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Marc wrote: You should probably plan on replacing the bushing, if it turns out to be good you'll have a spare - only be a matter of time before it's needed. There are basically two on the market these days, neither is OEM quality but the stiffer/more expensive one comes close. Avoid the cheap soft one.

If you're tall enough that you need the seat all the way back (and don't have ape-arms) you're probably going to find that it's a stretch to reach 3rd gear when belted in with the stock straight-shaft shifter. My solution is to grind/file a slit into the front edge of the ball-socket of the shift rod so I can use a pre`68 "bent" shifter - that can then be heated/bent if needed to put the knob where I want it. It's almost impossible to cut that slit with the rod in the tunnel (and you'll probably end up nicking the roof of the tunnel) so I'm in the habit of notching the shiftrod of all my personal cars while it's out for the bushing, that way if I need to change the shifter someday (after a seat change, perhaps) it's ready to go.

I've got everything except that bushing coming. You guys are talking about the one:
Remove the cover plates from both the frame head and the front body apron ... working through the lever opening push the rod out through the front of the car ... 111-701-259A?

I'll hope the last person did that and wait until I'm not working by myself in the driveway ...

I ordered the most expensive shift coupler I could find (working using my wife's logic for wine where more expensive = better).

I'm about 6'1" and I think one of the issues I have with the car is having to put my legs through the steering wheel to drive ... ape-arms R us ... 36-37" sleeve dress shirts ... at least I'll know *before* I 'push the shift rod through the front of the car' ...

More feedback on state of the lump. After 90.4 miles it took just over 3 gallons to fill it ... I didn't believe the auto shut off and topped it up with 3.3 ... over 27 MPG for the mountain loop and some flats. Google Earth File: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/156 ... 0Drive.kmz

Bad news topping up the tank was the wrong move ... at least I know the spare tire well drain is open ... gas comes out there when there is a leak in the fuel filler / evap hoses ... pretty smelly car. It would be nice if I could find a diagram of what hoses are supposed to go where on a California Emissions 1972 Ghia ... once again the manual proves worthless.

If its getting 27+ MPG up here on 85 rated pump fuel with 10-15% methanol it is probably pretty healthy? Just seems dead slow and gutless (even compared to a 4000lb Honda Pilot).

Next project is seeing if I really have to extend the tow bar before I take it to Canada ... only one period correct photo today:

If you have a "standard" Bug towbar it will work on a 'Ghia if the towball is low enough. Too high and the bar will crush the front apron when the road surface undulates (BTDT). Also, if the bar and/or the hitch isn't extended, the longer front overhang of the 'Ghia will cause the front fenders/headlights to crunch into the tow vehicle if you take a tight turn. Much cheaper to preemptively modify the bar than to repair the bodywork if you should get into a tight situation and damage it.
Don't you have a Bentley manual? I though that they covered the tank-vent system well. There should be no open lines up front, after the slosh & expansion-tank plumbing all vapors/overflow fuel should go back to the charcoal canister in the right-rear and be purged into the aircleaner upon engine startup by air pressure tapped off the fan shroud. Even if the stock aircleaner's gone and the plumbing in the rear is messed up, there still shouldn't be any leakage-to-ground up front - the "open" tank vent line was last seen in 1967.

Marc wrote:If you have a "standard" Bug towbar it will work on a 'Ghia if the towball is low enough. Too high and the bar will crush the front apron when the road surface undulates (BTDT). Also, if the bar and/or the hitch isn't extended, the longer front overhang of the 'Ghia will cause the front fenders/headlights to crunch into the tow vehicle if you take a tight turn. Much cheaper to preemptively modify the bar than to repair the bodywork if you should get into a tight situation and damage it.
Don't you have a Bentley manual? I though that they covered the tank-vent system well. There should be no open lines up front, after the slosh & expansion-tank plumbing all vapors/overflow fuel should go back to the charcoal canister in the right-rear and be purged into the aircleaner upon engine startup by air pressure tapped off the fan shroud. Even if the stock aircleaner's gone and the plumbing in the rear is messed up, there still shouldn't be any leakage-to-ground up front - the "open" tank vent line was last seen in 1967.

