'71 Australian Super Beetle

[DallasVW]

Whats the best way to remove the rust from the head light rings? Can those be polished off some how?

[Marco_VESS]

How would I describe yesterday's efforts.....perhaps like this:

Steel bumpers are tough. Steel bumpers are sturdy. Steel bumpers don't flinch when you hit them. Steel bumpers are as good as useless when you miss the bumper and collect the panel instead

I'd taken the bug out for a drive earlier today and when a planned second trip had to be canned because of Hailstorm Out Of Nowhere, I decided to put it back in the garage for the day. My 6 and 3 year old kids jumped in for the ride.

To understand what happened next, you need to know that I have space for this car in my garage that is only very slightly larger than the car itself, which requires some precision and concentration when reversing into the garage. Instead of precision and concentration, today I had a 3 year old helping me steer and a 6 year old who'd found the logbook in the glovebox and was asking me what it was all about. I knew my entry angle was a bit off, so after I'd reversed a little bit, all the while talking to the boys and answering questions while Mr 3 did his best to stop the steering wheel from turning, I went forward again to straighten up for another go. Goodo, except that I could only go a very short distance forward because I was....stuck? How?

Without hearing or feeling anything (noisy rear engined car remember), I'd managed to collect the side of my garage door opening with the rear mudguard, and then in coming forwards again the corner of the bumper had become snagged on the same door opening, like so:

In snagging the corner of the bumper, it had moved the bumper out of alignment and as I was in a hurry to get the car inside, my options seemed to be to try and move the car sideways or take the bumper off. I took the bumper off.

Damage not as bad as first thought once I had it back in the garage and could take a proper look:

...but still, frankly, embarrassing. Not annoyed or angry or anything like that, just felt like a bit of a dick really. However, as my 6 year old has been asking me about times I'd bent cars only last week, he was delighted to be told he'd just been a participant in bending some panel work....kids!

Ah well. No big deal really, and hey, I wanted a project and now I have something to get stuck into. I don't know if the panel is worth fixing - I think it's beyond my meagre panelbeating skills, and my experience with panel shops in the past has been its cheaper to get them to paint a replacement panel than to beat a bent one back into shape and then paint it (which this needs, the paint is cracked and flaking off where I hit it).

Took the panel off late tonight and as suspected, nothing beyond superficial damage. (Bonus: looks more like a project car now). It's not very thick metal, a Beetle mudguard, so probably no surprise that a fairly slow reversing hit was enough to bend it.

Anyway, I'll get this sorted one way or another and I think I need to give myself just a little more room to park this car and maybe stick to driving it in nose first. Will get some quotes on repair vs replacement panel and go from there.

Long post for a minor shunt but maybe someone will get some amusement at my expense

[Volktales]

That is a bit of a bummer! Did something similar a few years back... My single car garage had two cars crammed in it, my '74 VW Camper, and a 1967 Mercury Cougar in a colour very similar to you Beetle. As you can guess it was a very tight squeeze to get my bus in and out of the garage. This time I let my son "help" guide me. He was probably five at the time and I told him to make sure I didn't hit anything. Well there was no sound, but I felt the bus slow down when it shouldn't! The end result was a two foot crease in the slider door and some words I probably shouldn't have taught my kid at that age... I got over it and luckily a paintless dent remover specialist was able to completely remove the damage... Anyway I like your Beetle, the wheels set it apart from the usual crowd and look great. Always like seeing the different specifications on VWs in other countries too.
_________________
1974 "Restfalia" Camper 2000 cc EFI 2001-
1970 Beetle first car, rotten, yard art 1985-
1966 Sunroof Beetle, restored 1998-
1964 Ghia, ongoing project 2007-
1962 Beetle Beryl,original paint survivor 2012-
1970 Savannah Beige Beetle 2012-
1992 16v GTI, 100% stock 2006-
1991 "Terseo", wife's old daily 1995-
1969 Chevrolet CST/10 (family owned since new)
1965 Gold Corvair Monza 2021-
1966 and 1965 Monza 2022-

[Marco_VESS]

Good news on that panel: can be repaired rather than replaced, so it's been dropped off with a bloke who is, by reputation, handy with panel work on older cars and should be all sorted within a week of so.

