Heidi-My 1970 Beetle Project

HeidiHo · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 9:06 pm Post subject:

Tim, I'm sure that's some of it, but when the car was at stock height with Riverias it was considerably more smooth at the same speeds. It had some wobble/shake, but not this bad.

I'm guessing it's some combination of wheel balance and alignment...currently no weights on the stock wheels and haven't had her aligned since I dropped the front end.
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tlambert · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 9:44 pm Post subject:

no weights on the wheels....yeah I would say balancing would help fosho.

HeidiHo · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 6:32 am Post subject:

One wheel off by 4 ounces lol. The other was off 1 and 3/4 ounces.

Most of the shake and wobble is gone, I'm thinking the rest is down to steering damper and the left tie rod having a good deal of play.
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VOLKSWAGNUT · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 7:24 am Post subject:

Paul, go with beads and dont look back..

The last few years...I use no clip/stick weights, and just dump a paint cap full of air soft beads into each tire. Works pretty darn good for (narrow) VW tires.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=503595&highlight=balance

http://aircooledtech.com/tools-on-the-cheap/balancing_beads/
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HeidiHo · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:30 am Post subject:

Thanks Ken, the wobble is definitely still there if I take my hands off the wheels at 60 mph.
I'm wondering how good they got the weights, the car was alright on the 5 minute test drive I took after they put the weights on but on my 100 mile drive home it was only "ok".

So let me get this straight.
All I have to do is take the weights off, pull my valve cores out, drop in 3 oz per tire, put the core back in, reinflate the tire, and I've got a constantly balancing tire??

Sounds like magic!
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Stock Steve · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:20 pm Post subject:

I've had two issues related to tire wobble recently.

1) Poor quality tires--I am specifically referring to recent-production Firestone 5.60x15 bias ply tires--I don't know what happened, and nobody "in the know" seems to be saying much about it, but if you nose around, it seems that others have had similar experiences with *recent production* of those tires (makes me sad, since I've been driving around lately with a set of 10+ year-old 5.60x15 Firestones on one of my other old VWs, and they're so good that I don't have *any* weights whatsoever on them). I hope that *some day* I can buy a decent-quality 5.60x15 Firestone tire again...

2) Bent wheels--Who knows what the previous owner of your car may have run into?! My local garage told me they noticed some runout on a couple of wheels that I had exhaustively refinished, ugh. And the news didn't get much better when I took them to the reputable local "wheel repair" company, who charged me *85 frigging dollars* to straighten one wheel! I'm talking about stock 4" wide, 4-bolt, steel Beetle wheels, by the way.

Anyway, just figured I'd chime in, given the discussions going on...
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VOLKSWAGNUT · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:33 pm Post subject:

HeidiHo · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 8:20 pm Post subject:

Cool thanks for the input guys. I read the dyna bead links, doesn't look that bad. For less than 30 bucks I can have enough beads and their little applicator plus new valve cores for the front two tires.

Gonna check the tires and wheels again tomorrow for runout and see if we can't rebalance them. I'm sure some of this has to do with worn out tie rods/ends and steering damper. All of which will be replaced once I put in that narrowed beam.

For now just focusing on getting the car to drive as nicely as it can with what I've got on it.
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HeidiHo · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 10:09 am Post subject:

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Took Heidi up to the German Invasion at Shadyside Dragway in Shelby NC yesterday. I had a blast, it was a great turnout and lots of good cars. Also nice to meet some of you guys in person!

After the show and racing was winding down, a few of us slowpokes made some runs down the track. I got Heidi out there for 2 runs, had a blast! Never been down a drag strip before and I had a ton of fun. Now I want more power haha.
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Beetlebaum · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 4:20 pm Post subject:

That looks like it was fun! I have yet to take mine to a show...but I certainly want to!
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HeidiHo · Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 11:29 am Post subject:

Did my 500 mile oil change today after the break in period. And found things broken. Lol.

Not sure what the hell these things are, they're black plastic, looks like they made a ring? Or two small rings? I can't remember anything like this going into the engine.

The oil filter was a little chewed up inside, wondering if maybe that's where it came from.

Ideas?
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NCdad · Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 4:49 pm Post subject:

That would have been my SB if I ran down the dragway Sat.

Then I would really be in trouble with the wife. Laughing

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HeidiHo · Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:54 pm Post subject:

Yuppp I'm at a loss as to what they are. Someone suggested oil cooler seals but the seals on my cooler are red. I can't figure it out...
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&Dan · Samba Member Joined: January 29, 2008 Posts: 1135

Look like the remnants of old valve seals to me.

theastronaut · Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 7:33 pm Post subject:

Any news on the mystery peices?
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lovethatconvertible · Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 8:07 pm Post subject:

Looks like it might be a old case half 'O' ring seal

Mr. Mofo · Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 8:00 pm Post subject:

Hey Paul any updates on Heidi?

Alex
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HeidiHo · Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 9:30 am Post subject:

Nothing really to report. Been very busy lately getting signed up for summer classes, getting my FAFSA together, some other financial stuff too.

I also just bought a new pick up truck, I'll be garaging my Mercedes. The truck is actually going to save me some money every month and now I can haul/tow VW parts etc.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

It's a 2010 Toyota Tacoma, only has 10k miles on it and I scooped it up for a little over 14,000. Pretty good deal I'd say. Just a simple work truck- regular cab, short bed, 5 lug, 4 cylinder, 5 speed manual, no power anything. Should be reliable and last me a very long time.

I haven't figured out what that black ring was, the engine runs just fine so I guess I'm not worrying about it??

In other news I added a degree pulley

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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beetleaddiction · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 8:32 am Post subject:

congrats on the new truck Cool

HeidiHo · Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 11:27 am Post subject:

Thanks!

Nothing much to report on Heidi. Haven't been driving her that much lately now that I have the truck. Started her up today and the generator light was on. Thought "that's funny I know the gen is good and I just put in a new VR."

Went around back and noticed the communicator wasn't very shiny. Some sandpaper on a stick shined it up and got the brushes sparking for a bit but the light came back on.

Noticed the top brush was stuck in the guide, pulled it out and swapped in a different brush (the joys of having a small VW junkyard in your house) and the light went off.

I'm gonna take her to work tonight and hope that fixed it, Charlotte Transporter Show is tomorrow!
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