0021 Small things take forever

0021 Small things take forever
10th June 2020
Not sure if we will ever finish !

Puzzling out heater pipes

Most of the big things seem to be finished, but it is the small things that are now taking up to much time.  The list  of things to do just seems endless !  Winter is now here - But Queensland style !   Temps at the moment are still about 14 deg C at night, and 23 or so during the day, usually with clear blue skies - This is without doubt the best time of the year in Queensland, and our new camelia bush is blooming beautifully !   But I am still trying to puzzle many things out on the car as well as finish
off many of the things which I have been "leaving for later" !!  One of these is the exhaust.  The modern exhausts do not enable part of the hot air piping, so it is necessary to adapt as best as one can.  I now have my Scat 9 flex pipe (purchased on the internet) which is aircraft quality, wire re-inforced, very flexible hose that is also heat resistant.  So I am try to work out the best way to fit the hose without losing the use of the smaller heat exchangers that were part of the flat engine used on the Type 3 VW (The Beetle, a Type 1, did not use them.)  The Type 3 still has the large heat exchangers for the heater, so I don't lose my heater !  I am leaning towards getting a short steel pipe made up - Just not sure if it is possible, so will need to speak to some people before finalising.



With all the behind-the-back-seat padding firmly in place, it was time to see if the recently re-covered

New rear seats fitted, with belt

rear seats fitted.  I paid a visit to Seat Safe in Brisbane, a business that specialises solely on seat belts for all cars, old and new.  They knew what I needed for Clementine, but I needed to double check the required lengths.  This is mainly because, as far as I can determine, rear seat belts have never been fitted to the back seat, except for a short lap belt in the centre of the seat, that, due to the influx of water over the last few years, had rusty buckles and mildewed webbing, so not a good idea to re-use.  The bolt sockets are in place from new, both below the seat base as well as up on the C pillar for the sash belt, but they have never been used - The locations below the seats still had the original plastic plugs in place, and the location up on the C pillar had been covered by the original roof liner, so it was obvious they had never been used.  The central belt that was used had had holes drilled through the body work to mount them with a backing plate, so I will be putting rubber plugs in these holes to seal and waterproof them.  Fitting the rear seats is a fiddle - they are a very tight fit and one needs to jiggle them into place.  Once in place, I was able to measure the correct length for the shorter buckle strap by using the old belt.   The lap / sash belts will be static - ie not retractable - because there is no place to mount a retractable unit without having to do some additional engineering, so I am planning to leave them as static.  I have also fitted the child seat restraining brackets in the (steel) rear parcel shelf, so two child seats can be legally fitting in the rear.   Once all belt measurements were taken, the seats came back out so they don't get damaged while I am working on the car.

Filling in grooves on rear shelf

One minor change had to be made to the rear parcel shelf because, when the seat back was in - The seat actually takes up more space than I thought where it clips onto the cross rail, so I had to pull back the felt covering and cut a 2 cm strip off the wooden base of the shelf, before re-gluing the felt back into place.  Annoying item that took a couple of hours, but fairly normal when you are making new items that didn't exist before in a car  !  All done now, and fits fine.

Adding the Dynamat sheet

While doing this, I decided to fit sound proofing dynamat to 
the rear of the car, both to the parcel shelf as well as the rear boot, over the engine and gearbox, which after all is where most of the noise will come from.  I have already dynamatted the whole of the main passenger floor beneath the seats, and have been pondering whether to do the rest of the car, because this material is not cheap.  Having made the decision to fit the dynamat, I was faced with similar grooves in the panels like also exist in the main floor, and if I didn't fill them, the dynamat would form a very uneven surface.  So my first job was to cut strips of the underfelt and glue them in place in the grooves on the rear parcel shelf, making a level surface for the dynamat.  I then glued the dynamat over the top, and the wood and felt shelf top will then fit over the top of the dynamat.  I have had to order more dynamat to finish this work, so now have to wait for that to arrive.

