In reply to Patrick :
Great pic! Glad you could make it out there. Sounded like the Lemons people were happy to hear the Wartburg is still around and getting some attention.
eastsideTim said:In reply to Patrick :
Great pic! Glad you could make it out there. Sounded like the Lemons people were happy to hear the Wartburg is still around and getting some attention.
They instagrammed and twittered their excitement so that’s cool. Until last year I purposely fed into the fact that everyone just thought it fell off the face of the earth
EastsideWife and her dad made it home from the rally yesterday. The Beetle had very few problems during the event, though it appears to be having a bit of light throttle driveability issue, could be carburetion, could be timing, I’ll get it squared away eventually.
Only went through 1.5 quarts of oil in about 3000 miles of driving. Not bad for a $200 junkyard engine. Will be changing the oil before it goes anywhere, since it is now at 3 times the recommended interval.
Took a bit of a hiatus of working on the Beetle, between work and some frustration changing the oil (it's resolved now, but involved multiple hardware store trips and some time with my tap and die set). Work was rougher than usual today, so I felt the need to get away from computers for a bit.
The engine was running bad at lower RPMs when they got back from the rally. First thing I noticed was the belt was pretty loose, so I tightened it up a bit. I figured timing was the most likely culprit, so pulled the distributor cap. Timing wasn't the main problem. The rotor came apart when I pulled it (as a matter of fact there is still at least one piece in the bottom of the distributor I couldn't get to). I went to check the points gap, and there was none. That could be a problem. I'm guessing the only reason it was running better at higher RPM is the cam lobe on the distributor was providing more force than the spring that holds the points together, and bouncing it open. That's properly gapped now, but I still need to do the timing. It was getting dark, and the mosquitos were coming out, so that'll be done later.
Will we see it a week from tomorrow? Puh-lease!
wae said:Will we see it a week from tomorrow? Puh-lease!
Not planning on racing, but I do intend to drive it out there to spectate.
Got it timed, and took it for a spin. Back to running as good as it was before the rally! I did have a few drops of brake fluid on the floor of the garage under the front, but a quick inspection didn't reveal anywhere they could have come from. I'll look into it in more detail later.
Before it goes rallycrossing, I need to install a battery box, and presumably get a smaller battery, as the one I'm using is probably too big. I still have a tractor battery laying around that might do the job, at least for a while. I'd also like to get a new oil pressure sender, so I can actually use the VDO gauge in the car, rather the depend on the oil light, but that isn't as critical.
For now, i'm taking advantage of it being out of the garage by doing a little clean up and organizing. Mostly by packing 20 lbs of E36 M3 in a 10 lb bag. I really need to declutter.
In reply to eastsideTim :
No such thing as too big a battery. That extra 10lb or whatever pays for itself when you need to start the engine in a hurry and it doesn't really feel like starting.
Knurled. said:In reply to eastsideTim :
No such thing as too big a battery. That extra 10lb or whatever pays for itself when you need to start the engine in a hurry and it doesn't really feel like starting.
It’s more a matter of what will fit in a cheap marine battery box...
Took it to the cruise in tonight as a quick shakedown before driving out to the rallycross tomorrow. Shifted weird, and felt and heard some banging occasionally, too. When I got home, I checked the linkage, and it was pressed against the top of the center tunnel. A little bit of checking underneath, and it appears the bolts to hold the transmission to the trans mount are either lost or sheared. Hopefully, they just fell out somewhere, but the front trans mount is urethane, since it’s a conversion mount, and the rear mounts are rubber, since at the time I could not find poly rear mounts. It’s possible that could contribute to breaking the mounting bolts.
I’m not willing to mess with it this weekend, as I want to get more work done on the S10. Maybe during the week or over Labor Day weekend I’ll tear into it.
Just drive the s10 to the rallycross instead.
EvanB said:Just drive the s10 to the rallycross instead.
Alignment is bad enough I’m afraid of major uneven tire wear, and too much is loose under the hood. Fortunately, wae is picking us up on the way.
eastsideTim said:EvanB said:Just drive the s10 to the rallycross instead.
Alignment is bad enough I’m afraid of major uneven tire wear, and too much is loose under the hood. Fortunately, wae is picking us up on the way.
You missed the chance to say “Bill is picking us up on the Wae”
Patrick said:eastsideTim said:EvanB said:Just drive the s10 to the rallycross instead.
Alignment is bad enough I’m afraid of major uneven tire wear, and too much is loose under the hood. Fortunately, wae is picking us up on the way.
You missed the chance to say “Bill is picking us up on the Wae”
Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!
Finally got back to the working on the Beetle. Once it was up on jack stands, and I had placed a jack under the engine, I went after the front transmission mount. Ended up having to disassemble it under the car to get it out.
Final score, one bolt missing, and a bushing missing from the mount itself. The other bolt that attached to the transmission was loose, and had pulled the bushing out of the mount. In all, I think there were two issues:
In addition to the above, I picked up some more bushing material, and cut it to length to replace the missing one, and added washers in a few places where it looked like the urethane in the mount was getting beat up. Haven't had a chance to drive the car yet, but the shift rod is no longer dragging on the top of the tunnel, even when shifting through all the gears.
Remains to be seen if it'll be ready to rallycross in October, but at least now we should be able to drive it to the event to spectate.
Soon, the points-based ignition will be in the spare parts bin:
Hoping this improves driveability. At least I won’t be dealing with adjusting point gap and dwell after the install.
In reply to eastsideTim :
ewwwww... points....
Is it going to be ready for rallycross whenever we have the first event of the year? May? June? September?
In reply to EvanB (Forum Supporter) :
2022?
In reply to wae (Forum Supporter) :
At least it will be a nice dry spring for once...
In reply to EvanB (Forum Supporter) :
Why did you say that out loud.
Ignition, battery box, and some brake work and the car should be good to go for rallycross. A little different for the drivers, though. We may have to race on alternate months, so someone can stay home and watch the furballs. At the very least, I intend to drive it out to spectate, even at events we won’t be competing at.
A little change today.
Before:
After:
I still need to time it, but I was able to start it up and get it to idle, after a few adjustments. The rotor is about 90 degrees off from where it was on the original distributor, so I just moved the wires over by one, after realizing I was not going to be able to turn the whole distributor enough to get it timed close. I'll try to time it sometime this week, so there's a chance for it to be driven to the season opener, even if it won't be competing. Also had to do a bit of minor surgery on the new coil - it only had two blade connectors on the positive side, and I needed three, now that the dist needs a + signal. The old Bosch coil had what I needed, so I just switched the connectors out.
Just in case, the old distributor and coil will get included in the roadside repair kit.
Ready for rallycross next weekend?
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