Top secret build - Wartburg 2.0

This crusty bastard is heavy.  And i had to put it in three times for reasons we’ll get into when i’m not mid assembly of an axle

edit:  ffuuuuuuuuu

Patrick said: I know, “when is he going to stop showing us pictures of his rear end?”

when i darn well please.  

I just wish it wasn't so crusty. 

I feel kinda dirty. I keep checking back for new pictures of Patrick rear end....

so the fffuuuuu.

i had a 31 spline limited slip center section for the chevelle on the shelf next to the 28 spline for the Wartburg.  Fffuuuu number one - i put the wrong one in the housing, which i just completely tore back apart.  Duh, my fault. 

  Huge ffffuuuuu number two, my uncle bought the 31 spline unit advertised  as a factory limited slip.  It’s berkeleying open.  I traded him a winters quick change for the center section and some cash, but now that the ford stuff is worth nothing because open diff i’m screwed.  In turn he got screwed because he paid $300 for that center and had his parts chaser from the dealer grab it.  So seller didn’t know or lied, parts chaser didn’t know better, uncle never checked it because it was bagged, i am the beneficiary of the final berkeleying.

this is supposed to be my diff for the chevelle and now i’m back to square zero there.  I’m guessing he will make it right somehow.

Minispool time. 

Already have one ordered for the 28 spline rear end.  I need to talk to him about the lack of locker on the other one because i was going to assemble them both today and i’m screwed there.  Chevelle is in the garage too and i want to get that back running/driving by spring.  That’s a street car so limited slip or nothing. 

It has really no bearing on this build but i’m mega disappointed right now and walking away from the garage.

Totally understandable.  People suck. 

In reply to Patrick :

Is this a bad time to point out that I have a 28 spline Detroit Locker that I was going to scrap soon because I haven't been able to sell it and any 9" stuff I will ever play with will be 31 spline or larger?

You can send it my way if i can budget it as traded for the 2.75 geared chunk i gave you the other night 

So my uncle.  I haven’t told him about the diff not being as advertised yet because it’s probably best done in person.  I went over to let his dog out and took a picture of my old plymouth, which he has taken from the gasser i was building(that I sold to him for $2015 build funds) to over the top street freak caricature.   He means well, but it’s about a foot too tall and I could fail it as a tech inspector in 10 seconds.  He tends to not heed my advice on rulebook stuff, so I quit giving it.  I’m not going to give a breakdown of what i know won’t pass tech but there are a few bits.  

Also i had a 60’s chevy van drop i beam up front that he scrapped(!!!!!) and put in a speedway tube axle.  

Business Coupe??

Mmmmmm. High N Mighty...

Cooter said:

Business Coupe??

 

Mmmmmm. High N Mighty...

Exactly where i was going with it except bbc powered because i had one.  The 440 headers you got from me came with it.  It’s way beyond my vision, which is why i prefer to never see my former cars again or have them go to the crusher when I’m done, so I don’t have to see what happens to them in someone else’s hands.  

For those that are reading and don't know, The High And Mighty by the Ramchargers is an very cool story about a Grassroots Motorsports-ish group of Chrysler engineers who put drag racing on its ear and pioneered some principles that are still in use today. 

It's a shame we don't live closer, as I can see that our views and interests aren't very far off.  I've wanted to build a streetable 440 powered tribute to H&M for some time (without the trumpet exhaust) and refuse to sell my projects to friends for the same reason as you. 

There’s a reason the seats were $25 each 

Patrick said:

You can send it my way if i can budget it as traded for the 2.75 geared chunk i gave you the other night 

Sounds eminently fair.  There's a box in my car with your name on it.

Before and after 

Making seat mount from the 1x1.5 tube from the recycle dumpster 

Seated. 

Going to do some peace of mind reinforcing on the brackets between seat and sliders, because they’re pretty wimpy.  Will probably get them set where it works vertically(they need adjusted down right now) then weld/box them in side to side to eliminate wobbling.  Plastic seat isn’t the endgame here, but $25 for seat, cover, sliders, brackets is challenge gold

Patrick said:

There’s a reason the seats were $25 each 

hopefully they used the $$$ to buy new pants?

Just got home with $120 vortec heads with rockers, bolts, valve covers, and gaskets as well as the 28 spline traction lock diff from Knurled.   Fair deal, he got gears he can use and i got a diff i can use.  Friday stampie picked up a $70 carbed vortec intake for me in florida, and that’s coming north when angry corvair picks up the vette from Jeremy.  $0 shipping GRM relay ftw.

Heads are backup in case the slightly buggered up one from the $80 pair can’t be saved at home 

In reply to Patrick :

Cool.  I've wanted to meet him for some reason. 

In reply to Stampie :

I helped you load a go kart midget circle track thingus at Evan's place after futile efforts at powerwashing my RX-3

And Patrick, that's not a Traction-Lok, it's a Detroit Locker.  Expect lots of interesting ratcheting noises when turning, but single wheel spin is never going to be on the menu.  (I never drove THAT one, but the one I did end up with is very streetable.  It talks a lot but except for one or two very specific situations, it has the pleasantness of an open diff when just tooling around)

Good deal, as long as both wheels are pushing me forward it’s perfect by me.  The semantics of differentials is beyond me, being a lifelong gm guy literally everything is referred to as a posi, even gov-bombs.  Ratcheting noise around turns is way cooler than the inside tire hopping like the Datsun with the “no mr inspector i have the elusive r180 spool my diff totally isn’t welded”

In reply to Knurled. :

I'm old but not that old ... I remember you although I think I was on 3 hours of sleep over two days at that point. Naw I wanna meet Angrycorvair. 

Edit. I did want to meet you but now I have and I wasn't disappointed. 

In reply to Patrick :

Be careful with the throttle in corners.  

A LSD will let one wheel spin slower than the ring gear, with friction material between the two axles limiting the amount of slip. (I know this is incredibly basic, and most everyone knows this, but it is to sho contrast to what I will post below)

 A locker, however, will not allow an axle to turn slower than the ring gear, but will allow an axle to turn faster, as long as the ring gear isn't attempting to rotate at a diiferent speed than the inside axle.  When that happens, it locks both axles together and basically behaves like a spool.  The locking and unlocking can be pretty disconcerting, as well