Filling grooves in engine cover

I then moved on to the engine cover, a separate removable lid that permits access to the engine once it is in the car.  This too has strengthening grooves in the surface, so I decided to fill them with strips of left over heat resistant foam that I had on my shelf - The underfelt padding is difficult to work with because it is made from old cloths, so tends to come apart if it is handled more than 2 or 3 times.  So I glued all that in place - Ready to add the dynamat when it arrives.  There are also a number of strengthening grooves in the main boot floor which will need filling before I lay the dynamat, and I have decided to use a heat resistant foam to fill these as it is much easier to work with than the underfelt.  So I will purchase the small amount I need of that foam tomorrow.  I will then lay the dynamat over the floor, and I am then thinking of putting a very thin layer of non-slip rubber matting over the top of that before I put the carpets in.  I do not want to glue the carpeting in place because that would prevent me taking it out if it happens to get wet or dirty.  Once again, I am flying kind of blind here, and although this is my plan, that plan might have to change if it doesn't work out.

First wheel & tyre fitted

The steel wheels on the car were very rusty and corroded, and I had hoped to clean them up myself.
However, once I tried to do this, I realised it would be a time consuming nightmare to do well, so I decided to get them sandblasted and painted professionally by a wheel repair company.  After the first wheel was done (I can only do one at a time because I need them on the car !) the price turned out to be slightly more than I had anticipated due to their condition, so I am now exploring other options.  But the first re-painted wheel was finished, and Matt at Action Tyres & More found me some interesting Nankang Retro tyres that are cost effective and

Rusty wheels before sandblasting

apparently popular for classic VW's. They also have a narrow white strip on the sidewall, and I think these will look really good on the car.  The original tyres were quite old and corroded on the wheels, so I needed to replace them - On one of them the inner tube had actually rusted in place inside the tyre, and couldn't be removed.   I will find out later if I can find a cheaper way to smarten up the other wheels.

All dynamat in place

So, all these "to be done" items listed above have now been completed (3 days later).
The rear parcel shelf is all finished, and the entire rear boot (above the engine) has been fitted with Dynamat. This material is quite heavy, but it should make quite a reduction to the noise inside when on the road. As planned, I have fitted anti slip rubber between the dynamat and the carpet, and it works well to keep everything in place.

My bird friends inspect my wheels

The wheels have turned out to be yet another drama !  I borrowed a couple of spare wheels / tyres off another VW owner who lives close by, so I could get the last 4 of my wheels all blasted and painted at the same time - Even then I needed to have the rear of the car on axle stands.    When I took the old wheels down to Action Tyres to have the old tyres removed before sandblasting, they noticed that one of the wheels was slightly different from the others.   When I got home and started measuring, I found that one of the wheels is a 4 inch wide rim, which is off an old Beetle.  My rims are all 4.5 inches wide.     Then, on closer measurement, I found that yet another of the wheels has an ET (offset) of 41 mm (off a newer Beetle), and all the others have 46 mm - So of my 5 wheels, I only have 3 that are correct !!  The 41 mm offset wheel can be used for a while as a spare, but I will need to replace the 4 inch Beetle rim, so have had to buy a new rim - Which unfortunately is made in China nowadays, so I hope it is good quality !!   Additionally, one of the correct size rims was very rusty in the centre, where the tyre fits - How it got so rusty in here I cannot imagine.  But it seems to have cleaned up ok with the sandblasting.

As alternative to the expensive wheel repair place that I mentioned earlier, I have been using a sandblasting place that cleaned up my rear suspension arms some months ago, and they have done a great job at a very reasonable price.  I have alse renegotiated the cost of painting of the wheels with the wheel place now that they are not sandlblasting them, and have got the price down to less than half of the original !  So these are now ready to go to them tomorrow, and straight after that, I can get the new tyres fitted.

Rear pop out window fitted

The rear side windows also needed to be fitted.  These are odd in that they "pop out" about 4 inches at
the rear to provide fresh air, but the front of the window is fixed in place - There is no hinge.  The glass actually bends !  The rubber seals for these windows are not currently obtainable, and my original rubbers were very brittle and cracked.  However I have been applying a rubber lubricant / restorer to them for several weeks now, and they have softened up well.    With the help of Instant Windscreens we managed to get them in place, and now the only windows I need are the door units !  The pop out rear windows also have 4 tiny bolts fitted in the rubber seal, and these pass through holes in the metal window surround, and then tiny nuts have to be fitted onto each bolt, underneath the rubber seal.  Not an easy job, but eventually all done and in place.

