The Project Pad

how i got the steering wheel on.... i swapped in a 5kt column. not without plenty of custom work though (it's back a few pages). and yeah, black suede will match the steering wheel, and i'll make another shift boot like i did in my alpine car out of suede.

boxflares wrote:Looks great- how did you get the B3/B4 steering wheel to fit the 4KQ?

You can do it without swapping the column, all you need is a typ 81/85 Nardi/Personal hub.
These steering wheels are two piece with a removable hub, like most Momos etc.
This hub is also the same as VW Rabbit/Golf.
Or.. if you are creative, use a Momo hub and simply redrill for Nardi pattern..

Hope this helps.

this is my update from last friday night before i left CA. i have towed the car up home to oregon now and this should be where it stays for a while i need to get it registered and insured so i can get it on the road and flush any bugs out that i haven't run across yet...

first up, just for kicks, the body shop next to us was throwing out a bunch of pin striping.. so i for some silly reason wanted to try the double red on ... i think it look pretty decent. i dunno if i'll stay with it though. i think i'll finish the one side and give a bit to sink in.






on the mechanical aspect of things under the dash, my first go round' with shortening the column shaft didn't go so well. it wasn't straight and i had to remove the center support bearing as the shaft was off enough to make it bind... which in turn made the steering wheel flop if i lifted on it.. that's no bueno !

do i got another shaft from Rob C and planned this one out a bit better....

started off by cutting the shaft...


i had to find a shank of some sort that would fit inside the column so that i could keep my centerline straight this time. so this 5/8" bolt was the closest thing...


and as you can see, there's a bit of material to come off it yet and i did that all by using a piece of belt sander belt and going over it like shoe shine boy. then rotating and going at it again... and again... and again. man, my forearms felt about as big as my thighs after this! makes me wish i had a lathe :(


i did a little bit of cleaning with one of my porting flapper setups inside the tubes..


then once i had the size reeaally close, but still didn't fit... i put the bolt in the freezer, and heated the tube up with the heatgun... then viola'! a little tap with the hammer and in she slid. then i just cut the bolt shank to the desired length


now to do it all over again


my length was correct the first time around, so i could copy that. you can see the sleeves on the first shaft... they weren't exactly a tight fit, so that's why the shaft wasn't true enough for proper use.


now my dad, being the wise person he is (most of the time), has always taught me (more like beat into my head)... overkill, overkill, overkill. welding the column shaft with a butt weld would probably suffice, but since i went to the trouble of installing the center shaft, i might as well drill some holes and plug weld it for good measure...




i still get giddy when i pull off a nice looking weld


to follow up with the overkill theme, i found a split seam metal sleeve that i could drive over the pipe and then back over the seam weld once it was done.


then the whole thing went back in the freezer...


heated the receiving end, whacked it together, then seam welded..


cleaned the weld down a bit (if you look back a few pics you'll see i radius'd the tube end so i could fill it with weld for strength), and then tapped the sleeve back down over the joint and welded it again..


BAM... nice and straight! this time all i was technically doing was a straight splice... whereas the first time i messed with two critical angled areas screwing it up..


i put it all back together along with the proper support bearing in the center of the column... and man, it works like it's supposed to! it was late so i stopped taking pics at that point, but i'm really happy with it now and feel it's pretty secure in the build quality area



this here is a sight on the tow home.... luckily i wasn't driving (besides i usually don't do 71 in a 55 like my dad feels is comfortable ). the jerk also confiscated the detector/jammer and is placing it in with evidence.... nice..


i'm really annoyed with california's attitude about truck and trailer speeds out in the middle of FREAKIN' NO WHERE... i asked the officer why they don't update their archaic speed limit and he said "too many people... could you imagine 80,000 lbs......" and i interrupted and said the rest of the country has it up 70-75.... and they seem just fine!! you would think that with modern technology, the people in charge could have 55mph signs for cities... and 70mph signs for the vast straight open areas... but i guess we're not that advanced yet... plus they need that revenue to buy more tools to catch us law breakers... yay

Are Radar Detectors illegal in cali? or is it because of its jamming capabilities that he took it?

I was under the impression Virginia was one of the only states where radar detectors are illegal....

I would cry if they took away my Valentine1...

Come to Latvia and install mine dash :-D

It's because jammers are illegal in the People's Republik of Kalifornistan.....I can't believe that radar detectors are actually illegal in Virginia. Too me that is tyranny. Who do you hurt by having a radar detector? The county/state's general fund?

ok, so i went out to try and track this rich running problem down and double checked the electronics that i could do for now with the Ohm meter...

coolant temp sensor

supposed to be 2800ohms @ 68F and 200ohms @ 212F
reads 3000ohms @ 70F and 250ohms @ almost operating temp


IATemp

supposed to be 500ohms @ 70F and apprx. 575ohms @ 90c (i think that's about operating temp)
reads 500ohms @ 70F and 500ohms @ about operating temp


i can't do anymore checking until the digital multimeter gets back, but i want to check the 02 readings again.

it's wierd, i started it up and as it warmed up, it sorta cleaned itself out, but it still won't idle when it's hot. i've even adjusted the throttle butterfly to allow for more air simulating light pedal pressure to open the throttle... still no go. it ends up idling real low and then dying out. as i let it warm up today, it actually was idling quite nice, then bam, just died without warning. i've also checked that the idle motor is getting power, and i've run two different idle motors in it, no change.

it also starts immediately after it's died... no hesitations about that, but it'll rev up a little, then die out again.

i could really use a 20vt wiz about now pretty please anyone? i just want to get it on the road :(

hmm one person comes to mind. Chris Miller. and i bet there is someone i am missing.

