Küby : getting it back on the road... again!

Over 15 years after its first overhaul in 2006, I'm coming back for more! But this time I'll do it the right way, not just a rushed quickie job to get to drive it...

Küby was due to go to its MOT test, which I knew it would pass successfully, but at least it gave me a starting point. It already failed its previous test (when I bought it), amongst other things for defective wipers...

So, back to the MOT test to know what I'll have to fix... Test unsurprisingly failed for :

• braking performances : rear unbalance : AR
• baking performances : insufficient
• windshield wipers : not working
• windshield water sprayer : not working
• horn : not working
• steering linkage : front left : major play
• headlights : not properly adjusted

OK, let's be honest, I knew for sure I'd have quite some work to get it right. So, let's get the stands out and address each point...

Hey, here's my advice buddy : go get yourself a coffee, this is gonna be one long ass post right there.

Rear brakes

Performances of front brakes were ok as per the MOT, even though I still plan on renovating them too at a later point, at least to paint them as the drums are pretty (SPOILER ALERT : finally I'll fully rebuild them too below!)...

Anyway, on the rear brakes I rebuild everything with brand new parts (last time in 2006 I only replaced the brake cylinders and their hoses, in a rush to drive).
So I replaced cylinders/drums/pads/springs/hoses/hard pipe (I only kept 1 drum, recently replaced by the previous owner, it only had some exterior surface rust). I sandblast the brake plates, and paint them along with the drums (I spray one coat of MOTIP primer, then 2 coats of glossy white from the same brand). Brake cylinders get thoroughly cleaned with brake fluid, and everything put back together with a dab of copper grease on friction points. I won't detail everything, just go read my articles on the beetle brakes rebuild and Ghia brakes rebuild, it's the very same process. Fine, rear brakes check : next!

Wiper motor

My wipers motor does not run at all... Those are specific to the Thing model and do not exist as repro, so the second-hand ones are really pricey.

So let's fix this one... I unfortunately did not take any pictures during the process as I was trying to do it quickly, but in the end I still spent a good 3 hours on it. Complete disassembly, cleaning the hardened grease stuck everywhere, polishing the axles that got oxidized, got the rotor on the lathe to polish its contacts and remove a couple 1/10mm on its outer diameter (got oxidized and that was grabbing on the stator once in a while, preventing the motor from starting)... Yeah, that took a while.
The coils look a bit too black to me, the motor probably got stuck under tension at some point, causing the coils to overheat.

But anyway, I reassembled it with new clean grease, I also changed the seal around the top cover, as well as the rubber boot protecting the electrical connections (both are available at Paruzzi), changed the sleeving on the wires... And it works perfectly now!

Windshield water sprayer

That's a new one on the MOT test, I had never been asked for that previously... It's getting trickier every year keeping our classics legally on the road.
Anyway, I got rid of the factory system using the spare wheel pressure. In its stead I install an electric pump right below the water tank, actioned by a small switch I hide behind the stock switch.

I also change the stock tube and sprayer, add a one-way valve to prevent the water from flowing back in the tank, and I'm done. Next!

Horn

"Not working" said the MOT : well that ain't exactly correct, I'd call it "temperamental".
And it got worse when I started working on the steering column, the horn blasting when I turned to the right.... Argh!!

Well, it's a well known recurring issue on our old VWs... After struggling to find the root cause of the shortcut, I finally changed the steering column top bearing (the old one had a bad play anyway) and the wire that goes through the column.
I also installed a brand new norn behind the bumper, the previous owner having glued one in the front trunk using at least a pound of hot glue (seriously, aSa??? )...

Well anyway, the horn works perfectly now, but not on its own when I turn right!

Steering linkage

OK, I can't blame the MOT, the leftmost steering ball joint is completely shot. Heavy play, it's a bit scary to think I drove 20 miles like that to get Küby back from Nice...

I was pretty confident it would be an easy job thanks to my Facom ball joint extractor, planning on just replacing the 4 steering ball joints.
But it wasn't going to be that easy, looks like the ball joint is from the factory, and is completely rust-welded to the spindle after over 50 years, ending up with the extractor breaking! (well, just its axle, which can be bought as spare parts from Facom)

So I took the spindle off of the car, to put in into my hydraulic press (#itsnevereasy). Using an Oxygen Acetylene Torch, WD40, the 6 tons of pressure from the press, and two mallets to hit the ball joint from both sides, it finally came out with a loud "bang" that got my ears to ring for a solid 10 minutes!

