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Mon Mar 15, 2010 10:23 pm

Before we get ahead of the game, lets figure out what the meaning of your year is..Hell it could be common so you could slam and roll custom..We'll see..I'm sure the Samba will provide some insight and shed some light on this 'delema'

Mon Mar 15, 2010 10:26 pm

lol too true eh but either way doesnt hurt to look forward to a future project... :wink:

Sun May 16, 2010 9:16 pm

Discovery!
So lets rewind a bit..about a week in a half ago, invisible stuff was changine out the spark plugs on his bug, when he noticed something was up..The ones on the drivers side were loose, #3 was the worst..and it turned out that the spark plug holes were stripped really bad.

So after some hmming and haahing, he, and his father decided to pull the motor soon and see the best method to fix the damaged spark plug hole..The car had been sitting for the past week in a half, and he and I were discussing options on what could be done...The idea of a 1776cc was tossed around, but the funds weren't there...After talking with his father (an old VW pro) he thought it was a killer idea to go ahead to build a 1776cc..so now the problem of funds is solved 8) :)

Anyways..So after going down to his house myself and doing some inspections, the engine is in remakably good condition for how poorly the PO had constucted it...Thrust is within spec, the valves are now adjusted and all of the intake boots are properly tighted down so there won't be that annoying minute vacuum leak that there used to be. From what I was told, the valves were pretty far out of adjustment, and the spark plugs reletively loose..and some of the intake being loose..ect, It appears now that the engine in is tip top shapes and should be back to what a VW engine should be. :D

So for the time being, the engine will go back into the car as is, and in the coming months, he and I will be pulling the engine out of his old Type 3 and use its case and heads for the upcoming 1776...Also on that note, he has also ordered Type 3 brake hardware, and he and I will be installing Type 3 rear brakes on his beetle in the next week or so :D

And last for best on this long winded update! After wondering about the 'UK Tax Class' Title his bug was given, we took a peak at his tunnel, and its covered in Bondo...and doing some feeling around, his beetle was originally RHD!!!

Anyways, I'll let him explain more once he gets on.. :D

Thu Jun 17, 2010 11:36 am

Update...?

Thu Jun 17, 2010 1:12 pm

Seems Invisible Stuff isn't as enthusiastic about his dub as PatterBon is

Thu Jun 17, 2010 1:36 pm

Fattie wrote: Seems Invisible Stuff isn't as enthusiastic about his dub as PatterBon is

True, plus his thread is turning more into a love fest between the two and little about his car anymore... :lol:

2 words "instant Message" or better yet just call each other theres less typing....im just messin with you 2 :wink:

Thu Jun 17, 2010 1:41 pm

Invisible Stuff wrote:

Oh and i LOVE the custom made jackstands...i almost fell over laughing when i saw that...too funny! But i bet safer than those cheapos we all use to hold our cars up!

Thu Jun 17, 2010 2:12 pm

So is it going to go back to RHD?

Fri Jun 25, 2010 3:31 am

OK yeah i realize its been ages since ive posted but heres the scoop on everything so far with the bug

Originally i had been inspecting the motor cause i had been having an issue when me and PatterBon had been cruising around when the bug started trying to sputter out and die if i didnt keep feeding it gas so i while was taking a peek under the deck lid i pulled the spark plugs and was going about replacing them when i realized that the threads for the number 4 cylinder on the head were stripped :x
so dropped the engine and pulled the head, and heli-coiled it and cleaned up the head real good and got the motor all put together ( i actually got really lucky and didnt have to go buy new gaskets cause a local napa had gone out of business a number of years ago and my father had picked up all the remaining bug and barracuda parts they had for 75% off so we had a complete gasket kit amoung a few other goodies still sitting around :D )
so i finally got the engine back up in the car and got everything put back together, and so now i was back to the original problem i was having of needing to feed it gas constantly to run.

So me and PatterBon poked and prodded it for awhile only to have the little brass fitting in the fuel pump going to the line that goes to the carb shoot off and spray me, him and my father with gas and scare the piss out of us ( i dont think ive seen any of us move that fast :lol: ) luckly the engine died right then since nobody was there to keep revving the engine.

So the only conclusion we could come up with is the carb so i pulled the carb and gave it to PatterBon who took it to work with him and did an amazing job cleaning it up and rebuilding it and we put some lock-tight on the fitting and secured it back in fuel pump.

