Bugsplat has only been gone for a couple of months now, but I wanted a new project.
I was looking for something different.
It had to be small in size as my garage space is limited.
So that ruled out my COE ideas and any car with too long a wheel base.
I lucked into a rare 1981 Brazilian VW PUMA GTC convertible from a really nice guy.
He loved the car but lack of time and space for the scale of the work required prompted him to offer it for sale.
He had a huge response but I was close and persistant and he liked the look my last project so I am now the new owner.
It is an all fibreglass body so I don't need anymore shop tools at this time
It is also not a Volksrod but it is VW powered.
Here my cat checks the engine bay.
From what I have found out there were only 23 of these imported into Canada that year. These were imported in completed assemblies into Canada rather than kits as in the U.S.. That was because of different rules.
This car has been parked for a number of years. The last few it was outside.
Water leaks and weather took there toll on the roof and metal parts.
It looks like this when I got it home yesterday.
I bought it at a price that puts me in a "no loose" situation as I could easily sell it for more than the purchase price if I were to shop it around.
However that is
not going to happen.
Due to this being a rare car and already different because of that fact, I plan to give it a "Sambanista Restoration" rather than modify it, (Please don't ban me).
Also it should be a lot of fun to blast around in for awhile.
It is in a condition that requires a body off rebuild as both floor pans are destroyed.
Parts availability is very limited with really only one supplier that appears to have a good selection.
The engine should run ok once it is cleaned and purged of old fuel and oil. It is a VW of Canada remanufactured engine with low miles. 1600 Dual port with original dual Solex carbs.
There was a cat living inside the car and left a scent that interests my cat. The leather interior is also poor, door panels need replacement, seats need recovering. All rubber seals and engine seal will be replaced.
The dash and all gauges are great, full instrumentation even a clock. Center console etc all good. Electric windows. Five factory mag wheels, need the center caps and what were fairly new tires are now weather cracked badly. Roof frame is siezed in a couple spots and has a broken bolt but totally fixable.
Fibreglass body looks quite good on initial inspection and has no evidence of collision repairs.
(Edit, after stripping it down I find the right rear corner was hit and lots of weakened FG that needs attention.)
I will not do much that is picture worthy for awhile as it is summer, its hot and I have other things to play with.
Mostly I am going to be tracking down the parts needed and getting them all in house before I start any major disassembly.
July 1, 2013
The last couple of weeks I have been chasing parts sources for this car. It is causing me to learn Portuguese as I use Google translator to communicate with parts vendors in Brazil.
Also the weather has given me a few wet days to play in the shop
I have located a source for everything except a replacement convertible top which I will get made a a local auto upholstery shop along with recovering the seats.
To get my parts list together I had to start the disassembly in order to find out what shape things are in.
This car has a Karmann Ghia style ball joint front end with stock disc brakes.
It has a swing axle rear setup with Type 3 drum brakes. The shock mount is made of stamped steel rather than a casting.
The bumpers were a steel strap with studs welded in, then wrapped in a rubber bumper. My straps have kinda rusted out.
Behind the straps in the front of the car are two steel tubes about 2 1/2 inch diameter which run from the back of the strap throught the front trunk and butt against the beam. The front of both tubes is rusted out and they need replacing.
Althought this is a fiberglass body it does have its rust problems. Wherever a steel anchor plate has been fiberglassed into the body it has rusted. The plate that anchors the passenger seat belt is located inside the bottom of the B pillar. The seat belt bolt had rusted solid and the anchor plate tore loose from the fiberglass.
Four of the body mounting bolts that go from the underside of the pan up into the body have siezed and torn the anchor plates loose from the fiberglass. These have had the heads drilled off to allow for body removal but will require being cut out and replaced.
Inside the left rear corner of the engine bay is where the battery mounted in a steel tray which was glassed in. It has rotted into flakes and needs to be cut out and replaced.
The floor of the engine bay is fiberglass and sits close to the exhaust, (lots of pipes in that area, even has a catalytic converter),
because of this it has warped from the heat and needs to be replaced because of the warping and related structural problems.
The pans are both badly rotted, these are shortened Brasilia pans, but I have heard that modifying some Karmann Ghia pans will work. We will see.
Interesting steering shaft coupler.
One problem with the body is that the rear parcel tray area is quite thin and as a result it flexes. Add in the fact that some previous owner cut two large openings for speaker boxes and removed even more structure.
Couple that weakened floor with the fact that the battery rides in the back corner and this car is a vert without any roof support for the rear of the body and you get this after a few years.
You can see a ripple where the body is flexing over the rear fender well. This will require some cutting repositioning, reglassing, and reinforcing the rear body in a few key spots to stiffen up this area.
Both of the vent window frames are rusted out, as were the head light mount buckets.
And that is just a start, I hope to get the body off within the month so it can be soda blasted but that may be an optimistic time frame.
As it has progressed this far I have started to stray away from a Sambanista Restoration as I see some mods that I would like so stay tuned.
July 21, 2013
Removed the doors and stripped out all the rusty window tracks, locks trim etc to get them prepped for soda blast.
Pulled the steering column and the front section of the wire harness.
Body lifted off and sitting on a cart.
Before soda blast all old undercoat, rock guard, insulation, grease, mud, glue, etc must be removed from the car.
Now I have access.
Still need to finish removing the wire harness, dashboard and a few small items.
Rusty pans.
Stamped steel rear shock mounts, not cast.
Tunnel section slightly different than a bug.
Only one heat control pulls two cables.
Exhaust with catalytic.
its gotta go.
Something I have never thought was a good idea was placing an oil cooler in front of the fan inlet.
its gotta go too.
The first new parts have arrived with more coming over the next two weeks. By that time I will have the bulk of the Puma specific items in house. VW parts are easier to locate and they will get ordered next.
July 28, 2013
Made up a more compact cart for the body. Gives me a little more room around the car and lifts it to a good height for working on it.
Finished removing the dash and wiring.
The old VW fuse box and rats nest of wires will be replaced.
Next is to pressure wash the body, then degrease, wash, scape, cut and grind some crap off of it, then its time to soda blast and fully reveal all the fiberglass repair and touch-up work that is required.
Aug., 3, 2013
Loaded the body on a trailer and hauled it to my work for cleaning.
Degreased, pressure washed and back home upside down ready for stripping out the remaining undercoating and prep it for some fiberglass repairs.