Suspension ball joints (and getting carried away)

So... That's the point where I started getting carried away.

When I took down the steering links, I saw that the spindles were pretty hard to turn by hand, which explained the very stiff steering wheel.
It appears the 4 suspension ball joints got replaced by the previous owner, but the shop who did the job did not align them correctly with the marking on the suspension arm. As a result, after some driving, they had to be pressed out and in again (a big no no here).
The ball joints obviously did not appreciate the treatment (especially the 2 top ones, see pictures), and since I already have removed the spindles, I figured “in for a penny in for a pound”... Let's remove the suspension arms and replace the suspension ball joints (but correctly aligned this time). I tried to find good quality ball joints, better than the Meyle "German-made-in-Turkey" previously installed, which do not have a great reputation. I end up installing a pair of TRW on top (found on eBay US - nice product but rare and pricey) et de Heyd on the bottom (bought from Paruzzi in Netherlands).

And as usual, while I'm at it, I also give the arms the classic cleaning/bead blasting/degreasing/priming/painting combo. You know what, from now on I'll call that "the combo" for short in this article... Talking about the combi, since the spindles are out...

Front brakes (getting even more carried away)

Since I had to remove the brakes to get to the spindle, well... Even though I had not planned on doing it right now, it's still the opportunity to restore them as well, amirite? #morecarriedaway

On one of the front brake plates, the spring plate locking the adjusting wheel was broken... I bought a new one, removed the old and pinned the new one in its stead... And then "The Combo". You got it I guess : in the end everything went through the Combo process : brakes, steering linkage, spindles, suspension arms, tank fittings, pitman arm, steering box bracket...

Nuts & Bolts

Always in the objective of getting everything clean, I treat all the hardware with Brunifast : it's a cold bluing treatment, which turns the steel a nice shiny black (like guns) and provides some rust protection.
Each and every screw, nut, or spanner get sequentially :

1. cleaned (WD40 and toothbrush, and/or ultrasonic bath)
2. bead blasted (using my DIY sandblasting cabinet - which just turned 10 yo!)
3. thoroughly cleaned/degreassed (acetone/brake cleaner)
4. dried with a heat gun - make sure not to touch the parts to avoid fingerprints
5. bathed in the bluing solution (2/3mn max, not more, or the black coating won't stick!), while the parts are still hot from the previous step. Bath temperature must be 20°C minimum.
6. rinsed with clear water
7. dried with a heat gun - again
8. bathed in fine oil, while the parts are still hot from the previous step. At least two hours, but overnight is even better.
9. thoroughly wiped

Actually the black oxide coat is slightly porous and will absorb some oil, which will give the parts this nice shiny aspect, and will provide some rust protection.

The process, as you guessed, is extremely time consuming, parts need to be perfectly prepared for it to work properly. But without this process, the bead blasted nuts & bolts would get rusty pretty quickly... And I gotta admit, it's a blast re-assembling everything with great looking hardware!

Steering box

Since I was on the steering and the car was on stands, I tried to adjust the steering box, which always had issues.
I couldn't for the life of me get it correctly adjusted, it caught at some angles then had massive play... In the end I decided to replace it with a brand new one, along with its flector which was the original factory one and was seriously cracked... #gettingevenmorecarriedaway

I did an autopsy of the old steering box... No lubrication because only filled in with old hardened grease stuck to the sides of the box only, and the worm shaft was massively deteriorated, which explained the "sticking" feeling mentioned before. The roller wasn't too bad though.

Reassembly

Time to put everything back together, with a dab of copper grease on the adjustment points to make it easier later... The front beam has been cleaned (WD40 by the gallon, in a spray) before reassembly, just to have something clean to work on. We're not savages. I then realized that even if Küby had the brackets for the front anti-sway bar, it did not have the actual sway bar itself! So installed a beetle one, which is not ideal as the Thing came from the factory with a bigger one (14.5mm diameter on Things vs. 12mm on Beetles.sur cox), but it will have to do for now.
By the way if any of you guys have a spare Thing sway bar, please let me know... Sticking to the "It's Never Easy" law (which is a corollary of Murphy's), as I was putting back the front left wheel, torquing the screws... The thread ripped away in the drum. Graaaaaagh!!
This one had been replaced though... Weird.

