That's what I would do, for sure.
Originality is great, but sometimes it's fecking dangerous.
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Getting the ‘57 beetle back on the road in 2024
- Thread starter bosco659
- Start date
Originality is great, but sometimes it's fecking dangerous.
and expensive, and hard to find and does not last
12v fer shoer
knock the amps a bit and double the volts
I agree with this, assuming required components are available. Ignition's easy, but - and I'm asking cuz I have no idea - what about generator -> alternator, starter motor, etc. I guess, if '67 1500 parts fit the 1200?
Know little to nothing these days about VW's been a few decades since I played with one. As for starter I'm not sure using a 6volt starter on 12 volts would be a problem, I've been using the original 6 volt starter on my late 40's Farmall on 12 volts since some time back in the 1980's. Well to be honest just this last summer that original starter did get replaced with "new" 6 volt starter. I was thinking the old one had failed but when I took it apart looks like new brushes might be only thing needed!
I converted a '59 (I think) Karmann Ghia to 12v. As I recall, we left the 6v starter in it. Never had a problem near as I remember.
'Course, that was back in the 70's, so memory is kinda fuzzy.
Perhaps I shoulda said "kinda hazy"......Yeah, the 70's were like that, weren't they...
Well I did a bit of work on the bug today. I applied power (battery only) directly to the wiper and the wipers moved at a slow but acceptable speed. I was reinstalling the turn signal lever and my nose caught wind of a (very faint) smell that might be toasting wires
. I disconnected the battery right away and finished the wiring connections. One thing I did find was the wiper was able to operate without the key on. I’m not sure if this is normal. I tried hooking up my multimeter between the negative battery post and battery terminal but didn’t get a reading. I was rushing to get in for dinner and will have to try again.
I was thinking, if wires were getting warm enough to smell, the wire would have to be carrying a significant load for the wire size. I rigged up a jumper with an inline 1A fuse and plan to install it between the battery post and battery terminal. If something is cooking I assume the 1A fuse should pop right away?
All this is odd because I was testing stuff the other day with the battery connected and didn’t smell anything. Now the wiring smell is just a theory. I had two electric infrared heaters going as well as the diesel heater so I could have been smelling something else.
On the matter of 12V conversion, here’s what needs to be done : 12V wiper motor or swap out the armature with a 6-12V conversion piece; 12V generator; 12V battery; change all light bulbs; maybe 12V signal flasher; new horn. I too have heard of people leaving the 6V starter in the car without issue.
I’ll do some detective work tonight and hopefully the conversion won’t be needed right away.
. I disconnected the battery right away and finished the wiring connections. One thing I did find was the wiper was able to operate without the key on. I’m not sure if this is normal. I tried hooking up my multimeter between the negative battery post and battery terminal but didn’t get a reading. I was rushing to get in for dinner and will have to try again.I was thinking, if wires were getting warm enough to smell, the wire would have to be carrying a significant load for the wire size. I rigged up a jumper with an inline 1A fuse and plan to install it between the battery post and battery terminal. If something is cooking I assume the 1A fuse should pop right away?
All this is odd because I was testing stuff the other day with the battery connected and didn’t smell anything. Now the wiring smell is just a theory. I had two electric infrared heaters going as well as the diesel heater so I could have been smelling something else.
On the matter of 12V conversion, here’s what needs to be done : 12V wiper motor or swap out the armature with a 6-12V conversion piece; 12V generator; 12V battery; change all light bulbs; maybe 12V signal flasher; new horn. I too have heard of people leaving the 6V starter in the car without issue.
I’ll do some detective work tonight and hopefully the conversion won’t be needed right away.
Did some more testing. The beetle seems to be ok but my diesel heater in now emitting and unpleasant odor. I’ll try to hunt that down tomorrow. Too bad because I’ve had two years (iirc) of trouble free operation.
Couldn’t sleep so I quickly looked up the cost to convert the car to 12V and it gets pretty darned close to $1K if I swap out everything including the starter. I think she’ll stay 6V at least until I get it on the road.
Doing this dance with the old beemer, R50/2 that's also 6 volts. It's not easy using old tech in a modern environment. From LED headlights to charging devices there's lotsa gotchas.
I took the diesel heater apart and could find an obvious problem with it. Then I thought maybe it’s my 120V / 12V power supply that’s starting to bake. The intake for the heater is a foot away from the power supply so if the supply started to cook it would blow the smell throughout the garage. I resealed the exhaust on the heater and am letting it cure 24 hours. When I restart it I’ll run it on a battery to see if the odor is gone.
Message sent
Update on melting wire smell. I checked out the car and there aren’t any issues with the wiring. 
. I did reseal the exhaust on the heater and that’s running well. I did run the heater most of the day off of a battery and there was no odor at all. I hooked the power supply back up and when I first started it o stuck my snout close to the cooling fan and detected a faint smell of what I detected the other day. Perhaps the fan stopped for some reason and the supply overheated?
I hooked the heater back up to the power supply and all seems good. Bad news is after running the heater on a battery, it became quite evident a replacement battery is needed. I’ll get one next week.
Good news is while messing around with all of this I found the hard fuel line from the fuel pump to in frame fuel line. I don’t think I would have found it otherwise. I’m just cleaning the surface rust off of it and will give it a fuel proof coating of POR15. The fuel line has some fancy bends and a fitting that might have been difficult to find.
