

[BNMike]

Hi Jay.....

I, for one, am watching I'll be doing everything you are to the suspension, so I'm "going to school" on your build

Maybe it is still a little blob of paint. I couldn't tell if you tried the passenger side drum on the driver's side or not. If so, did it work OK there?

Best,

Mike

[JayC]

Semper_Dad - Yep, checked. The cylinders are completely pushed in and the stars are all the way at the bottom. I had to clean some paint out of the holes to get them seat all the way down. There is no fluid in the system yet, so no pressure pushing anything out. I know it is a tight fit due to new pads and new drums, but shouldn't be that tight!

BNMike - I was able to put both drums on the driver’s side with no issue. It is only the passenger side giving me trouble. I'll post more pictures shortly (I'm out of town for the next two weeks). My word of warning: if you use POR15, watch for runs. While you might not care there is a run, it can cause tolerances to vary when fitting things back together. A Dremel with a fine grinding stone or sanding drum has been very useful!

I appreciate the replies!

jay

[Semper_Dad]

Are the adjustment screws orintated correctly? There is an up and down on those things. The larger side should be up. I'll try and find a pic

How Ironic. This is from your gallery.

Looks as if your screw adjusters are upside down. Slip the shoes off the adjuster, rotate screw 180, replace shoes back on slot. This should bring the shoes in further.
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Walküre Restoration Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=737492

[JayC]

Funny... I was just looking at that picture as well.

That is the "before" picture. I don't have an after picture with me at the moment, but I didn't realize there was an up/down. Maybe I accidently got it right on one side and not the other.

I also just realized that I have the springs on opposite. I have the big spring on top and the little spring on the bottom. When I get home, I'll have to take a look and see if that solves the issue.

Thanks for the information!

jay

[JayC]

“Victory is mine”! Well, at least a little one.

Turns out that it was the way the screws were set in the star nuts. Once I fixed that, the drum slipped right on and spun freely. Thank you all for pointing it out.

Sorry, I don't have my pictures with me today, but had a reasonably productive weekend. Front brakes all squared away. Cleaned and painted the stub axels for the rear and have everything else ready to start reinstalling. I got the new shocks for all 4 corners - Thing Shop originals. I debated on going with the KYBs, but I like the look of the stock shocks (all black). I hope they work OK. But, with the sale they are having, it was hard to go wrong.

I am prepared for next weekend when I finally take the body off the pan. I know, if you refer to my first post, I wasn't really planning on doing this, but after crawling around and under it for the past few months, I can see that if I really want it to be back to original, all of that is going to have be stripped and painted. Plus, I want to get the entire factory under coating off to make sure there are no additional rust issues. When the body is off, it will go to a local shop that will do the rust repair in the wheel wells as well as the rocker panel. It will then be repainted back to the original factory orange.

I started by removing all the body bolts. Most came out with no issue, but of course, as with any 40 year old car, I broke a couple and struggled with a couple of others. The 4 bolts that go from the front frame support to the body were the toughest. I had to use lots of PB and a six foot breaker bar to ease them out. The impact wrench just didn’t seem to want to do it. Got three with no problem, but of course the fourth snapped just as it was about to come out. Oh well, more work. I still have one left under the rear seats. For some reason, it just spins. I don’t think the nut in the pan is spinning, so not sure what is going on. I hope I don’t have to end up drilling it out.

With the body off, I will be able to get the pan / frame components stripped and painted as well. I will probably have to replace the rear quarter of the pan of the pan under the battery. After inspection, I realized the PO had just sheet metal screwed a new pan over the old hole.

Still hoping to have it back on the road this summer…

Jay

[GI Joe]

[JayC]

Hello All and Happy Spring. It is making me a bit jealous seeing all the notes about people getting there Things out to enjoy the Sun (geez, that sounds dirty).

I'm continuing to make progress. I know with my schedule, it takes awhile, but I actually feel that I am on the downhill side, but still plenty of work to do.

The rear axles are out and going through their rebuild. I forgot to grab pictures of the axles themselves before they went to be powder coated. Suffice it to say, grungy is a good way to describe it.

