The Bug

[Stavros]

Hey all,

Thought i'de post up some pics of the beetle before i got it in my garage and started tinkering with it :D.

Shes a 1300, 1970 VW beetle; The previous owner had replaced a majority of the panels before i bought it along a full respray. The car come with an MOT, quite how the previous owner got it i have no idea, but i am currently in the process of making her road worthy with the intention of putting it through for an MOT in March.


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Stav

[Ang]

Looks in lovely condition, I take it is just as nice underneath?

[Stavros]

The previous owner had all of the floor plans sprayed from what i can see, although i have found some rust on the back beneth the engine which has just been painted over :(. Im putting it on axle stands next weekend, i'll try and get some shots :).

[Stavros]

Finally managed to get some time to put the car on axle stands and get the wheels off :D

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[Stavros]

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The underside is better than i thought, needs a little attention at the back end where the engine is mounted, but im still contemplating taking the engine out, so a new rear end may be in order. :D. Got a load of goodies through the other day for the bug which im intending on installing once the cars passed its MOT.

Managed to get hold of an electric windscreen washer bottle to replace the original. The original windscreen washer bottle was powered using the pressure from the spare wheel, so if you wash your windscreen too much and get a flat, your stoofed :D.

[Ang]

Definitly looks nice and clean for its age, been looked after well and had more spent on her ;)

[mills]

wow, thats a very tidy bug :thumbs:

[Stavros]

Thankyou very much good sir; going in for its MOT next week, so all fingers crossed it could be back on the road before the months out :D

[mills]

good luck matey ;)

[Stavros]

Right, bit of an update is in order me thinks.

Due to recent circumstances the bug never made it into the MOT; however all is now well and it is booked for monday morning :D.

Past couple of weekends ive been locked away in the garage getting the bits done to get it through its MOT.

1. Installed a new electric washer bottle/pump

2. Removed the old seat belts and replaced with new all round

3. Took out the fuel tank and cleaned it through, flushed the lines and installed a new fuel filter; worked a treat and the car now starts first time and idles nicely with no stuttering.

4. Installed the seats onto proper runners as opposed to being just bolted straight to the floor pan. Previous owner was 6ft 6... I however am only a mere 5ft 10; did have a good view of the pedals from that position though :D.

5. Installed a new windscreen wiper motor... with a whole two speed settings of 'slow' and 'slightly faster than slow, but not much' :)

Other than those items just generally been tinkering with a few odds and ends such as new heater exchange pipes, new interior bits, new speaker panels for the front foot well, 12v solenoid for the bonnet lid, new t-bars for the front bumper, new speakers for front and rear, decklid stand offs along with a few other items.

Im reasonably confident ive covered most the items it could fail on; only few things im slightly concerned on are the tyres look slightly perished in places and the brakes are worn. I have new shoes for the bug but just not the ability to fit them; if it fails on the brakes then i'll get them to fit them and put it for its re-test.

If the bug does manage to pass next week then its is going back in the garage for a month or so to be over hauled ready for summer. I have a shopping list the size of my arm at the moment but the top five things im looking to purchase in the coming months are:

1. -2" to 4" coil over shocks for the front
2. New carpets for the interior
3. Disc brake conversion for front and rear
4. Set of Fuch replica alloys
5. Garrett t25 turbo kit :drool:

So, all going well, me and bug should hopefully be seeing you guys at the SPH meets shortly :D

[Ang]

So did it pass then?

Turbo kit :eyes: sounds rather interesting project.

[Stavros]

I had a phone call at 3pm yesterday to say their brake rollers had broken down and they were waiting for an engineer to come out and they will test mine tomorrow (today). Its now midday and I still havent heard anything from them :(. Slightly frustrating as any work that needed doing I would have had done today before I go back to work tomorrow. Ho hum.

I found a 'turbo city' turbo kit for the bug for $995; comes complete with twin weber carb, t25 turbo and all other associated parts. No internals have to be upgraded aslong as the boost is kept relatively low, which is fine for me; i'll gradually upgrade the internals and increase the boost as and when. Its still only a possibility, but a likely one :D

[Stavros]

Right, just got the bug back and the MOT failures are as follow:

1. Brake cables excessively corroded
2. Brakes ceased and out of alightment
3. Rust to 4 various areas
4. Drivers door doesnt catch properly
5. Couple of loose wheel nuts
Advisory - Misfire on engine

The brakes in short are knackered, but to be honest i expected that, they are the original drums and cyclinders from when the car was made and the car has been sitting for near on 5 years.

