Official Mexican / Brazilian Beetles - All years

[hopkin]

I've never popped off the protective caps. They were removed and the brakes and wheel bearings inspected when I bought the car.

Right now there is no noise or slop in the wheels, but usually when that happens it's too late so...

I think the time is now for me to do another inspection ... once it stops raining
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1971 Super Beetle (past)
1971 Super Beetle (past)
1974 SunBug (past)
1972 914 (past)
1991 Honda Civic (Original Owner)
1996 'Open Air' Mexican Beetle (current)
2015 Golf (current)
2017 Dune Edition (daughter's car)

[hopkin]

After I read Gerrelt's post I thought I should do a little inspection. It looks like I have the saucer type rotors and the pads are looking thin.

They were last replaced at 46,000 km in 2002 in Germany. Time for a brake job! (I have 105.000 km now).

As usual I took some pics:

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1971 Super Beetle (past)
1971 Super Beetle (past)
1974 SunBug (past)
1972 914 (past)
1991 Honda Civic (Original Owner)
1996 'Open Air' Mexican Beetle (current)
2015 Golf (current)
2017 Dune Edition (daughter's car)

[Gerrelt]

Yeah, it looks like you need new brake pads.
You've got the exact same brakes as my beetle has.

[hopkin]

Thanks, good info.

I've ordered a new set of rotors from Antonio, I can't find the slider kits (113 698 911 A) for sale anywhere in North America. Antonio doesn't have them either.

Where did you order your set from?

I left fuse 8 with an 8 AMP fuse, it blew once, when I first got the car. I had the headlights on and it started to rain, wipers were on and I stopped to close the roof. I didn't get wet (much), but I had a spare 8 AMP so no problem. I think I'll leave mine at 8, as it hasn't been a problem. 25 is a bit high for my taste.

I thought about a separate circuit for the roof, I'm going to do some re-wiring, maybe next winter anyways. I plan to set up some relays so that the amber parking lights come on when the headlights are on (second light switch position). The City lights (only) will still come on in the first position, but will not be on when the headlights are on. (That is the circuit will switch off the City lights and turn on the amber lights when the headlights are on).
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1971 Super Beetle (past)
1971 Super Beetle (past)
1974 SunBug (past)
1972 914 (past)
1991 Honda Civic (Original Owner)
1996 'Open Air' Mexican Beetle (current)
2015 Golf (current)
2017 Dune Edition (daughter's car)

[Gerrelt]

Hi Hopkin,

I've ordered all my brake parts on this Dutch VW beetle webshop, called Paruzzi.
Here the link to the slider set:

http://www.paruzzi.com/uk/beetle/brakes-wheels/disc-brakes/1134/


I thought that 25 amps might be a bit high too. I guessed it's because if you keep pushing the down-button while the top is allready down, the electric motor might pull a lot of current.


Greetings,
Gerrelt.
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[hopkin]

I've been wanting install some kind of stereo that I could use a USB stick with, but I was torn as I didn't want to change out my stereo. I came up with this solution:

I bought a 12V power plug and installed it on the back of my stereo, on the support bracket:

I wanted something that I could remove, not permanent, this fit the bill as all I had to do was drill one hole in the support bracket, there was already a hole for the top bolt.

It is connected (and fused) on the same circuit as the 12V power plug I installed when I bought the car. This circuit is switched off when the ignition is off, so there is no drain on the battery.

I found this gadget on sale at Amazon for $28, and a 32G (micro SD) memory card for $12, enough for thousands of songs!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015MGRO64/ref=s9_al_bw_g107_i3

I can select the frequency, ideally one that is not used by any FM station where I live and travel to. No problem as this gadget can select from a channel anywhere from 87.5-108.0 Mhz. In North America, the FM band is slightly narrower than Europe (NA = 87.9-107.9 Mhz, Europe = 87.5-108.0 Mhz), but I have a European stereo .

I set it up to broadcast at 87.6 Mhz, below the NA band, so I shouldn't run into any interference no matter where I travel:

I put ~2200 of my favorite songs on it, and selected song #1 when I powered it up for the first time. It plays through the songs alphabetically, starting where it left off each time I start the car. I don't expect to hear the same song twice for the entire driving season, maybe even next season!

It also does some Bluetooth stuff (that's what the remote is for), but I didn't want it for that, just play the songs, by installing it behind the stereo, it is out of sight and it works great!
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1971 Super Beetle (past)
1971 Super Beetle (past)
1974 SunBug (past)
1972 914 (past)
1991 Honda Civic (Original Owner)
1996 'Open Air' Mexican Beetle (current)
2015 Golf (current)
2017 Dune Edition (daughter's car)

[GArBa]

nice! that looks like something I'd have done! (still waiting for some good weather and holiday time to work on my bug... wait and see )
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cars:
'97 type 1 1600i
'14 type AA Seat Mii (sadly dead after 270.000 km)
'22 type C1 T-Cross
'23 type AC3 Hyundai I10 (VW no longer makes small cars!)
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moped:
'82 Benelli Magnum 3v

[Gerrelt]

Nice work, Hopkin!