I pulled apart all 4 CV joints to inspect for wear and make sure nothing weird was going on. Luckily, just some very slight shiny areas. No major pits. As usual, the one on the driver’s side wheel had some rust on the outside, but nothing a light buffing with steel wool didn't clean up. That right rear tire area is weird. I have no idea what was going there. It is almost like there was a constant drip of water on that side that caused the torsion housing, (see previous pictures) to rust. It has carried through the whole rebuild.

Before Pictures:

All the shiny bolts and washers cleaned up and ready to go:

Ready for reassembly:

Reassembled and waiting for fresh axels:

Final Assembly:

I'm not sure if it makes much difference, but can someone check me if I put them together right? I know the splines have a tapered fit to the axel. I believe the slight groove you see in the splines (middle section) is the part that goes against the dished washer. The outside has a groove around the edge. Not sure why but that seemed to be opposite the boot.

I'm not sure if the boots are original or not (tend to think not). They didn't have clamps holding them, but sealed tight against the axel. I cleaned them up and they appear sound. No tears or weak spots, so I should be able to reuse them.

Next, I tried out my body lift. What do you think? Maybe a bit unstable in the corners

I'm going to go through and clean, sand/wire wheel, etc. the rear end and pans. Then a fresh coat of POR-15 and a top coat of the same semi gloss black I have been using on everything else. Finally, I will be able to rebuild the rear.

Shiny front end - yes the brakes are all back together!

Next area to clean and paint:

Section of the pan that I am going to have to replace.

Does anyone have a good discussion on how to replace a rear quarter pan? I am planning on getting the part from the Thing Shop (26" replacement). Laying it down, tracing the cuts and then welding in the new piece. Should be an interesting challenge.

Also, I pulled the starter. Trying to figure out what to do with it. It works fine, but it is 40 years old. Does anyone know of a place the refurbishes / rebuilds starters (ideally in Denver or close by)? I know I could trade it in for a rebuilt one, but not sure what would be cheaper. I could always just paint it, but it is a pretty good mess and the contacts are pretty brittle at this point.

As always, thank you to everyone on the Samba. Weather you chip in hear or by reading all the other great information, I have learned a ton as I move through this process.

Jay

[Ron Domeck]

As far as the right rear pan I cut out the bad area's then cut the new pan to fit. Why cut out good orginal metal that is not bad?

[JayC]

Thanks Ron. I agree with you and I only want to remove enough material to get the floor solid again. The PO bought a floor plan section at some point and sheet metal screwed it from the bottom. One of the tasks for the coming weekend is to remove that section and see how bad it really is under there.

Also, as a general question, i am going to pull the transmission out and clean / paint. While it is out, besides changing the oil, are there other tasks I should look at?

jay

[It's a play thing]

You can wire brush the pan and coat it with POR-15 and it will look great.
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It's not the size of your shop, it's what comes out of it that counts.

I've been playing with my thing ever since I got it...

[DesertGolfGuy]

Misery loves company. I am doing what you are doing. Currently am trying to decide if it is easy to remove the front beam so it can be cleaned and painted.

Can anyone tell me if it goes back together without messing up settings like camber, etc?

And, in your use of POR-15, did you use the metal prep and marine clean? And how did you get the old undercoating and 40-year-old caked on grease off?

[JayC]

3vwguy - I am assuming that when I get it all back together, I am going to have to have it aligned both front and back.

When I took mine apart, I took the beam off and pulled all the brakes and backing plates but left the spindles and everything attached. I took it down and had it all sand blasted with the seals in place. Then I disassembled, cleaned everything, painted and put it back together.

I replaced everything from the grub screws adn zerk valves to the dust seals and grease.

Before the POR-15, I just used Marine Clean on everything. I didn't bother with Metal Prep as I figured I had already sand blasted everything.

Jay

[JayC]

I'll have more pictures shortly. Working on the rear end and transmission, stripping, cleaning, painting and reassembaling.

However, I'm looking for a part and I don't even know what it is called. Combed through the parts manual and I can't find it in there. i am hoping some kind sould might know what it is and a source.

