Oregon Man Starts Car, Eats Hat

herr_sparky · Post by **herr_sparky** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:19 am

i got the 412 running yesterday after 5 years of sitting outside & soaking up rain. all it took was some fresh gas and fuel hoses and the little bastard started right up, then idled, and drove around the neighborhood just like old times...gotta love d-jet.

its amazing that everything still works: no clogged injectors, no frozen diaphragms or pump, (well the pump did need a very light tap with a wooden mallet). letting carburetors sit for that long would never work without lots of cleaning...

i'm so glad i kept this car, it really puts a smile on my face... next: proper engine rebuild & the "ray greenwood" strut treatment...

vwfye · Post by **vwfye** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 10:25 am

congradulations and where the heck are you at? i've got a 74 412 in Roseburg that hadn't run since 92 when i bought it in 2006. i put in a battery, a new fuel pump (old one was removed) and i drove it from PDX to Roseburg that day.

herr_sparky · Post by **herr_sparky** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 10:44 am

wow, thats like 200 miles, right? when i bought this car in the 90s it had been sitting in the street for months (at least) and the owner had given up on selling it. she was so surprised that anyone actually wanted it (i knocked on her door) that she sold it to me for $300... i went straight to the gas station then drove to Crescent City (from PDX) and back without a hitch. its the only ACVW i've ever owned and it continues to impress me...

vwfye · Post by **vwfye** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 10:46 am

you're in Crescent City? I've got a bud down there with a nice oval window. How far are ya from roseburg if you are NOT in CC? it would be nice to network with semi local t4 folks

btw, i also have an 86 YX 600

herr_sparky · Post by **herr_sparky** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 11:47 am

nope, in Portland. CC was just as far as i could get in a day... are there any other members in Oregon? maybe meet at a VW show this summer?

the Radian, nice. lots of shared bits between them. dead-nuts reliable motor, too.

vwfye · Post by **vwfye** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 11:53 am

yep... just have find my fuel leak on it... well, and wait for better weather!

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:55 pm

My current 412. I had been searching for years for a two door four speed. A man at a VW shop in Avondale Ga (edge of Atlanta) says he thinks he had seen one years ago along this particular road a few miles out thataway....

. No end to the # of times I heard that one and it turned out to usualy be a type 3.
I drive out there and see just the front end peeking out from under a shed. Faded Marathon blue metallic without a dent on it and a basic clean interior. Engine complete and pristine except that its locked up (later turned out to be a dropped valve)....and a harness chewed through by rats.
In a box in the back is the original Wolfsburg III stereo, plates from Germany, France and Norway and every document ever written from records, to the original books, to the end of assembly line printout and a full foldout map of Europe with all VW Dealers marked and a nice dotted line showing the Berlin wall (the service Europa guide).

I went to the front door and made a deal for $300. Towed it home the next day. The guy said he thought it would be so expensive and complex that I would probably never get it to run. His dad was the second owner. The first was an American school teacher in Frankfurt that brought it home, sold it to his dad. His dad gave it to him and he blew up the engine in two months (he did not realize that he ran it out of oil). He liked the car but thought it to be unreliable. He seemed happy to get rid of a non-running hulk for $300. The last tag was 1982. This was 1994.

I had just totalled the front end of my gold four door 73 412. It had most everything else new. I went home and pulled the tranny and the engine and popped them into my new two door...and drove across town and pulled into his driveway...and beeped the horn. I though the guy was gonna throw up....

Ray

Hulken · Post by **Hulken** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 1:35 pm

raygreenwood wrote:
In a box in the back is the original Wolfsburg III stereo, plates from Germany, France and Norway and every document ever written from records, to the original books, to the end of assembly line printout and a full foldout map of Europe with all VW Dealers marked and a nice dotted line showing the Berlin wall (the service Europa guide).

Ray

Plates from Norway? So this car has been on norwegian registration plates? Cool!

herr_sparky · Post by **herr_sparky** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 1:59 pm

I went home and pulled the tranny and the engine and popped them into my new two door...and drove across town and pulled into his driveway...and beeped the horn. I though the guy was gonna throw up....

thats when you turned to him and said, "boo-yah"

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 2:40 pm

Yes, its been sitting still in storage for 5 years. I am building sub-assemblies for most everything from interior to a new engine. Itshould start coming together this summer. Hopefully back on the road by next year.
But I put another 100k on theengine I had and then dropped avalve. Rebuilt it in 1995 and drove it as my daily driver until 2003. It had 89k on it when a nut came off the back of the oil pump and stripped all the teeth from the cam gear. At that point...every last nut and bolt of the brakes suspension and injection was new...less than 10k miles on anything. I decided to park it until everything was done perfectly. It is such a nice car...its not right to keep restoring it and wearing it out again before I get it all back together. Ray

herr_sparky · Post by **herr_sparky** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 4:34 pm

several years ago i pulled in to a gas station and the kid working there said "my dad has one of those in our backyard..." assuming jr. didnt know the difference between a T3 and a T4, i shrugged, but he offered his phone #, so i called just to be sure. turns out his old man had a '74 fastback in his yard, and was very excited to learn that someone actually wanted it. i think he wanted like $500 for it, but took $75 (!). i had big plans for it, but when i got it home i found out the body was so rusty than i stepped right through the floor in a couple places, so i stripped it down and had it towed away. i wish i had been able to keep it, but i had nowhere to store it and housemates to share space with. you may remember a "free '74 412 FASTBACK" post from back then, 2002 i think. eventually its 4-speed will make its way into my wagon, and its strut bodies will be the guinea pigs for the lowering project...i did drive it around the block once, good times...

raykinsella · Post by **raykinsella** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 4:56 pm

Hey there, herr_sparky

I just went to your blog and read all about your 412 and the work you've been doing on it. I live up in the Seattle area but I come down to Portland every so often because my son goes to University of Portland. Sometimes I drive one of my type-4s - usually my red 412 wagon. I've never seen another 411 or 412 between here and Portland. What part of Portland do you live in?

herr_sparky · Post by **herr_sparky** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:03 pm

mt. tabor, thats inner SE. U of P is pretty far from my place, but next time youre in town PM me and maybe we can swap horror/wonder stories...

herr_sparky · Post by **herr_sparky** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 8:53 am

hey vwfye
this is a little off topic but i thought you might get a kick out of this, a custom Radian that some friends of mine built at a local motorcycle shop called Vicious Cycle:

vwfye · Post by **vwfye** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 7:32 pm

nice... mine is no longer stock either. it is a cafe bike now with custom seat. i've enjoyed everything about the bike except for how small it is. this is my first sub 1L in 16 years.