Simply disconnecting it will prevent any draining caused by car’s wiring harness, though they’ll slowly discharge without a load.  (Should you remove it, DO NOT set it on a concrete floor for storage.  Put wood underneath it, or set it up on a shelf.) Hooking it up to a 2amp  battery maintainer/automatic trickle charger will keep it topped off an…[Read more]

Congrats!
I hope to have my 1500SP swapped out and sell it at the spring Circle Yer Wagens show locally.  I’ve accumulated enough surplus VW stuff to make it worthwhile to rent a vendor space — if I can get my act together to be prepared for it…

Don’t know for sure, Allen, but I’d suspect that the rubber plug may be unique to the manufacturer of the master cylinder (Beck-Arnley or whoever) based upon the casting.  The pistons are the same size inside, the lines are in the same location, and the mounting flange bolt pattern is the same — but there may be other variations in the…[Read more]

I agree.  Wheels are easily changed… the price leaves quite a bit of room for changes/completion, compared to others that have been linked recently.

VW Bus wheels (in the days of IRS instead of swing-axle) are 5-lug that matches Mercedes lug pattern whatever that is…Old swing-axle Bus wheels used the same 205mm 5-lug pattern like the Bugs, but the wheels were 14×6, with virtually no dish or offset.

35 MPG might be possible with a VW 40HP engine in a TDr, tuned for efficiency and driven to maximize MPG…There’s some weight reduction with the TDr, but the aerodynamics are awful — and get worse with speed. I think you’d likely need to change the gear ratio (e.g. use a “freeway flyer”) to get much over 30 MPG out of a 1500 or 1600 engine. 

If it weren’t for the complexity of all the electronics there’s a whole gamut of modern V-6 engines that are physically small, having been essentially engineered to fit in the same constrained space of their I-4s for front-wheel drive cars.  The VW VR6 (narrow-angle V-6) or Nissan Q-block V-6 (used in Frontiers, Infinity, or the 350Z) come to mi…[Read more]

Surprised there’s no examples of Ford small-blocks (260ci, 289ci or 302ci) in TDs.  They’re physically much smaller than small-block Chevys and give similar performance.  Went to college with a guy who had a 289 HiPo in an MGA, and another friend had the one-year only Sunbeam Tiger 289… (they offered a Tiger 260 the year before).  Great en…[Read more]

What the heck?It’s an automatic stickshift, with what appears to be a non-OEM shifter.  The OEM German VW had an H-pattern, 3-speed + reverse, with Park off to the side.If that is truly a 1992 running gear (which I doubt), it could be from Mexico or something I guess…

Would LOVE to have an affordable, functional roll-bar for my VW TDr. I’m at a total loss of how I could support the rear braces…

Not a bad price, but be aware that ’65 VWs were king-pin front suspension, instead of ball joint. Rears suspension was swing-axle, instead of IRS.  Also, the original engine was a 40HP, and unless the tranny has been changed, you cannot easily use a larger engine (such as 1500cc or 1600cc) because the bell-housing on the tranny will only accept…[Read more]

Later model FiberFab Migi II, IMO…

Later FiberFab Migi II.  If that pan is solid, I’d personally prefer finishing this one than trying to repair the other one that had been rear-ended, for the same price.  More to do, but less to “re-do”….
But, still too much $$.  That’s what I paid for my complete early FF that had been sitting in a barn for 10+ years.  Any of these that has…[Read more]

Your tach isn’t mechanical, only the speedometer. No VW that I’m aware of came with a mechanical, cable-driven tach off the distributor…

Early FiberFab, it appears.  Lots of good parts there, but priced a bit high IMO, when it needs both an engine and transmission in addition to bodywork,…

Yes, it was a 4.5″x15.  Only the special edition wheels, like on the Sun Bug, etc., were 5.5″ wheels.

Yep, use a continuous duty solenoid.  RVs use them to isolate batteries…
NAPA carries them.KentT2014-11-02 07:09:43

That is a nicely built and detailed FiberFab…
Check out the dash:KentT2014-10-30 22:10:01

Looks like a nice, professional build — and at $7500 is reasonably priced with the hardtop and A/C.Don’t care for the “brougham chrome” on the sides of the hardtop, though…

Rub it in, rub it in…