Loose steering / hard thud / missing components in engine compon

[1972beetle]

Hello Samba,

I bought a 72 VW SB this past Tuesday. Already tuned and adjusted the engine it sounds great and strong. A few issues due to previous owner not understanding carb adj and timing and valves clearance. He thought the engine needed rebuilt i simply nodded because I wanted the car and didn't want to pay more than needed... He lowered the front and rear a few inches and before i start doing anything till the suspension and steering ( knowing these components can cause me to die) i had 2 questions for all.

1) When I start a long turn where I have to hold it for a couple of seconds the vehicle sometimes does a jolt / pop / shimmy to the opposite direction and I have to immediately pull the wheel an extra 1-2 inches in the direction I'm turning. Not sure if I can simply replace all bushings in steering and call it a day or if I need to adjust something.

2) I hear a hard thump on the right rear fender when I go over numerous bumps or a big bump. Not sure if it's the strut due to lowering or body bump. I have not looked under there yet. As I was only focused on the valves wednesday when I had it raised. Has any one experienced this when lowering?

3) Previous owner removed heater elements and tubing. The seals are missing or shot around engine compartment. I understand i live in Florida "who needs heat" however with my exhaust under the engine i don't need this thing over heating or getting damaged. Any one know what needs to be done here?

My wife and son want to Cruise i keep telling them not yet because of the steering i don't need them injured so obviously that is my highest importance of questions. Thank you so much. This is my first forum post ever and if i posted wrong let me know how to correct. Ex sgt wont get offended by brute honesty.

[glutamodo]

Post some photos of what you got now - what the engine compartment looks like, what the front and rear end looks like (there are no struts in the rear, by the way, just shocks and trailing arms leading to torsion bars)

Super Beetle front ends, especially the early ones, have a lot of moving parts and it's hard to say exactly what your issue is there.
_________________
Andy T.


IMAGE NOTE: It has been noted that Chrome based browsers may have issues in displaying my vast image library, which use non-secure links and are on an FTP server. Images should still be viewable if the link is clicked though.
I do not know how to fix this. All I can say is it all works fine for me with what I use, Firefox.

[1972beetle]

How do i upload photos?

[adam78]

I was having a similar issue with the steering jolting a little bit. Then I tried to speed racer myself on a wet day and drift in my parking lot. The rag joint to the steering wheel shorn clear in two. It looks like it had been on its way out for some time, and it hasnt happened again since I replaced it.
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1975 Beetle 1600dp 4spd Daily Driver.
1972 Westy 1600 Type IV 4spd project/ soon to be driver.

[Maddel]

[glutamodo]

[[email protected]]

Depending on how low the rear is, it could actually be bottoming out the spring plate on the shock tower. Also with the front, if it's real low, you may have an issue with the tie rods hitting the inner fender wells/body. See if you can get some of the drive up on ramps from one of the autoparts stores, and jack the car up, and set all 4 wheels on the ramps. Then you can look under the car as it would be setting normally on the suspension to see if there is anything close to the body, or close to bottoming out on anything.

[FeelthySanchez]

Welcome aboard.
1) Describes classic SB "shimmies" native to well-worn front susp/steering components. To correct, just add some new bolt-on parts: steering u-joint shaft, dampener, bushings, struts, strut brngs, etc. Finish w/ alignment.
2) Could be fallout from the lowering job, but also sounds much like a wasted ol' rear shock absorber, so inspect & maybe R&R 'em both.
3) Consult the sticky reference topics. Lotta info there.
Re posting pix: Best to upload them to your profile. See stickies for how-to.
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[1972beetle]

Ok ill get pics uploaded once toddler takes nap in a few minutes

[Tim Donahoe]

U-joint, first. Then, Tie rod ends, ball joints, control arm bushings.

Definitely get this taken care of before driving it much. Hopefully, you won't have to replace the steering box.

Tim
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Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[adam78]

[1972beetle]

[FeelthySanchez]

Nice pix!
Looks like untouched OEM soft components, plus heavy wear & tear.
Parts are cheap. Time to get dirty!
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[1972beetle]

[1972beetle]

[1972beetle]

[1972beetle]

The first batch is front steering.

The second batch rear suspension.

Third engine compartment.

I noticed in the rear i have a strut on the left side but not on right im sure this is why i get a thud (wink* wink*)

In the engine compartment you can see all the holes, gaps and missing components. I do not understand the red bull can but this is what the previous owner did... I frankly do not care as the engine runs very strong; my cop buddy clocked me doing 73 (max comfort speed with steering). Sorry for the long delay today on getting these uploaded.

[gt1953]

You said
{[I hear a hard thump on the right rear fender when I go over numerous bumps or a big bump.]}
I would look at the body mount area in the right rear fender. Judging from the other photos that rubber thing is worn out. Common in both supers and standards.
http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/DetailsList.cfm?ID=111899119B
_________________
Volkswagen: We tune what we drive.
Numbers Matching VW's are getting harder to find. Source out the most Stock vehicle and keep that way. You will be glad you did.

72 type 1
72 Squareback
({59 Euro bug, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 73 type ones 68 & 69 type two, 68 Ghia all sold})

[glutamodo]

Engine compartment looks surprisingly complete as far as tin goes. it's missing the shields over the manifold preheat pipes. The three big holes were originally for the fresh air heating holes and the air cleaner's preheating hose, and with those eliminated the holes need to be capped.

Oh, that small hole next to the dipstick, that needs capped too.

Actually myself and most people would recommend you put a stock air cleaner of some kind on there instead of that chrome thing, but the preheat hose you probably can live without in central Florida.

... and tell you to get that fuel filter off that inlet line to the carburetor and out of the engine compartment.

The rubber seal is bad at the rear (of car) which can be difficult to replace with the engine installed. It's much easier to deal with if you drop the engine.

I can see why you might have thought the rear had struts, but those are simply aftermarket "coil over" shock absorbers. They are even sort-of adjustable by rotating the ring at the bottom with a special tool.
_________________
Andy T.


IMAGE NOTE: It has been noted that Chrome based browsers may have issues in displaying my vast image library, which use non-secure links and are on an FTP server. Images should still be viewable if the link is clicked though.
I do not know how to fix this. All I can say is it all works fine for me with what I use, Firefox.

[[email protected]]