Fitting the turbo lump to the strengthened gearbox - part one

12th December 2009.
The installation of my turbo engine back into my buggy was something that I had long awaited. I had had the engine with some parts mounted for the turbo sometime ago but it was going to be interesting fitting the completed engine and my spirits were high as I new with it fitted I only had to plumb the fuel up to the engine through the new pump to get the engine fired up.

From the onset this proved more difficult than I had underestimated the extra height the pressure caps took and the cross air intake ducting had took the engine height much higher. I decided I would have to jack the rear of the car up and allow the engine to go under the rear boot area. This soon became difficult and I realised that the caps and engine would not fit under the engine compartment. In addition there seemed to be some interference with the ceramic drag exhaust and the CSP Torque bar. The exhaust J tube went right through where the torque bar anchored. My own bar that I had made up to support the rear seat area fitted perfectly.

I decided that I would have to remove the CSP Torque bar diagonal triangulations to the frame horns and remove the pressure ducting and caps so that the engine would fit and the Clarence issues could be seen. The engine fitted perfectly after these items had been removed. I had enlisted some friends to help me lift the engine.

With the engine fitted the top of the carburetors and the clearance can be seen in the photograph to the left. It can bee seen that the wooden block and the lower tear of the back was obstructing the pressure caps from going on. It was clear I would need to do some re modeling of the rear to allow for these parts to be fitted. In addition I knew that the CSP Torque bar would never fit with these J tubes I wondered if different tubes could be made up which would not interfere with the CSP Torque bar.
I was gutted my turbo engine refit was slowly turning into a disaster and a new list of jobs to complete. I started looking at the rear body work on an attempt to figure how to modify the rear of the buggy to allow the components to be fitted. I new I would have to sketch out some ideas for this before starting to cut the rear end and re-fibreglass it to shape. I tried to see whether I could modify the rear of the chassis by moving up the rear wing. This looked like the most easiest and best option and would mean with careful cutting the approximate shape could still be captured giving enough clearance underneath for the new turbo pressure ducting system. I would have to remove the engine and cut the fibreglass before re-bonding it in place. |The photo above shows the approximate difference with the area moved up. You must ignore the lover light clusters which would not be there after the wings were highered. I used a photo to see how it would look.

Body work and Gel coating the rear seating area

18th November 2009
Since making my rear body support I had noticed that the rear seating area that it attached to on the left side was not allowing it to sit straight. This was mainly caused by the fibre glass seat area work that I had undertaken in Mad March affairs with the CSP Torque bar installation and rear body modification but not been able to get access to. Luckily with the engine still out I was able to dismantle the body support and the torque bar to give access to the area under the seat. Where I had moulded the shape on cardboard sections there had been some seapage underneath that was obstructing the off side body support bracket. I used a rotary disk sanding attachment for my drill with an 80 grade disk. This cut the area back so that it was in line with the bottom panel. The process was slow going but rewarding as it gradually came back in shape.

The next problem was going to be how to remove the gel coat from the areas where I wanted to fibre glass were they were very close to the chassis or suspension. I had to think about this as I didn't want to spend a lot of money buying a Black and Decker rotary file. I remembered using a carpet layers knife in the past and set out to see if I could find one to see if I could cut the old gel coat off in slices.

When I cleaned up the left hand side I noticed that the bracket came back into orientation. I had to fill the holes I had made to mount it originally, I cut the surounding area down with the rotary sander from both sides and re fibre glassed from both sides to make a strong bond and re drill to bolt to its new location.

I was going to try to get my grey gel coat in a jar from the last place I got it made up a small fibre glass company. Unfortunately I believed they had moved on so a new search was on to find another company that would be so reciprocating. The red I thought would only come from one source as its not used commercially or so I thought. Luckily a search using the Yell search engine provided me with a surprise that the company Castle Mouldings I had purchased the original gel coat was still trading and would happily still sell me gel coat. This was great news and the gel coat was applied using a brush to the new fibre glassed panels. The red was quite a bright colour and hoped that it would merge with the existing coat overtime as the grey had done some years previously. I used about 5% catalyst with the gel coat as it was quite cold . I mixed up the grey gel coat and coated the underneath of the seat area. Some of the underneath was not accessable and I new I would have to attend to this at a later date. After considering the areas I had gel coated I decided to cover the whole rear seating area. The fibre glassing work that had been done on the underneath of the body whilst on the car had not been done as neatly as I would have liked with the body removed. I am hoping that at some point in the future this can be re addressed.

I also managed to sell my twin manifolds and linkage kit I had bought prior to deciding to go turbo. This was going to be helpful as I hoped it would allow me to buy an inter cooler for the engine. The search was now also on to find one. I was not sure after searching through the classifieds online whether this was going to be easy.

Installing a CSP Torque bar

31st October 2008

After modifying the bodywork of the car during the installation of the IRS components in preparation for allowing the A-arms to rise and have enough clearance I had decided to cut the body work high enough for the CSP bars to fit. The main reason for this was I was trying to stiffen up the rear suspension. The IRS fitting process meant that the Frame Horns had to be heated an bent to accomodate the drive shafts. This took some strength out of the Frame Horns and the CSP Torque kit would imrove this ensuring the floating Frame horns where locked into the rest of the chassis.

