In reply to maschinenbau :
the problem wasn't that the bolt was seized to the nut, the problem was it was seized to the metal sleeve inside the bushing, so the bolt could turn but not go anywhere. I actually welded the nut to the metal ear on the LCA but it didn't help. This was after trying to use an air hammer, impact driver, MAP torch, 4-pound sledge hammer, lots of PB blaster for days, breaker bar, etc.
Ok well from what I see is that all you were trying to do is work on tire size for clearance from the fenders. What will give you the clearance is the offset of the rims. Not knowing the E.T of the rims you are using it's hard to say what E.T would work. So I'll go out on a limb and start with say a -33 et offset. Looking at how much room you have on the rear suspension you can push the rims in farther under the body. So lets say 15mm is about a 1/2 inch if you added that to the -33 et you would need a rim with a -48mm offset. This would give you the extra room to run the tires you'd want to run. You might be able to have the hub face of the rim machined down 3mm or more depending on the thickness of the material. That would only be my last resort if I was set on keeping the rims.
The driving video is here!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRNmGJnQsgI
The alignment went totally out of wack after installing the lift kit. The front wheels had positive camber and I had to crank the camber bolts to their maximum (or minimum?) amount to get the wheels straight up and down again. And they were toed-in over 2 inches! The rear wheels had negative camber and I just left them like that but if I don't need the clearance then it won't be permanent. And I for sure don't need the clearance at the moment because holy crap there a ton of room between rear tires and fendeers now. I can fit my fist in there easily.
I'm pretty sure I'll be ordering some v-maxx coilovers in the near future.
Leaving for Portland in 8 days !!!
Looks really good in the pics.
Hows the ride? Is the Miata DNA still dominant? Did the two cars merge together to give a solid feel? Have not watched the vids yet, so maybe the answers are all there.
Pete
In reply to NOHOME :
Hard to say because I didn't drive the Miata much before chopping it up. The ride was very harsh and going faster than 70mph causes a vibration, likely the wheels or a bad u-joint in the old driveshaft. And I've never driven the old Type 3 of course but assuming it handled similar to a Super Beetle in good condition I would say that it handles 100 million times better than the old VW ever did. The Super Beetle's ride was more cushy but going faster than 50mph caused the vehicle to wander all over the road. Just a light front end?
The suspension wasn't terribly harsh, I think a little better than the Miata possible because of the weight, about as harsh as my wife's 2013 Yaris. Oh yeah, that reminds me, here's what it looked like with my wife's steel Toyota wheels on it:
The steel wheels are a tiny fraction of an inch smaller in diameter than the iQ wheels. Both are 175 wide tires. We sold the Yaris yesterday though.
And yeah I know the new ride height is cringe-worthy, especially with the steel wheels. But mind you that the rear springs did settle down a little after the above photo. And I just needed it to be able to go down the road before I moved to Portland. Gotta start packing up the garage!
I am getting itchy to take mine for the first real drive and discover what manner of beast I have created. Bit worried that I will like it more as a "project" than as a finished thing.
Pete
NOHOME said:I am getting itchy to take mine for the first real drive and discover what manner of beast I have created. Bit worried that I will like it more as a "project" than as a finished thing.
Pete
I feel this way about every single major build i do. Every. Single. One.
The vwiata lioks good! Little high to my eye, but i know thats wheel/tire clearance related. Hopefully you can find a cheap set of wheels you like and hit it with the lowering stick again .
In reply to NOHOME :
I hear ya. My wife won't get in it without an interior and stuff, but then again I didn't make it for her. I think she hates it. Actually I know she hates it because she flips it off and no longer pretends to be interested in my videos.
