Dirty Buggers first bug!! 1969 sedan

[Dirtybugger]

[Chinaclipper]

Wow! That looks nice. No visible rust on heater channels.....
heheh Key word VISABLE...
Enjoy your new purchase!

[Buggeee]

Enjoy!
_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[1968BUGMAN]

What price? That looks nice! I hope you love it, a bug is unlike any other car, they are so much fun.
_________________
1968 Beetle Project | https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...ae8942450a
Installing a Stereo Into a Classic VW | https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9502179#9502179

[Dirtybugger]

[Dirtybugger]

[Dirtybugger]

[Dirtybugger]

Here's some more pics of the day I bought it...

Drivers side - I like the roof rack a lot, makes it look like the car gets used for adventures

Front - Not so sure I dig the white hood

Looks like a bug from the back

The interior is kinda plain.. except for the teeny steering wheel and holes in the dash from not having the plastic dash pad

Just a little 1500

Lots of overspray....everything is red!

Looks like maybe a little bondo hiding here

She's a tall girl for sure (has baja cool overs). I'm not sure if I'm going Baja or not, kinda digging the thought of going lower.

[Dirtybugger]

Taking it home....

First it's time for some gas, since I'm told the gauge isn't reliable

Thought this was a broken cap

Nope, it wasn't a broken cap... it was some sort of plug with duct tape wrapped around it.

Got one on the way home

Started stalling at every light on the way home because the wire popped off the carb. The wife was happy to help me track down the issue, lol.

Since I was looking to do a drive on the other side of the state pretty soon, we went and picked up a tow bar just in case.

So there it is, the end if day one and I now own a bug, a pretty gas cap, and tow bar.

[calvinater]

Don't forget the pretty wife.

Have fun with the car.
_________________
"Albatross"!

[Dirtybugger]

Yes, let's not forget her, lol. So day one ended with a new bug, a pretty gas cap, a tow bar, AND a pretty wife. A pretty good day!

[Rome]

Nice going with the Beetle, especially finding one that's in seemingly reasonable driving condition.

[MI-Bug]

Nice bug! I'll put a little plug in for... lifting her!

[Dirtybugger]

MI-Bug you're not helping my decision making, lol. I kinda like your tall non-Baja cut.

[Dirtybugger]

[quote="Rome"]Nice going with the Beetle, especially finding one that's in seemingly reasonable driving condition.

I've been using rust-olem colonial red. Seems like a kinda close match to the original color. Mines actually been painted over with a slightly more burgundy color, so nothing is gonna match.

[Dirtybugger]

In about a week I planned to take her 100 miles across the state to Yakima Washington to a VW carshow and swap meet, so it was time to get her road worthy. Yup, time for a tune up and simple repairs.

I got a full tune-up done. I did plugs, wires, cap, rotor, in-line fuel filter, oil, oil screen & gasket, replaced transmission fluid, replaced the condenser, and replaced & adjusted the points.

I made sure to go Bosch

This was the dirty old glass fuel filter. I swapped to a plastic one.

The cap and rotor looked better than I expected

Got her up off the ground so my tubby butt could squeeze under to get some work done.

[Dirtybugger]

The next thing I did was to pull off the valve covers and get my Valves adjusted. It was my first time doing it, but it was pretty cake and easier to get to than I originally figured. I cleaned up the valve cover really well, put a teeny tiny bit of non-hardening gasket sealer on the cover side of my new cork gasket, and snapped them back on. The hardest part of the whole thing was just wiggling the valve covers back into place.

[Dirtybugger]

On to other things I've never done....
I set the static timing with a test light and hoped I got it right. I had watched a few videos about it, but was slightly confused with only having one mark on my pulley instead of 2 or 3, but in the end it seemed a big improvement.
Since she was running a little rough I decided to adjust the carburetor. I removed the drain on the side and checked for junk/debris, but it looked pretty clean. After watching a bunch of videos I tuned it to the best of my lacking abilities. It seemed more responsive and the idle was better so I crossed my fingers and prayed.

When I was done with the carburetor I figured I better install an air filter clamp since the dang thing just about fell off on the way home. I think I need to pick up a new air filter soon too, lol.

[Dirtybugger]

Then it was onto some simple repairs....

I ended up replacing most of the wire ends on everything going to the engine due to poor crimps or just really crappy cheap terminals. Then I had to cut and splice a couple wires because the covering was cracked in a lot of places and I didn't want anything shorting out (bugs being known for engine fires and all, lol).

Speaking of engine fires, I bought some new hose and adjusted everything to keep my fuel filter away from the carburetor movements and not laying on my plug wires.

Then I adjusted my decklid because it was driving me crazy. All the bolts were loose and it was slopping around and trying to make my prop rod fall down all the time. I need to find a deck lid spring at the swap meet.

Once the decklid was safer I found the wires for the license plate light tucked between the firewall and the tar board. I was surprised (kinda) to see both the wires had bare ends and were probably touching each other and the firewall. I got them extended and connected so now the light works!

[Dirtybugger]

My right brake light wasnt working on my way home so I figured I'd replace the brake bulbs. The right bulb was blown but a new one didn't light up. I pulled the left side and checked the wiring.... yup its wired differant. I rewired the right side and everything worked good.
Being that I'm a little anal about my wiring, I grabbed the dremel with a brass wire wheel and polished all the connections until everything was shiney and clean. I was rewarded with brighter tail lights, so it was totally worth the extra 5 minutes.