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Hiya Sean,
There's a VW wrecking yard in your general area. I'm wondering if you know anything about it. You know, if the place is a good business or a bunch of sharpies.
It's called The Small Car Connection and it's over in Hesperia. Know anything about it?
Yuppp sure do ! Been goin there for 25 year's ! Usually I did Bussiness with John but he Retired ! About 7ft Tall 300 LBS Old and Cranky like me !
I beleive Ron the Owner is runnin it now ! They do a lott of Bussiness with Joel Mohr , And Ray Riffle ! Coupla Bigg name's to drop !
As too Used part's these are your Guy's ! As to New Part's ?? Lil bit expensive than runnin down the Hill ( Cajon Pass To L.A. Basin ) , But Damm Convienant for Us !
I dont mind doin Bussiness and payin the Money even if it's a Lil Xtra and I dont have to Slum in Los Angeles 90 Mile's away ?
But if your lookin for Used Part's like fender's transaxles , seat's hard to find part's etc. etc .
These Guy's are the Go too Guy's ! Most of there Stuff come's straight out of the Desert and about the best your gonna see in Cancer Free body part's !
Big Badd John was very Knowledgeable when it came to V.W's The Owner is real Knowledgeable and last I talked with Him he said he was gonna take to runnin the Bussiness full Time !
Family Owned and Run as far as I know !! Got the Cuttest Lil Girl in there think she is like 5 or 6 year's old ! They gave her some chrome part's and a part's stand of her own one day when I was in there !
She was Trying to make Bank arranggin part's and polishin on them !! Cute as it Gett's !!! Melt your heart right now cute !
But yeah think there's like 10 or 20 + acre's of car's out back and Ive seen Bugg nut's from England , France , and Germany , Belgium etc. come over here and spend a week end Buyin Car's and Part's out of there just to shipp them back over Sea's !
Im not sure How the Kidd who usually work's the counter is related to them But I know He Call's Ray Riffle Grand Pa ??
Think it's Endearment Term ? Or Might be related But I alway's assumed he was either a Son or Grand Son of the Owner ?
Good people ! Cancer Free part's ! Order anything you like for you as in they Know all the Shop's In So Cal and then some !
Were all Bigg Fann's of Joel Mohr and Ray Riffle and all these 3 Shop's are all like extended family for year's !
Joel's shop is like 1 street over from Small Car and Ray's is about 7 mile's down the road from them ! A Visit to Small Car can and Does very often result in meeting Name's you see in Hott V.W.'s Maggg !!! Great Place to buy part's and gett advice !
Qaulity is up on used part's ! Like I said these are for the most part Desert Car's ! No, or Little Rust ! Even New part's ! They are worth it ! Cause they wont on Purposely Steer you wrong on what work's and doesnt work !
Big John use to watch me grab made in Taiwanneeese, off the wall and tell me Nope you dont want that , come over here and look at this ???? Good Guy's !!
Sean
Hiya Sean,
Thanks for the feedback!
I took a look at their place on Google and it looked like they had an extensive collection of cars (and busses too?). I was thinking that they might be in pretty good shape since they were out in the desert. Do they let the customers out in the yard? Can you pick and pull?
LMAO Yeah they lett me out in the Yard ?? IM not so sure about You Tho ???? LMAO
Yeah they lett the German, and Belgian Guy's out there to Pic and Pull ? Probably if you talked nice too them they'd lett you out there ? Least I would Imagine so !
Like I said these Guy's come from Europe like 6 or 7 at a Time and Have Pick and Pull party's out there !
As to Dessert Car's ?
Generally speaking , over all Dessert Car's are the best candidate's for Restoration ! Somethin about the Dessert Heat no moisture they just dont Rust and Cancer out ! We dont have that Silt and Clay that gett's stuck up under fender Well's etc .
When I was back in Texas ! We went looked at a Old 57 Buick and and Coupla Studey's that were in Shed's ! Old Guy told us they were parked in the Shed's back in the Mid 70's when his Grandmother Passed !
I was amazed at the Cancer and Mold growin on them ! Even tho the Condition, of the Shed was fairly dry inside ?? No Apparent Roof leak's etc.
I once bought a Pinto Station Wagon with 30 K on it Original Mileage ! Bought it for the Drive Train to Build a Crossley T- Bucket ! My Buddy had Been back east in Chicago needed a cheap Car to Drive Back home ?
