Finished up Garden Knox today. The old pine boards were rotted out.
-Replaced all the boards with rough cut larch
-Made hog panels with the lower part wrapped with mesh to keep deer and rabbits out.
-Designed a hanger / latch system for the panels which i had laser cut in 304 stainless and tumbled by @sendcutsend
-Also designed and 3D printed mounts for the row cover bows.
-And there is also underground water so I don't have to move a hose to mow.
Im still here. Been super busy lately. Cabby is sitting, still.
Started spring cleanup on the Atlas. FINALLY got the winter wheels off, cleaned up the wheel wells ( i hate the damn fabric liners - which i remove and hose out each spring - notice all the dirt in the driveway...)
Had the black #tswalloywheels refinished in silver powder for a fresh look.
Paint decon and a fresh coat of EXO up next.
It's back! 61 days later from the warranty rust repairs and subsequent fixing of paint issues from the first attempt. Good for another 161k miles hopefully
Im still SUPER behind on updates, but here we go. FINALLY wrapped up the rest of the inside wiring - power distribution for the motor, megasquirt, AIM dash, etc. Power wire feeds from the rear battery through the seat bulkhead via a two-piece grommet that I designed and printed. It then feeds through the firewall - capped by a cover that I also designed and printed - and to a Bussmann LMI midi fused busbar mounted on the center of the firewall. This provides 12V power to the factory fuse box, and then to the pass side fuse boxes. The left fuse box provides power to the coils / injectors / etc which is switched on via the megasquirt fuel pump output. The right fuse box is ignition switched (the only connection to the oem fuse box). There are 3 breakout connectors mounted behind the pass fuse boxes which feed the cluster, coolant fans, hx pump, AEM wb02, etc. Near the column there is a single connector for the AEM dash and switch panel. More on that soon I hope. A single milspec connector provides all the signals to the motor which is located just to the right of the gas pedal. Megasquirt mounts to the kneebar which is why its just hanging there
Time for another update. This week the battery/ mount setup. Way back when I did the chassis work I fabricated a battery tray into the front half of the spare tire well. I wanted to keep the battery within this area to maximize trunk space so I picked up an @4xspower D5100 which fit the space and should meet my needs. With that in hand I fired up F360 and came up with a mounting bracket system which also serves to hold two MP circuit breakers and uses copper buss bars for a direct connection and has a lexan cover to prevent inadvertenet shorting. All the parts were made by @sendcutsend . PEM studs were utilized to mount the breakers, studs for the lexan shield, etc. The steel brackets were all powder coated satin black. There is a small fuse block mounted on the right side of the tray for anything requiring a separate 30A or smaller fuse - so gar just one for the primary fuel pump). I still need to add a ground wire, but im still trying to decide where I want to run it. Next ill show the rest of the power distribution system.
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#clubhousecustoms_ny #vw #vwcabriolet #cabby #vwperformance #golfmk1 #vwrabbit #volkswagen #mk1cabby #golf1 #mk1golf #vwgolf #golf1 #golfmk1 #mk1golf #mk1cabby #vwrabbit #vwporn #vwlovers #vwbuilds #vwvortex #8 #shavedbay #16vturbo
Been forever since I posted anything. I have been working away for about the last year on the dash / cluster / battery etc... but Ive been having trouble getting projects to 100%. I did, however, manage to finish a bespoke shift knob - my first attempt at forged carbon. The design ties into the dash (think MK2 red stripe, but on MK1) which will make more sense in the next few weeks. I started by creating a model in Fusion360, followed by some test prints etc. Its a 3-piece interlocking design which has a forged CF top and bottom half with a red texture powder coated ring. Threaded inserts were molded into the CF to allow the 3 sections to be bolted together with a #10 screw and attached to the shifter lever. I used 3D printed molds to create the forged bits. They turned out to be one-time use, but got the job done. The large M12 threaded insert was turned down from a M-F hex standoff. Im super stoked at how this turned out, especially for a first attempt. Should have some more pretty big updates soon.