I had detailed the body work that needed cutting in a previous article and will not cover it again in this article. The main reason for the body removal was to eliminate a portion of the tyre well that came into the area the CSB Torque bars will fit into. This problem is only associated with my style of fibreglass bodywork and is not neccessary if you are using the standard beetle body.

After cutting the body work down I found that it was very difficult to get hold of the CSP Torque Bar kit. I did not want to import a new one from CSP as this was quite expensive and had luckily found one on eBay only to find that the seller was not really interested in selling it and was wasting every ones time by shilling the bids at the last moment so unfortunately I had to let that one go. A month later I had been watching eBay and all of the usual sale sites for some time when I saw the CSP kit above advertised. I secured it along with the rear gearbox mount. It was in excellent condition and all the welding work had been done and the mounting plates had been anodised in a gold zinc coating. This did not appear to be paint so I presumed it must have been plated.

The installation of this Torque bar kit is fairly straight forward the welding that is usually needed for this installation is detailed here: http://www.csp-shop.de/technik/pdf/deeng/20917.pdf You can see that the three bars triangulate the frame horns which support the gearbox cradle significantly reducing the flex that gets put into them from a high performance engine. The bars being made from Aircraft grade aluminium make the adjustable bars are very strong.

The rear cradle that supports the engine and gearbox is securely bolted to the frame horns by two large 36mm fine threaded bolts. They can really only be got at easily with the engine removed from the car. Considering this is a simple process of disconnecting the throttle cable and then undoing the four bolts, this is where we will start in my installation of the welded torque bar.

With the engine bolts removed and the throttle released the engine will sit on a jack above a plank of wood. This will hold the engine whilst it is still located on the final gearbox drive shaft. Be advised it safer for two people to help removing the engine. The engine can be slowly drawn and wiggled backwards off the final drive shaft in the gearbox until it becomes disengaged. The engine will then be solely supported by the jack and it should be slowly lowered to the ground with the engine nearer the ground. Ask your friend who has been helping you stabilise the engine on the way down to help you lift it from the jack onto another plank of wood. This should be easily accomplished but ensure if you are following this that you use the proper lifting techniques so not to strain your back. The engine long block should now be removed exposing the gearbox.

The gearbox is mounted between the rear frame horns inside the bell housing at the bottom where it meets the cradle there are two bolts that hold the gearbox rubber mounts to the gearbox. Undo these and secure the bolts and washers for later use.You will now need to place a jack under your gearbox to support it . Again place a piece of wood between the gearbox and jack to prevent damage. Ensure the jack is biased towards the rear of the gearbox near the bell housing . With the jack in position you will need to remove the lower rubber gearbox mounts on one side of the gearbox. This will allow the gearbox to be lifted out. Use the jack to raise the gearbox out of its cradle.

The gearbox should now be disconnected from the cradle and the cradle can be removed by undoing the two large 36mm bolts that hold it onto the frame horns. You will need considerable force to undo these bolts. Use penetrating fluid like plus gas to soak the bolts for a few hours before you proceed. If your lock the you will already have a long bar that you can use as an extension to your socket set . you will need at least three foot or a metre of something like scaffold pole or if tour lucky an air powered impact wrench. With the cradle free from the frame horns you can start re-assembly with the new cradle. Ensure that you re grease both the threads in the frame horns before you bolt on the cradle. If you had your torque kit bought as a kit that you can assemble You will have two holes on each side of the cradle that take the mounts for the diagonals. These bolt on with the Allen bolts supplied. If you are having to make your mounts follow the CSP article to locate them in the correct axis. Replacing the gearbox into the cradle is the reverse of the removal process. You can bolt one or both of the rubber gearbox mounts on the side(s) of the bell housing. Then lower the gearbox back onto the new cradle.

The top mounts for the Torque bar are located of the suspension damper arm. To fit them you must removed the top damper mount. To access this you will find it easier to remove the wheel on the side you are working on. With the first wheel removed you should easily be able to find the damper and the retaining bolt at the top. The suspension system is under load and although you can remove the nut from the bolt you will not be able to remove the bolt without remove in the load from the torsion bars that is applied to the swing arm. You can buy a tool from VW heritage to pull the spring plate upwards although this is fairly expensive and is not used very often. I have found that you can use good quality luggage straps to do the same job. The luggage straps have locks on them that allow you to wind up the strap under load. If you are buying these get ones bigger than an inch in size with metal buckles. Loop the strap over the arm and back around the spring plate you should be able to ratchet the strap up to pull the spring plate up. You only need to achieve a few mm as this will allow the top damper bolt to be able to be slid out and the new longer one slid in its place. The damper can then be slid back onto the new bolt. The top mount can then be slid onto the bolt and the whole assembly can be bolted up. If you are not using prewelded assemblies then you will have to just pop on the bushing and follow the CSP installation instructions to weld the mounting tabs in the correct axis. This can then be repeated for both sides. It is easier to hold the car on axle stands whilst you are removing the wheels this allows you to remove both wheels and work without having to put on a wheel and then jack up and remove the other. With the mounts in place the bars can be attached using the supplied Allen bolts . Beware if you have wound out the threads on the bars that these are handed and are not reversible.