So he bought this Cancerd out old Pinto drove it here Rann great But after 1 Summer of Heat and Rough Road's the Uni Body gave out and the Diff came right up thru the Uni body .
But I guess back east they spread Salt on Road's when it snow's ? So the Car was Commuter they lett sitt out on the street ! As I remember it was only a 15 year old car and completely Cancerd out !
About the only Rust you see here is across the Roof of Car's and usually just Superfiscial as in just enough to remove the paint !
Sean
I live in a semi desert and it's sure true about rust. Plays hell with rubber grommets and window seals etc. though.
Seat fabric and dashes don't like it much either. But that stuff is sure easier to fix than rust.
I noticed cars at the wreckers are different here than back east. Not rusted but worn out from long service. Cars back east are rusted out at the wreckers but the mechanical components are in better shape.
jim
Yeah here In the High Dessert A lott of Commuter's go to work Down the Hill .
They live up here in the High Desert But once you make it to I-15 it's a 75+ MPH 30 Mile trip Down the Hill too the Inland Empire or 80 Mile's To South Central L.A.
So it's nothin to look at a really Clean Car that is only 5 Year's Old and see the Odometer wrackin 100K+ mile's on it !
What's worse is Down the Hill to work mean's back up the Hill to Get Home ?? Cajon Pass is steep and hotter than Hell in the Summer !! Even new car's will be Bogged down to 65 MPH commin up the Pass ! Hard as Hell on Engine's and Drive Train's !
Lott of People in this Area think I will just Buy a V.W. for 500 Buck's and use it as a Commutter to get to and from work up and down the Hill !
For the Most Part I find this Hillarious and Absurd !! Yeah a 500 Dollar Car + A Proffessionally rebuilt 1776cc + a Freeway Flier Trans Axle on a completely re Configurated V.W. too the Tune of around 5 grand not includeing Labour ??
Then this might be the way to go !! As that is what we in the Know seem to think it take's to do the L.A. Basin commute in a V.W.
I know Guy's who been doin it for year's in V.W.'s ! In fact my Father did a 130 mile Commute intoo the Desert the other direction from Cajon to go to work .
What got us intoo V.W.'s !! Ended my Muscle Car Era carreer !! Whaaaaayyyy Boo Hoo !
These car's will do it ! Do it Reliably ! But figure on a complete RE- configuration of the Car ! Along with Buildin them right !
Then you can get stuck in Bumper To Bumper Traffic on Cajon Pass in a 110 Degree heat with no Air Conditioning LMAO .
Sean
I'm also in the mountains. I live in a deep valley surrounded by high mountains with only a couple of high mountain passes. I don't leave my valley much in the Beetle. I have to floor it much of the time on the freeway and that don't feel right even in winter. It's hard to maintain 55 and the limit is 65 MPH. That's why it's a desert though. Rain clouds don't make it over the mountains.
My car is stock 1600. My compression is a bit low at 105 as well. I'm hoping a stock rebuild in the spring will give me more power. It's at 75,000 miles and never been rebuilt so I guess it's tired. I'd like to maintain at least 55 MPH without flooring it.
jim
jim
Hiya Jim,
You might be surprised at how much of a performance boost you'll get with a simple stock rebuild. Your engine does sound tired and at 75,000 it probably has reason to be. What's your compression at each cylinder? Any notable differences?
Yeah Jim Understand here that you can rebuild the same exact 2 motor's exactly the same !
Example a 1600cc S.P. that is rated at 53 Horse's By the V.W. factory ??
53 Horse power rating By V.W. Kinda worked like this in qaulity control ! They Pulled Say 5 Motor's off the Line and Dyno'd them !
Out of the 5 motor's tested 53 Horse's was Best motor so they made the Claim that it was 53 Horse's ! When in fact the other's Dyno'd at say 50 or 52 horse's etc.
It all had to do with qaulity control measure's as to Degreeing the Camm to the crank ! Undoubtebly no one at the factory had a Job pullin every motor off the Line and Degreeing the Cam !
Degreeing the cam too the Crank is all about where the slot for the crank gear is cut. Along with where the cam lobe's are ground in relation to how the Camm gear is posistioned as well as to the Pitch Radiuse of the Camm gear .
