Paul's new Super Beetle, the Last was 48 years ago

[kpf]

[Maddel]

[DesignBuild]

Okay, I would like to clarify some things that a number of you brought up, especially now that I know more about the car (this car).

The left nipple on the thermostatic temperature sensor in the air cleaner is / was broken off. This was the plastic nipple. I took out the sensor and carefully drilled out the hole. I then replaced the plastic nipple with a piece of copper-nickel brake tube, inserting it 5mm deep and securing it with super-glue. The 5mm dept is the thickness of the plastic on the top. I will be reinstalling the sensor tomorrow along with the hoses. I wonder if you all know that there is a bleed hole in the top of the plastic body next to the brass fitting that bleeds air all of the time, probably to keep from collapsing the body of the sensor or to moderate the temperature inside the sensor.

While I was hunting for a replacement sensor part number in the Kafer Parts manual/microfiche I discovered a discrepancy. Based upon the motor number of the engine in my car it was/is supposed to have a dry element air cleaner rather than an oil bath. The part number for the air cleaner that matches my engine number is 113-129-607K (M AB 350 001 to 990 000). My motor number falls between these numbers. I got suspicious when I noticed no stickers on the air cleaner body and the metal part of the body looks like it was sloppily repainted. That is strange for a low mileage vehicle. I am looking for a correct sticker source as it would have been in Germany.

Does anyone know if it is possible to take apart the top portion of the oil bath air cleaner to get to the sensor easily or to clean the metal mesh above the oil bath?

The fuel pump was replaced. The original was the type that cannot be rebuilt. The one that is on the motor now can be taken apart and rebuilt. I also seem to have the original carburetor. These two things were in a box together. I purchased a rebuild kit for the carb and will give it a try. Carb rebuilding is not new for me. I have successfully rebuilt a number of carburetors used on Studebaker automobiles from single barrels to four barrels.

Right rear fender tail light is 1 inch lower than the left. I may lower the left to match. The fender lips have no drain holes. The rolled edge ends about 3/4 inch from the body flange. The area under the right side fenders also has some paint over spray and the paint appears to be thinner from the look of a few paint chips.

I have a new E-flasher installed in the car that I constructed from 4 SPDT relays using a diagram made by AshMan40. It works perfectly and it doesn't care what type of bulbs are installed. All it requires is a functioning ON-OFF switch. It is totally silent.

I am waiting for a new directional signal switch to arrive and I will then be able to complete the inspection and then renew the registration. I am considering re-registering the car with Year-Of-Manufacture License Plates for Texas. I have a set that was never used; white background with bluish-green lettering. If I get the YOM plates approved I will have it registered as an antique.

I found out something else interesting. The difference between the engine in my car and a 1600 engine is only the cylinders and the pistons. No machining is required to enlarge the displacement. I have the parts to make the change.

I am still trying to figure out what to do about replacing the headliner. I am considering buying material and sewing a headliner for the car. I've done it before on much larger cars and installed them with no wrinkles so the SB should be much easier.

I am putting a new fuel filter near where the fuel pipe comes out of the chassis and I am replacing the fuel flexible line with SAE J30R7 approved material; for up to 85% ethanol. I haven't come across any 85% in Texas but any ethanol will damage hose that is not manufactured to this specification. Here is another tidbit. If you are replacing the gravity feed brake fluid hoses use hoses manufactured for heater hose. The hose lining is resistant to ethylene glycol. Brake fluid has a similar chemical makeup. There is an SAE spec for it but I don't have a piece in front of me.

Don't know if I mentioned this before but when I was rebuilding and reinstalling the front disc brakes I also replaced the rusting plastic-coated steel pipe with copper-nickel and put in new flexible lines. The old flexible lines were likely the originals; they were date stamped 4-72 and they were still smooth without any surface cracking. They were a German brand starting with an 'S' and an 'F' I think.

I have an original tire that was the spare for the car. It is a Fulda 5.90X15 bias ply dated 1971 or 1972. I have a picture of the sidewall I will post, but not right now (its 12:17AM).

I think there was something else but it slips my mind at the moment. There is the problem with VW wheels made by USWheel. Whatever, don't use them as a source for replacement VW wheels.

[DesignBuild]

I was able to repair the temperature sensor in the air cleaner, but now that it has a new nipple I have not been able to get it in the correct position to put the nipples through the top of the air cleaner.

