'76 Standard Driver/Project

[AirCool909]

Alright so after debating about if this was going to be enough of a project to make a thread about it, I've decided it'll be slow, but i'll try and update with pics everytime I do something with the car or any questions I have for people. In the meanwhile, little background on the car:

Bought the car around 2 months ago, put a bunch of work into it, which included an all new front end, a tune up, repadding of the seats, and basically general cleanup of the car. Oh I also removed a crappy cassette player some PO had installed... it only worked sometimes haha.

The car is 100% Canadian, was bought new in Toronto, and the first owner had it for 20 years! Well, im the 6th owner now, and its my daily driver for the summertime when I'm not at school.

Enough of my rambling, PICS! (Sorry if they're a little blurry)

So anyway, ideas? Thoughts on the car or a direction I should take it? Stock or change some things? I'm open to ideas so I wanna hear them
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76' Standard Beetle
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...highlight=

[cfvwtuner]

It looks alot where I started with my 77.

[AirCool909]

Alright, so its been quite a while now since I last posted. Last summer i put over 1400 miles on the car! I averaged around 24 miles per gallon in town, with moderately hard driving.

Anyway, currently my car is sitting in storage just outside of town to protect it from the harsh Canadian winter, and I've been away at university. Recently though I've managed to come into a bit of money, so I'm going to be starting to get parts before I pull the car back out of storage, and then I'll be making all the necessary fixes and changes in April hopefully.

So far things that are in need of fixing:
-No heat
-Sloppy shifting
-Shudder in first gear and slightly in second
-Incorrect speedometer
-Doesn't start well or idle when cold, but will idle when it warms up
-Ignition switch does not have start position from key
-Oil leaks from the pushrods and a bent sump plate
-Surface rust forming on many areas of the car, grilles and edges etc.

I've found out that the shudder is apparently the bowden tube bracket which has come off my transmission, and the idle issue and cold start is due to a valve sticking in the closed position.

Anyway, i'm going to order the shift rod bushing and coupler, a new oil plate with the magnetic plug, all new brake hardware and stainless steel soft lines, the electrical half of my ignition switch, and seals for the body, ex hood and decklid.

Question though, has there been positive experience from SCAT spring loaded pushrod tubes? I would rather not pull the heads off of my engine if possible to fix the oil leak.
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76' Standard Beetle
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...highlight=

[volkz]

nice looking car. I remember it was posted on kijiji for a while there.

that is rare to be a canadian car most beetles up here including mine come from the south.( salt ate away a lot of the canadian ones)
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1968 beetle
1970 beetle

[bandi]

Hey, this car looks rather familiar!
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'60 Canadian Standard, '64 Bug, another '64 Bug, '66 Bug, '69 Sunroof Bug, '69 GT3 Bug, '71 Super, '72 Super, '73 Canadian Custom, '74 Love Bug, '83 Mexi Bug, '85 Cabrio, '94 Mexi Bug, '99 New Beetle, '02 New Beetle Turbo S, '03 New Beetle VR6. And some Fieros.

[AirCool909]

Alright, well as Bandi is aware, my car kinda decided to do this little thing where it dies, its so cute.

Little update, 3 days ago I replaced the spark plugs and spark plug wires on the car, runs great.

The next day however, I was out and about with the car, and it just so happened that i got a clogged injector. I was able to loosen whatever was clogging it with a screwdriver and then drove the car home, albeit with almost no power. I traced the source of that issue to the plug wires not being pushed all the way into the socket, and that remedied the issue, or so i thought...

Yesterday I was out driving, and suddenly I was getting intermittent power to the engine, sometimes it would die randomly, sometimes it would run as strong as usual. I believe i've traced this to the gas that had been sitting in the car over the winter storage period. I put stabilizer into the fuel, but it must have left deposits in the tank and lines. Well i guess that clogged up the fuel filter and the injectors, and so I'm about to go out and pick up a new filter from my FLAPS.
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76' Standard Beetle
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...highlight=

[AirCool909]

So once again with the updates:
Not much to report with the car, mostly been tinkering with it when I have time outside of work, I've done a few things.

-Replaced the plastic pitted and broken headlight rings with new metal chromed ones, they look pretty good compared in my opinion,
-Just replaced the steering wheel with a superior 500 wheel i picked up at a car show, really love the look and feel of it.
-New hood and decklid seals, haven't finished installing those yet but working on it.

Anyway, i'm having a couple problems with the new steering wheel. It won't cancel the turn signals, and the horn has ceased to work since I put it on the car. Anybody have any ideas to help me?

