ProVolks Official Shop-Car Build Thread. . .

[supaninja]

I know I'm super hard on any tranny with any motor combo but in all the years of daily driving my 914, as far as the tranny was concerned, I just changed a few seals, shift bushings, and gear oil changes. I think I put over 60,000 miles on that little car. I know a 901 will be just fine for my mild 2L as long as I don't do stupid drag launches. Crap, I got almost 8,000 miles on the SA type 3 tranny. This is the same tranny that has a loose input shaft, and had lots and lots of metal shavings when pulled the drain plugs.

[kombi211]

Nice install on the gauges. What Porsche did those come out of? DId you have to cut the holes any or did they just slip in...


[quote="aircooledtechguy"]Awaiting parts on a bunch of stuff, due to all the snow we have around here, so I figured I would make the most of my time.






Next I made a custom harness for the gauges so that I could simply plug into the Porsche gauges from the stock harness. I haven't tested the wiring yet, but how hard can a few idiot lights ans senders be, right?? Famous last words. . . I still have wires to run back for the oil temp and speedo pick-up on the trans. I'm planning to run them along with the other gauge wiring when I run the CHT, oil pressure and volt meter.

Finished:

[Piledriver]

Yes, beautiful, much better than stock.
Almost making rethink hacking out the gauge cluster for a 914 set...
(fortunately daily driver status has kept the sawzall away)

[aircooledtechguy]

The speedo is an all electric type from a '76 912E (but it's the same as any electric 911 speedo from about '73-'89 or so). I used an electric one because the 923 trans I'm using has an electric speed sensor off the R&P (so why not use it, right??) Actually any mechanical 914 speedo (all 914s) or early 911 speedo ('65-'73?) is the same and uses a regular speedo cable just like the stock VW cable. In order to use a Porsche gauge, you MUST use the factory Porsche gauge grommets that fit around the bezel.

Another thing, the tach on a 914 is too large; same with a 911 (but of course you can't use a 6-cyl tach on a 4-cyl car). On a 914, ONLY the two outer gauges can be used, but you have to choose because they ONLY fit in the CENTER gauge hole in your dash.

The outer L gauge with the fuel and oil temp are from a the same 912E, but again on a 911's 5 gauge panel, the OUTER most two gauges ONLY will fit. These are typically the gauge I have on the left and a clock on the right. I'm using a VDO cockpit series tach on the right. I'm again using the factory 911 gauge grommets to keep them in place and make them fit like they should. They simply slip into place with the gauge grommet (which can *just* be seen in the photos), they look like a small second bezel just outboard of the actual gauge bezel.

[Piledriver]

I wasn't too concerned with the std dash hole size...
I was going to put a modded 914 dash pad and cluster.

More of a matter of being able to see the new gages in the 914 panel through a 14" padded wheel.

[aircooledtechguy]

A few days ago I got my custom clutch cable from the cable maker. . . I had them add 17.5" to a stock 912E cable assembly (well actually they made an entirely new cable and just reused the stock bowden tube). It looks just like stock but ended up being just a bit too long (D'oh)!! Well, for now, I made a simple spacer to go between the end of the bowden tube and the trans and I'm able to get full motion form the clutch and it feels like a stock clutch!! When everything else is done, I'm going to have another cable made a total of 16" longer than stock and that should be PERFECT. The custom cable was surprisingly cheap!!

This is the pedal end of the cable using the Porsche clevis and pin in the stock VW pedal hook.


Here the Porsche 912E clutch cable bowden tube fits like stock in a type-3. (note my 1" extension for the bowden tube just before the trans case)

[Piledriver]

Looks great!!!

Skidplate?

[aircooledtechguy]

Looks great!!!

Skidplate?

The fwd trans mount has an integrated skid plate in the center (that thick area is SOLID steel and weighs a ton but is really down low so it won't really effect the handling) That is the lowest point on the car. I do plan to make a pair of "ramps" for it so there will be a smooth transition to the skid plate at the front.

[Piledriver]

I was thinking more to protect the TO arm setup on the bottom.

Probably no issue unless you slam it.

[aircooledtechguy]

It's not the lowest point on the car; that's probably why Porsche didn't worry about it either. The fwd trans mount is about 1/2-3/4" lower than the T/O arm. It's well protected by that massive hunk 'o steel.

[aircooledtechguy]

So over the past several weekends I have been working to make the Porsche 912E (923/915 series) 5-speed fit and work like a stock trans in my Squareback. I have now finished the fabrication and I am please to say that it works and works well. It feels and looks like it belongs in the car. Aesthetically, it’s pure Porsche and I’m really pleased with the result.

Some of the challenges I’ve had to deal with or over come were:
- The height if the transmission case (at the nosecone)
- Connecting the trans to the stub axles (Porsche inners/VW outers)
- Choosing a shifter that will work
- Modifying a shifter to work
- Modify the tunnel for the shifter to fit (honestly, it’s not nearly as bad on a T-3)
- Designing shift linkage (linkage that will compensate for an un-parallel trans shift shaft)

We’ll discuss these in order. . .

Since the height of the trans at the nose cone was WAY taller than the stock T-1 trans, most times, as a fabricator you would simply add a pocket to the area under the seat and be done with it. However this is not an option with a Squareback (well at least if you still want to fold the rear seat flat like stock). So instead of moving the body up with a pocket, I had to move the mount down. Not wanting to have a trans nose hanging super low, I opted to lower the entire rear suspension sub-frame 1.5” (which effectively raised the rear of the car 1.5”). I had to make 5 custom spacers to pull this off and then also re-adjusted the height of the car with adjustable spring plates. Now, the lowest point on the car is the factory Porsche skid plate for the trans mount and it’s an acceptable 4.5”. Actual trans and engine is a full 6”+.