[Hyperspace]

[Marco_VESS]

More self inflicted issues. Turns out when you put your battery in the wrong way around, it lets the magic smoke out of your voltage regulator

I have no idea why I didn't check more carefully. I'd sat the battery in its spot a few weeks ago without reconnecting it (and the wrong way around, for some unknown reason) and when I went to reconnect it, I assumed it was correct. You would think the fact that I had trouble getting the clamp onto the terminal might have been a clue to stop and check, but no. If nothing else, for the rest of eternity I will know that earth straps go on negative terminals...

All I can say is that it was early in the morning and I'm not a morning person. And I'm a bit of a numpty.

[Marco_VESS]

Thinking about this some more: this car already had a faulty generator and now a faulty voltage regulator too.

Alternator conversion time? I'm sure I've read somewhere that the alternator conversion eliminates the need for the voltage regulator?

[oldPSUguy]

The car looks vaguely familiar:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=961108

[VWCOOL]

Hullo!

Welcome to VWs!

You might just as well retain a generator, they are easy to find second-hand - as are the regulators (that are also available new)

Hopefully I will get down to this year's German car festival

[Marco_VESS]

OK now I'm confused.

The voltage regulator I blew up is one of these:

I also have another one, which was replaced earlier, which looks the same as that but has an extra wire coming out of it and different connectors (more of a 'prong' type than the screw type pictured there). When I search the part number for the one I fried, they seem to go for $225. Ouch.

But if I just search the VW parts sites for a voltage regulator for a 12v Beetle with a generator, I get this part:

...which sells for a much more pleasant sounding $63.50, but has the same type of 'prong' connectors as the older one out of my car.

So it looks like when the voltage regulator was last replaced, someone changed the connectors to suit the newer Bosch regulator with the screw-in connectors. I'm guessing I'd need to change them back again if I want to use the cheaper regulator?

Electrical stuff, ugh...this is a complete mystery world to me, might as well be rocket science.

[Joel]

Both do the same thing, just the 2nd one is a modern solid state version.

The screw type regulators like the first pic are 6 volt.

The 12 volts ones have push on terminals except for the ground.
_________________
Quick little bug, you got a Porsche motor in that?
1974 Germanlook 1303 2.5 Suba-Beetle

[Marco_VESS]

Are you sure? Bosch lists the one I have as a 12 volt unit: http://au.bosch-automotive-shop.com/en/products/de...204-single

[Joel]

Yep, some early 12 volt type 3s did use the screw on terminals but Aussie Superbugs certainly didn't.

Does it look like your connectors have been replaced?
_________________
Quick little bug, you got a Porsche motor in that?
1974 Germanlook 1303 2.5 Suba-Beetle

[Marco_VESS]

Yes - I have an older voltage regulator from my car and it has different connectors. It does look like someone has changed the connectors to make it work.

[VWCOOL]

so, do you have blade-type connectors or screw-on's?

[Marco_VESS]

I have screw-ons now, blade connectors previously.

Having discussed with a friend yesterday evening, he's going to give me a hand to convert back to blade connectors which will then open up my voltage regulator options to more than just the one type. I'm planning on using the $65 modern type rather than the $230 modern type in the old looking shell, as I'm not all that fussed about keeping everything original (particularly for parts you can't see).

I also had a good look at my generator last night and the brushes are worn down to well below specification, so I will replace those and that may also fix my generator issue (warning light is lit when the car is running and it does not charge the battery very well).

If that doesn't work, I'll have to either replace the generator or install an alternator conversion kit, but for the small price of trying the simple fix first I'll give that a go.

[emu88]

Interesting thread! I love the colour and the wheels look nice too. It's also been rather amusing reading your glitches. With regards to hooking the bumper, i did that before but not even in a garage. I was reversing under my parents wooden car port which had several vertical beams supporting the roof and, being overly pedantic, kept going forward and back to get it just so. On one of my forward manoeuvres though i snagged one of the beams and before i realised what i was doing had splintered half of it and actually dragged it off balance. Like you said, these steel bumpers are TOUGH!

Your diy and sort of patch-it approach is quite refreshing, i must admit i sometimes get a little exasperated comparing my work to the many pros here!
_________________
03/1971, 1302 Super Beetle 1600 dual port
Solex 34-pict 3
SVDA Bosch distributor
Long reach heads

[Marco_VESS]

Thanks! The whole point of buying this car was to learn how to DIY on cars, so I bought something simple. I'm learning as I go.

Do you have a thread on your car? It looks interesting.

[Marco_VESS]

Repaired panel is back from the panel beater and looks excellent, they've done a great job of it. Back on the car now:

[allsidius]