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

[DesignBuild]

My air cleaner has one hose connection on the top. There is only a dimple in the top of the cover where you have a hose connection. If yours is an American car you will find significant differences in my car when comparing the two. When I jacked the rear of the car up and put it on jack stands, I discovered that there was no charcoal canister under the right rear fender. There are holes for the mounting of one but no evidence that there was ever one attached to the car. There are no hoses under there either. I have been trying to find out where the tank vent hoses go. The areas under the fenders and in other parts of the under body has a material on it that looks like heavy black paint. It doesn't look anything like the undercoating you find in American cars. In places it is coming off in silver dollar sized pieces and there is blue paint under the coating. The coating under the right rear fender covers all the metal with no shadow of any former parts that could have been removed. There is very little rust under the car. The largest amount of rust I have found is under the tar boards; it is all being removed. I am treating it with naval jelly, then it will be sanded and coated with probably a Rustoleum primer and then top-coated. I will then apply cream colored 3M Body Shutz. I know all about the other ways of coating the floors with stuff that costs more than finish color. I've been there and done that but with respirator equipment. If the surface is prepped properly you could use virtually any paint. My absolute favorite was Dulux Red Oxide Enamel Primer. Unfortunately it isn't available anymore.

I already have new carpeting that goes in the back, along the outside edges of the floor, and over the front wall. The original carpet in my car is a needle punched felt-like material. The new stuff is almost identical except for the color. The color of my original carpet material isn't available anymore. The new stuff can be shaped to fit the curves and has no backing like you find in the replacement carpets for American Beetles.

I have been working on replacing the front lighting wiring harness. At some point the head light wires were cut inside the buckets (this is also evidence that the front fenders were off the car, besides the black welt). I guess people are unaware that you can take the receptacles out of the socket (receptacle housing) without cutting anything. Then the wires can be pulled into the trunk without cutting any wires. The headlight and parking light wires were cut and only the headlight wires were crudely spliced back together. The parking light wire was taped over.

If anyone is looking for the flag receptacles used in the headlight socket I can supply them as well as new sockets identical to the originals. I can also supply receptacles for other connections on or in the car.

I don't think the red window on the speedometer face is a shift point. According to the information in the European English Owners Manual the shift point into third gear is higher than 35 mph. If you want to disagree then do it with someone else. I know what I have read and I know two engine builders here in Houston that agree with what I have read. If I am cruising around town I can get into third much sooner than the red slash on the speedometer. Besides, it is only readily visible at night. Don't use the LED lights that replace the two dash lights. The incandescent lights are actually better.

If you all don't believe the low mileage that is fine with me. I don't have any reason to convince you. You haven't spoken or emailed the guy that got it out of Germany. I was able to email the son of the original owner and he confirmed the odometer reading. I got the same from Studebaker people, even when I had the entire service history of the 1961 Lark I purchased. The last oil change on the Studebaker Lark was from around 1991 at a mileage of 38,500 miles. When I got the car in mid-2003 it had 41,000 miles on the odometer and it had been in storage for 12 years. I could do the math but I had people argue with me that it wasn't possible. When I got my 1951 Studebaker the mileage was confirmed because I got it from a Studebaker dealer; the paperwork I submitted for the new registration confirmed the odometer reading for it. Even so there were people that argued that it wasn't possible. My 1951 Studebaker was never driven in the winter months in New York State. It still had some rust issues but none that were readily visible.

Oh, regarding vehicle serial numbers. The 1302/1303 Parts Book shows beginning and ending serial numbers for parts. All of the 1971 and 1972 1302s starting and ending serial numbers for certain parts begin with 111 x xxx xxx and in some cases end with 112 2 xxx xxx. I have found others that start with the 1972 numbers like 112 2 820 442 to 133 x xxx xxx. This leads me to believe that the Super Beetles in 1971 and 1972 were among the serial numbers for the Standard models but only got the '3' as the second number designating a Super beginning in the 1973 model year. And yes, the Cabriolet serial number did begin with 151, the 152, 153, etc. The Parts Books seems to show that the '3' in the serial number designating a Super appears starting in 1973. If you look at the link I posted earlier you can find similar examples. The ending serial numbers that have a 3 as the second digit are shown in the Parts Book as 1303 cars. The 111 and 112 are shown as 1302 models.

Were the Standards ever given the designation of 1302 or 1303?

I will post some pictures of the underside of the VW I have.

