Might be the end of the 70

[J-Gaz.]

Ok Team.

Looking for encouragement, but seems irresponsible at this point.

Gland nut came loose and apparently the Flywheel bent the Crankshaft.

Just got the report from George @ Porbug.

Can only blame myself as I put it on after replacing the main seal.

Had a torque wrench that was equipt for the job - but as my brother pointed out, it may not have been calibrated...

Who Knows.

Anyway, Shell is in OK shape, needs seals around the front and back window, needs Window Regulators on both sides & It's time for a suspension upgrade. Plus, it would be nice if the interior was cleaned up by the back window & the Dollar bill size hole in the Driverside rear pan was patched... andy maybe the wiring was fresh...

Other than that

and the fact that the engine is toast . . .

She's a fine auto...

So, whats the Verdict.
Stay or go?

Stay = 3750+ tax for the engine (more or less) And drive it, make upgrades when I can. . .
(PS: No shop or garage of my own)

Go = 800 bucks(?) No Beetle & Move on.

How do you Weigh something like this?

The thing I keep coming back to is I've got to street park it in town.
AND, "there's always a list" of "Stuff" to fix.

Having no shop, no garage, and no real place to store it makes this a little less desirable.

Thanks for listening.
Any thoughts, either way, are welcomed.
_________________
1970 Beetle | Basically Stock 1600 SP

[Tim Donahoe]

If I were in your position, I’d sell the car. You have no place to work on it, and it needs a lot of work. I’d say this to anyone in the same situation.

In fact, I don’t understand why anyone—unless they have a lot of money—would continue to own a vintage car ... unless they do most of the work themselves.

Labor isn’t cheap, and if you can’t supply most of the labor on your own, then be prepared to have others restore the car, piece by part, until it’s all renewed.

If I need a new alternator, carburetor, a brake job, clutch, main seal, wiper motor, wheel bearings, whatever and etc., I can do it myself. I have a garage and a lot of tools, though. I also have another car to use while working on my bug. For those who don’t have these amenities, and don’t do most of the work themselves, I say they should get a newer model car, like a Honda, or Toyota.

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[TonyPgh]

[TonyPgh]

[bomberbob]

I agree, people who own a vintage car but can't do the work themselves, will need to be wealthy. I try and do as much work on my cars as I possibly can because I am not wealthy. Just bought a caster/camber tool yesterday so I can do my own front end alignments on my cars. Tired of paying to have it done. Probably the only twilight zone I have never delved into is automatic transmissions.
Gaz, if you didn't live too far away I might be interested in looking at your project but my wife told me if I bring home another VW she will serve me up with a warm set of divorce papers, so I will have to pass.
_________________
1968 Beetle torn apart again
1990 Jetta GLI megasquirted, burning E85 (currently in storage)
2004 Jetta turbo GLI
Marion, Iowa

[challomoner]

Why not buy a replacement running engine or rebuilt long block?

[J-Gaz.]

[calvinater]

Where is 206?
_________________
"Albatross"!

[raydog]

It sounds to me like you know what you need to do under the circumstances, and I agree with you. I would move on and get something when life better suits you.

Like Baz said, you can get a cheap used motor to get you through, but in the end , you will still have a car that needs work and no place to fix it. If you like the car that much, what about finding someplace to store it until you are ready?

[windfish]

[chicagovw]

I see both sides. There are reasons that shops do exist. If everyone did their own work, they would not. If you do not have the ability or desire or time to do your own work, have it done as long as the shop is competent (most shops, in my experience, are hacks), and you can afford it and like the car.

If you are not at that point in your life, it may be best to sell it. Old cars can be a lot of fun, but if you do not have the desire/abilty/place to work on it AND you cannot afford it at this time, they can make your life a misery.

Another option of course is to join a local club. I got very involved in my Model A Ford club and members are not only willing but enthusiastic to help each other out. I imagine there must be a VW Club in your area also willing to do the same. Plus you will learn a lot along the way, as long as those members do things right.

[bluebus86]

You can obtain a motor for less money than what you posted. you may consider an used motor as well. as for owning a classic car with no place to work on it, keep in mind millions of folks owned Bugs as daily drivers with no place to work on them.
Of course doing a restoration requires work space, but to maintain it, not much expensive work needs be farmed out.

even with limited space, general stuff like a valve adjust, oil change and tune up can be done in a parking lot in under an hour. You do NOT need a full,on shop, nor even a garage to maintain a Bug, anymore so than if you own a brand new toyota.

