Transaxle suggestions for a street legal rail?

[GoMopar440]

The windshield will be sealed all the way around the edges. The front is completely skinned in aluminum and steel sheet metal. The floor is a solid sheet of diamond plate aluminum but it still needs sealed up a little around the edges. Where will the most wind resistance be?

After I get it running, I plan on adding an small internal firewall under the hood, removable doors and a rear window and rear firewall. After I add the windshield I want to make a side scoop to feed the engine tin inlet. All those upgrades will be needed before I can add heat to the cockpit area. I'll probably try to adapt a gas powered VW heater of some kind rather than using the original heat tubes on the exhaust. Yea, it gets just a weee bit nippy up here in MT. I'm hoping to make it a year round capable rail when it's done.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Sorry, I keep forgetting that your rail is already skinned. All of the rails I'm around are neh-kid.

[GoMopar440]

Well, it's my first rail, and my first VW, so to me it seems normal for it to have skin on it. Works either way. I've got a lot of info in the build thread so it's easy to overlook the details when they are hosted elsewhere. I posted a link to the build thread as it's a whole lot easier than reposting 10 pages all over again on this site. There's almost 300 photos in the Photobucket album that I store the rail pic on. That's waaay too much work to link all those over again. It's easier for me to just clear up any details whenever a question pops up over here.

On another note. I sure seem to be getting a lot more interest and feedback in my project over here on this site. Over there I'd been posting right after myself, day after day, without a peep from most of the thread viewers. I was making progress reports almost every day for a long time. I've been slowing down a lot lately because of this...

Ok, more like completely stopped, mostly due to the lack of any kind of shelter to work under.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Other than the weather slowing you down it is good to have some support of any kind. Welcome again to STF.

Lee

[GoMopar440]

I did get a couple of kerosene heaters from the local thrift store recently and have been repairing them to get them to work. At least that way I'll have some heat in the barn without having to chop wood for it. Kinda tough to do while I'm recovering from back surgery I've been using a 55 gallon wood stove to burn the limbs that get knocked out of the trees by the wind storms, but those are already all gone.

With the kero heaters fixed I'll be able to work on small stuff off of the rail when it's cold and nasty outside. So far the heaters look like they are going to be salvageable. I was already able to get the smaller one working with just the parts it already had on it. It still needs a new igniter but I can make due with matches until I get the part for it. The bigger one was more of a mess and will need a new wick to get it working properly. It was left outside in the weather and the tank was full of old sour kerosene, rusty water, leaves and some kind of orange goo (contaminated kerosene maybe).

I'd like to eventually put a double car port on the side of the barn, but that will have to wait until I can save up for one. Heck, I'd even settle for a portable tent type garage if I thought it would hold up to the snow and high winds we get up here (probably not). Until then I'll just have to make due with what I've got.

[GoMopar440]

I now have the SA transaxle out of the T3 and am finally able to get a better look at it. The side covers on the case have eight bolts like the IRS trans in my rail. It was working fine when I parked it so I just want to inspect and refresh the SA trans for now until I can get something better (Rhino or bus trans). That brings me to my new main question.

Could I use an IRS center diff carrier and IRS side plates to convert this SA trans over to IRS or is there more to it?

[Marc]

Depends upon the vintage of the SA case. Early ones weren't machined out big enough for the late O-ring sideplates to fit (they rely on gaskets alone). Certainly one could have O-ring sideplates turned down if necessary, but you probably have the O-ring case (definitely, if it's a "12-volt").
R&P ratio of the Type III trans is almost certain to be 4.125:1 (is it the "DA" code?). If you don't change the R&P gears, the pinion depth setting doesn't need attention when changing the differential but you will still need to set up the backlash & carrier-bearing preload. IRS uses shims between the carrier and the bearings, you'll need an assortment to choose from for this job since there's next-to-no chance of lucking upon the right combination on the first try.

Late 1300-engine IRS Beetles (never offered in US, but Canada got some) have a 4.375:1 R&P w/8-bolt diff carrier. That's what my son has in his Baja, with Thing flanges/CVs/stub axles, and it doesn't have any problem launching with 30" tires and a mild 1775...might work acceptably with a 1600 in your lighter car. Those are trans code "AM".

Bus (and Thing) CVs have thicker inner cages which have to be milled down if they're to be used on Bug drive axles. Thing drive axles are the right overall length but their splined area is ~4mm longer so unmodified CVs fit - try to pick up a pair of those along with the final drive flanges and stub axles. The larger-diameter FD flanges for a Type I trans are unique to Thing; the drive & stub axles (and CVs) can come from a 924/944 Porsche - just in case one shows up at the Pull-a-Part

http://web.archive.org/web/201505242150 ... ts_101.htm
http://web.archive.org/web/201410290508 ... es_101.htm

[GoMopar440]

My T3 donor vehicle was a 1968. It had an EFI 1600 DP in it, but some PO swapped it over to dual 32 PDSIT's. The engine code matches up for being the correct year for the car. Hopefully the trans will be the same, original to the car, but I'm not putting any money on that bet. I'll have to check the trans letter code and see if that matches up as well. If so, it should have a 4.12 R&P if it's still stock internally. The car was originally 12V so there's no issues there.

