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vwfan65 Samba Member
Joined: December 29, 2004 Posts: 134 Location: fort worth TX
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Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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Glenn wrote: |
I've seen POs do everything from rewire a car with only black wire to tin foil in the fuses to street signs used to patch holes in the floor.
Before you buy a car you need to determin if the PO was "sort of handy". If so... walk away. |
I have seen more than a few street signs riveted in bug pans with many,many layers of undercoating hiding them. |
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decriminalizpot Samba Member
Joined: January 03, 2017 Posts: 18 Location: Knoxville TN
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Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 6:29 am Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners |
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we just bought a 69 westie that had been professionally rewired a year ago, us being new to owning a vw did not notice the installer used all black wire. have we just purchased a nightmare. i was so afraid we would buy a lemon because we were not well read in the vw bus. now i know how important color coded wire is for everything am i totally screwed? |
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gt1953 Samba Member
Joined: May 08, 2002 Posts: 13843 Location: White Mountains Arizona
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Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 7:23 am Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners |
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Well what works and what doesn't? _________________ Volkswagen: We tune what we drive.
Numbers Matching VW's are getting harder to find. Source out the most Stock vehicle and keep that way. You will be glad you did.
72 type 1
72 Squareback
({59 Euro bug, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 73 type ones 68 & 69 type two, 68 Ghia all sold}) |
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EverettB Administrator
Joined: April 11, 2000 Posts: 69734 Location: Phoenix Metro
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Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 10:06 am Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners |
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decriminalizpot wrote: |
we just bought a 69 westie that had been professionally rewired a year ago, us being new to owning a vw did not notice the installer used all black wire. have we just purchased a nightmare. i was so afraid we would buy a lemon because we were not well read in the vw bus. now i know how important color coded wire is for everything am i totally screwed? |
Professionals don't use all black wire.
It will be a pain if something doesn't work to figure things out. _________________ How to Post Photos
Everett Barnes - [email protected] | My wanted ads
"Water is the only drink for a wise man" | "Communication prevents complaints"
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery! |
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Just us buses Samba Member
Joined: April 27, 2004 Posts: 195 Location: Where the nuthatch winters
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Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 3:44 pm Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners |
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Hey now, some of you might remember when, in the midwest at least, twenty, thirty years ago you could buy a rusty bus for a hundred dollars or two. They weren't worth much and folks did what they could for rust. I'm not talking shitty mechanicals or hippie-rigged wiring but who cared if one used license plates or road signs? Nowadays somebody buys a cheap (1000's $) bus and they're shocked at the corners cut. Shee-it, I cut 'em up for frame rust. Look at it well before you buy but don't be too surprised at what somebody did to save it. Available body panels were made in Akron OH and who wanted to put a lot of $ in a beater car? Be glad it wasn't crushed! _________________ It doesn't matter where you start, it all comes together; it all falls apart. |
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TDCTDI Samba Advocatus Diaboli
Joined: August 31, 2013 Posts: 12816 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 7:24 pm Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners |
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I remember walking away from running $200 oval windows because the floor pans were rotted through & a $500 356 because of rotted rockers & floors.
And a $800 69 911 with no engine. I'm pretty sure they all got crushed. _________________ Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.
GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!
An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.
Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it. |
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pb_foots Samba Member
Joined: April 15, 2010 Posts: 1089 Location: Ben Lomond, CA
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Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 2:03 pm Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners |
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Just us buses wrote: |
Hey now, some of you might remember when, in the midwest at least, twenty, thirty years ago you could buy a rusty bus for a hundred dollars or two. They weren't worth much and folks did what they could for rust. I'm not talking shitty mechanicals or hippie-rigged wiring but who cared if one used license plates or road signs? Nowadays somebody buys a cheap (1000's $) bus and they're shocked at the corners cut. Shee-it, I cut 'em up for frame rust. Look at it well before you buy but don't be too surprised at what somebody did to save it. Available body panels were made in Akron OH and who wanted to put a lot of $ in a beater car? Be glad it wasn't crushed! |
This. I am not at all apologetic about the wood screws, duct tape and random bits of metal I used to hold my first few cars together.
First one i bought was a 63. Paid 50 bucks for it, the guy had been in a head on and I had to hose the blood out. The hood was 13 pounds of sculptured bondo, half the wiring was lamp cord because that was the cheapest stuff we could get,and I stole the headlights from another VW in the neighborhood. That car got me through senior year of HS. The next one was a really clean 66 that I promptly stripped to put one of those godawful scooped hoods on, fiberglass buckets, and a solid aluminum dash. Threw away all the fuel and exhaust system in favor of dual Kadrons and a stinger. You get the idea.
There were about 10 more like that, disposable and easily had for college kid money. I'm sure there's some owner out there now cursing me for doign stupid stuff to their new garage queen, but they were just beaters then, and I enjoyed every damn minute of it. _________________
sjbartnik wrote: |
Engines get hot. They have fire inside. |
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Sketch-Bat Samba Member
Joined: January 16, 2010 Posts: 76 Location: Covina, CA
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2017 10:36 pm Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners |
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My PO was of the handyman variety. He cut an "access panel" through the spare tire well to do some suspension work, gouged the dome light slot and tore the headliner in a vain attempt to get a small ding out of the roof, and ripped (and I mean ripped) out the speakers and original stereo radio to put into his Manx copy. |
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Air-Cooled Head Samba Member
Joined: October 15, 2002 Posts: 4070 Location: Chicago Suburbs
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Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 9:32 am Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners |
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What is this, the PO Anonymous thread?
"Hello, My name is Tom, and I'm a previous owner. I have used hacks on a VW."
(Haven't we all, at some time or another?) _________________ Everything known to man has been written.