The hole that appears to be a bleed hole is not a hole. It may have been the location of a pusher pin to push the top part of the molded body out of the mold. This is the location I used to put a very small wood screw and then mechanic's wire to reinstall the sensor.

Is it possible to remove the very top of the air cleaner to more easily access the installation of the sensor? This was a previous question but I resolved the installation problem. See description below or the next page.

[DesignBuild]

I was finally able to get the temperature sensor back in the air cleaner and it was much simpler than you can imagine.

The space for the sensor is not actually in the middle of the oil filled air cleaner but is off to one side. The sensor also has a small hole, actually a recess, just to the rear of the brass vent. The recess or hole doesn't perforated the body of the sensor. I put a small wood screw in the hole and wrapped a piece of mechanic's iron wire just undr the head and used that to position the sensor nipples just above the holes. I was able to get the nipples through the holes while holding a small diameter led flashlight or torch in my teeth. When the nipples went through the holes I placed a thin piece of felt over the nipples and held everything together with the original clip. If your clip is broken, look for individual friction washers at a hardware store to place over the nipples and push them down. They will perform the same function. I doubt anyone will notice.

I removed the screw and wire. Installation completed.

[DesignBuild]

Got a printed headliner vinyl material in the USA. I am going to check the price and delivery. I plan on sewing my headliner without any perforated panels.

[DesignBuild]

I removed the tires that were on the car when I got it as well as the original Fulda spare tire. The spare is a bias ply dated January 1972. The other tires are Toyo brand 155-SR15 and the tread is very noisy but with lots of tread remaining. The replacement tires are Americus brand 165-80R15. The diameter is just a tab bigger than the 155 tires but it will fit in the spare tire recess.

I came across something interesting while prepping the wheels for new paint. I was wet sanding the silver painted front and as I went through the silver I discovered that the wheels were painted on the front with blue paint resembling the Marina Blue on the body. Under the blue is primer. The back side has black paint as does the front center with primer under the black. The back side looks like it was painted when the wheel was dirty, lots of fine dirt under the black paint and the primer has brush marks in the coat. On the front side the silver looks like it was applied with a brush with some runs on the back side coming through the window openings in the disc. The primer on the back side is red oxide; almost orange. Dulux had a red oxide primer for enamel that looked almost orange in color when it dried. Also on the back there is black under the red primer. I think the wheels were primed in black and originally only the front side was painted with a top coat. On this car the back side rusted and then someone applied the red oxide with a brush and then applied black probably with a brush also.

I wrote to the American guy and he confirmed that the silver was applied with a brush and the back side was primed and painted with a brush. Seems he and his wife joined a Volkswagen group while they were in Germany and they were misinformed about many things regarding the Super Beetle. Like the wheels being silver. When It came out of storage the wheels were blue and he said, "the color looked close to the body color but also looked a bit darker". That is what I am seeing too. So, it appears the blue wheels may have come on the car when it was new.
He was also told that it wasn't a real Super because it didn't have a 1600 engine. What makes it a Super is the body not the engine. Some people can be real freaking jerks.

There is a Volkswagen meet this Sunday, June 13, 2021 at Bugaholics in Pasadena, TX (south east of Houston) from 8AM to 4PM with a separate parking area for the VWs. There is a swap meet too. Call or go to the Bugaholics website for details. I will probably just prime the front side of the wheels to go to the meet.

The American that bought the car and got it out of storage replaced a number of things that were not original for the year or the original equipment. When it came out of storage it had the original window weatherstrip and the windshield weatherstrip was different from the replacement stuff he got from the USA. The windshield opening has what are called "reinforcement metal strips" and these have a raised edge that fit into a recess in the inside of the weatherstrip. On my car these strips aren't welded to the body but are crimped to the edge of the opening. On some VWs the strips are welded to the body. This combination kept the windshield from popping out in the event of a high speed frontal crash. It doesn't appear that any of the reproduction weatherstrip has this recess.

The reproduction windshield weatherstrip that was used doesn't fit flush to the body because of this raised metal strip that is on the top and sides of the opening. In addition, the decorative strip on the weatherstrip prior to the replacement looks much wider than the plastic stuff found on North American Beetle and Super Beetles. See the pictures with this posting.

[DesignBuild]

I found that I could scrape off the blue paint on the wheels with my fingernail and under the blue was silver, and that I could not scrape off with my fingernail. It was much harder than the blue paint.

