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VdanielW Sat Jul 18, 2015 10:03 am

It's been a while since I really posted anything here on thesamba, so I thought I'd post up picks of my daily driver. It's a 1964 beetle that I picked up in West Covina a few months back. 1600 single port and stock trans. It was dropped to the ground (2" narrowed beam with dropped spindles and adjusters all the way down) and the rear end was cambered pretty bad.

Also found some paint cracking (after I got it home unfortunatly). I have a friend who is a painter, so he has taken care of the damaged areas (bad prep he said), but next year I will have him repaint the hole outside.

At home now still on the trailer. The baja is now sold, but not before pulling the 2275 out and prepping it to go in the 64. You can see my 65 in the garage.

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Here is a pic after I got the bug up to a more daily driver stance. I adjusted the front end as high as it could go and reindext the rear to 16deg and then installed 12" limiting straps. It's the same rear end set up I use on my turbo bug.

Here is the pic of the transaxle I got from Benco. Jim, from DerTransaxle, was out of commision for a few months so I had to go else where. This is there pro street with a 3.88r/p, stock beetle gears (welded 3rd and 4th) and stock axles for the time (I couldn't afford the chromo's at this time).

Trans is in. I used stock front and rear trans mounts, padded strap in the rear, and a center mount (urathane padded). Basically, the same set up as my turbo bug when it was my daily.

Now the engine. 2275, w120 cam, 8.66:1, cb 044 heads 40x35 valves and a light massaging from AJ Sims. Dual 44idf copies by decade on cb space saver manifolds (carb face the opposite of the norm'). This engine is a torque monster!



A nice gauge panel set up from fast fab with my oil pressure, temp, and cyl head temp gauges installed. That tach is going to be moved, I like the clean stock appearance and it doesn't fit!

I mounted the oil filter to the #3 exhaust studs and used a short oil filter for clearances. You can see the oil cooler in the back ground mounted under the rear package tray. It hangs about 2" below the tray.


Exhaust system consists of LowBugget 1 5/8" header ceramic coated, custom made tail pipe (2.5" and ceramic coated) and magnaflow muffler in the driverside rear wheel well (under rear fender). Has a nice mellow sound cruising and a great roar wide open!


The bug didn't have a front bumper, but about 10yrs ago I bought new bumpers for my other bug and never installed them. So, this one got it. Also, the front plate was beat up pretty bad. I did some work to it and had it repainted.

The rear bumper was missing the over rider supports so I put some new ones on there as well. This plate was in good shape and just needed some polishing. Since I live here where it is nice and hot I have propped the deck lid open at the bottom using a large (dog toy) tennis ball. The decklid will fully close, but it slightly contacts the driverside carb linkage. I'm sure I could adjust the linkage over enough not to touch, but I don't plan on driving it without the decklid propped open. The deck lid is from a '63.

Future plans include widening the rims to 5" fronts and 6" rears. I'm thinking 145's in the front and 205x65 rear tires. But for the most part, I just wanna driver her!!

Rome Sat Jul 18, 2015 6:52 pm

You have a very clean Beetle; great that you kept the overall appearance understated with your big engine. That'd be my preference as well. Even with your slightly raised up lowered stance, won't the engine sump still be quite close to the ground?

VdanielW Sat Jul 18, 2015 11:07 pm

Actual hasn't been a problem on either of my two bugs. The header/exhaust pipe may catch a speed bump or driveway, but the sump has never touched.

Dake Sat Jul 18, 2015 11:18 pm

Beautiful color! I have a question about the 12" limiting straps. Do you have any pic's of the installation and what is their function?

VdanielW Sat Jul 18, 2015 11:23 pm

Limiting straps limit the amount of down travel. This does keep your swing axle from tucking the wheels under. 12" were recommended to me by AJ back when I built my turbo bug. I liked the stance so I continue to use it on this bug as well. I bolt them up right along side of the rear shocks using longer bolts. I'll try to get under the car tomorrow and get you a pic.

76RennWagen Sun Jul 19, 2015 5:59 am

Awesome bug, get rid of that motorcraft oil filter. :roll:

VdanielW Sun Jul 19, 2015 8:40 am

I'm a ford mechanic- motorcraft oil filters are on all of my cars! :lol:

VdanielW Sun Jul 19, 2015 8:57 am

Here's a pic of the sump clearance:

And a pic of the limiting strap on the passanger side:

redbulltj Sun Jul 19, 2015 10:55 am

Incredible car.

VdanielW Sun Jul 19, 2015 11:03 am

Thank you redbulltj. I love the sleeper look and thoroughly enjoy surprising other cars!

Rome Sun Jul 19, 2015 12:40 pm

Thanks for the under-engine photos. Roads out here are much rougher so that such a low stance would be a major practical concern. What speeds to do drive on the freeway with the 3.88 and all the engine power?

Dake Sun Jul 19, 2015 7:19 pm

Thanks for the pic's of the straps. I may look into some for mine.

VdanielW Sun Jul 19, 2015 7:20 pm

70mph is around 3200rpm. Well, after doing some long driving this weekend (went to the Berg Rally in Orange, CA) I see that my rpm at 70mph is only 2900rpm. Looks like the trans guy put a 82 4th in it instead of the 89 he told me.
I'll post some pics of the rally later this evening. It was a blast!

VdanielW Mon Aug 31, 2015 1:04 pm

So we made it out to the Berg Rally on Saturday- it was awsome! Too much fun and we drove the bugs out there (I made it back, Mike wasn't so lucky but did have AAA so it's all good).
Stopped at Joe's Crab Shack in Garden Grove:

The rally ended at the Schely Museum (maybe their house)- very cool stuff there:



We put over 200 miles on the bug that day and I was happy to be able to drive her home that night- not without issues though. Still not sure where the noise is coming from, but either in the right rear wheel bearing area or internal in the tranny there is a grown that is vibrating the car. Most notably at 40-55mph.

VdanielW Mon Sep 14, 2015 8:02 am

Right axle bearing was the culprit- so it got replaced (kind of sucked only having about a 1000 miles on it, but it happens). Picked up a pair of widened smoothie rims for the rear (15x5.5"). I think I like the no hub cap look with them:





Ignore the black in the center of the front rims- I will be getting them painted soon (debating on two tone or sticking with a solid color for them).

VdanielW Fri Sep 25, 2015 5:16 pm

Got my lowbugget bar installed today. Slightly used it was given to me by my friends over at Crockerdile Racing! AJ Sims got the hardware kit shipped out to me quickly!! Tucks up nice and tight.

Lingwendil Fri Sep 25, 2015 8:23 pm

Very nice! You mind mentioning where you got those limit straps?

VdanielW Fri Sep 25, 2015 8:30 pm

The limiting straps were some spares that a friend of mine had. You can get them at most VW shops or places like summitracing.com.

silvertonguedevil Sat Sep 26, 2015 10:23 pm

I really dig what you're doing with your car. Love the sleeper approach!

VdanielW Sat Sep 26, 2015 10:34 pm

Thanks!



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