I'd like to swap in a 4.375:1 R&P to use with my 31" rear tires and my mostly stock (for now) 1600 engine. I live at 5K' above sea level so I need the extra leverage of the lower gear set. At least until I up the HP and TQ output from my engine that is. A R&P swap will make the job of setting up the trans during the rebuild a bit more complex, but as long as I can find the parts it should be manageable. I'll still hang onto the 4.12 R&P though since I might want it back in for MPG purposes. This rail is going to end up as my daily driver once I get it running reliably. Planned use is going to be mostly (80-90%) on road and some light off road use every now and then.

For the CV's, I'd like to get at least Type 2's for the extra durability they offer. I'm keeping the suspension mostly stock travel for a while, so I really don't need a lot of angle to play with.

Unfortunately, the JY's a round here haven't had any ACVW or Porsche anywhere I've looked. There is one guy that sells VW stuff about half an hour away, but he's closing shop sometime this year (summer time I think). I'm trying to get everything I need while I can from him before he shuts his doors. Once he's gone I'll be at the mercy of online vendors and Ebay for finding parts. There's not much of a VW scene up here at all.

I've already read all the articles on BCR's website. They're a good source of info for a lot of stuff. I didn't find any info about how, or if, I could swap a SA trans over to IRS though. Most searches I tried came up with "how to" instructions for swapping the torsion mounts for the trailing arms. That's why I posted the question here.

[Marc]

Lots of work to change R&P for only a 6% difference. I'd put out some feelers in Canada to see if anyone's got an AM for sale....start by contacting shops or VW clubs, someone should be able to point you in the right direction for both the trans and the 924/944 bits.

There are aftermarket FD flanges & stubs available but I've heard horror stories about them (both fitment issues & breakage)...don't think much of the idea of having to drill the CVs out for SAE hardware as some require, either. Some guys build their own by machining the flanges off of stock Beetle parts and welding sections cut from Bus parts - done well, those should be as good as genuine Thing/Porsche.

Here's a couple of VW clubs in Regina & Calgary with a web presence: http://www.thegoldenbug.com/en/vw_clubs ... e_dub_club
http://clubveedub.ca/html/main.php

[GoMopar440]

At this altitude the 4.0l in my little truck feels like a slug. I need all the help I can get to overcome the power loss due to the thinner air up here. If 6% will keep me from having to invest in an engine upgrade right now I'll take it. I've been looking at boring and stroking (as my 1st choice), adding a small turbo (2nd choice) or both as options to regain the lost power. All of the ideas I've come up with so far would put the project way over budget this year. My number one priority right now is to build a new frame (Beeline Pack Rat 2 seater) to replace my existing bent and poorly made one. In addition to the twisted front end, it looks like most of the frame was built using pipe instead of tubing. Not something I'd feel comfortable driving around in traffic with for a daily driver. The frame swap is going to use up most of my available funds this year. I'll be looking at adding more power to it next winter once my savings account recovers from the frame purchase. If I can't find, or afford, what I need to swap this T3 SA trans over to IRS I'll just use my existing T1 trans for the time being.

BTW: Thanks for the links to the Canadian clubs. I'll take a look and see if I can find something there if I can't get what I need from the local guy before he shuts down. The Calgary club is closer to me, pretty much due North of where I'm at in MT.

[madmike]

you can always run a Porsche 912 upper pulley IF you have cooling issues

[GoMopar440]

I haven't heard of that setup before. That's not too surprising though as I come from more of a muscle car and dirt bike background. This rail is my first VW of any kind. I suppose I could start a build thread here in the Off Road section and just put up the "Cliff's Notes" version of my progress so far. That'll still take me a while to do though. The build thread on TOS has 12 pages and I've got over 300 pics in my Photobucket album (so far).

[Marc]

pre`61 crankshaft pulleys are larger, too...you can use either/or with the right length belt to increase fan speed if needed. My crystal ball says that it's not likely to be a problem in a vehicle that light, but I have limited experience at high altitudes so I don't know what impact the less-dense air might have.
Fans come in two widths also; the one used in "doghouse" shrouds with a separate airflow path to the oil cooler is wider and pumps more air than a "singleport" fan. Either one fits in the doghouse shroud, the wide one can be shoehorned into the others by stretching them open a tad.

[GoMopar440]

I'm running DH shrouds and fans. I'm not using heater boxes so I cut the funnels off the ends of the DH shrouds and patched over the openings with sheet metal for a patch, RTV to seal the edges and used 1/8" rivets to hold it in place. On the DH shroud I'm using to convert my T3 engine over to upright, I added a few holes inside the ends so the air that would have gone to the heater funnels gets redirected back to the cylinder tins. When I pull the T1 engine in that is in my rail now, I'll add the internal holes to that shroud as well.

[GoMopar440]

I thought I'd follow up on this post with which way I ended up going. I picked up a 3 rib 002 initially, but was able to swap that out for a 5 rib 002. If it's still stock inside it should have the 4.86:1 ring and pinion in it. That's geared a bit lower than I wanted, but it's still better than the 5.xx:1 in the 3 rib. If I decide I don't like the RPMs on the highway, I'll look for a 4.5x or 4.3x R&P to replace it.