73 Super Beetle 1303RSR - '07 STI EJ257 swap

Finally, now into October and the build thread is current. I wish the overhaul went that quickly :P

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A friend suggested I check out http://www.rjes.com/html/material_choice.html regarding cooling systems and material choice. While there are good notes on the galvanic corrosion, I chose stainless steel for it's corrosion resistance to the elements but as others mentioned, with modern coolant it shouldn't be too much of an issue. I've followed a number of other race/kit/street car builds that made use of stainless pipe without issue so I figured it's a good choice.

Didn't get to work on a few things that I wanted to this weekend. Our road was closed for resurfacing, so no mail/ups/fedex deliveries, and no parts I was expecting. On Friday I started on the fuel system, which meant lots of fittings, and finding a good place for the fuel surge tank. I also needed to find a spot for 2 fuel pumps that is easily reachable and good for plumbing. I ended up putting the walbro lift pump on the wheel well next to the tank, and the 044 below the surge tank and mounted to the lower radiator support. I also started running the fuel return from the fpr to the surge tank but I need to wait for the coolant lines to determine the route.

I was going to try and use the subaru sensors but the outputs needed conditioning for use in the ms3x. It was much easier to drill and tap for GM sensors which work out of the box with the ms3x. I already had the sensors, 9/16" drill and 3/8" npt tap laying around from a previous project so it was a quick job. I also clearanced the intake for the cable throttle body and bolted it into place. Since it's an ebay find I took the time to check and lock-tite the butterfly screws which were barely finger tight. The throttle plate area seals okay but the idle valve port doesn't, so I'll just make a block off plate for that.

I lied, apparently my IAT sensor went missing :P Ordered a new one and a knock sensor mod kit for the ms3x from diyautotune.com. I've been getting all my megasquirt parts from them since forever and I have never been disappointed.

I finished the weekend by making this poorly welded masterpiece. It took most of the day of fit-measure-cut-tack etc. to sort out the exhaust path. It's a little close to the truss bar but it clears just fine and there's about an inch clearance on the axle and spring perch at full droop. I hacked the bellmouth off an old downpipe and welded a v-band to it, then used some 3" stainless bends to put the muffler between the tire and valve cover. There's about 2" clearance on the tire, 1" on the header and it doesn't hang any lower the the engine cradle. The welding could be better, but you can only do so well welding outside with a slight breeze. What you can't see is the O2 sensor bung in the 90*downturn next to the transmission. There's one near the tail pipe exit because that was some scrap 3" I had laying around :P I just need to make a bracket to support the end of the muffler and the exhaust is done!

And subscribed to the awesomeness

I'm not making as much progress as I'd like, just too much going on with work, weekend meetings and finishing the racing season. Speaking of race season, we had our last race on sunday and I borrowed David's Cayman S again. It was surprisingly warm in Marina and we over heated the tires, slowing us down by over a second. I came in 2nd in class, but had I run in the correct class for the car I would have been 1st in pax by .3 seconds. I think I need to get a cayman s soon! The good news is that I am now officially the 2013 OSP class champion, and I finished 3rd in points overall for the year. Woohoo!

I've been doing some work on the dash, both digital and physical. I picked up an AIM MXL Pista dash after a great deal came up on it. I took over the dining room table and setup a test bench with the ms3x and the MXL Pista talking via can-bus. I was able to read everything but calculated gear and vss from the ms3x. I shot an email off to AIM but haven't heard anything back from them. The dash is very nice, but the back light is kinda dim, so I'm wondering how well I'll be able to see it in the car. Another concern is oil pressure and temp sensors. I'm not sure if I can add those to the ms3x then read them into the Pista, or if I have to just use the AIM sensors for the dash.

As for the actual dash in the car I started hacking up the foam and steel to clearance for the new dash using the template. I want to put the gas gauge and switches in the center, then put the fuse box and relays where the glove box was.

Using poster board and tape as a base I started doing a very poor job of fiberglassing. I mean it's really bad.

This is only the 2nd time I've used fiberglass so I'm learning quite a bit in the process. It is a bit of a pain to do outside and on your own, the wind didn't make it easier. I did try a few different types of cloth in different areas so I can see how it differs on a non-structural part. The goal is to be comfortable enough to do my splitter and radiator ducting soon.

It really does look awful but I'm going to do my best to clean it up and make it serviceable. It's a race car not a show queen, I just need it to hold gauges and hide wiring.

Moving on!

While I was hacking things up I decided I'd make whats left of the roll cage look presentable. I ground off the stubs for the door bars and the forward down bars. I shot it with a little paint afterwards and it's all pretty again. I still need to cut off the rear plates and trim the rear cage stays to meet the new raised floor in the back.

Another check box on the list was to test fit pedals and modify the shifter. The pedals are a tilton 3 pedal set I had lying around from a previous car, and they almost fit. the MCs push the pedals to far back if i try to fit it all in the footwell. If I try to mount it flush, the body/pan mating surface gets in the way. I've wanted this setup for a long time, because once you've driven with properly setup pedals that's all you want. I did find a reverse floor mount pedal set from OBP so I'll probably pickup one of those to test fit, and it should work with the standard tilton/wilwood MCs. With the move to triple MCs I'll probably re-plumb the brakes with -3 ptfe line, and use the same stuff for the clutch as well. Ironically, it should take longer to remove the old setup than putting in the new one.

