Project Slowly Underway: Berrien 295

[gokart]

Feb 1, 2013 9:35:03 GMT -5 vanapplebomb said:

So far I must say that I am really liking The GoodVolks. These forums seam more...interpersonal than TheSamba.

Could be because we are a club, not just a forum. We know each other off the internet.

Good luck with the project. Looks fun!

[vanapplebomb]

Thanks man. It's a blast to work on. Hopefully as I spend more time around here I can get to know some members of the club.

[MadMike]

Hey Dirk,You can meet up with some of us at the Buggy Builders Show coming up in Lansing, Best deals on Buggy parts from surrounding States

[vanapplebomb]

That would be so awesome if I could get to that. Lets see...that would be the 10th of march, right? Lucky for me that is right when I get out for spring brake. The bummer is that I might be driving back that sunday depending on what the weather is like up north. If I get back in time for it I would love to go and meet some of you guys!

[vanapplebomb]

I spent some quality time with a pair of scissors and a few cardboard boxes. I decided to make my own trailing arm gussets. I know there are box kits out there, but what is the fun in that. I came across a bunch of 1/8 inch and 1/4 inch steel plate for basically nothing. Hey, that saves me fifty bucks for the box kit...not to mention I can make my own spindle gussets. Add that all together and that is about $80 saved, plus it is a whole lot more fun. Bonus!

Anyways, yeah, this is what I am cooking up. Obviously it is still in the concept stage, and I have some more to add as well as a few things to fix. For example, I need to extend the gussets to go around the pivot end. You can see that I came up way short when I cut the cardboard ends. Don't worry, I will fix that. The other thing that I want to do is tie the outside ends of the bearing carrier into the strong top and bottom plates. I might also add an 1/8 inch plate bent and welded to the curve of the trailing arm between the spring plate tab and the bearing carrier.

So yeah, needs some perfecting but here it is so far...

[vanapplebomb]

I picked up a set of three partially complete 68 or newer backing plates for parts. The way I figure, I got them dirt cheap. Obviously I will buy new critical parts like shoes, hold down hardware, and wheel cylinders. Other than that, between the three backing plates I can put to gather two complete assemblies with a little TLC ;D

So here they are. What a mess hu? Nahh, I have seen worse. One of the backing plates is pretty beat up. You can see the edges are bashed in all the way around...no idea what happened there. The other two are quite nice with only a couple crunched up spots that can easily be straightened out with a hammer and a cement floor. The adjuster springs are still attached which is awesome. I have found that a lot of them break off over time. Between the three plates I had four adjusting stars and screws. Perfect. I got lucky on a 50/50 shot and came up with a pair, left and right, of E-brake hardware.









Obviously the shoes are all trash. Thats ok, even if they looked good I would still get new ones anyways. The wheel cylinders were frozen up. I might try to free them up and rebuild them if the bore isn't too badly pitted. We will see. I plan on running the (rear) 17mm cylinders on the front brakes and replace the rear 17mm cylinders with larger 22mm front cylinders to shift the braking bias to the rear.

[vanapplebomb]

Here are the stripped down backing plates I plan to use. All the little knooks and cranys of these buggers will make them hard to fast brush off. I may end up having to have someone sand blast them...no idea how much that will cost for just two little parts...




As bad as it looks, most of the nasty E-brake hardware was covered with little more than grime and minor surface rust. It came right off with a 6" wire wheel on a bench grinder.






After not more than a half hour at the bench grinder, here is the result. After I took this picture I soaked these pieces in solvent to get the oil film off so they will take a couple coats of paint.

[vanapplebomb]

"There there little friends, good as new!"
(Dr. Zoidberg)

[Dustin]

Great work! Looking forward to seeing the final product.

[vanapplebomb]

Thanks for the encouragement Dustin! It's nice to have a pat on the back every now and then, ya know? It could be a while before you get to see a final product. I only get to work on it during vacation from school when I'm back in town, which isn't very often.

On the plus side, it REALLY makes me appreciate and enjoy the time I get with my projects!

[Dustin]

I know the feeling. When I was away from home for school I'd spend a lot of time thinking about how badly I wanted to be working on or driving my Beetle

[vanapplebomb]

Yup, you got it buddy. Lots of dreaming, very little doing.

[vanapplebomb]

Half the battle is sourcing parts when I am home. Being young, I don't have all the connections that a lot of experienced buggy builders have. I am learning a lot as I go thanks to people like you.

Sometimes while I am away at school I pounce on deals I find.
I'll never forget the day I came home from spring brake my freshman year. I met my ride outside the dorms and together we loaded the pile of stuff that had to go home into the car. Yeah, let's just say that he was not thrilled when I passed him the innocent box that had a transmission it it. Hahahaha. Priceless!

[MadMike]

Good job Dirk ;D,another 'pat'on the back ;D ;D,I would just get new w.c.'s ther cheap insurance ,Im' guessing someone pried on the backing plates to try and remove the drums at one time

[81pumagtc]

Dirk:

I don't know what you used for paint, but something I always do with rattle can stuff enamel is to bake it in the oven at 190 degrees for 10 hours or so.

The reason is that enamel paint does not dry...it hardens. It's actually a big difference. Baking it hardens the paint much more completely, and makes it much harder. DO NOT boost the temperature to 250 degrees to make it harden faster. It does not work, and can actually damage the paint.

Low temperature, and a long time is what you need.


Dave Riedle