TheSamba.com :: View topic - 74 Super. First VW build with misc questions

Sun Sep 23, 2018 3:26 pm

I picked up a 74 super beetle a week or two ago for a little project. I have wanted a bug for a while and after researching, I was wanting a 69/70 but couldnt find one in the price range or condition I wanted for a Class 11 style build. Since I couldnt find one, I figured I'd snatch up one that I could wrench on to get to know the basics.

Car was in overall decent condition, some rust, some dings. It has a built motor that is pushing 80'ish hp? But the engine has a bit of a decent oil leak. I'm planning on pulling the engine once I get a better floor jack...arriving on tuesday.

I did some light body work and went with a roll on rustoleum paint job to make it look a little better (and mainly to try and get it painted before winter comes and I'd have to heat the garage.

As you can see, the motor is definitely leaking a bit of oil, and it looks like the transmission could be as well. I'm new to VWs and the terminology so I'll try not to butcher it up too much.

It looks like its originating from above the tubes and someone suggested it could be the oil cooler. Any ideas what I should look for once its pulled? Just firing it up and driving it for less than a minute (to put it in the garage) and it leaks a pretty large amount when I park it.

Its a single port, and that's about all I know other than it has about 50k on the build.

Once its not leaking oil anymore, I'll be looking to throw a useful roof rack on it, some better lighting (one of the headlights glass is broken) I'd like to upgrade them and likely add some good flood lights for dirt road driving.

I'm also planning on adding larger tires if I can, the ones on it have tread but have some good dry rot.

This is how it looks after a few coats of paint. Fenders are back on now ready for the mechanical work.

Sun Sep 23, 2018 7:03 pm

Welcome to the Samba! Nice starter car. Pan looks pretty good. Any big rust spots?
Have fun!

Mon Sep 24, 2018 7:14 pm

VW_Jimbo wrote: Welcome to the Samba! Nice starter car. Pan looks pretty good. Any big rust spots?
Have fun!

There are two little spots on passenger side, drivers looks good.

Hoping to be able to pull the engine soon and dig into it.

Tue Sep 25, 2018 5:04 am

Look for oil on top of the case on the drivers side. When you drop the engine to fix it, replace the flywheel crank seal.

Tue Sep 25, 2018 1:41 pm

Engine has been pulled. Inside the flywheel area appears dry.

There is a rectangle thing behind the fan shroud (above flywheel) that looks like an oil cooler, and no signs that oil is leaking from the bottom of that, it also looks dry at least from the tins that are directly under it not being oily at all. But there is definitely a substantial oil leak from the 3-4 side of the motor.

The majority of the transmission is covered in fluid as well but i guess I'll tackle that after i try and clean up this mess, or at least take off all the stuff to try and find the leak.

Tue Sep 25, 2018 3:36 pm

Well.. Things don't look great...

Not sure of the original purpose of the jb weld, but im guessing it'll sure make it a pain to take it apart.

Should i try to take it apart or just add to the jb weld puddle and run it for a while longer?

Tue Sep 25, 2018 5:36 pm

How much do you want to spend right now?

Best case scenario is the previous owner did not understand Bugs and injected JB weld to seal up the oil cooler. That gap is the mating surface area for the oil cooler SEALS. There are two silicon seals within that area. Then there are two more between the oil cooler manifold (part that bolts directly to case) and the oil cooler (the part with the fins and oil passages).

If that is the case, you clean it all up, change the seals and all is good, in that area.

Worst case scenario, is there is a case crack at the base of the oil cooler mount, from being over tightened by the PO. Very common issue that comes up a lot. That would mean getting a new case and rebuilding the engine or getting a rebuilt and paying for the core charge, since your case has a crack.

Those are the two ways I see it. You are now armed with the information. For what it is worth. The oil cooler seals are not hard to change out. What are your mechanical skills like. If you can turn a wrench and have a feel for the tightness of them. If you know which way the nut spins to get tight and loose, I think you have a fighting chance!

Tue Sep 25, 2018 5:47 pm

VW_Jimbo wrote: How much do you want to spend right now?

Best case scenario is the previous owner did not understand Bugs and injected JB weld to seal up the oil cooler. That gap is the mating surface area for the oil cooler SEALS. There are two silicon seals within that area. Then there are two more between the oil cooler manifold (part that bolts directly to case) and the oil cooler (the part with the fins and oil passages).

If that is the case, you clean it all up, change the seals and all is good, in that area.

