TheSamba.com :: View topic - just bought my first air-cooled

Sun Oct 20, 2013 5:37 am

Hey newbie to the air-cooled world. bought a 73 super on friday, already gettin back in to the groove of repairing a vw, but let me tell you, im amazed at the stupidity of the previous repairs. i went to put a new exhaust and j tubes and here i find that a few of the studs were previously broken and some shadetree mechanic welded 6mm studs to the broken 8mm ones. they were more or less hanging off. so i had to drill and helicoil the heads inside the wheel well. its not what i wanted to do but at least the car is repaired correctly now. i love the car. its rough, but a daily driver. i have to figure out the wiring now to make the lighter socket work....and just basically update alot of things. :D

Sun Oct 20, 2013 5:43 am

Welcome to The Samba...it looks like you have your work cut out for you...good luck with your Beetle. :D

Sun Oct 20, 2013 5:49 am

thanks, lots off work ahead and quite a learning curve. but i have to say i think this is the coolest vw ive ever had.

Sun Oct 20, 2013 6:48 am

Wiring diagram:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiring/73-only113wiring.jpg

And the key:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiring/73-only113wiring-key.jpg

Sun Oct 20, 2013 10:44 am

I give this advice to most newbies - get the Muir How to keep your VW alive book. Readily available. I am on my second copy. Walks you through most normal repairs and gives you a good overview of the car. J-Tubes for a daily driver in PA? Defrosters are pretty important even if you arent worried about having heat. Would strongly suggest rethinking that.

Sun Oct 20, 2013 10:50 am

andk5591 wrote: I give this advice to most newbies - get the Muir How to keep your VW alive book. Readily available. I am on my second copy. Walks you through most normal repairs and gives you a good overview of the car. J-Tubes for a daily driver in PA? Defrosters are pretty important even if you arent worried about having heat. Would strongly suggest rethinking that.

X2 on the rethinking the heater. You will want the heat unless you're an eskimo or a penguin. Not gonna have to many takers to ride with you w/o heat.

Sun Oct 20, 2013 6:48 pm

Welcome to the site. Post up some pictures of your progress so far.

Sun Oct 20, 2013 11:32 pm

Welcome.

The last item I would work on is the cigarette lighter.

Check out your brakes and do all tune up stuff.

My lighter was just a metal hole in the dash. I bought a lighter off the Samba Classifieds, stuck it in the hole, and called it good--despite the fact that the lighter doesn't work. I may get around to it once I've re-done my wipers so I can stop buying Rain-X, due to having two very slow speeds.

Tim

Mon Oct 21, 2013 6:30 am

Use a Zippo.

Mon Oct 21, 2013 3:14 pm

thanks for the advice. i was going to fix the lighter to hook up a electric heater in the outlet. i have a bunch of wiring to figure out as none of the defroster switches are operable. i have been rethinking the heater boxes though. until the small electric heater is going to have to do. i would post some pics but i havent figured out how yet. [/img]

Mon Oct 21, 2013 4:03 pm

I don't know of any heater, which plugs into a cigarette lighter plug, that would put out enough heat to make any difference. That wire is far too small to carry enough current. For that matter, I don't know of any electric heat which will warm up a Bug. The car's electrical system can't put out enough power. This has been discussed here many times.

Probably best to get your heater boxes operable.

Tue Oct 22, 2013 5:51 pm

true story, thanks. bigger probs at hand at the moment. ill just dress real warm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 6:25 pm

good advice here...

My "new to me" 74 std came with J tubes already installed. YUCK. Gotta have some heat.

Heater boxes, tubes and such are going in now.

Wed Oct 23, 2013 3:47 am

my only problem is how expensive they are. not to mention i dont have a flange muffler. i think that the plastic tubes from the heaterchannels back are there, and there are some cables on the floor running thru, whether or not they are operable im not sure so im kind of in a pinch. just haveing bought the car im strapped for $$$ ill keep looking tho if i find a cheap enough set up i surely would buy it. its getting a bit cold in the a.m.

Wed Oct 23, 2013 5:00 am

Try to find a local VW club and see if someone can hook you up with a used setup or check the classifieds. There's lots of folks on the east end of PA as well as Jersey.

And I hate to be a buzz-kill, but if you are getting into old cars, you need to pay to play. Like I wouldnt even consider driving the car until I went through the brakes, bearings and fuel lines first unless you KNOW for a fact that these are all in good shape. But I have yet to work on an old VW where all of that was in good working order. Being able to stop and steer, not going up in flames and wheels staying on the car are fairly important.

Wed Oct 23, 2013 4:35 pm

ya, the rear axle nuts were loose, now they're f-in tight. The brake adjusters are frozen, but ill take care of that this weekend. The car stops ok though. i need to work the ckoke free its sticking and not closing upon start-up. ive been going thru it pretty good. I welded the brake pin in where it sheered from the "new" assy. and installed the pin back in the throttle correctly while the pedal assy was out. I have quite a list of things to do, but the car is my daily driver so the major stuff obviously is being done first. I appreciate the advice on here alot, the air-cooled world is a helpful place