What did you do to your Bug Today?

[Maltboy!]

[Jimbug57]

Recovered my back seats in Empi black. It looks okay. Going to do the fronts next.

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Repeat after me "I am smarter than metal!"

[peecee69]

Clutch got super tight over the last few days for some reason. Readjusted per spec (pedal play about 1/2") and it drove great today.

Someone hit my bumper and bent it. So I'm straightening it out and hopefully paint it this weekend.

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1973 Standard Beetle - running maintenance thread - https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=675712&highlight=
1966 Doublecab - Starting resto - https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=668518&highlight=

[Maltboy!]

Installed the Topline springs and oil-filled strut inserts in the 76 SB convertible today. It dropped the front end about 2", which is what I was looking for. The height looks perfect now. The handling and ride is better too.

[DurocShark]

I did this!

If you're running a Baja without the factory lower tin, "cool tins" are an option to help keep the air around the cylinders. But they don't have any way to fasten, so you get rattles, especially at higher RPMs when they literally get pushed away from the cylinders.

So I threw a quick video together on a hack to keep that from happening.


Link

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

[60ragtop]

[Maltboy!]

[Jimbug57]

I got out to the bug at 8:00am yesterday with a goal of getting the front seats reupholstered. I moved the passenger seat all the way back. Then reaching under from the back I took a large flat blade screwdriver and wedged it on top of the seat release tab as far in as I could cram it. Then I sat in the seat, engaged the seat release lever, and pushed back hard and fast. The seat came right out of the tracks and I managed to not fall over backwards.

So I took the seat up to my apartment, and got the base frame stripped, hog ringed some burlap, got the TMI foam down, and was struggling with the vinyl a bit so my wife was helping. I warned her about the little triangle tabs on the bottom of the seat rails, but she got stuck bad. About an 1/8 inch triangle shaped puncture wound on her thumb. I figured it must be fairly deep because it was bleeding pretty good. And because it was caused by rusty metal I thought she should get a tetanus shot, so we headed to urgent care. Yes, no front passenger seat so she rode in the back.

By the time I was able to finish the seat and get it installed it was getting dark. So I got one seat done anyway.
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Repeat after me "I am smarter than metal!"

[vamram]

[Maltboy!]

Here's a pic of the 76 SB after lowering.

[DurocShark]

I really hate this one year only filler neck in my 68.


Link

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

[Jimbug57]

Got my seats finished, and installed the front impact strip and bumper guards. Next up -Baja side mirrors.

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

[mkgearhead]

I'm still trying to get my '75 La Grande Super running on its own. I've got it narrowed down to the injectors not firing. I've checked the wiring and the grounds and it "should" be working. I've had this car for 13 years and I finally have a little time to work on it. I want to enter it in the annual car show here. I've got until September and at this rate it'll take me until then to get it to fire. Here's a few pics of it when I got it in '09. It still looks the same now. It looks rough but there's no rust underneath.

[radbug69]

So I have decided to get off me lazy arse and hire out the remaining work on the '69 VeeDub... 

My Wife of many years has waited patiently through dozens of motorcycle projects, a couple of MGBs, kids in college and the obligatory home projects and updates...  Time to give her a fun Summer car.

In preparation for the car work I am going to sell off part of the supply of motorcycle projects that are lined up.  I have plenty to ride, plenty to work on and I will not live long enough to get to doing every one of the ones waiting in the wings. 

==================
So I gave Sue Ellen her key to the VW for Christmas and explained what the plan is, send the car out to a reputable VW shop to finish the work that I have dragged my feet on for years...  years. The time just gets away for ya.  Well, from me it did.

She is beyond excited to see this happening.  When I told her that I was going to finance the work by selling a couple of motorcycle projects she said, Do Not do that...  What a girl...!

I will sell at least the Guzzi Ambo rolling project because I will Never get to doing that one.

The Beetle status:
All the mechanical stuff on the chassis has been done, steering, shocks, brakes etc, the front end has dropped from axles with disc brakes. 
New heater channels years ago, always stored inside since, floors are excellent. 
Body is painted, new body seals, window seals, door seals.. 
Original wheels with new tires.
New front drop spindles with disc brakes

New interior throughout :
New original style seat covers are on, front and back, need seats installed
New headliner done
New door panels, not installed
I have coated the pans inside with POR-15 in prep for the carpet insulation and carpet.
New carpet set, not installed
Needs carpet underlayment/sound deadening.