As far as the shifter goes, it's an empi hurst knock-off and I've always loved the way it felt. Unfortunately, the vw reverse lock out was effectively 1-2 lock out on the subaru 5sp. I pulled it apart and modified it so the lock out can no longer work. I tried it in the car and all gears engage perfectly. I really want a bug-tech shifter (omg so bad) but I just can't justify $460 for one. I've started to cad up a similar design with an adjustable pivot and more stick height. That way you can adjust the throw to your liking and it puts the shift knob in a race friendly position. I've already had a couple design iterations (one of them was even on purpose!) and I'll put it up soon enough.

im plotting a water cooled 914 build in my head. this is now going to be watched closely by me.

also, thank you to the wiring links. I really appreciate that.

Michael

Not much going on with the holidays unfortunately, but the beetle did make it to the GRM facebook page :D

https://www.facebook.com/grassrootsmotorsports

I've been looking at these pedals to give me some room inside OBP race pedals but would like to see if anyone has experience with them. Also on that note, I'll be switching over to ptfe stainless braided brake lines and plumbing that as well.

Finally, we had the last autox of the season and I'm now officially champion in OSP and I took 3rd overall in pax, not too shabby!

The build is slowing down a bit because Nov-Feb is my busy season. I visited a very cold Chicago for a week and a very warm LA for a week. We had a small Thanksgiving with fried turkey for about a dozen people, and did it again over Christmas. I finally got some time to work on the car over the Christmas break so I've done what I can with the nice but short days.

I swapped the intake out for a dbw wrx intake. I need to widen a few of the mounting holes to make it work, but it seems like that is a common mod. I also picked up some wrinkle finish paint to pretty it up, but it hasn't been warm enough to use it yet.

The intercooler mount is half done, the lower support is in place but it needs to come out again for paint. I'm not sure how I'm going to brace the top yet but it'll probably use the wing stantions for support. The intercooler sticks out more than I thought it would but it should work pretty well as a result.

I got the new OBP pedals in the car as far back as I could mount them. The beetle footwell narrows down too much to put them against the "firewall" so they sit forward about an inch or two. Once the pedals were mounted I could start measuring hose and assembling a dozen fittings.

I didn't find any decent guides on ptfe fittings, which are different from aluminum compression fittings I've used elsewhere on the build. So here's a quick write up for the curious.

I started with all my tools in one place: lubricating oil, dowel, wrenches, cutter, and a small flathead screwdriver. I highly recommend leather or thick rubber lined gloves to keep the frayed stainless steel wires out of your skin.

First step is to pull apart the fitting and ready the ptfe hose. The hose has a dumb end and a smart end. You put the first fitting on the dumb end then check/mark the hose length you need in the car. Finally, you cut the hose and assemble the smart end you just cut and you should have a perfect fit.

Here's the steel -3 an ptfe fitting in all it's glory. From the left, the collar, the ferrule, and the main fitting.

Take your dumb end and slip the collar over and push it down out of the way.

Then take your small screwdriver and peel the braided wire away from the teflon core. Be careful around the opening otherwise you'll have trouble getting the ferrule on.

Take your ptfe dowel, or carefully use the screwdriver, to round out the opening of the teflon hose, but try not to flower it outward, again the ferrule is a tight fit.

Now slip the ferrule over the end of the teflon hose but make sure it's inside the braids you separated. Push the ferrule all the way down until it seats fully, you should be able to see in the opening if the teflon seated correctly. Some I could do by hand and others I would need to use the table to force it in.

Push the main fitting down through the ferrule and pull the collar up to about where it is in the pic. It should get to that point fairly easy by hand.

Finally, add a little lube on the braids and threads and start winding the collar up to the main fitting. This is a pain and after a dozen of these you'll really start to feel it in your hands. I used a wrench to help spin the collars up to the fittings and a little lube goes a long way here. Once you get the threads started go slow to avoid stripping the fitting or collar. Don't expect the collar to fully seat on the fitting, if it does good, if it doesn't then don't force it. If you want to be really trick you can pre-intall the line to clock the fitting so its facing the correct way. Once they are threaded these fittings don't really swivel.

There you have it, 1 fitting down and 19 more to go! :( A couple tips if you want unmarred fittings. Wrap the collar and main fitting in vinyl or teflon tape before you wrench on them or put them in the vice. Lube is super important! I stripped 2 fittings thinking I could do without.

Let the hydraulic plumbing begin! First off, the clutch system with a new banjo bolt (10mm x 1mm) and the master cylinder is 3/4" (19mm) to match the subaru slave.

Next was the rear brakes, 10mm x 1mm to -3 AN adapters for the porsche calipers and a tee fitting by the trans going forward to the MC. For front and back circuits I went with 15/16" (23.8mm) to match the porsche 930 master cylinder I was using before.

The finished OBP pedal setup with all the master cylinders mounted, and lines run. the low pressure lines run up through the old heater channel and the reservoirs will sit next to the gas tank.

I'm going to use pieces of leather to keep the stainless hoses from wearing through the low pressure feed lines and to keep the cover plate dimples from digging into them.

I'm still working on the front circuit which gets an aim brake pressure sensor and a brake light switch. I'm just trying to figure out how/where to mount them. I also set the dash and seat in place while working on the pedals, which was nice for me to see. It reminded me that it is in fact a bug and that there's still a few important things on my checklist.

Looking good spydrb8.

How did I miss this before now?

So what's on for next year? Ditch that fugly body and swap everything into a nice looking Ghia ? ! ? !

This thread is amazing!

Wow.

Could you please provide some more information on installing the front/rear coilovers? I am about to purchase 944 suspension bits and am curious how much work is required for the coilovers (especially in the rear).