Aug., 10, 2013
This week all the undercoating was removed from the body. All the body parts then went to the blaster. The doors, hood and deck lid came home and were washed and neutralized from the soda blast. The body will come home in a few days.
Then a tow bar was made to drag the chassis to my work for a cleaning.
Four cans of engine degreaser and a pressure washer cleaned it up well. This is before cleanup.
Now that it is cleaner it can start to come apart.
Aug., 17, 2013
During the week I drained the oil from the Puma engine, pulled the plugs, ran a borescope down into the intakes to see the back of the valves then through the plug hole into the cylinders for look, dosen't look like its even broken in from the overhaul.
Popped the valve covers took a peek, nice and clean.
Compression test says all is well.
Picked up two new fuel cutoff solenoids for the carbs now its is time to hook up a couple wires and a fuel line and run it while its still attached to the tranny and before stripping off all the tin for repaint.
Then the body came home from the blaster yesterday.
Today it was cleaned up from the soda blast residue. First it was vacuumed, then blown out with a leaf blower, next was a water wash. A spray of dilute vinegar was applied then a pressure wash with vinegar added into the chemical injector, followed by rinse and repeat,repeat,repeat.
Once the bad fiberglass areas are cut out it will get washed and neutralized again to get any trapped soda.
The blasting nicely cleaned out the remaining undercoating from the wheelwells and glue residue from the interior.
Now that it is clean the extent of the fiberglass work can be seen.
This car has had repairs done in the past.
They were also done poorly.
In these pics of the rear wheelwells from inside the engine bay the remaining red paint is underneath a layer of poorly bonded fiberglass that was applied without prep work. FAIL
Inside the wheelwells you can see repairs done over top of dirty oily fiberglass.
The rusted out battery tray
there has also been some repairs done to the back which need to be properly replaced.
These two areas in the front will be cut out and replaced once the bumper support tube is back in place.
There are more areas but you cannot see them until it is turned upside down.
On a more positive note, the parts researching and collecting is going well.
Aug., 22, 2013
Yesterday the engine was started up. It runs well but the left carb pisses when you hit the accelerator pump. Both carbs will get rebuilt as they have been sitting for a number of years. This engine will only get the tin refinished and a few externals, bigger engines in the future.
Pulled off the old Cyclone header, catalytic converter and heater boxes.
Then removed the engine.
Sep., 2, 2013
Stripped and removed the front beam for rebuilding and a coating of MasterSeries.
Removed the transmission and spring plates. Cut about 95 % of the spot welds securing the pans. Getting ready for pan replacement and IRS conversion.
Picked up an IRS section to use as a jig and to supply trailing arms, stub axles, spring plates etc.. for the conversion and disassembled it for sand blasting.
Sep., 08 2013
This week the front axle beam, torsion arms and stabilizer bar along with the rear trailing arms, spring plates, stub axles and bearing caps were all sandblasted and given a coat of Masterseries and some black. New ball joints installed.
Floor pans have had the worst areas removed and the rest will get sand blasted before anything more gets cut out for the IRS conversion or final pan fitment.
The replacement pans are the same thin crap that you find nowdays so a perimeter frame stiffener set will be built to carry the load and tighten up the chassis.
A template was made to start the stiffener fabrication but it is top secret and cannot be shown to anyone.
Replacement pans are from a Brasilia.
They were sent to me in the mail from Brazil.
In order to get them to fit in the allowable sized box for the postal system they were cut into sections which I must reattach.
They also had to be shortened and have the seat track ramps used in the Brasilia removed.
The axle tubes and axles were removed from the transmission to get it ready for conversion to IRS style.
Sep., 15, 2013
This week the transmission went to local tranny wizard Dougy 'D' at Olde Towne Restoration. Doug will check the tranny over and swap the SA diff for an IRS unit and set up the proper clearances.
The chassis got sandblasted so it was time to do the IRS swap and install the pivot boxes for the trailing arms.
First the tranny mount horns and the T3 style shock towers were all seam welded to strengthen them up.
The gusset plates that mounted the brake lines for the SA were removed to clear the way for the pivot boxes.
An old IRS rear section from a Beetle donated its parts for this conversion. Here it is being used to create a set of jigs to locate the boxes.
The T3 style stamped steel shock towers are bigger than the cast towers on a Beetle. The IRS conversion jigs that can be bought or rented (in the US, here in Canada I don't have a source) are for use converting a Beetle and they are short and would require modification to work on T3. So I decided to make my own as they needed to be long enough to clear the towers.
The Beetle section donated the pivot boxes after the jig was completed. They were cleaned up and sandblasted. The originals are much better than the aftermarket conversion parts that are available and the fork sidewall dosen't require as much cutting to fit them in place.
Ready to start fitting. Lots of how to info on the web so don't look for it here.
Carefully cut a hole, don't damage the cable tubes inside the frame horns, trim and fit until it is in the correct location.
using advanced design technology create a templete
of the hole and then with superior skillz
reverse the templete and cut the other opening and fit the second pivot box.
Then it was time to start the pan stiffener frame. Here is a spy camera shot of the secret stiffener templete
11ga. metal blanks were cut to match the template. These will be used to form the top and bottom of a box the fits the curved section of the stiffener frame. The finished box section will be 1.25 inch X 2 inch.
Sep., 22, 2013
This week managed to get the curved profiles for the pan stiffeners boxed into tube sections.
straight tube sections were cut to fit along the pan sides.
s
tiffeners being check fit on the pan.
Next they need the attach mounts fabricated and the cross braces and seat mounts located.
The IRS trailing arms and spring plates were installed to check the clearances.
The IRS spring plates are shorter and one of the bolts that attach it to the trailing arm can contact the shock tower, slight clearancing is required.
Now notched and welded.
Lots of clearance.
Sep., 29, 2013
The transmission has returned from conversion to IRS. It will get detailed and painted before final installation.
A pair of beam stffener braces were made up, these are much shorter than the ones available for Beetles. As I am running drop spindles the braces were fit with a set of caster shims installed.
The pan stiffeners were finished.
With the stffeners installed the remainder of the original pans were removed. Cross braces will be fit to the stiffeners once the seating is finalized.
The new pans were trimmed to fit.
Oct., 06, 2013
Not much VP this week. The tunnel was seam welded and the pans were welded in.
