1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

For Type 3 and 4 restoration projects, interesting history, adventure trips etc
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sparkywig
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by sparkywig » 29th May 2021 - 4:29pm

:thumbsup:

I think it's more fun to drive an old slow car fast, than a fast car slow. If you know what I mean?
I took the bus around Spa a few years ago and topped it out at 108mph heading towards Blanchimont, thought I was quick and then a German Look 1303 went past me as if I was doing 50.

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broady_6
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by broady_6 » 7th June 2021 - 10:07pm

Yeah, while its a distant memory. I still remember feeling like I was giving it all I had. Im sure I bearly got over 60mph. But it was great fun. I bet 108 felt quick enough in a camper!
The sultan of swing

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broady_6
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by broady_6 » 8th June 2021 - 9:59pm

Imagine the wavey lines across your screen while a harp strums.

Let me take you back in time (it was so long ago I forget how long). But I discussed with someone that my bonnet doesnt hold its self fully open.

I put this down to old springs combined with me putting a new front end on and no doubt got it a few mm out. I had a spare set of springs, as theyre very hard steel I had to use a lot of heat to soften one. I rolled the hook to shorten it by about 5mm.

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Perspective is a little off. But you get the idea.

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RIght now listen to that harp again and come back with me to Mid april 2021. I installed the shorter spring in place of 1 original. The bonnet very nearly held its self open. I took the chance that if I fitted 2 it would work perfectly. I took the two original springs off and repeated the shortening exersize. I cleaned a repainted the ends. They were sight more difficult to install and I managed to pull them on to the fore hook as well. It has worked very nicely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHpsqEO-9IE
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broady_6
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by broady_6 » 20th June 2021 - 10:04pm

A little more for you. Just before or just after Easter when we had that spell of warm weather for a few days, over 20c. I got the car out and ran it for a few days. The second day I got home, as I parked on the drive I could smell hot oil. Once stationary there was smoke too. A bit of a worry having just driven 17 miles, 8 of which were spent at 70mph on the motorway.

I popped the boot to investigate. It was immediately obvious that the U bend from the fan had fallen off. The rubber sleeves that were fitted 2-3 years ago we perished to buggery.

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I left the boot open for a few hours to let it cool down. After starting it, there were no untoward sounds. None the less I gave it an oil change, it was due in May anyway so it wasn't wasted. Danny kindly supplied me a new part.

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You'll note I have now tethered the pipe as well, it can fall off, but cant run away if this happens again. With a bit more time I will find a better way of doing this so that its part of the engine, rather than having to cut it everything the engine comes out (which shouldn't often).

While I was in there, I checked the other side. It wasn't far behind. I had a rummage and found two original rubbers in my stash. Hopefully theyre better than new ones.

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sparkywig
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by sparkywig » 21st June 2021 - 7:14pm

Lucky escape, I cooked mine on the way to Ninove a few years ago.

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broady_6
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by broady_6 » 21st June 2021 - 9:06pm

sparkywig wrote:
21st June 2021 - 7:14pm
Lucky escape, I cooked mine on the way to Ninove a few years ago.
Yeah I remember, wasnt that the pipe from the exchanger to the cabin? I guess I was just lucky I was on a short journey. I dont exactly know at what point it came off, but I know it wasnt more than 30 miles split over 2 or 3 journeys.
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sparkywig
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by sparkywig » 21st June 2021 - 9:18pm

No, it was the same pipe as yours.

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vwfye
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by vwfye » 22nd June 2021 - 7:19am

😮
64 No'back Speedster
Little Giant Killer III
------

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broady_6
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by broady_6 » 22nd June 2021 - 8:06am

sparkywig wrote:
21st June 2021 - 9:18pm
No, it was the same pipe as yours.
I had a very lucky esacpe then!
The sultan of swing

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broady_6
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by broady_6 » 25th October 2021 - 2:20pm

Well I forgot to show you all something. In 2019 I helped out a student film project. May only be a minute but it was fun to help out.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11404372/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Fh4CfQdx8
The sultan of swing

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purplepeter
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by purplepeter » 25th October 2021 - 5:39pm

At least you got a mention in the credits, but as for letting someone else drive your baby & the bugger left it unlocked!