After PatterBon brought me back my carb we bolted it and the fuel pump down and after a lil bit of starter fluid we got her going, to then have her dying again! :evil: so after a long drawn out string of cussing i cleaned up for the day and headed in. the next day PatterBon came down after work with another idea, so he pulled off the little idle cut off valve and put his finger over the hole while i started the car and what do you know.. it ran! :lol: so we cut the little mushroom cap thing on the end of it off and scewed it back in and called it good.

And now my current issue... before the fuel pump had spit its fitting and PatterBon had rebuilt my carb my brother had needed access to the garage to replace the clutch on his truck so my dad had moved my beetle (at the time i wasnt home) and to his surprise when he went to come to a stop the break pedal went strait to the floor :shock: thank god he didnt hit anything. so now Ive already picked up a new master cylinder and at the moment im hitting two birds with one stone by replacing the rear brakes assemblys with the bigger type 3 ones. Today i finished the drivers side drum and got all of the hardware and the shoes off the other side, so tomorrow im going to be pulling the backing plate and putting all the new stuff on and depending on what kind of time i have remaining in the day hopefully start on the MC and bleeding the SOB.

After that i still have a set of heater cables i need to hook up, but to be quite honest i have no idea what im doing other than where the cable starts and where it ends.. so any advice?

And yes i do plan to return it to RHD but its not going to be for awhile because i dont have the money that i need or want to dump into this car right now.. :?

Sat Jun 26, 2010 11:43 pm

So another update. I know i usually only post like every month or so but i figure i got keep you guys on your toes :wink:
So today and yesterday i got the other drum put together and pulled out the old master cylinder and put the new one in and PatterBon came down to give me a hand with bleeding the brakes. We filled the reservoir with brake fluid and jacked up the rear passenger side and started to bleed that brake, but no matter how much we pumped we couldnt get fluid to that valve so just for curiosities sake we jacked up the front passenger side and as soon as we pumped and crack the valve open we got fluid.. so we figure i have some kinda of blockage in my line. i popped off the connection between the metal line going to the wheel cylinder on the rear passenger to the rubber hose heading to the t-fitting and had a tiny trickle of fluid but not enough.. :?
so tomorrow im gonna jack up the rear drivers side and see if i get any fluid out of that valve and if not head back to the other side and work my way to the MC and try to find the clog and either pull the hose that its in and clear it if possible with my air compressor or just replace it.. but everything else is good to go and hopefully ill have her on the road again :D

The new brake assemblies installed 8) thanks again to PatterBon for the work he did with the drums and backing plates unfortunately i didnt get a picture with the drum on, ill try to get one tomorrow and post it.

The old master cylinder.

The old MC again.

The pushrod with a lil bit of crap from the inside of the MC boot still on it..

The old MC and some of the crap it was leaking.. :?

the inside of the MC boot...

The new MC :)

The MC mounting bolts the on on the left after a good wire brushing and the one on the right as rusty as when i pulled it out

And the new MC ready to rock and roll right before i stuck it in :P

Sun Jun 27, 2010 12:25 am

Invisible Stuff wrote: The MC mounting bolts the on on the left after a good wire brushing and the one on the right as rusty as when i pulled it out

So, did the spacers fall down into the Napoleon Hat when you pulled those bolts out?

And regarding the RHD saga, what does it look like behind the dash?

Sun Jun 27, 2010 12:47 am

Jeckler wrote: Invisible Stuff wrote: The MC mounting bolts the on on the left after a good wire brushing and the one on the right as rusty as when i pulled it out

So, did the spacers fall down into the Napoleon Hat when you pulled those bolts out?

And regarding the RHD saga, what does it look like behind the dash?

actually i put the spacers up in a tray so i wouldnt lose them in all my rummaging looking for shit :lol: and about the RHD i dont have any idea, i havent really looked at it with everything else ive been having going on with the car i kinda looked at the tunnel originally just out curiosity but since ive been more focused on trying to get it going, i hadnt really thought about looking at the dash, depending on what happens with the brake lines tomorrow ill see about taking a look and getting some pictures

Sun Jun 27, 2010 3:28 am

One of the reasons you might not be getting fluid back there might be because your soft lines collapsed. That's the issue mine is having right now.

