Welcome to the STF! Please Introduce Yourself and Your Ride

[Slayer]

Greetings from Michigan.....

I'm about to acquire my first VW. It's a fuel injected convertible. Body is solid and interior is 80%. It needs a new top, which I likely won't buy as we plan to use it as a fair weather cruiser only. This has been in my family for 40 years or so and was given to one of my brothers by my dad. He restored the body on the car about 16 years ago. Since then, it's not been driven much at all and in the last 12 years, never left the garage. I know it needs tires so since I plan on replacing the wheels and putting disc brakes on it, that's not a big deal. My brother passed away unexpectedly, so I'm getting the car and plan to get it on the road.

The larger concern is that it hasn't ran in so long. I was told that it needs a head gasket. I'm not sure that's true or not, but I do know it's been leaking oil for a very long time. I don't have pics, and likely won't have the car in my garage for another few weeks yet. Below are my goals with this thing.

1. Get it running
2. Wash, polish, and seal the paint.
3. Disc brakes with drop spindles, new wheels, and new tires.
4. Performance engine upgrades - Question....do I replace the engine or rebuild it with a carburetors in lieu of fuel injection? I'm in the dark here.
5. New audio system.

We simply are going to make this a fun ride for running around town in good weather. I want to keep it in the family and work on it with the kids in hopes of inspiring them to work with their hands and get off the damn electronics.

I just joined the forum here, so I have a lot of reading to do. I welcome any opinions and direction on this project, including potential cost expenditures, parts resources, etc. I'll update with a new thread once I have the car here.

[Leatherneck]

Great to see your post. Lots to read and learn, help out where you can, need help just ask.

[Slayer]

Great to see your post. Lots to read and learn, help out where you can, need help just ask.

Thanks. I'm looking forward to the project. I'm just ready to get it running again. Everything else will follow.

[Dougstr]

Greetings everyone! Thank you all for building this wonderful forum. I am a retired deputy sheriff and recently took a job for a local timber company performing security services out in the woods

Many years ago, my buddy Will (GB) gave me a Volkswagen that was in a whole bunch of pieces. I put it together and had a couple of good years running around in the woods with it. I always thought it would be a great rig for patrolling out in the brush.

Doug deer on bug, 2008.jpg

In 2002 I began working as a Marine Deputy. Without a doubt, the best job I have ever had. It took me all over the Oregon teaching other law enforcement officers to run boats and spread the message of safety on the water. That eventually led to NASBLA which took me all over the country teaching tactical boating and spreading the message of safety on the water. Like I said a great job.

While working patrol on Tenmile Lake around 2005 I made good friends with a retired couple who live on the Lake. During one of our conversations, we talked about Volkswagen's and I found out they had a Baja bug parked in their garage.

As my career progressed and I started thinking about what would come next I often thought of patrolling the woods in my Baja Bug. Last November I heard of an opportunity, Weyerhaeuser was looking for retired law enforcement to perform the security mission on their lands. They weren't hiring, they were contracting and the person they contracted with had to provide their own equipment including the vehicle... January 2nd 2020, I would have 30 years at the S.O. that's a nice number.

A call to my friends on the lake, yes, they still have the Baja Bug (um, it hasn't moved since 2006). No worries it's a Volkswagen!

IMG_20191228_145654.jpg

It took a bit to get her going but the Security Bug is in service!

IMG_20200228_110939 (1).jpg

And so the adventure begins. Running around the woods in a fifty (nearly) year old car is going to be a challenge of constant maintenance and strengthening. I have already found this group to be incredibly valuable at both and will be a critical resource as I go forward.

Thank you for keeping this going!

[doc]

Great story! keep us posted on fixes and upgrades.

[Leatherneck]

Outstanding,
Good to see you in STF The Off road forum is where you need to head to next. Great bunch of people in there just be careful they like to spend your money for you.

[buntist]

Hey All,

I just found this forum and thought I ought to be active on here. I am in the process of getting my moms first car back on the road. It is a 62 vert that was converted to baja before she got it in the late 70's. I am working on taking it back to full bodied. I have almost wrapped up work on the pan (replaced the pan halves, painted, cleaned, etc.) and I am on the search for front and rear clips, and 4 fenders.

[Leatherneck]

Welcome to STF, probably the best decision t go back full bodied, she would like that. We would like to see the progress and how you do it.

[Dougstr]

Hey All,

I just found this forum and thought I ought to be active on here. I am in the process of getting my moms first car back on the road. It is a 62 vert that was converted to baja before she got it in the late 70's. I am working on taking it back to full bodied. I have almost wrapped up work on the pan (replaced the pan halves, painted, cleaned, etc.) and I am on the search for front and rear clips, and 4 fenders.

An excellent quest! I look forward to seeing your progress.