Part of the plan is to get a drop receiver to put the tow bar parallel with the ground. Adding an extension to the hitch would be easier for me than modifying the tow bar (but probably not 12-18" worth). I don't know anyone here that does welding or might have tubing ... I can see finding a shop to do this could turn into a hassle ...

The Bentley manual I have says next to nothing about the evap system ... the cars have one and the canister in the trunk is the expansion tank / vapor separator ... the carbon canister must be replaced every 48k miles. A simple hose routing diagram would be very nice. I can take some pictures and post them here so the collective can help me sort this out. With no carbon can I suspect the hard line from the expansion tank is vented to atmosphere in the engine compartment and the engine fan can recirculate the vapors past the spark plugs and into the heater ... (sigh)

R

Hi Randy,

You're doing the right thing by taking care of all the basics before upping the power.

What exactly is your running engine config right now?

FJC

FJCamper wrote:Hi Randy,

You're doing the right thing by taking care of all the basics before upping the power.

What exactly is your running engine config right now?

FJC

LOL ... at this point I have little choice and I hope getting to know it stock will be a valuable baseline.

Bone stock mechanicals (as far as I know)
Spiffy K&N Air Filter (to replace the aftermarket unit that let rain water puddle on the top and run down the mounting stud)
SVDA Pertronix Distributor
Valves set to current .15mm (0.006") rather than original .10mm (0.004") spec
Timing 32° BTDC @ full Mechanical Advance (Idle about 10° BTDC)

I want to sort out the shifting and driving position before I drop several thousand into an engine. It has to be comfortable and fun to drive as well as fast. More HP has never made an evil car into a sweetheart so that comes last.

R

Actually the normal spec for valvelash would be .006"
http://oacdp.org/wog72/014_m.png
However, if you are religious about never exceeding a 3,000mi adjustment interval, .004" is OK. Personally I compromise at .004" intake and .006" exhaust, which has shown to be safe if for some reason maintenance needs to be postponed.

Most aftermarket aircleaners are too "low-profile" to properly contain the fuel standoff above the carburetor, which results in the metering being disrupted at speed. On a Beetle there's usually room to add a 2½-3" tall tube between the carb and aircleaner but because of the limited hood clearance in a 'Ghia there's not much that can be done about it other than using an elbow and mounting the filter off to the side like the factory did.

Back in the late 70's I went to work swinging wrenches at a Datsun dealership (I know, why a Ghia and not a 1200, 510, or Z car). When the 610's were new we got one in that was sort of yellow with a green interior ... I thought it was 2 or 3 of the ugliest cars I had ever seen rolled into one. I said so to my boss and he gave me this bit of wisdom "Son, there is an ass for every seat." He sold every one he could get.

So I have an ass that I'm pretty attached to and I'm looking for seats ... "A seat for every ass." if you will.

You all probably have the idea that I'm damn lazy and prefer spending a bit of money rather than lots of time and effort to get things done. Suggestions to go to a pick-a-part place and get me some seats will be valued at the price paid. If there is a salvage place that will pull other OEM seats that are a proved minimum hassle install to a Ghia that will ship them to me I would consider it. Honda S2000 seats look pretty good, but I have no idea about fit and amount of fabrication to get the seat tracks to bolt in ... so I'm not sending anyone $800 a seat to find out (told you I'm damn lazy).

So I was poking around at ACN and found two options:
The Elite: http://vwparts.aircooled.net/Scat-Proca ... 3-vnyl.htm
The Rally: http://vwparts.aircooled.net/Scat-Proca ... 3-vnyl.htm

I can buy the whole interior kit for less than the price of many of the seats I like on EBay ... or I can buy just the seats and mounts.
The Elite seat is $299 and the Rally seat is $349 http://vwparts.aircooled.net/Scat-Proca ... 0-left.htm

This pretty much establishes the "Find a seat for that ass." search.
$700 - 850 for a pair of new or near new seats
$150 for 1972 Ghia mounting hardware.