[Maddel]

[DesignBuild]

Here are some underside pictures. I only took these when I was checking the torsion bar settings and investigating the wire before installing a hot start switch. I had a real hot starting issue this past summer here in Houston. One evening I went to church and parked in the concrete parking lot that had been in the sun all day. The starter evidently took in some of the heat because when I came out and tried to start it I got nothing. No click or anything. I hadn't read anything about this so I simply waited and then tried again. After about six tries it suddenly turned over and started running. When I got home a did some searching and by the weekend I had installed a hot start relay of my own devising. I used a Bosch relay rated for 12 volts @75 amps. It is much heavier duty that the Chinese versions and it was made in Portugal.

The ignition switch is now carrying only milliamps for the start function and the relay is doing all of the grunt work. It cranks immediately regardless of the outside temperature.

[DesignBuild]

So Maddel, did you purchase the Super Beetle you show in the two pictures? I see that it had the clear lens portions for the backup lights. It is hard to find the correct size lens to fit the original bezels. The new bezels are larger than the original lenses or the new lenses are smaller than the original bezels. Are you a resident of Germany now?

My great-grandfather came to the USA from Germany just before the American Civil War and settled in Pennsylvania. First in Philadelphia, then Pittsburgh, and finally in Reading. My great grandfather was from Gingen an der Fils. I have a cousin Thomas Villforth near Stuttgart and some scattered around Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

Some claim that the original bezels were stainless steel but mine appear to be aluminum. Many of the stainless steels used for automotive trim are magnetic. My bezels aren't magnetic at all.

It is nice to converse with someone familiar with the Beetles made for the German market or the European market.

Underside pictures follow.

[DesignBuild]

Here is a page from the 1972 Sales Brochure that gives some of the model information and available optional equipment for models starting in August 1971 or the 1972 VW model year (Beetles).

This has some good information regarding what was available. I question the statement that the 1300 engine produced 50 hp. Maybe if it had a higher compression ratio it could have, but it is unlikely at 7.5 to 1 compression ratio.

When I got my car the previous owner and the owner that bought the car in Germany told me that I needed to use a lead substitute in the fuel. This came as a surprise especially when VW exported cars to countries in the world where leaded fuel was not available. In cars with aluminum heads on the engine leaded fuel is not needed to prevent valve seat recession (valve seat sinking into the head). The valve seats are hardened and will not recede even without leaded fuel. Many car manufacturers have used aluminum heads like the early and later Jaguars. They never needed leaded fuel because they used hardened valve seats. Hardened valve seats are standard in all cylinder heads today. Some manufacturers in the past used higher nickel content in their engine castings and this eliminated the need for hardened seats in their head castings.

Some manufacturers also used up to 30% scrap steel when formulating their foundry castings. The castings behaved more like steel castings than an iron casting. These same manufacturers used forged steel crankshafts and forged steel connecting rods instead of cast parts.

[DesignBuild]

Over the past couple of days I went on a search of the Parts Book and based upon my serial number I may have 4 1/2 inch wide wheels instead of 4 inch wide wheels. I will have to check with a big outside caliper I got when I was in China. I need to pull a front wheel to check the pad type on the disc brakes. The pads squeak intermittently when I stop the car. Previous owner indicated that the pads were changed and calipers rebuilt when she had it, but I hate squealing brakes.

[Nessy]

[Maddel]

[DesignBuild]

I will check the ground strap mount at the transmission. When I was laying on my back under the car I forgot the check for the ground strap and that was one of the reasons I was under there.

What year is the reddish car that you are restoring or have restored?

One thing I noticed after getting my car is that the fresh air blower wasn't working. When I pulled it out of its box the plastic brush holders were melted. The motor is not operational and I need to find a replacement. Any two speed 12V DC motor with the same outside dimensions would work.

I am going to check for a suitable motor from Autolite or Delco-Remy. Both were used in late model Studebakers and they were about the same size as the VW motors.

[DesignBuild]

Maddel, what part of Germany are you in? My remote ancestor, Daniel Villforth, settled in Gingen in 1507. He was a wine merchant and married a widow that owned and operated an inn in Gingen. We believe he was a Huguenot from southern France.

One of our other genealogists residing in Switzerland thinks he has found our common ancestor's birthplace in Vilefort, France; gravestone evidence and the spelling of Villforth on gravestones.

[VW_Jimbo]

That ground lug on the horn was where the negative battery cable attached in the late late years. I think it was in 76 or 77 when they started showing up. Not sure of when it started but know it ended in 79 in the US.
_________________
Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[DesignBuild]

I took off the right front wheel this afternoon to check the brake pads because the front brakes are squealing but the right more than the left. I was told by the previous owner that she had the front brakes repaired or reconditioned. It appears that the front calipers are new since they still have the cadmium plating on the surface (golden color) and the pads have lots of meat remaining. The caliper body has ATE cast into the surface with raised letters.

I am wondering if anyone you know has solved this squealing with a pad coating of the back of the brake pads? Can I pull the pads out after driving the pins out of the caliper? Though there is some surface rust on the disc I didn't feel any grooves in the surface of the disc. I will sand it after my attempt to solve the squealing problem.

