Who drove their bug today?

[miller0358]

Put a coat of wax on, and about 100 mile ride. Had a great day

[Big Bull Shooter]

I test drove my soon to be bug today. A 1969, 31,000 miles, all original, in pretty good shape for 49 years old. I made an offer, and buddy just accepted. On Tuesday, I'll be back in the air cooled VW scene after a 28 year break! I'm having flashbacks - from the smell of the bug, the sound, the vibration, little tidbits of my VW knowledge slowly coming back into my memory. I'll be on here picking everyones brains to get my bug back to showroom condition.

[wcfvw69]

[Tim Donahoe]

Bull, you’ll be surprised of the things you forget about maintaining a Bug—or fixing it.

I had an 18-year hiatus, and when I went looking for a Bug, I had missed quite a few items. Even so, I got one that was nice and shiny and rust-free. The motor and transmission were good, and all the rest has been attended to, except for a few items that don’t affect driveability.

Have fun.

Tim
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Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[Big Bull Shooter]

[wcfvw69]

Thanks for posting that engine photo. It's always nice to see original, unmolested VW engines like they were when delivered new. Here's my restored 69 engine that I reinstalled all the missing, restored parts on for a comparison. I'm always interested in comparing my engine to unmolested ones.

Your engine is totally unmolested. The parts that stand out to me that are often removed over the years include-

* The bowden cable is present and connected on the oil bath. They are missing 99% of the time.

* Your engine still has the "short", original 12 volt Bosch coil in place.

* The throttle positioner/altitude corrector is still mounted. Is it working?

The bottom line is your engine is wearing all the original parts it was delivered with. The 205T distributor. The German Pierburg square top fuel pump. Correct pulley's, tin, etc.

The only tiny issue I see is the clamp on the top of the warm air tube to the oil bath. Everything is looks original.

Do yourself a big favor. Don't change a thing. If any of those original parts go bad, have them restored. The VW parts are MILES ahead in quality vs. the junk replacement parts sold today.


Last favor? Can you snap a picture of the inside of the engine lid? I'd like to see how the wiring to the license plate light looks on yours. There should be a 4 post electrical plug up there.
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Contact me at [email protected]
Follow me on instagram @sparxwerksllc

Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.

**Now rebuilding throttle bodies for VW's and Porsche's**
**Restored German Bosch distributors for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored German Pierburg fuel pumps for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche fuel pumps or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche distributors or I can restore yours**

[mark tucker]

Ive been thinking about going for a drive for 3 days now...I'm on the couch with 4" slice in my side where some alien's were removed....wish I could go for a ride. them muscles there must be used for every thing but thinking or wiggling your toes.most pain I ever had next to kidney stones. I hope to go for a drive in a few days, my car misses me. these itchen stiches are driving me nuts!!!! but finaly being able to look at the samba sure helps.and seeing that red bugs engine gets the pain off my mind with all the stuff I could do with it...

[Big Bull Shooter]

[wcfvw69]

[Big Bull Shooter]

[mark tucker]

possiably dead torsion bar bushings, or a tire is diferent size or a tire needs more or less air...or somethen else.. not usualy shock issue.

[DurocShark]

Went to drive it today. Apparently my draining the battery last week damaged it. It won't charge past 11.4v.
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No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow.

[Cusser]

I drove mine to town to pick up a few things, see below.

Today, at the advice (OK: nagging) of Mrs. Cusser, I removed the discolored old window film from the front windows and vent windows of the 1970 sedan.

After looking on Google and YouTube, and not having a "clothes steamer" (you kidding - with MY wardrobe???) and little success with Mrs. Cusser's hair dryer to warm the film, I decided to use my trusty single edge razor blade held in a little plastic holder, which I clamped in a Vise-Grips for safety. I also wore work gloves and safety glasses, in case the blade (I only had ONE blade here) broke.

So the manual labor with the single-single edge razor blade worked pretty well, then I used a little steel wool to remove any remaining glue, and also used some Windex-clone spray. So now the 43-year old window tint film is gone from those windows, we'll see if I feel up to doing the rear side and rear window someday.

You guys do not want or need to see "after" photos, here's a "before" photo

Then I drove it into town to pick up a few things, including more single edge razor blades. I still smelled gas from when I filled the tank fully, from the area of those two small fuel filler hoses in the trunk. So I removed those and removed the little rubber seals that look like strips of bicycle tires and were ripped anyway, and just will try using the hoses and the 4 hose clamps tightened fully. A quick trip around the corral making sharp turns intentionally did not show any gas leakage so far.

The fill hose inner diameter is 48mm (1 and 7/8 inch) - Dayco #80305 runs about $30 for a three foot piece; Gates 23930 is more expensive for 1 foot and sold by the foot. I think if I need to replace the hose I'll get the Dayco and run a single piece of hose rather than getting 1 foot of Gates and using the black plastic VW elbow. And I'd try that without those separate rubber seals, seems like a redundancy.

An 8.5 inch piece of this hose sells for $17.95 at JBugs.com #311201219A https://www.jbugs.com/product/311201219A.html
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

[[email protected]]

For everyone driving their Bug today, watch out for stupid people!

I crep up on a left lane cruiser train of about 3 cars behind the person going 5 miles below the speed limit. As I got my front wheel even with the PASSENGER DOOR of the last car in the train, they decided to a Joey Chitwood full speed lane change into my right slow lane! Needless to say, there was a nice smoke screen from the 50 ft. patch left by the four wheel lockup. There were also some choice four letter words for the lane changer, AND the cruiser at the following traffic light, but tragedy was avoided.

NO ONE gives a shit about any time/money invested in restoration, or any sentimental value to your classic car, so drive EXTREMELY defensive at all times!

[AlmostHeavenWV_VW]

Picked the Bug last night after work.

This morning I took it over to the tire shop for a front end alignment and 2 front tires.

(PO did front end shocks and joints but never got it aligned. )

Looking forward to seeing how it feels and drives once everything is to proper specs
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1973 Standard Beetle
1600DP AK case
Solex 34PICT3 Carb
Bosch DVDA 205AJ Distributor

[NevadaVandal]

Actung, Freda comes out today but not for long. She is never in the sun for long periods or bird droppings. Seats were done at the prison but they did too good of a job. Over stuffed but nice.
Receive dirty looks when taking 3 spaces when parking anywhere; usually on the south forty.
New fire extinguisher and gas line.
Vdubs are rare here. Feel like a passenger pigeon.
Air pressure down to factory recommended levels. Tennis ball on hood latch for cooling.
Still no front end chatter to Carson City early morning. Trip back get the chatter as usual. Can't figure that out.
Thanks to all for the information and suggestions in this rebirth. Thank You!!

[Dwayne1m]

[Tim Donahoe]

Hm? I rarely have trouble with other drivers. Most seem to know it’s a slow Bug so they make allowances. Maybe folks in Redding are just more courteous toward bugs.

Now, when I’m in my Honda’s, I do encounter issues .

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[Ricksurfin]

In So Cal, people think the more they pay for their car, the more rights it gives them to make the road their own.
I'm just a speed bump in my Beetle.

[Dwayne1m]