Once the trans was physically in place I had to figure out what CV/Axle arrangement to use. The 923 trans has output CV flanges that fit 911 CV joints. However I found that the output flanges are the course spline type just like a 914 (woohoo!!). I have a bumper-crop of 914 CV flanges around here, so I simply bolted a set to the trans, used stock Beetle axles with 914 CVs on the inner side and they bolt up as stock!!


When it came to shifters, I used 3 different ones before I ended-up with the one I like and worked. I did 90% of my mock-up using a slightly modified Superior Formula Vee (VW) shifter and honestly it worked great except that the shift pattern ended up being backwards due to the linkage arrangement. So that also precluded the use of a stock Porsche 911 shifter either early or the late 915 style since they all move the shift rod in the tunnel opposite of the shift handle. Normally that’s not a problem, but my shift linkage flips the movement at the trans so I had to use a shifter that would move the shift rod with the handle. My solution was a ’73-’76 Porsche 914 unit.



I did have to modify the shifter slightly so that the spring lock-out for Reverse/1st (for the 901 shift pattern) was flipped to the other side and correct for 5th/Reverse (for the 923/915 shift pattern) This was accomplished by first removing the springs and plate. Then I drilled out the welds for the alignment pin plate. Then I had to drill a new hole on the opposite side for the alignment pin plate and finally rosette welded the plate back to the other side. Viola!! A Porsche 914/923/915 shifter with correct 5th/rev lock-out.





Modifying the tunnel was pretty straightforward. On a T-3 the tunnel is wider and the shifter is more centered than a beetle. So I just needed to enlarge the center hole and mark/drill the three mount holes. I made simple nut plates out of flat stock and 8x1.25mm nuts and then welded them to the under-side of the tunnel. As a bonus to using a Porsche shifter, I was able to mount a stock Porsche 914 heater lever in the nose of the shifter for my gas heater. It won’t actuate a cable, but it will be wired as the ground for the gas heater and heater fan. It gives the look though of an early 911 shifter w/ the factory enrichment lever!!





Designing the shift linkage was in a word, CHALLENGING!! Part of lowering the rear suspension was that if I lowered it straight down, not only would I have room for the trans nose cone, but an side effect was that the exhaust would also be showing more AND my intake air bellows would now not fit. So I had to mount it tilting down in front. What this did was disrupt the parallel plane between the shift linkage in the tunnel and the shift shaft at the nose of the trans (the trans was tilted about 10 degrees down). This caused stiction as you shifted. I had about a 6” drop and a 10 degree down angle to overcome. My design incorporated two, ½” heim joints to allow for movement at increasing angles without stiction. This linkage was redesigned and remade about 4-5 times before I had solved all the issues that came-up. You can now see why the stock style shifter caused the shift pattern to be flopped and why I had to go with a late 914 side-shift shifter to get the shifting back to normal. I’m really happy with the result. Shifting is positive and it’s infinitely adjustable

Rather than describe it, below are some photos to show exactly how it’s made.

[jgm_72]

looks good, have you gotten a chance to drive it yet?

[aircooledtechguy]

looks good, have you gotten a chance to drive it yet?

Thanks. Not yet, but I'm really close. I did so much during this phase, I'm having a hard time wrapping up all the details. And I keep adding stuff.

Updates in the future will include fully digital cruise control and a significant upgrade on the braking system. . . Those I'm going to install with the front-end changes in the next phase. Stay tuned

[aircooledtechguy]

Been spending my Saturdays of late, wrapping up all the small details that come with the new 5-speed, the rear brakes the gas heater and all the wiring-in of all the various components. Whew, there's a lot of little stuff that takes a lot of time.

I made one change to the brakes. I had planned on running stock 914 calipers in the back so as to retain my stock e-brake. The issue I had was the cable routing since my brake calipers had to be on the rear of the trailing arm, the cables would end up being very close to the axles/CVs. So I traded them out for 912E calipers that I had. Fit like a glove!! But now i don't have en e-brake. Perusing eBay I came across a really simple hydraulic e-brake set-up used by drift cars guys. . . I pulled the trigger on it and now I'm going to have an fully functional hydraulic e-brake!!



I've also made a few purchases that will add to the creature comforts. Updating this older car with modern car amenities is also a goal of the project. I've never owned an air-cooled car with cruise control, so I picked-up a Dakota Digital fully digital cruise system. It uses no vacuum off the motor, and I'll be able to stuff the module under my rear seat (like every other bit of electronics). Every day, I pass through several highly patrolled speed traps so I'm looking forward to the added piece of mind cruise control provides (especially with a car that really moves).



I helped a friend with a project of his recently; he's making replica Porsche 917 shift knobs. So he cut me a huge deal on this one so I'll be rolling with that now. It feels sooooooo nice in my hand (cool in summer, warm in winter) and the finish is simply un-believable. It's actually finished with about 20 thin layers of super glue(!) and polished to a mirror finish. It simply must be seen to be appreciated fully.



I also picked-up a pair of mid-70s/early 80s Porsche 911 seats off Craigslist super cheap. While I'm not a fan of high-backs, they are a lot safer. They also have bolstering top and bottom so I won't be sliding off the seat while cornering like I do in the stock, flat, low-backs. I'm having these recovered in black vinyl w/ stock black VW basket weave in the centers. Before the covers go on though, I also opted for seat heaters for both seats. I've never had a car with that option, so I figured, what the hell!!

[supaninja]

Sweet Nate! That hydro e-brake looks awesome!