New SB Owner

[Adoom]

Just recently picked up a 68 square. It's in really good shape, a ding here, corroded chrome there, but overall, better than average.

Picking through threads here I think I've got "damn PO" scenario though. It's a 1968, but the motor is a single port, single carb. Anemic as all get out. I am guessing the previous, previous, owner decided to do away with the FI?

Brakes...almost non-existent. I can get it to stop, but the pedal goes to the floor in the process. I am expecting to do a 4 corner brake job on it.

Fuel leak. It has a fuel leak under the gas tank. I haven't put it in the air yet to see where it's coming from. Standard practice is to replace all the fuel lines anyway, so I am hopeful the leak source will be revealed then. Praying it isn't a hole in the tank.

It's not home yet. Once home I figure my order of fun will be:
Fuel Leak, new fuel lines.

Check/adjust valves, timing, new plugs, points, cap, rotor. Hopefully the anemic nature is due to mis-adjustment.

Figure out where my brakes are going. I guess first would be to check pads, then shoes for wear. Adjust the rears to proper spec. Then see where it's at. Look for leaking wheel cylinders, lines, that sort of thing. If everything checks out, try doing a good bleeding? Hopefully the master is okay. Fingers crossed.

Even with all of the above, I managed a short test drive. The car starts and idles great. Drives along nice (until a stop sign). Needs some body TLC but no severe rust. It got new pans a while back, so the underneath is solid. Even though it's a single port (I'm used to them now), it looks pretty clean in the engine well.

Once I get it home I will take some pics, and get this new saga started!

[KTPhil]

Sounds like a great score!

Fuel lines and brakes are almost always a total replacement for safety anyway. The soft lines in particular are probably bad or heading there. You might consider one of the newer DOT formulas for brake fluid, one that doesn't absorb water. You need a total flush but you'll be doing that anyway so why not? If you need master work, search about options for obsolete configurations; you may need to bend a new hard line or two.

Are the other FI components and wiring still there? Do you know it was FI originally? Non-USA markets were often still carbed from the factory.

Looking forward to seeing those pics!

[Erik G]

Congrats and welcome. Sounds like you are going the right way about it, same items I would do (well, I do brakes first...) You can get some pep out of a single port, so make sure to include pics of that too, and maybe the motor number so we can tell you exactly what it started out as
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Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Mike Fisher]

A single port will run real cool/good with dual Solex's on it. Put up WTB ads for the used parts you need. Post some pictures!
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https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

[diesellibrarian]

If you do end up having to pull the fuel tank (if has rusted through - or even just to flush it), it's super easy to do.
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Robin

'70 Fastback
'80 Westfalia

[Adoom]

Okay, drove it (yes, drove it) home yesterday. When I got there to pick it up, the fuel leak had stopped, so we figured it was okay for the short drive. Put some fresh gas in it, and off we went. Brakes are poor, acceleration isn't very good, horn is dead, and speedometer was late to the meeting. But, it got me home.

Once home The Wife mentioned she could smell gas, I looked under and sure enough we had a leak, but, now it's leaking in MY driveway, and I have the tools and parts to fix it. So slide underneath and right at the front, there's a short ine off of the tank that goes into a T fitting. That line was so old and hard it had hairline cracks in the "rubber" behand the braided cloth. So I quickly ripped out all of that old line and replaced it with new, supple line, and the leak is solved!

Time was tight, so with the leak solved I tucked it into the garage for the night.

[MonT3]

Congrats on picking up your new ride and good on you for swapping the fuel lines out. You may want to consider moving the fuel filter out of the engine bay and place it behind the firewall tin, in the same location where the transmission is located. Just being a bit safer in the event you leak from the connections, the fuel will spill onto the ground and not onto your engine as you'll have more problems that a leak. Wow, A 68 with a Single-side draft set up - Neat! You normally see that setup in earlier squares. Wonder if the engine number is early or late and was an add-on. By the looks of some of the components, it may be an early engine. Either way, welcome. You have a nice car!
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MonT3
67 Squareback
64 Squareback
63 Squareback
Engine rebuild
Trailer rebuild

[Bobnotch]

Looks like a really nice 68 Square you picked up. Must have been hiding in a garage for years to be so clean for such a salty area. You guys in Ontario get as much or more salt on your roads as we do here in Michigan.
Very nice ride. You might want to contact Pedro or Jason (Notchboy) about help tuning that carb. Either that, or look for a set of single port intake manifolds and a set of dual Solex carbs. (preferably with the air cleaner).
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Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[Adoom]

[W1K1]

[Adoom]

[Erik G]

great looking car - since you have it all and maybe original to the car, keep the single side draft. nothing wrong with them at all
_________________
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Bobnotch]

[Adoom]

I will grab pics of the underneath and interior. The pans were replaced at some point, but have started to corrode a bit. Hoping for no perforation! Would it be evil to undercoat it? Currently the underside is painted the same colour as the body, but it's obviously not standing up to the elements.