Sun Jun 27, 2010 6:36 am

if you haven't installed the master yet... give it a rattle can paint spray 1st.... keeps it from getting all rusty lookin so quick

Sun Jun 27, 2010 11:07 pm

So today i didnt get around to getting out and finding the source of my brake fluid problem, but me and PatterBon did take a quick look behind the dash and i snapped a few pics though it was too dark to get anything of the tunnel.

ok so i know the pictures aren't great but if you look on the left at the one with the little rubber piece around there is one just like it on PatterBon's car but on the driver's side and its where the cables to the steering column come through but on my drivers side of mine it doesnt have the rubber piece and it looks pretty crappy..

Mon Jun 28, 2010 12:02 pm

It was really odd, If you look under your dash, next to the steering collum, you'll notice a rubber gromment protecting the wires that are going into the trunk..on his car, the rubber gromment is missing on the left side, there is a crudely cut hole there for the wires..there also alot of other curious details that point toward it being a RHD car earlier in its life.

Mon Jun 28, 2010 10:40 pm

So update, today I jacked up the rear driver's brake assembly to see if i was getting fluid to it or if it was clogged as well, i had full pressure thereso i proceeded to bleed the sucker and as i was sitting there at the valve opening and closing it as my father pumped the pedal, i heard a funky noise coming from the other side of the car so i stopped and walked over and peaked at the rear assembly and what do you know there was a good sized puddle of fluid under the connection from my hardline to my rubber line which in my frustration the other day i forgot to tighten down all the way as i was cleaning up so i tightened it down and went back to finish the other brake.
after finishing the drivers side rear drum i lowered it and headed back to the other side hoping that the puddle was an indicator of the blockage being gone. and would you believe it when i cracked open the valve a bunh of fluid came pouring out :lol: so i finished bleeding that drum and right about then PatterBon showed up and we proceeded to bleed the two front drums and adjust them so they were good to go. after a last minute inspection of the carb and the engine we started her up and we were off and man! what an improvement its never ran so strong or quite and the thing stops right then and there when you put your foot down on the brake pedal, my babys back on the road! :twisted: it felt amazing to be behind the wheel of a volkswagen again 8)

next: heater cables and front disk brakes

Mon Jun 28, 2010 10:48 pm

It was pretty kick ass..after learning that he got the lines to clear up, I was about 30 minutes away, I sped on down to his house and he and I did up the front brake..I must say I'm a wee bit jealous of how well the thing stopped..But while bleeding the brakes, you wouldn't beleive how much gunk and debris was coming out of the lines!..When the brakes were all said and done, we had to fiddle around with the accelerator cable a big, I tuned the carb a bit more and we took off on about a 4 mile trip, testing out how well the brakes functioned and how well the engine reacted during alot of stress..Also interestingly enough, while leaving our neighborhood, there is a steep hill..and going down it, his car used to die..So we always had to start it up again at the bottom of the hill..Now, today while leaving the neighborhood, his car idled like nothing had ever happened! :D ....Also when I took the carb to the shop to rebuild it..it was nasty..the idle pilot jet was about 100% clogged..and the other jets had alot of crap in them too...But now its clean and the beetle is happy and so is Invisible Stuff..I'd say his reaction when he drove it today more than made up for all of the trouble that his car gave him.. :lol:

On another note...Its confirmed..his car was originally RHD!

Fri Jul 02, 2010 11:53 pm

Bump...

Sat Jul 17, 2010 2:38 am

So after about 2-3 days of driving the bug again after getting her going again i started it up getting ready to leave PatterBon's house and i noticed a grinding noise... :x so after some poking around we came down with it not only being the fan again :evil: but also my throw out bearing was grinding when i had the clutch out and the car in neutral. so the past 2 days we dropped the engine replaced the bearing and got the engine back in and screwed with the fan some more to try and get it to function for now, right now i have my battery on charge because it died when i tried pulling the bug down into the driveway it wouldn't start so i had to push it the rest of the way in.. and tomorrow im throwing the belt back on and hooking the battery up and seeing if the bugger will start up

Now on a good note, i was just recently got a job.. so now that money is a little bit less of a problem.. there will be some goodies in store for it in the coming weeks :D