More Wartburg progress

AngryCorvair wrote: In reply to JThw8: you may want to consider adding a stiffener to the fabricated link that the inner tie rods attach to. deflection of this link would contribute to bumpsteer / rollsteer.

Its a good point and actually I already have the stiffener sitting on the bench, I was just too tired last night to pull the link back off to weld it on. I was waiting until the tie rods were finished so I could ensure I had proper clearance to the heim joints and just ran out of steam after that point. I'll also be adding small gussets to the end corners on the link.

I have to pull the whole assembly off and drill the ends for roll pins to keep the linkage from rotating on the ends as well so I'll do it all in one shot. With the bolts torqued down there is a good resistance to movement already but I figured drilling it for a couple of roll pins couldnt hurt.

Thanks for keeping me on my toes though, this steering stuff still makes my head hurt.

JThw8 wrote: Thanks for keeping me on my toes though, this steering stuff still makes my head hurt.

I was confident that you had already thought of it, but wanted to toss it out there just in case.

AngryCorvair wrote:

JThw8 wrote: Thanks for keeping me on my toes though, this steering stuff still makes my head hurt.

I was confident that you had already thought of it, but wanted to toss it out there just in case.

Welded it on tonite, looks like crap but its strong. I shouldnt weld when Im not in a mood. But I can stand on it without deflection.

My idea to drill and pin the ends is a bust, the drill bit wont make a mark in the actual steering tube. Downward motion is already limited and I can grab the bar and lift the whole front end without it moving. I may make some type of stop to prevent upward motion just in case.

I threw a 1/4 inch of shims behind the rack mount bolts and was able to get the ackerman about neutral, I can probably get some more in there to dial it in. It pushes the boots into the frame which will no doubt shorten their life but boots are relatively cheap and this isnt a DD.

Never be afraid to toss ideas at me, time is getting short and Im getting burnt out so extra brain cells are always appreciated :)

JThw8 wrote: I have to pull the whole assembly off and drill the ends for roll pins to keep the linkage from rotating on the ends as well so I'll do it all in one shot. With the bolts torqued down there is a good resistance to movement already but I figured drilling it for a couple of roll pins couldnt hurt.

Steering is lookin' good!

Make an upper and lower guide for your adapter. Weld to frame. No need to drill & pin, and that rack stuff is SUPER hard. Done.

Jensenman wrote:

JThw8 wrote: I have to pull the whole assembly off and drill the ends for roll pins to keep the linkage from rotating on the ends as well so I'll do it all in one shot. With the bolts torqued down there is a good resistance to movement already but I figured drilling it for a couple of roll pins couldnt hurt.

Steering is lookin' good! Make an upper and lower guide for your adapter. Weld to frame. No need to drill & pin, and that rack stuff is SUPER hard. Done.

You must have been typing as I posted above. Yeah, I learned real quick Im not gonna drill that rack so an upper and lower guide are on the to-do list.

Great minds...

'nother long day in the shop. I finished all the fab work on the steering linkage and column mounts during the week so I stared with the install and test. I was a bit concerned with the manual rack and big old porsche meats it was going to be a struggle but it turns lock to lock with one hand nice and easy....sweet.

Next up... I started the day with a bad feeling this "simple" project would take me all day. Sadly I was right, but its mostly done now and that's the important part. Boxed in the pedals, too many angles...not fun.

Also had a scrap, parts car guy show up for the subie carcass and wooohooo, he bought it for what I had into it....so we have recouped that POS to zero. He was so excited to get it I think he either had another subie waiting on the parts or a buyer for the parts because honestly I think he overpaid but hey, Im not complaining.

Oh and a fun note, I got an email today from Robert who saw the Wartburg here and then googled it to find me. He used to own this lovely car before the gentleman who donated it to the Win a Wartburg contest. Starting to piece together a history slowly but surely.

As you may have noticed in the body on photos we had to take a large chunk out of the floor to fit our new center tunnel where there wasn't one before. So today's task was to get it all buttoned back up. To start with, before our sacrificial subaru left yesterday it had one more bit to give.

