Hot Rod VW 412 Project, finally getting some love

So, a few years ago, I bought this VW 412 from the builder of it that did amazing amounts of work to it.  Almost unbelievable.  Because of other projects, I really just couldn't get to it.  Finally, making some progress.  

It came with a 1800cc engine with about 65hp.  It was supposed to be the move upmarket for VW from the Bug.  It was not.  However, it was unique and had some neat traits.  

Anyway, the owner of this one decided to upgrade everything.  He rebuild the steering box.  Made custom bronze steering link bushings.   Custom delrin control arm bushings front and rear (with zerk fittings).  Custom camber adjustment on the front suspension.  He rebuilt the 4 speed manual transmission (unique to the Type 4) with upgrades for reliability.  He upgraded all of the suspension.  custom strut bearings, Audi 4000 strut inserts, Superbeetle and Nissan hybrid strut bearings, Superbeetle stress bar, BMW E30 M3 springs, doubled rear sway bars, and Ford Econoline shocks, Porsche 944 brakes all around.  Custom speaker housings inside plus a sub in the back.  He reupholstered the seats.  Then, the engine.  He purchased a 2056cc kit from a renowned Type 4 expert, Jake Raby.  Mild cam, mild heads, and he used the best intake manifolds, plenum and throttle body combination, along with a Mallory ignition and programmable SDS EFI.  

Long story less long - he touched everything, made everything better.  After using it a bunch and ironing out the wrinkles, someone broke in and stole the radio faceplate and the SDS proggramer unit.  Then it got backed into on the front corner in a parking lot.  After all the work, he was done, and wanted out.  I bought it.  

I haven't been driving it for very long, but I did run into a wobble that felt like it was coming from the right front.  I suspected the custom wheel bearing inserts (to use the 944 hubs on 412 spindles), but once up in the air, I bolted on a buddy bar to be able to stress the steering and see what was moving.  Had to drill a new hole in the bar, but still.  When I say up in the air, it's in the alley by my garage, because I have 10 car projects and indoor space for 5 projects. I know you all understand.  

Quickly told me it was the relay steering box - the passive one on the passenger side.  The steering arm was not 100% tightened down anymore.  I know he's driven it hard and for many miles, so just a heads up.  

The nut was a nylock, as it should be.  There wasn't a washer, so I added a dished washer to help lock and spread the load, and a dab of medium loctite to be sure.  After that, there was no play at all.  I also greased the custom delrin control arm bushings that had zerks and the ball joints at the bottom of the struts.  More work soon.  

I should be able to do the clutch slave cylinder and see about fitting the IDF manifolds and ITBs this weekend.  

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We are gonna need some whole car shots, pronto. 

I mean I shouldn't be surprised that of all places, GRM would have folks who share my odd obsession with 411/412's

Here's how it looks right now....  

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This is how it looked before I bought it, when the paint was a little better and it didn't have left front corner damage (happened before I bought it, I swear) 

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Ha, I ran those wheels on my Mazda 5 in dark charcoal. No one could figure out what they were. Love seeing a 412 being worked on.

Thanks.  I hate these wheels, but the PO found them cheap.  I do lots of Porsche wheels, so I have lots to choose from, but early offset of any real width pokes in the back a bit, and late offset needs spacers and doesn't look correct on this car IMO, so we'll see.  

Why do I feel you like getting your cars from Washington state. I swear this has to be the second or third I've seen. 

It just happens.  You are right though.  I found another one the other day in Seattle.  No idea why.  Maybe I should move to the PNW?

In reply to brad131a4 :

Because rust free and interiors not trashed...

Well, clutch slave cylinder got done - wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  It's on top of the transmission, and access really isn't too bad.  Solved the clutch problem, though I need to do a better bleed I think.  Took it to a friends body shop, because he told me what he thought it would cost to do the metal work.  Turns out it will cost double that, so I'm still considering.  I'll get the headlights reinstalled and bring it to the house to get the ITBs mocked up or possibly installed.  Also making some decklid standoffs and have a satin black rear decklid.  

OK, so it is up on jackstands in the garage.  I had the old hubs turned down so there is no need for a spacer (other than being hub-centric) so they fit inside the rotors.  I'll get that reassembled, and see where the caliper lines up with the rotor, in terms of spacers.  

I removed the air filter intake, and the bracket that supported it.  Also the fuel pressure regulator and MAP sensor on the other side.  It will be in the way of the manifold/ITB setup.  I stripped down the ITBs some more.  I have brand new injectors to install.  I'll figure out crankcase ventilation and vacuum hoses once I'm putting things bac together.  

I installed the satin black decklid.  I was planning on making standoffs to got more air into the ITBs, but the orientation of the decklid for engine cooling, etc makes that a not attractive proposition.  So, I compromised.  Under the vents in the decklid, there is a 'well.'  Below the decklid well, there is a fiberglass/plastic duct that routes air to the engine cooling fan, the stock air intake, and the heater fan.  

I decided to route some fresh air to the ITBs (think Weber IDFs on a VW Bug).  To do that, without the decklid standoff idea, I decided to use a hole saw and drill two 2.5" holes in the 'well' that is underneath the decklid vents.  I will run flexible hose from the decklid to the throttle bodies.  I will also add a small lip spoiler to increase some air pressure over the vents.  I'm not worried about downforce (its a VW 412) but getting more air/pressure into the engine for cooling and intake is always a plus.  The stock Honda VFR velocity stacks are plastic, and look great, but I will be cutting them down to make them much shorter.  I need to fit air cleaners, and those might be a bit in the way.  

