1971 Super Beetle Convertible Restoration (started in 2010)

[Eisenhauer01]

Been a long time (5+ years) since I have posted on this here. My original thread from 2010 is all jacked up because I didn't use gallery back then, which by the way is awesome. I have been following several threads on here lately and have learned a lot. I really like the "My new 71 super" thread! My bug has been sitting in an enclosed trailer, torn apart into every individual part imaginable, since 2010. In the past month and a half, it has been brought home, and this is what has been done to it. Last year I built a 30x30 stick built garage at my house, so now there is a place to work on it. 5 years ago, I disassembled the entire car, sandblasted, primed, and painted the frame. Then it all went into the trailer and has sat. I restored a lot of parts back then as well and put them into a box and they have been sitting in a closet in my house, so at least some of it was done. This is the beginning 5 years ago,

The frame still looks pretty good. I put it up on sawhorses and started working. Installed the trailing arms with all new bearings and bushings

started working on the front end. already had the disc brake kit and struts are factory, just restored them with new bushings and strut inserts and paint. new urethane bushings

installed the spring plates, new bushings, got new trans mounts and shocks and bushing for the rear, painted the trans

the bump stop attachment point (or whatever you call it) was rusted and gone on my trailing arms before I restored them, so I made new ones up (I am a machinist)

installed the cv axles and also got the rear disc kit and installed it

Installed shift rod, and pedal assembly and new clutch cable. Got a new master cylinder and installed it. The "spacers" were gone so I made new ones for the MC.

took the jugs off the engine and the crank was still very tight.

split the case and found the small main bearing was completely effed. Made a new one out of 2024. Blasted the jugs and painted them. Surprisingly the cylinders and pistons looked real good. Crosshatch was real nice. Engine looks like it had been gone thru before i bought it then it sat.

cleaned the case and painted it before assembly, then assembled the shortblock. New bearing was perfect and I think it will be a good runner

installed distributor drive gear, distributor, painted the generator stand and installed it

today I took the heads to the shop, disassembled them, cleaned, inspected, glass beaded the heads, cleaned the valved, lapped them, and assembled

waiting on several orders of parts to complete the engine build. Mainly waiting on studs to install jugs, pistons, heads. Fuel pump and other goodies are on the way as well. I will keep this thread updated as I go now that I am on a role here. If anyone has any advice or suggestions feel free to share. This is my first VW I have ever worked on so I am basing everything I do off of research on here and memory from disassembly 6 years ago or so. Enjoy!!
_________________
1971 Super Beetle Convertible Restoration (started in 2010)

[Eisenhauer01]

here are the heads before my work on them today. both exhaust and intake ports were full of mud dobber crap and other stuff from sitting for years in this bucket. I am happy with how well they turned out.

_________________
1971 Super Beetle Convertible Restoration (started in 2010)

[Bashr52]

Which engine bearing did you make? I'd replace the valve guides and at least the exhaust valves in those heads before I'd run them
. Car is looking good though!

[swhitcomb]

Looking really good. We're neck and neck on the progress. Don't know if you saw it, but I got my body on the pan yesterday. Channels are up next.
_________________
My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

[Eisenhauer01]

bash52, I think I am gonna run the heads the way they are for now. The guides were real nice and the valves looked great, my dad has built several Lycoming's and I had him check them out while I had them apart at the shop and he said everything was real nice. If it gives me any issues I don't have a problem pulling it back apart at all, maybe it is because the VW "newness" and excitement hasn't worn off yet

comb, I haven't checked your thread yet today, I am about to tho!! this is one of the most fun projects I have done yet, I am really liking this thing!!
_________________
1971 Super Beetle Convertible Restoration (started in 2010)

[Eisenhauer01]

well, I got a few parts I needed in. installed a new fuel pump, blasted and painted the studs and put them back into the case, installed the jugs, and heads. New pushrod tubes installed. Rocker shafts and arms and pushrods, then just slapped the valve covers on for now. I still need to go back and adjust, but for now. Ordered a lot of new tin today since a lot is missing. Got a VW exhaust system the other day along with an aluminum degree pulley. It's coming along..

_________________
1971 Super Beetle Convertible Restoration (started in 2010)

[blienemann]

I hope you got the seal that comes with that pulley. Aftermarket pulleys are known to leak oil from behind them...

I have a similar style pulley that didn't come with the seal. Now I am waiting to replace it with either a stock pulley or buy the full pulley kit with the matching sand seal since I have oil spray all over the inside of my engine bay.
_________________
Previous - 73 1303
Current:
71 1302 w 2110
70 Deluxe Bus - Project

"Aim for the sky and you'll reach the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you'll stay on the floor." Bill Shankly

[swhitcomb]

Your engine looks great. Love the accent red pieces.
_________________
My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

[Eisenhauer01]

thanks! i like it a lot. just wish most of it wasn't getting covered up by the tin.
_________________
1971 Super Beetle Convertible Restoration (started in 2010)

[Eisenhauer01]

Well, I got the engine mounted up!!

and got my new fan shroud and tin installed. I tell you one thing, what I have read on here about buying aftermarket tin is all true. It took some work and finesse to make it all work, and even now I don't know that I am satisfied with it.. but nonetheless..

