Deebs' 1971 Super Beetle "Refresh"

[Deebs]

A quick background on my journey to buying a Beetle. I was an apprentice at the VW Automotive plant here in Chattanooga, TN. We build the Atlas and Passat currently. On my first day of class, I walked through the doors and saw some incredible cars. Beetles, Squarebacks and Buses from all different years (the 8th Beetle ever produced "KDF Wagen"), along with a beautiful 21 window bay bus. I was immediately hooked and had to have one. I had no prior knowledge (WHAT IS A SUPER BEETLE), but I was diving in. An old man down the road was selling a project for his wife because she could not drive a manual. Advertised as "1970 VW Beetle". I drove by it everyday on the way home for a month before giving him a call. The following Monday, I had the title. I remember him mentioning that while it is a 1970, he has been ordering '71 parts to fit the car. Hmmm, whatever.

Turns out Beetles don't have springs in the front and a spare tire wheel well.

Looks like I've got a flat windshield Super Beetle. WELL THEN.

Anyway, I have owned it for four months now. With the help of everyone on The Samba, I am learning and trying to do it the right way the first time.

I had a thread before, but I would like to start an official build thread for the sake of a timeline.

Previous owner had it painted Porsche Guards Red. I like it personally.

From what I can see, no signs of death foam. The car was bought previously from out Southwest and driven over here.

The next post will be my journey through the engine rebuild, and all of my lessons learned thanks to you guys. Here was the day I bought it, and had no idea just how close I was to an engine fire (See fuel lines).

I have a Haynes, Bentley and Muir book. I'll still get caught asking stupid questions. I appreciate sarcasm and don't mind being reminded that I am an amateur.

This will be as close to stock as possible. I am a firm believer that the engineers who design automobiles do it for a reason.

It will not be a show car. It's a ten foot paint job and the numbers don't match on it. It stays under a car cover to keep it from the elements, but once it is running I will drive it everywhere. This car was meant to be driven.

Hope you guys enjoy.

[H2OSB]

Wow, what an outstanding starting point for a project. Quite honestly, you don't have far to go to be factory perfect.

Normally I always recommend urethane bushings for the entire front end, however, if it's important for you to have it as factory as possible, rubber bushings are available (Topline sells black urethane impregnated with graphite that LOOK like rubber) but understand you'll need to replace them more frequently.

Good luck
JohnL (aka H2OSB)
www.superbeetlesonly.com

[Tim Donahoe]

Get Topline’s urethane bushings. They last much longer and are superior to the original rubber.

I like to keep my car as original as possible., but sometimes you need to get the better stuff.

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[Deebs]

In my previous thread, I reached out to you guys after learning how important engine seals were in an air-cooled engine. I posted a picture of my engine bay, and AlmostHeavenWV_VW went out of his way to point out (in great detail) all of my standing issues, along with other longtime Samba members.

I wonder just how long this car went without seals (or front engine tin).

This is why I am thankful for finding this website. This would have been a fire.

After coming to terms that I knew close to nothing about these engines, I gathered myself and put together a list (based on recommendations).
1. Engine seals all around
2. Front engine tin
3. Brosol fuel pump
4. New braided fuel line

This would greatly increase my safety and the overall health of the engine.

My next order of business was removing the engine. If anyone is in the market for the proper jack for the job, I had huge success with this one. https://www.harborfreight.com/3-ton-low-profile-st...61282.html
The reason I chose this one was its ability to maintain a low profile while providing an overall high lift height. If you don't have an engine dolly, you can use a creeper if you have one already. Get the engine on the ground, and swap it onto the creeper. This allows it to be as low to the ground as possible while using your jack to jack up one side of the car to slide it out.

My first project was the fuel pump. I can handle this. You can see just how cracked the fuel lines were.

Time to pull the flange out. Sh*t.

