Suspension work

I finally got the electrics done so I can now work on the suspension. I installed the front height sensors and routed the air line for front bags. Great thing with the sensors are that they are mirrored and can be mounted at the same spot both sides. 

I didn't shorten the pushrod yet as I need to get the suspension range fighred out first. Probably will do that when I get the car on lift.

Looks like I can fit all but the tank to the spare wheel well. I haven't got the compressor yet but it will fit.

I drilled the holes too high as the moustache bar is right behind the well and there's really no room for stiff line.

And the electrics are done, only few connectors for dash harness are missing. All is hidden behind the dash and dash can be removed without disconnecting all wires.

After few boiled top coats I finally managed to paint the engine bay. Now I only need to finish the wiring for the lights, wipers and such and engine can be lifted back.

This is quite a mess. I decided to remove the wiring harness from the dash and mount it to the chassis. At the same time I will strip all unnecessary wires that are no longer needed.

Some bodywork

Now as the engine is out it was good time to fix all the little issues there was in the engine bay. I welded a few holes shut and removed all the rust and loose paint there was. Strange thing as the car was painted no more than two years ago. I'm sure this time it will last.

I also stripped all the electrics out and now I'm totally lost with them. But anyway they will be replaced and all the obsolete wires will be left out.

New intercooled did not fit without modifying the radiator support panel. So it's totally gone now.

I also made removable front apron. Makes engine removal much easier.

Engine bay in primer. I haven't got the paint yet but this should be done next week so I can install the engine and continue with suspension.

I like doing things twice so I also cut the rear wheel arch. I got 30mm more space and that's just about as much as there was. I will try to weld this with tig to avoid burning the paint. Let's see how that goes.

Time for good old out and in

I decided to change spark plugs and what's a better place to change them than garage floor? OK, at the same time I will also change the clutch and some other smaller things. This begins to remind me of how it was with my VW's, engine and gearbox out every winter and couple of times during the summer also.

I didn't even remember how heavy package this is. But there it is, ready for disassembly.

Now when the engine is out it would be easier to strip off all the electrics and replace them with universal harness. I'm also considering floor reinforcements of some kind. Let's see what I can do and afford as the air suspension is taking way more than I expected. I can't use Universal Air springs at the rear as there's not enough space. So I will have to come up with different, and more expensive, solution soon or I will run normal springs next summer.

OK, driving season has been over for a month now and the car is down at the garage. No big plans for the winter due to time and budget restraints but at least clutch and suspension need attention. I'm having hard time on deciding which clutch to install. I already have Nismo single coppermix waiting for installation but I'm not sure it will hold. I would not want to go for twin disc as this is a daily driver and having easy clutch is almost a must, but then again slipping clutch is even worse than harsh engagement.

Here's a sneak peek on suspension upgrade. I want to get the car lower and air seems to be the only way as I still need to get into the garage and that's not possible with low car.

I got universal air aero sport's at front and they seem to fit just fine. I haven't tried them at the rear, but looks like I have to come up with a different solution as the strut tower is smaller.
 

As there was nothing else to do with the car I installed the almost mandatory duck tail. It really needs emblem now as it looks quite plain without. And while the car was in the garage I installed a pair of Swedish Recaro replica seats as well. Although the original seats do look great they are horrible to sit at. I will get them reupholstered to match the rest of the interior as soon as driving season is over. But anyway hitting the limiter on 4th felt much safer with the new seat.

OK, I find it very strange I can just drive a car like this without pulling the engine out every other weekend to adjust the clutch or fix oil leaks or something. Hell, I haven't even adjusted the valves in ages. Maybe the VW's really are difficult and expensive cars that require tinkering more than enough to keep them running and I've been so mesmerized by them I haven't realized there are other ways also. This is just the right car for this summer as my daughter is 1 yrs old and taking most of my time I used to spend at the garage so I'm not complaining. 

And I'm really surprised that the original 42 years old R180 and halfshafts have not broken yet. It's not that I haven't tried... But as there are no project pictures to post I will keep on posting these pictures.

Snapshots

It was a nice sunday afternoon and I had better equipment than phone with me so I finally tried to get better pictures of the car. Here are some taken on the way home form garage. I still don't know if I like to drive this thing or not but I've been trying. And I have so many plans for the winter already that I doubt this will ever be ready.