I removed the stock steering wheel and tried a couple VW steering wheel adapters I have, but they did not fit.  The 412 splines are bigger diameter.  Strange, as almost every VW/Porsche/Audi 1974+ is the same.  I'll grab some more adapters from shop on Mon to test fit.  

I'll paint the front 1303 German look spoiler in bedliner tomorrow (after I sand it) and start on installing the custom plastic bushings I had made.  I installed some German license plates, just because.  Test fitting the 16x7 and 8 wheels.  Trying to figure out tire sizes.  

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This is relevant to my interests. I've got a set of VFR800 throttle bodies and plan on using them on my VW trike. Do you have any ideas for linkage yet?

More VW 412 progress.  
Not a lot, but some.  Any progress is good, when you have 10 projects, and trying to trim them down.  
So - finished removing the OEM+ intake manifold setup the previous owner spent lots and lots of time creating.  I tried mocking up my Individual Throttle Body (ITB) intake, but the manifolds (EMPI) wouldn't go over the Porsche 914 2.0L 3 bolt heads.  
The manifolds bolt holes are sloted - they say they fit all VW/Porsche Type 4s.  They do not.  Without access to all my tools - I pulled out an aggressive round file - in a minute, maybe two, made the slotted bolt holes large enough to fit.  That allowed me to at least put them on the engine and see if the throttle bodies would fit over them and I should make air filters, or if I needed to purchase or make shorter intake manifolds.  
Huzzah!  They worked, and fit, and it looks like there is enough room for an intake filter/airbox setup, without too much worry.  
One thing I ran into - the new fuel injectors for the Honda VFR800 Throttle bodies did not fit correctly.  Sigh.  Aftermarket parts.  So, I used some o-rings to make the injector assembly a little longer and seal against the factory injector o-rings, and some washers to space up the fuel injector rail to account for the longer injectors.  I tested it with 50psi of air pressure, and no leaks.  I may remove one washer/spacer on the rail, to make it a bit more snug, but there shouldn't be a problem.  
Then - I started fitting the CSP (German VW tuner) center pull carb linkage.  CSP build quality stuff - this was no different.  The center piece had a multi bearing setup that was solid - no noticable wobble, and super clean movement.  They also have nice ball joint arms to connect to the carbs or throttle bodies on each side of the Porsche 914 or VW Type 4 engine.  However, when starting to mock it up, I noticed, there was no grease in the ball/socket joints.  NONE.  So, I disassembled them, put some grease in, and finished the mockup install.  I have the included arms and lots of other arms that will connect to the throttle bodies the finish the linkage installation.   
I removed the front and rear bumpers - neither were perfect, thought fairly solid.  Going along with my black-with-yellow rally bug/Golf/VW theme, I decided to paint them black.  Cleaned, sanded (hard with chrome) and started painting them in bedliner.  I've done it before, it usually works well and lasts well.  
I cut off the straight through muffler (that didn't muffle much) and test fit the Dynomax Super Turbo chambered muffler and it looks like it will fit well.  I love these mufflers.  Flow well, soudn good, but not obnoxiously loud like the previous one.  Marked it to weld it up.  Maybe tomorrow.  
Finally, for today, anyway, I installed the little lip spoiler on the decklid to maybe encourage a little more air to go into the vents on the decklid for engine cooling and air intake.  We'll see.

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In reply to vwfreek :

 Sorry - missed your reply.  

So my post shows the center pull linkage I will be using.  Most Air Cooled VWs with dual Webers use cross bar linkage that is just a bar across the engine bay.  Since air-cooled VWs/Porsche engines grow about 1/4 to 1/2" - those can be hard to make work right all the time.  Center pull are supposed to be better.  I'm not an expert - we'll see.  

greggearhead said:

In reply to vwfreek :

 Sorry - missed your reply.  

 

So my post shows the center pull linkage I will be using.  Most Air Cooled VWs with dual Webers use cross bar linkage that is just a bar across the engine bay.  Since air-cooled VWs/Porsche engines grow about 1/4 to 1/2" - those can be hard to make work right all the time.  Center pull are supposed to be better.  I'm not an expert - we'll see.  

 

I'm currently running 36 Dells with cross bar linkage. I'm curious to see how you connect the linkage to the throttle bodies. Since I have a trike with a custom throttle cable, I was thinking just add a splitter and get another set and use the sides with the cable connection. But I'm not sure if that's any easier to set up than a linkage.

There are some cable setups that I think are very cool - they take all of the growth of the boxer engine out of the equation.  

https://www.limebug.com/product/view/2128/sync-link-throttle-linkage-ida-idf-delortto

Made a little more progress on the intake.  

Machined down the raised ridges on the tops of the throttle bodies so that whatever air cleaner setup I end up with.  I also realized that Weber IDF velocity stacks fit the Honda VFR800 ITBs with just a little slotting of the mounting holes.  

I figured out how to arrange the fittings on the ends of the fuel rails so that they fit without hitting the firewall, and I can use the Honda VFR pressure regulator instead of the previous aeromotive one.  

One of the linkage pieces in the CSP centerpull kit worked well for the passenger side ITB, with a small lever arm added.  The driver's side ITB couldn't be reached by the linkage piece, so I made a bend and welded in a short piece to lengthen it.  I also modified another linkage arm to go on the Honda ITB so that the linkage could attach to it.  

It works really well - very precise and smooth.