What did you do to your Bug Today?

[theyellowbug]

I took offense at a construction worker who, after asking me to move my bug so he could dig a trench in the street, looked at it and asked, "Does it run?" And, I was super gratified when it started up on the first try (not always the case). And I got a new boot (trunk) liner from Heritage. So excited to be ordering a mess of new parts!

[dubsteez79]

Put my new-to-me thermostat on and got all my fuel lines/pump, reg. hooked up and verified no leaks. Carter pump is super quiet and also lets the fuel pressure drain back immediately when disconnecting power. THis is helpful since my mech. pump was holding pressure, which was building due to heat soak after turning the car off and causing my needle and seat to be overcome and dumping fuel.

Question about the mounting bracket on the thermostat. Should it be pulled all the way down, in the middle or all the way up? It is slotted but I havent read about it needing adjustment.

[Cusser]

Anyway, after driving my 1970 this morning, felt it was time to take a second/third look into its noisy engine, been this way since soon after I rebuilt the engine in 2016-2017. I guess I figured it was an exhaust leak, had felt under there before but also felt fan air movement. Today had the Einstein Idea to pull the plug wires off the distributor cap one at a time, to see if I could isolate to a specific cylinder. Well, turned out that #4 was the source of the noise. First I tightened a "tad" the two exhaust nuts for #4, great idea but that didn't help. Then I removed the two bolts/nuts holding down the left heat riser, pried that heat riser up a bit and used a putty knife to push the remnants of the old gasket out. Luckily I did have a new heat riser gasket here at my summer place, from an exhaust mounting kit a guy gave me for free at a garage sale because I drove up in my VW. So I got the new heat riser gasket into place, installed the two bolts and nuts, and started up, and the noise is gone !!! Yoo-Hoo, sounds like a pretty quiet VW engine !!!! So I'm proud of myself today.

I also today ground smaller the box head of my 11mm Penncraft combination wrench from the set I purchased in 1971, lifetime warranty from JC Penney. I think I violated the warranty terms on that....

Then I could attend to finding the library CD that Mrs. Cusser dropped down into the console of her Yukon !
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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

[dubsteez79]

Drove it to go get ice cream on this hot ass day

[73SlowBug]

[Gr0unded]

The fan belt on my '76 had twisted and began shredding itself. I suspect a few things are at fault and the likely the combination. The belt was adjusted too tight by the last person who touched it (not I), the wrong belt was used for this model (Conitech 9.5mm x 905mm), and the visible rust in the crank pulley eating away at it. You can also see black dust in the picture, it surrounds the belt/pulley area.

Per suggestions from this forum, I purchased a Gates 7355 from nearest O'Reillys. I replaced the belt today, adjusted to the right amount of deflection and runs great again!
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B r i a n
1976 VW Type 1 Beetle - Standard

Stop Dead Photo Links! Post your VW photos to the Samba Gallery!

[DeMinimis]

Sandblasted all engine tin and exhaust pieces (other than heater boxes as I have a new set of those). What a hassle. Super windy. Had to get a coat of primer on everything before it all flash rusted. I'll go back and clean up each individual piece and re-prime when it's time to paint.
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Yes Virginia, beer can make you smarter.

'78 SB CEII In Progress.

[PuddleRainbow]

Got back from 1500mi trip from NJ to Indiana and back in my 76 FI. Heard some rumbling from alternator. Pulled shroud in-sito. Bad bearing on blower side (I hope) dropped off to be rebuilt. Probably will drop engine anyway to clean an check everything else. The biggest time suck was the two flat heat sheet metal screws on the left side of the shroud facing the tarboard. Much cursing and dripping sweat.

[Relyt]

[PuddleRainbow]

Absolutely! Going to use allen head. Found that the flap mechanism partially occludes the lower screw. The thin allen tool will fit easier.

[DurocShark]

Been chasing the following symptoms over the past few weeks:

Won't idle cold when off the fast idle cam.
Rich running even when stepping the idle jet down and leaning out the screw.

I got it to idle better (still need to feather the throttle for a little bit when cold). Tweaked the timing to 28* total advance at 2500 (need to go further, bogs down low where it didn't when it was at 32*) But still smells rich. And that's probably contributing to the bog.

The joys of making a Progressive work. lol

When it's warm and the revs are up, this 1835 really scoots. But I'm thinking I have a fuel leak in the carb somewhere. Stuck needle valve most likely. I did try reducing the fuel pressure on my regulator, but I can't get it down below 3psi according to the built in gauge on there. This weekend I'm going to put my own gauge on it and dive in. If I need to I'll pull all the jets and make sure they're clean.

I'm looking REALLY hard at a Fitech for the 2180 when I put it together... $1500 though.
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No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow.

[Cusser]

Today I drove my 1970 to softball practice and then to breakfast (hey - I'm retired !!!).

This afternoon, after the engine had cooled, decided it was time to read the spark plugs as I'd monkeyed with the Solex 30/31 carb on its 1600cc DP engine a few times earlier in the year. So I pulled #1 and #3 plugs, and both looked good. So no monkeying with it in the near future.
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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

[DurocShark]

Went to replace the front wheel bearings, rotors, and pads.

Turns out my 68 has the large spindle, not the small spindle. So I got the wrong bearings. (Pierside did warn me... Said the small spindle is the most common 68, but it could be the bigger one. I should have just bought both sets and returned the ones I didn't use. Oh well.)

Decided to keep the rotors rather than messing with the races, repacked the bearings, and stuck the new pads in there. I'll buy another set of pads when I go swap the bearings and seals. The old pads were REALLY close to the metal backer.
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No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow.

[AlmostHeavenWV_VW]

Road tripping this weekend
So at the overnight hold at my old hometown, here's dad and I doing our due & diligent routine maintenance and adjustments of valves, dwell, timing, carb for the continued trip up to the VW festival.

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

[19VDuB68]

[DurocShark]

Installed sun visors (yay!).

Installed new 3 point front seat belts to replace the near new ones with the plastic covers on the receivers that shattered. Seriously, those plastic covers are junk. The new ones have the metal pull latches. Not as convenient due to the friction grip on the latch, and the soft receiver belts, but they do look more appropriate.

Cut some 1/2" washers to slip onto my bowden tube in hopes of curing the little bit of clutch chatter I have. I had hoped a few hundred miles of use would "break-in" the clutch, but no such luck. The bowden tube looked like it had enough sag, but two washers really increased it. We'll see when I drive it tomorrow.

I tried to film everything, but it was hot, sweaty, and getting dark. So not a lot got filmed after all.
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No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow.

[DurocShark]

Two washers on the bowden tube made a HUGE difference. WOOT!!!

Drove it to work today, and the clutch was like butta. After repacking the front bearings the bearing noise didn't change at all, so it's gotta be the rears. The front left bearing did show signs of wear, so it needs to be replaced either way. No biggie, but I had hoped to not mess with the rears.


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No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow.

[consvws]

cut in half & stacked to save space

[Big Bull Shooter]

Got my new Solex 30 Pict 2 from Volkzbitz the other day and installed it. What an amazing job Tim did restoring it. I took the bug for an hour long rip in the mountains after setting the idle and mixture - she's running great!

[Cusser]

Nice engine
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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