Keep the Bug if the body is sound, and she is relatively rust free. source a less expensive engine if need be.
Join a local aircooled VW club, you may find friendly like minded folks there that may offer you assistance in general maintenance, maybe some one has a good used motor for you, maybe club folks can help you with a motor swap. a motor swap can be done in under an hour in a driveway with basic tools, a jack and stands

Good Luck, Keep the Bug!
_________________
Help Prevent VW Engine Fires, see this link.....Engine safety wire information

Stop introducing dirt into your oil when adjusting valves ... https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=683022

[challomoner]

Thing is with selling vws is regret, I've regretted selling all mine. Just something else to consider. That said an old EF civic would be a cool reliable classic, they are great cars and need little maintenance. My first car was an EF Civic and had 330,000 miles on the clock when I sold it, 330,000 trouble free miles I might add.

[Cusser]

[bluebus86]

Also, for the gland nut and rear wheel nut, I dont use a torque wrench, I know my weight, and length of the lever arm I need to stand on to give me the correct torque. Simple, and effective. Using a weight and known lever length is how wrenches can be calibrated, Used to work in a place that calibrated them regularly this way, known weight and lever length for flight hardware for NASA.
_________________
Help Prevent VW Engine Fires, see this link.....Engine safety wire information

Stop introducing dirt into your oil when adjusting valves ... https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=683022

[Tim Donahoe]

When I mentioned that vintage car owners are better off doing most of the work on their cars, I meant “most” of the work. This did not include such items as rebuilding an engine, or transmission. These are items I prefer to farm out. Almost everything else is another matter. Maintenance, interior restoration, brakes, etc., can be accomplished without having a garage, of course.

And, back in the day, millions owned these bugs without having a place to work on them; but back then, those cars were relatively new, and before the Idiot Book was published, most Of those owners relied upon the VW dealer, or the thousands of VW shops to keep their cars running.

Today, 95% of those VW shops are gone, and VW dealers don’t have the expertise to work on forty-year-old cars. Also, the cars are older, and subsequently require more than just maintenance.

I’ve pulled my engine a good five or six times since I bought it in 2012. In 1970, I didn’t even change my own oil. You just took it down to the dealer and he changed it, adjusted the valves, carb, whatever. If you wanted to save money, you had a local non-authorized VW shop do the work. One, I remember in Antioch, Ca, actually cleaned your windows as a courtesy.

Those days of relatively inexpensive farmed-out car maintenance are gone. Our bugs are old. If we want them to be reliable, we pretty much have to replace all the moving parts ourselves.

Vintage car ownership today is simply a hands-on endeavor (unless you have a budget that allows a mechanic to do the work).

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[Floating VW]

Let me tell you a little story that might give you some inspiration:

In the late 90's, I relocated from northern Indiana to Anchorage, AK, and drove my Bug to get there. It had a single-port 1500 in it back then (a tougher mule there never was!). A few weeks after I arrived, I took it to get it smogged (back then the car was still "new" enough to require emissions testing to get it registered). On the way to the shop, I heard a strange "PING" and felt the engine shudder briefly, but it kept running so I didn't stop. It failed the smog test, and on the way home, every time I stopped at an intersection or took a right-hand curve too fast, blue smoke would pour out of the exhaust. At the time, I was living at an apartment complex that had an empty gravel parking lot beside it, so I parked my car there and did some investigating. Turns out the #3 wrist pin clip had popped loose (that was the "PING" I heard) and chewed a huge hole into the cylinder wall. So I tore it down right there in the dirt and mud and replaced the cylinder and piston, took it back to get it smogged, and passed with flying colors.

Several years later, my girlfriend at the time decided to leave Anchorage and move back to Massachusetts, and I decided to follow her (she ended up breaking up with me two weeks after I arrived in Mass., but that's a different story!). Once again, I drove my Bug all the way across the country to get there, and just as I was pulling into the driveway of the apartment she had rented (also gravel, and also full of dirt and mud), I hear a loud grinding sound coming from the back of the car. So, I dropped the engine right there in the dirt and sure enough, discovered that the flywheel had come loose. Just like you, and just like the time in Alaska, I didn't have a garage to work in, so I tore it down in the dirt and mud, drilled out the dowel pin holes with a hand drill, hammered in some larger dowels, and torqued that flywheel down as tight as I could get it.

Over the next few years, I ended up driving that Bug back to the mid-west, then down to Miami and back again, and then out to San Diego by way of Denver, where I finally replaced that old 1500 single-port with a beautiful (and very expensive!) mill that I had been planning to build for 30 years or so. Now, it is a work of art.

So ask me if I think it was worth all the suffering and money and doubt and frustration.

Every bit of it!

I will leave you with a quote that always helps get me through whenever I am frustrated with a project and feel like giving up:

"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too." -John F. Kennedy

[jlex]

Well said, Floating VW!
_________________
jlex.
'70 std. "Elsie"
'88 Carrera

[J-Gaz.]

[J-Gaz.]

@Cusser,

Yeah, he pulled it.
and last I ran it I did notice the Front (Rear) Crank Pully Wobble so bad it through the Generator Belt.

I didn't know what to make of the wobble but do now.

It's not something I mentioned to the Shop when I took it in either...