What did you do to your Beetle this week?

[indianpeaksjoe]

[67rustavenger]

Took a weekend trip to the Oregon coast this weekend.
The drive out was uneventful.
The drive back home? Very eventful.
After traversing three 1000Ft. plus mountain ranges.
The JavaGreen's engine lost power and I was forced to leave the car at a filling station 17 miles from home.
Thankfully Xevin was following behind me. He gave me a ride home and I returned to pickup the beetle and drag it home via the tow bar.

Oh well. It was a twenty year old engine with god knows how many miles on it and really poor service from the previous PO's.
I actually expected the engine to fail on the outbound leg of the trip.

Good thing I have an engine on the stand, just for this car. It's almost ready to go!
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[OldSchoolVW's]

Working through my electrical “to do” list …

Installed a hard start relay. Since it’s a 6v system I decided to keep the routing short and wiring fat. With this in mind I went to the extra bother to put the relay next to the battery and run a new ignition “start” wire (50) alongside the tunnel. Used 10 and 12 gauge wire. (Some will say this is overkill, but I already had it and thought it certainly wouldn’t hurt … especially with a 6v system.)

Locating the relay under the rear seat put it in a less hostile environment than the engine compartment or alongside the starter and kept the wiring runs short.

_________________
Tom

"Following distance is proportional to IQ."

'63 Beetle Sedan
'69 Beetle Sunroof
'70 Beetle Sedan
'73 Type 3 Fastback

[brass gears]

Installed Sapphire I radio in my beetle. Finally got that hole filled.
Thanks to samba member Gary Haberman. Works perfectly.

_________________
‘70 transporter
‘ 64 beetle

[indianpeaksjoe]

I adjusted the valves and went for a fun cruise.

_________________
Adventures in owning a 66 beetle

[iowegian]

[indianpeaksjoe]

[62RagTopBug]

Todays project completed!

Changed both of the fender turn signal seals, light housing and installed the LED bulbs.

[indianpeaksjoe]

I installed this little glove box pull from Project Therapy, I was having a heck of a time getting the glove box open. Solved and looks good to boot.

_________________
Adventures in owning a 66 beetle

[indianpeaksjoe]

Also went for a cruise.

_________________
Adventures in owning a 66 beetle

[67rustavenger]

[indianpeaksjoe]

[OldSchoolVW's]

Replaced the original fuse panel on my '63 with an ATO blade style fuse panel from Torque Resto. It was pricey compared to an OEM style replacement panel, but it is very well made, has a terminal configuration that is identical to the original, is a perfect fit in the fuse panel opening under the dash and comes preloaded with ATO fuses in whatever arrangement you request. The original clear plastic panel cover even snaps right on.

I don't normally stray from stock components, but I believe the greater contact surface area of ATO blades will help reduce voltage drop (always a concern with a 6V system). The only trade off is that 16 and 8 amp circuits would need to use 15 and 7.5 amp ATO fuses, which I don't believe will have an adverse affect.

Please excuse the tape labels on the wires ... a precaution to make sure I got everything connected correctly. Great time to clean/scrape connectors.

_________________
Tom

"Following distance is proportional to IQ."

'63 Beetle Sedan
'69 Beetle Sunroof
'70 Beetle Sedan
'73 Type 3 Fastback

[indianpeaksjoe]

Nice work with the new fuse box! I have one for my 12V converted 66, but have not wired it in yet.

I got my blinkers working: https://robonza.com/beetle/index.php/2024/03/24/fixing-the-indicator-light-in-a-66-beetle/

Then took Lou for a cruise.

-Joe
_________________
Adventures in owning a 66 beetle

[67rustavenger]

Replaced my generic ignition switch with an OG 67 switch I bought from GabVWKey.

Once the switch arrived, I matched the door lock cylinders to the ignition switch.
I followed Keith's key match thread idea. Since my door locks were already modified by an earlier PO. I didn't feel any shame in modifying the door lock cylinders.

The best part is, I now have one key that unlocks the doors and starts the car. I couldn't be happier.
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[indianpeaksjoe]

I knocked out a ton of projects this week.

My beetle has been stinking like gas, I did everything, I replaced the gas cap (twice!), the fuel sending unit, the sending unit seals, fuel lines in the back. Only one thing left, the line from the tank to the metal tube. Conveniently I went out one morning this week and there was a puddle under the beetle. Culprit confirmed.

More info and pics: https://robonza.com/beetle/index.php/2024/04/04/gas-leak/

Then a few weeks ago I replaced my blinker LEDs with KC rock lights, I used surface mounts the first time and I swapped them with flush mounts, which required making the holes bigger.

More pics and stuff: https://robonza.com/beetle/index.php/2024/04/05/installing-kc-cyclone-led-flush-mounts/

I noticed way too much dust in the battery compartment area, looks like when the PO disconnected the heater tjhey never blocked off the heater tubes. I blocked those off.

https://robonza.com/beetle/index.php/2024/04/05/capping-heater-tubes/

And the week isn't over

-Joe
_________________
Adventures in owning a 66 beetle

[67rustavenger]

Joe, you're not allowed to post any more pics of your car, without at least one of your Basset Hound in it. Love that dog!

Added an AFR Gauge to the JG 67 yesterday.

Looks like I have some tuning to get after.
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[Coreymillia42]

I got a new 1966 Beetle with no breaks, towed and in my yard.

I Sat in it pumping the breaks for a little, letting the pressure build up and then immediately dropping, while trying to find a leak. No luck yet. Will try again tomorrow.

Otherwise, looking for a new rear window and trying to figure out if a '66 and '67 is the same.

Planning on getting new running boards, and rubber for the windows.

Full tune up this week. But for a car that had been sitting for a long time it runs and sounds good.

_________________
1971 Super Beetle. Owned 25 years... And now the owner of a 1966 Beetle. Plus, a 1967 bus that doesn't run.

[67rustavenger]

[indianpeaksjoe]