It's a good time to be restoring a VW 1500

The past few years have seen a marked increase in the availablity of reproduction parts for VW 1500s and 1600s. ISP West has lead the way, reproducing a number of obsolete Type 3 parts over the last ten+ years, and they've been joined by the now-defunct PoP of Thailand (Simon Kelley has begun to pick up where PoP left off), Rudiger Huber, BerT3 and others, including my own self. But in the last year things have really picked up.



The latest news is that the original "salt & pepper" wool cloth used from 1961–63 is now available for purchase from Gizmo Bob Walton. The possibility of reproducing this cloth has been talked about for many years, and it's amazing that it's finally here. I dropped in on Bob yesterday and saw one of several giant rolls. It looks fantastic.




Equally exciting news: new right and left side floorpan halves for Type 3s are now available from KlassicFab. Almost all Type 3s need to have some part of the floor pan patched, most commonly the area under the battery, but many are in need of full pan replacement. The availability of quality pan stampings will make it possible to save many cars that would probably have otherwise been parted out or gone to the crusher. Gerson of KlassicFab says he'll be at the VW Classic next month with ten pairs, and I plan to buy a set there.



A long-requested accessory now available from Neil Mast is a high-quality VDO Type 3 tachometer reproduction. Repro Type 3 tachs have been available from Bill & Steve's and Tacho Thomas in the past (and Tim Dapper made a Type 34 version), but they have followed the Gossen tach style in which the needle is positioned under the center escutcheon. Neil's new tach is faithful to the original VDO design and matches the other Type gauges perfectly. ISP West is also finishing up their Type 3 tach repro, which follows the Gossen style and also looks great.

And with any luck, BerT3's repro wraparound dash pads will be available soon too.

Quality control, part 2

Over the past two months I've been testing my water slide decals in harsh conditions to see how they hold up and if wax or a clear coat will provide added durability. I applied three decals to an old glovebox lid, giving one a clear coat of enamel, another several coats of wax, and the third left untreated as a control. I subjected them to weeks of full sun—at times over 80°F—and to damp 45°F nights. I dipped them in water regularly to simulate the effects of normal washing. I simulated daily wear and tear by rubbing the surface. The decals showed no ill effects after a few weeks of this treatment, so I decided it was time to pull off the gloves and give them the Extreme Humidity Test. I sealed them in an airtight bag with a few ounces of water and left them in the hot sun for a week. Here's the result:



None of the three test decals fared very well, but then neither did the original paint on the glovebox lid or the original 40-year-old decals on the other side. The glovebox itself started rusting very quickly and the paint began to bubble. Needless to say, if your car was stored in similar steambath conditions flaking decals would be the least of your worries. It's worth noting that the wax didn't provide any protection at all, but the clear coat did help a bit.

Clear coat (left) and wax:



The original Karmann decals began to bubble and loosen too. There was no rust on the glovebox prior to the humidity test.



In the end, I think these tests show that the decals themselves are as durable as Karmann's originals, which is to say that they're vulnerable to damage from unusual dampness and abrasion but should be fine in normal conditions. A clear coat does seem to provide an extra measure of durability and protection from normal humidity, but if you happen to live in a rainforest all bets are off.

If you purchased decals from me and have experienced any unusual problems please let me know and I will be happy to provide replacements.

Modifying a Type 1 oil slinger for an early Type 3

As mentioned in a previous post, 1962 Type 3 rear brakes are different than those on later models. One of the most obvious differences is the presence of an oil slinger on each drum, which uses centrifugal force to direct any gear oil that gets past the axle seal away from the brake shoes and to the outside of the drum. The Type 3 slinger (part number 311 501 631) is a unique one-year-only part only used up to chassis number 0 076 299. Many have been discarded over the years during service, so if you're in need of one, as I am, you're in for a search.