Rear side trim fitted

I then fitted the rear side internal trim, which includes an arm rest and ash tray (!).  Behind this I added the last couple of bits of Dynamat which I had - Not sure how much good it will do there but there was no point in leaving the last pieces lying around.   Quite fiddly getting the side trim to fit properly, but finally got it in place, and it was time to put the rear seat back in permanently.  It was fiddly before the side trim was in place, but now with the arm rests sticking out, it is almost impossible.  I think the new padding and seat trim is also a little "fuller" than the original, at least until it settles in a bit, so it was a real battle to get the seat in place without damaging either the seat or the trim.  Much wiggling and swearing later, it finally fell into place, and the two lower nuts were fitted to the brackets and tightened so it is held firmly in place.

Fox Friday beer in fridge

Emily asleep in car !

In the last couple of days we received a new shipment of beer from our
daughter and son-in-law's Fox Friday Craft Brewery in Hobart.  Benn's beer is SO tasty, and Janet and I both enjoy one (or two !) each night before supper !  The cans are as colourful as the beer is delicious !    Also got a lovely photo of one of our son's twins asleep in the back of their car in the Netherlands where they live.  I think it is Emily...........Or is it Sophie ??? !!  Janet is so upset that they (and big sister Hayley) are growing up so fast, and because of the Corona Virus she has been able to go over to the Netherlands to see them.  Very sad for her.

Battery safely installed

Last job today was to make a new bracket to tie down the battery.  It is located beneath the rear seat, on the driver's side, and there was no bracket holding it in place when I acquired the car - Well, there was a piece of the bracket, but the rest was so rusted away it was unusable.  2 days ago I found that the battery that came with the car was dead, even after charging, so I had to go down and buy a new one.  I got it from Super Start Batteries and they had one which was several cms lower than most others - which is important because a known VW problem is the metal springs of the rear seat potentially shorting out the battery terminals when someone sits in the back !!  I then made up a new strap to hold the battery in place, and bolted everything in place.  All good, and safe from the rear seat springs !   I will also be fitting a cut out switch in the negative (earth) wire from the battery, so I can easily cut power either when I leave the car unused for a while, or for a theft deterrent.

Cleaning up the sun visor

I then moved to the old style alloy mesh sun-visor that fits over the front window. The alloy of this
had tarnished a lot, so I set to with fine emery paper and fine steel wool to clean it up so I can refit it.  A lot of the tarnish came off fairly easily, and careful wire brushing of the mesh itself removed a lot of the tarnish.  It will clean up nicely, and once some metal polish is applied to it, it will look excellent on the car, as well as providing some relief from the hot Australian sun.  With the venetian blind on the rear window, slightly tinted windows all round, and white wall tyres, she is starting to look really good !!

Next day I finished off the alloy mesh sun visor, and with metal polish on the rim, it came up really well.   I managed to get that fitted, and then a package arrived - It was the new rear seat belts.   So I installed them with all the correct bolts etc, and essentially the rear of the car is now complete.  I won't put the seat base in until after we have done the wiring and engine installation in order to make it easier to access the battery.

Bumper bracket fitted

I  then re-fitted the front bumper.  This has an odd section, presumablythe fore runner of the bigger bumpers for the US market.   Before installing the chrome bumper itself, there is a large steel tube that fits through the front bodywork and rests up

Front bumper fitted

against the front part of the chassis inside.  It is easy to slot into place, and then the bumper fits over the front of it.  The chrome on the bumper is actually in very good condition - The underneath has a little pitting, but you can't see that !  Fitting the brackets was easy, but as I was on my own, I had to raise the bumper into pace using tie down straps as I didn't want to scratch the new paintwork !  Eventually all in place, and the horn was then fitted to its place inside the bumper, and the job was all done.

One brand new wheel

Tomorrow will be a busy day because hopefully the wheels will be painted and ready for collection, then I have to get the tyres fitted, then I have to pick up a trailer so I can go and get the engine hoist so I can lift the engine off the engine stand, and be ready to take it down to CCC on Monday, for installing in the car.

Several days later - Wheels and tyres all done and fitted and looking great !  Next week, off to have the engine put back in and (hopefully) the doors finished.




Rest of the pics are here :- https://photos.app.goo.gl/Pb6uHnrR6eEh1rqD6