Project Car...The Beetle.

[JWC]

Once this is the way I want it, it's back to the yellow Bug.

[J86]

My mom's first car was a yellow bug

[280Z Turbo]

A bit off topic, but speaking of air cooled VW's:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=248880

[Raghavan]

A bit off topic, but speaking of air cooled VW's:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=248880

I would've turned that stuff in to the police to get it off my hands.

[Danish]

I LOVE the flat red paint job. Was the car repainted, cause the door jams seem to be a brighter shade of red...

[JWC]

The interior was redone a couple of years ago. The outside paint is about four years old and hasn't seen any wax.  I can't decide whether to buff or leave it as is..at least until I have to paint it. 

I finally got the shifter adjusted properly and fine tuned the carb some more, but the weather won't cooperate.  The car runs like crap in cold weather and purrs like a kitten in warm weather.  Of course, today I had time to try to balance it out, but the temp stayed around 70+ degrees.  By Wednesday, it will be in the high 30's to low 40's. 

Today I was cruising in the car and was sitting at a stop light, when two guys, twenty-somethings, pulled up next to me.  The passenger leaned over and yelled that he loved my car. Old VW's always draw looks and comments. 

[JWC]

A bit off topic, but speaking of air cooled VW's:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=248880

I visit samba quite often..like everyday...and read this thread.  I wouldn't have turned it in.

[280Z Turbo]

I visit samba quite often..like everyday...and read this thread.  I wouldn't have turned it in.

You would need a joint rolled up in poster paper to smoke all that shit!

[Rupert]

I dunno about y'all, but I'd rather not smoke 20 year old weed.

Though, I suppose there are dealers who might sell it...

[JWC]

I'll be pulling the engine out of the red Bug this weekend.  Installing a new intake manifold and exhaust system with the correct heat risers.  The car is a bitch to drive when the ambient temp is below 45-50 degrees.  I'm also going to try to hook the interior heating system back up, hopefully without stealing the heat exchangers (aka, exhaust manifolds) from the yellow car.  If that happens, I'll be pulling two engines out.

I'll try to take some photos.

[JWC]

Of course, it is supposed to be in the mid-forties Saturday.

And in the teens tomorrow morning.

[JWC]

Of course, the latest weather updates says it's supposed to snow tomorrow. 

Just my luck.

[JWC]

Wind chill 22F.
Hands frozen.
Miss global warming.

All I could do today was readjust the choke and carburetor for cold weather driving.  I am going to have to rob the heat exchangers off the yellow car, though.  The exhaust system on this car is from a fuel injected Bug and there are no heat riser connections.

[JWC]

No photos, too tired and consumed by "bad" luck.  I removed the yellow car's engine and today removed the red car's engine.  What should have taken about an hour, took three hours. Instead of engine mounting nuts coming out easily, whole studs pulled through the engine case. There was a dead mouse in one heat exchanger.  In retrospect, I'm now glad the heat didn't work, that would have been one heck of an odor.

The engine out of the red car was probably a Mexican block since it has no engine serial numbers.

Some progress has been made.

The engine out of the yellow car has been resealed (though I didn't split the case, I just resealed the top end).

All the engine cooling tins have been refinished.

The fuel pump spacer broke off in the the block. Not a big deal, you just kinda shake things around and remove the pieces from the sump later.  It just meant having to order and wait for more parts to arrive.  That has been the biggest delay, waiting on parts. 

[280Z Turbo]

Are all your cars Superbeetles?

[JWC]

No, two are standard Beetles.  The convertible, which is dying a slow rusty death waiting for me to get around to it, is the only Super Beetle.

[280Z Turbo]

I thought the normal ones had headlight covers.

[JWC]

I thought the normal ones had headlight covers.

The last year for "covered" headlamps was 1966.  After 1966, Beetles started using standard off the shelf 6014 headlamps.

BTW, same as the Datsun Z.

[280Z Turbo]

BTW, same as the Datsun Z.

[JWC]

At one time all headlamps were standard.  The sizes were 6014, the large round high/low headlamps, one headlamp per side.  Then you had 4000 and 4001...two headlamps on each side.   

[280Z Turbo]

At one time all headlamps were standard.  The sizes were 6014, the large round high/low headlamps, one headlamp per side.  Then you had 4000 and 4001...two headlamps on each side.  

Oh, right.

I thought you were talking about headlight covers.

[Soup DeVille]

I thought the normal ones had headlight covers.

The easiest way to tell is the rounded snout that sticks out further than on a normal Beetle and past the headlights.



Of course later, they had rounded windshields, but all super beetles have the big nose.

[JWC]

My old 1973 Super Beetle Autostick.  Bought it just as it is shown here and sold it exactly the same.  Note the rounded front end and curved windshield that Soup mentioned.



My 1971 Super Beetle and the wife's 1988 Honda Civic.  The '71 was orange when purchased and was stripped totally down and repainted.  It was also dechromed and the engine was rebuilt.  Interior was painted black.





These were taken about 15-17 years ago when we lived in the boonies.  The house behind the yellow car was our first house together.  We rented it for $200/month.  The other shots are the back yard. 

That was a great house. Small on the outside and huge inside.  The house dated to the 1870's and the rooms were huge, but overall the house was only around 900 square feet.  When we started house hunting, we had a difficult time deciding on a house until we found the one we're in now.  Though all were larger square footage, all the houses we looked at except this one had rooms smaller that the "little" house.

[JWC]

Wish me luck. I'm going to try and wrap up this engine job this weekend.

[TheIntrepid]

HERBIE!!!

[CALL_911]

HERBIE!!!

You're a herb.

It looks like it's going to come out nicely, JWC.

[TheIntrepid]

You're a herb.

It looks like it's going to come out nicely, JWC.

Do not disrespect.

[JWC]

Not this weekend either.

Fan/alternator issues reared their ugly heads.  Did get the new heater cable run though.

[JWC]

The red Bug lives!!!

I installed the new Bosch starter this evening after work.  Installed the original crank pulley and the SOB cranked over and purred like a kitten.  After it started to warm up, it sputtered and died.  Carb problem still there.   I'm happy.

Turned out besides the carb problem, the "custom" chromed and indexed crank pulley that was on the engine was marked 20 degrees off from TDC.  I contacted the PO and he had the original pulley. I picked it up from him and compared it to the chrome pulley and...found out the timing has been way, way off.

Now I need to readjust the valves and reset the timing.

[sparkplug]

I was behind an old bug today with a stinky exhaust. Is that normal. I figure maybe the timing's bad or rings were wore out. Good luck with the bug.