| mdege |
Wed Sep 23, 2020 11:16 am |
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and he had his mind set on a standard sedan, the older the better.
But, since I just finished my Firetruck, I did not want to spend another two year building a bug for him.
We looked a several bugs which sounded doable and also a 1959 puzzle. All of them turned out to be way too much work. Until we found this one.
A 1984 beetle made in Mexico which had not been driven much in its life time, but it had a really bad paint job which doesn't show on the picture. Since it hadn't been driven much it has virtually no rust. The PO drove the bug to our house and the first time I actually drove the bug, I really got scared to death by the not functioning brakes. The PO had been talking about that he had originally planed to drive it to Austria this summer. I am glad he didn't
Before we could register it, we had to get it ready for the inspections. We re-did the complete brakes, pulled the engine out, cleaned and resealed it. Replaced most of the window seals and other minor stuff.
Pulled the motor apart and cleaned everything
New main seal:
The motor returned to its place:
The motor is a 1300ccm and not 1200ccm which the car was originally delivered with. Who ever installed it cut some corners and therefore we were missing some parts like the rear engine tin. I wasn't able to locate the correct one for a decent price. I ended up using a repro which I had used in my fire truck which I modified to make room for the large pre-heater tube.
The tire which came with the car were at least 25 years old. A new set was need:
Finishing touches, greasing the front axle:
Ready for the TÜV inspection:
No issues were found and we were able to register it in my sons name:
Now it is back on the road doing what it was made to do. A daily driver! |
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| Bama Dave |
Wed Sep 23, 2020 12:17 pm |
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| Nice car. I miss Germany. |
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| Tim Donahoe |
Wed Sep 23, 2020 12:20 pm |
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It looks like your son has a nice car. I can only suppose there are not that many bugs left in Germany, and very few made-in-Mexico bugs. Few of his friends will have a vintage car like that.
I wonder if the car was one of the 1984 Red Velvet models?
Tim |
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| 61SNRF |
Wed Sep 23, 2020 4:39 pm |
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Turned out very nice and what a great learning experience for your son.
Must say I was a little alarmed when I saw how you have routed the air cleaner thermostat and distributor hoses though. The way they are they will no doubt interfere with the carburetor arm. Keep in mind the arm moves when you accelerate and those hoses are in it's direct path. Have him get in the car and press the pedal to the floor while you watch the arm's movement and you'll see what I'm concerned about...
One thing you don't want him to learn is what to do when the throttle gets stuck wide open!
VW made those two hoses extra long so they could be routed up and held secure under the left air cleaner clip like this...
Have fun with the project :) |
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| mdege |
Wed Sep 23, 2020 9:56 pm |
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Tim Donahoe wrote: It looks like your son has a nice car. I can only suppose there are not that many bugs left in Germany, and very few made-in-Mexico bugs. Few of his friends will have a vintage car like that.
Well we are far from every second car being a bug these days. There were times when this was true. But bugs are still the number one in vintage car registrations.
We are a little car crazy, his brother drives a 1983 Jetta Diesel, which he is turning into a turbo Diesel at the moment. Not too many kids with vintage cars around that is true.
Tim Donahoe wrote:
I wonder if the car was one of the 1984 Red Velvet models?
I am fairly positive, that it was a normal model in red. The PO told me, that it had the black and white checkered interior but that was shot. Unfortunately I cant read the M-code tag anymore due to too much over-spray. |
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| mdege |
Wed Sep 23, 2020 10:05 pm |
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Thank you for pointing this out. I will fix it tonight. I will be replacing the thermostat. I had to plug it because there is a vacuum leak.
I am still trying to find the right combination of distributor and carburetor. The original distributor is shot and now I got a single advance type installed. I am currently overhauling a 31 PICT-4 caburetor which should match the distributor. That combination was used on later AB engines.
61SNRF wrote: Turned out very nice and what a great learning experience for your son.
Must say I was a little alarmed when I saw how you have routed the air cleaner thermostat and distributor hoses though. The way they are they will no doubt interfere with the carburetor arm. Keep in mind the arm moves when you accelerate and those hoses are in it's direct path. Have him get in the car and press the pedal to the floor while you watch the arm's movement and you'll see what I'm concerned about...
One thing you don't want him to learn is what to do when the throttle gets stuck wide open!
VW made those two hoses extra long so they could be routed up and held secure under the left air cleaner clip like this...
Have fun with the project :) |
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