Yikes! I bought a '74 Super!!

[Tim Donahoe]

That's weird about the vibrator. I got mine from Wolfgang International here in town. It worked great. Maybe the bulb in your replacement was broken.

Have fun with the wiper r&r. Taking apart the motor is tricky without disturbing the soldered wiring on the exterior motor cover. You'll have to remove your radio to get to that conical grommet that goes from the air box to the interior of the cab. But the connection at the column is just a matter of unhooking it. I had to ask my wife to hold two of the brushes while I held the third and pushed the armature shaft through. But when completed, the wipers ran so fast, it made it all worth is. Hopefully, you won't have a lot of leaves and crap in your air box. I didn't, but I did have a few things partially obstructing my air box drain hole at the back. While I was in there,, I sprayed some Rustoleum in the bottom of the air box, just as a rust preventative measure. Check out your two-speed fan operation before getting in there. You don't want to have to go back again and again.

By the way, what color are your front turn signal bulbs? The lenses appear clear--instead of yellow--in the photos.

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[wcfvw69]

I love that color. It looks like it was repainted well as it has a nice gloss to it.

Congrats
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[vamram]

Paint job has a nice gloss, no runs but there is some overspray on the door mechanisms. The seat cushions are definitely not originals but I'm not sure about the seat covers. I think the rear set cover is original. I'm not a fan of black upholstery but they're in great shape, no tears or looseness, so they're way at the bottom of the list. Except the driver seat cushion, that has to be replaced.

I took off the right rear drum, axle and unsprung the spring plate today to assess the situation. Brakes are worn evenly but pretty low. The surface rust on the brake hardware makes me think it's been on for years. New brakes for the rear and torsion/spring plate bushings are first on the agenda. West coast metric is about to get my money again.
_________________
"Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition
to put moral chains upon their own appetites. -Edmund Burke
“If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”
Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...languishing since 2022.
Click to view image
Save the Supers!!

[Hatracks]

[Tim Donahoe]

You could do lots of colors with that light blue exterior. Tan, Saddle, Cream, Brown, Grey. None of those colors would look silly with the blue.

Even blue vinyl with cream or grey inserts would look cool.

Black is fine, but everyone has black, so it's kind of common. It's also very hot to sit in on a hot summer day while wearing shorts.

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[vamram]

Before the interior, gotta get the mechanics safe and road-ready. Did the rear brakes and bushings over the last couple of days.

Tools of the trade -

Yes - I went with urethane because it's what I had on hand and I want to get this up and running quickly. Lubed the heck out of them w/that white ultra gooey grease. I picked up a tub of it on Amazon a while back just for this purpose.

Here's the inner knobby one.

Outer round:

All back up at about 21*. I bought the black spring plate tool a couple of years back from one of the on-line vendors, don't remember which one. It's impossible to turn by hand (at least for me) once it tightens up so I go at it w/a 4lb sledge until the spring plate snaps into place on the ledge.

I also have the 3-ton floor jack in place just in case....

Finally, I redid the rear brakes, just the brake shoes and the spring kit. The wheel cylinders have surface rust but the boots are good, no leaks, and the pistons move easily so I figured those are good for now. I only had issues w/one of the adjusting stars on the passenger side.

Bonus pic - here's the charcoal canister. Very different than the one on my '72. This one's plastic and slightly smaller. I have to clean all of the undercoating off to see if there's a way to open it to replace the carbon.

Quick xtra note - the under coating on this car is almost a 1/4" think in the areas around the spring plate and torsion arm covers. I had to chisel a bunch of it off. Looks like "chapapote" - road tar- was used to undercoat it.
_________________
"Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition
to put moral chains upon their own appetites. -Edmund Burke
“If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”
Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...languishing since 2022.
Click to view image
Save the Supers!!

[H2OSB]

Nice car! I too have a Marina Blue '74 1303.

johnL (aka H2OSB)
www.superbeetlesonly.com

[Tim Donahoe]

Victor, you can carefully remove the top of those plastic canisters. They're easier than the tin cans. Just take care and remember how the springs and filters are stacked.

And be sure to replace that little sponge in the bottom. Mine was mush, so I cut a piece of green lawnmower air filter sponge to replace the mush.