Installed the new exhaust

ran into an issue with the back tin (or whatever it is called) as you can see in the picture below, the cutout section in the middle is not the same as factory, and it doesn't line up with the screw holes on one side as it should. I am going to blast and paint the factory tin and roll with it. Maybe cip will credit me for my next order if I return it

I turned engine over until I got oil pressure, then installed the plugs and wires, shot a little fuel down her throat and she fired right up! Had static timed it to around 6btdc I believe on the bench, and when I rebuilt the carb I had both the adjustable screws 2.5 turns out from bottom. It ran real nice on those settings. I set full advance at 3k rpms. I am very happy with it. The passenger valve cover was leaking oil pretty bad. I was using brand new cork gaskets that came with kit. I tried swapping valve cover with some others I had laying around. still leaked. Put the rubber gasket that was on the engine when I got it on with original valve cover and it doesn't leak a drop now. Had to make up the little cylinder piece that goes on the carb linkage that secures the throttle cable. So now I have all pedals hooked up and working! A few more brake lines (rubber) and some battery cables and I am done with it for now and will get the body into the garage.
Got the tie rods in the other day as well so threw them on as well.

It is coming along!!!!
_________________
1971 Super Beetle Convertible Restoration (started in 2010)

[miller0358]

Looks great. Keep up the good work. Finished mine last week.

Jeff

[22manybugs]

Something to be careful about with that exhaust...

The exhaust pipes sit up kind of high in the space under the car. The result is the body sheet metal in the back gets very hot. In my case it was hot enough to start peeling the paint after maybe 6 to 9 months. It also quickly dried out and cracked the rubber engine bay seal.

I solved the problem by wrapping the exhaust pipes in exhaust insulation. It's a bit pricey, but it sure beats having the paint peel in the back.
_________________
Lon

1969 Karmann Ghia convertible
1971 Westfalia camper

[Eisenhauer01]

Thanks for that info, I will most definitely do that then. I was already thinking about wrapping the J-tubes just to help with heat issues, but I wouldn't have a problem wrapping all of it. You basically just wrapped everything that is black on the exhaust right? And if so, do you think I can wrap multiple collector pipes together and not individually? There isn't really much of a gap between a few of them. I will for sure wrap the exhaust, last thing I want is issues with paint or other things after I get this thing all done. Thanks for the heads up!!
_________________
1971 Super Beetle Convertible Restoration (started in 2010)

[22manybugs]

I wrapped the four separate tubes until they join together. I didn't wrap the collector or the muffler part. For the areas that are too tight to get the wrap between, I wrapped each tube as far as possible, then wrapped the pipes together. It seems that the two upper exhaust tubes running all the way across the back create most of the heat problems because they sit so high; you might get away with only wrapping those two tubes, but the wrapping material comes with enough to do all 4 tubes, so I just wrapped all of them.

It seems like a good idea to wrap the J-tubes to keep heat away from the heads. I have heater boxes so didn't have to worry about that.

I used lockwire to hold down the wrap.

Here are a couple photos of the wrapped exhaust. (Ignore the condition of the wrap, it's beat up from use.)

_________________
Lon

1969 Karmann Ghia convertible
1971 Westfalia camper

[Eisenhauer01]

awesome! thanks for the info and the pictures! I will surely do that.. I still need to get industrial tins since I am running j-tubes. I could probably make some and have the print for them saved on my computer but I don't have a metal brake, I am a machinist not a fabricator. So idk if I will buy some or make some. I was looking at wrap earlier on the internet. Do you happen to know how many feet of 2" wide exhaust wrap it took to do what you did? I was looking at getting either a roll of 25' of it or 50'.
_________________
1971 Super Beetle Convertible Restoration (started in 2010)

[22manybugs]

25 feet will not be enough for the entire exhaust. I bought 50 feet and ended up with a fair amount left over. If you do the exhaust plus J-tubes, 50 feet is probably about right.
_________________
Lon

1969 Karmann Ghia convertible
1971 Westfalia camper

[swhitcomb]

The engine looks great.

Did you install flaps in the shroud? I think I have the pulley tin that will make that breast plate work. You'll have to notch it out for the intake preheat though.
_________________
My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

[Eisenhauer01]

ok will look into getting 50ft. thanks

and comb, no flaps in the shroud right now. I was planning on just cleaning up the factory tin I have in the pics, blocking off the heater hose holes, and probably the preheat hole as well since I am not planning on running one as of now.

do you happen to know what the difference is in the pulley tin that will make this new breastplate work? as in, why is it differently shaped than my factory tin?
_________________
1971 Super Beetle Convertible Restoration (started in 2010)

[Eisenhauer01]

sorry, I was off track in my thinking for a few minutes. I am running the intake preheat tubes, that run from the exhaust up to the intake manifold,mas you can see in my engine pics. I was thinking of the stove pipe preheat hose, or whatever you call it, that goes to the factory oil bath filter. I am not planning on running that.
_________________
1971 Super Beetle Convertible Restoration (started in 2010)

[didget69]

I'd get rid of the urethane transmission mounts & run HD VW factory mounts.
A Working set of air cooling flaps & thermostat should be installed. Replace the foam seal that was glued to the oil cooler so that the cooling air goes through the cooler & not around it -

bnc
_________________
I never found the need to impress people with any mechanic certifications, trophies or track wins... unless it was for Mom to post on the refrigerator door.