I have a kit to replace all of the hoses and pipes.

I wonder if it is possible to redrill the pitch circle diameter to 5X114.3 to use or to be able to use more and different wheels?

[DesignBuild]

Nessy, I stand corrected. Thank you. Even after looking through the parts book, I missed the convertible or cabriolet equipment details.

Did your cars have carpets or mats? My car has only the needle punched carpet along the edges of the floor, on the front wall, and in the rear luggage area and over the inner rear fenders. If I had foresight I would have purchased the needle punched charcoal carpet a year ago and it would have matched what is remaining in my car. The charcoal is no longer carried because no one ever bought it. The needle punched carpet is called Flexform or Superflex here in the states. When I got samples I really couldn't tell the difference. However, Flexform is half the cost of Superflex. For both the material is 80 inches wide and is sold in yards. I got 4 yards since I may use some in the seats when I reconstruct them. I am going to use it in the channels to fill them and shape them.

[DesignBuild]

Here are some pictures of my right front brake and wheel well.

Oh, the question about drain holes along the rolled edge of the front and rear fenders is this. There are no holes, but the rolled edge ends about 2 inches before the rear fender meets the rear valance, there is a one inch gap close to the body and pan where the rolled edge is missing at the front of the rear fender, and I found similar gaps in the rolled edge of the front fenders at the front and the rear. So, it appears that the two rear fenders are the same and the same is true for the front fenders. What I did find strange is that the holes in the top of the fenders for the signal lights has an extra one at the rear as if it was for the American fenders.The parking and signal lights are on the top of the fender on cars bound for America. The lights on my front fenders are directional lights only. I was hoping I could find a dual socket so I could have parking and directional lights on the top of the fender.

This is an ATE caliper and is supposed to be the type that was factory installed

Looking down at the pad against the disc. Lots of meat there.

Registration plate? This matches the original German registration booklet from May 1972

I think the N-AU-257 is the registration plate. It matches the registration from Germany that I got with the car. Would this have been installed on the front or the rear?

[Maddel]

[Rome]

Very interesting Beetle to see here in the USA, Design.

A. 3 of your 4 rims are 4.5" wide with 34mm offset. The RR one may be 4.5" or 4" wide but does not have the 34mm offset. The 34mm type is the deepest "dish" of that style "hubcap" rim. Maddel's white '72 does not yet have them; the switchover was in March '72 IIRC. Easy to tell by noting how deep the hubcap seating edge sits compared to the outer edge of the rim itself. Many times, original factory rims have the size stamped into one of the flat sections between lug bolt holes, shown as 4 1/2 J x 15. The offset is also often stamped into another flat; would be ET34. ET stands for the German words for "press-in depth" Einpresstiefe.

I'm also German (born there, German parents), but have lived in the USA nearly all my life. Been around VWs my entire life due to my father having worked for VW, and me being actively involved with them as hobby since 1983.

B. Too bad your RR fender was replaced and the taillight is too low. Correct height is per your LR fender. Possibly your car was hit in the right rear, requiring fender and rim replacement; and being the impetus for the repaint. The early photo of the rear of your car without the license plate and the faded paint still has the correct RR fender with the correct taillamp height.

C. MAddel correctly identified the red mark on the speedo as the 50 km/h indicator.

D. Remember that the 1966 US-spec Beetles had 1300 cc engines rated at 50 hp, with single-port heads and slightly lower compression ratio. Your 1300 engine has dual-port heads for a few more hp.

E. Your taillamp assemblies and lenses would be the same size as those for US market Beetles for '68 and '69. Possibly '70 also. US taillamps were larger for '71 and '72 to incorporate side and rear reflector surfaces per US regulations. Such regulations did not apply to Germany/most European markets so that the '69 style could continue thru the '72 model year there. So a good German-made/OEM '68-'69 US spec taillamp lens will fit right on, but now you'd need to wire up the reverse lights at the bottom of the taillamp bulb holders. Again- easy to find used from a US-spec Beetle.

F. Try to replace that shifter bushing under the shift lever as soon as possible. Big improvement with shifter feel and accuracy.

G. Front fender turn signals that include the running and turn signal light bulb circuits were US-spec for '68 and '69. Lamp base mounting studs should be same as those on your car. Would be easiest to find US-spec base, and keep your exterior chrome housing and the amber lens. Then you'd just need to run a new wire through the existing grommets at the front quarter panels for the new running lights' circuit.

H. Front suspension design is properly spelled MacPherson. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacPherson_strut

[Maddel]

[DesignBuild]

Rome,
Thank you for the comments and clearing a few things up.

