Does feel a bit like Deja-Vu in the garage at the moment, as I know Ive done most of this before, but that said, with any project the best thing to do is rip everything out and start of with a blank canvass, or in my case a great big hole where all the noisy bits went.





I have been debating which box to go in there for a while now, and whilst everyone was screaming at me to go for the 3.89 ratio box, something kept niggling at me that I shouldn`t. It wasn`t until after I threw together the gearbox charts and graphs so that I could see what gear I would be in pottering about town and when I would be changing up or down, that it became very clear that with my tyre sizes the better gearbox for me to go for was the 4.125 ratio box (generally known as the 1500/1600 box). After a quick chat with VW Heritage, it turned out that they had a reconditioned 4.125 Rancho box down there, and they offered such a good deal that I had to go and get it immediately before they changed their mind.





I know that these Rancho boxes are supposed to be much "Beefier" than the standard ones, but I had not imagined for one moment that you would be able to see the difference from the outside. Compare the size of the side plates, the physical diameter of the differential box at this point, and also the size of the actual gearbox casing at the rear.





As you can see, the Rancho box is quite a bit bigger than the 1300 box that came out, and also considerably heavier too.

I'll throw a pound in the kitty if manage to break that bad boy, hope it all comes together well for you

Heavens, that's clean....   

Am watching this with interest, just in case I need to do something similar.

Its looking good so far though and hopefully all will be fine 

Heavens, that's clean....

Another one with closet OCD or is it CDO

Heavens, that's clean....

Another one with closet OCD or is it CDO

Nope, the recent wet drive back from N.E.W.S. that waterlogged and near killed my engine had the advantage of thoroughly washing every bit of the underside of my Buggy

The next thing I had to consider, was how to physically mount the gearbox to the chassis. The original rubber mounts made the engine rock so much that it was causing problems. I seriously considered going down the route of solid mounting everything, but that didn`t allow for any "give" anywhere, so if anything were to move or break, then it would ultimately be gearbox casings that would fracture as a result. I didn`t fancy that. After reading and researching some of the stories out there, neither did I fancy the Red Urethane mounts either. So that ultimately led me to the CSP Rhino mounts, which are also some form of solid resin / plastic style mount that will at least offer some limited protection if something ended up moving that shouldn`t have.

Here we can see the front Rhino mount compared with the original one, and the first thing you will notice is that Rhino have now ditched that god awful tacky yellow plastic colour. Don`t get me wrong, I love yellow - but those bits looked like the plastic from naff childrens toys.





Anyone who researches the Rhino mounts will probably come up with the same conclusion that I did. They are very good at what they do. They are virtually unbreakable. And they are a really crappy fit, with much fettling needed with a Dremel to get them to fit correctly into place. I`m happy to report that mine were no exception, but at least I had the foresight to trial fit everything first off the vehicle. First problem was that although my new front gearbox mount was pre-drilled for both old and new style fittings, the holes did not line up properly for Rhino mounts, and had to be opened up a little as the threads were catching on the sides. A few minutes with a round file and all was well.





One of the other common Rhino complaints is that you cannot easily attach this mount to the vehicle as the gap down the side of the nut is too narrow to get a socket on, and the frame horns prevent you from swinging a spanner in there. Common solutions are to either remove some of the side metal with a Dremel to allow a socket to fit, or to use the smaller diameter cylinder head nuts that apparently fit rather well. I have some very unusual shaped spanners, so didn`t have a problem. Although I must say, that I`m surprised that this design flaw has never been addressed by the manufacturers.





You will also notice hanging off the front mount is my gearbox earth strap. Just above and to the right, you will also see another heavy duty bit of black 4AWG cable that is another earth strap that I made from a car Amplifier fitting kit, and this is connected directly to the battery negative terminal. This ensures that my starter motor has a really good earth, and can turn over as fast as it can.

The Rhino mounts are pretty good at what they have to do, but have one flaw, which
was bad enough for me to drive straight back into the workshop and take it off...

My engine didnt really need one anyway and the standard rubber type is fine for me.

The flaw..... Engine and transmission noise is transmitted into the floor pan which in my case
became one huge 'speaker... It was unbelievable  and I just didn't want all the droning and
amplified sounds that were being generated, thats all.