Located a pair of seats that will fit, my originals are rotted, the foam eaten by rodents, seat sliders rusted solid, one seat flip forward mechanism is rusted solid. It would cost more to have the originals recovered than it cost for these seats from a wreck. These are heated, manual adjust buckets from a sport C230 Mercedes. They fit in nicely.
Installed the body onto the pan and fit in the stiffener rails to verify the fit of everything and locate the seat mount bolt holes so the stiffener cross braces can be made. Then pulled the body back off and got the first coat of Masterseries applied to the bottom.
Oct., 16, 2013
After the first coat of MS it got seam sealer then another coat of MS and a layer of chassis black.
Fit the crossmembers under the seat mount locations.
Sprayed two coats of Bedliner on the bottom of the pans and installed the painted stiffener subframe.
Nov., 02, 2013
Front end reassembled with new ball joints, tie rod ends, shocks, steering box, drop spindles, brake rotors and pads.
Brake master flushed and reinstalled, new brake lines and SS flex lines installed.
New fuel line run through the tunnel.
Pedal cluster refinished and installed.
Transmission installed on new mounts.
Spring plates and trailing arms loosely installed so the new rear disc rotors and wheels could be mounted.
Loaded it on to a trailer as it is time the entire chassis is moved into storage.
I need to give my wife half the garage over the winter for her Jeep or else clean the snow off and warm it up every morning in the winter.
Now it is time to start working on the engine and the body, the fiberglass work has me getting itchy just thinking about it.
Nov., 30, 2013
Not very much progress the past few weeks.
Just tackling the small jobs as I have the time. I have to get them out of the way before heating up my shop to do serious fiberglass work, that requires more prep and planning.
What did get accomplished was the tires that were all weather cracked were scapped.
The wheels were then glass beaded, then treated with Alodine as a corrosion preventative and paint prep.
Then they went to Joel at Alloy Wheel Repair, he is the present owner of Bugsplat. Joel shot them with some gloss black then refaced the shiny parts on his wheel lathe.
Hopefully get some new tires mounted on them this week.
The fuel tank was in fine condition on the inside, but where it was rubbed by the brake fluid reservoir lines on the outside it rusted through, also it seaped at the seam. So it went to Gastank Renu and was sandblasted then spray coated with a heavy layer of polysomething sealant and pressure tested. It is good to go now.
The engine is a low time exchange from VW of Canada and checks out in good shape. All the cooling tin was sandblasted, repaired, refit, rebuilt or replaced as required then repainted.
Both carbs were stripped and rebuilt. Pertronix equipped 010 distributor and Flamer Thower coil installed.
Alternator stripped and cleaned, slip rings polished, pulley and fan blasted and painted.
d3ghia coordinated a parts relay to get a NOS Cyclone header sent to me from Albuqerque. It is a tight fit behind this engine and this header is very close to a stock unit but without the shipping $$ from Brazil. The remaining section of exhaust is still to be made.
DEC., 24, 2013
Nothing picture worthy has been accomplished the past few weeks.
However progress was being made.
The new tires are installed, all the door and hood hinges have been glass blasted and refinished with cold galvanize coating. Both the electric window and windshield wiper mechanisms have been repaired and refinished. Small items like the steering shaft sections were blasted and painted. Sourced and purchased the carpet and vinyl required to remake the interior. Did the first stage of sanding on the entire car and purchased fiberglass supplies.
Now it is Christmas then New Years and then a motorcycle show so I won't have any shop time for a few weeks.
Feb. 2, 2014
Damn cold and snowy winter has slowed down progress.
But I started on the doors. They needed some small fiberglass repairs, new inner panels fit and new channels for the window squeegee seals installed, the originals were very corroded. I wanted everything fully fitted before paint work so I don't scratch it up later.
The inside of the doors got a coating of home brew Lizard Skin for sound deadening.
Then the replacement inner panels were test fit.
They were made in Brazil and they do not fit. Period.
I am glad I told the supplier not to cut the holes through the vinyl as I had to remove it and make new hard board panels to fit.
The shape of the panel was poor,
The hole for the door handle and the holes for the attach clips were in the wrong locations.
New panels were made.
The lining was reattached and the top metal attachment strip was glued and riveted to the panel.
Foam glued to cushion the top section before wrapping the lining over top.
squeegee holder channel riveted over the top edge of the lining.
Finished panels awaiting armrest installation.
Feb., 23, 2014
More progress on the small stuff.
The original window frames are badly rusted.
When disassembled there was not much to work with.
A set of reproduction frames were sourced in Brazil, they required the paint removed , a little metal finishing, then satin powder coat.
Reassembled
Convertible top frame was stripped, a small rust hole was repaired.
Polyester primer coat.
Doors are now ready for block sanding, they will get set aside and the hood and deck lid can now get some loving..
March 23, 2014
The hood and deck lid have now been repaired, filled and primed to point of blocking.
30 + years takes its toll on fiberglass, all the stress cracks, spider cracks, creep stress, they are all different than fixing rust. Then soda blast it and open up all the pores in the FG and you get lots of fixing, filling and sanding to do.
I still hate sanding
Soon it will be warm enough to start the body repairs.
April, 06, 2014
Cut and ground out all the bad areas on the body shell getting ready for repairs.
Cut access through the inner rear fenders to reinforce the inside area.
Lots of poor fiberglass work needed to be cut out. Spots like this the glass was not bonded and pulled off.
Some of the anchor nuts that hold the body to the pan had rusted solid then tore loose from the anchor plate.
The bad ones were cut out and new anchor plates and nuts were welded up ready to be reinstalled.
The large holes that the PO had cut for speakers will be re-glassed and the section will get stiffeners added.
The entire engine bay floor section will be cut out and replaced as this one has warped too badly.
Apr., 27, 2014
No progress on the fiberglass repairs as the temperature here is still too cool overnight.
My garage heater quit and I did not get it replaced until yesterday. Now with the temps getting warmer and the heater back working I should hopefully get to that work soon.
I did get the chassis home from storage and fit the wheels.
The drop spindles with the 14 inch wheels rims required a 1/4 inch wheel spacer to keep the lower ball joint from contacting the inside of the wheel when all the weight was removed from the front and the wheels were turned to the lock. Basically if I cranked the wheels hard when off the ground 'Bullit style" I could have the wheels touch the ball joint
.
A little grinding on the lower trailing arm and the wheel spacers and it fits good now.