[jedavisss8]

Hi All
To introduce myself, I bought last year a '70 beetle with autostick. I have bad knees, so returning to a stick was out of the question.
The odometer says a little over 74k, but I suspect it has turned over. It should be a 1600sp. But the block is a 1300 with dual port heads. PO said it was 1600. So, I have a Frankenstein. Being from inland SoCal, it has no rust. It had been sitting for quite a few months. But I put in a battery, turned the key and it started right up. It is spitting a little oil smoke, so a rebuild is in the future. It's currently sitting on my driveway as the distributor broke. I have a new Pertronics to put in, just haven't gotten back to it yet.
Future plans include new seats, a repaint, early model bumpers, '40 Ford taillights, and the previously mentioned rebuild, probably up to 1776. Cost dictates that.
This is not my first bug. I had a '67 in my much younger days. My son has a '73 Baja, as do several of his in-laws. Once I get it into a more presentable condition, I'll be joining a local club called Herr Cooled.

[WesleyG]

Good morning,
I have been recruited by my boss to do the care and feeding of his wife's 1970 Karmann Ghia. He bought this car shortly after I started working for his construction company as the mechanic. I played with VWs in the mid to late 70s as a teen, then discovered big block muscle cars and didn't look back, yet I still have a soft spot for an air cooled VW. I love the simplicity of the early VWs.
The Karmann Ghia is a very similar to the car that his wife drove when they were dating 4 decades ago, her father sold the car in an effort to keep the two apart. The boss told her that he would buy her another one some day.
This Karmann Ghia is in pretty good shape and was restored to a "gifted amateur" level a few years before my boss bought it. As both my boss and his wife have driven Range Rovers for years they would like to bring this car into the 21st century without losing any of the cars character. We also do not want to make any change that cannot be undone.
After spending several decades in the racing industry, 10 years of that being my only source of income, I can tackle just about anything. One of the biggest issues is that I have no history on the car, apparently the car traded hands a couple of times since it was restored and the original builder cannot be located. I have little to go on with the engine, it has a stock carburetor and distributor with an aftermarket exhaust connected to the stock heater boxes. When we brought the car to our shop it didn't idle very good and had no low end power, sounded like it had a dead misfire, however when you would stand on the throttle everything clear up and the car would cruise effortlessly at 75 mph.
I discovered a vacuum leak at the intake to head interface due to distorted stud holes on the end casting. After repairing the vacuum leak the engine was now firing on all four cylinders yet the idle was not smooth at all, it had a pronounced lope to it. From there I adjusted the valves where I saw a lot more valve lift than I remembered a stock 1600cc dual port engine to have. Measuring the valve lift with a dial indicator I discovered that we had just over .400 of an inch of lift, no where near stock. Which begs the question, did they just put a big cam in a stock engine? Are there other engine upgrades? I don't have access to a P & G machine to check engine volume and we are not ready to remove the engine at this time to do any further exploration. Why did they put a big cam in an engine with a stock distributor and carburetor? Questions without answers, at some point I will have to pull the engine and tear it down to see what I am working with.
For now we are looking at replacing the factory steel wheels and center caps with some alloy wheels and a higher quality tire than the 8 year old Khumos that are on it now. We have already upgraded the stereo with vintage appearing modern electronics which include USB and Bluetooth. I am going to have to replace the exhaust in the near future and the boss REALLY wants me to convert the current induction to EFI.
Wish me luck!
Wesley

[doc]

Wesley,

Welcome to STF! You'll find almost all your answers here.

Please post in the appropriate forum related to the question youre asking for best results. Or start a more comprehensive thread in the KG forum.

KGs are mostly beetles with very special bodies and an extra carb. The mechanics are very straight ahead for the most part. If you found and corrected and intake leak already, you'll do fine.

The killer of KGs is rust. KG bodies were sort of hand built, no two the exactly the same. Very cool but ultra subject to rust. That car may look great in newer paint, but very few don't have rust issues. Start looking. In the end, it is the way to preserve the car. All other issues are repairable.

It is probable that someone has put a bigger cam, bigger P&Cs, different dizzy, different carb(s) or exhaust on the stock engine. There are tons of aftermarket stuff, some effective, some not. Only a teardown will reveal the history. You could do a compression test, check valve lash again, feel for endplay in the crank and check for more intake/exhaust leaks without a teardown. Might give more insight.

Good luck! Let's see a few pics. Enjoy STF.

[Florence]

Hi everyone,A Happy New Year To All,despite of the pandemic i wish everyone in a good health.
Im florence, volkswagen and classic vintage car lover,.....
As of the moment im into my 550 spyder with 912 engine but having a problem in how i can use the 912 engine with a super beetle transmission, first attemp was failed,clutch doesnt move.

[Piledriver]

Porsche used both "pull" and "push" type clutch pressure plate actuators over the years, the VW setup is push type.
You may need a different pressure plate to work with the vw trans throwout bearing setup.

I have no specific knowledge of the 912 motors clutch etc, but that`s probably a good place to start.

[INOIMSLO]

Thanks for letting me in, just an old car guy with Volkswagens in my blood. My Dad was a VW guy, having a '58 Karmann Ghia and a '61 Beetle. Our Dad died when I was young, but genetics are strong and I've had a few VWs. Have a '74 Super now that I picked up a couple of years ago, enjoy tinkering on it and just driving it.