This was when I opened up the can of worms. I disassembled the top of the engine to fit a 7/16" tap onto the broken flange. Success! New fuel pump on, feeling accomplished.

While the engine was out I noticed a significant amount of oil on the bottom side.

With the help of you guys, I learned these spring loaded pushrod tubes are for the most part garbage. With new Wolfsburg West tubes in hand, I loosened the cylinder heads to install the new tubes.

Yikes, that looks gross.

After loosening all eight nuts in correct order per the Bentley manual, I pulled the heads to separate from the cylinders. The cylinders separated from the engine case. I became curious, and long story short I pulled all four cylinders to reveal this.

I had a broken top compression ring on my No.4 piston. Dang.
Being ignorant, I ordered a new set of new piston rings. They were quickly returned when a few of you guys (Cusser specifically) told me that if the top end looks that bad, the bottom end most likely matches.

A man two hours away in Georgia rebuilds engines, and posted a long block for $650. A plus was that it was the same engine code for my year (AE). I drove down, heard it run for a few minutes, and felt confident. Maybe it was a leap of faith. (Wish I had pictures of the day I bought the block, sorry.)

I do know for a fact that after he called me two weeks later, he told me that my old engine I gave to him as a core had a half inch of Permatex in the bottom of the case and that he had never seen anything like that in 40 years.

I immediately felt relieved.

With the rebuilt case came new fuel lines. 5mm and 12mm ID braided fuel hoses from Belmetric along with normadrive slotted screw clamps.

The next order of business was getting the engine seals put in. I will vouch also for not trying to slide them. Soapy water and a masking taped screwdriver will be your best bet. I also removed the old cracked tarboard revealing the original paint! I believe it is Marina Blue if anyone can confirm that?

New seals in, I will be painting black over the blue. Unless I can find a way to get the color code for Guards Red. Birthday is the 19th, and I asked my wife for Chris Vallone tarboards

For what it's worth, here's a picture of my poor engine sitting in the garage, waiting to breathe new life. Missing is the Bosch AL-82 alternator, Bocar 34-3 carburetor, 3&4 tin and mostly everything else.

Until next time!

[Q-Dog]

That looks more like Sapphire Blue. Marina Blue is a light blue.
_________________
Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[Deebs]

H2OSB thank you! I am taking a welding class at my college now, but am far more superior in mechanics than body. I feel more comfortable following procedures and proper torques than grinding and sanding. l told myself I would spend the extra money on a solid body, and work out the other kinks later.

To you and Tim, I will be going with urethane bushings. I understand that there is better stuff today than there was 47 years ago and that's the obvious choice. To be honest, the front suspension is something I am completely new to. I will need to do my homework on that.

Q-Dog you are totally right. I got the paint codes mixed up and for some reason thought the marina blue was the dark one. It has to be sapphire blue. Almost makes me wonder how it would've looked with original paint...

[Q-Dog]

Sapphire Blue would probably have had an Alabaster (white) interior. Quite a nice looking combination.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/lit/71superbeetle/back.jpg
_________________
Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[Deebs]

[H2OSB]

[Danwvw]

[Rome]

Very nice looking Super. A shame that the engine did not receive the attention like the body did; it was BADLY neglected.

On your new engine, have you noticed that the distributor is rotated a quarter turn CW compared to your old one? You can tell by the positions of that pressed-in "dimple" and the distributor cap clips. It'll run like that as long as you make sure you determine the distributor rotor position when the engine is at the #1 cylinder firing position, and fit the #1 spark plug wire into the hole in the cap that corresponds to that rotor position.

Old engine:

New engine:

Those spring-loaded pushrod tubes on your original engine are mainly intended to be used as a temporary repair in case one of the original 1-piece tube either rusts out or is damaged for various reasons. Saves you from removing the engine and pulling the head. But, if building an engine from scratch, the one-piece factory style tubes are best. I also use the stainless steel stock-style tubes (bellows at both ends); just make sure to pull the tubes apart so that the outer edges of both bellows are the distance per Bentley (191 mm per memory).