I think the wheels were replaced at some point maybe due to rust issues. Maddel told me that severely rusted wheels were a common feature in Germany so maybe the wheels were replaced at some point and the replacements were blue.

I am going to check on the cost to get them blasted and primed. I have the correct silver paint for the wheels and when I paint them I will use a hardener or catalyst.

[DesignBuild]

[DesignBuild]

A wheel update. It appears that the wheels were painted when the car was manufactured and they were blue.

I removed the paint on the front surface of the wheels and every wheel had blue paint on the black primer. Something interesting is that the black prime coat that is directly on top of the steel doesn't come off with solvent paint stripper. Even leaving it on overnight doesn't lift the black paint. The same thing happened with the black paint that is on the inside surface of the rim. The only way I could remove the black paint was to use a wire weld bead brush on my right angle grinder. Even then it was tough to get off in places. The silver was brush applied.

All of the wheels on my car are date stamped 5/72 (May 1972). This is the month that my car was built. My car was built on May 11th and registered on May 12, 1972.

Another update and confirmation regarding the paint. When the car came out of storage it was in sorry condition. It wasn't washed or waxed prior to being put in storage so many of the rock chips and small scratched had rusted. The guy that bought it was married to a gal that took it upon herself to refurbish the car. She had it repainted and she also had the window rubber replaced. That is how all of the stainless steel window trim was lost. When the American serviceman that brought the car back to the USA sold it to the gal I bought it from he was no longer married. He didn't seem to know what was done to the car when he was off soldiering because he insisted that it hadn't been painted or repainted. There are many places on the car where it is obvious that the body was repainted.

I am cleaning the wheels and I was going to paint them silver but now I think I will paint them MarinaBlau as they were originally. I have no explanation why they were blue but maybe the birth certificate may shed some light on it.

[kpf]

From my experience with my wheels ('71 Super), I agree that the factory first coated the entire wheel with black. I believe it was some kind of electro-static or powder coat type of process. As you said, it is impervious to chemicals and can only be blasted or sanded off.

The silver that was originally sprayed on the outer rim was pretty delicate. They sprayed only the visible part of the wheel and left the center black with the transition being a soft edge. From everything I've seen, this silver probably died after the first 10 years or so (except on spare wheels in the trunk). My spare still had some of the silver in good shape. I was able to chemically strip the silver very easily.

I would bet that when you car's body was resprayed, the wheels probably were looking worse-for-wear and got a shot of the same blue at that time. Later someone brushed silver over the top of the blue.
_________________
1971 Super Beetle

[DesignBuild]

I had the wheels abrasive blasted and the operator, a VW restorer, said that the blue was on the black with the silver brushed on.

I have seen some Volkswagen cars with body colored wheels and they all look good, better than silver. It reminds me of the original colors of my 1951 Studebaker. It was painted a medium gray with maroon steel wheels (front and back). It originally had small hub caps with a cream color twin pinstripe on the maroon. The colors didn't clash and the combination looked good.

Since VWs seem to be modified frequently according to the owner's whims so non-silver wheels should look good depending on the color.

I haven't followed up on the headliner. Not sure why the center panels would have been perforated when most of the panels under the roof could have been perforated since there is no glue used for attachment.

Rebuilt the front struts, added lowering springs, thicker sway bar, new bushings, and new paint. I ended up using urethane inner track bar bushings because the reproduction rubber steel backed bushings will not fit the arms. The steel backed rubber bushings are 1 mm larger in diameter than the suspension arm hole. I asked a question on the forum about interference fit but no answer. I did look it up on an Engineering site and the interference should be about 0.05mm. So the new repro bushings are much too big. I am adding zerk fittings to my suspension arm or track arm so that I can grease/lubricate the suspension bushings if they start squeaking.

I am going to convert my engine to electronic fuel injection using the Ford EEC-IV system that used MAF and SEFI. The firing order difference between the Ford 4-cylinder and the VW can be taken care of by reprogramming or changing the order of the electrical pins that drive the injectors. If I were going to do it again I should have used the EEC-V computer. The computer is the most expensive part of the conversion and a rebuilt Ford computer can be had for less than $100. I could have used a Megasquirt for $1,000. Maybe you can see why I chose the Ford.

What convinced me was an article for 1999 in MotorTrend where there was a big discussion about the merits of the Ford system and adapting it to non-Ford engines and transmissions.