Next is to finish the IRS conversion alignment, align all four wheels and install the rear disc brakes.
May., 04, 2014
Wheel alignment completed by the ol' school method.
Axle shafts and disc brakes installed.
May 25, 2014
Progress update.
Over the winter I ordered a few parts to aid in the cooling of this engine.
First because I have removed the heater box exhaust and running J-Tubes a set of industrial engine lower tins was located and installed to deflect the heat away from the heads.
The top cylinder tins did not have the deflectors inside to direct the cooling air toward the plugs. I believe these to be the original tins so leaving the parts out must have been a Brazilian thing.
New deflectors were welded in place.
A velocity ring like the ones used on later models was installed at the cooling fan inlet.
The engine was installed.
Lots of fiberglass work has been done. Repairing and reinforcing areas, lots more to go,
next the engine bay floor gets removed and replaced.
June 01, 2014
Last night I managed to cut out the old engine bay floor.
After grinding down the cut edge of the floor to clean it up for a new floor.
The rusty battery tray places the battery on the driver side of the engine but the stock location is on the passenger side. It had been glassed over.
Cracks around the tail lights need repair, and the body has squeezed down on the taillight "pinching" it.
The design of the rear bumper section is poor because there is no internal bracing to keep it from collapsing down on itself from its own weight.
Also this is a fairly curvy car but IMO the rear corners and tail lights are much too square and out of place on this car.
This entire area is being reworked so I have some changes in mind.
June, 14, 2014
Working on a new floor panel for the engine bay.
Made a form out of cardboard and masking tape.
Waxed it a few times then laid some FG mat and woven roving to start the new panel.
Then added some old FG tent pole sections to help create some stiffening structure.
Glassed the poles in place.
Built up the edge that holds the engine seal with some short strand FG.
Then laid another layer of cloth over top of it all.
The old engine seal retainer channel is missing more than it is present. I have searched for months to locate this channel but I cannot find it.
So I bent some new pieces,
Then fit them in place. They will get painted before final installation.
The floor panel will get trimmed to fit, then the body will be installed on the chassis to determine the panel fits properly with the engine. Then the body will be removed and the floor will be glassed into place.
I still have to fit a heat shield to the underside directly over the exhaust header to prevent the heat damage that is common with the FG floor.
Also glassed in some reinforcement at the bumper attachment holes. Then added structure inside the bumper channel to prevent the body sagging on itself.
June 22, 2014
Set the body back in place to check the fit of the engine bay floor.
I like the way the front sits down with the drop spindles, the rear end will get lowered soon.
With the floor section trimmed it then had an aluminum heat shield fit to the underside.
Before removing the body to glass the floor section in, the exhaust got a chance to get its final fitting.
Body removed and exhaust is almost finished.
Floor section with its topside glassed in place. Need to flip it over to finish the underside.
Seatbelt anchors replaced, more reinforcements and repairs done. Roof trim holes filled.
I don't know how much this car will settle in the rear once all assembled. So to avoid making a few adjustments to find the right stance a set of Sway-Away adjustable spring plates were installed.
Then it was BBQ time.
July 6, 2014
After installing the second set of adjustable spring plates I decided I did not like them. They are taller than stock plates and thus limit the range of travel. Also they are much thicker than stock and because of that they limit the toe adjustment available. Getting the ride height sorted out before the final installation of the body is important because the clearance to remove the spring plate is very limited.
The stock spring plates were reinstalled at a new preload and the body was reinstalled to check the fit for the firewall seal.
Flying Puma
Cardboard template fit behind engine
Body removed once again and chassis rolled out.
Seal retainer channel strips bent to fit the curve.
Aluminum panel bent to fit.
Mounting tabs with insert nuts were glassed in place to secure the panel. Finished panel with edging, screwed in place and awaiting the rubber seal.
Starting to change the rear taillight housings.
Beginning a mold for new taillight housings.
Aug., 2, 2014
Tail light housings glassed up,
trimmed and loosely fit into place for a look.
Body was flipped over once again to finish glassing in the underside of the engine bay floor and extra glass work was done inside the engine bay to reinforce the rear section where holes are now cut for cooling.
Light housings were then glassed into the car both inside and out.
Once upright again grill sections to match the original grills in the deck lid were trimmed to fit across the new cooling holes.
The engine cooling shroud on this Puma does not have a "doghouse" oil cooler, an external cooler was fit in front of the fan shroud inlet but that had to be changed.
Mounts for the cooler were glassed to locate the cooler at one of the new rear cooling openings.
I am not running heater boxes on this car so the air outlets on the engine cooling shroud serve no purpose. I have read that capping them off completely can cause turbulence inside the shroud and reduce the cooling efficiency. Therefore a shroud was made to fit snuggly over the oil cooler and allow for directing the air originally destined for the heater boxes to now be forced through the oil cooler.
Sept., 01, 2014
Over the past few weeks, when I can find the time, I have been doing mostly body work, fixing up the porous surface I have to work with.
I HATE SANDING
I did flip it upside down again and finished all the fiberglass work on the car.
Then while upside down I thought I would make the base for a future air dam.
Glassed up the base and added anchor nuts so it can mount to the underside of the body.
Then added layers of foam that will get carved to shape later. Pulled that part off and set it aside, may get back to it this winter.
Body worked the lower section of the car
I HATE SANDING
and sealed everything up with some polyester primer.
Then to protect things a coat of bedliner was applied to the wheel wells and underside.
Oct., 26, 2014
Slow progress over the past month or so.
Lots of sanding
and filling, priming then repeat.
Sprayed a coat of "Zolatone" on the interior and in the trunk and engine bay.
A couple of items need to be fit while it is still easy to fix any scratches.
The 1/2 round aluminum trim that secures the rear edge of the convertible top needed to be replaced.
The new piece came cut in half from Brazil it needed to be welded back together and it was not pre-bent to fit.
A lot of twisting in just the right spots was needed to get it to fit properly.
Then the mounting holes were drilled for installation after painting.
The engine bay seal channels were installed and the seals slipped into place.
The original bumpers are just a steel mounting strap with a rubber extrusion over top.
My original steel straps were badly rusted.
So new straps were cut and studs welded in where required.
Still more paint prep to finish when I can.
Nov., 09, 2014
Completed the final part of the exhaust system by replacing the clamps at the header to J-tube joint with welded flanges.