The part is a grommet / rubber searl that covers the hole where the clutch cable and accelerator cable come out of the tunnel at the rear. It has two holes in it, one where the accelerator cable comes out and a bigger one where the bwoden tube goes in and clutch cable comes out.

Any insight would be appreciated.

jay

[JayC]

Hello All,

It has been awhile, but I am continuing to make steady progress.

Most of the work has been in cleaning up and rebuilding the rear suspension and transmission. From what it used to look like:

to this:

Lot's of wire wheeling, grease removal, POR15, and top coat. I think it came out well.

The trailing arms are also reattached and this leads me to my question. Hoping someone can validate putting the spindles on the rear back together. I was watching the bug me videos and I think I have it, but want to double check:
1. Slide the spacer over the axle stub with the concave side towards the transmission.
2. Slide the axle stub into the trailing arm (I already have the inside bears and seals in place in the trailing arm.
3. Fill the inside of the trailing arm with grease.
4. Slide the long spacer tube in.
5. Slide the outside bearings on.
6. The shim in the axle seal kit goes on next
7. The rubber o-ring goes on next
8. The final spacer goes in with the beveled edge riding against the shim and bearing race.
9. The seal goes in the bearing cover
10. The big o-ring goes over the whole thing
11. The bearing cover gets bolted in to place.

Does that sound like the righ order? Also, from watching the bug me videos, I don't remember an oil slinger in the bearing cover.

Finally, a shot of the starter. I'm planning on taking this down and having it cleaned up. It works fine and I should be able to just repainting it. I think it can be carefully media blasted, correct?

Off to look at tires. I'm thinking just basic street tires as I won't ever really off-road it. However, I saw these the other day and was wondering if anyone had ever used them? I am trying to figure out if they would fit on stock rims.
https://www.universaltire.com/truck-and-military/truck/e78-14-sta-super-traxion.html

Regards,
Jay

[thinghunter]

I think those tires were mentioned in the tire/wheel sticky. I also think that when I checked they were discontinued even though they were still advertised on the manufacturers website. That was awhile ago so maybe they started making them again. There are still a few options that look good though.

[JayC]

Thanks thinghunter. I have a email out to them, will see what they come back with. So, without starting a whole other thread or stepping on the sticky, I am curious what you think looks good? I looked the BF Goodwrich, but theya re pretty darn expensive for 14" tires.

jay

[JayC]

Hello All,

I need some help, input, advice...

I have finished putting all the suspension together and running new brake lines. However, I ran in to a problem this weekend. When I went to put the front shocks on, they didn't fit. Essentially, they were too short. The shocks I have are from the Thing Shop. When they are on the post at the bottom, they don't extend far enough so that I can put the nut on the top with the bushings.

Please see the pictures below with description:
Front Ball Joints - Do they look correct?

The new shocks in place. Note, the measurements are from the floor and are the same on both sides. The floor to the bottom shock mount is 10.5 inches. The floor to the top of the steering arm is 18". The vehicle is sitting on new tires on the ground. Are these measurements correct?

The gap at the top:

Thinking maybe there was something wrong with the new shocks, I dug out the old KYBs that were on there. While I could get the nut on at fully extended, there was still a gap.

Finally, there doesn't seem to be any "give" in the front end. I would have thought that when I set the tires on the ground, they front suspension would have come up a bit, but it doesn't seem to move.

So, what did I screw up?

jay

[citroen]

the shocks are normal you just have to put a jack under the arm and jack it up a little then tighten the shock up everything will be tight with all new parts give it a little time to settle down. i see you do not have the body on it needs that weigh you might have to use a little bit of your own weight to get the nut on with no body on the car

thing shop shock

[JayC]

Thanks Citroen. I kind of figured it was something like that. I was hoping when I set down on the tires it would pull everything together. I'll get one of my bigger buddies to sit on the beam this weekend and see what that does!

One final question to the group...

Any tricks to tightening the nuts on the front spindle? I read the torque specs in the book, but because of the worm screw, there is no way (that I know of) to put a socket on it. I basically tightened them down then backed them off a half turn. Is there a better approach?