. I did reseal the exhaust on the heater and that’s running well. I did run the heater most of the day off of a battery and there was no odor at all. I hooked the power supply back up and when I first started it o stuck my snout close to the cooling fan and detected a faint smell of what I detected the other day. Perhaps the fan stopped for some reason and the supply overheated? I hooked the heater back up to the power supply and all seems good. Bad news is after running the heater on a battery, it became quite evident a replacement battery is needed. I’ll get one next week.
Good news is while messing around with all of this I found the hard fuel line from the fuel pump to in frame fuel line. I don’t think I would have found it otherwise. I’m just cleaning the surface rust off of it and will give it a fuel proof coating of POR15. The fuel line has some fancy bends and a fitting that might have been difficult to find.
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I should have posted a better before pic. This fuel line had tons of surface rust but is still structurally sound. This is what it looks like now with a fresh coat of POR15. I love using that stuff. Easy to apply, flows out great and tough as nails. Btw this fuel line is to supply the fuel pump so there’s no pressure.
Thunderspit
XS650 New Member
Good work Bosco, i see great value in survivor projects, it always reminds me of how they looked when they were just transportation.At long last I’m starting to work on my ‘57 beetle with plans to have it on the road by late spring, early summer of next year. The engine has been in my basement for close to a year and each time I go down and lift the cover, it’s in the same state of disassembly as last time I looked. I’ll probably go at that when the real cold weather hits us. I think I have most of the bits needed to get the motor put back together. The chassis is a different story. It has remained untouched for over 20 years in my garage.
I rearranged the garage a few weeks ago and put my Supra sideways at the rear of the garage. I brought the beetle forward to give me more space to work on it. Turned it 90 degrees too. Added the diesel heater and now there aren’t many excuses for not working on it.
I jacked it up at the back and decided to tackle the rear brakes. The rear drums are held on with a 36mm nut. Legend has it they are torqued upwards of 300 ft lbs and the only way to get them off is a 3/4” breaker bar and a 6 ft pipe. I didn’t want to mess with all that and put my cordless impact on it and it came off pretty easily. The brake drum is splined to mate with the axle shaft. I’m guessing the last time is was off was probably 30+ years ago. I beat it into submission with a 3 lb maul and it came loose - it was a tough battle. I thought I was going to have to make a special puller.
With the drum off I found everything under it was frozen solid. Lots of penetrating oil and a big screwdriver and hammer got most bits apart. Not so for the brake shoe adjusters though. They were stuck really good. Lucky for me I didn’t ham fist them too much because, as I found out later they are made of bronze or brass and something tells me replacements are unobtainium. Good news is the backing plate is in good shape. That’s important because replacements aren’t to be found. Other good news is the parking brake cable is free and the brake lines appear to be in usable shape, other than the rubber flex line. That’s all for today. I may try to remove the flex line tomorrow. I need to start a shopping list for parts. I think it’s gonna be a long one.
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Just started sorting things out getting ready for engine assembly. I lapped the cylinder jugs to the heads one last time and started measuring ring end gaps. One down, three to go, however I may need to swap rings around from jug to jug to get the ideal gaps. Iirc target end gap it .015 on the oil ring and .017 on the other rings.
Ring gap day. Last night I checked the ring gap on a couple of jugs. Spec is .012 - .017”. Max wear gap is .037” on old used rings! When I measured last night I pushed the rings down .865” from the top and the rings I measured were all within spec. When I checked the manual they tell you to measure the ring gap .200” from the bottom of the jug (out of the ring wear zone). That said, I did it all over again.
To get the rings nice and square to the bore I searched through my parts drawers and found an aluminum hubcentric ring for my Supra. It was a bit thicker than the specified .200” but close enough (.250”). It was a near perfect fit for the bore of the jug. I started the ring to be tested at the bottom of the jug and pushed it in about 1/2”. I then placed the jug upside down over the AL ring and pushed the piston ring down to meet the spacer. That got it nice and square to the bore. The top two rings measured in at .013”. When measured further up the bore they had gaps .002 -.003” wider due to cylinder wear. All within spec though. The bottom oil ring was tight and required resizing.
Years ago I bought a ring gap grinding tool and thought I’d never use it. Well it got broken in today. If I didn’t have it I think I’d be just as happy using a flat file clamped in the vise. I got #3 and #4 jugs and rings done. Lapped to the head, ring gap set and rings installed. 2 more to do this afternoon. Engine reassembly time is getting real close.
I thought the oil ring looked cool. I’m used to seeing them in 3 pieces.
To get the rings nice and square to the bore I searched through my parts drawers and found an aluminum hubcentric ring for my Supra. It was a bit thicker than the specified .200” but close enough (.250”). It was a near perfect fit for the bore of the jug. I started the ring to be tested at the bottom of the jug and pushed it in about 1/2”. I then placed the jug upside down over the AL ring and pushed the piston ring down to meet the spacer. That got it nice and square to the bore. The top two rings measured in at .013”. When measured further up the bore they had gaps .002 -.003” wider due to cylinder wear. All within spec though. The bottom oil ring was tight and required resizing.
Years ago I bought a ring gap grinding tool and thought I’d never use it. Well it got broken in today. If I didn’t have it I think I’d be just as happy using a flat file clamped in the vise. I got #3 and #4 jugs and rings done. Lapped to the head, ring gap set and rings installed. 2 more to do this afternoon. Engine reassembly time is getting real close.
I thought the oil ring looked cool. I’m used to seeing them in 3 pieces.