A 6 point "Kafer Brace" truss was fabricated and installed to stiffen the chassis and transmission a little more.
Also strengthen the shock mounts to use them to anchor the rear support tubes of a planned roll bar.
The previously made base plate for the front air dam was installed and some more foam was added.
The wife's electric knife made carving it much easier.
Just don't tell her I used it.
Working on getting it roughed into an initial shape.
Dec., 13, 2014
Finished the air dam.
No dam
Damn!
With the body sitting back on the pan It was time to install the top frame and check the seats.
The engine, seal and new engine bay floor fit together nicely.
The seats that I had planned on using came from a C230 Mercedes Benz, they fit the floor but when I tried to fit the top frame I found they were too wide in the shoulder area and interfered with the frame and mounts.
So I sold those seats, too bad they were really nice..
While searching out different seats I threw in the old carpet just to get an idea what was going to be involved with fitting new stuff.
I considered rebuilding the original seats but they are pretty rotted.
Even the foam has been clawed apart or eaten by the cat that was living in the car.
The seat frame was sandblasted to check it out and they are really rotted and paper thin.
Located a pair of seats from an early Mazda that fit nicely and have lots of clearance for the top frame and bracket.
Now to modify the seat sliders and bolt them in.
Dec., 21, 2014
This weekend I managed to get the seats mounted. I have them bolted not just through the floor, but also tied into the sub-frame cross members. They are solid.
Once they were in it was obvious that the space was not available to fit a proper functional roll bar, one that would have proper geometry without having it supported by additional cage framing and mount to solid supported metal.
I did not want to build a full cage just to support a roll bar as I don't plan on driving it hard enough to roll it.
The initial roll bar idea grew out of the desire for a back draft wind blocker screen, the kind of thing you see sometimes behind the seats in a convertible to lessen the wind turbulence.
I thought I would tie a wind blocker into a roll bar.
Now I decided just to make a wind blocker, it could be mounted to the fiberglass body floor.
Bent a tube frame and made mounting brackets.
Screened with some flat mesh and painted, then the frame was sprayed in rock guard for rubberizing texture. A snap in cover section will close off the area under the screen to stop air rushing underneath, also a snap cover will be made to replace the original cover that snaps in when the top is lowered. The replacement cover will also snap to seal with the back of the wind blocker.
Next small project was the doorsills.
The originals are grey, slightly shrunk and deformed from age, gouged and abused from use. These were attached with pop rivets.
They fit better than the aftermarket replacements that came from Brazil,
I think must have been made by EMPI
judging from how they fit. A little too small for the area, too tight an angle and cheaper rubber.
So I figured some 16 gauge brushed stainless, bent and attached (after car painting) with some 3M trim tape would make nicer replacements.
The top frame got its final coat of black paint.
The front bow of the top frame needed to be stripped and repaired.
All fixed awaiting recovering.
Turned my attention back to the firewall panel.
I am venting it for a few reasons ;
first as Puma did not make the firewall seal to the back of the engine thus allowing a lot of air into the engine bay.
Second, as I have seen many pictures of Pumas with extra holes added to allow more air into the engine bay.
I figure that the air allowed by having the firewall section open may be required.
With all of the engine cooling tin installed and the engine to floor seal in place, the hot air will be directed out the bottom and back of the car.
When driving down the road the area above the transmission and ahead of the firewall gets fresh air, the amount of air can be increased by adding a simple deflector vane mounted down low behind the torsion housing directing undercar air up towards the firewall.
With those thoughts I punched some holes in the top section of the firewall panel.
Dimpled them for fun.
The holes don't allow a sight line through to the transmission, they can also be covered over if the idea is all wrong.
The body needs to come off again as the rear suspension is still sitting too high and the small 14 inch wheels look to be lost in the rear opening.
The rear spring plates (longest nose torsion bar style) cannot be removed and adjusted on this car without lifting the body or cutting holes in body to get the spring plates removed.
The car is so light, the spring plates are now set at a 15 degree preload angle and it is just off the bottom stop. It needs about 2 inches more drop in the backend then another rear alignment. First I will load about 450 lbs. into the car to simulate interior and occupants and see where it sits.
Dec., 26, 2014
Today I loaded 450lbs of ballast into the car to simulate the finished car and occupants just to see where the suspension settled.
It squatted about an inch but is still too high.
Lifted off the body to make some changes.
When the car was unloaded I thought it would need about a two inch drop. When the spring plates were reset at the required angle for the two inch drop they look like this.
The body was put back on and the car sat nicely.
But when the weight was added it squatted too far down and I don't like the drooping ass look on a Puma.
Time to reset the plates again so it was off with the body, adjust plates, hang body and take a look.
The rear shocks have been left out for these adjustments so the car can be bounced easier to check the suspension travel.
New ride height empty.
Loaded it sits where I want it.
Dropped it off the car dollies to see it on the ground with the ballast weight onboard.
After the holes to fit the mirrors to the doors are located and drilled then the car is ready to get painted. I don't have the facility, proper spray guns, or most importantly the experience and talent required to spray the paint job that I want.
So I am on the hunt for a paint shop
January 18, 2015
January 31, 2015
The Puma was loaded into a trailer and taken to the paint shop yesterday.
I am very pleased as it is a bit of a milestone to finally get to this stage.
No more sanding and dust, no more fiberglass work.
My friend is going to do the paint, he works at a shop that does some nice work.
http://www.boothillauto.ca/
I saw a bunch of projects there, older trucks, vettes, Chevelle, V10 Challengers, GTO, Porsche, Triumph, Nomad and also a Nova that is going to Dubai when it is finished
After a long talk about paint, the new VOC compliant crap, and cost of materials and labor and the amount of work to apply and maintain the different types of paint, I decided to go with a gloss finish rather than a matte finish.
Touch up work on a matte finish due to stone chips and parking lot rash is next to impossible to match up without a re-spray.
I figure on driving this car and it will unfortunately get stone chips and I don't want a bunch of problems at touch up.
In a few years when I feel like a change I may try a matte finish wrap at that time.
Feb., 10, 2015
Made a visit to the paint shop to see the car all prepped before paint.
With the body in the shop I fit the body to pan gasket and applied some "blueshield" for sound deadening.
Then added a thin closed cell foam underlay, the carpet will go in later.
Received pictures in the email of car in orange still awaiting the bumper extensions to be painted black.