The garage quoted me approximately £600 for all of the welding, upon inspection its not half as drastic as they made out and i am getting someone to do this for me.

The door which doesnt shut was resolved there and then by opening the window to the release the vacuum within the car as all bugs air tight.

The misfire which was noted on the engine was not a misfire, cylinders 3 and 4 arent firing therefore only running on 1 and 2.

All in all i felt slightly let down by the MOT centre and not hugely satisfied he quite knew what he was doing with the car so ive taken it up to a specialist workshop in ninfield to get them to go through the MOT failure list and put it through again.

Fingers crossed the engine isnt to bad and its just some dodgy ht leads or something; however the guys are going to look at the engine first before they touch the welding to make sure its nothing too drastic.... if it is, then i think its engine out and start from scratch.

Stav

[Ang]

Well at least you know where you are going with it now. I don't think that's bad for a car that's been sitting. Shouldn't take too long then. Hot weather soon :)

Manta has mot tomorrow so soon see if it passes. That is if the core plug stays in :rolleyes:

[Stavros]

To be honest i was quite pleased, fingers crossed its nothing; its with the aircooled guy now so hopefully have her back in a week or two... might be able to do more than 30mph if shes running on all 4 :P although cruising at 30 still felt rather good :D

Good luck with the manta tomorrow :D... gripfill always works ;)

[Ang]

To be honest i was quite pleased, fingers crossed its nothing; its with the aircooled guy now so hopefully have her back in a week or two... might be able to do more than 30mph if shes running on all 4 :P although cruising at 30 still felt rather good :D

Good luck with the manta tomorrow :D... gripfill always works ;)


It keeps popping the core plug, possible other reasons for it, lets hope not. Never mind got a few spares lying around. I am sure it will be nicely bodged in place. Surprising how long those little fixes last ;).

Must have been great to drive it. MOT bays can be completely crap, that's why we only use ones that don't do the work, no incentive to fail it for cash if you know what I mean.

Hope you can get it ready then for some time in June as must do a meet then. :D

[Stavros]

Hope its nothing too serious :S. Haha, yea i know what you mean, mine usually consist of gaffer tape, grip fill or zip ties :D

Was awesome to drive it, although foot flat on the pedal in second just to make it hit 25mph was a tad tedious. I just had no confidence in the guy, one of the areas hes marked up for welding is in the foot well where he recons the foot rest tray that sits behind the pedals has come away from the body work and needs rewelding :S. Its a £25 slot in metal tray to stick you feet on... Ho hum, its in safe hands now.

It will definately be road worthy by June even if i have to stand on street corners to raise enough money for it :D

[Stavros]

The bug is back :D

Had a phone call tonight and all the works done on it. It needed:

Complete new brake system front a rear
8 areas of welding within the arches and underside
new ht leads
new sparks
new tappets
new hazard switch to allow it work with the ignition off
new locking mechanism

Total: £500

I was expecting it to be alot more than that, especially after being quoted nearly a grand for just the welding alone. Cant wait to pick her up now :D

[Ang]

Great news then so lets get her out and about :D

[Stavros]

Definately; still contemplating selling the bug, but think im going to run her for a month and see how i feel :D

[Ang]

Definately; still contemplating selling the bug, but think im going to run her for a month and see how i feel :D


What you thinking of instead then?

[Stavros]

Erm, no idea to be honest; looking at just a weekend car if i sell it. Shall see how i feel once i get the bug back :)

[calibra]

looks nice

[Ang]

Hi Calibra :) Thought I hadn't noticed you on here, welcome :d. No need to ask what you drive then ;)

[calibra]

i like your manta

[Ang]

i like your manta


Cheers :)

[Stavros]

The bugs home :D; taxed and insured within 24hours ready for the weekend... until i saw the weather forecast :(. Not to worry, just means i'll have to keep her in the garage and tinker with it...what a shame *cough* :D

[Ang]

Cool, now that looks like a meet needs sorting asap ;)

[Stavros]

Sounds a plan; insured the car the other night just waiting for it to come up on the DVLA's database so i can tax it. :D

[Ang]

They are buggers for that. Tried to do the 306 on line and it said no insurance. Tradex had cancelled the car by mistake in mid April :not:. Idiots. They sorted it out again. They said that the dvla update only every 2 weeks which is disgusting. You may be in for a wait. I just went in with my insurance document and got the tax. :D

[Stavros]

2 weeks :|; jeebus! Think i'll give them a call later :)

[Stavros]

Taxed the bug yesterday morning and have been driving today/yesterday evening. For the time i have been driving it, i love it, really good fun. However... had 2 new rear tyres earlier and noticed an oil patch forming beneath the left hand rocker cover... so now have a leak from 2 of the heads and i dont know why :(.... back to the garage...