Always gotta include pictures too:

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76' Standard Beetle
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...highlight=

[AirCool909]

So this project kinda took a real interesting turn recently...

Its been a while since I updated this and this is why:

Turns out one of the rod bearings decided to shred itself onto the crank, locking the motor up. I took the engine out, totally dissassembled it, and now i'm in the middle of a rebuild.

The offending rod ^^

Lots of crank damage, ended up buying all new parts for it, decided to just play it safe.

P&Cs are getting replaced with Mahle 85.5's.

Lifters and cam were badly worn.

Cleaned up a few very oily pushrod tubes, gonna reuse them and the pushrods.

Oil cooler will need cleaning but will work when I'm done with it. Also needs the hoover bit i guess.

Heads are cracked, got new cast ones to replace them.

Gonna reuse the flywheel.

Been fixing up the engine tin, lots of rusty bits covered in oil too. The car leaked quite a bit before I tore it down, but almost all of the tin has been a simple repaint and hammering it straight again.

Oh also I re-greased the window regulator if you're wondering why I have my window glass sitting out.

These heater boxes have been weirdly patched as you can see.
Seems as though a PO welded up the rod that controls the flap inside? Why they would ever do that is beyond my imagination. I'm not sure if i'm going to try to fix them or to replace, but we'll see. They're also missing the lever mechanism.

I cleaned and refilled the charcoal canister, no more smelling like gas in my car!

I plan on replacing the rest of the fuel lines with new reinforced 7mm hose. All the vacuum hoses will be replaced as well before the motor goes back in the car.

The gas tank is gonna come out, I'm gonna clean it out and re-seal it so I don't have another problem with crud in my fuel lines clogging the injectors.

The injectors are going for a sonic bath at a local high school shop class near me, thanks to a good friend of mine.

I also bought new transmission mounts, front and the 2 rears, plus the nosecone seal to the chassis. The car had quite a terrible shudder from torn mounts in first gear, and the shift rod coupler was sloppy as heck. I also picked up a new shift rod coupler. All those parts came from Wolfsburg West.

I also got a new electrical portion of the ignition switch from WW, replaced it and now I can unwire the PO hacked push start button underneath my dash. (I'll get pics of it later.)

The parts all arrived last night, couple big boxes from CIP1 in British Columbia. They all look to be real nice and I think I'm gonna have a blast on my first engine rebuild.

New stock crank.

Stock grind cam.

Brand new lifters.

Brand new connecting rods.

Mahle 85.5 P&Cs.

New heads.

New clutch.

New oil pump, the old one I believe was failing and that contributed to the rod seizure.

New elring flywheel seal, beautiful and soft rubber as compared to the one I pulled off the motor

New main bearings.

Cam bearings.

Rod bearings. Hopefully none of these decide to repeat their predecessors.

Rod bushings.


So thats where I am with the car now, today I'm going to pick up some cam lube, lubriplate, assembly lube, and order some other miscellaneous parts I need for a few other jobs on the car.

I also need to go through the entire fuel injection system, cleaning all the parts and fixing some of the issues that the car had before it died. It started very badly, would take probably 10 or 15 seconds of turning over to start, which I believe is linked to bad grounds at the fuel pump or the double relay. It also would not idle without me on the throttle for the first 5 minutes. Only would idle when warmed up, so I think thats a cold start valve, or auxilliary air regulator issue. I'm going to troubleshoot it in a few days once i finish up my essays for school
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76' Standard Beetle
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...highlight=

[Bashr52]

Looking good! Couple comments though. Is that a new case, or your old one? Did you havr it line bored? Why no counterweights on the new crank? Also your new rods should have new bushings installed, why buy another set?

[AlanInMass54]

Slightly off topic- you don't plan on changing that excellent color I hope! If I were to get a late model it would be that color!

[AirCool909]

[AirCool909]

Okay, well the rebuild has been slow, but coming along. School has kind of been in the way, and so has work. The longblock is now done, got a few other new parts, and some more coming really soon hopefully. There are some other issues, like rusty tins, or missing tins entirely. The engine was missing the thermostat, so I bought a used one off the samba. I had the starter and alternator rebuilt by a local shop in town, and now I'm looking to repair my heater boxes and the other tins.

I'll let pictures do the talking however:

Yes, the heater boxes are pretty rusty, but this is Canada, and all the nice parts are in California haha. I also have a friend who could possibly repair them for me, the only problem is that both heater boxes lack levers and mounting hardware for levers? Looks like someone jb welded them up or something.