It will come home for assembly soon.
March 01, 2015
It is home from the paint shop and bolted down on the pan. Bumpers fit and other parts getting attached.
I am very pleased with the way the taillights turned out as I really did not like the stock lights.
March, 15, 2015
Vents, new hinges and deck lid installed.
Installed the stainless door sills.
Started work installing the headlights but found the replacement light pots from Brazil did not fit well, they are plastic and one cracked before it was in place.
My original parts are both rotted so I am looking for suitable metal replacements
I will rebuild the originals if need be but hopefully something easier will appear.
Started working on the wiring.
The only schematic I have found is for a GTE/GTS which because they are earlier models not much is applicable to this GTC.
A new wiring harness from Rebel wire will be installed but it is for a VW Beetle so some changes are required.
Also the GTC has more steering column mounted switches and there is not any schematic that I have located for those switches.
After a day of stripping tape and chasing wires I have sorted out the column and switch wiring.
Now to start laying out the new harness and some upgrades
March 28, 2015
Getting ready to start the harness installation I trimmed the A pillar and windshield header with new vinyl and installed the windshield in a new seal.
Then the dash was put back in place.
While stripping out the old wire in the dash I found that one of the dash rocker switches was broken inside.
I opened it up to see if it was repairable but found it too far gone to fix.
The problem now becomes a replacement switch.
Originals are hard to find and astronomically priced.
The original is a size that is no longer made.
Compared to a new switch of todays standard size.
It is large enough that the standard switches of today could mount inside the housing.
This also means that todays switches are small enough to fall through the original panel cutout.
Rather than buy one expensive switch now only to possibly do it again in the near future I decided to retrofit all three with newer switches.
This required a plate cut to fit and tack welded over the original plate.
New switches are rated 21amps @ 14VDC so they are quite adequate. Found them at the surplus electronics store for $4 each.
Finished panel and switches installed.
Next was fixing the rusted headlight buckets.
A new set of replacement Beetle buckets made in Taiwan were modified to replace the rusted out originals.
The inner shells were removed, then smashed with a hammer.
Then some flanges were welded on.
The originals donated their back sections to make the new units the required dimension to fit the car.
Painted and installed.
New headlights and trim gasket finally installed.
May 3, 2015
My "PUMA" emblem arrived from Brazil and I got it installed.
Laid in the new Rebel wire harness and got it all hooked up.
The steering column I opened up to trace the wires as I could not find a schematic to match it.
The only wires left to install are for the stereo and the electric window harness.
Relocated the window washer reservoir down lower, it can still be filled with a funnel but I don't anticipate the need to use it often.
This open up more useable storage space above the spare tire.
Found a roll of "Peel N' Stick" to use as sound deadener and installed some in the rear of the cockpit. Then topped that with some closed cell foam for carpet under padding.
Refinished the hood hinges and installed a new seal on the hood, then the hood was aligned and secured.
The new carpets have all been edge bound with leather and glued into place.
When the floor was fiberglass repaired it was also reinforced in the area behind the passenger seat. This was done as the battery is moving from the engine bay.
It is a lot of weight in the back corner of the car when there is no real body support in that area.
An aluminum battery tray was made to hold an Odyssey AGM battery. A cover for the battery will be made out of the same interior carpet.
A third brake light was sourced from a wrecked Mazda, it fits the car perfectly.
June 21, 2015
With the nicer weather finally here it has slowed down my progress as other projects need attention.
Over the past few weeks I have managed to install the seats and wind baffle. Also made up a carpet battery cover.
The center console is installed and a new radio fit into the dash.
The front kick panels were remade large enough to hold some 6X9 speakers.
The brakes were bled and the fuel tank installed. An upholstered panel was made for over the fuel tank and an amplifier was mounted to it.
The doors were hung and the mirrors mounted.
New window channels were fit into the doors and the window motors were mounted.
The drivers side motor was seized with rust but after a cleaning it works fine.
The passenger window motor was worse, it has a broken magnet
Electric windows were an option on these cars and parts are nonexistent. The manufacturer of the motors has not made car parts since 1994 and the company has since changed ownership.
Closest match I could figure were early Ford units, close but still slightly different.
A small modification and the window on the passenger side works again.
A little more to do and it should be ready to start up.
July 12, 2015
The electric windows are finally installed. It is an option that was poorly designed. The pivot point of the mechanism that that raises the window interferes with the front window track limiting the track adjustment and causing the windows to slightly bind in the tracks when moving up and down once the doors are closed. Not a complete failure but not perfect either. If I keep car through next winter I may retrofit a different motor drive system.
The doors are now closed up and the inner panels and armrests installed. Also pulled out the Tach for troubleshooting as it was dead.
Made a mount for a remote oil filter and completed the oil system plumbing and connected the cooler ducting.
Fired it up, set the timing and synched the carbs. Then finally moved it under its own power. First time it has done that in many years.
I took it around the block
but I still need to get a safety inspection and register the license plates before I am good to put any miles on it.
Then it is in to the upholstery shop to get a new roof stitched up.
August 18, 2015
I now have about 900 Km's on the car working things out.
The first problems presented themselves very early.
The rear suspension settled out lower than I wanted even after I thought I had it set correctly. To adjust the spring plates requires the body off on this car so as I only wanted a 1 inch lift and I had installed a six point "kafer" brace, I figured a set of air shocks would do the trick without overloading the upper shock mounts.
A set of Monroe Hijackers were installed and helped that problem nicely.
The EMPI
J-tubes had the connecting flanges mounted crooked at the factory and required the flanges cut off and re-welded at the proper angle for them to seal.
The steering wheel was one spline off center and needed correcting, the horn had an electrical short in the steering column and an insulator had to be fashioned and installed to stop the un-commanded beeping.
The drop spindles do not allow enough clearance between the lower ball joint and the inside of the wheel rim when using 14 inch stock Puma wheels. the wheel rubs on the ball joint when doing hard cornering. The new ball joints are too stiff, the suspension does not compress and when it does it binds both in compression and expansion, the steering will not self center after a turn.
Fixed it up by removing the front beam to work in the ball joints, swap in the stock spindles and install a set of CSP beam adjusters.
Beam removed
CSP adjusters installed
original spindles and backing plates installed.
