hey i met you guys at te race. i had the escort wagon and was friends with the fiat guys so i came over alot. it really is a pretty great build. great stance too
hey i met you guys at te race. i had the escort wagon and was friends with the fiat guys so i came over alot. it really is a pretty great build. great stance too
I was only at the LeMons for a short while, though I did get to see the car turn some laps. Very nice. Too bad I had to be at pit-out on the main circuit...
Hey, you're on the front page of Jalopnik right now. Nice job!
JThw8 wrote:JoeyM wrote:How does starting with a car that sat in a field for 20 years not count as least? [.....] I can and will accept criticism of the award from anyone who was out there with us, has seen the car and knows what we did. [....] But internet armchair quarterbacks can keep their comments to themselves.JThw8 wrote: IOE :)Nice that you got an award, but the car seems too nice to be "doing the most with the least." It's certainly much nicer than most of the cars there.
Wow! That post of mine backfired....I have been very fanboy about this build; during your fabrication, I said it was "epic", and before the lemons that this car was too nice to risk by using in a lemons race. I obviously irritated you, and I'm sorry about that, but I was trying to say that you did a really good job on the build.
Trust me, I have nothing but the highest of respect for you and what you've accomplished, and wish I had your skill set. When I said the car was too nice, I meant you had built a silk purse out of a sows ear.
As to the "internet armchair quarterback," I'll admit that I should spend more time in the garage fabricating my datsun replica and less here on the GRM forums. If I had 1/10th of your skills and motivation, my own projects would proceed much faster.
JThw8 wrote: This is not some high dollar build, its a low buck, low tech car that just happened to have come out right.
It didn't just happen to come out right, It is what it is because of hard work and bright minds, the cornerstones of the GRM ethos. You know what you did. 
Not only did they win the IOE, but they were instrumental in another team winning another award and it just goes to show the sort of builders and racers they are.
It was an absolute pleasure to hang out with you guys this weekend and watch you do your thing. 
JoeyM wrote: I obviously irritated you, and I'm sorry about that, but I was trying to say that you did a really good job on the build. Trust me, I have nothing but the highest of respect for you and what you've accomplished, and wish I had your skill set. When I said the car was too nice, I meant you had built a silk purse out of a sows ear. As to the "internet armchair quarterback," I'll admit that I should spend more time in the garage fabricating my datsun replica and less here on the GRM forums. If I had 1/10th of your skills and motivation, my own projects would proceed much faster.
My apologies to you Joey, you are right you have been a big fan of the build. I should not have responded at 12:30am after the long weekend we have had and the long drive we just finished to get home.
I took my irritation out on you about some other posts made in other locations about the car being a grossly overbudget cheater car.
It is now I who have offended and for that I am sincerely sorry. The whole thing that motivates me for doing events like BABE, Lemons and GRM is the camaraderie and friendship and I was wrong to ever lash out at you like I did.
No problem....BTW, I hope to make it up to the challenge to see the car. That may mean volunteering for the autocross, or it may just be coming up to see the entries in this year's competition.
I started the race right behind you guys. Glad to see you overcome your problems (we couldn't do the same). Can't wait to see what you get done for the challenge. That thing is too quiet. There were a couple times you were coming through the pits and I didn't think it was running.
That was a whole lot of fun this weekend, I can now say I know how to remove the wartburg's hood and attach jumper cables in an oven while blindfolded.
Still an amazing saga and I read every new installment. Hopefully you guys will have time to fix the problems properly without having to rush like in a race situation. Nothing like an enduro to point out the trouble spots.
By the time your "trifecta" is over, this will be one well-sorted Wartburg. Keep it up.
JThw8 wrote: Big work day today, earlier in the week I had stripped the floors off the donor VW chassis in preparation for today. So we started with a bare VW chassis and an extreme desire to create weirdness.We started by cutting the front of the VW chassis off as we were only interested in the rear suspension and center tunnel.
Next we just placed the VW on top of the Wartburg frame to get an idea of where we needed everything. Part of the overall design calls for extending the wheelbase. We already got 2 inched up front with the 944 a-arms, we wanted another 4 inches in the rear so the VW frame was placed locating the wheel centerline 4 inches back from the Wartburg wheel locations
The grinding wheel got quite a workout as we started trimming the frame back to where we needed it. This is one of my many "do as I say, not as I do" moments. Please ignore my total disregard for safety.
In the end our poor Wartburg frame looked like this. It was a bit painful and scary to hack it up, but the ends should justify the means.
The chassis was dry fit in the frame and many measurements taken. Lots of fine tuning with the grinder to get everything nice and snug, but finally we got it where we liked it.
Finally we let the metal burn and the sparks fly and we put it all together. I still have some finish welding to do and reinforcement but it's again at a place where I can work on it solo and prepare it for the next all out team effort. An added note the rear disks are mocked up in the back. 944 brakes really are just a bolt on affair for a VW bug, sweet.
It is a very impressive project, I also have a wartburg (312/1965) and whish to do something similar, and need some advice cuz is my first project, my idea is to make it a 4x4 with parts from a vw golf VR6 http://hi5.com/friend/photos/displayPhotoUser.do?albumId=293111633&photoId=3235068474&ownerId=90342241
TomaMarian wrote: It is a very impressive project, I also have a wartburg (312/1965) and whish to do something similar, and need some advice cuz is my first project, my idea is to make it a 4x4 with parts from a vw golf VR6 http://hi5.com/friend/photos/displayPhotoUser.do?albumId=293111633&photoId=3235068474&ownerId=90342241
Hello and welcome!
I looked at your photos, is that the stock front suspension for the 1965? Its different from my 58 and a much nicer setup, I might not have converted (or at least not had to do as much work) if I had that to start with.
I've actually just been talking with someone about a DKW project (frame and mechanicals are the same as the Wartburg) and he is looking at using the full frame and drivetrain from a Suzuki Samurai to make it 4x4. We didnt get the AWD Golfs in the U.S. so I cant comment completely but since the Wartburg is on a full frame it should really just be a matter of pulling the subframes from the golf and figuring out the best way to fit them to the wartburg frame.
Keep us posted on this, I'd definitely love to see more Wartburg weirdness.
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