Finally, can anyone tell me what this electrical connector is for? Ive seen pictures of FI blocks with this black connector and a wire, but mine is broken off.

As well, does anyone know where I can buy a new one of whatever this thing is? haha.
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76' Standard Beetle
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...highlight=

[bandi]

[AirCool909]

Alright, so its been a number of months since I've updated this.
- Built the FI engine, but have problems with 40 year old wiring on the FI harness.
- Ended up sticking a carb'd engine into it for the time being so I can drive it, and the eventual plan is to fix the FI system and put the original engine back in the car.
- Replaced the running boards
- Replaced the accelerator cable, have new heater cables in the mail (the current ones are broken near the handle)
- While the engine was out, it gave me time to scrape away surface rust on the suspension and underneath the package tray, and spray some new paint on those components.
- Replaced the rear transmission mounts, the replacement front mount wouldn't fit, the studs were not in the right location so still using the decent original mount.
- Painted the wheels, inside and out, silver on the outside and flat black inside.
- Polished the rust off of the bumpers with water and aluminum foil, surprisingly works well
- Have a new master cylinder coming from WW, got new wiper blades, and the parts list still grows...

Now I just need to hook up the pre-heat system, and solve a hesitation in the low end while driving. Probably a combination of how cold its been around here lately, and the lack of pre-heat/thermostat/flaps.

For anyone wondering about Dansk heater boxes, the pair that I got work great, I just lack the means of turning them off for now though they put out lots of heat.
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76' Standard Beetle
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...highlight=

[havenot001]

Hi and have fun with your 76 Canadian Beetle.
Are you replacing your headliner? If so do you know if the original has 5 or 6 bows?
My 76 Canadian beetle I bought in Edmonton in 1976 had a 5 bow headliner and I can't find a replacement anywhere, only 6 bow.
I do like the viper Green.

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1985 Vanagon GL 2.3 Gowesty 2WD

[AirCool909]

Havenot001, thanks!
I will be replacing the headliner, mine is ripped in a few spots, but I'm not sure whether its a 5 bow or 6, i'll check when I'm at home. Interesting to know that your Canadian 1976 came with a 5 bow.

Anyway, since I'm trying to update this more frequently, here are some pictures!

New running board from Wolfsburg West. I also need to get that rear bumper rubber piece, the metal tab on my current one is broken off. $91.99 from CIP1.

Bugpack hideaway muffler, ceramic coated, from CIP1. Hasn't lost any of its shine in the 3 years its been under the car, its just dirty.

Here's the carb'd engine, the original engine is in the garage awaiting the rebuild of the FI system and harness.
Swapped the electronic ignition onto the distributor in lieu of points, the condenser seems to be suspect in a hesitation problem, so i'm going to see if this makes a change. I also have a new stock pulley that I'm going to be putting on once i get the marks onto the rim for timing.

I definitely need to get the radio repaired/new radio knobs, but seems like they are made of unobtanium.

Anyway, I'll post more pictures later and hopefully a video tour/drive once I get the timing dialed in.
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76' Standard Beetle
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...highlight=

[AirCool909]

Alright, this is somewhat a follow up to my promised pictures of the headliner, and partly just trying to document the flaws/build of the car more thoroughly.

So turns out I do have a 5 bow headliner. Perhaps this is just a Canadian thing?

Another small project I'm trying to sort out is the bumper strip I mentioned in my previous post. The metal tab that bends over the bumper to hold it on has broken on one side, so I will be fabricating a new piece.

Good side.

Non-existent side.


Some other pictures/comments/problems with the car:

Seats are alright, when I bought the car the girl PO was driving around on the seat springs I cut foam to shape (which was bought from a local Fabricland) and recovered the seats with the original covers. There's a few rips, and the one big tear here to the drivers seat (was already there before i put the foam in, I did not make that rip).
My plan is to replace them with TMI sand tweed covers.

Refilled the charcoal canister a while ago, I plan to replace the other "smelly" parts of the evaporation system (filler neck hoses) cause the car still has that nice old VW smell

Bit messy, I've been eyeing a 12V washer pump from CIP1 which I'm going to buy to replace the stock pump setup. The amp and speaker setup in the car are pretty rudimentary (mostly $ free). I plan on cleaning up the wiring and installing a radio in the glovebox.

Nice rats nest... Also need to replace the speedo with the correct '76 dated unit (current is a '71), and the speedo cable's going to be replaced as the needle jumps around. Anybody want to chime in about which cable to buy? I can only assume since I do not have the EGR box and two cable setup, I would need a 71-74 cable?