Other than that it worked really well for the 600 yards it was on 

Peter 

The Rhino mounts are pretty good at what they have to do, but have one flaw, which
was bad enough for me to drive straight back into the workshop and take it off...

The flaw..... Engine and transmission noise is transmitted into the floor pan which in my case
became one huge 'speaker... It was unbelievable  and I just didn't want all the droning and
amplified sounds that were being generated, thats all.

I fully understand where you are coming from with that one, and as you use yours as a daily driver, often with the roof on, then I appreciate that engine vibration and noise could indeed be a major influencing factor. On the flip side, I spent well over a thousand miles in Chads last year, and vibration was fairly un-noticable, and his box is solid mounted.

I guess its horses for courses really, and I will find out for myself soon enough 

Yes 

I think I may get a little more noise than others because my floors are one piece and
using 1.5mm Zintec sheet, so they are unbelievably stiff.

I could stand on the front sides and jump up and down, nothing moves, the channel
running along each side is 2.5 folded Zintec too so its all pretty rigid.

Am sure you wont have the same problem as i did, you are right about having the roof and doors though
as it keeps a lot of noise in...

Peter 

Time to start playing about with the rear mounts. Hopefully this picture should explain the conversion that needs to be done from the ultra soft rubber IRS mounts and plate on the bottom, to the Rhino mounts and unbelievably heavy gauge plate shown above.





You will notice that on my old mount, I had a great big plate welded in the middle. This was actually the bracket for holding on the center section of my tow bar. Rather than chop it off and weld it to the new plate, I cut the bottom lip off the new plate (bolts to a skid tray) and used the existing frame horn bolt holes to ensure it all lines up again.





The tow bar mount can be seen better from the other side, and is really nothing more than a big thick bit of angled plate





With all that now done, time to give it a liberal coat of "Hairy Hammerrite". Affectionately named after the amount of bristles left behind by the cheap disposable brushes I use as I am too tight to buy thinners. You can buy an awful lot of 2 inch brushes at six pence each compared with the price of a tin of brush cleaner !!

Heavens, that's clean....

Another one with closet OCD or is it CDO

Nope, the recent wet drive back from N.E.W.S. that waterlogged and near killed my engine had the advantage of thoroughly washing every bit of the underside of my Buggy

Dave, have a lok at the "What did I do today thread" my engine sucked water and I think I have solved how to stop it

I looked on that with great interest Dave, no doubt it will work though.

I may relocate the air filters in due course with some pipework, but need to get it back on the road first 

I looked on that with great interest Dave, no doubt it will work though.

I may relocate the air filters in due course with some pipework, but need to get it back on the road first 

Am i being thick here, or pehaps someone can explain this situation, when there is a deluge, the carbs you are running get waterlogged, how   surely the air filters installed do not allow ingress of water whether they are foam/paper/cotton  types and possibly being treated with a filtercharge oil ( stops dust apparently)   http://www.knfilters.co.uk/cleaning.aspx 

Where does it get in ?

I looked on that with great interest Dave, no doubt it will work though.

I may relocate the air filters in due course with some pipework, but need to get it back on the road first 

Am i being thick here, or pehaps someone can explain this situation, when there is a deluge, the carbs you are running get waterlogged, how   surely the air filters installed do not allow ingress of water whether they are foam/paper/cotton  types and possibly being treated with a filtercharge oil ( stops dust apparently)   http://www.knfilters.co.uk/cleaning.aspx 

Where does it get in ?

The close proximity of the air filters (Twin Carb) next to our wheels appears to be the issue here

Although the construction of the air filter material will prevent 99% of waterbourne particles from going down the venturi`s, the deluges of rain and monsoon`s we have driven through of late has meant that the prolonged spray from the wheels is landing on the air filters, and if you throw that much water at something porous, eventually some of it is going to go in.

Completely sludged up the oilways in my engine with creamy goo, (completely knocking out my oil pressure), and took several attempts to clear it, the last being a total hot engine flush with Wynns.

Cheers for that Dave, that means I'll stick with the re-jetted single solex that Mr Porsche installed and have no problems.
Obviously twins work on a sedan or camper cos there all tucked up out of the elements.