Work Shop Manuals

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My brother and I are embarking on a VW journey - ownership. 2 Work shop mauals get a mention the book published by John Muir, and the one by Robert Bentley. I am in Australia, are these books orentated for US models exclusivley? What type of differences are we likley to encounter? I know with my BMW, it is classed as an 'euro' model, is that the same with our Beetle?
Thanks for your time, as you can prberly tell, we're still learning.
Joel

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Joel,

I'm in Australia too (Adelaide).

Yes - Australia got "Euro spec" beetles.

The Bentley manual is the most complete manual (apart from the full VW workshop manual and I've never seen one of those), but there ARE some differences with Aus beetles - we didn't get reversing lights until 1972 (about 67 in the US) and we never saw rear window demisters.

The Aussie bug kept the bulb and reflector lights when 12v came in in 1968 (yes - the 67 beetle was 6v in Aus for those who thought I just made a mistake!) and so they have the parking lights in the main reflector (called City Lights in Europe) and only blinkers on the mudguard (fender for US folks).

In the US - the 12 volters got sealed beams and the parkers went up into the mudguard light fitting with the blinkers.

In 1970 the US got the first 1600 single port engine - we still had the 1500 that year. In the US, 68semi-autos got IRS and in 69 the manuals got it - in Aus the 68 semi-autos had IRS but the manuals got IRS only in 71. From 71 onwards, the US had 1600 engine only, in Aus from 71 to 75 the 1600s were superbug and the 1300s were standard bugs (badge on the engine lid says VW1300 on the standard bugs, and Volkswagen L on the superbugs). In 1976 (last year for the aircooled beetle in Aus) the superbug was dropped but the standard bug got the 1600.

The Muir book makes interesting reading, but don't treat everything in it as gospel - he advocates forgetting about 4th gear driving around town (stay in third) which is crazy - that increases the fuel consumption significantly. He also recommends cleaning commutator segments (generator) with emery paper (shudder) and other stuff like that.

In Aus, try to get hold of the Gregories (formerly Scientific Publications) VW manual No 46 for standard beetles, or No45 for superbugs - very good, though a little brief. (Check out your public library - many have it).

Haynes make a decent manual too - about the same level of complexity as the Gregories manual.

And you can always visit my site - lots of useful repair articles there :-)

Regards
Rob
Rob and Dave's aircooled VW pages
repairs and maintenance for the home mechanic
http://www.geocities.com/aussiebug1970/