1967 VW Variant.

kadman

I went in last week with the clio. It failed on one outer track rod end, and 1 broken rear spring. Indeed the coil spring was broken an inch from the end along the coil, 1 piece an inch long. And the track rod end had minimal wear, but wear all the same. Fair dues. I put 2 new coil springs and one new track rod end, and also replaced all the leds with new from a cuttable strip in the middle high up brakelight.

Brought it back in this morning, and it passed, but back dated to last october, damn. But its doing less than a 1000 kilometres a year anyway. I now have the Doblo to do which is in the shed over the pit with the diesel tank removed, and now have plenty of room for repairing the 2 rear inner cills. I have a week before I have to re book, so I need to get the skates on.

kadman

Nearly finished all the cill repairs welding on the doblo. Not the prettiest because access with the rear axle on and from a pit is tricky to say the least. Grinding the welds is gonna be tricky, I am tempted to leave it as is for the testers to see that its been welded and not silicone masticed instead.

Its a total pain with the axle in the way, but I think it will pass all the same once they see welding. Fingers crossed

jmreire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121782554#Comment_121782554

As long as there's no rust visible, it shouldn't be a problem. You have completely finished welding the sills and all is left is to dress the welds and seal it up? I'd chance brushing on a bit of black paint anyway, even if the welds are not dressed. Make it look a bit more finished. You can do a more professional finish later.

kadman

Yeah, thats what I am thinking, 2 small end patches at the end of the sill tunnel at the wheel arch is all thats to finish. tester said its ok to put a bit of primer on it, so long as they can see the weld.

kadman

Just finished the Doblo now, and tomorrow its on with the wheels and off the jacks. I have replaced the rust with fresh metal and welded them in place. Access meant it was extremely tricky to get to finish the welds, so hopefully they will suffice. I will know for sure next wednesday when i go in for the retests.

The first couple of pics show what failed the test due to 2 holes about 25mm in diameter.

Passenger side.

Drivers side.

Passenger side repaired.

Drivers side repaired. Hopefully this will get me through in the short term , as i see more welding coming down the pipeline if I want to keep it. Otherwise its a full sill panel repair later in the year. Not overly concerned as we have it 18 years and put over 200K on it, so not bad really for a 1.3 multijet diesel.

kadman

Tester was happy with the repair, so was I when i heard that. So back onto the aquareback monday. Friday i will be traveling to collect an alternator and bracket for the kombi so back on track.

kadman

Now I also know what level of repair is good for the nct. Up to this I have never tested any welded repair there, so I have gained a bit of valuable knowledge on this time around. Every day is a school day.

jmreire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121737794#Comment_121737794

And meanwhile, after all the X mas, new year fun and games have died down (or should have....._) back to the real world. Whats happening in the wonderful world of Car restoration?

Jim.

kadman

At long last I am back on the squareback this morning. Back drivers wing is bad and not worth repairing to be blunt about it. But second hand squareback wings are rare and expensive. I have one for the passenger side should i need to replace it. Drivers side needs a lot of repairs along the perimeter of the wing where its attached to the body. I have started on the edge along the tailgate which is the worst. So I will work on that and see how things progress. I have already done the lower section, which for the moment will suffice. I am hoping to source on within the next 12 months, fingers crossed.

So thats the plan , barring any interruptions.

kadman

Major interruption.

Mum has just been diagnosed with dementia so 95% of my time now is on mums restoration😁

New Home

Kadman, that's terrible, terrible news, I'm so sorry to hear that. Hope her condition is manageable (and that it can be stopped from getting worse).

Keeping everything crossed.

jmreire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121886798#Comment_121886798

So sorry to hear that Kadman. I hope that it will remain manageable. For sure, its a hard row to hoe. Here's hoping that it will not progress beyond a manageable stage.

meercat

Ah kadman I’m really sorry to hear this terrible news. Take care of yourselves

kadman

Thanks guys. Toughest part is to organise a proper assessment to make sure the medication is correct. Seems to be the norm that the general GP assessment is sometimes misdiagnosed, so its imperative to get the proper guys to do the assessment.

But at the moment thats proving nigh on impossible. But at the moment mum is no 1 for helping, after all she is 91

kadman

hey folks, just to let you know we have a plan of action in the process of being organised, so the road ahead will start getting a bit smoother. Lots of services out there for help, once you manage to find them which we have. So all in all a good weeks worth of progress in the right direction.