Needs:
Front lid lock cable/wire installed, latch adjusted
Install new glove box which the release lever attaches to
New wipers, need to be installed with new seals etc (I have all these items) Heater cables/wire installed
Carb tuned/rebuilt
New plug wires
Engine tuned and we can go from there.
Compression check shows 125+ psi in all four cylinders
New battery, done
New Bumpers on
New running boards, not installed,
I will install them later.
Oil filter and gasket

Like to have:
New Minilites and tires or whatever the latest cool wheels are. Panasports...? External oil filter
Deep sump

[stagewex]

I ordered a pair of standard stock oil-filled rear shocks from Wolfsburg West about a week ago. In prepping for their arrival I had been spraying all the mounting bolts with Kroil penetrant every day till they arrived. That was a real help as the frozen rusty bolts came right off like butter with a simple socket & open wrench (17mm & 19mm). Been years since I swapped shocks and figured EZ-PZ but of course, always an obstacle(s).
First off the tire shop that mounted the new Verdsteins a couple months ago... I could not get even one lug nut off. Even standing on one of those cross lug tools and I'm 200+ lbs. Blew the dust off an old impact hammer I had and even with that there were 3 on the front tires I had to use a 3 foot breaker bar on. Ridiculous especially if I was stuck on the side of the road with a flat. But I digress.
The shocks that came off were KYB Gas ones, a good brand. But whatever their service life was they had far surpassed it. One of them never retracted from it's lowest position after removal. That was the one on the passenger rear where I was constantly hearing a clunk, clunk, chunk and also leaning slightly in that direction. The other one was okay but who knows for how long?
Those particular shocks come with spacers so the aftermarket shocks can fit several models. Whoever installed them Herculed or impact hammered them on so tight that the lower shock sleeve was crushed-in a bit. I think there are washers that should have been part of that install too. Took about an hour with each stock shock to ever so slightly get them to slide in. But I did and also because I thought I'd be breaking the OEM bolts and nuts, installed all new mounting hardware as well, now all 19mm. Putting the rear wheels back on I installed new lug nuts too. Some of the originals were getting "rounded".
Before I took a test ride I checked my tire pressure since I was kinda pissed about the wheels being so tightly put back on by the shop. They were 35psi (the max on the sidewall) with one being 38psi, ridiculous. Went by the glove box recommendations for stock radial tires of 19 Front & 27 Rear. To tell the truth even those are hard for me to get my head around so settled at 20F & 28R, haha.
And the ride, incredibly better with the new shocks and tire pressure. No noise or clunks from the rear and just ever so slightly squeaks here and there from the front-end. But mind you it was 14-15 degrees on Saturday so even my 2020 Jeep was having those cold squeaks. The Bug just has them all the time. The feel and feedback from the steering wheel is really nice go-carty, sticking to the road. That was the type of upgrade and changes I was looking for.
For now I'll live with the old gas shocks in the front and the new Oil filled shocks in the back. I was all set to order new struts, strut mounts and ball-joints but it's just too darn cold to do this work in my tiny garage with a small electric heater. No amount of packing blankets are going to make lying on your back under a car much fun. Have to wait till Spring to start on the front-end.
After all this I took the car for a cleaning and even knocked-off some of the topical rust that I could knock-off from the cheap-o hubcaps. All is good. I'll concentrate on interior stuff for now until it gets warmer.

[Lingwendil]

[Cusser]

Yesterday, somehow the driver door window "popped out" of alignment again on my 1971 Convertible. So again I pulled the door panel, popped the window into place so it worked, then decided it was time to update the repair on the door panel.

I cut off the broken part of the original cardboard backing, cut a small piece of masonite board to fit. Then I used two pieces of stiff cardboard and wood glue to secure the masonite part in place. I pre-drilled the two 3/8"/10mm holes in the piece of masonite. Clamps held all secure as the wood glue dried overnight.

The visible side of the door panel:

Now I'm gluing the vinyl "tabs" onto the inside masonite with Duco Cement.

Yes, I know that both front and rear panels are available for the 1971 convertible; just haven't taken that path yet.....
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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

[Lost69Convertible]

[Rome]

[Tim Donahoe]

Speedometer cable was jumping around, so I replaced it today with a good German one. No more erratic speedo needle.

However, now my radio won’t work, I must have knocked a wire loose.

Tim
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Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien