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Nice one!. Only seen one that color in my lifr. Its an early 73...right? Steel bumpers...over-riders. Hang close. It will be a couple months, but I have to order an interior from sew fine. I will send them my old seats to make patterns. Lets talk about a group buy. Ray

It is pretty straight. Theres a rust spot in the front of the hood, and on the decklid, but that's it. Everything else is pretty rust free. Passenger front fender is a little wavy, think it rubbed up against something.

I don't know if it's an early '73 or not, I'll have to check when I get home. I wouldn't mind looking into that interior Ray. I'd like to find a source for window rubber, so if anybody knows of one let me know.

Some of the local VW guys here think I'm crazy for keeping this thing. They keep trying to talk me into "raping it for the useful stuff, and trashing the rest" . There's no way I could bring myself to do that. I've gained a lot of respect for this car. Some how, to me, it's so ugly that it's kind of cute. If you notice from the picture, it only has one front overider. My wife said I should leave it that way because it looks snaggle toothed. Gotta love her.

Hi there. I am new to these forum things, so I am hoping to reply to the automatic tranny seal post in the right way!
I live in the Netherlands. The VW dealers here still show prices (without VAT) of some seals on the parts lists, that usually means they can still get them (not always though!!).

torque converter seal # 003 519 089 D (42x55x7 mm); 13.35 euro
torque converter bearing bush # 003 323 611; 5.14 euro
pan gasket # 003 321 371; 9.12 euro
oil seal stub shafts # 016 409 399 B (45x60x8 mm); 10.00 euro
filler/dipstick pipe round seal # 003 321 419 B (17.5x3.5 mm); 1.84 euro
Maybe the partnumbers will be of some help. The seal ecdez started the post with shows not available from the VW dealer.

Just recently I bought a '71 4 door 411 with Automatic. There was oil leakage thru the pan seal but it also seems to be leaking from the torque converter itself (leakage starts when driving the wheels, not so much during idle).
I haven't got any experience working on these gearboxes and will greatly appreciate if anyone could answer these questions;

Guess it's inevitable to take the engine, with or without the gearbox, out to replace the seal. I've been reading throught the Haynes and Clymer manuals and also read some of your posts. Is it easier to take just the engine out from an Automatic then a Manual gearbox, assuming there is no drive shaft that needs to be pulled back (under the rear seat)?

With the 3 bolts from the converter out, it will stay in the box when taking out the engine (?). Can it be pulled from the shaft once the engine is out?

If taking out the gearbox aswell, is putting back and adjusting the selection levers a difficult job?
I also need to replace the CV boots, but I'd rather leave the gearbox in place for now.

Thanks,
Peter

Hi Peter, and welcome. Congratulations on your purchase. Unless I'm wrong here, the three bolts on the torque converter are what holds it in place. You can actually take the engine out with the converter still attached to it. Don't know if that's recommended though. If you need to replace the CV boots as well, you would probably do just as well to pull the tranny on out. There's only one selection cable running to the tranny from the body, and it shouldn't be that hard to adjust.

As was the original topic here, you will most likely want to spend a few extra bucks, and a few extra minutes to replace the seal between the two halves of the tranny anyway. Better to do it while everythings out than do it again in a few months.

Hey Ecdez, www.revolks.com offers window seals just need to email them for the listing. I think the girl's name is Nadine over there?
I need to call them and order some before its too late! Hope they still offer them!! I dont care what any VW shop guys say about my 412 because they just dont know what a great car they were and are probably just not real VW lovers! These cars kicked butt for a sedan with 1.7,1.8L engine and I know from the look of the guys with the 350 Camero that I ran with three people in the car! LOL!! You can carry people and lots of gear in these cars and I think, get there in style! Good Luck with yours!
Bill

Thanks Ecdez! You are right about taking everything out and do a rebuild in one go, but at the moment I?d prefer to just do whats necessary to get the 411 in good running order. You see, the car is located in a very basic garage (no electricity, heating, etc.) a few miles from home.
As soon as it?s technically OK I can get the official check up and a licence plate/road allowance. Then I can drive it to a better location (with a vertical lift and all). I can?t tow it there now, because the car can?t stay there overnight?.

I?ve seen an engine with the converter still attached before, however, won?t the engine be shorter and easier to pull out if the converter stays in the tranny?

Oh, by the way, type 4's are great cars no matter what some people might say!
Thanks!
Peter

DO NOT leave the converter attached to the flywheel/engine. That will pull the long shafts out of the oil pump drive. In 90% of all cases...that will bend or damage them.

There are 4 bolts holding the tranny to the engine. There are 3 bolts holding the torque converter to the flex plate. Remove the 3 first...then the engine bolts. Be prepared that the torque converter will slide out with the shafts attached. It must be held in with a flat plate of metal and a bolt...to the bell housing.

Be absolutely sure to change he seal between the planetary transfer case with red ATF...and the final drive with sae-90. When this seal dies....which it will in 100% of all cars sooner or later....the transmission will be finished in under 3 miles. It will be violent too! Change that seal! Ray

That makes sense Ray. Better go ahead and disconnect it. It's only a few extra minutes of work.

vwbill, keep me posted on the window rubber deal. I'm gonna try to check it out myself as well. Oh, and thanks for the ebay link, I won the bid. Should have my Bently manual in a week or so. $5.00 plus $3.00 shipping. Not a bad deal.

Thanks Ray & Ecdez. All right, you?ve got me convinced. I?ll get underneath there and get it all out!
Peter

Hey Ecdez, Nadine is working on sending me the window seals(US spec.) front,rear, sides and the front trunk seal and is gonna try and make something up for the engine lid seal in the meantime. Have you read Jeff's article on www.superbeetles.com about removing the old window seals. He has some great stuff there to read! Did you read about the restor of the 412 wagen on there page www.revolks.com? I think they still cracked one windscreen but had a backup donor! It sounds scary now thinkin of that!!! Good luck with the autotrans!! I love the autos for drivability but I love the manual for the push start factor,lol! Thx Bill

Yea, I was checking that out. I think they said that the winshield already had a hairline crack in it and when they tried to take it out, it busted open. Don't forget to keep me updated on those seals.

Thanks!