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#clubhousecustoms_ny #vw #vwcabriolet #cabby #vwperformance #golfmk1 #vwrabbit #volkswagen #mk1cabby #golf1 #mk1golf #vwgolf #golf1 #golfmk1 #mk1golf #mk1cabby #vwrabbit #vwporn #vwlovers #vwbuilds #vwvortex #8 #shavedbay #16vturbo
Part 9 of heater setup. Heater control knob lighting.
The oem lighting for the knobs was very lacking - due to the design which uses one center bulb and light pipes to distribute to the other knobs, and to the surrounding labeling (which Im not using). The light was too bright on the middle knob, too dim on the outer knobs, too much random light around the outside of the center knob, not consistent in color knob to knob, and too orange overall for my liking.
First, I removed the oem light holder and light pipes. After a few LED tests it was clear that i needed to swap the center knob red light pipe for a clear one (factory used red there b/c of the proximity to the center bulb I suspect, and clear on the sides). I simply swapped a clear pipe from another control I had.
Next, took a few measurements of the heater control and designed my own housing to hold 3 separate red leds directly behind each knob. Holes for each LED lead and separate tracks for positive and negative keeps things insulated. A single 2 pin connector was added for easy connection / panel removal. Heat set threaded inserts were again used. Just had to add two holes to the face of the control panel to attach it to. The bottom center has a pin just like the oem light assembly. Wiring is pretty straight forward. And then just glued a cap on top to cover the led wiring.
This produces a much more even red color on each knob in a nice compact assembly.
Part 8 of the heater setup. Relocated MK3 cable operated controls
As I said before I didnt want the controls in the dash, which will be apparent in future posts. The next best spot was in the kneebar in the ashtray area. They are low and mostly out of sight, still accessible, and the cables reach.
I designed and printed a housing which has the same curve as the kneebar and holds the heater controls from the back. Heat set threaded inserts were installed into the print for a more robust connection.
A couple simple brackets were added to the inside of the kneebar in which to attach the assembly from the front side with two flat head hex drive screws. I did have to remove a little of the backside of the kneebar for cable clearance, but otherwise it fit in this location surprisingly well.
With that in place I used some Polyvance padded dash filler (and a trick with some foam double backed tape to add a nice even gap) to blend in the housing with the kneebar itself. Ultimately this will either get wrapped in something or flocked. Im likely to carbon skin the control panel, but thats still TBD.
Part 7 of n of heater box. This time we’ll focus on the “floor” heat flap. In this case its all custom made unlike the defrost section which I reused from stock. Previously I had made a super crude flap, but decided it needed to re-done to function with the MK3 heater control. (image 5 shows old vs new flap)
I wanted to utilize 3d printed jigs to see how well the flap shaft could be done without using the lathe or mill. As usual everything was modeled in Fusion360. The flap is made from 0.063” aluminum which I ordered from @sendcutsend . Two jigs were used to drill the shaft. One to add holes to each end and another to add the 4 linear holes that the flap is press-fit into. It worked better than I could have expected. The flap was covered with sticky back foam sheet to form a seal and provide cushion.
Again, designed and printed pivot assemblies for each end of the heater box. The drivers side incorporates a mount for the cable, utilizing the oem cable clip. The actuator arms were made by @sendcutsend in 0.085” aluminum and assembled with some simple #10 hardware.
Part 6 of n of the heater box (this is getting out of hand). Wanted to keep the dash free of heater control so opted to use a MK3 cable operated heater control, which will be mounted in the cigarette tray area of the kneebar (that will be its own update probably). In order to implement this I designed a few parts for the cable actuator levers.
First, the cabby defrost is normally vacuum actuated from the backside of the plenum. Cable routing etc required that it actuate from the front (firewall) side. I designed and printed a new arm and cable mount that allows for actuation of the defrost flap from the back side and utilzes the oem cable clips.
I havent made an update in forever. Ive been making ok progress but I think I got behind on making updates, and then it seemed like too daunting of a task. I also have like 100 things partially finished which also makes me not want to post.
Annnnyway, I'm going to try to get back into it because the posts definitely help keep me motivated. For now I'm going to skip a bunch of random things and post what Ive more or less finished up today - the heater box.
Looking back to the last post I did on this assembly 59 WEEKS AGO, this will be part 5 of n. We’ll start with an overview of the completed assembly and then I’ll work backwards to the details.