So all in all I see an opportunity to be able to get back on the fasty, and hopefully Jim wont catch me sneaking back into the work shop, although if he does, I'll just book down the absence to compassionate leave.

Thanks for all your kind sentiments😉

kadman

I have decided to put the squareback on the back burner, and cull the herd, by moving on my 78 VW T2 kombi.

I have a bit of engine work to get the T2 running, as the previous owner cross threaded number 2 plug, so that needs sorting. Normally its an engine off job, but the type 4 2 litre engine has good access to do it directly in the car without removing the head. I am going to reverse chase it with a tool that chasers the thread from the combustion chamber outwards. So I went off to buy the chaser, but not available locally. So it had to be ordered and wont be here until late next week, so I said to hell with it, I will make one.

Off i went to get a suitable 120mm bolt with a 14mmx1.25 thread and we were good to go.

First job was to drill a pilot hole the full length of the bolt on my woodturning lathe.

Bolt drilled, then it was time to countersink the threaded end, and then slit the bolt. Then i had to recess the bolt at start of the threads for clearance. The3n add a long threaded rod that allowed for adjusting the correct amount of flare to start the chase. And this is what i ended up with.

And then all i needed was a cylinder head with a damaged head to try it on, and I had a candidate. I offered in the tool to the head in a closed position, and once it was in i tightened the inner rod and the end started to flare as you can see in the pic. I reversed it out and actually repaired the damaged head that had been taken off this engine before I bought it.

So decided to go directly to the damaged engine in the bus and give it a go. And it was complete success. The top damaged threads are always going to be damaged if you want to use the same size plug as the original, but luckily 2/3rds of the threads lower down are clean and in perfect order. The plug seat was cleaned up and a new crush washer installed. Plug was torqued down to the correct torque and tightens nicely. Good result. And the tool after removing looks like this

MrCostington

That's amazing that you made that, well done!

But it's a pity you forgot about my thread here that you were active on, you could have used mine :)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058101325/crossed-spark-plug-thread

kadman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122041710#Comment_122041710

Just re read your thread. I always knew about the thread chasers but could never source on near me, so had to order from the UK. Still only 35 euro. On the subject of loaning your thread chaser, thanks, but I would never borrow someones expensive tools. I think its the biggest way of falling out with good friends, so neither a borrower or a lender be is my motto. But thankyou for your kind offer. I assume the merc is still performing well.

jmreire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122040483#Comment_122040483

Great job, well done!! And a cross threaded plug hole is so simple to do, especially in a VW engine. And after extracting the packing, a good long blast of compressed air. Good to go again.

Glad to see you back in action again.

kadman

Ah sure you know yourself working on a vw dub is great therapy😉

MrCostington

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122041992#Comment_122041992

I got mine in Vinny Byrnes in Dublin, a Sealey one, about the same price. I know what you say about lending etc, but it was not expensive and I hope I'll never need it again!!!! Anyway you got sorted in the end which is the main thing. Yes she is going well, looking forward to some shows, hopefully the summer will be better than last year. I've not removed the plugs since :)

kadman

I decided to check plugs 3 & 4 on the opposite head for good measure. I needed a 2 foot breaker bar and a fair bit of swearing to remove them. I cannot understand why folks put so much brute force when replacing plugs in an alloy or aluminum head. There really is not need lads. Hand tight, then gently with the ratchet until its firm, then 1/4 turn thats it.

There is no need to fusion weld the crush washer with force, it doesnt need it, if it does then there is something wrong with the plug threads or the seat, or both.

Jeff2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122040483#Comment_122040483

That really is great work and I can't believe I never heard of this tool to fix the plug thread going from the inside out.

I'd put a hoover on reverse to the exhaust in most things with the inlet valve closed and exhaust valve opened. The blowing the grit out the plug hole.

I wouldn't use the tool more than a few times depending on what metal it is made of as you could end up with half of the threaded part in the cylinder after breaking away from being opened and closed a few times.

Just my opinion but great thread.

kadman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122044636#Comment_122044636

Good point on the bolt type. I used a 10.9 high tensile steel bolt, and it was a tough cookie to drill the pilot hole through. Plus the fact that the head is made from a soft aluminum alloy and it was only clearing the thread as opposed to tapping a thread i think I was safe enough with small increments of chasing. But fair point, the last thing you need is a bit of a thread disappearing into the cylinder.

Every day is a school day.😉