What did you do to your Bug Today?

[PuddleRainbow]

Replaced the 20 month old starter in which the solenoid started sticking This is with a relay installed.

Replaced with the original starter I kept.

Found the reverse light wires were barely holding together, patched those. Took longer to do that than replace the starter.

Patting myself on back that I was able to reach and thread the top starter nut reaching behind the fan shroud without removing the deck lid and air cleaner, or dropping the nut.

[Jimbug57]

Got my new dash wired up and working. I need to adjust my idle Also need to find some 6-32 oval head black machine screws. Lowes website said they had them in stock but after a 20 minute drive over there they were nowhere to be found in the store.

Also installed a new steering wheel the other day -

_________________
Repeat after me "I am smarter than metal!"

[Gr0unded]

[DurocShark]

Tried and failed to get the timing gear key out of my old crank to use in my new crank. Now I have to go buy one...

Stupid things are only $3. I probably spent $3 in MAPP gas trying to get it loose.
_________________
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow.

[Cusser]

I put the spare wheel/tire I purchased yesterday into the trunk of my '71 Super, to take the place of an even older spare that had "green Slime" in the bead area to try to seal it.

This would be an "emergency only" spare to get me home so I wouldn't have to wait up to 2 hours in Arizona desert for a AAA tow....

My "real" wheels are vintage US Mag 14" wheels with their own type of lug bolts I bought used in the late 1970s, so I have to carry along stock lug bolts in case I need the spare.

_________________
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

[creative native]

I finally installed my trunk liner on my Sun Bug. I'm thinking more of making German square weave trunk liners to match the honey brown interior carpet.

I changed the oil and have been happy with the results of switching to fully synthetic gear oil and engine oil. It is much more quiet and runs smoother.

I also use these Craftsman RoboGrip pliers to tighten the side mirrors. The plastic grips won't scratch the metal. Floppy side mirrors are intolerable.

[Jimbug57]

[creative native]

[quote="Jimbug57"][quote="Gr0unded"]

[Jimbug57]

[vamram]

Besides going on a 100 mile drive, I cleaned and shined the Marathons! I have to say that the Dupli-color wheel paint has held up *very* nicely after 9k miles!! (Or was it VHT....?? )

_________________
Eventually, "we are what we pretend to be.’”
Give peace a chance - Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...waiting it's turn in line behind '74.
Click to view image
Save the Supers!!

[Lost69Convertible]

^^^ Wow that yellow paint really jumps out.

I had a long list of things planned for my Beetle on Winter weekends this year. But a severe back injury canceled all that, couldn't walk for a month. I've now recovered to where I can do small jobs and I restarted the work inside my doors today. I removed the dry flaky sound damping material:

Wire brushed the metal:

And primed with Rustoleum:

_________________
1956 Beetle Ragtop: My Father's car
1969 Beetle Convertible: My first car. I loved it, I lost it, and I never got over it.
1979 Super Beetle Convertible

[DurocShark]

Ordered my new C35 cam (clearanced for my 84mm crank), CC'd the new heads, found that my crank timing gear was fubar'd, as was the ignition timing gear. Happily, I ALSO found that I had spares of both. WOOT!

Finished sanding and priming my intake manifolds for the IDFs. My shoulders hurt after that one. Ugh...
_________________
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow.

[volkz]

took them out of their winter storage the 70 wouldn't start wasn't getting any fuel I tried everything but the pump wasn't sending any fuel. Right before I was just going to leave it there till next week I wiggled the fuel pump pin back and forth a millimeter and bam the fuel was flowing.

_________________
1968 beetle
1970 beetle

[Gr0unded]

Replaced door panels on the beetle, long overdue. My mother bought new door panels for me as a gift, now she can be proud.

Cleaned up the inside of the door, added sound deadener, tacked in the sticky strip for the vapor barrier.

Cut the vapor barrier from a thick plastic bag material to fit the door.

Put in the new panel, job done.

I had to go back and tighten down the door handle, forward part was loose.
_________________
B r i a n
1976 VW Type 1 Beetle - Standard

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

[Big Bull Shooter]

I installed my new Wolfsburg West running boards today, and that went better than expected. I had been soaking the bolts with penetrating oil every day for the last four days, and it paid off when I went to remove them. The new running boards bolted right on perfectly and are rock solid.

I also hooked up the heater/defroster hose and splitter to the flange coming out of the heater channel in the A pillar. That took some ninja moves and my hands and wrists look like they have been through a meat grinder. The heater hose that I had was a size bigger than the stock hose, but I think that helped me get it over the flange on the heater channel. I accidentally turned on the gas heater while working in that corner, so now know that it works! I've owned this 69 bug for three years and have been too afraid to turn on the gas heater. Now, the entire heat, defrost, and cooling system is working as it did when it left the factory!

_________________
Where would this hobby be if no one shipped parts.
crukab
Feb. 11, 2021
Smokey says.... only you can prevent Bug fires!
zerotofifty
May 16, 2023

[unclewede]

Last weekend I put new shocks on the back of the 77, and all four bumper shocks got replaced, Now my bumpers are close to square! Swamped the interior with Simple Green, pulled the back seat out of the rafters and installed it.

Front shocks should be on my doorstep for this weekend.

[CzyKats44]

I looked at it for the first time...

I've recently inherited a '70-something Super. My mother in law down near NYC said if you can get it out, its yours title in hand.

Backstory: Car is on 2nd engine ~32k miles and was running fine (body ~107k miles). It was parked in 1985 when my father in law started using a company car then it became a storage container and shelf for 36 years. Its whole and unmolested.

Plan: I'm a relatively experienced mechanic with zero classic beetle experience. However, the crank turns over with a breaker bar so I'm going to attempt to start it in place. I'm gonna pick up ignition tune up kit, fuel pump and carb to bring with me and run fresh gas out of a red plastic jug strapped to the bumper. Take the wheels off and bang out the brakes to break anything seized there, inflate the tires and try to get it to the trailer under its own power.

I'll give it an honest days worth of work to get it going in place in the near future... If not, I'll drag it out and on to the trailer and off it goes to my garage upstate for some more intensive attention.

_________________
<1974 Super Beetle / 1985 Grand National>
<1999 Yukon / 2016 Focus ST>

[Rome]

Kats, welcome here and good news about your upcoming Beetle. There's a guy on YouTube who has many videos on starting up VW engines that have sat for decades- Mustie1; his videos are titled "Will it run?". Look up a few for VW engines; his process is usually the same: Squirt oil into the cylinders via the spark plug holes for easier engine rotation, clean off the ignition points contact surfaces, pour gas either straight down the carb throat or into the float chamber via the protruding vent pipe, and crank using a jumper pack. Hope you end up getting it running, and certainly "pushable" with breaking loose any rusty brakes. Will you take a low-profile floor jack and jack stands with you? When you first try to push it to see if it rolls freely, don't overlook the obvious- handbrake down, shifter in neutral.

Me also being in NY, I looked up where your town is. About 20 yrs ago I was on the Thruway not far away, at the Pattersonville rest area driving my Ghia to meet up with several other vintage VWs and convoy to Michigan. I went to college way up in Potsdam, and many of the guys in the dorm lived around central or northern NY. They regarded any town south of Albany as "New York City".

[CzyKats44]

[Snoopy1971]