Now we have to trailer it across the country. My plan was for her to drive my SUV towing a small trailer with my motorcycle and garage stuff, while I drive the moving truck pulling the VWiata as Michael puts it (I like that actually). But instead she reserved those "pod" containers (U-Pack) but only two of them totally 14x6x8 (like a medium size trailer). So now we're pulling the VWiata with my v8 4Runner and the weight should almost be the maximum towing capacity listed by Toyota. I'm not worried about having enough horse power, but the stability and braking won't be as good as the moving truck. And I'll have to put my motorcycle in the U-Pack pods. And there will probably not be room for things like my air compressor, bench grinder stand, etc. And I don't know what to do with our bicycles. And we'll have two cats and two dogs with us that will take up all the space in the back of the 4Runner. Yet somehow we need to fit our camping gear and personal stuff back there (don't really want to put that in the Squareback because there's no locks, yet).
Two of these to fit a motorcycle, king size bed, kitchen table, large couch, dresser, two coffee tables, book shelf, tv and tv stand, buffet table, our cloths, end tables, many many many boxes, large bbq grill, rocking bench, chairs, all of my tools, welding cart, file cabinet, three bicycles etc. I've already sold/given away my table saw, chop saw, kayaks, all of my yard tools, lawn chairs, my new engine hoist, etc.
And yes I've thought about driving the Frankenwagon to Oregon.
Drove it to work for the first and probably only time this morning! I was pretty nervous about the engine running too hot since I haven't cut a hole for the radiator yet, but it was fine. Air temps in the low 50s right now but we'll see how it does on the way home when it should be in the mid 70s. I'm still kinda shaky, not sure if its from being nervous or from the carbon monoxide.
Here's a close-up of the coil spring when I replacing one of the front shocks (after cutting the old one off to get to the bolt). I had a shop load the spring onto it for me since it's kinda dangerous and it's cheap work, and he said the spring is broken. I agree that it doesn't look right. But do you think it could have been cut by the previous owner? Maybe all the coil springs are cut as well? Maybe the baseline wasn't stock ride height after-all.
Update: yeah all four coil springs look just like that. Surely they were cut by a previous owner. Which pisses me off because I thought it was stock height and now I have no idea what height it was before the 3" lift. But maybe it doesn't matter, the suspension is settling in and I only need a little more drop.
In reply to mannydantyla :
Count the coils and someone here will have a set of stockers that can be counted to see how much is missing. I have some stock NB sport springs that I can count, but I think you started with NAs.
Man I love this project, would like to have something just like it.
Did the VWiata get you home with out incident?
In reply to Indy-Guy :
yes except my tailpipe that was clamped onto the muffler fell off and all the exhaust gases were getting dumped right under the driver's seat with many many openings into the cabin. I couldn't roll down the windows but I could at least open the wing window vent things.
But it didn't overheat, although only two miles in low 70s temperature isn't much of a test. Will need to cut a hole for a grill if I want to confidently ride it further. There's a "bug run" in Oregon in early June that I'm going to try to attend, it's a one hour drive. We'll see. Lots of other more import thing to worry about.
Now I have an excuse no to fix the rust around the headlights. 
It's not exactly as subtle as I hoped it would be.. But at least it looks good. I'm impressed. And I'm still planning on doing a paint job in a year or two.
He needs one more session then will be done
Today we're packing the cubes and tomorrow I'm getting the car hauling trailer.
Johnny finished the pinstriping, I think it looks pretty good. It's not subtle or refined, but I'm impressed with the design he came up with all in his head. He never once drew anything on paper or took any measurements. All just freehand. I think the lines could be a lot thinner but at least you'll be able to see them from a mile away!
What do you think? Be honest.
Too much for me, but its not my car!
Pinstriping looks awesome to me. But those wheels need to go.
Overall an amazing project and love reading all the updates.
I love the pinstriping. I also want to say that I am amazed how fast you moved this along. GREAT work.
I like it. It will look more at home once the area you cleaned off to stick the strips gets dirty like the rest of the car. This thing is awesome.
Will the wife-unit ride in it yet or is she waiting for further development?
