The Ragtop Express

[TPB_Karl]

Absolutely incredible cars on site. Both inside the hall:












And outside as well:
Got properly star-struck seeing the Red zeppelin roll in as soon as i got out of my car! And seeing Dean Kirsten himself walking around the area!










There was also a small swap meet on the grounds. Of course, you got caught up in the atmosphere, and i had to buy SOMETHING... Right?


DFL also organized a cruise-night at McDonald’s parking lot in Enschede on Saturday evening. Amazing cars there too and very nice company. A nice sticker was on my car when I was about to head home. Thanks for that! Other Swedes down there were Lars Häsä and Janne Hernebro, whom I got to know during the weekend. Thanks for a great weekend guys!

[TPB_Karl]

Sunday was the same and I got to meet both BossHogg76 and Steve67! Great to meet you guys!
Also huge thanks to my guardian angel who closed my ragtop when it started raining while i was inside the hangar! I owe you a few beers!

After an incredible event, the journey home began. The first day I drove to Puttgarden and the second day to Nyköping. The whole trip home went flawlessly except that it spits out a little oil and rattles a bit more than before I left. The 1200 had to work hard, but of course I’m now very motivated to build a new engine with fresh bearings and preferably a bit more power.



Once home, I just had to test the shifter. 60% shorter throw than stock make the gear changes really quick. Doesn’t look too bad either. But the idea of cutting the original floormats for the sake of the shifter doesnt sit right with me. Looks like a carpet kit is in order..




A memorable weekend and I’m already eager to head down again in 2027. But hopefully with a different engine and transmission..
The trip was absolutely worth it!

[TPB_Karl]

The fifth episode is out, and contains a few short clips from the Airmighty show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79hC7BRgu7A

[TPB_Karl]

A small update before winter.

The Express was driven down to my parents before winter and will be left alone until spring.
Before it was put away, I received a delivery of new rear brake drums that will be replaced in the spring. German-made from Zimmerman.





This winter I’ll mainly be working on my -63 bus, but the plan is a bit of “handling improvement,” if you can call it that.
I’ve received OEM bus snubbers and a camber compensator from CB Performance.




I’ll also be doing some touch-ups the VDM steering wheel and the Berg shifter.



A couple of purchases I haven’t documented yet are a pair of ported 113 heads with 40–35.5 mm valves that I bought on the way home from Holland. What I’ll do with these, I have no idea... Maybe an IDA engine?



The weekends after Airmighty show theres a Swedish VW swapmeet, I bought a turn signal stalk for the small taillights I have lying around.


Otherwise, nothing new! I buy small bits and pieces for the engine build now and then. Of course, I’ll update when some pieces of significance come in.

Otherwise this thread will be fairly quiet for a while.

[TPB_Karl]

Some more pieces for the Express. I've gotten a hold of a NOS decklid handle without a lock. Still unsure if it's for bus or bug though.. (or both)..




I purchased a CB hex bar linkage on a swedish auction site. However it is missing the filters.




Regarding filters i've decided to go with the K&Ns. As they come in different heights i've modelled and 3D-printed some "dummys" for testing what will fit the engine bay.






The other day i took delivery of a set of thick-wall 92s and Grant piston rings.



Previously i've been talking about building a "mouse motor" but at this point its starting to be more in the size of a cat.. Or a Badger?
Whatever the animal i think the next big purchase for the 1835cc will be heads.
Until then!

[Piledriver]

Be certain you use the synthetic K&N filters or run oiled foam outerwears, the classic gauze K&N pass everything much smaller than blasting sand, it ends up in your idle jets and kills your ring seal quickly. There was another filter company making good K&N size synthetic filters, search a bit. Oiled foam filters do work, and exist in most K&N sizes/shapes but be careful what you clean them with, I destroyed a Unifilter ~instantly by spraying some purple power cleaner on it, it self disassembled in seconds.


I ran K&N for awhile, if you use the sticky K&N grease on the upper and lower seals the bigger rocks stay out but the filtration never gets close to a $2 paper filter quality wise. The grease was very similar tack and thickness wise to 3M high vacuum grease, and is sold for purpose by K&N. (similar to urethane bushing grease, very thick, ultra sticky, could be same stuff)

[TPB_Karl]

Thank you for the tip! It appears K&N does not offer the E-3341 in the "DryFlow" configuration. I'll most likely go with the Kartek filter from the US.

