Top secret build - Wartburg 2.0

Patrick said:

Looking good!!

How have I not seen this thread yet? Was google searching "moving wheel arches on fenders" which lead me here. And then I put 2 and 2 together: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/unholy-trinity-wartburg-tries-complete-three-gruel/

Yeah it’s a bit different than it used to be.  I’m getting ready to get back on it soon.  Got sidetracked with holidays, the adventure of the 57 chevy, a massive work project, back injury, and welder needing a new fan in addition to refusing to go to the garage in subzero temps.  

Welder apart fan ordered Saturday.  

Yesterday i was going between menards and summit racing with my $25 off $150 coupon in hand by way of tacos for lunch.  GPS took me a back way through a neighborhood, as soon as i turned off the main road i saw an estate sale sign.  With a barn.  With a c2 nose inside, so i stopped.

the c2 was a freaking 427 convertible with a hardtop.  Not for sale.  

I was able to purchase these glorious old metalworking tools for $30

The guy was tossing stuff in a scrap pile, and I spotted something and asked.  He said “take it, it’s free” so I brought it home and cleaned it up.  And it’s the right bolt pattern.  

15x8.5 still has the appliance brand sticker in the barrel. 

so now i scour the world for a match.  

Great score! Those rollers are awesome.

TurnerX19 said:

Great score! Those rollers are awesome.

+1 on all counts. Party on!

Matching $60 wheel on way.  Don’t think it’s the same brand but it’s the same size and backspacing and you only ever can see one side of the car at a time, so...

So what kind of lug nuts do i need?  Obviously shouldered, because there is no taper, but is there a washer that fits into the countersunk hole?

All of the ones I have seen do have a washer of at least .125" thick and large enough OD to just clear the counter bore in the wheel. Often they have chamfered OD, so they are "one way" in.

I’m hoping the datsun ones from my western turbines work.  Those have a flat face but are the mag style shouldered nuts with a washer.  Both cars have 1/2” 3” long studs

Not an exact match, this is an indy mag, but dimensionally the same(width, backspace, bolt pattern)as the other one.  For $60 i’ll consider that a win, and $40 back into my budget versus the current drag wheels. 

Slot mags are only proper for a gasser. Nice.

Back to the side piece.  Motor plate installed, radiator installed.  Instead of rewire completely, i’m going to put a battery on it and see what’s good, then hopefully just add one circuit for fuel pump, and that’s good for carbed engines.  When i start doing lsx stuff i’ll be building a fuse panel for the harness so all that wiring will come and go with the engines.  

Radiator is some sort of ford truck one that we dug out of the catalog when i was 15 because it was close enough for my 54 BelAir.  

I decided a 10 gallon tank is silly so that’s coming off and i have a 2.5 gallon one coming, which will let me mount the battery up high for easy access and short cables.  

This is all important because now with everything supported i can ditch the heads and intake, then put the shortblock on an engine stand for heads/cam/cleanup/paint. 

Trying to build some motivation.  Took the wassertemperatur/kraftstoff gauge out of the right pod and installed the factory speedo, and put a tach in the left hole that was probably hogged out for the same type in the past.  Tach was $0 shipped from a generous grm’er who advertised one for free plus shipping then sent me 3 and (i think probably sent it on the company dime) covered shipping 

i’m not “let’s screw a giant tach to the dash” guy so this makes me happy 

Enter file cabinet dividers.

There’s a line between “pretty” and “building a 60 year old east german gasser out of E36 M3 i found on the side of the road pretty” and i’m trying my best to blur that line.  If some flap wheels must die to make this happen, so be it.  

Keep it up!!!!

In reply to Patrick :

Looks beautiful to me 

Some artists require the finest of supplies.  Others can make due with the leftovers scavenged from the dumpster behind the fancy artist's studio.

Then there's the GRM'r, who can take some random trash that was worn out and useless and turn it into art.  Sweet, loud, fast art. 

Can't wait to see this thing make a pass!

Fyi i need to borrow some time with a metal lathe and someone who can help me do something that I cannot discuss currently 

Seems fitting to remove a gauge for "normal" since this car will be anything but normal. 

John Welsh said:

Seems fitting to remove a gauge for "normal" since this car will be anything but normal. 

Much like my example of pretty above, there is normal and then there is “german normal” which involves things the rest of the world collectively cringes at.  

Patrick said:

John Welsh said:

Seems fitting to remove a gauge for "normal" since this car will be anything but normal. 

Much like my example of pretty above, there is normal and then there is “german normal” which involves things the rest of the world collectively cringes at.  

VW shipped the first load of Rabbits (might have been Dashers) to the US with saltwater in the cooling system as a form of antifreeze.  No, it did not end well at all.

I saw some German porn once that oddly looked like the preparations of a human puppet show. 

Setting up a go fund me to keep Pat supplied with flap wheels. 

Andy Neuman said:

Setting up a go fund me to keep Pat supplied with flap wheels. 

I’ve never believed in go fund me, but flap wheels are expensive and my kids need to eat.  

Yummy cast pistons, they’ll take a 150 shot or two.  With heads off i can measure bore and call the out in the country machine shop and see if they have anything forged used laying around.