So I considered several options :

• install an helicoil : not great on a security element like that.
• switch to shoulder studs pressed from inside : I'd have to machine a pocket in the drum as there won't be enough room for the stud's head (it would rub against the brake pad's spring retainer), but with only 8mm thickness I don't really have enough material to do this.

So I ended up buying another new drum, which goes through The Combo again... Phew!

I also replace the blue hoses between the brake fluid tank and the master cylinder. They were in a pretty bad shape 15 years ago, I had even bought new ones back then but never had the opportunity to install them... Obviously they did not get any better with time, leaking fluid as soon as I touched them. Better late than never I guess?

Long story short, this looks much better, right? Just as a reminder : I was initially planning to change 1 steering ball joint... Talk about getting out of hand!!

One hiccup I face though : after reassembly I noticed the suspension ball joints were very tight... It's supposed to get better after some driving as the join get run in, but I honnestly couldn't drive like that. I decided to follow a method found on TheSamba : forcing a pre-run in of the ball joints using an impact wrench (see vidéo here or there).
It works well, you just have to go through the process a number of times so the joint doesn't overheat. And now at least the car is driveable.

Shock absorbers

I replaced the four shock absorbers with gray KYB Gaz-a-Just ones - looks like Küby was still on his factory shocks from 1970! On the rear-left one, the original spacer had been replaced with a piece of pipe, which from a mechanical standpoint doesn't make sense, and actually ended up bending the screw. So I turned a new spacer on the lathe in a piece of scrap steel, bought a new screw, and done...

Rear axle

I checked the bearings in the reduction boxes : they had been replaced by the previous owner, they're new, but are waterproof models. I would have preferred standard models, keeping the original oil circulation, but I decided to keep them anyway... I reassembled everything whilst replacing the lip seal and paper gaskets, with some Loctite 518 to prevent any oil leaks. While I was there, I replaced the swing axle boots, and gave a good cleaning to the whole rear section... I also replaced the fuel hoses - the one between the chassis and the engine was completely shot, and started leaking heavily as soon as I touched it!
I also installed suspension rubber bump stops, which were always absent. The left bump stop bracket got eaten by rust, I gotta weld a new one in place.

...and "a few" more things!

The fuel fill-in hoses always had a tendency to leak, leading to fuel smells when turning to the left. Well, the air vent had simply been plugged, it had to go somewhere...
So I also replaced all the hoses, seals and air vents of the tank. On that topic : the "fuel venting hose between tank and T fitting" sold by VW parts resellers is too shorts by a couple centimeters (see middle picture below), I ended up replacing it with 15x23 hose I bought by the length from TopJoint (not a sponsor, free ad here).

I also fix many little things to get the beast more secure and reliable :

• straightening the rear left wing (that got bent 15 years ago... the wheel got away!), and adding the seals over the wings (and a couple of missing screws under the wings)
• Adding the battery strap (as usual, I found back the original one in a box after I ordered a new one in the US!)
• Adding the seals around the doors (they've always been missing)
• Adding the top and bottom seals on the windscreen (same, never had them)
• Adjusting the headlights (as required by MOT)
• Still on the headlights : the switch wasn't working well, I had to jiggle it a little for the lights to turn on... So I disassembled it, cleaned it, polished the contacts, used a bit of electrical spray, adjusted the spring contacts, reassembled... And it works perfectly now!.
• Engine oil change (Motul 300v 20w60)
• Gearbox oil change (Motul HD 80W90)
• Reduction boxes oil change (250ml gearbox oil)
• Installing a 2kg fire extinguisher below the rear seat (I'm a bit paranoid of fire risk on my classics
• Installing new straps for the rear seats backrests
• Changing all light bulbs to LED ones (including a LED-compatible flashing relay, and a motorbike beeper, as once the top is removed I wouldn't ear a thing and drive for miles with the turn signal on)
• Starter motor : once in a while it would just give a "click" noise and not run at all... I initially thought solenoid, but nope, it was working correctly. In the end it was the motor rotor contacts that got oxidized (the car was stored outside for many years, that probably did not help). So thorough cleaning, polishing, degreasing, and it runs perfect now.
• Drive door : the little door retainer tab had broken away, so I turned a new one on the lathe.

Well well well. As for "getting it back on the road" I may have gotten a bit far... How many coffees did you have buddy? Anyway, that should be enough to go back to the MOT holding my head high, as well as driving more safely!

I'll have to change its 4 tires soon-ish too. Wouldn't it be a perfect opportunity to change rims??