'74 standard beetle barn find

[KAmes]

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

See this mirror? That's too bad. Fed Ex brought me this horrid thing today (ok, I kind of asked for it).

Joints wont move, so flimsy I can't adjust it without bending it, poor finish and just plain looks stoopid.

So, if your looking at Amazon, and this $14.00 piece of crap is in your shopping cart, drop the mouse and back away. Don't make me come over and smack you.

[KAmes]

I spent the day working on the gas heater.

It's bolted down, gas line finished, exhaust finished. Still sorting out the wiring.

[boundstaffpress]

This is a great looking project. I'm loving the aftermarket gas heater.
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Justin

Building a 73 Super Beetle with my kids.

[KAmes]

[AlmostHeavenWV_VW]

[KAmes]

[KAmes]

After a couple years of driving around in all weather I decided it was time to do the ball joints. You know (pro tip) it's a clue when you have to spray penetrating oil in the joints to free up the steering wheel. Mind you I have exceptional ability to ignore the most pressing matters, but the scraping and squeaking while turning corners was starting to harsh me a little. There may have been visions of a wheel coming off too.

So lets take a look:

AAK! I mean, those look a little worn.
Everything came apart easily, even this thing popped right out.

I don't have a press, so I used the lazy method and bought the torsion arms pre assembled. (why don't I have a press?)

I'm so lazy.

Greased them up, went together easily.

No wonder there seemed to be little suspension compliance. I got my money's worth out of them?

Did the other side:

Crap! Look at that tie rod boot. That is one year and nine months old. It's just as bad at the steering box:

See the right side one behind it that's EXACTLY THE SAME AGE?

The outer right side:

I just ordered another left tie rod. Probably from the same place I bought the first one, I can't remember. Boo.

[AutoMechanic]

Nice progress. That’s a shame that tie rod is bad after such a short time.

[relicstone]

my boots cracked almost 5 months after installing them... Old mechanic Father in Law recommended to just pack them with more grease to keep dirt and water out. that was 5 years ago and i just keep putting grease in.


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1968 VW Beetle |

[KAmes]

[pistolpetecowboy]

A pickle fork attached to an air hammer. Dammit, why didn't I think of that?
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70 Beetle, 70 Beetle, 71 Beetle, 71 Super, 73 Super, 74 Beetle, 2000 Vintage Speedster, 2020 Jeep Renegade, 71 Squareback

[KAmes]

[Marinablau703]

Great thread! Close twin to mine!

[KAmes]

While I have cleared space in the garage I decided to fix my summer only windshield wipers. They work great in warm weather but in the winter they operate in another slower plane of existence that cannot easily be seen. I activate the lever and... nothing. Wait... did it move? Not sure. It did move! It's moved almost an inch now, hurry, get out and push it. It's going a little faster, why doesn't the fuse blow? It's kinda working now, try the high speed. No difference, don't press your luck.

I'll say at this point I would rather have pulled the engine than done this job. I had to move my gas heater, remove the air box, remove the radio, unmount the hood release and remove the glove box, remove the passenger side brittle, stuck and all around don't ever touch it because you can't get a new one defrost vent dash louver so I could remove the plastic connecting duct underneath it. Then I could entertain removing the wiper assembly which still doesn't really have enough clearance.

I took it apart and set about cleaning out all the old grease and gunk.

After I finished breaking it I bought a new unit.

Now this is "supposed" to fit my car. I should know better by now. I can't shake the feeling that this is maybe one of those things everyone knows but me, but it won't run in my car as wired. Here's the nerd bit, I wouldn't read it if I were you. Seriously don't.

We have five terminals, one is ground got that one. We have high speed, low speed, power to the park circuit wiper, and the fifth connected to nothing. The "output" of the parking wiper is connected to the low speed terminal. Run on low speed, shut off, parking circuit continues to supply power until it reaches the gap in the wiper breaking the circuit, stops in the correct position. Sounds good right? Then we try high speed. Power supplied via the high speed terminal, but simultaneously energized through the parking circuit to the low speed terminal except for the parking gap with each revolution. The result: slow-slow-slow-fast-slow-slow-slow-fast etc. comedy ensues. It turns out the parking circuit is to be energized from the output of the park wiper through the column lever to the slow speed only when the column control is off, when it connects the park circuit. The solution? Un solder the low speed motor wire from it's terminal (and the park circuit) and solder to the mystery does nothing terminal. It all works correctly now! It's magic! Sorry you read that aren't you. I got a headache writing it.

Pleased with my brilliance I installed the unit, then my radio, and wired it. It doesn't have a pigtail like the original so installed spade connectors on the old wires and hooked it up.

Time to try it out! Key on, thump, thump, thump, the sound of the rotating arm hitting the radio. It has more stand off than the original.

New on the left, old on the right.

I reinstalled it with the old piece, that did the trick. It's running smoothly now.

Reassemble:

Was it wired wrong from the factory? I went back and looked at the picture from the website where I bought it, the wires are in the same position mine were. Hmmm.

[KAmes]

Well I finally did it, I knew I eventually would. It was a little cool yesterday morning when I left for work so I turned on the gas heater, on a low setting. I got to work and... left it on. All day. For nine hours. I got in to go home and immediately heard the heater ignite to run another cycle, which it had apparently been doing all day. The temperature in the car was very nice, and the battery showed no signs of depletion when I started the car. I'll have to be more careful.