Worst case scenario, is there is a case crack at the base of the oil cooler mount, from being over tightened by the PO. Very common issue that comes up a lot. That would mean getting a new case and rebuilding the engine or getting a rebuilt and paying for the core charge, since your case has a crack.

Those are the two ways I see it. You are now armed with the information. For what it is worth. The oil cooler seals are not hard to change out. What are your mechanical skills like. If you can turn a wrench and have a feel for the tightness of them. If you know which way the nut spins to get tight and loose, I think you have a fighting chance!

Thanks for the reply. I scraped off a bit of the jb weld and there is a hairline crack, I'm guessing from over tightening. It is to the right of the front bolt and goes up at a 45 degree angle to the right. It is a very tiny crack, and the jb weld has held for ~45k. The po had it built by a experienced vw shop in Denver and he didn't apply the jb weld, just drove it since they put it in.

I don't plan on rebuilding it since its built which i think is internals and if i needed to I'd just go through and reinstall the stock one since I'm not planning on letting this become a money pit.

Not sure if you can see the crack here, it's tiny.

At this point i was thinking of cleaning it up well And giving it another go at jb weld or the steel stuff to see if it'll last a while again. Would it be worthwhile to remove the oil cooler, then apply the liquid steel, let it set up completely and then put the oil cooler back on with new gaskets or just try it like it is? Not trying to cheap out, Just looking for the most cost effective solution to getting it back on the road.

I've done plenty of wrenching on many types of vehicles, i think this is my 20th vehicle and none have been un modified. But this is my first vw which was planning on being a sort of DD around town, dirt roads and just to learn vw while i look for a class 11 candidate.

Tue Sep 25, 2018 8:29 pm

¡Bienvenido a la Samba!
You will soon find that these lil' monsters aren't tough to wrench-upon - just REAL :shock: different.
In order, some thoughts:
1) Due to their (WEAK) MacPherson Strut front suspensions, Supers do not make for a good ORV - in fact, they get BTS real quickly.
2) The oil cooler mount on the above case is cracked, a fairly common issue. Any more attempts to Band-Aid-repair that crack any further will just be futile.
Sometimes they repair well by heliarc/re-machining, & other times do not. Ask around for the most savvy ACVW machine shop in the area, get their vibe on it & maybe roll the dice.
Until repaired, the upside is that you may not have to actually change the oil - just keep adding :wink:

Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:37 pm

I can see it! Thats a case crack. You have two choices as stated above.

I always rebuild with a good case. A good foundation is the best platform to build upon. Plus, time is money, if I am going to spend my time on something, it has to be worth it.

Strongly suggest getting a new case, or a long block.

Tue Sep 25, 2018 10:16 pm

VW_Jimbo wrote: I can see it! That's a case crack.
Me too ..... & the resta us now, as well.
Depending upon what else is wrong with it, ya may find it better to avoid this one for performance apps. However, it might serve just fine for a stocker rebuild.

Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:31 pm

Got a little busy and was able to get some stuff done.

Being that the JB weld worked for 45k miles before, I figured it was worth trying again. Even if it only works for 5k miles, at least I can start working on other things. If not... It'll be a slow rebuild of the stock engine that I have which would get thrown in here. I would not modify another case to fit the custom stuff this one has, so it would be spare parts anyways.

So I chipped off all that I could, cleaned, sanded, and repeated and applied some Steel Stick which is like JB weld and that I've seen work on oil pans that have been busted open on trips in the middle of nowhere.

Next up was the transmission. The thing was covered in a ton of old oil buildup and still looked wet. I ordered a full seal kit for it as well as the CV double torx socket and the socket for the fluid fill and drain. I got it out of the car, pressure washed and degreased it.

The large covers where the outputs come out of, on one side, two of the nuts were loose. One of the green plastic parts in the center of the output shaft looks dented and like it might've been leaking into the CV.

There was fluid front to back, so no real target area, the bellhousing was dirty but looked like the one area that was not leaking.

Trying to find some breakdowns online of what I can and cannot pull apart on the transmission to put the new gaskets/seals on. Havent had too much luck yet.

But one of these days I'll get around to that and get them back in the car to see if it'll work for now.

Thu Oct 04, 2018 9:29 am

aero wrote: Well.. Things don't look great...

Not sure of the original purpose of the jb weld, but im guessing it'll sure make it a pain to take it apart.

Should i try to take it apart or just add to the jb weld puddle and run it for a while longer?

That's Marine TEX. Good shit :!:
http://marinetex.com/products/marine-tex-products/marine-tex-epoxy-putty/
Used this to repair a banjo fitting on my boat carb years ago...
Never failed me