TheSamba.com :: View topic - Saving the Supers Never Ends! '75 Le Grande At Last!

Fri Jun 24, 2022 5:01 pm

vamram wrote: Here's a video of it running. You EFI guys, how does it sound? I think I hear an exhaust leak. Other than that, seems pretty smooth. (Note to Admin- for some reason the youtube tags are not preloading the video so I removed them from the link.)

https://youtube.com/shorts/Gcq-BAoBX6M?feature=share

Mine sounds identical. Which means nothing! I've also blocked off the EGR filter recently as it was open there, and I'm not 100% convinced that is actually sealed.

Fri Jun 24, 2022 5:17 pm

plextor wrote: Awesome!!!! I sure like my La Grande :)

I notice from your air filter housing box that it appears to have that diaphragm for the oil breather hose intact. That's rare!! Take photos of that if you don't mind! :-)

Haha, I will! But to be honest...I'm not even sure what's what in this beast yet! :lol:

Fri Jun 24, 2022 6:03 pm

Sounds great! Exhaust leaks are par for the course. You will need to regasket all of the connections.

What’s up at the front bumper and hood?

Fri Jun 24, 2022 6:09 pm

Jimbo the hood looks great to me, lines up perfectly at the cowl and edges. The bumper looks funny because it's missing the plastic end caps and the factory bumper strip. The spare bumper has all of it.

Fri Jun 24, 2022 6:26 pm

vamram wrote: Jimbo the hood looks great to me, lines up perfectly at the cowl and edges. The bumper looks funny because it's missing the plastic end caps and the factory bumper strip. The spare bumper has all of it.

Awesome! It a nice looking Bug! You are going to have some fun!

Sat Jun 25, 2022 5:49 am

Glutton for punishment I see! :D

Hopefully as you peel back the layers of this onion, you don’t find major surprises. We all know how project creep works haha.

Looking forward to watching this project from the ground floor! :lol:

Sat Jun 25, 2022 6:03 am

I think you're going to love the fuel injection up north because it'll start as easily in the middle of winter that will in the middle of summer. You will find a lot of crossover information with the fuel-injected buses and air-cooled vanagons because they were using similar fuel injection stuff. The troubleshooting guide like you have there is really useful and you'll find more of stuff like that up in the technical section and or Archives of this site if you look in all the different areas and models that might have had fuel injection. When it comes to fuel injection Victor the tiniest little bit of air leak will cause lots of hard to diagnose problem so the first step is really replace every little piece of fuel line with brand new fuel injection rated hose and then every little vacuum hose and rubber boot that you can that will eliminate so much time and trying to track stuff down. Plus those fuel lines will start cracking from the inside out so they may look good on the outside but be full of cracks on the inside. At least that's what I found when I pulled them off of the Vanagon and that fuel injection system is under a tremendous amount of pressure I think even more than modern systems so when a line splits is just a vapor spraying out like a flamethrower waiting for an ignition it will find very quickly in an air-cooled engine. Immediately replacing all the fuel lines in a Volkswagen fuel injection car is a religion and high holy day mass at that so please do that first because I love reading all your posts

Sat Jun 25, 2022 6:05 am

Also replacing the little o rings that are in the fuel injectors is part of the rubber stuff that cracks and creates bugs for you scratch your head about so you might as well replace those you'll be pulling the injectors out to replace the fuel lines anyway so just get a kit off of Amazon or Ebay for pennies that has all those little rubber O-rings for the fuel injectors

Sat Jun 25, 2022 7:45 am

What an awesome starting point! I wish I could find and justify having a '75. Grats on the find. I will definitely be following along.

H20SB

Sat Jun 25, 2022 7:52 am

Thank you thank you and yes I am a glutton for punishment, woke up sore this morning... :D

Buggee, all the rubber hoses were replaced by the PO over the last year using high pressure fuel injection hose.. I've gone thru the motor and tank, all appear fresh.

My concern is why did he use hose instead of the rail. I do see where the rail is chaffed at one of the hose ends, as if it had been rubbed against other metal for a long time. I have a spare rail in my parts stash. Replace, or run with the current set up?

Sat Jun 25, 2022 10:41 am

vamram wrote: My concern is why did he use hose instead of the rail.

I think you're referring to the metal fuel line running from cylinders 3&4 to the CSV (5th injector) and on to cylinders 1&2. Is that right? I've been told this part was not used on 1975 FI Beetles. Fuel hose was used instead.

My 1979 has the metal fuel line. And I don't know the year that VW made the changeover. (ignore the red and yellow circles in the picture)

Sat Jun 25, 2022 12:40 pm

yep '75 had the hose. I keep this image bookmarked as it's the nicest image of a new '75 engine bay I've been able to find.

Tue Jun 28, 2022 8:44 pm

Thanks Plextor, that answers one mystery. Another is the engine case. [EDIT] It's a single letter E-code case, not a 2-letter E-code. After a quick search I discovered on thesamba case codes page that this was sometime in its life a factory-rebuilt case, by VW of Spain....

Then there are the funky Brazilian taillights. A Hella rear lense will not fit these because the white plastic piece for the Hella brake bulb prevents the assembly from sitting flush.

And then there's the wiring mess at the dash....here's a glimpse of my future.

Finally, I have some FI troubleshooting to do once I get into this. It starts cold but idle is rough and under 800 or so for the 1st minute or so. Something w/the cold start valve I guess...?

Wed Jun 29, 2022 7:17 pm

vamram wrote: ...all the rubber hoses were replaced by the PO over the last year using high pressure fuel injection hose.. I've gone thru the motor and tank, all appear fresh.

What good fortune!

Sat Jul 23, 2022 9:29 am

vamram wrote:
Finally, I have some FI troubleshooting to do once I get into this. It starts cold but idle is rough and under 800 or so for the 1st minute or so. Something w/the cold start valve I guess...?

Did you get to the bottom of that one yet?

Sat Jul 23, 2022 11:12 am

Not yet - car is on ice until I finish fixing the '74.

Sat Dec 07, 2024 3:05 pm

Well Gents - hate to admit it, I've had to give up on this project. My Bug heart is heartbroken. But I've got too many other things going on (my '74 and my '73 + all the non-VW stuff in life) and realistically it just ain't gonna happen. Might as well make it available to some other Super lover who's always wanted a Le Grande!

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2718846

Sun Dec 08, 2024 3:09 pm

Dude, this is OK. I think you've proved your point a few times already! 8) it's time to enjoy.

Sun Dec 08, 2024 4:06 pm

Buggeee wrote: Dude, this is OK. I think you've proved your point a few times already! 8) it's time to enjoy.
8) :thumbsup:
Thanks Buggee! If thesamba had heart emojis I would have posted one!

Sun Dec 08, 2024 4:31 pm

I agree with buggee. It's time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

You've done some amazing work on your cars over the last few years. And it never really ends, i.e.: your 73 fuel supply issues of late.

I'm at the age where I'm slowing down a bit. I really don't need to build any more fast cars for myself.
It seems over the last year, I have enjoyed assisting friends with their race car setups more than working on my cars.

I bought a Eurovan last week and am looking forward to a few camp trips.
That'll be a little bit more of a relaxed lifestyle for me.