Pete
Made it to Portland exactly as planned. I weighed in at a truck stop in Idaho (or Wyoming, or Utah, I can't remember) and the total was 10,320 pounds, of which 5,600 pounds where on the back truck axle. That's bad! These uhaul car haulers were engineered to survive being pulled by idiots, so there’s no way to position the car other than all the way forward. They’re also stupid heavy even when empty (about 2,400 pounds). Oh, and they’re not compatible with Weight Distribution Hitches.
If there's a next time, I'll use a car dolly for sure. But those don't have trailer brakes. But the brakes on the car trailer where not electric, they were the type that are triggered by inertia. So they only work in an emergency braking situation.
Opinion on the pin striping:
Great ( Obviously a talented guy who did the work), but ONLY if you are doing some version of wide whitewalls/ dog dishes/cream colored wheels, or thereabouts.
If you're going to run those snowflakes (not derogatory-I like those wheels), you need to go with smooth bodywork. Maybe you can get away with a flat color, or anything from the recent Subaru palate, but IMO, rat rod stripes and modern wheels don't match. The above is an internet opinion. Take with grains of salt.
I love the build.
In reply to wheelsmithy :
yeah I hear ya on that
I asked one of my best buds to do the pinstripes as a last favor before moving away. I gave him the engine hoist, as well as a small table saw and miter saw, so he owed me. I was wanting something subtle but I don't think he heard me lol. I didn't think about how they would clash with the wheels.... and I love the idea of white walls and steelies with chrome hub caps, but I couldn't find the perfect set of 15" steelies.
But he really is one of my best buds, was in my wedding, so there's no way I'm going to sand them off or anything. But I told him I'm planning on painting the car soon so it's all good. And I like the pinstripes but I agree that they clash a little with the car as a whole.
Might have to register the car as a specially constructed vehicle. Oregon is requiring me to register the vehicle with an Oregon tag and title, and first it needs a VIN inspection. I was hoping I could keep the Kansas tags indefinitely and avoid this situation. I guess it's all about money - every state is competing to collect all the taxes and fees out there. Makes me wonder if it would be better if it was a federal agency.
I'll register my normal vehicles first and while I'm there I'll ask the VIN Inspection workers what I can get away with, what is the path of least resistance. It has a clean and clear Kansas title in my name, and the VIN plate under the hood hasn't been touched. Maybe I'll get lucky. But maybe I should get this taken care of before I spend any more money on this car, just in case it get's impounded or something.
Imagine the look on the VIN inspector's face when he gets a look at this car...
In reply to mannydantyla :
I've bought many cars from out of state. Here in Indiana when you bring in a car from out of state, the process goes exactly like this: Whatever teller happens to get you're number casually strolls outside with the title, peaks in to see the VIN on the dash thru the windshield, and you'r good to go.
Indiana allows you to do your paperwork at any location in the state, not just the one closest to your house/county of residence. If Oregon allows that, I would recommend you visit a nice little rural DMV, as it's been my experience that they are more lenient with their interpretation of the letter of the law. YMMV.
In reply to mannydantyla :
You’ll likely be fine. Roll up with your title, tell them you just moved here, pop hood and show them serial number plate in original vw location. In ohio they just write that number and miles on a paper, they don’t even look at your title.
i had planned to do this to the Wartburg prior to building it, as the tag locations are gone, but i’m just going to screw the tags to the firewall with the original screws and know that they could literally be screwed anywhere to the car and the bmv person would be none the wiser. On the corvair i took it on the trailer and the lady asked me to climb up and read the number to her. If the title didn’t match i could have had the number from the title written on my hand and they never would have known.
the title office workers aren’t car people, they’re paperwork people. You pop the hood of a 50 year old vw and point out the tag, nothing else will catch their eye. The only one that gave me one question was “if it’s a chevy why does the grill say gmc?” So I explained they’re the same truck and i used a gmc front end to fix crash damage and went on my merry way.
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