1963 Beetle (Lil Blue)

[Mark Evans]

10mm heads
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'63 Ragtop

[rockerarm]

[Jay-Rod]

Now and then it will occasionally catch the ratchet piece and hold. maybe once every 20 or 30 pulls. The piece is there, but there is not always tension holding #8 to it.

The PO installed a power outlet in the car. I have a red wire coming out from under the dash jumped off a fuse, and the black wire is ground between the nuts atop the e-brake. I'm assuming he undid these nuts and wasn't paying attention when reassembling. This is why I can pull the button and rod out from the end of the handle, and im guessing why the e-brake doesn't hold.

But if I play with it long enough and twist the button as im pulling the handle, it catches and holds tight. (How long until THAT phrase ends up in someone's signature? HAHAHAHAA)
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1963 Beetle

[rockerarm]

[Jay-Rod]

Its on the list of to-do's. My dig into that tonight after work.

Thank again all!
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1963 Beetle

[Jay-Rod]

[Jay-Rod]

Climbed under the car last night and took notice of a few things Ive learned since joining the site.....

Oil Filter!

Al's Header

General under-car picture.....including my oil leak.....

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1963 Beetle

[Jay-Rod]

New discovery....could explain why I haven't been able to engage the choke lately.....

This is a picture on google that I found.....

And these are pictures I took of my beetle a few minutes ago....

Im not sure if Im dumbfounded, amazed, or should just accept it and fix it.....
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1963 Beetle

[hitest]

Accept and embrace- for many more such atrocities await your discovery.
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[Jay-Rod]

I think my favorite part is the electrical wire wire connector crimped onto the throttle linkage.
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1963 Beetle

[rockerarm]

Hi Jay. Yes that's one for the books but in all honesty to the person who did it I give him an A for intention.
Throttle cable breakages are one item that many air-cooled car owners have faced. I've had tools with me and fixed them and have forgotten tools and waited for AAA's tow. Those early cars sometimes had the pedals pivot break free from the floor. Being where you live and distance you drive you may wish to carry some tools and some spares with you. Plus rehearse the cable R&R at home so it isn't something new to you while alongside some road.
At this stage I believe you have some options here.
As you can see on the Wolfsburg West site all the components except the housing are available:
https://www.wolfsburgwest.com/wolfsburg_new/chassis/bug_chassis.cfm?type=1
You can repair/rebuild to the early style or as I did was to install a '67 and later complete pedal assy in my daily driver '58. I did it this way for a few reasons.

Or you could elect to this upgrade which I understand has great reviews and feedback.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1384285

Hope this helps, Bill. Stay hydrated my friend.

[Jay-Rod]

Well, I now refer to whoever did the previous work on this car as "The Craftsman" because some of it is perfect, and some of it is so wrong, but so functional, I have to also give the guy a nod for making things work.

I do love me a roller pedal. Thanks a ton for that info RockerArm. One of those solutions WILL/HAS TO be put into place.

I carry my trusty toolbox with me in the car everywhere I go. Along with zipties, bucket of random nuts and bolts, and gorilla tape. Its too easy not to.

Since the bolt that is attached to the throttle cable had loosened up to the point of having only about 20% throttle, I decided to pull it all apart and replace whatever I could with stuff that wasn't worn out and redo this magnificent (but still wrong) repair to make it last longer until I can get the correct stuff in there.

I now have this....

...and have restored all kinds of throttle response that Ive never felt in this car. It feels really good to be honest, even though its still so very wrong.

I moved everything around so that pressure is applied evenly across the pedal and it doesn't want to twist anymore. I also wrapped a large ziptie around the crimped ring connector so the crimped part cant come loose.

The gas pedal is a good inch and a half higher at idle than it was before, and it no longer goes all the way to the floor. It has a definite hard stop at full throttle and is so much easier to drive now.

Ignore that nut at the bottom of the picture, it has been snugged up so that it isn't hanging off the threaded rod anymore. Previously that threaded rod was going the other way (wingnut at the bottom) and had no other nut at the top the keep the threaded rod from falling out of the assembly all together. Im not sure how it stayed this long.
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1963 Beetle

[Jay-Rod]

Also noticed that the passenger side horn grille has a black blank in it.

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1963 Beetle

[Jay-Rod]

Oh, and fixed this too.....
https://youtu.be/3aGMtrhj208
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1963 Beetle

[rockerarm]

Hi. A couple of comments here. You stated the pedal definitely has a hard stop now. Keep in mind tho that cable adjustment is critical for the cable to survive. The pedal needs to bottom out and the carb linkage has still a bit farther to travel for the cable to survive. If the carb linkage bottoms out and the pedal still has some travel remaining the cable will be stressed and tend to try and pull strands from either end of the crimped ends.
Also, since your existing carb, as well as later oem carbs, has a return spring you can elect to use a braided cable if you prefer. The pedal end is shaped differently but since your set-up is mod'd it is workable.
I have seen a rash of broken braided cables in my personal car, friends car, and here on the late forum. There could be some defective cables out there. I don't see anyone having any issues with the sold strand '66 and earlier cable.

[Jay-Rod]

[hitest]

[Jay-Rod]

[Jay-Rod]

Gents, as I look into the engine bay, there are holes (or passages) in the top left and top right corners. These passages go toward the interior of the car under the rear 1/4 windows. As I drive, Im getting a lot of engine heat blowing in from where the drivers side rear interior panel would be....if I had an interior.... Along with engine heat, the engine volume inside the car is ridiculous. I don't mind the sound from the carb as I accelerate, I actually enjoy that sound. But once Im at cruising speed on the freeway 60-65, the fan is just holy bejeezus loud for the next 45 minutes to work.

1. How normal is this?
2. I assume those passages are necessary to assist in fresh air getting to the fan shroud back there, but if not, would It be ok to block those passages with something until I can finish out the interior?
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1963 Beetle

[Martin Southwell]