Suggested motor manual for non-mechanic.

[Hayden74SB]

My son-in-law has just gotten a 74 Super Beetle and is planning to do a full engine teardown and rebuild. He has never done any serious wrenching and I would like to find a good manual for this car to guide him through process.

Any suggestions for a book for the Noob.

[67rustavenger]

Well, a good starter book is, John Muar's "How to keep your VW alive, for the complete idiot" Almost everyone has that book on their shelf. It is a fun read and has some good tips for keeping your SIL's car on the road.

Another is a Bentley service manual for the year of make for the car. It's a little harder to digest but has all the information on maintaining a VW.

There are a few more books available, Prescott Phillips, VW engine rebuild book is likely the latest to be published. For a pro, there are a few mistakes in the book but, for a noob, they would never notice those.
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[Bobs67vwagen]

Times 2 on the Muir idiots guide. I started on this in the 1960s and still use it today. It is written in a way that non mechanical types can understand the processes to accomplish repairs. Good luck

[ashman40]

I have these two books:
How to Rebuild Your Volkswagen air-Cooled Engine (All models, 1961 and up)(1987)
How to Rebuild VW Air-Cooled: 1961-2003 (2019)

While the second one is newer and details recent kits and parts that you can still buy... I feel the first book does a better job walking you thru every step of the process. IMHO.

My one criticism of the first book... it does a poor job linking the distributor installation/dependency steps together and could result in the distributor timing being off.

Step1 - Install the distributor drive gear, spacers and distributor into the left case half with the rotor pointing to where you want #1 spark plug on the distributor cap.
<...>
Step 8 - Drop the crank into the case half with the #1 connecting rod fully extended (TDC).
<...>
Step17 - Engage the cam gear with crank gear so "dot" index marks mesh.

The step numbers are just an example to show that there are many steps between these three. If you happen to rotate the crank 360deg between Step 8 and Step 17 to make sure the bearings are in their journals... the distributor will be 180-out when you install the cam in step17. It does a poor job explaining that these three steps are linked and rotating the crank between these steps could result in your distributor indexing being off.

The second book avoids this problem by installing the distributor drive gear and distributor AFTER the case (crank + cam) has been assembled into a short block. This slightly increases the risk you could drop one of the distributor drive spacers down into the case and have to re-open the case to retrieve it. My only issue is many of the key details and specs for the rebuild are in the description of the pics and not the text of the pages. That may just be a personal preference of mine.

In the end, both are good references for rebuilding an engine.

I would also suggest getting a copy of the proper Bentley manual for your Beetle/VW model year. If you have a question on what the spec is for any portion of the rebuild I find it often easier to search and find it in the different subsections of the Bentley than trying to find it in the text or picture descriptions. The Bentley is a better "reference doc" than either of the workflow books. The Bentley also has references to specs for other parts of the car other than just the engine. For example body and suspension specs.
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AshMan40
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'67 Beetle #1 {project car that never made it to the road }
'75 Beetle 1200LS (RHD Japan model) {junked due to frame rot}
'67 Beetle #2 {2019 project car - Wish me luck!}

[messenger123]

How to rebuild your volkswagen air-cooled engine can be downloaded as a pdf for free if you want to have a look at it before buying a printed copy. Just do a search for the book name + pdf and you'll find the link.

[baldessariclan]

John Muir’s “How to Keep You Volkswagen Alive” manual is written specifically for non-experienced folks — it’s pretty much the original “train yourself to do your own VW mechanics” bible!

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1971 Standard Beetle — fairly stock / driver

baldessariclan -- often in error, never in doubt...

[bsairhead]

Non-mechanic? Decent tools #1. The Muir guide can stay in the bathroom.#2 How to rebuild your air-cooled VW. It has the tech specks you need. A lot of good videos on this box.

[ashman40]

[Rome]

[2type2]

Despite there being an awful lot of misinformation and misguided advice doled out on the web, ! I have found that perusing--- and carefully choosing--- yutube vids has been beneficial. I have books I often refer to before/during a procedure since my memory seems to be shot.

But my point is-- watch educational and entertaining vids about your current or ongoing projects INSTEAD of mindless trash on tictok or fb or reddt while you are wasting life on screen time. You'll end up saving time , money and exasperation while you (almost subconsciously) improve your basic skills. That's a nickle's worth now that 02 is out of production.But if you round down it's nothing,lol.
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[KTPhil]

One of the changes since most manuals were written (including Muir's) is that parts are more variable today. You can't just bolt it together and expect it to last. This is where "feel" comes in.

I hear there is a good VW community in the Tucson area, so I would seek out local clubs and find an engine guru who will guide you in person. no book or video can replace an experienced engine man showing you the proper feel when checking fit.

But for books, a combo of Muir, Bentley, and Wilson is a good start.
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Current Fleet:
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