Interior is all black vinyl. Some small tears here and there, but serviceable. The carpet is falling away from the firewall, which should be simple to fix (once I check the metal for perforation), there's a parcel tray that is WAAAAY too low, and you have to push your foot behind it to use the pedals.

While replacing the fuel line, I only noticed one line coming out of the bottom of the tank. It t'd off, I believe to serve the gas heater (present), then attached to a metal line running down the center of the car.

The other, bad, thing I noticed while under there was that one side of the crash bar is pretty badly rusted away where it would press against the front beam in an accident.

The "frunk" is pretty clean, seems to be well sealed.

[Mike Fisher]

www.masterseriesct.com silver and/or black is tough/sticks to everything & brushes on smooth/shiny for pans & chassis. You should keep/wipe on Rust Prep phosphoric acid rust killer on all bare metal/rust.
_________________
https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

[69 Notchback]

Anothere nice square. I need to check in more often.

[Adoom]

I had, literally, five minutes last night to spend in the garage. So, I checked the brake fluid reservoir...

I noted the following:
1. I have a split reserve, with 2 sections
2. The forward section was mid-midhigh with fluid
3. The rear section was almost empty.

So I grabbed some fluid for a test, and filled the reservoir.

With the now full reservoir I had more pressure throughout the stroke of the pedal...for about 8 strokes at which point the pedal dropped again, there's some pedal...but it's at the very bottom of the stroke.

Checked the reservoir again, and the rear section was empty again.

I had to leave immediately following that test, but I can summarize that the fluid is going somewhere... where it shouldn't.

I am guessing the rear fluid reservoir section leads to the rear braking section. Which means there's a fault somewhere in the rear brakes.

While checking for leaking fluid, I also noticed that there's some perforation rust where the pan meets the body in the wheel-well just ahead of the drivers door. So I guess I have some metal work to do too.

[aeroFlutter]

This is a great score! Looks like a really nice Square. Great roof rack there and some nice chrome overall. Looks like a really solid starting point! Any plans for customization or engine work?

If it's a manual, make sure you check the shift coupler and the shift rod bushing in the tunnel. The bushing in the tunnel is often bad and can lead to issues later. Mine was toast when I got my SB. Replacement is pretty easy and can be done in ~2 hours.

Nice pick-up!
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Dave
'59 Single Cab
'69 Squareback
'16 Volvo V60 Polestar
'05 JCW MINI

[Adoom]

Learned a bit this weekend. Here's what I learned; squarebacks are similar and completely different than buses.

Example:
Rear brakes. As mentioned, the car has very bad brakes, I was able to diagnose that the issue was with the rears. On a BUS this means cracking open the rear axle nut, which can be a real bear. Soooo on the SB I spent about a week trying in vain to get the rear axle nut off so that I could get into the drums. Once I finally got off the axle nut I realized...the drum is separate from the center hub. Colour me embarrassed.

The good news, I was able to find the cause of bad brakes, it ended up being a corroded line between the T and the passenger side rubber line. It was toastier than toast. So I replaced both sides, and I now have good brakes at the top of the pedal! These brakes are now waaaaaaay better than the bus.

While under there I saw some nasty corrosion where the body meets the pan. Some complete rust-through, so I have some fixing to do there.

Took the car for a somewhat lengthy test ride with the better brakes, about an hour each way. Bought some gas. Turns out my gas gauge does in fact work, but it requires gas to be put in the tank...go figure.

The car does have a bit of a starting issue. It really feels like it takes a bit of trying to catch, and even then feels like it's running on a missing cylinder. Once you rev it a bit it catches up and idles nicely, but it's definitely NOT a "start on first turn of the key" car.

[Bobnotch]