Pan is good, solid and I repainted the inside 3 years ago. It has a lot of undercoating on the bottom which has protected it these many years evidently.

There is evidence of an accident in the past however, the right door has been replaced with a red one.

Little bit of bondo in the rear right quarter from the accident repair probably.

Both front wheel panels have been patched, I will be repairing those with metal soon when the car gets painted.

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76' Standard Beetle
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...highlight=

[AirCool909]

Where does the time go? I can't believe that the last time I updated this page was in 2014

So what's new with my car since then? Well, from 2014 till 2017, I drove with the engine I had picked up from a seller on here, and the car ran reasonably well and was a pretty reliable mode of transportation for me through university.

In fall of 2016, the car just didn't seem to run right. This was just before I stored the car for the winter in a storage locker, so I didn't get much of an opportunity to test or find the cause of my issue. The car still ran and drove, it just lacked power and was a real dog to drive anywhere.

Turns out the motor had low compression in all cylinders, so i pulled the motor in the spring and reinstalled my (original to the car) rebuilt 1600.

This new motor got the top end parts from the motor that was in the car, minus the fuel pump (no provision on a fuel injected block) and the degree pulley (replaced with stock pulley). Wired an electric pump under the tank using the old fuel injection pump location, and life was good again!

Current engine. ^

The other motor now sits on a dolly in the garage, waiting till winter to be torn down and rebuilt. I may decide to build this motor up into something larger than a 1600, if I have the funds.

Engine that got pulled. ^

One head is stamped VW...

The other has 156 on it.

Aside from the engine troubles, I had relatively few problems. In 2014, I ran over a nail on the way home to my house, misinterpreted some people waving at me to pull over as just people being friendly, and made it to my house, only to find the tire completely flat! Got a local shop to patch the tire and kept driving.


In 2015, the fuel gauge refused to read anything, turns out it was the tank sending unit. Of course, being young (and having CAA), I decided that this was no obstacle for me, no fix was required till winter, and I just drove the car. Only ran out of gas twice!


In 2015, I was driving home about 50 miles from my house at 3 am when I ran over a piece of bar steel that was lying in the road in the dark. Busted a huge hole in the rear right tire, and the steel launched itself into the fender, putting a hole the diameter of my finger in the fender. Now, being young, and stupid, I decided that the best action would be to get my spare out, and drive the car on it, rather than call CAA and have it trucked on a flatbed back to my house. Great idea, but my spare is a bias ply tire of unknown age and condition. I drove the car home at about 50 mph, and absolutely nothing went wrong! Moral of the story, drive on tires that you know the age and condition of, and don't mismatch bias ply and radial tires! I got lucky, but I could have had handling or steering issues and gotten myself killed.

Speaking of almost getting killed, in 2017, a guy driving his Ford F-150 decided that he didn't feel the rules of the road applied to him, and he proceeded to drive right out across an intersection in front of me while i was going about 40 mph. I punched the brake pedal, grabbed the e-brake handle, and screeched to a stop about 2 or 3 feet from his passenger side door. Guy was bewildered that somehow he had almost caused an accident, he thought I was turning off and that he was okay to just go ahead and cross the intersection. Well I had some choice words for him, and then I limped the car home through some suburbs with only the e-brake.

Turns out I had busted one of the metal hard lines running from my master cylinder, so I took the car to a local shop to get a new line bent. Problem fixed, life is good again!

Otherwise, my experience has been nothing but positive, I get thumbs up when I drive the car, and I can't stop at the gas station without at least one person coming up to me and telling me their vw story!



Some more minor fixes on the car are:

Made some new seat covers to try to buy me some time to either make my own out of a template made from my existing seat covers, or to save some money up and buy TMI or Sewfine.

Moved my amplifier down under the speaker tray, figured it wasnt necessarily a good idea to have a stereo sitting on top of the gas tank
I made some speaker covers out of a mesh fabric for my free 6x9s, makes them look like I didn't pull them out of a junkyard.

Wired the amp and speakers up to a 1/8" aux, I just plug my phone in and play whatever music I want.

So I believe that brings things up to the present. Hopefully I can remember to use my camera more often these days, I seem to always forget to take pictures when I work on the car. Just to catch the photos up, here's a bunch that I took over the last 2 years, ending with what the car looks like as of last night.

Finally, enjoy this video of me driving the car on Wednesday!


Link

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76' Standard Beetle
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...highlight=

[Chris333]

Love the color!

[Gr0unded]