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broady_6
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by broady_6 » 25th October 2021 - 5:49pm

No one else drove it. Not to spoil the magic of Film. It was all in the edit. I did the stunt driving while wearing the same jacket.
The sultan of swing

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broady_6
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by broady_6 » 7th November 2021 - 1:27pm

Had a good wash down yesterday ready for winter. need to get the polish out and get it protected ready for the dark months.
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broady_6
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by broady_6 » 18th December 2021 - 9:20am

Well ive been rather quiet for a few months owed to the fact im elbow deep in the Porsche project. No thanks to the previous a*@ehole that welded plate after plate of rot and then fillered it. It was just constant. Places I thought were fine were bodged. But the end is now in sight. Quite some weeks ago now a friend came round to give me a hand take some larger bits off the car. But before all that we needed to go for a little drive. He has got his cortina on the road. Something ive not see in the 14 years or more years ive known him.

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And more importantly the fasty and the tina needed to go for a drive together as they have never met!

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broady_6
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by broady_6 » 23rd January 2022 - 8:22pm

Been a long road for Jim. But its amazing now its on the road. A little work on mine.

I finally got my hands on another crash bar plastic plug.

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Which I installed.

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Finally a more serious project I have been working on. Since repainting the car. The shift pattern was lost on the ash tray. I finally have a product which can reporduce this. If you want to buy a mask for your own car, please get in touch. I am currently building a library, so I have others to offer too.

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Aaronslimvw
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by Aaronslimvw » 4th February 2022 - 7:47pm

😍😍

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broady_6
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by broady_6 » 28th August 2023 - 8:46pm

I havent forgotten honest, its just the car keeps on going. The engine is absolutely toast. The oil pressure light is always on at hot idle and the start up knock from the big ends grows ever louder. None the less ive put about 1000 miles on the car this year, days out, lunches and a recent weekend at skegvegas. I drive with caution. Whats rather frustrating is the engine actually runs quite well, idles well, no hisitation on throttle and cruses between 60 and 70 with out issues.

None the less the engine is dying and I had to act before it was too late. But before we get to that, heres a few shots someone captured one day when we were heading out for a lunch.

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You may or may not remember, not long after I bought the car. in 2009. Year 14 years ago I had plans for a lightly breathed on engine. Well I started to make it way back then. It started out with a roughly 2L capacity and over 100hp target.

It was 76mm throw, 90.5 BnPs, engle 110 with twin weber 34s. I did have it assembled and running about 10 years ago. But then life stuff happened and I couldnt afford to complete it and tidy up some issues that arrose. Its been moth balled since then. Earlier this year I dug it out and stripped it down, fortunately id preserved it well enough and inside was looking fine and dandy.

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I will admit to have collecting some parts over the years, so the spec has now grown, it has 044 super mag hads, a pair of Dell 40s with the short manifolds, a lightened fly wheel and a kenedy stage 1 clutch.

My friend Jim came over, the same Jim you can see in my first post who took me to Cornwall to collect the car. We mounted the engine on the stand and stripped it down.

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My first error of youth, I had fitted lock washers to the cam gear, I then failed to fold the tabs over, and you may also notice theyre flanged bolts, so the wouldnt have locked anything anyway.

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But as you can see, all the bits that matter are still there and shiney.

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With the guts removed you can see some light fuzz in places on the case, but this cleaned off very easily.

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So this being a Type 1 case, if I hadnt had the machine work done, id have binned it off and gone with a good type 3 case. But as the money is spent and its my first go with this one, ill use the type 1 block. This means I needed to close off the dipstick tube and black off the oil pressure sender port.

The dipstick was easy, I cut a stick down and bonded it in with epoxy.

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I also cut down the tube in the case, to prevent any tinware interferance.

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And cut the handle off

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M10 Extra fine thread bolt inserted and sealed for the old port.

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Off to an easy start, or so I thought. Wanting to make sure we are 100% to build up I deicded to take the OPRVs out. The plugs came out, with the usual fight. But the pistons didnt want to move. Now this took me back about 10 years to a test run. I struck the engine up, it has a high capacity oil pump. I forgot what size, on the test run it blew an oil cooler seal out. My next task was to solve that, but thats were the work stopped. Having now found the stuck OPRVs, my suspicion is that they were stuck all them years ago, rather than they stuck while the engine was in storage.

Anyway, I tried the classics, soaked in WD40, diesel, thumped some oversize wooden dowel in and pulled. No luck, I gentley warmed the block around the area and tried again. Still stuck fast, so another 24 hours of soaking. This still failed, so it was time to make an extractor. I bought some sleeve anchor bolts.