Dyno time once again

After trying to tune the car on the road quite unsuccesfully I decided to take it to dyno again. First pull was a big disappointment as the boost control did not work at all, boost was jumping between 0.9 - 1.5 bar and there was no power at all. I would have hoped to see stable 1.7bar. We couldn't get the controller working so I replaced the solenoid with simple T joint and that stabilized the boost to 1.35bar but not higher. With that we had more than enough already but still decided to play with ignition advance a bit. 2 degrees gained 69 hp and even the tuner was a bit surprised. We then added 2 more degrees and again over 15 hp more power and 20nm torque. Intake temps were so high, more than 60C at some point, that we decided to leave it like it is now and try with 1.7bar when the weather cools down a lot. So all in all we gained 195hp and 210nm in 60 minutes, that equals 2.2kg/hp for now. And with 0.4bar street tune I headed to Kiikala Airfield for friday night to see Jyrki test his pro mod's chute and clutch. I also did some test runs myself with rolling start and the car pulls quite OK. I didn't want to break the R180 as I still had to drive the car home so no time slips this time. I suppose I have no other choice than to change the diff and clutch quite soon, hopefully before the old ones break.

More testing

I've been now using 120 liters of E85 and haven't broken anything. That equals more km's than my bug has done during the last four years and for that I have rebuild the engine at least four times. So I'd like to say this is easy and especially affordable car to play with.

I did some corner weighting and the car ended up being 100 kg's more than I expected. It's 1220 kg with driver and full tank. 648 at front and 572 at rear so it's around 53/47 weight distribution.

Suspension has now settled and it feels actually quite good everywhere else but on cobble stones and speed bumps. Max boost I have seen on the logs is 2bar @ 6950 rpm on third gear when the controller was not working right. No blown hoses anymore but clutch didn't like that. I hope I do not have to change it until winter. I will have to settle for max 1.7 bar until better clutch as that seems to be the point where slipping starts to happen.

First test drives

I drove the car home from my garage and at least on cobble stone roads it was awful. Springs are too stiff and I really need to do something about that. I might even considering air springs if I can find something suitable for track driving also.

Engine feels great as well as transmission. I've been trying to fine tune the engine on the roads and gradually adding boost. I accidentally raised it to 1.8 bar and blew off a few hoses. In the end I might settle for lot less for now as it feels quite violent even with 0.9 bar.

First impressions are anyway quite mixed. Ride is harsh, controls heavy and everything is loud. On open roads it feels fairly good and the power is amazing and it's easily available. And I'm happy to realize after so many years I have a car I can just hop in and start driving.

Back home

I got the car finally back to own garage. There's still a lot to do but at least it's fully driveable and road leagal. It took us a long night at Pekka's ranch to get the car on the ground and a lot of grinding and cutting but now it's fine. Front wheels could be 0.5" wider but as they already take a lot of space when turned I will keep them like they are.

Wheel fitting

I might say that my measurements were spot on and the wheel fitment is just as I like. The only problem is with the rear wheels where the perimeter bolts touch brake calipers. Easy fix is to grind the bolts to be flush with the nuts as now they protrude almost 10mm.

Still hard to say if the tire is too big or not. It will fit without issues but I'm not usre I like how it looks.

I got the tires on. Rears are 265/45 and fronts 205/55. I'm not sure if I like such fat tires as I'm beginning to like a little bit of stretch but will have to see how they look on the car. They also look quite dull and I will have to change the colours some day.

Getting closer again

Wheels finally arrived after 7 weeks. I must say that I'm very happy with them. Specs are 9.5x16 ET-5 and 8x16 ET-5. Now as they arrived completely assembled I'm not sure I want to take them apart and get the lips anodized or not. I ordered them unassembled and had an idea of bronze lips but I think I have to do some serious thinking first.

I have dark red candy going to one of my car's BBS's (just like this color) so maybe I will paint the centers and leave the lips alone. Would go well with the red interior but I just can't decide yet.

But anyway, front hubs are ready as is everything else so as soon as I get the wheels bolted on I can start driving.

New shoes, finally

Fuchs' are gone, sold them to our garage's freshly bought 930 for which they are ment for. I had troubles finding new wheels as I got no reply from any Panasport or Work dealers even by phone. I really would have liked Work's as I do like their new colors but now I have to "settle" for Image Wheels. They have been really helpful in the process but I have no idea how the wheels look like on the car until I get them. Delivery time is approximately 5 weeks so hopefully I get them before roads are driveable again. I also swapped the injectors to 1000cc EV14 ones, should be big enough for my needs. Oh yes, and the car is finally inspected for road use and everything is now legal. Great.

The car is in it's natural state again, dirty, on stands and with no wheels.  Front hubs are being redrilled for 5x114.3 and if I have enough time and money I will install air cups for front coilovers.

Exhaust is not done yet but I quite like how it looks. Two small pipes are surely enough for 182hp.