Wreck to Race.

[Peter Jones]

Nice strong bit of overengineering there Pete
Its never gonna break.

The design got revised so many times, I could probably have cut some more of the leftovers out.

The bugger of it all is trying to get all the alignments right between the runners, the seat mounting holes and the position of the seat in the car there's too many factors at play. I gave up measuring in the end. This design is more evolution than engineered.

I killed my previous race car (Beetle) on the street in a head on accident with a Subaru (15 years ago). It had a cage and racing seat fitted. I was wearing the lap/sash belt at the time rather than the 5 point harness. I walked away with only a broken hand and I'm sure the the seat saved me from serious spinal injury. The seat was stuffed from the accident, it deformed around me but the mounts I had made for that car stood up to the task. I broke my hand because a '65 beetle doesn't have a collapsible steering column, I bent the steering wheel right into the dash.

I'm glad I didn't have the standard low backs in there at the time.


Pete

[Jarred]

Well if there was ever a case to over engineer - that would be the reason!

Hopefully the ebay special never suffers the same fate as the beetle!

[Peter Jones]

Dropped the car off to have the Harness bar fabricated this morning. I should have it back in the next day or so.

Looks like the radiator has had it. The tank on the hose side has started to leak. I've got a new one on the way, if all goes well It will arrive just as I get the car back.

I've got most of the hoses new to put it in with and I've lashed out on brand new stainless steel worm bands for everything too.

That's about it then, I think after that it's ready to hit the track on Saturday.

I'm going to trailer it down to the island, just in case.

Waterboy, What's the score on pitting at the Island?

Pete

[Preen59]

You should have tried Seal Up. Used it on the goof radiator 4 years ago and it never leaked. Dad uses it all the time for customers to get them out of trouble. It'll even fix a blown head gasket (within reason..).

[Peter Jones]

You should have tried Seal Up. Used it on the goof radiator 4 years ago and it never leaked. Dad uses it all the time for customers to get them out of trouble. It'll even fix a blown head gasket (within reason..).

Nah, It's only delaying the inevitable.Don't want to spring a leak on the track, the marshals hate that stuff and it delays everyone elses racing while they clean it up.

Pete

[Preen59]

Thats fair enough. just thought i'd make a suggestion.

[Peter Jones]

Thats fair enough. just thought i'd make a suggestion.

No harm done, It's handy to know which of those products work.Might get me out of a jam one day.

Pete

[Peter Jones]

Harness bar is in I'll pop up some photos tonight.

It's inside the boot and can't be seen with the rear seat and parcel shelf in place. I wanted a setup that could be made to look stock or reconfigured for weekend track work.

It should stiffen up the back end too, it's certainly mounted very well!

So now to go from street to race mode should take about an hour to swap the wheels, change over the drivers seat, bolt in the harness (I'll get a clip in one later on.) and put the battery sticker on.

Nearly there!

Pete

[Peter Jones]

And here it is, dodgy flash photos sorry, I'll take some more in the daylight when I've got it all stripped out.



I reckon I could pick the car up with bar! I'm glad I got the pros to make it up.





The backing plates inside the guards are a nice touch, they're bent over the seams.



and a quick shot of the seat, and harness - $100 off e-bay and a very long drive to pick them up.



Bit more of a tidy up tomorrow and then it's off to the Island.

Pete

[gldgti]

hey pete, are your rear strut top washers on upside down?

[Jarred]

looking good Pete.

unfortuntaley I don't think I'll be able to make it to the island this weekend. Have to pop around some other time though.

[Peter Jones]

hey pete, are your rear strut top washers on upside down?

Yep. I had a bar on there. They'll be the right way up later today.

Pete

[Preen59]

Looking good pete. I've been umming and arring over how to do the pickup points for the cage in my car when i make it and that's given me some ideas. Good luck this weekend.

[Peter Jones]

Phillip Island was a blast, read about it here

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newforum/upload/showthread.php?p=154104&posted=1#post154104

I blew a heater hose and then the head gasket and had to retire for the day. I still got in about an hour on the track which was fantastic.

The car wouldn't start again when I brought it back into the pits and repaired the hose.

This might be the problem.



I've cleaned out the coolant and doused the bores in WD40. I also dropped the oil out too, there was heaps of coolant in there as well.

I was very surprised at how clean the insides of this engine were. I've never had it apart and it looks really good in there. I guess either the K-Jet is running very well or it's true what they say about blowing out the cobwebs on a high speed run.



Even the head looks good, no sign of cracks. I'll send it off to a friend who recos heads to get an expert opinion and see what he can do with it.



Here's both sides of the gasket for your expert analysis.



Another head shot



And the hose that caused it.



I can see I'm going to need more red spray paint before this is over.

Pete

[Preen59]

Sorry to hear that pete. I'd say by the look of the valves and the combustion chamber that you've done some serious carbon burning. Looks like it really cleaned itself out.

Your head is probably OK i'd say. Judging by the pics it didn't get too hot and will probably just need a light skim. It looks like it only got hot enough to lift the head but not warp it so don't be too worried.

Glad to hear you had fun even with the problems.