Getting the ‘57 beetle back on the road in 2024

[bosco659]

Wow Vic, you are doing some really fine work on your cool old car. It will be the talk of the town next summer!

Thx, I’m going to inspect the cooling tin pieces that surround the cylinder heads to see what I need to do to clean them up. I might break down and send them out to be blasted and then I’ll do a quick paint job. I was looking at the engine this evening. I think I’ll move it from the basement to the garage soon. I don’t expect I’ll start working on it until the end of the winter though because of the Supra motor swap.

 

[bosco659]

Prior to taking in the engine tin for cleaning and Powdercoating I assembled the bits to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. Here’s that the cooling tins look like. There’s a belt driven fan on the back side of the generator. Basically sucks in air and blows it around the cylinders. Inside the rectangular vents are cable operated doors. When no heat in the car is needed, these doors remain open. If you want heat you close these doors and a combination of engine air and exhaust manifold air is sent through channels in the rocker panels to heat the cabin. Nice in theory but I understand it’s quite inefficient. Since the car will be driven in summer only, I’m thinking about deleting the doors for the heating system.

The air cooling system for the engine is quite simple too. Whatever air gets sucked into the housing should blow by the cylinders however there’s a deflector in the fan air intake than can restrict the opening for the fan = engine warms up quicker. This deflector is actuated by a brass bellows that expands when heated and an attached linked move the deflector. More primitive technology.

 

[Jim]

This deflector is actuated by a brass bellows that expands when heated and an attached linked move the deflector. More primitive technology.

I does work though... 3 Bugs, a Squareback and a Ghia. Cooling worked on all of 'em without ever touching any of it.

 

[bosco659]

Mock up of engine bits ; fuel pump; oil cooler; distributor; generator / fan. All needs to come off though to cart the motor upstairs and out to the garage. I think I’ll seal up the block, add jugs and heads, then do the rest of the assembly in the garage. I think on a good day I may be able to muscle up and take it out by myself. It’s starting to look like an engine again!

 

[bosco659]

I does work though... 3 Bugs, a Squareback and a Ghia. Cooling worked on all of 'em without ever touching any of it.

I didn’t know you had so many of them!

 

[Jim]

I didn’t know you had so many of them!

My little brother and I used to build dune buggies too. The fiberglass one and tube framed ones... prolly about 10 or 15 in total. Good fun when you're a kid. Got a pic around here somewhere. I'll put it up when I find it.

 

[bosco659]

My little brother and I used to build dune buggies too. The fiberglass one and tube framed ones... prolly about 10 or 15 in total. Good fun when you're a kid. Got a pic around here somewhere. I'll put it up when I find it.

I think you may have posted that pic when I started this thread. Lucky for you that you don’t live nearby, I’d be bugging (excuse the pun) for help all of the time. lol.

 

[gggGary]

a combination of engine air and exhaust manifold air is sent through channels in the rocket panels to heat the cabin.

If you're an "up Norter" of a certain age you remember seeing a Bug on winter roads with the drivers face jammed to the windshield, peering through the tiny circle the defroster managed to clear.

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

If you're an "up Norter" of a certain age you remember seeing a Bug on winter roads with the drivers face jammed to the windshield, peering through the tiny circle the defroster managed to clear.

On the very rare occasion I drove my Corvair in the Ontario winter I experienced that. Fun memories!

 

[bosco659]

If you're an "up Norter" of a certain age you remember seeing a Bug on winter roads with the drivers face jammed to the windshield, peering through the tiny circle the defroster managed to clear.

My wife’s first car was a beetle and she carried a scraper to keep the inside of the windshield clear while driving. She had a gas heater bur was afraid to use it. Dunno why - what’s to worry about burning gasoline under the need near the glove box?

 

[bosco659]

I’m going to try this. Whaddya think? Lol.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/15z4SDJ8La/?mibextid=11tuMg

 

[Melnic]

I’m going to try this. Whaddya think?

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/15z4SDJ8La/?mibextid=11tuMg

I'd say work smarter, not harder

 

[gggGary]

I’m going to try this. Whaddya think? Lol.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/15z4SDJ8La/?mibextid=11tuMg

Memory fades but getting through school buying and selling from the classifieds etc. I bought a dead bug with a fresh "hopped up" motor. Yanked the motor in a similar manner in the back yard of our rented house, sold it to make the big bux. then sold the chassis also.
I also recall changing a manual Impala transmission with the front tires up on 55 gallon oil drums.
Ah youth.
Yesterday it was all Allison and I could do to get a washing machine on a hand cart up a flight of stairs.

