Past few days rigging up the throttle cable, a bell crank and some other stuff that will be attached to the back of the firewall.
Over in the corner is my Accusump oil accumulator. With new brackets it tucks neatly into the space between the torsion tube and the body.
That’s good, because it leaves room for the Spyderesque “oil tank” (actually a breather chamber and drain-back) that should fit next to it, just above the smaller frame tube.
I took a hack at making this the other day….
But I’m not loving it yet.
The original looks more like
Making that V bracket was a chore. I used stainless steel, mainly because I have some nice thick sheets of it. But it’s hard to work.
My large Rotobroach bits are pretty much cooked now. But it’s done.
The Morse cable I bought is about a foot too long. You can see the loop down below the torsion tube. I might replace that before I put the engine in.
I still have one more bracket to make, which on the originals mounted the voltage regulator.
On this car it will mount a CB Performance “Black Box” computerized ignition system. This engine’s weak spot is the 009 distributor with the Pertronix points-eliminator. The 009 was made for industrial motors and is not well suited to street-driven hotrods—lots of spark scatter in the midrange. Gets you the “flat spot” plus crappy mileage, as maximum advance is about 30 degrees.
These distys are ubiquitous in the VW hotrod world mainly because they’re cheap.
The Black Box supposedly fixes them, offering as 21×21 spark timing table you can set on a laptop. Basically, you lock-out the stock distributor advance, plug a vacuum hose and some wires into this thing and you get a modern, and fully-programmable, ignition system, including rev limiter. All for about $200!
The best part, for me, is that the box is roughly the size and shape of a 1955 Spyder voltage regulator—so I get to maintain my “looks real” theme even while getting all that electronic ignition goodness.
With my Italian-made glass bowl fuel pressure regulator on the left,
the Black Box behind the driver’s seat, the bell crank in the middle, the breather can (and accumulator) on the far right and my wire clips
and fuel line brackets running along the top, the Spyder’s firewall will have all the major elements of the real deal, all correctly located—except the hammered-out cups for the seat backs.
Here’s 0051’s firewall for comparison.
I think I’ll leave this one in raw aluminum though. Maybe a clear coat.
Along Came A Spyder 