After looking for awhile and following a few leads to dead ends I decided to try another approach. Jason Weigel suggested I try modifying a Type 1 or Type 2 part to fit. Yes, 1950s beetles and buses also had oil slingers, and they're easy to find due to much higher production numbers, so I was able to buy a pair of Type 1 oil slingers advertised on The Samba for a reasonable price. Here is one of them (left) next to a Type 3 slinger from my car (right):




As you can see, the Type 1 slinger is considerably flatter. The Type 3 tube is also slightly longer. I stuffed the inside of the tube with a few pieces of wire to keep it from getting crimped closed and then carefully re-bent it to match the Type 3 part using a vice and a pair of metalworking pliers. The steel was more malleable than I expected.



The idea was to get the tube to correspond as closely as possible to the inside surface of the brake drum, as did the original Type 3 part, allowing clearance for the brake shoes and wheel cylinder. The slightly shorter tube length turned out not to be a problem.




Couldn't hear any rubbing with the drum back in place, so I think it will work. I'll still try to find another real Type 3 slinger but this will get me by for now. Next step: pulling everything apart again to redo the brakes themselves.

New again

I picked up the restored speedometer, tachometer, fuel gauge, and radio grille from North Hollywood Speedometer today. Nice job Patrick, thanks! My Ghia is not worthy.

NOS SWF wiper blades

To go along with these.

Best $60 I've ever spent

I have always dreaded brake work on older aircooled VWs because of the hassle of dealing with the rear axle nuts. Getting the nuts loose involved a breaker bar, a good length of cheater pipe and some colorful language. Getting them tight again was something I was never able to master with hand tools, so I would do the best I could and then limp over to a local shop to have them torque the nuts to spec. I can't believe it's taken me this long to finally buy a torque multiplying tool to do the job. This tool, popularly known as the Torque Meister or Torque Dude, multiplies the torque nine times, allowing the high-torque axle nuts and flywheel gland nut to be removed and installed with simple hand tools and minimal effort.




Once I got the left rear drum off I found a hardened sludgy film on everything. I knew there was a brake fluid leak, but a lot of gear oil has been leaking over time too. The previous owner had the original rear drum replaced with a later style drum without an oil slinger (311 501 615 D), but the bearing housing and all the other internal parts are still the original '62 Type 1 parts, so the gear oil that would have been directed to the outside of the drum had the slinger been installed was instead just spun around onto the brakes. Nice. At least rust has been kept to a minimum.



Here's the source of the brake fluid leak. One of the nice things about 1962 model VW 1500s is that the rear wheel cylinders are the same as Type 1 front cylinders from the same time period (113 611 057 B), so they're easy to find. I was able to buy new OEM German cylinders from ISP West at a reasonable price. ISP also had the oil slinger I needed, used, but when it arrived I was disappointed to find that it was damaged—the drain tube is crimped flat. ISP noted the damage on the invoice and offered the take it back if I can't get it straightened, and that's a possibility. It'll be hard to get the tube straightened without causing collateral damage elsewhere. I'm going to see if I can find a better one first.



I still have the Ghia's original '62 left rear drum, part number 311 501 615, but the friction surface was heavily scored and very rusty. I had a local shop turn it to clean up the braking surface but the inner diameter is now about .5mm beyond the wear limit. This drum is toast. I'm going to have to locate a good used one somewhere, or have the later one that's on the car drilled for the oil slinger.

Quality control

I've ordered a lot of parts and some tools I need to get the Ghia on the road again. While I'm waiting for them to arrive, I thought I would do some durability tests on the water slide decals I had printed a few years ago.

Andy Holmes reported recently that the edges of his Ghia's decals began to flake, so I sent him a set of replacements. I don't know what the cause was—humidity? rapid temperature changes of the metal surfaces they were applied to? offgassing from recently applied paint? or some combination thereof?—but water decals are fragile in the best of circumstances, and I want to test a few ways of making them more durable.



Using a glovebox lid with original paint as a test board, I have applied three air cleaner decals. The one on the left was masked and coated with clear enamel (two mist coats and a heavier final coat with drying time between), the one in the center was given three coats of pure non-abrasive carnauba wax, and the one on the right was left untreated as a control. I'll be subjecting them to all manner of heat, cold, humidity, and abrasion over the next few weeks. I'll let you know what I learn.