 

[Jim]

Memory fades but getting through school buying and selling from the classifieds etc. I bought a dead bug with a fresh "hopped up" motor. Yanked the motor in a similar manner in the back yard of our rented house, sold it to make the big bux. then sold the chassis also.
I also recall changing a manual Impala transmission with the front tires up on 55 gallon oil drums.
Ah youth.
Yesterday it was all Allison and I could do to get a washing machine on a hand cart up a flight of stairs.

Was jus' reminiscin.... Late 70's Dodge van. 4spd ovrdrv. Same as the guy in the vid... roll it on your chest and heave ho. The follies of youth.
My arms jus' started shakin' thinkin' about it...

 

[MaxPete]

I’m going to try this. Whaddya think? Lol.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/15z4SDJ8La/?mibextid=11tuMg

Oh yeah - we did that a few times with my '67 beetle - which I called "Schulz" (about going fast - I KNOW NOTHING! NOTHING!).

We also positioned the biggest snow tire we could find under the back end to pull the engine out.
You remove all the electric, mechanical, and fuel connections, and undo the engine bell-housing bolts - and drop the whole shebang onto the tire. Then get 4-5 guys to lift the rear-end of the car - and drag the tire and engine assembly out from under it.

 

[bosco659]

I recall many, many years ago it was winter time and my late ‘70’s Ford Ltd had a differential that howled like a pack of hungry wolves. I was young and poor and decided to pull out the “pumpkin” when the car was barely high enough for me to slide under (on my back, on the concrete floor). I popped it out and it landed on my chest. I then realized I was up $hit’s creek. I couldn’t move left, right, forward or backward and I didn’t have the strength and position to lift it off. I panicked and with an adrenaline rush, managed to roll it off of my chest. I got out, dragged the pumpkin behind me, then realized there really wasn’t anything I could do to reduce the noise. The only thing I could do that might help was to replace to collapsible spacer behind the pinion yoke nut.
The pumpkin came out onto my chest fairly easily with the help of gravity. Going back in was really difficult and I didn’t have a floor jack to help me. I got it back it and realized to collapse the spacer it needed way more torque than I could generate while under the car, with the tools I had.
Long story short - it went back together exactly how I took it apart and drove with the radio player louder.

 

[Jan_P]

I’m going to try this. Whaddya think? Lol.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/15z4SDJ8La/?mibextid=11tuMg

Looks fake to me but if you say it is possible I believe you...
Remember installing an Air condition cube with fan and motor inside ..ca 500 --600 mm and under 50 kg weight .Alone at the site
When lifted in place there was a bolt flange and one 10 mm Screw that should be in to start with. So one arm holding it up pushed against the wall the other hand trying to install the screw
It was close I could not do it

Remember the Boys from the Wrestling team in my home town moved a VW Sideways at the back with the grumpy girl driver inside unwilling to move the car away from a bus door.

 

[bosco659]

Looks fake to me but if you say it is possible I believe you...
Remember installing an Air condition cube with fan and motor inside ..ca 500 --600 mm and under 50 kg weight .Alone at the site
When lifted in place there was a bolt flange and one 10 mm Screw that should be in to start with. So one arm holding it up pushed against the wall the other hand trying to install the screw
It was close I could not do it

Remember the Boys from the Wrestling team in my home town moved a VW Sideways at the back with the grumpy girl driver inside unwilling to move the car away from a bus door.

My engine weighs about 200 lbs completely assembled. The one in the video is newer. Maybe weighs 250+? Strong guy might be able to do it but not me.

 

[Mailman]

All you guys performing feats of strength in your youth! When I was young……one of my early jobs was working in a fleet garage for a big lumber company. I was moving some big ( already mounted ) semi truck and fork lift tires around in the shop, then I grabbed this big farm tractor tire ( not realizing it was filled with water ) it was monsterously heavy and as soon as I went to roll it, the weight shifted and it fell on me , squashing me like a bug. I was helpless, all I could do was call for help. It didn’t really hurt me, but it would’ve been bad if there weren’t other guys around to lift that thing offa me.

 

[Kevin Werner]

65 Pontiac Lemans, 326 4bbl, 4 speed. 75k miles. Shit that was a sweet car. Clutch slipped. PFC, E2 paygrade, read poor. Removed transmission to access clutch. Everything looked good but pressure plate, clutch disc and flywheel were oily. Rear main seal was leaking. I was a very novice wrench back then and envisioned a large amount of work to get to that rear main seal and there were no You Tube videos back then. Those old GM cars had coil rear springs that tended to sag leaving the back end drooping a little. I cleaned up all the parts and reassembled everything. I left the car at the base auto sho[ and hitched a ride to the car parts store. I returned to the shop, jacked up the rear and installed 3" coil spring spacers. Lifting the rear end caused the leaking oil to not run back on the flywheel but just drip down the face of the engine block. Never had another problem and the car gave only an occasional drip in the parking lot.