TheSamba.com :: View topic

Wed Apr 06, 2016 5:55 pm

The autostick has a terrible reputation for reliability and finding parts, and you can't hardly give away a Beetle with one it, while the 003 full auto has a much better rep. One thing that concerns me about that swap though is the tendency of the seal between the final drive and tranny going out and trashing the final drive- How do you even know if used ones are any good? Im leaning toward trying some better Wilwood single pedal assemblies that will allow me to get some space between the clutch and brake pedals with a firmer feel. The old cheap chrome pedals I have now have bent a couple of times. If I do that I will also pull the clutch out and go back to a spring disc, the Kennedy Stage 1 and solid disc I put in last fall have a very abrupt engagement that make driving it more difficult in heavy traffic..

Wed Apr 06, 2016 8:14 pm

donbarnes wrote: The autostick has a terrible reputation for reliability and finding parts, and you can't hardly give away a Beetle with one it, while the 003 full auto has a much better rep. .

Yep, just what I thought--yet another sheep just going by hearsay from blowhards on here and other VW sanctums who never had any clue. You know what else has a horrible reputation for reliability? Old aircooled VWs. You know why? Cause the people who fueled that reputation either never owned one, or didn't take care of theirs when they did. Like anything else on these cars, simple preventive maintenance will take care of it. You're going off nothing more than a misinformed opinion, so let me give you a FACT to mull over-- In the 45+ years my family owned this autostick we've had to change the transmission ONCE, and that was before I knew a simple clutch diaphragm arm adjustment probably would have fixed the issue. During that same period we probably rebuilt/swapped the engine 3 or 4 times. I've also had ZERO problems ever finding parts, they are in total abundance.

Do what you want--go ahead spend a thousand plus dollars on some kit to install a full automatic cause you listened to a bunch of misinformed idiots. Good luck finding parts for THAT too by the way.

Thu Apr 07, 2016 4:39 am

I'm not knocking the AS for those that already have them and understand them, but for someone like me that has no history with them, swapping to one probably not feasible...