Go to a radio shack and get some 24 volt bulbs.With only 12 volts going to them they will be dimmer,and hopfully match what you have.

There are several configurations of bulbs that are used in those gauges. Short round glass or long narrow glass is available. Both styles have different candlepower rating. Take the number off the base of the bulb with the proper illumination you like, and put that bulb number in all the other gauges.

Still running original manual Pinto/MustangII brakes. Front discs with 9″ drums in back. Went to LTDII master cylinder with LTDII proporting valve in early 90’s. The master cyl has lines exiting toward engine instead of up against side panel. The proporting valve was used because that’s all I had on the shelf when the Pinto unit began leaking. Ha…[Read more]

Bill you obviously modified your car, how about the brakes?With your rear you’re not using the pinto component what about the front discs?Still manual I assume.

Just my 2 cents. My TD has a fake tire cover, no vents. I’ve driven over 20,000 miles in the two years I’ve had it. In weather that was in the 80’s and 90’s to cold weather in the 30’s. I’ve never had a problem.

Paul….when you do get the TD back and start the teardown, if your engine does not have the doghouse style oil cooler that’d be a good time to switch. maybe even run an external oil cooler. Seriously thinking of that with mine. 

Like I said….we all know the RIGHT way. But a lot of miles on a lot of VW based TD replicas without overheating problems has to be more than just luck. I’m just sayin….Bottom line, if you are able to seal off the upper from the lower engine…do it. But if you are unable to, due to the design of your car, I’m pretty convinced you won’t cause…[Read more]

Bump.Spent some time on Craigslist and elsewhere, researching.Looked to me at first like a set of Dunlop bolt-on splines for the Triumph TR4 maybe could be made to fit the VW hub with a bit of re-drilling for the 4 x 4.5 bolt circle. But maybe not, because the centers of those 42mm hubs might be too tight to go around the VW bearing caps, which…[Read more]

Dune buggies with totally exposed engines are not at all comparable to our cars. The tin keeps the hot air from going into the fan in our cars because we have a rear deck lid that can trap the hot gases. The fact that most of the TD’s have no tin separating upper and lower engine just shows how lucky those owners are that their cars don’t overheat…[Read more]

I like the sharpie idea for color.  I am not that worried about intensity – that is an easy fix. 

I had considered a V-8 swap some years ago and determined that I would have to cut open the front of the side panels. I see that the front of your panels are intact. I’d love to see more photos.

Please come to Carlisle this year, Bill!

I’ll be keen to hear what you come up with. I lost the press fixture for one of my new VDOs last spring. Ended up jamming the old round mini bulb fixture that I think came out of one of the replaced gauges in the hole. Didn’t quite fit right, but it’s held so far. The brightness was actually pretty similar.And BTW, the original dash gauges from…[Read more]

OOH. Forgot.Photo was taken at a charity autocross at Millennium Aviation at the Reading, PA airport. Event was sponsored by by a local Porsche club. “Porsche’s and Planes” The morning session was dry but the downpour lasted all afternoon. I never bothered to even bring the top. It was great to pull better times than some of the much pricier cars…[Read more]

Paul’s point about the tins is absolutely correct and well taken.But there is sometimes trouble with these engines, I think, in these cars. Paul himself sucked a valve two years ago on the way to Carlisle. How many miles on that puppy? And was it abused? I’m betting heavily it was not.Most of these cars run so few miles, and the stock-type VW…[Read more]

The July auto was built by me in 1989 with stock Pinto drivetrain. In 1991 I built a replacement engine bored .030 over with a Ford Motorsports cam and headers and a 1986 Mustang 5 speed. Couple years later, cylinder head was swapped with early large port head and mated to an Offy intake with a 390 cfm Holly 4 barrel. We added 4:11 gears and a…[Read more]

So, to put this to rest (maybe), I conducted a small experiment:  I loosened the top hinge on my MiGi so that there was an obvious gap at the top.  With the engine running and fully warmed up, in my garage.  I could not get smoke held at the gap to go into the engine compartment.  In fact, it seemed to want to go out.  This may be due to the conv…[Read more]

I KNOW you are right mrlmd!
In particular…the vents on the Beetle.
But I suspect with the odd airflow that is going over our cars, we’re not pulling to much air in through the spare tire mount (if you have one) or vents cut into the deck lid.
I keep thinkng about all those TD replicas on the road (or at least that were on the road). And I’m…[Read more]

The vents in the rear deck over the engine are to let sufficient cooling air IN, so the fan can blow it over the oil cooler, not to let hot air OUT. If you don’t have the tin underneath the engine topsides, separating it from the hot cylinders and exhaust, you will be theoretically sucking warm/hot air into the fan and not allowing it to do it’s…[Read more]