Chuck's Baja Build

[chuckput]

Dual carbs or ITBs have one major issue...
The linkage is everything for keeping them sync'd.
The really beefy looking one everyone buys beats itself to death in a few thousand miles, adjusting it will not fix it, its a basic design issue.

A synclink is expensive, but worth it.
You can also roll your own split cable pull variation relatively easy.
This is made easier with motorcycle carbs or ITBs as a lot of carbs and ~all of the FI rigs use pulleys...

IDF webers like to funnel all debris that gets by the filtewrs directly into the idle jets, it works so well, almost looks intentional .
Jet doctors fix that but apparently cause other issues, I just greased the filters rubber seals up with suspension bushing grease, and went to washable synthetic dry filters vs the fine silica passing gauze filters.

That is good information Piledrive (as always). I am not done with the dual Webers as they do produce more power and don't have the off idle stumble adherent to a single Weber. I am considering making my own taller manifolds to get the carbs up and out of the dirt. I did not have my dual carbs on long enough for the hexbar linkage to "beat itself to death." I have looked at the Synclink in the past and admittedly was put off by it's price, but I will take a look at it again or possibly try and build my own. I do have Jet Doctors on the carbs and I too, grease up the filter seals.

[chuckput]

OK children, here's a lesson on why you should regularly brush your teeth. If you don't take care of those teeth they can fall out.

I had the drive gear on the starter come loose and then fall off (Hi-Torque starter) and I think that started the damage and it just got progressively worse. The good news is that I have another flywheel, clutch and pressure plate. I'll probably swap out the throwout bearing while I have access to it now. I measured the teeth on the good flywheel and they were 4.5 mm. The worse section of the damaged flywheel measured out at 2 mm.

Flywheel Teeth 1.jpg

Flywheel Teeth 2.jpg

Flywheel Crumbs.jpg

[chuckput]

Spent some time on the desert this morning watching a D38 Motorcycle race. This is the first time I have had the car out in nearly a year. due to so many issues I have run into. I have returned to a single carb for the moment. I still have some things to work out. Last Spring I replaced my rack and pinion and I changed my front tires from a biased ply tire to a radial. Now, the issue is I have bump steer. I am looking for solutions. When I initially installed the steering rack I was careful cycling the front suspension to make sure I had the least amount of bump steer possible. That rack was a genuine Chinesium 1:1 unit and the new rack is a Saco 1.5:1 unit.

041622 Plaster City 2.jpg

041622 Plaster City West.jpg

[chuckput]

LET'S TALK BUMP STEER

As I mentioned in my earlier post above, bump steer seems to have mysteriously showed up. The facts are that I originally built the six-inch wider front beam with a Genuine Chinesium rack and pinion unit. It has steel swaged tie rods using Ford/International tie rod ends with combo spindles on 1.5 x 0.75 front trailing arms. The original rack and pinion was a 1 : 1 ratio and was a little darty, especially on pavement. Last Spring I changed to a SACO 1.5 : 1 rack and put in new Ford/International tie rod ends. Initially, the front tires were biased ply traction style 7.00 x 15 tires. I replaced them with BFG Mud-Terrain size 215/75 x 15. I did not have bump steer before, but now I do.

My question is: What can I do to fix this? What are my options?

[Ol'fogasaurus]

It's usually a steering geometry thing but could be other things too.

Do a search on the web and there are several ways of figuring out what is going on as it can be any of several different things. Anything from the alignment itself could be needed to be fixed to a different alignment now needed because of any of the new width of the beam to parts or a combination of the different/new components not sitting, aligning or working correctly together properly.

Lee

[dustymojave]

The Saco rack probably has different geometry relating to mounting bolts and tie rod mounts than the Latest Rage. This may be the cause of new bump steer.

Did you cut off the old mounts and set up new mounts when installing the new rack? Or did you simply mount it on the same existing mount(s)?

Have you actually MEASURED a difference in bump steer, or are you FEELING a difference in steering.

If the difference is measured, it MAY be as mentioned above.

What did you do with that Chinesium rack? Still have it? I might be interested in acquiring it from you if the price is reasonable.

[chuckput]

The Saco rack probably has different geometry relating to mounting bolts and tie rod mounts than the Latest Rage. This may be the cause of new bump steer.