Yes, I've searched the forums and the innertube and I'm almost as confused as when I started. I hear 1989 (Pre 1992?) Honda Prelude seats are good and an easy fit. There are some 328? BMW seats that look pretty nice. Recaros are in the $1200 per seat range and I'm not as "in love" with the current line as I was with the seats of the 70's and 80's, plus trying to find fitment information without sending your life history contact information has proved more of a challenge than my 'I survived the 70's' attention span can handle ...
Seat Thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... sc&start=0

So, any help with a place to sit my ass that will end up about 2" farther back than the limit of the stock seat?
I like these: These not so much:
R

Marc wrote:Actually the normal spec for valvelash would be .006"
http://oacdp.org/wog72/014_m.png
However, if you are religious about never exceeding a 3,000mi adjustment interval, .004" is OK. Personally I compromise at .004" intake and .006" exhaust, which has shown to be safe if for some reason maintenance needs to be postponed.

Most aftermarket aircleaners are too "low-profile" to properly contain the fuel standoff above the carburetor, which results in the metering being disrupted at speed. On a Beetle there's usually room to add a 2½-3" tall tube between the carb and aircleaner but because of the limited hood clearance in a 'Ghia there's not much that can be done about it other than using an elbow and mounting the filter off to the side like the factory did.

The reason that I mentioned it is because my OEM 1972 Manual states the cold valve clearance at 0.004" The Bentley manual inside front cover says,"Do not adjust the valves to less than the 0.15mm (.006") clearance specified in this manual. The older, out-dated clearance specification, which may be given on an engine decal or in the Owner's Manual, has been superseded."

Of course I had adjusted the valves to 0.004" before I got and read the Bentley Manual ... so I got to do it over again.

Agree on the clearance problem on the Ghia air filter. The K&N shown in this photo has less than 2 in clearance to the engine cover with no rain tray installed. I suspect the clearance will be very tight with the rain tray in place. Running without the rain tray is not an option when I move the car to British Columbia where any 5 consecutive days with no rain is labeled a drought.

I suspect that with dual 44IMF Webers I'll trade one set of clearance problems for another.

Yes I need to trim the release cable and the throttle cable ... and tidy ... and ... The tin is stock black, just looks chrome or silver in this photo.

You don't really need to readjust the valves, but if you do I'd leave the intakes at .004".
The reason that the lash spec was increase 50% was to accommodate Americans who weren't used to the idea of frequent regular maintenance (or for that matter, reading their owner's manuals) - it was done strictly as a P.R. move to reduce the incidence of complaints over non-warranteeable engine damage. It was all about broken exhaust valves, there was never any intake-valve-related reason for the increased spec - it was just simpler to bump `em both up.
A lesser factor was that the increased lash allowed dealers to move cars through their service bays quicker...less idle lift time = more profit. Rather than wait for the engine to be stone cold, they'd simply pop the valvecovers and put a big fan behind the car to blow on the engine while they dropped the oil and did other checks, and adjust the valves as soon as they got a "cool" thermometer reading at the head - usually the valves got adjusted while still >200°F, so to get away with this they had to be set a little looser.

Like I said, .004" cold is fine if you're good about keeping records and performing routine maintenance. If you're lazy like I've become in my old age, .004/.006" works just fine. Once the engine's got some miles on it, the lash seldom changes by more than .001" even over 6,000+ miles; I normally find something like .005"/.005" when I do get around to it...if I find .006"/.004" I know I put it off a little too long, but no harm's done.