We took her roof for lots of free sheetmetal. So first the basic layout Then lots of marking and bending And finally all welded in place

This was all done with hand shears, a drill and an old 4x4 for bending over. You don't need fancy tools (but boy do I wish I had them)

That looks pretty darned good!

carzan wrote: That looks pretty darned good!

Thanks! Aside from some sketchy welding (out of gas, working with flux core) which will be covered by seam sealer anyway I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. There will/may be a center console coming up off it to meet the dash but I want that piece to be removable unlike the tunnel which was welded in so it will be made separately.

Ok, so when we cut off the rear of the frame to make room for a transaxle we lost the rear body mounts. Lucky for us the VW torsion housing has some mount points built in. We welded 1 inch bar stock to the fender wells where it ran over the mount and placed some mount material (hockey puck) between the bar and the mount then bolted it down. This was done a few weeks ago, so in my effort to button up all the holes I made cover plates tonite, these were "designed" to also add some addtional support to the mount.

Looking very good, sir. I wish I had half your skill.

Kia_racer wrote: Looking very good, sir. I wish I had half your skill.

The secret is to take crappy cell phone pictures so things look good.

Seriously, I have no skills, I'm learning as I go. This has all been trial and error and the culmination of years of reading other peoples build threads and thinking "I could probably do that"

But thank you very much for the compliment.

JThw8 wrote: The secret is to take crappy cell phone pictures so things look good.

THIS should be immortalized.

hockey puck mounts win

John Brown wrote:

JThw8 wrote: The secret is to take crappy cell phone pictures so things look good.

THIS should be immortalized.

voted up

JThw8 wrote: Oh and another interesting little note about how german cars all seem to follow a standard, we were able to run a 72 VW speedo cable off the 83 Porsche wheel hub to the 58 Wartburg speedometer and it all works. Fun :)

thats a shame actually, was thinking I could offload the instrument panel on you.

Tetzuoe wrote:

JThw8 wrote: Oh and another interesting little note about how german cars all seem to follow a standard, we were able to run a 72 VW speedo cable off the 83 Porsche wheel hub to the 58 Wartburg speedometer and it all works. Fun :)

thats a shame actually, was thinking I could offload the instrument panel on you.

But then we wouldnt have our cool KPH speedo!

JThw8 wrote: ...our cool KPH speedo!

NICE.. now I cant wait to hear stories about the first speeding ticket.

Just a quick update again. Finally finished of the guide for the steering bar to keep it from pivoting on the end points. Not real pretty but I have to make things functional at this point and go back for pretty later.

Starting on the body mockup and waiting for the cage guy to fit me in. Hopefully working on the cooling system this weekend then its in my teammates hands for fuel and electrical.

Its getting there, but it's going to be close.

Thanks to a recent change in plans I'm hoping to see this at the Challenge. Keep up the good work!

Junkyard_Dog wrote: Thanks to a recent change in plans I'm hoping to see this at the Challenge. Keep up the good work!

You could cruise up to Summit Pt and see her run in Lemons! It will look better at the challenge though.

Sorry for lack of updates, no very exiting (visually) progress until now.

Time for rear fenders. We moved the wheelbase so the fenders didnt fit at all.

Much to everyones disappointment I realized if I pulled the stock Porsche spacers out of the rear hubs I wouldnt need to flare the fenders.

Time is short and the fronts tuck under nicely so I couldn't envision a wildly flared rear with stock fronts.

The stock wheel arch extended into the rear door so first I cut that piece off the door.

Next I welded it to the rest of the arch and cut that section away from the fender

Here we see how much further the arch needs to come back

I removed the metal behind the wheel and moved the whole arch back and tacked it in place.

Rear view, things are going to be tight, but we will put a fender roller on the whole thing once the filler pieces are welded in and bring the arch out by about an inch or so.

You're a magician or some kind of wizard. Very impressive!