What kind of pushrod tubes are on the new engine?

You can easily break up the "bulky" look of the all-black bumpers by applying some 3/4" vinyl marine trim tape into the center groove, red color to match the body color, or even a silver color. Don't use red vinyl electrical tape because the adhesive is too weak. The 1973 Super Beetle based SportsBug had black bumpers, and VW applied color tape to the bumper grooves to match the yellow or the blue-silver body color.

BTW those '73 SportsBug steel wheels will fit your '71. They are 5.5" wide with 26mm offset. Those numbers are stamped into the wheels in the flat areas inboard of the lugbolt holes. If you like that style, note that VW made those "sport" wheels in 2 widths and various offsets. To the uninitiated, they appear the same until you check closer. But since none of the sport wheels were offered in '71 yet, you may not want them for yours.

[Deebs]

[joey1320]

What a great looking bug you got there.
Me likey.
_________________
**1971 Super Project
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[Deebs]

[AlmostHeavenWV_VW]

mmmmmm......


Red
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1973 Standard Beetle
1600DP AK case
Solex 34PICT3 Carb
Bosch DVDA 205AJ Distributor

[Deebs]

[VW_Jimbo]

That is a really nice paint job! I will be following along!
_________________
Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[Deebs]

My birthday was a week ago, so we will just say there are a LOT of parts on order that I have been waiting to buy. One of those being a new battery (current one is a Group 24 with a dead cell, neat).

Before I buy one, this battery tray was the only weak point I have found so far in the floor pans. It hadn't gone through yet, but I know that everyday I wait is one more day for rust to grow.

I found at my FLAPS for $22.98 a POR-15 kit. I was quite excited because it has been hard to find in local stores. Had everything out of the box to get the job done.

I understand that I may have over-killed the tray, covering non-metal surfaces in the process. Oh well. The structural integrity went WAY up. The stud in the back was already thrashed up so I will figure out a way to remove what is on it. Easier said than done but...

Made sure to put my ground strap bolt in before painting as well. All in all, it is peace of mind.

I had noticed my three wire splice (generator to alternator conversion) was covered in electrical tape, and I finally mustered the courage to undo it to see what was beneath. The guy took three lugs with a screw and a nut through them. This was after I cut them off.

Speedy Jim covers very subtly on recommended splices for this conversion. This was the closest to what he mentioned and was readily available. Normally $34.98 for the 10 pack... on sale for $8.98. A 2 pack was $7.98.

Finished product. 18-10 AWG. Rated to 105C and 300V. More weight off my shoulders.

When I bought the car, none of my back lights worked. While the weather was nice, I took off the right tail light to find... well...

Why did I expect anything more living in Southeast TN

Ace sells wire by the foot. Had to get creative with the wiring. Substituted white for grey, and an additional black in lieu of no brown wire for ground. It is taped with a G inside the engine bay.

That's better. Both tail lights looked the same by the way. Both fixed.

I tried putting a band-aid (replacement terminal) on my positive battery cable before and it was honestly a waste of $5.99

a 38" 4AWG was $8.49 at Auto Zone. Some may know this, but tie a string through the end of your starter wire before pulling it through to the battery tray. Untie, throw the old cable as far as you can and tie the new one on and pull back through. Be mindful of the grommet.

Went to a swap meet last weekend and found this for $2

Old

New. Cheap fun refresh.

Turns out I have been using an Ignition Coil meant for a Nissan, so I was beyond excited to get this in the mail.

My clutch kit is coming in today. It is a Sachs KF224-01 from Rock Auto. Good? Bad?
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=1383195&jsn=3

I know you folks like pictures, so I'll have some more up by next week!

[joey1320]

I gotta get the same coil for mine.
That's a good clutch kit. Sachs makes quality stuff. [/b]
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**1971 Super Project
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[Deebs]