Did you cut off the old mounts and set up new mounts when installing the new rack? Or did you simply mount it on the same existing mount(s)? I did not remove the old mount, I simply bolted on the new SACO rack

Have you actually MEASURED a difference in bump steer, or are you FEELING a difference in steering. No measurements, but I can certainly feel it. Not just off road, but on pavement as well when the car hits a bump, pot hole, or heave crack

If the difference is measured, it MAY be as mentioned above.

What did you do with that Chinesium rack? Still have it? I might be interested in acquiring it from you if the price is reasonable.I still have the Chinesium rack that I would be willing to part with. PM me and let's talk Dusty!

Is my only solution to cut off the rack mount and start over?

[dustymojave]

Did you re-adjust the toe? It may well be different. The tie rod mounts on the rack may be at a different elevation. They may be a different spread. They may be fore or aft of where they were before.

I consider the above to be the probable issue.

Unless cutting off the rack mount and doing it all over is the only way to fix the issue, and I doubt that, that's probably not required.

[chuckput]

Did you re-adjust the toe? It may well be different. The tie rod mounts on the rack may be at a different elevation. They may be a different spread. They may be fore or aft of where they were before.

I consider the above to be the probable issue.

Unless cutting off the rack mount and doing it all over is the only way to fix the issue, and I doubt that, that's probably not required.

I did check the toe after installation of the new rack. I will double check everything and make some comparison measurements on the two different racks and do some additional research on solutions before making my next move. Thanks Dusty for your insight.

[dustymojave]

Good luck with it.

[dustymojave]

PM sent

[chuckput]

Sometimes, ownership of an old VW Bug will just want to make you cry. I haven't driven my Baja since May (I live in the desert. 'Nuff said.) and I decided to start it in November, and she started right up, ran fine, but then the engine began putting out white smoke and eventually stopped running. OK. Hooked my remote starter switch and began the diagnostic phase. As I was cranking the engine over, I notice raw fuel being pumped out of my exhaust. Removed, cleaned, and reinstalled the carb, changed to oil, and fixed a pushrod leak while I was at it. Tried to start it and it ran like crap - only on three cylinders. Checked all the spark plug wires and nothing was amiss. Changed the spark plugs. Still not running right. Pulled the new spark plugs to compare and see if they told me anything.

Spark Plugs.jpg

Cylinder #1 was really rich? I don't know. I decided to run a compression check since I already had all the plugs out. Here's the results:

Compression Check.jpg

Gee, is that why it sounded like it was running on only three cylinders? I pulled the valve cover and cranked it to see if I had a stuck valve. They were working as they should. I really don't want to pull the head, but that's probably what needs to happen next. I'm seriously thinking of just pulling the engine and delivering it to my favorite VW shop (2.5 hour drive away) and have them fix it.

Any ideas/suggestions out there in STF land? My wife thinks it's crazy that a car that hardly gets driven (relative to the other three we own) has so much go wrong with it. My only explanation is that she is married to the mechanic of said car.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I get the same thing 'cause my buggy is joining me needing help bleeding the rear brakes and turning brakes.

You never know just when there is an emergency, and you have to go out in the buggy for some necessary (relaxing for example) reason. The engine re-build probably isn't going to be cheap bug when done and your rig is back together and running the whole world should change.

I hope this helps.

Lee

[Piledriver]

My son had all 3 rings on his bus line up on #3 one day (~15K miles after P&L replacement) same dead hole.
... Required manually rearrange and reassemble but the parts were all just fine.

Equipment of ANY kind hates sitting idle.
Before EFI practically every motorcycle on the planet used to get the carbs rebuilt every spring or it wouldn't go.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

My son had all 3 rings on his bus line up on #3 one day (~15K miles after P&L replacement) same dead hole.
... Required manually rearrange and reassemble but the parts were all just fine.

Equipment of ANY kind hates sitting idle.
Before EFI practically every motorcycle on the planet used to get the carbs rebuilt every spring or it wouldn't go.

Ahhh: man, vs inanimate objects again. Never had the rings align before when sitting for a long time but again... anything is possible.

Lee

An interesting search: https://www.bing.com/search?q=Do+piston ... 19a7b06dfe

Lee