When is was apart I took some measurements and had a discussion with Mendeola about fitting one of their A-arm front suspension kits. The problem is that a Puma pan, which is a modified "Brasilia" pan, is about 3 inches shorter between the back of the beam and the front of the Nap Hat section than is found on a Beetle pan. Too bad.
It is all back together and front end is aligned, runs great and everything else seems good, the upholstery shop will do the top for me in a few weeks as I want to drive it for awhile before giving it up for a week to get the top done.
Oct 11 2015
I have decided that I don't like as much camber in the rear wheels as I presently have with the car lowered to the degree that it is. To remedy this I have picked up a set of early Porsche 944 IRS trailing arms which I will use to create inverted trailing arms. This will require putting the car up and pulling out the suspension so it won't happen until the colder weather arrives.
This is one of the Porsche trailing arms, they are supposed to be the same as VW IRS arms with the possible exception of internal reinforcements.
The idea is to remove the shock lower mount and bumps stop mounts and then swap arms side to side and invert them, then reinstall the lower mounts on the arms. This will give less camber when lowered.
This picture shows the camber in the rear wheels.
I also did not like some of the imperfections that showed up in the front header bow of the convertible top so I stripped it and reworked the lumps and divots then recovered the back section in vinyl.
Driving season is almost over here and I am making plans for the few items I want to modify over the winter. I have decided not to have the top stitched up until next spring. That will allow me to rework how the electric window mechanisms work and fix an installation problem that was caused at the factory.
Dec 6 2015
Now that the car is off the road for the winter I have been working on a few final items that needed attention as the were bothering me.
One item that I am happy with changing is the foot pedals.
The stock pedals were too close together for my big feet.
I have wide shoes and I would catch my right foot on the back of the brake pedal, this made driving with a shoe on that foot unsafe and awkward.
So I reworked the pedal cluster to move the brake pedal over by 1 1/4 inch and the clutch pedal by 3/4 inch.
Then I made different pedal pads out of non slip dimpled steel sheet.
They look a bit more performance oriented as well.
My tachometer went to North Hollywood Speedometer for repair and conversion, it now works great.
Built some cribs to lift the car up high enough to work on the rear suspension and remove the engine.
With a water level, strings and a tape measure it is set up to replace and align the replacement trailing arms.
The Porsche trailing arms have been built up with the bushings, bearings, stub axles and brakes discs so that the suspension settings can be measured.
First I had to check the travel with the new rear tires, from all down
to all up.
The tire will hit the inside of the fender if a bump stop is not used.
However it can be shortened to work perfectly.
The Porsche trailing arms are different in one aspect that they have a central 22mm hole that fits a tool used for toe adjustment, Porsche spring plates have provision for minor camber adjustments also. I can use this tool hole firstly to aid in alignment by centering using a home made tool and then when the installation and alignment is almost complete it can be used with an eccentric tool for minor fine tuning of the camber setting.
Luckily there is enough room to remove the spring plates just far enough to adjust the ride height.
Unfortunately the plates cannot come completely off the torsion bar and the torsion bars cannot be removed without either lifting the body or cutting access holes similar to the rear of a Porsche or Karmann Ghia.
Cutting holes in this body is not something I want to do because they would need to be very close to the corner of the fender and the remaining material would be quite susceptible to being broken off. So fitting drop plates won't work, more on this later.
With the car level and loaded at ride height a bunch of measurements were taken.
The amount of clearance between the lower spring plate stop and the plate was measured.
This car has the large diameter torsion bars, and coupled with the light weight of the car requires a very light torsion spring preload angle to allow the car to sit lower. The soft preload creates its own ride quality problems. More on that later.
The lower spring plate stop was built up and reinforced and a threaded boss was welded through the upper shock support. These two points now anchor a retaining strap similar to that used on baja suspension, the purpose of this particular installation will come later.
As for now the strap holds a spacer in place above the lower plate stop, this holds the spring plate at the same angle as if the car was loaded and at ride height, now the car can be unloaded.
Engine is out
Ran out of time again, more rear suspension mods next time.
Jan 3, 2016
Further progress with the rear suspension.
To flip the trailing arms the lower shock mount must be removed from the trailing arm, also in my case I have a problem with the spring plates.
If I flip the arms I must swap the spring plates side to side as the hole pattern where the plate and trailing arm attach is specific to the tab on the trailing arm.
OR I drill new holes.
As this is just a single plate unit and it is thin with three holes already I don't really want to drill another and weaken the plate.
So with the required cutting and welding and fitting all considered I decided to cut the trailing arms, align and re-weld.
To do this correctly I built a set of jigs that would locate the outer ends of the trailing arm in exactly the location I wanted.
The jigs are in place and the trailing arms are cut, the alignment is set so it is in the middle of its adjustment range with the correct toe in and has a neg. 0.3 degree camber with the trailing arm set at ride height.
The arms are all welded and boxed, everything back in place.
The transmission is now out and apart.
As suspected the growling noise that I heard was coming from the transmission mainshaft bearing.
I have a new bearing on order and just awaiting its arrival so that some reassembly can begin.
I found a very good bargain locally on a stainless steel Sidewinder header and muffler kit from A1 exhaust in California.
It cost less than half what it would normally cost and I could not pass it up.
The only marks on it are from my greasy hands.
This kit was for a Beetle without heater boxes.
It comes with J-tubes that tuck further under the cylinder head than a stock setup.
This causes an interference with the sled tins and industrial J-tube heat shields.
After some trimming and refit of the tins everything now fits nicely.
Jan 17, 2016
A set of urethane bumpers arrived that were cut down for my application
The spring plate had a short section of flat bar welded to it so that it has a blunter face, the spring plate is sitting on a nut which is holding the plate at ride height because the engine and transmission are removed and the suspension is unloaded.
The cut down bumpers are now attached to the spring plate retainer straps.
With the straps in place holding the urethane bumper as a new lower spring plate stop, this allows me to hold the ride height where I like it and apply some extra preload into the torsion bars to stiffen the rear suspension.
Also the air shocks can see some pressurization without it lifting the car.
Drop plates would accomplish the same thing for me, but without removing or cutting the body I cannot change them.
The square spacer is just to hold it as without the engine and tranny the unloaded the spring plates want to squish the bumpers to much.
Transmission is now repaired, reinstalled and reconnected.
A final check of toe and camber, I went with neg-1 degree camber at ride height, there is a little more than + - 1/2 a degree of adjustability but this should be okay.
