If this bug's a knocking.....

[sokanomx]

I've got this knocking somewhere below the backseat. It starts when accelerating from 2nd to third and after about 2 months has gotten pretty loud. I'm nervous, any ideas what this could be and what it would take to fix! I usually go to shops for complex jobs and this sounds costly.

[Marc]

Is this a `73 or newer Bug, perchance?

[sokanomx]

73 super!

[Marc]

First year of the big soft transmission mounts. First thing you should find out is if the mounts (particularly the front one) are OK. This can be a bit challenging to determine since they're pretty sloppy even when new, but you can make sure that the nuts are all tight and perhaps have someone wrestle up and down on the engine while you observe the front mount to see if it's coming apart.
The noise is probably coming from the shift coupler area; lift up the back seat, remove the Phillips screw holding the inspection cover in place, pull the cover and go for a ride. Get on & off the gas in 1st and 2nd and see if the nose of the trans is striking the body - if it is, the mount's worse than you thought and has to be replaced. Another source of noise can be the shiftrod coupler -
if the mount is borderline, even a brand-new coupler can be noisy on these cars. If you don't detect any slop at the coupler and it shifts OK, it may not help much to put a new coupler in. If the mounts are good enough to last for a while, here's a "Band-Aid" for the noise: wrap the shift coupler up in some foam rubber - just tie it around with old shoelaces or whatever. Objective is to make a padded snubber that will rub against the inspection cover when it's put back on yet still allow the shifter to function normally.

[sokanomx]

I got something to go on now. thanks a lot
I'm gonna call some shops and get some prices.
But not until I check under the back seat. That sounds like the spot. Thanks, you've helped out a lot.

[john@stafford.net]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Marc:
First year of the big soft transmission mounts.[...]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Oh do I hate to hear that. I'm moving my engine to a '74 Bug pan which has those mounts. Are they really so bad? What would you recommend over the new German stock mounts?

[Marc]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by john@stafford.net:
I'm moving my engine to a '74 Bug pan which has those mounts. Are they really so bad? What would you recommend over the new German stock mounts?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

As long as your engine is running on all four they aren't "bad", just different. You need a little more aircleaner clearance with dual carbs...
I don't know what the "hot setup" is considered these days. We had one turbo `73 `vert at the shop years ago that we put early rear mounts on along with a padded strap kit plus a rear engine hanger before we got rid of all of the engine hop on hard launches - might not have needed that much if the tires hadn't been so wide.

[Gothing.....]

Check the rear body mounts by the rear shocks.

The square rubber bushing shrinks with age and anly play will result in a knocking sound especially over a bumby road.
You can sometimes swap them out if you are able to get enough leverage.

Every aircooled VW I've owned had to have these replaced.

John.