Have you tried the folks over on the 200 20v list. There is a lot experience over there.

i haven't.... i need to verify the fuel pressure next and then go from there.

ok, i got a new lead... i was out draining the cooling system of it's water ( to put coolant in), and noticed the voltage seemed kinda low, just over 12v while revving the engine.. and like 10-11 volts if i just let it idle... sooo it might be killing the system with the voltage so low and at operating temp the fan kicks on.

also.. i noticed i have this nasty gargling rocks sound and i got a big long screw driver out along with my ear and started putting it on things listening.. alternator is noisy... and the voltage output is funky... it may be the root cause of all my problems here... so that's what i'm hoping anyway. i'm gonna throw a spare 90q alt. on here. it doesn't seem to be the quietest, but if it works for now and cures my problem, i'll throw a bearing in it or something

last noise i cured.. i picked up this high pitched chirping/chattering and man... i couldn't figure out what was going on until i lifted the radiator top shroud and found the crank case breather can rubbing on the alternator.. AHA! so i think i'm really close to having a solidly quiet car and that makes me happy

ya know, earlier today I read through your entire project thread.....TWICE. One of the things I've gleamed from your project is what it's like to work on a car when you have all the tools you need at your disposal. Needless to say you're doing the things to your 4000 that I've only dreamed of. Keep it up!

Derek - let me know if the alternator works. We need to go for a ride

PS, I am now staying in town for die autoblitzkrieger!

well, the ride issue is.... i have to get it registered and insured before i drive it anywhere..... and i forgot the title in CA... :frustrated: i'm gonna see about getting it mailed up here though as a friend has access to the shop.

i envy every one of your 4k's

Derek -

Why is it again you need to shorten the steering shaft? Is it 'cause you lowered it?

I bet you had one big headache eating all the popsicles so you could freeze a car part! :bump:

i had to shorten the shaft... because i have a 5kt column in the car now

derracuda wrote:i had to shorten the shaft... because i have a 5kt column in the car now

Does the wheel wind up in the same spot, more or less?

Nice to get rid of the cheesy "dasher/fox" column lock and starter switch for sure...

i think the wheel *might* stick out a little further... but if so, not much. it's pretty much in the exact same spot the factory wheel was. i did try to make sure of that

and it still has a steering lock

okie dokie! today was detail day!

lt. sarge, aka sean, came over and hung out and it was determined that the best course of action was avoiding his homework, and flirting with the rain while buffing, clay bar'ing, micro polishing, and waxing. there will be a glazing, but we just ran out of time.

first up, gratuitous before shots...







we masked off as much black trim as possible that might come into contact with the buffer so as to not get rubbing compoud all ground into the black trim. that always looks nasty and takes a while to get out.


this is after the first buffing stage. i used a standard rotary buffer with a 10-12" wool pad, and 3M perfect-it II compound.


while buffing the roof i was getting these black dots that were being difficult to come off, and sean suggested trying a clay bar. i've never clay bar'd before... and man, it's totally awesome.... that's all i can say about that.


after clay baring


then onto the micro polish stage. sean has some stuff he found off the internets and i like it a bunch. it's definitely a good medium stage. kinda like going from 100grit to 2000... there's a whole lot in between that makes it way hard to go straight to the really fine stuff.


then onto the Klasse all-in-one wax. bar none, one of the best waxes i've ever used. great finishes, long lasting, EASY to use. very seldom to i get a stubborn car where this stuff doesn't like to come off easy, and it doesn't stain on black plastic trim.. that's a major bonus. it also is water based and if there's some water residue somewhere, it don't matter . i got busy and forgot to take a pic at this point... sorry but this is the results on the roof.


normally i would have gone ahead with the final stage and used Klasse's auto glaze, but there needs to be no chance of rain... and we were getting sprinkles here and there. so that will be another day. here are some night shots though..


man, the reflections are soo good.. and it's at night even!


the trailer shows nicely in the hood


last thing of the night was to rain-X the windows, and clean the insides. i need to re-clean them again soon and probably find something to take the film off. the window cleaner was having a tough time with it. i think just plain soapy water will do the trick.

in other news, the title showed up friday, and i'll be taking the car in monday to get it registered and insured so i can actually drive it on the road for once. it's been a solid 9 months since i've driven the car anywhere, and i'm really looking forward to it.

lastly, i got some freebie gray cloth seats from a 4kq, and those will be the catalyst of my re-upholstery program in this car. the pass. front seat foam will be used in the drivers seat as it's in great shape. i'm also probably going to put up a poll with some pics on interior options that i have in mind. i think you guys will like what i'm thinking. not quite 100% original styling, but not crazy custom and weird. i've always felt something wasn't right with the interior of a lot of hotrods that make magazines... they just look odd.... so i'm not planning anything too crazy as always, i'll have pics of my endeavor and hopefully my hand at sewing with the machine comes out ok

That looks amazing! I wish I had a car that had paint good enough to go through all that trouble for! Nice as usual!

subvertdesign wrote:That looks amazing! I wish I had a car that had paint good enough to go through all that trouble for! Nice as usual!

thanks 8) i'm glad that this car was my basis for the project. it's really coming out nicely. it was about 1 year ago now that i devised building this car because i had a 20vt engine and loved this color. a lot has taken place in one year, that's for sure.

Your before pictures show more shine then any car I've ever owned

-Dave

finally got some rain... it took like a whole day for it to show up

Clean those "4000" logo remains!



looking good derek.