I'm spending my day trying to remove and replace my u-joint. It's not cooperating.

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[vamram]

Thanks, H20. I like the color, I think it's more of an attention-getter than the enzian blue of my '72, although I'm partial to the darker shade. Tim, thanks for the tip on the canister. Added to my ever-growing to-do on this car.

Ah, it's a journey of discovery. Pulled the engine today since I'll have to replace the engine seals.

I have to say it's the driest I've ever had a bug's tranny compartment look - no tranny oil leaks at all, clutch is bone dry. I've never seen one w/the rust haze/dust that this one has:

Engine seals are almost like cracker dry so they'll be replaced.

Here's a not-so-good discovery: I think the rear apron was replaced at some point.

You can see the edge is off slightly, doesn't look like it's welded on. And the guide for the rear seal is lower at the rear apron than at the rest of the engine compartment.

I *think* but am not sure that the tranny mounts need to be replaced. They're fat and don't look collapsed, but do have horizontal cracks in the rubber. Opinions...?

The thermostat is about 50% extended when cold so it will be replaced. The passenger side heat exchanger needs to be replaced, and both look to me like they've had a repair end installed or welded on. Not sure if you can tell from this pic:

_________________
"Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition
to put moral chains upon their own appetites. -Edmund Burke
“If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”
Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...languishing since 2022.
Click to view image
Save the Supers!!

[BeetL62]

Looks great! I'm building a Marina Blue '74 Super now. Originally, they came with slate grey interior. I've been trying to find this color interior, but the grey seat covers from TMI are a lot lighter grey. Keep up the good work!

[Tim Donahoe]

Victor, what color is your clutch driven disc? Is it one of those brownish ones? Maybe that "rust" on the pressure plate came from the disc?

If the apron still accepts a new seal, then I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[davidw99]

Hey, from a neighbor south of Boston, this looks like a good find. Congrats on your new acquisition.
_________________
Dave

'73 Saturn Yellow Sports Bug that has undergone a full pan off restoration. "Herbert IV."

'67 Sedan. "Bellamy." Currently being "refreshed" and recently repainted.

[vamram]

Yeah, i keep repeating that to myself...

Began taking stock of the wiring and removing the wiper assembly to get it working well. Tim - the little heater spotlight is a simple pop out.

The bulb holder and wire slips right out. Gotta be careful not to push the bulb piece into the dash - I almost did. Looks like a Christmas tree light...

Removed the fuse cover to get an idea of the hornet's nest down here...

I figured out that the fat yellow and black wires are to the push-button start and I think they go straight to the battery. You can see them terminate at the positive terminal in one of the earlier pics.

Not sure if there's a relay somewhere in the path. Electricity is one of my blind spots, but this does not look like a winning setup to me, and I hate the damn post-'72 wiring diagrams. I need pictures of REAL things, not hieroglyphics that require a paleontologist to understand. Looks like there are several loose, cut or unterminated wires. Going to be fun figuring those out! For the life of me, I don't know how this location for the fuse panel/relay holder is better than the location in the trunk. Someone explain it to me, please.

Anyone have any clue as to what the little black brick might be? Something for the radio?

Next I went to the trunk to remove the wiper motor. I was very curious about this part since this is my first post-'72 Bug.

I got the wiper arms and motor unmounted, but can't figure out how to disconnect the wiring harness that runs thru the grommet in the "front" of the dash. Bentley doesn't say much.

I'm guessing I have to remove the switch panel on the dash and possibly the radio. The drain hole is plugged, any suggestions on clearing it out? I'm thinking of rigging up a mesh to keep crap like the plant droppings out of the box.

Happily, no rodent crap or corpses anywhere to be found.
_________________
"Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition
to put moral chains upon their own appetites. -Edmund Burke
“If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”
Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...languishing since 2022.
Click to view image
Save the Supers!!

[Hatracks]

I undid my wiper motor on the 73 through the radio hole and then pulled it through. The blower motor though I havent figured out how to get out yet I need to climb under there while the interiors out. It looks like you still have all of the rubber mounts for the blower motor to and its in surprisingly good shape!
_________________
73 Super Build

[vamram]

[60ragtop]

the white plastic piece is for the emissions, it collects the vapors from the tank.
The black box is probably for an aftermarket radio, hard to tell.
74 had a seat belt interlock maybe why it has a push button to start
_________________
Rick
Certified Mechanic by the State of Michigan in 1977
ASA certified in 1987
Certified Hunter Wheel Alignment Master Technician 1986

[Tim Donahoe]

Victor, since I only have a radio plate (of my own making), I removed it to get the wiper motor out.

