I took an hour break from working to go clean some more parts and try to get some sanding done before dusk hits. I try not to make too much noise with power tools before 10am or really after 6pm as a courtesy to my neighbors. Spring Plate Covers I continued sanding up and roughing…
Month: April 2020

Murbella – Day 13 – Parts cleaning, sanding, modding, etc.
So today was focused on continued cleaning of the disassembled suspension with solvents in an effort to get as much of the undercoating and grime off of them prior to sanding. Passenger Stub Axle So the passenger side stub axle also came out with a bonded spacer. However this side was different. I was easily…

Other People’s Cars – Ade Prakasa’s 1973 1303 Beetle
I recently saw this car posted on the FB groups and it is quite a nice one. It looks like it is super charged. I’m not really familiar with this general setup.

Some love for the Subaru too! A proper oil change!
Murbella didn’t get all of my attention today. I spent about 30 minutes on the Subaru Forester. Now I have a lot of the oil burning issues that plague can plague these cars. In fact, I often consume quite a bit of oil during normal operation and also get awful fuel economy on this vehicle….

Murbella – Day 12 – Spring Plate
So I tried to avoid repeating the problem of the driver side removal but I ran into other issues with the spring plate. Now this side had the worst undercoating coverage. It was caked up on many of the bolts and all over the torsion bar section of the spring plate. I had to chisel…

Murbella – Day 12 – Passenger Side Trailing Arm Removed
The passenger side trailing arm ultimately proved to be problematic at the pivot joint just like the driver side. I separated the trailing arm form the spring plate and I can say that it had for greater range of motion than the driver side did. With some effort, I was able to move it up…

Murbella – Day 12 – Passenger Side Stub Axle and Bearings Removed
I took advantage of an extremely pleasant morning and afternoon to start disassembling the passenger side suspension and remaining bits of the drivetrain in the trailing arm. Most parts have the same random spraying of undercoating, and this time the spring plate covers and spring plates torsion bar areas were extremely bad and far worse…

2020 VW Summer Nationals on June 14th at Kil-Kare Raceway. Maybe?
Given that the Kil-Kare Raceway is closed due to the COVID19 situation, I don’t know if the 2020 VW Summer Nationals will be held in June or not. I was kind of looking forward to this since I have never been to one and while I’m not really into drag (racing or otherwise) I wanted…

Murbella – Day 11 – A temporary aftermarket part
So I have been unsuccessful with my available tools in taking the dent out of the original driver side spring plate. I’ve worked it a couple times but I’m afraid basic hammers, a vise, and some basic dollies on metal this thick are just not going to cut it. I’ve gone ahead and snagged a…

Reference: IRS Stock Torsion Bar Settings
So I was not having much luck in researching how to install the IRS torsion bars from scratch. People I asked never directly responded or send me to the same adjustment info for already installed torsion bars. I then started mixing up my search queries a bit and finally got some info, including a reference…