For seats you should visit a junk yard and take some measurements. You can usually get a really nice set of seats for 2 to 3 hundred dollars. Make sure to get them from a 2 door so they flip forward if you need that feature. You can mount your seat to the stock tracks either further forward or further rearward depending on your fab choices and needs.
S

Marc wrote:You don't really need to readjust the valves, but if you do I'd leave the intakes at .004".
The reason that the lash spec was increase 50% was to accommodate Americans who weren't used to the idea of frequent regular maintenance (or for that matter, reading their owner's manuals) - it was done strictly as a P.R. move to reduce the incidence of complaints over non-warranteeable engine damage. It was all about broken exhaust valves, there was never any intake-valve-related reason for the increased spec - it was just simpler to bump `em both up.
A lesser factor was that the increased lash allowed dealers to move cars through their service bays quicker...less idle lift time = more profit. Rather than wait for the engine to be stone cold, they'd simply pop the valvecovers and put a big fan behind the car to blow on the engine, and adjust the valves as soon as they got a "cool" thermometer reading at the head - usually the valves got adjusted while still >200°F, so to get away with this they had to be set a little looser.

Like I said, .004" cold is fine if you're good about keeping records and performing routine maintenance. If you're lazy like I've become in my old age, .004/.006" works just fine. Once the engine's got some miles on it, the lash seldom changes by more than .001" even over 6,000+ miles; I normally find something like .005"/.005" when I do get around to it...if I find .006"/.004" I know I put it off a little too long, but no harm's done.

What has always puzzled me is the idea of "cold" valve adjustments. The goal is to have the normal operating temperature clearance at whatever spec the engine designer needs. Nissan always gave a cold spec for engine assembly and a engine temp spec for final setting.

I would think this becomes an issue on the VW when the expansion rates of the pushrods vs cylinders/heads are mixed in. In general my rule of thumb has been quiet hot and then check cold for an assembly spec. We used to adjust Honda 350 and 450 valves hot with the engine running. Checking them cold gave the same reading as Honda specified. Some of the BMW airheads with exotic valve trains needed a hot adjustment then a cold adjustment to get them to start again ... the titanium pushrods were not street friendly.

Next time I'm in the mood to burn the crap out of myself, I'll check valve clearance on a operating temp engine and make notes.

R

Steve Arndt wrote:For seats you should visit a junk yard and take some measurements. You can usually get a really nice set of seats for 2 to 3 hundred dollars. Make sure to get them from a 2 door so they flip forward if you need that feature. You can mount your seat to the stock tracks either further forward or further rearward depending on your fab choices and needs.
S

Er no ... did you read the part about me being lazy?

RHough wrote:...Next time I'm in the mood to burn the crap out of myself, I'll check valve clearance on a operating temp engine and make notes...

It's been done...and it's really messy and nasty on an ACVW. Just go with .004-.006" with aluminum pushrods and .000"-.002" with steel or CrMo pushrods and don't lose any sleep over it.

Early 1200cc 40HP heads had long rocker studs that went through the floor of the rockerbox and were anchored halfway down the head casting. Seemed like a good idea at the time but the cold lash had to be .008-.012" in order to be sure the valves would shut on a hot engine. c1963, VW reinforced the rockerbox floor so it could hold the studs, this allowed closing up the cold lash and reduced the clatter in the showroom.

After doing some poking around I decided on getting a pair of Procar Sportsman 1606 series seats. All the seats use the same mounting kit so if my wife wants something different (likely) it will be a bolt in swap. Basic black with velour seating surfaces.
I think I even found someone that has the mount kits in stock ... I'll know for sure Monday The Rally and Elite are both on the other side of $350 each so I figure $170 each for these is a good compromise.

The Rally seats look and measure like the seatback is very short so for that sort of $$$ someone in the house has to fall in love with them ...

R

I've had various ProCar seats. but never in a `Ghia. I can tell you that their pre`73 Beetle brackets are about 2" too tall for anything but a thin racing shell seat - to run anything with a cushion they have to be cut down or your thighs are jammed into the wheel. Hope this isn't an issue with the 'Ghia brackets.