Firstly, the old gas tank had just enough rust inside that the ultra fine rust residue was actually passing thru the filter and going into the carb. That caused enough grief that the carb had to be pulled apart to clean. I invested in an ultrasonic cleaner to make easy work of that, but the real problem was the gas tank. I went to the local radiator shop and found out that they really have no interest in relining gas tanks anymore. They quoted me an astounding $300 to reline the tank! No Tanks, since a new one was $320!!
So more money to CIP I guess. I took the liberty to buy a 75-79 superbeetle gas tank, with larger siphons and return line for future possible conversion to fuel injection.
Secondly, the distributor has issues. She idles beautifully, accelerates well too, but the distributor is a SVDA style which uses both vacuum and centrifugal advance to advance the spark curve. The distributor that came with the car had a horrendous flat spot off idle, and a second dizzy I had was good off the line but between 2000 and 3000 rpm was flat. The vacuum pot pulls the advance 12 to 15 deg, then another 10 degrees happens above 3000 rpm. This isn't gonna work. The vacuum should pull to at least 20 deg, and the flyweights should kick in right after. More work is needed here for sure. Not sure what to do, maybe buy a brand new one and put it to bed.
Thirdly, the front suspension is a disaster! This car is a danger to drive in its current configuration. The front suspension is so tight, I could probably remove the struts and the binding in the sway bar and control arms would hold the car up! It just bounces down the road, and given that there hasn't been a front end alignment yet, makes it bounce left and right. Above 80 kph its just an arrow to a ditch...
So I've ordered some caster adjust bushings from Topline, and I'm going to take the sway bar to my local machine shop to be straightened. I added poly bushings to the front end, and as a result doesn't allow the control arm to twist in the centre mounts, causing the whole thing to bind up. Straightening the sway bar should solve this problem.
When I originally lowered this car, I just cut a coil and lowered it. The rubber bushings are round like a golf ball and allowed enough flex to let the control arm to twist in the center mount. The poly bushings are cylindrical and slide into the centre mount tight and allow no torquing in the mount. Live and learn I guess. Once this shit is sorted out, we can finally go for alignment!
Fourthly, the tank to filler rubber collar is starting to disintegrate. Frustrating aftermarket parts!
On a good note, I took her to Krown last friday, and they squirted juice into the framehead, heater channels and bulkhead to protect those parts! Some progress at least!
No comments:
Post a Comment