Rear tires are P225/60R14 and sit much nicer now.
Feb 1, 2016
After getting the new exhaust system I was wondering about a little performance upgrade to the engine.
However this is a fresh stock engine with just over 1000 miles on it so I can't bring myself to open it up and modify it just yet.
But the exhaust will help it breath better so I thought I could do a little work to help it in that regard.
First thing was to strip the engine of the external items. It needs a new alternator so it was not a stretch to pull the rest of the stuff off.
Then remove the valve springs and install some light setup springs
Then install some Scat 1.4 ratio rockers and start measuring clearances and pushrod geometry.
Custom cut the new pushrods to the correct length.
New pushrods fit and all running clearances checked.
Then I ran out of time. Try again next week.
Feb 15, 2016
Got the valve springs reinstalled and did the check for coil bind.
Installed a new set of pushrod tubes.
Then looked at the carbs.
The stock Solex H32/34 PDSI 2/3 carbs are not a bad carb, just need to breathe a little more to help with the ratio rocker and the A1 exhaust.
The stock 26mm venturis were replaced with a set of 28mm vents. Bigger main jet sizes will be determined once its running.
Mar 1, 2016
The engine is reassembled and installed but still awaiting gaskets to install the intake manifolds.
The A1 exhaust system is fit into place and it tucks in very nicely.
The tailpipe is quite short and you can see where it is in relation to the opening in the rear valence where it would normally exit.
I want it to exit at the stock location as the rear of the car looks odd with the empty cutout.
So if I want a different tailpipe I first must remove the original.
Now I wait for a couple of 180* sections of stainless exhaust tubing to arrive so I can build the new pipe profile.
March 12, 2016
The exhaust is finally finished up, the section of pipe I was awaiting arrived.
It was cut into pieces then added to the original tailpipe that was cut off. The welder was fitted with stainless steel wire and the pieces were joined, welds ground and polished a little (it is only a tailpipe).
Check for fit before final welding.
Finished, no more open cutout and it looks like it should.
April 3, 2016
Even though Spring has arrived the weather here is calling for a snow storm today so the Puma is still in the garage.
I was synching the carbs and noticed that one accelerator pump nozzle was dripping and not spraying properly down the carb.
So both carbs were removed and the nozzle was repaired, then both carbs had the accelerator pump volumes measured and adjusted.
I changed the pump link rods so they could be adjusted by turning thumb screws rather than moving a cotter pin, this allows for fine tuning the pump.
The engine runs nicely and sounds good but to set the jetting correctly I decided to buy myself a new tool, a Wide Band fuel air ratio sensor and gauge.
I removed the exhaust system and installed a bung to fit the sensor.
Then as I did not want to have the wires and gauge loose inside the car and I did not want to cut a hole in the dash for an extra gauge, (it will only be temporary and removed once the jetting is dialed in) the stock Puma clock was removed from the center console and the A/F gauge fit the hole perfectly. The radio has a clock anyway.
Now if we only could get some driving weather.
August 1, 2016
Lots of fun driving this summer, car runs great but is still only a 1600 dual carb with ratio rockers and a nice exhaust. Even in a light car like this we require more uumphh.
That may come this winter.
For now the new top has been finished on the car for a few weeks.
It fits great, is straight and taut to perfection, I am quite pleased with the work.
Nov., 6, 2016
Now that the cooler weather is moving in for the winter I have put the car up on blocks to do a few mods.
Just for the hell of it I decided the main upgrade will be trying to squeeze a supercharger under the deck lid.
A turbo unit would mess with my nice new Sidewinder header and Magnaflow muffler, plus add lots of heat under the fiberglass engine bay.
The supercharger is a popular mod in Australia and there is lots of info available online, even some complete kits but they won't fit a Puma.
Picked up an AMR500 roots style blower from Ebay,
and decided to run it with an SU carburetor, found a pair of dirty yet workable units.
Only 1 carb is required to flow the amount of air the engine needs when boosted, but it will need to have the needle and piston spring changed to allow for more fuel.
A trip through the plastic media cabinet cleaned the parts up ready for a new spindle, bushings and seals.
Just a slight difference.
Used a throttle cable drum from an old Harley Keihen carb and modified it to fit the SU.
The carb has all its new bits and is now ready to go.
Timing is another consideration.
Only planning on 8 psi boost but the timing will still need to be limited to about 24 degrees.
Rather than mess with my current 010 Distributor I will modify the original Brazilian 009 distributor that came with the car.
It has an window in the distributor body that allows a cover to be removed and access the limit tab that stops the advance weights.
Instead of the usual bending of the tab to change the limit I decided to drill the tab and fit a small set screw to be able to get it adjusted without bending things. The pointer shows where it will go.
Because this will be a tight fit to get the lid closed, the blower needs to be mounted to the left of the distributor as low as possible with the carb mounted to the left of the blower.
My current Puma fan shroud has heater duct outlets that are in the way of fitting the blower, as I don't have heat and only use the ducts to blow through an external oil cooler, I decided that rather than cut the ducts off the left side of the Puma shroud and reposition them, I would modify a regular shroud to suit.
Then once that was complete I decided to change to a doghouse cooler shroud and eliminate the external cooler and air hoses altogether.
A good Puma shroud with a doghouse oil cooler and no heat ducts was found in Brazil for a good price and it was sent up.
Here it sits on the engine just before removing the engine from the car.
A fuel injection engine style of velocity ring was added to the fan shroud.
The carb and blower will fit like this, the flanges on the blower and the blower pulley came from JoeBlow Superchargers downunder. The SU flange was made in house.
Started cardboard mockups of the blower mounts to get a visual on how this will work.
Nov., 27, 2016
Some parts arrived and I finished the mods to the 009 distributor, installed a Pertronix module.
Here you can see the advance limit screw when the access
cover is removed.
Over the past few weeks Unkl Ian has been in his bunker working on adapting a Chev Big Block serpentine pulley to fit on the front of a V belt pulley. Thanks
This required lots of fancy machining to make an adapter to fit between the two pulleys.
The finished package fit excellently, perfectly concentric and locked in place.
Made wooden copies of the cardboard mounts to better check the fit.
Turned the wooden lower mount templates into steel.
This is where the blower will sit.
The final lower mount parts will replace the piece of wood and allow for adjustment for belt alignment. The belt tensioner pulley and mount still need to have a final design figured out.
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