[Stavros]

Hey all,

Well I thought ide update this thread and let you know where I am now at with the Bug.

After a summer of trying to sell the bug and being continuely messed around by tyre kickers I have decided that the bug is going to stay, atleast for one more year. So xmas shopping on her has begun.

So far I have saved up for pair of twin weber carbs for the bug and a lightened fly wheel which shall be getting fitted just after the new year with a bit of luck. Currently putting money asside for a few other bits such as new shocks and maybe a a narrowed beam for the front end so I can get her eating the grass :)

Any who, will update with more pics at some point soon


The aim:

Engine -
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With the fly wheel and carb set up it should put out around 100hp, which will be around 140bhp per ton, so should make things a little more exciting :D.

I'll try and find some pics of the aim for the car aestically later on :)

[AW09]

Plans sound good!

[Stavros]

Plans sound good!

Plans always sound good...however, putting it into practice is horrendous lol :D

[AW09]

Sounds simple :p

I presume just the carbs will add the power, as ofc the flywheel dont add any power as such just saps a bit of torque for the revvy'ness, Got one on my tigra :)

[Stavros]

Yea the power will be coming from the carbs, flywheel just a little bit of refinement :D... not a great deal other than changing/boring the lump really that you can do after that to increase power... unless i go to the extremes of turboing it lmao

[AW09]

NA power is best :p

Turbo does add a mass amount of power from somthing that was never designed for it though!

[Stavros]

NA power is best :p

Turbo does add a mass amount of power from somthing that was never designed for it though!


I have been out in a street tunes NA bug and that was pretty awesome, running around 200/230bhp, but thats in a 2.2ltr block, full race cams etc :(... I dont have that sought of dollar sadly :(

[Stavros]

Update: Twin weber 40IDF carbs have been ordered :D... let the tinkering begin :P

[Ang]

Glad you kept her in the end, just so one day I will get to see it ;)

[Stavros]

Haha, you will Ang I promise; Ive had the car 5 years, macca only lives a couple of miles away and I still havent managed to show him it yet either. Might wait until the carbs are on here though ;)

[Stavros]

The bug project is now officially underway. Mum and dad are ill so I took that as a sign to lock myself away in the garage and get to work.

So far ive stripped the bumpers off, removed the chrome kickboards and stone guards and will be putting the car on axle stands tomorrow :D.

Seeings as its christmas I decided to treat the bug to some new toys:

-3" rear suspension adaption plates
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Gas struts for front bonnet mod in replacement of springs
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New chrome T Bars for rear
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Speaker panels for front footwell
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-4" front suspension coil over kit
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Also, ive bought a roll of carbon fibre vinyl wrap to cover my louvred chrome running boards... should look interesting ;)

[AW09]

Very kool!
Do what i do and remember to get pics of Everything, I love reading WIP threads.

[Stavros]

I will take some snaps of her tomorrow mate :)

I think I may be on my bank managers christmas card list after this project lol.

Hopefully get all them bits 1st week in jan... cant wait to start chopping her about :D.

[AW09]

Jan projects are always best, its when i seem to do mine lol

I do love a nice bug hehe

[Stavros]

Yea this is the time last year when I was contemplating getting her running again... the thought of selling her hurt too much, so ive spent a few £ to try and make it up to her :D.

Ha they are very cool cars and there are so many custom parts for them now... Going to get the car eating the tarmac and get dabbling. I have big plans for the power etc but that will take a year or two of saving :(

[AW09]

Big power plans always do, im still waiting for santa to bring me a turbo conversion.

[Stavros]

Ha, I would love a turbo conversion for the bug but for the power output/cost it isnt worth it.

Ive got my eye on a 2400cc block with 48idf carbs... should produce around 230bhp of pure air cooled power :D. More than enough for a car that weighs around 700kg lol.

I do love sleepers :D. Friend of mine has a rouge '65 bug with an impreza sti lump in it... absolute rocket :D

[Stavros]

Big power plans always do, im still waiting for santa to bring me a turbo conversion.


I have a friend with a short block 2.5ltr impreza lump for sale.... oh you have no idea how blooming tempting that is!!!! lol

[AW09]

lol Do it :p

[Stavros]

lol Do it :p

Lmao, just about to get my insurance pay out through too... would be enough for engine, adapter plate, gearbox, cluch and new brakes.... but im going to be an old man and put it away I think lol

[AW09]

Damm!