I've replaced the wheels of our beetle with some old standard wheels to get new tires for the "new" wheels. What a difference a set of wheels make!

And the wheels fit my Skoda too..

I am going to get Vredestein T-trac 2 165/80 R15 on them.
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[hopkin]

Those rims look nice, I remember you posted them earlier on this thread.

No Skoda's in North America, the Beetle rims fit that car?

My throttle cable broke a few days ago and one of the members of my club had a spare.

The cable fit perfectly, except it's the old 'hook' style. It was easy to fit on the peddle:

The reason I mention is the cable length, the one I installed was 2650mm and fit perfectly.
_________________
1971 Super Beetle (past)
1971 Super Beetle (past)
1974 SunBug (past)
1972 914 (past)
1991 Honda Civic (Original Owner)
1996 'Open Air' Mexican Beetle (current)
2015 Golf (current)
2017 Dune Edition (daughter's car)

[hopkin]

I attended a great show in Niagara Falls this past weekend. 300+ cars/buses at the event.

I spotted this 1984 Mexican Beetle displaying Iranian license plates (along with Ontario plates). I didn't see the owner, so I didn't get a chance to talk; an interesting car. It must have some European history, there are Highway toll stickers (Switzerland?) in the front window. A VW gathering poster from Tehran was posted in the rear window:

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1971 Super Beetle (past)
1971 Super Beetle (past)
1974 SunBug (past)
1972 914 (past)
1991 Honda Civic (Original Owner)
1996 'Open Air' Mexican Beetle (current)
2015 Golf (current)
2017 Dune Edition (daughter's car)

[Gerrelt]

[hopkin]

[Gerrelt]

Hasta Alaska / Kombi life is an excellent youtube series, I've watched all of his videos. It's cool you have piece of his bus!
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[bandi]

[bandi]

[hopkin]

Thanks, it worked flawlessly for my trip, 1460 km round trip.

Because I selected a low FM station (below the North American Band, 87.6), there was no interference anywhere from Ottawa to Simcoe and back, through probably the most congested FM band usage area in Canada.
_________________
1971 Super Beetle (past)
1971 Super Beetle (past)
1974 SunBug (past)
1972 914 (past)
1991 Honda Civic (Original Owner)
1996 'Open Air' Mexican Beetle (current)
2015 Golf (current)
2017 Dune Edition (daughter's car)

[bandi]

I haven't posted any updates on my '83 in quite a while, but a few weeks ago I dragged it back into the garage and finished the heater channel job. (I did the passenger side two winters ago, but needed the shop space, dropped the body back on the pan and shoved it outside for a year and a half. Had some "garage time" so I got the body back off, bolted it to my "jig" (The frame from a '65 Beetle, with the floorpans and suspension removed, mounted on casters) and have since replaced the driver's side channel, rear 1/4 panel, spare tire well and front apron. I need to do some rebuilding of the rear bumper mount areas as well, as the car had been hit and fixed poorly at some point in the past.

The fenders are just installed for fitment purposes.

Also cleaned up the floorpan (It's rust free, oddly enough) and painted it.

The plan is to get the body back on the pan permanently, put the car back into storage until the winter, when I will finish the body work. (As I want to finish my '71 Super vintage racer before then!)
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'60 Canadian Standard, '64 Bug, another '64 Bug, '66 Bug, '69 Sunroof Bug, '69 GT3 Bug, '71 Super, '72 Super, '73 Canadian Custom, '74 Love Bug, '83 Mexi Bug, '85 Cabrio, '94 Mexi Bug, '99 New Beetle, '02 New Beetle Turbo S, '03 New Beetle VR6. And some Fieros.

[Gerrelt]

Nice work, bandi!
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[hopkin]

I went for cruise yesterday and took a small detour. The road is good but usually flooded over.

The first picture looks like is was taken in the UK, but it was taken in Bedford Mills, Ont. The 'town' is only the 2 buildings. Just over an hour south of Ottawa:

The water levels are usually higher:

Go left to leave 'town':

_________________
1971 Super Beetle (past)
1971 Super Beetle (past)
1974 SunBug (past)
1972 914 (past)
1991 Honda Civic (Original Owner)
1996 'Open Air' Mexican Beetle (current)
2015 Golf (current)
2017 Dune Edition (daughter's car)

[bandi]