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I fastened them to a length of threaded bar and wound them in. Eventually I found the right size, it gripped the piston, using a lump of metal I made the tool into a slide hammer and got them out!

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This was followed up with a good clean of the bores until the pistons slid in an out using only gravity and some light oil.

The next issue to solve was the difference between a type 1 and type 3 oil cooler studs. M8 on type 1, M6 on type 3. So I made some inserts, yes I wasted a lot of stock there, but it was all I had to hand at the time.

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Trimmed down and bonded in.

End of the crank needed a polish up as it had surface rust, luckily this isnt a bearing face, just the surface the fan sits on.

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I then pressed on with the long block rebuild. The cam gear was removed, and then refitted with out the tab washers. I used loctite and the correct torque.

Id forgotten how close the rods get to the cam!
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I also reminded myself of roughly where I was heading. Nearly a 9:1 CR should improve the power output.

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Everything had a visit to the parts washer for thorough clean.

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Oil cooler installed with long bolts bonded in, before I fitted the barrels and then remembered there isnt room to do this after.

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Now we get into the world of new. I knew I needed bolt up rocker arms, but I hadnt bought any in the earlier build. And to be honest Id forgotten I had them, Swivel feet too!

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So I went a read about how to set them up, got hold of some extra shims and set about adjusting them. The first issue I had was that pedistals needed spacers so that the valves would actually close, owed to the new feet. So I made some test pieces on the lathe, based on some rough measurments id taken.

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My parting off needs work.

Mocked up with the shims, its fairly close, I need to back the studs out a touch to give me more thread. And then I need to measure the geometry.

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Running in parallel to this, I assesed, repaired, adjusted the tinware and sent it into the powder coaters. As always I dressed the casting marks off the fan housing.

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Everything came back well, other than the belt housing.

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This is as far as Ive got to since I started in late April. Ive then had many summer reasons not to touch it again. But theyre starting to run out and ill get back on it shortly.
The sultan of swing

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Aaronslimvw
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by Aaronslimvw » 31st August 2023 - 1:29am

Looks great on the road!

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broady_6
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by broady_6 » 25th November 2023 - 8:44pm

How has it been 3 months!? I have done things with this one honest.

The first thing was I worked on repairing the belt housing, only to find a replacement from the well know type 3 parts man, Danny Lord. So I sent that for powder coating. Along with a couple of other bits of tin that I had trimmed.

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As pleasing as that was to work on, I stopped before id finished as by this point id bought another.

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Throttle bellcrank stripped, cleaned out, painted, coated and greased.

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Deep oil pump mocked up, because the next thing was to check fan housing clearance. As ive got a full flow tapping behind the housing.

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This took many hours of cutting and filing, better to remove a bit at a time, than to remove too much all at once.

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I then needed to close off the big hole in the fan housing, I planned to rivet a plate in. I started to shape it up.

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I then realised it was going to be very hard work, for little gain. As I result I decided to go for fibre glass. Its easier to shape, and just as capable of ducting air.

A few other small jobs in progress, I sealed the oil cooler,

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The AOS was a bit grotty on the inside, and having been through a blasting cabinet, I wanted to wash it out. So it went in the ultrasonic cleaner. And im glad it did. Look at that fluid afterwards!

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I also solved another little issue, getting at the plugs with short stack manifolds for Dell 40s is some what "tricky"

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So I bought a new tool.

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And there is roughly where weve got too. Progress isnt fast on this one, but im enjoying it as break from the DIY round the house.
The sultan of swing

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Ant B
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by Ant B » 26th November 2023 - 8:50am

Progress is progress, no matter how small.
1967 Karmann ghia
1972 412 variant
ex AA van
4" scale foster traction engine.
vw caddy pickup mk 1

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purplepeter
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by purplepeter » 2nd December 2023 - 9:40am

I know you'll forgive me for this, but why does it look like you've got sealant between pump & cover?

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broady_6
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by broady_6 » 2nd December 2023 - 10:24am

Because im fed up of old warped faces never quite sealing with a paper gasket. So I use a smear of liquid gasket to kept it from leaking.
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purplepeter
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Re: 1971 VW Type 3 Fastback

Post by purplepeter » 2nd December 2023 - 10:33am

You know that can bugger the end float of the pump, don't you?
Brickwerks have genuine new covers https://brickwerks.co.uk/product/oil-pu ... l-not-2-0/

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