Project Slowly Underway: Berrien 295

[vanapplebomb]

Hu, interesting. Thanks for the tip Dave! The things you don't learn around here...awesome.

What do you bake your parts on? Is there anything special that has to be done like suspending them so that the enamel doesn't bake to other surfaces?

[vanapplebomb]

Mike, I didn't think of that, but I bet you are dead right about a previous owner prying the drums off by wedging something between the drum and backing plate. That is exactly what it looks like happened.

[vanapplebomb]

Keeping the build theme in mind, I decided to make some minor modifications to increase travel while still utilizing the stock geometry.

in order to do that, a "notch" must be made in the spring plate. Since I have the type 3 / early IRS bug double spring plates, notching will not significantly weaken them.

The stock 94mm cv joints are surprisingly strong, however, they will not hold up to the higher angularity and extra plunge resulting from the increased suspension drop. For this reason I opted to use larger 100mm cv joints. Being a Dutch boy, I kept my eyes out for deals on parts to help me achieve my goal. I came across a pair of early non turbo Porsche 944 stub axles and snapped them up at $60 for the pair! These are identical to the coveted VW Thing stub axles...also the same as porsche 924 stubs. They fit the stock bug trailing arms, and allow for larger 100mm cv joints. 60 bucks a pair...you can't even buy one new conversion stub with that kind of money.

[vanapplebomb]

Next, new transmission drive flanges were in order. I got a pair of type 1 transmission to type 2 cv joint flanges on sale at Appletree automotive. I think it was like 48 bucks or something close to that...they normally sell for a little over 60 bucks a pair. They are nice heavy chrome-moly flanges.





Yeah...I got a few more parts from them as well. Old school donut style shift coupler and semi-trailing arm pivot bolts.

[vanapplebomb]

So, axles...yeah...

Before I say anything else...lets not turn this into an EMPI bashing thread. EMPI is just like every other aftermarket supplier. They have their good products, and their not so good ones. Unfortunately, people read "EMPI" and instantly associate it with "junk," which drives me nuts. Sure, I will be honest, some of their stuff is trash. That, however, does not keep me from buying their good stuff. CV joints and axles are arguably their best products, period. I know many people who run them with absolutely no problems what so ever.

These are EMPI's version of Thing axles, part number 90-6905. They have 100mm CV joints and the correct length axles. Normally they are sold around 80 bucks a piece, but every now and then you can find one on special for around 60. I snapped up a couple from different venders who had specials on them.

[vanapplebomb]

Well, I picked up a few parts yesterday that I couldn't pass up. I got a pair of stock used seal race spacers to replace the pitted seal eaters I had on had. I also came across a pair of German Sebro VW 181 drums for the back that I just couldn't let pass through my hands. Here are the goodies....

[vanapplebomb]

Packed bearings. What a fun messy job ;D

I bought new Timkin inner and outer bearings. Timkin doesn't actually make the bearings, they source them from other manufacturers. The ball bearings are made by Fafnir of Korea, and the roller bearings are from Bower in the USA.

First I cleaned the bearings. This sounds stupid, but I have found that carburator cleaner works well. It does a good job of cleaning oily residue off as well as blasting out dirt, dust, or grease from used bearings. At any rate, I hosed the bearings with carb cleaner, then let them dry completely before packing them with grease. One tip, don't use vinyl gloves. They are worthless when they come into contact with acetone. Use nitrile gloves. They hold up fine to strong solvents.




I chose to pack the bearings with a quality synthetic extreme pressure grease. I have used lubrimatic and valvoline in the past. I picked up a pound of valvoline because it was a slightly better value where I purchased it.




Ball bearings are a piece of cake to pack. Just slap a little grease in the palm of your hand and press the edge of the bearing into it until it oozes out the other side. Once stuff oozes through I spun the bearing around a few times to work some grease between the balls and cages, the pushed a little extra grease though.

[vanapplebomb]

The roller bearings were a little harder because there was so little space between the outer race and the cage, so I had to pack the bearing from the inside out. I removed the inner race, and forced grease between the rollers and the cage. It looks messy but it worked to push the grease in with the crook of my fingers.




After I worked the grease all the way in behind the cage, I slipped the inner race back in, then packed grease between the inner race and cage the same way I packed the ball bearings.

[vanapplebomb]

I started chopping up the front beam to modify it for more travel. On my agenda is a 1/4" cut and turn, extended shock towers for longer shocks, and obviously the removal of the snubber horn from between the trailing arms. I plan on saving and re-welding them above the upper trailing arms to limit compression. I will not be limiting the down travel since the shocks have enough extension left at full drop.



I cut the snubber mounting horn off with an angle grinder and a 1/16" thick cutting disk.






I also picked up a pair of old school urethane snubbers left over from the now defunct Johnny's Speed and Chrome.

[MadMike]

Good plan for the front end I was a Dealer for JSC back in the day

[Ruffuss]

Mar 8, 2013 8:13:37 GMT -5 MadMike said:

Good plan for the front end I was a Dealer for JSC back in the day

A dealer you say?

[vanapplebomb]

Man Mad Mike, what haven't you done? Hahaha

[81pumagtc]

Drive really fast, for one thing...

;D


Dave

[MadMike]

I've never jumped out of a perfecly good airplane ;D ;D ;D

[vanapplebomb]

Mar 9, 2013 7:02:02 GMT -5 MadMike said:

I've never jumped out of a perfecly good airplane ;D ;D ;D

Dude, no way! Me too!!!

;D

Well, got home from college this past Saturday at 4:20 AM...yeah, it was a long night. My buddy and I switched off driving a few times so we could nap for a while in between. I'm glad to be back for a little break to see friends and family. It's also nice to not have to think about school...so I can think about other things I havent had time to think about...like Volkswages


I had another classic case of "Dirk Van Appledorn was not thinking ahead" today. I went to bolt on the front transmission mount...should have taken 45 seconds, right? Noooope, took me almost 45 minutes. I thought I would be cool and use some self locking nuts with nylon inserts. The lower one went on just fine. The other one...well, the 17mm socket didn't fit between the ribs. Should have used the little skinny 15mm nuts and lock washers.

I ended up having to make my own tool from some scrap metal and pound the edge of it with a hammer to screw the one nut on. Gee wizz, what a trip.

It got the job done.

Yay for ingenuity.