Readers are Leaders! |
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cdennisg Samba Member
Joined: November 02, 2004 Posts: 20233 Location: Sandpoint, ID
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Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 11:30 pm Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners |
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Damn! Gotta love an eleven year old thread revival.
On point, if I had been looking at this car and heard the story before purchase, I would have RUN, not walked away.
blankmange wrote: |
good and bad with the PO:
my square was owned my a man whose daughter used the car as a daily driver; dad maintained the car pretty well. when the daughter hit something, damaging the rt front fender, he put the car into storage with the intention of fixing it. He changed the oil, plugs, set the points gap, etc...
then he died... and the car sat in storage for about 15 years....
while in storage, a cat was kept in the car.. the cat slept in it and someone fed the cat in the car.... 15 years of cat hair, cat food and cat piss...
now, the upside was that no mice made their home in the car, so no chewed through wires, nests or mice droppings....
it took several months of several different cleaning agents and airing the car out... but it finally smells much better, with only the occasional whiff of what used to be.... |
Off topic, I wonder what happened to blankmange? _________________ nothing |
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iowegian Samba Curmudgeon
Joined: February 16, 2005 Posts: 9826 Location: Somewhere between Dubuque and Keokuk
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 6:52 am Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners |
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cdennisg wrote: |
Damn! Gotta love an eleven year old thread revival.
On point, if I had been looking at this car and heard the story before purchase, I would have RUN, not walked away.
blankmange wrote: |
good and bad with the PO:
my square was owned my a man whose daughter used the car as a daily driver; dad maintained the car pretty well. when the daughter hit something, damaging the rt front fender, he put the car into storage with the intention of fixing it. He changed the oil, plugs, set the points gap, etc...
then he died... and the car sat in storage for about 15 years....
while in storage, a cat was kept in the car.. the cat slept in it and someone fed the cat in the car.... 15 years of cat hair, cat food and cat piss...
now, the upside was that no mice made their home in the car, so no chewed through wires, nests or mice droppings....
it took several months of several different cleaning agents and airing the car out... but it finally smells much better, with only the occasional whiff of what used to be.... |
Off topic, I wonder what happened to blankmange? |
He sold the VW and took up photography as a hobby.
I am not making this up. |
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Cusser Samba Member
Joined: October 02, 2006 Posts: 31271 Location: Hot Arizona
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Bobnotch Samba Member
Joined: July 06, 2003 Posts: 22358 Location: Kimball, Mi
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2017 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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Glenn wrote: |
I've seen POs do everything from rewire a car with only black wire ... |
I've run across that several times. The guy who owned it repaired it that way. He was color blind, so the wire colors didn't mean jack to him. _________________ Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120
Tram wrote: |
"Friends are God's way of apologizing for relatives." |
Tram wrote: |
People keep confusing "restored" and "restroyed". |
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mark tucker Samba Member
Joined: April 08, 2009 Posts: 23937 Location: SHALIMAR ,FLORIDA
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 7:15 pm Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners |
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Professionals don't use all black wire.
......unless they are just doing some ground work
you should see some of the boats Ive worked on (mostly new) what a mess with romex mixed in and more. we once got a shipment of new wellcraft boats that were wires&riged for mercrusier....but had volvo power.....witch they had just taken on.....good thing they paid good warranty $$ for fixing them. but what a headache. and to top that volvo had just merged with....bombardie I think it was...so ...not a lot of info on any of this new model stuff. |
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satterley_sr Samba Member
Joined: March 31, 2005 Posts: 650 Location: Belleville,MI
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 3:56 pm Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners |
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My Ghia was painted with the wiring still in it. Result: all red wires in the engine compartment and in the front trunk. _________________ DDC racing |
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EverettB Administrator
Joined: April 11, 2000 Posts: 69734 Location: Phoenix Metro
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16CVs Samba Member
Joined: February 22, 2004 Posts: 4020 Location: Redwood City, California
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 10:46 pm Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners |
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"Professionals don't use all black wire. Smile
......unless they are just doing some ground work Shocked Wink"
Brown if you're working on a German car.
Stacy _________________ 1987 Syncro Westfalia Triple knob (bastard)
1989 Syncro Tristar Triple knob "Swedish"
2013 Jetta Hybrid a true "Zwitter"
Samba member # 14980
Call anytime number 650 722 4914 .
Keep Your van running and upkept tastefully for the love of the hobby.
Don't let your van end up in an "abortions" thread. |
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Bob Loblaw Samba Member
Joined: August 17, 2008 Posts: 865 Location: Vancouver Island, Canada
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Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 10:26 am Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners |
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16CV's wrote: |
"Professionals don't use all black wire. Smile
......unless they are just doing some ground work Shocked Wink"
Brown if you're working on a German car.
Stacy |
Good points. Thumbs up. Smile. _________________ sent from a phone using poor grammar and spelling |
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Mark Evans Samba Member
Joined: April 21, 2004 Posts: 1929 Location: Alsea,Oregon
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Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2017 5:51 pm Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners |
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TDCTDI wrote: |
I remember walking away from running $200 oval windows because the floor pans were rotted through & a $500 356 because of rotted rockers & floors.
And a $800 69 911 with no engine. I'm pretty sure they all got crushed. |
I too junked a '62 ragtop (in 1978) because of rotted pans...Sigh _________________ '63 Ragtop |
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williamM Samba Member
Joined: August 07, 2008 Posts: 4333 Location: southwest Arizona
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Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2017 6:10 pm Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners |
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While rescuing a 48 jeep I cut the windows out of a 21 window with trees growing up thru it-- somebody bought them for $5, at my yard sale. 15 years ago.-- who knew??? _________________ some days I get up and just sit and think. Some days I just sit.
opinion untempered by fact is ignorance.
Don't step in any! |
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