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Thu May 10, 2018 4:24 am

Any luck finding longer axles?

Thu May 10, 2018 1:56 pm

oprn wrote: Any luck finding longer axles?

i found a 68 but not sure if i want to go through all the work this year. i am trying to locate some narrower tires and i will run some spacers. i will think about it, i may get some different rims custom built a well. 10" are pretty wide, i might look at some 8" ones

Thu May 10, 2018 4:33 pm

I hear you. I want to change mine over to IRS but not enough time this spring. The present transaxle is a late model swing axle with the 4 bolt pattern. I am not sure if the wide 5 drums are a bolt on or not but it may work for you if I find a good used IRS. Or maybe I can convert this tranny to IRS and then there would be long axles and axle tubes left over.

Won't happen till next winter now though.

Thu May 10, 2018 8:32 pm

oprn wrote: I hear you. I want to change mine over to IRS but not enough time this spring. The present transaxle is a late model swing axle with the 4 bolt pattern. I am not sure if the wide 5 drums are a bolt on or not but it may work for you if I find a good used IRS. Or maybe I can convert this tranny to IRS and then there would be long axles and axle tubes left over.

Won't happen till next winter now though.

i was informed that long tubes were available in 67 and 68. 67 had wide 5 68 has 4. but to put the wide5 on the 68 axles is a matter of a bushing between the drum and nut.

Fri May 11, 2018 4:28 am

That sounds about right. I was told when I bought this Buggy that it was built from a '73 Super Beetle. That cannot be correct as it has a ball joint standard Beetle front suspension. However it also had a 1600 Dual Port engine, swing axle suspension and a speedometer that has more features than my '71 SB had. The swing axle finished as you said in '68 and the Dual port engine started in '71.

I once bought a '74 standard Beetle that had a DP engine and swing axle suspension. The door tag said it was made in Mexico so I am assuming this is also the case with the car this Buggy is based on.

I have a 944 for parts that has the aluminum trailing arms and disc brakes that I intend to use on this Buggy. That means either switching this transaxle over to IRS or getting an IRS transaxle. In either case there will be left over parts that could work for you.

I do have another complete swing axle set up I took out of my sand rail but it most likely is the same as yours as the front end is link pin vintage.

Sat May 12, 2018 8:05 am

oprn wrote: That sounds about right. I was told when I bought this Buggy that it was built from a '73 Super Beetle. That cannot be correct as it has a ball joint standard Beetle front suspension. However it also had a 1600 Dual Port engine, swing axle suspension and a speedometer that has more features than my '71 SB had. The swing axle finished as you said in '68 and the Dual port engine started in '71.

That might not be completely true.

Swingaxle stopped after 68 in the USA but continued in many other countries and Canada could be included.
But I could be wrong since I think I read that but I am not going to research it to confirm....... :roll: :wink:

Sat May 12, 2018 7:18 pm

My understanding of how it went down was VW of Germany stopped exporting the standard Beetle to Canada about '73. Maybe a year earlier. Any Standard Bugs in Canada after that point were imported from Mexico or South America as you could not get them from your VW dealer. The Super Beetle may have been sold up to '74, and the Cabriolet was discontinued here in '79.

All German built VWs from 68 on here were IRS but Mexico and Brazil I believe continued producing the swing axle well into the '80s.

That is how I remember it anyway.

Sat May 12, 2018 8:29 pm

Now I am thinking about this and doubting myself. The standard Beetle may not have even been offered for sale here in Canada after the Super Beetle came out in '71!

I can't remember for sure...

Mon May 14, 2018 5:22 pm

I just looked up my floor pan serial number - March '72.

Tue May 22, 2018 4:51 pm

Any updates?

Mine is getting close, took it for a couple short runs on the weekend. Needs a few things addressed yet...

I am looking forward to the possibility of meeting you at one of the Calgary club cruise days!

Tue May 22, 2018 5:26 pm

Ive owned 2 73 standards that were swing axle. A friend of mine has an ex-german military beetle from Camp Shilo that is a 75 with a swing axle and a 40hp engine. And is still 6 volt. Crazy car. Lots of oddball parts.

brad

Wed May 23, 2018 4:21 am

slalombuggy wrote: Ive owned 2 73 standards that were swing axle. A friend of mine has an ex-german military beetle from Camp Shilo that is a 75 with a swing axle and a 40hp engine. And is still 6 volt. Crazy car. Lots of oddball parts.

brad
I'm curious, where were these Beetles manufactured?

Wed May 23, 2018 7:00 am

oprn wrote: Any updates?

Mine is getting close, took it for a couple short runs on the weekend. Needs a few things addressed yet...

I am looking forward to the possibility of meeting you at one of the Calgary club cruise days!

Got the roll bar back in. Slowly coming together. Hopefully in a couple weeks

Wed May 23, 2018 7:02 am

So my wipers start at the top of the swipe. Wondering if anyone knows why or how to fix. The picture is of the electrical terminals in the wiper motor. Maybe if you know tell me where there should be 12v when to make them work proper

Sat May 26, 2018 4:15 am

Mine work normally but the wiring is a bit of a rat's nest and hard to follow. I am not looking forward to digging into it so for now I'm leaving well enough alone!

Sorry, not much help but you have my sympathy! Did you look under "Technical" and "wiring" on this site? A bunch of wiring diagrams there.

Sat May 26, 2018 12:40 pm

To increase spring plate clearance you could fit a set of Thing brake drums with the nose cut down for the shorter splines used on '67 and older axles.

Sun May 27, 2018 7:13 pm

oprn wrote: Mine work normally but the wiring is a bit of a rat's nest and hard to follow. I am not looking forward to digging into it so for now I'm leaving well enough alone!

Sorry, not much help but you have my sympathy! Did you look under "Technical" and "wiring" on this site? A bunch of wiring diagrams there.

had a wiring diagram when i did my own wiring harness. thought it wa scorrect and it very well coul dbe. i did some research and found that some years the center line of the wiopers were more on the right so the action that my wipers give is normal. just might drop the park feature and turn them off in the lower location

Sun May 27, 2018 7:14 pm

EVfun wrote: To increase spring plate clearance you could fit a set of Thing brake drums with the nose cut down for the shorter splines used on '67 and older axles.

sold the rims for what i got them for ans am getting a swet of 7' wide made with 3 1/2'' back spacing.
10'' was maybe a bit wide

Wed May 30, 2018 10:51 am

Slowly getting there. Mirrors and rear wheels and it’s reqdy for the inspection. Hopefully in a couple weeks it will be on the road

Wed May 30, 2018 11:26 am

Lookin' good! :)