Solex 28-PICT-1 refurb

I was fortunate enough to pick up an original Solex 28-PICT-1 for a fiver (literally the same cost as the postage!). It was in need of restoration, but that's what I am all about:

Fortunately I had my VW workshop manual to guide me through the disassembly process (not needed, but reassuring to have): 

Evidentially this carb has never been overhauled as the original Solex branded gasket was still present:

I got hold of a rebuild kit, which gave me the correct gaskets, diaphragms and needle valve, although I ultimately opted to keep the original valve:

After the carb was broken into component parts I gave everything a few hours in the ultrasonic cleaner. It came up better than expected and revealed that the parts were in a good state of repair:

Comparing against an exploded diagram, I took stock of what I had. Everything was present apart from the accelerator pump discharge tube, which I will have to find at a future swap meet. The carb was a pleasure to rebuild as it went back together without issue: 

Looking fresh and now ready for installation on the engine, along with the recently refurbed fuel pump:

However, that's where I hit a slight snag (an issue I once knew, but had forgotten); with the car upgraded to an alternator, there was not enough space to seat the carb in place. Fortunately, there is an aftermarket solution, which is effective a space to raise up the height of the carb slightly. Another thing on the shopping list. 

Hopefully, I will get this tested next year and between this reconditioned carb and the fuel pump, the engine will have a more faithful resemblance to an original engine. 

Pierburg fuel pump rebuild

Apologies for another long absence, it seems that I may be unofficially trying for the longest classic car restoration in history. Maybe I should reach out to Guinness and have it recognised as such when Gretchen finally gets back on the road in 2050? Anyway, I will explain in due course why things seemingly stalled yet again, but it is an exciting story for another time. 

Back to business. The last time I updated on reviving the old engine and getting her purring once again. That was a thrill and since then I have been thinking about reinstating some original components as a lot of the ancillaries currently installed are inferior aftermarket parts. Back when I was a young student (and thus dependent on the car as my daily driver) my motivation was always just to keep the car on the road. So when things would fail I would simply buy the cheapest generic replacement part and toss the old parts as though they were worthless scrap (little did I know!). Fast forward to the present day and I am acutely aware that original VW parts are far superior and fortunately there are serviceable parts available to enable the rebuilding of certain things.

So, I picked this original Pierburg fuel pump up from a swap meet for £10. It is period correct to my car (manufactured in 1965) and was a prime candidate for a rebuild:

 The old pump was stripped down:

I than ran it through the ultrasonic cleaner, which brought it up almost like new:

The rebuild kits are comparatively expensive, but I am grateful they exist:

 All parts laid out and ready for assembly:

It was then a case of checking the serviceability of the used parts and replacing the old stiff and cracked diaphragm:
 

Everything went back together easily and it occurred to me just how relaxing this part of the process is:

To set the main diaphragm to the required assembling position (as stipulated by VW) I used a bolt clamped firmly in the vice and ensured that it protruded exactly 14mm:

With the top portion only loosely held on by the machine screws, I clamped down the base of the pump with the bolt pushing up on lever with the correct lift. I was then able to tighten down the machine screws which clamps the diaphragm into the correct position:

Rebuilt and looking great. I will fit this up to the engine soon and give it a test run, just need to renew my old fuel hoses first:

14 years of silence, will it run?

My time in the garage has been intermittent of late, so to keep the enthusiasm levels topped-up I decided to have some fun and see if I could get Gretchen’s engine to cough. The engine last ran 14 years ago, so I was longing to hear that characteristic purr once again. 

But ....will it run? 

It should be noted that this was not the original engine to the car. That lump met an unfortunate demise back in 2003 whilst I was bombing up the A5 dual carriageway just outside of Milton Keynes. I suddenly went from 60mph down to about 10mph and had to pull over and call for recovery. Sadly, the big end was shot and because I was reliant on the car as my daily driver, I traded it in and purchased a reconditioned unleaded ‘green’ unit (the engine you see here).

Naturally, the first order of TLC business was an oil change:

 

To run the engine outside of the car I needed to build myself a starter rig. I located a used bellhousing that had already been cut down for the purpose:

I then set about rigging-up a simple wiring loom. I wanted to run a few indicator lights, namely; ignition live, oil pressure and alternator. After researching how others had gone about it, this is what I came up with:

Once assembled it functioned exactly as I had hoped:

The battery is the same one that came out of the car all those years ago. I was surprised to see it was still reading some voltage, so I knew that there was hope it could be recharged:

After after 24hours of trickle charging it was capable of holding adequate voltage, at least enough for the purposes of bench running the engine. Obviously, this will be replaced with a new battery at the time the car goes back on the road.

Through my engine tinkerings I discovered that the fuel pump was not working effectively, so I simply replaced it with a near-identical new one:

More adventures to come, particularly now that summer is around the corner. Thanks, as always, for reading!

Sporadic re-emergence

Happy New Year! 

With apologies for the unplanned and lengthy intermission. You know how it is, life sometimes takes over and focus has to be diverted accordingly. That said, Gretchen's restoration has never been far from my mind... 

Recently I have been casually tinkering in the garage to remind myself of where I had got to. You will have to excuse me as I am likely to jump around illogically from task to task for a while. In short, don't expect any linear progress, but I will try to keep things moving along.

Here is something I have been itching to do for a long time - making a start on repairing the crusty old rear wheel well and body mount/reinforcement section:

Having stared for countless hours ruminating on the best approach to this, I opted to weld together a jig that would allow me to correctly locate the donor panel:

I needed to preserve the exact location of the original bracket (the one with the bolt hole which secures down onto the chassis). Note the 'cup' cradling the old bracket constructed from small off-cuts of angle iron. Theoretically, this will keep things correctly aligned when offering up the replacement panel:

After carefull assessment I chopped out the old rotten section with the angle grinder:

Here is the rot-free donor panel (harvested from a scrapped dry state car in the US, you may recall). It still needs to be trimmed down and blasted clean before I stitch it in, but I think you get the idea of how the jig idea will work:

Anyway, it feels good to be back on it. I will try not to leave it so long for the next post! 

Black Friday parts order

My chassis components clean up over the past few months provided me with an opportunity to make an accurate parts list. By the time that the inevitable annual sales came to town, I was ready and organised. This is my latest shipment of parts:

As well as fresh slave cylinders, the eagle eyed will notice that I have upgraded to a duel master cylinder (for safety reasons): 

The part I am most excited for has to be the dropped spindles:

They will provide a 2.5" drop on the front of the car, whilst offering a smoother ride.

Not everything that I required was in stock, but it was a good haul nonetheless. Things are starting to move towards the chassis rebuild, which makes me happy!

Repair to the petrol tank support rail

I was still in two minds about the tank support rails. My initial feeling was that they were fairly crispy and that heavy pitting (from both inside and out) had thinned them.

However, upon blasting, it turned out that my assumption only turned out to be partially true. It seems that these sections were made from a slightly lighter gauge steel, which would explain why they felt relatively light. Fortunately, the rot was not too extensive, so rather than replacing with new items I figured I would save them. Afterall, the more original steel that stays in the car, the happier I feel:

Marked up the worst sections:

Cut out the bad:

made up a patch from fresh steel:

Clamped, welded and dressed:

I am not sure how I want to proceed with the forward section that curves downwards. It is actually a bit more complicated than it appears in photos because the planes sit at various angles rather than conveniently flat. I may end up using a section out of the Mexi tank rail and graft it in rather than trying to form it from scratch. I need a little thinking time, so will come back to it.

 Right, time to have a look at the other side...