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Thu May 07, 2009 12:37 pm

I just bought a 1958 Beetle on a 1969 pan. Pics below.

I'm super stoked. Love the car. I have a question. The PO said that the lever (sorry no pics) under the dash was to open a reserve fuel tank. He said he never used it and is not sure what is in the reserve tank. Does anyone know how the system works. Pics would be great. i have tried to search this forum, the clasified and gallery, but can;t find any pics. i havn't sprung for the early beetle Bentley, so I can't refer to that.

I'm gonna have to remove the tank to do a few things, I just need to know what to expect underneath.

Any pics would be great. Thanks.

and yes, I know the deck lid, deck lid latch and tailights are all incorrect for this year. I'm sourcing parts now.[/img]

Thu May 07, 2009 12:54 pm

goswald79 wrote: Pics would be great. i have tried to search this forum, the clasified and gallery, but can;t find any pics.

C'mon, you couldn't have searched "reserve" and not found any. There are lots in the classifieds and gallery. 8)

But here is some info.
The reserve tap screws into the bottom of the tank. It has a longer outlet and a shorter outlet. When the gas level falls below the longer outlet, your car will sputter or die. At this point kick the lever under the dash and the tap will open the shorter outlet. At this point you know it's time to get to a gas station. I'm sure there is a "specific amount" left at the lever turning point, but I don't know it. (ie...when you have to turn the lever, you have xx gallons of gas left).

A free tip - always remember to reset the lever at fill ups. If you forget, your car will begin sputtering and you'll go to flip that lever and say "ooops, I'm already on the reserves".

Nice looking car!

From the gallery, yours may or may not look identical to this, but they all operate pretty much the same.

Thu May 07, 2009 12:59 pm

It would be a good idea to test your tap once in a while. Push it over to reserve and make sure the car still runs.

Sometimes they get filled with crud if the sock screen is missing and when you flip it over to reserve nothing happens. It's best to find that out now before you are on the side of the road on a wet rainy night calling for help.

Thu May 07, 2009 1:07 pm

fluxcap, I appreciate the help. I had it in my head that there was an actual separate tank, so i searched for "fuel reserve" or "reserve tank" and got nothing. It looks like, from the picture, that it's just a lower "pickup" tube, so basically the reserve is just the last little bit of fuel in the tank. That's makes more sense that a separate tank. Leave it to VW to keep it simple.

Thu May 07, 2009 1:52 pm

All good info, my 58 has the same thing. Below is a photo of what should be installed on your bug. Unfortunately you can't see the two pick-ups under the screen. When you switch to reserve you will have approx. 1.3 gal of gas left in your tank. Also, check out the page below straight out of the Bently manual for a little more info.

Thu Apr 03, 2014 5:45 pm

I have nothing useful to contribute here, but wanted to say I found this post in a round about way and it brought a smile to my face. My dad had a ~67 VW, red, that he taught me to drive in and let me have for a first car. It was in pretty good shape, but the red paint was oxidizing as I was born in 61 so wasn't 16-17 and driving till 76. I would travel with him in the summer when I was out of school and remember him telling me to get down in the floor board and turn this lever for him. I have always known how to drive a manual because of that VW. Great page out of the old manual posted. Thanks for the memories. Deb

Thu Apr 03, 2014 6:41 pm

I thought I was the only one who browsed ancient threads....I've gotten back to page 650

Thu Apr 03, 2014 7:05 pm

stupid question but - do all beetles have this feature as I dont remember ever seeing one in any of my cars - my 66 or my current 67

Thu Apr 03, 2014 9:34 pm

I think the fuel tap ended in 1961.

Definitely read this incredible fuel tap thread, which should be (but is currently not) found in the stickies:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=383448&highlight=fuel+reserve+tap

Thu Apr 03, 2014 9:53 pm

"OLD " car thing .....discontinued when they put in fuel guages 8)

Tue Apr 15, 2014 7:59 pm

I need to rebuild the fuel reserve tap and I am not sure exactly how to go about removing that gas tank.

I watched the Bug Me Video (#4) and I am seeing the part about removing the gas tank to get to the master cylinder.

When I go to remove the tank, are there any concerns I have to deal with when removing the tank?
I dont see it mentioned?
I know I have to remove the rod handle and cotter pin (rod handle is what is inside the Beetle).
I also know that the reserve tap screws into the tank so right now I have the tank drained and I have the soft line that goes from the reserve tap to the main fuel line clamped off with vise grips.
I also have the 4 mounting bolts removed and the Gas Gauge cable unhooked.

My concern is do I have to remove the tank in a certain way when I pull it up and out of the car?

Any info is appreciated.
Thanks

Tue Apr 15, 2014 8:37 pm

As long as the tank is empty and the fuel line and fuel tap lever disconnected then you should be fine taking it out. Just be very cautious since you are dealing with gas. Do it in well ventilated area away from any source of fire. I did cleaning/rust removing couple of months ago on mine and it is pretty straight forward, mine has no gas gauge.

Tue Apr 15, 2014 8:42 pm

panicman wrote: I think the fuel tap ended in 1961.

I had a Dutch Standard '67 that had a reserve tap. Not sure if they were available in standards after this.

-jeffrey

Tue Apr 15, 2014 10:09 pm

Removing the fuel tank isn't entirely needed to remove the fuel tap, but it does make things a lot easier. It sounds like you already have everything disconnected that you need in order to remove the tank: gas drained, tap lever hitch pin removed & lever pulled away, fuel line disconnected, four tank hold down brackets unbolted/removed, and the fuel sender (if equipped) disconnected. All there is left to do is just pull the tank out, it doesn't really matter which way you go with it... I tilted the tank up and toward the rear of the car when I removed mine so I could get a good purchase on it and perform a thorough check for black widows. Once you have the tank out, keep in mind the large nut that holds the tap to the tank is actually dual left and right-hand threaded -- the dual threading makes it so you can hold the orientation of the tap constant while you loosen or tighten the mount nut to the tank.

Wed Apr 16, 2014 12:17 pm

The two tubes that come out of the reserve tap look almost the same length. I am thinking one is short / broken.

Wed Apr 16, 2014 1:22 pm

eeclark wrote: The two tubes that come out of the reserve tap look almost the same length. I am thinking one is short / broken.

on my 61 tap the long tube is 3 1/4" and the short is 1" hope it helps you.

Wed Apr 16, 2014 3:26 pm

here's what they should look like.

Wed Apr 16, 2014 10:41 pm

grandpa pete wrote: "OLD " car thing .....discontinued when they put in fuel guages 8)

depends on what you consider old, a 1967 1200"A" has a reserve tap and NO gas gauge. here is a picture of a 1966 1200"A" without a gauge and a reserve tap...click on the link:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/520412.jpg

And FYI these newer cars have a different type of tap operation. The old type is the ninety degree tap, and the new tap like in the picture of my 65 "A" sedan is the one hundred & eighty degree type;
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/516079.jpg
Straight up is on, all the way to the left is off, and all the way to the right is reserve.

Mon May 23, 2016 5:42 pm

Profiled

Wed May 25, 2016 5:18 am

The first fuel gauges (mechanical) appeared in 1964.
In some countries the base model (either 1200 or 1300) continued with the fuel reserve tap up to at least 1967, whilst the delux model got newer things like a fuel gauge.
The USA only ever saw the largest engine available in any one year and got the newest features with that, but many other countries retained a base model with the features of previous years. This was especially so in European countries which had high fuel prices and high taxes on bigger engines, so it was easier/cheaper to continue a base model unchanged.