Itinerant Air-Cooled

Well, it was time to replace the rear bushings and is that ever fun . Ordered in new rubber bushings, then I searched the drug stores for some talcum powder or rather some foot powder that was mostly talc with not a list of 10 other things included. Found it at RiteAid finally and cheap too.
Last time I did this job was on my 64 Squareback in 1975 I think so I thought it was do able work. So last night one side came apart without too much trouble and yes the rubber bushings were really shot. Plus inside the torsion bar bracket was lots of rust and dirt. Clean, clean, clean and paint to stop the rust and just to get the new bushing to fit inside. The arm was pretty scored too so lots of sanding to refinish the bearing surface where the rubber bushing rides, then fresh paint.

Bracket

Well the passenger side was assembled with a jury rigged swing arm compressor. I set the angle at 22 degrees and now with it on the ground the car is level on the passenger side finally. It takes alot of effort to get the whole assembly back together as its under a lot of pressure from torsion bar being rotated back to proper springyness.
When I started the swing arm was at 17 degrees and the car had a 3-4 degree sag in the rear. 17 plus 4 equals 21 which is where it should be but with my weight included driving I added the 1 degree to compensate=22 degrees swing arm angle before tensioning the Tbar.

Does the cap come off cleanly on the Ghias? I've been putting off doing this on mom's convertible bug, because I think I'll need to remove the fender to get the cap and then trailing arm off. I've got the talcum power ready, thanks 70crew!

Robbie

asiab3 wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 22, 2017 6:35 pm

Does the cap come off cleanly on the Ghias? I've been putting off doing this on mom's convertible bug, because I think I'll need to remove the fender to get the cap and then trailing arm off. I've got the talcum power ready, thanks 70crew!

Robbie

You don't need to remove the fender. I did my 69 bug and it's super easy.

Ghia's have that round plug in their fenders that you remove so the swing arm can be pulled off the Tbar. Removing the swing arm cover is easy other than the fact the bolts are rusted in place so lots of PB Blaster is needed. I had to pull off the trailing arm too so I could remove the trailing arm off the swing arm . Once thats off the swing arm is wiggled off the Tbar. On reassembly I did use new longer bolts to reattach the cover as there is no way you can compress the new bushings by hand so you can get the old bolts on. 1" longer bolts did the trick. Also on reattaching the trailing arm at the pivot I cleaned the rusty bolt and greased the bearing on reassembly so it would move smoother. I rubber doughnuts there looked fine so I didn't replace them.
I'll take more pics as I am doing the driver's side....

Let's include some pics now of testing fitting and indexing the swing arm to 22 degrees. I started by installing the arm on and then checking it with a angle app on my phone. Hmm, 25 degrees so I needed to change the Tbar a spline or twothe opposite way then recheck. So you install and pull it apart changing the Tbar and the swing arm until you get the right degree reading of angle. Then you mark the arm/Tbar with a dab of paint.

Thru the access hole in the fender

Next is to install the rubber bushings on the swing arm with lots of talcum powder

Install the cover with only two longer than the oem bolts but don't tighten them completely

Now with some sort of compressing setup pull the Tbar up into it's stop position. You can't just jack it up as you'll tip the car over! Then install the other two bolts in the cover and torque them to spec.
Then reassemble the trailing arm back onto the swing arm and the rest of the assembly and torque everything back to spec.

Now I can have the car properly 4 corner aligned and repaired as the front beam is slightly bent back and rotated. The shop will pull it straight first and then 4 corner align it so it tracks correctly again.

I have driven the ghia and wow what a improvement in ride quality. Much firmer and no weird feel from the rear when going over a bump or hitting potholes. I can't wait for the alignment to be done so driving on the freeway will feel better as it has never tracked well at freeway speeds.

Got the Ghia back from the frame and alignment shop and after $1200 worth of work it drives nicely. Front beam was pulled back straight, rear trailing arms shimed so it tracks correctly instead of 3/4" offline and 4 corner aligned. Steering is tight, goes perfectly straight down the highway and is nimble on the streets just like a new car. This is all after balljoints, tierods, wheel bearings, rubber bushings, shocks, discs, steering coupling, etc....but it's the wife's car so it's well spent. So it's possible to take a neglected 47 yr old car and with time and money get it back to driving like new!

Bleyseng wrote: ↑

Thu May 04, 2017 7:24 am

So it's possible to take a neglected 47 yr old car and with time and money get it back to driving like new!

Yes it is. I'd like to drive it.
Colin

Well, time for a update. Lot's of little things have been done over the summer as the ghia has been running great. Today I finally got around to install one of the CB Performance oil pump/filter combo's. I can't stand not having a oil filter on this car as it's stock. Whew, too me all day as I left the engine in and just worked around the muffler. It is a slick setup and should be a addition to any type 1 engine if it will fit your setup. The old oil pump was on it's last legs from looking at it with lots of scoring and play. The drive tang was really worn on the edges so that was a failure soon to happen. Now I will bump up the oil changes to 5000 miles vs every 3000 miles.

I picked up a new steering box for this car but in the cold I just can't face the thought of pulling the gas tank again to install it. Gosh, where has summer gone! I need a heated garage/shop so that's on my todo list ASAP.