Introduce myself
Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 8:38 am
bugman742002 asked me to introduce myself and tell about why I am here so here goes. I am not really new to VW's my first car was a 65 square back sedan and my best friend had at least 4 VW's and an old 356 while I was still living at home. My older brother also had two VW's and his 70 model had been "spiced up" a bit and I really loved driving his car. My best story was in my 65. I was driving back from somewhere and the accelerator cable broke. I ended up calling my dad and he and my brother drove to meet me. we did not have a way to fix the cable on the side of the road so we ended up driving about 40 miles with me behind the wheel and my brother sitting over the engine with the cover off and the hatch open while operating the carb linkage by hand. He would bring up the RPM's and I would shout "SHIFT" he would back off and I would shift and then he would build RPM's again.
My wife always wanted a bug and so this year when I found what I thought was a good deal for a running 69 I bought it for $2K. I have concluded since that it is most likely original milage as all the engine components seem correct from the H5 case to the SP heads and original solex 30.
It was clear very early that it was running hot (could not touch the dipstick after 8 miles driving or even 4-5 minutes idleing) so I pulled the engine and pulled it down. The whole engine (tin, jugs, oil cooler, etc) was covered with a film of oil mist and dirt caused by the cheap aftermarket oil filter, the cooling flaps & thermostat were gone and all the tin needed fresh paint. I started researching and soon found that I needed to change lots of things including the original H5 case. However the case is in incredibly good shape even for it's manufacturing failures. I had some head stud's pulling and there is about .010 ridge on the #2 Main journal and less on #1,3. The thrust was in spec too. After looking at the cam and crank I think I can safely say that the 69000 on the odometer are probably the original miles.
I have lots to do on the engine and then on the boday but I am pretty excited about the project. I have an AE case on it's way, got some good used dog house tin and a new cooler, found some NOS COFAP 85.5 pistons and cylinders to replace the 83's. Picked up a nice set of rebuilt DP heads with a newly pro built steering box and two new headlight buckets with trim rings and an old 69 crank with flywheel and rods for $150 off craigslist. I want to boost perfromance some (75-100 hp range) and keep it all as stock and reliable as possible in the process.
I am sure I will have lots of questions and really appreciate the site. Thanks to everyone for making the site possible.
My wife always wanted a bug and so this year when I found what I thought was a good deal for a running 69 I bought it for $2K. I have concluded since that it is most likely original milage as all the engine components seem correct from the H5 case to the SP heads and original solex 30.
It was clear very early that it was running hot (could not touch the dipstick after 8 miles driving or even 4-5 minutes idleing) so I pulled the engine and pulled it down. The whole engine (tin, jugs, oil cooler, etc) was covered with a film of oil mist and dirt caused by the cheap aftermarket oil filter, the cooling flaps & thermostat were gone and all the tin needed fresh paint. I started researching and soon found that I needed to change lots of things including the original H5 case. However the case is in incredibly good shape even for it's manufacturing failures. I had some head stud's pulling and there is about .010 ridge on the #2 Main journal and less on #1,3. The thrust was in spec too. After looking at the cam and crank I think I can safely say that the 69000 on the odometer are probably the original miles.
I have lots to do on the engine and then on the boday but I am pretty excited about the project. I have an AE case on it's way, got some good used dog house tin and a new cooler, found some NOS COFAP 85.5 pistons and cylinders to replace the 83's. Picked up a nice set of rebuilt DP heads with a newly pro built steering box and two new headlight buckets with trim rings and an old 69 crank with flywheel and rods for $150 off craigslist. I want to boost perfromance some (75-100 hp range) and keep it all as stock and reliable as possible in the process.
I am sure I will have lots of questions and really appreciate the site. Thanks to everyone for making the site possible.