Regarding the rear fenders. When I felt along the outside rolled edge all the way to the bottom rear there were no drain holes, but both fenders have a portion of the rolled edge close to the rear valence where there is no rolled edge and both fenders have the same length of unrolled edge.

I am going to measure the hole placement for the tail light housings. Maybe I can raise the right side with new holes. One thing that may cause the right to look lower is the rubber seal. It is longer than it should be. It is one of the reproduction seals that is longer than it should be. It was also one of the seals that was replaced when it came out of storage. I replaced the seal on the left with a rubber door edge finish bead. I have enough to do the right side too.

I was wondering about the tail light sizes because from 1968 to 1972 the bezel has the same part number. This usually means the lens would be the same for that bezel and those years. The bulb holder assembly underneath appear to be the same with the exception being the lowest buld holder for the backup light. The bulb holder on my car had the hole in the lower part but it was quite corroded.

I also noticed in Maddel's pictures (see link he posted that takes you to another site) that the German and even the Mexican Beetle did not have any running board trim. Mine has no running board edge trim either. In the pictures of my car after it was taken out of storage you can see that the fender welt or bead is body color; most easily seen in the picture of the rear of the car.

When I was looking at the front discs yesterday I found some proof that the car was repainted. When jacking up the front I looked at the underside edge of the front valence and it is rusty, as if it was never painted. There is also some overspray on either side of the front springs.

Rome, I am originally from Fishkill, NY. I attended Dutchess Community College, transferred to Rochester Institute of Technology and graduated with a BSME in 1981 at age 30. I took a job with Texaco in Port Arthur, TX. At that time the Texaco Refinery in Port Arthur was the largest in the world processing 475,000 barrels of crude oil per day. A barrel is 42 gallons. I raised a son in Nederland, TX and both of us went to Lamar University at the same time.

I have a question regarding the way the trunk weather seal sould be installed. The portion by the windscreen is obvious but how should the weatherstrip be placed on the sides? The seal is shaped like an L, so should the horizontal leg be cemented with the vertical leg to the outside or the inside? If it is to the inside then the hood never engages the seal because of the way the sealing edge on the hood is shaped. I have the latch adjusted so that when you pull the lever in the glove box the hood pops up on it's own. I have been considering putting a closed self-adhesive seal on the edge of the hood to work in conjunction with a similar seal across the top of the opening.

I was checking the age of the tires on the car and it appears the TOYO radial on the car were made in 2010 (FDX3710). The spare in the trunk is a 5.6X15 FULDA (now Dunlop) with the date code KJM4 FP1170. I am guessing it was made in 1970. It still holds air unless the washer bottle is plumbed to the spare. Then it looses air in a few days whether or not you use the washer.

Maybe the spare will match with the other three that are the same. I am surprised you can tell that the wheels are different.

Have you ever purchased any parts from Mexican sources? I was looking for a new directional switch and found one from a Mexican supplier of VW and Audi parts. When you do the conversion from pesos to US$ the switch is only $42 and change. I also saw a set of 4 EMPI SPYDER style alloy wheels for $380US. The price in pesos was 5800.
See this link. https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.mx/MLM-598607159...n73-79-_JM

Here is where I put all of my pictures so far:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php?search_author=DesignBuild

I think the only part that was larger in 71 and 72 was the tail light housing and it was larger in that it projected out farther for the reflector mount. The lens shape and size should be the same if the bezel has the same earlier part number? Let me know what you think.

How difficult is it to find quality original wheels? I contacted the guy that advertises on TheSamba with Mexican parts and the 5.5xj X 16 steel wheels are no longer available; bummer. I used to be able to buy wheels from a wheel supplier in Dallas and they had newer stronger wheels for old cars like Studebakers and other American and foreign made cars. I just cannot remember the name of the firm.

[DesignBuild]

Is it normal for the steering to be tight? The car seems to be very hard to steer at low speeds.

The boots on the ball joints and steering rod ends are broken so I am going to replace them with new items that have grease fittings. When replacing the ball joints I suppose I can use Locktite blue on the bolt threads instead of trying to find new retaining washers that go under the bolt heads?

Do any of you know if it is difficult to retrofit a steering rack like the later cars have? There is a company in Phoenix, AZ that makes custom steering racks. The steering rack that is retrofitted on many late model Studebakers is similar to the later Super Beetle rack. All post-war Studebakers use the same type of center-point steering.

The entire Super Beetle suspension and steering is similar to that used in the Riley XR-3 Three-Wheel Car. The design layout is similar but the XR-3 doesn't use any VW parts, but the parts that are used could possibly be used in VWs. I think there is an outfit in AZ that makes an anti-sway bar that is very similar to the VW. This outfit makes the custom bar for the XR-3

[vamram]