[TPB_Karl]

Very little progress has been made. I've been traveling alot for work lately so not much wrenching going on. But some shopping!
I've started working on the Monstertach, since it was looking a bit tired and dusty. Kind of a hassle since the trim ring is folded over the housing.



Using a 3D-printed tool of my own design i was able to fold the edge over and pick it apart.





The sticker on the inside of the glass has seen better days. So i've designed a new one to replace it. It has not been ordered yet as the MOQ from "Stickerapp" is about 80 pieces... Well, at least i'll have spares..




Some shopping then! Some engine parts have started to roll in.
Titanium retainers from CB-Performance




Web 163 camshaft




11/32 dowel pins from Gene Berg




A licence plate holder from HotVWs made for american plates. I'll order a black and yellow showplate soon.




And a transmission! Kindly donated from a friend. I have a few transmission to put together into one. And my plan is to do this myself.. This donated transmission has a 4,125 R&P. Needs a superdiff! (MIGHT have one on its way)




More stuff is on its way from several places. Stay tuned.

[Piledriver]

Consider 3d printing your sticker?
(just have a few printed? A local maker group?)
Minimum might be less to have it done.
A 0.2mm nozzle is a couple $ and makes for nice, crisp text.
I have seen similar tachs with the sticker on the outside... could build it so it could be changed with your mood without tear down. (typically have shift LEDs etc installed)

I'm slowly working my way to a water cooled dual extruder setup, mostly so I can use ASA or such as a support and/or interface layer for PET-CF and PPA-CF, probably bowden fed for second nozzle, with a good extruder.

[TPB_Karl]

I had not consider 3D-printing the sticker. I've decided to add the Ragtop Express logo onto the sticker so the resolution needs to be fairly high. I've considered 3D-printing a new ring with threads to make the glass easily removeable in the future. We'll see what happens!


Some more parts have shown up.
Equalizer steel pulley (Bling bling)




I had previously purchased a 36mm Empi Gland nut but i've now upgraded to a 38mm Chromoly unit from Scat.




Finally a superdiff and HD sidecover have shown up.



Now im waiting for the heads to arrive.
Cheers!

[TPB_Karl]

I finally received my stickers for the tachometer!
Scraped off the old sticker and put the new one on. But something doesn’t look right..




Apparently, the cut comes out mirrored when you order stickers from stickerapp with adhesive on the front side.. So I’ll just have to order new ones.. It hurts a bit to throw away all 40–50 of them, however many there are… Disappointing, to say the least.




Some better news is that Servais Engineering has machined my engine case for the upcoming engine build!
The case was pretty beat up and needed quite a bit of love.



Line bored with new main bearings




Decked in relation to the crankshaft centerline and opened up for 92 mm cylinders, as well as drilled, tapped, and plugged for all oil galleries


Drilled for a full-flow oil system with the case clearanced for the fitting to fit behind the cooling tin behind the crank pulley.


Previously, someone had snapped off the oil pressure switch in the case. Peter managed to remove it, but since the threads we're damaged in the case, the hole was drilled out to M12x1.5, which fits VDO’s pressure sender with idiot-light.



All mating surfaces for M8 and M12 nuts on the case have also been resurfaced. All case savers have been countersunk as well. An additional upgrade was adding studs in the two lower holes in the case toward the transmission.
The case received a thorough overhaul and will be water blasted and carefully cleaned before it’s time to start measuring everything.



A huge thanks to Peter at Servais Engineering for a great job, and for kindly taking both photos and video to contribute to future YouTube episodes!
Here's a link to his facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/servaisengineering

[slayer61]

That's a fine looking case. Very well done sir.

[TPB_Karl]

That's a fine looking case. Very well done sir.

Peter does fine work!

In other news the heads finally arrived from Slide Performance! UPS really messed with me on this one..









These are the AA-500 series heads with 35,5 - 32 mm SS valves. I've had them flycut for my thickwall 92s and CCd to 48cc. The have also been given a valvejob. I've yet to disassemble the heads and inspect the seats.. They came with CB-performance HD Single springs, chromoly retainers and keepers. I will however use Oteva 75SC Single springs from Logmech and Titanium retainers.

What these need are blending under the seats and some unshrouding around the valves in the chambers.
I'll also have the valves ground to make sure they're perfectly round and i'll also have the intake valves back-cut.






In other news, the tachometer bracket has entered prototyping.