So as a qaulity control measure every so often they would pull a motor off the line and degree the Camm to the crank ! Then Make Adjustment's on there tooling to compensate where the Crank Gear Key way slott was ground and the Lobe posistion on the Camm were ground in relation to how the gear was fitted to the cam ! Make Sense ??
After coupla thousand motor's the Crank slott , camm Lobe posistion even the Crank and Camm Line bore would suffer Tolerance stacking that would result in the Camm lobe posistion in relation to the TDC throw of the crank being off more than 1 or 2 Degrees !
Now because the Camm gear to cRank gear is a 2 ta 1 Ratio ! 2 Degrees at the Crank gear slot = 4 Degrees at the Cam ! 4 Degrees off in Camm timming is a lott on your Valve over Lapp !
Valve Over lapp is the amount of Time that both Valve's are open at the same time in relation to where the Piston is in the Cylinder !
Reason I tell you this ????
Because of Qaulity control measure's Employed at the V.W. factory Almost anyone can take apart a stock motor and rebuild it and 90 % of the time be with in 1 Degree of the crank ! Especially if the same crank and camm are used .
But where the Home Builder get's intoo trouble is when he Start's Usin say a 40 horse camm from 1960 in a D.P. 1600cc from the Mid 70's ?? But not alway's !But Tolerance stacking on where the Camm lobe's were Ground in relation to how the Camm gear is fitted to where the Slot for the Key Way on the crank gear was cut is most likely to occur from different year or Decade Part's being Joined !
From My Experience ??
2 Motor's built exactly the Same can be off on the Horse power as much as 45 Horse's on one motor too 53 Horse's on the other motor when Dyno'd !
Even tho they were built the same !!
My experience has shown me that the motor that only Kicked 45 horse's on the Dyno tend's to runn hotter especially head temp's ?? Leak more oil ??? As well as Burn Valve's or Need a Valve job more often than the one kickin 50 or 53 horse's !
Remember here that Heat Robb's Horse power and cause's premature wear ?
Even tho the 45 horse out putt motor runn's ok ?? They never seem to have the Cajone's that they should , etc. etc.
Understand here tho that Degreeing the Camm is time consumeing and if I had to guess 99% of the Shop's rebuilding stock motor's dont waste time on the stocker's Degreeing the Camm ! Would be cost Prohibitive !
Instead they rely on the original qaulity control measure's that were employed at the V.W. Plant and this work's 90 % of the Time and the other 10 % that do suffer from Tolerance stacking work Ok enough to Out Live any Gaurantee on there Motor's !
Now take a Aftermarket crank combine that with a aftermarket Camm , and a Aftermarket Camm gear where Little or No qaulity control measure's exist between different aftermarket Companie's ??
You will get Tolerance stacking between the Camm and Crank close to half the Time ! As in Degreeing the Camm is a Must !
So understand when the Bright Eyed Bushy Tailed Cocky Lil Novice tell's you Oh I built a 1776cc running 10-1 CCR on a Webb Camm and she, is fast ??? That only about 1/2 the time There tellin you a True fact !
A well built 1600cc D.P. Could very Well out Runn them or better yett on a Hard runn up a steep 35 Mile Mountain flat out perform this so Call'ed Mild Performance 1776cc !Especially in the Heat !
Buildin motor's is more than just part's Assembly !
My 1600cc S.P. runnin 8-1 CCR Stock Camm Stock Build with the exception of the Higher CCR Ratio of 8-1 Verse's Stock 7.3 -1 CCR ??
Runn's up Cajon Pass with 4 Passengers at 70 to 75 MPH ! No Problem !
It's just all about gettin it right ! Get it Right and you will be way ahead of the Game and do it on less Money ! Increase the Dependability, and Longevity 10 Fold if not more !
All about buildin a better Mouse Trapp ! A Good understanding wether you Degree the Camm or not can Help you as in knowing when and How and why Tolerance Stacking is most likely to Occurr !
Famous Engine Builder once told me " Sean 3/4's of the Bugg's Reborn again are Reborn again Wrong "
At time I was Ford Freak and thought ahhh B.S. Old Mann ! But Im still Learnin to appreciate the Wisdom of the Age's !
As to Ole Blue Over 70K on her Original Build was like 300 Buck's and she still Keep's time like a Swiss Watch !
Sean
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