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Clueless VW Owners
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vwfan65
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 3:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 6:29 am    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

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
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 7:23 am    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

Well what works and what doesn't?
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EverettB Premium Member
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 10:06 am    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

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. Smile

It will be a pain if something doesn't work to figure things out.
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Just us buses
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 3:44 pm    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

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!
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TDCTDI
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 7:24 pm    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

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.
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pb_foots
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 2:03 pm    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

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.
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Sketch-Bat
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 25, 2017 10:36 pm    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

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. Rolling Eyes
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Air-Cooled Head
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 9:32 am    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

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." Embarassed
(Haven't we all, at some time or another?)
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cdennisg
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 11:30 pm    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

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?
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iowegian Premium Member
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 6:52 am    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

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
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 8:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Glenn wrote:
I've seen POs do ....street signs used to patch holes in the floor.


One of mine has part of a real estate sign there.
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Bobnotch
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2017 5:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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. Rolling Eyes
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mark tucker
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 7:15 pm    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

Professionals don't use all black wire. Smile

......unless they are just doing some ground work Shocked Wink


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
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 3:56 pm    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

My Ghia was painted with the wiring still in it. Result: all red wires in the engine compartment and in the front trunk.
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EverettB Premium Member
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 10:30 pm    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

satterley_sr wrote:
My Ghia was painted with the wiring still in it. Result: all red wires in the engine compartment and in the front trunk.


You can take that off with a solvent but it's sort of pain since it's individual wires.
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16CVs Premium Member
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 10:46 pm    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

"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
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 10:26 am    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

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.
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2017 5:51 pm    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

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
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2017 6:10 pm    Post subject: Re: Clueless VW Owners Reply with quote

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???
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