You have a radio that, once removed, will show you the conical grommet where the wiper wires come through. The wiper harness has an offshoot brown ground wire that plugs into a three-pronged male ground arrangement on the cowl, just behind where your radio was. There is also another offshoot wire that goes to your fuse box. The main harness, itself, is attached with a plug under your column (where your wiper and turn signal harness plugs are located).

Once you remove these three connections, get a screwdriver (better still, a wooden tool, if possible) and nudge out the conical grommet from inside the car, and push it through into the air box. Be careful when threading the main part of the harness that was attached to the column; it has a tendency of removing other wiring connections along the way.

After the conical grommet is loose (the rubber may be pretty hard), it's fairly easy to pull the harness and its two offshoot wires, through into the air box. You may need some wd40 to get the grommet back in. Mine was so hard, I ripped it a little, so I had to use some caulking sealer, upon reinstall, to make sure it sealed well. It has to seal because you get water in the airbox. And your air box doesn't drain too well at the moment .

Remove the debris in your air box with a shop vacuum. Once you get all you can out of the box and the dual drain hole, use a garden hose to flush out the rest. Put the end of the hose right up to the drain. Have your wife turn on the water. You'll know when the line is clear because water will shoot out under the front of the car.

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[Tim Donahoe]

I forgot to add this: with your two-speed fan on high, you should definitely feel the air coming through the vents. You have an owners manual. It shows you how to adjust the front vents to, either the windows at the dash, or the front (the middle under-dash area), or both simultaneously. Close off the middle under dash to get more air to the windows. Or close off the window vent knob to get more air under the dash. You can also close off the two side-window vents to direct more air to the front window. But I keep these little side vents open to help clear the side windows.

To be honest, I rarely use the two-speed fan. In the summer, I open windows. In the winter, I only want heated air going to my windshield. So, I really have little need for it. But I damn well want that sucker to work ... just in case I change my habits.

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[vamram]

Tim, thanks for that info. I'll be tackling the dash after work tomorrow.

Today was D-Day for the Death Foam.

I am a Slayer of Death Foam. Here are my Weapons of choice:

The BBQ fork was especially useful for the tight spots where the c-pillar sides meet.

First salvo - bend in the flap that semi-covers the c-pillar access in the engine bay and rip a chunk or two out.

Then I attacked it w/the weaponry from that doorway and from the inside:

(note - I believe these are factory door cards in part because of the quality of the board and the presence of the ash tray. What would be a good color to upholster the seats (other than black) and keep the black door cards...?)

Until I was left w/this:

Tomorrow I'll remove that fender bolt to see if I can't get that last bit stuck to the outside steel. I probably got about 90% out, the rest is right up against the sides, especially along the inner wall of the c-pillar and i'm not sure how to scrape the rest of that off.

Btw - here is a death foam tumor that was up against the outside wall just past where that bolt is. Yes, that's rusty metal stuck to the foam tumor.

Question for everyone/anyone - how can I rust treat that section of the outside wall where I removed this piece of foam? There is one small bubble on the outside smaller than a dime which I'm going sand down, i'm guessing it will go clean thru. I'll have to patch it, but I don't weld or have welding tools or skills....Suggestions...?
_________________
"Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition
to put moral chains upon their own appetites. -Edmund Burke
“If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”
Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...languishing since 2022.
Click to view image
Save the Supers!!

[Tim Donahoe]

Victor, the reality is, you will have to cut out and patch. If not, the issue is likely to return. In California, a car with a little bit of death-foam rot could probably be patched with bondo and it might last for years--if the car is garaged during the winter rainy season, and if care is taken when washing the car. But you live where it rains all the time. Lots of moisture.

I'd put it off until you have all the car in top shape.

It's too bad that someone doesn't make aftermarket crescent vents that are solid, or, better still, have louvers with a downward curve--and also, an o-ring-type seal around its perimeter. This would prevent any water from entering.

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien