1963 VW Beetle:Ragtop Resto.

[63Ragtop]

So on the vw started making a weird fluttering sound. I checked the basic things like oil and removed the fan belt to see if the fan was rubbing on the housing. Guessing it was a massive exhaust leak I finally admitted that I'll never have a working heater system, I went and bought these.

Which replace these old shitters.

Volkswagen heater boxes, which are air heat exchangers, the hot exhaust goes in those ports at the back, turn 180 under the heads and connects to rest of the system, whilst the engine fan pumps cold fresh air (hahahah) though the large holes over the alloy fins that incase the exhaust and into the cabin. 

Fair to say these things have done their dash and weigh about 5kgs each.

Now factory vws have these annoying slip joints were the heater boxes attach to the muffler. As mine a bit low and the aftermarket exhaust flange is the first thing that hits the road pulling into a driveway (which can be seen in the last pic of the last post) it would crack the seal and would start leaking again. 

So I was able to reuse the flanges off the boxes and weld them in place thanks to my brother in law's weld as mine decided to die.

Ugly welds but strong. So much better using gas! I told what I was doing and mentioned that the muffler was also on its last legs and he pulls this out from under his house.

The openings are a little bigger as it's off his V8 prem, but the can looks to be exactly the same size as the bugpack muffler I have tucked up under the bugs fender. Next project sorted.

Here is are J pipes in place. Please ignore the oil slick under the engine.

So after fucking around all day, I start it up and bugger me if it was still making the fluttering sound! Me and Darrel spent a couple beers trying to suss what was making the noise, getting pretty gassed in the process, carbs need a tune, running very rich. So I go down the road to turn around, give it the old italian tune-up, and waa hey, problem solved! Still not sure what it was but I'll take the win.

[63Ragtop]

Had a busy week with the bug, changing gears was be coming rather hit and miss, by Wednesday I was having to start it in gear if I wanted to use reverse.

One thing I'd meant to do during the rebuild was to replace the plastic bushing that holds the shifter rod in place inside the tunnel. I even bought the part, but, meh I had a whole car to build and it worked okay before, also it's a cunt of a job. The problem is to change the bush you need to completely remove the three foot long shifter rod.

And this is the only access.

You gotta take the spare tyre out, the front bumper, two access plates and as it turns out both front beam adjustment bolts, and poke the shifter rod out the front. Fuck me.

Old thing new thing. Didn't end up taking to long, an hour or so.

Gears still fucked, adjust clutch. Ah, much better.  these two things have made the car so much nicer to drive it has reinvigorated my enthusiasm for the car. 

So on Friday I cut the muffler off.

Old shit.

New shit.

Some shit welding and a lick of paint. And a short five hours later. Tried to kick The tail up at the end. Sounds so good, very happy with it, I'd had the old one nearly twenty years so not bad. Makes prober vroom vroom sounds now!

Also cut a hole out of a large trapezoid of mdf.

For the jbl to sit in, speaker only just fits.

Sub doesn't have the same punch of the when it was in the box, bit more boomie, but heaps of volume and is fine with a few twiddles of the eq. Was going to cover it but it's fun watching it move in the rear view mirror.



Random photo of small mount on can I had to jigger. Note self clearance flange.

[63Ragtop]

Had a play with the sunroof the other night, things been a bitch to open and close since the resto, put some of it down to not having a headliner to help pull the second bow forward, but it also a dickhole going the other way. Had a good look and tried the second set of hole in the end of the wheel holder thing.

Much better! Why the fuck hans drilled the second set I do not know.

The only other instructions I've been able to find say bend the outer runner to fit? Was never sure how. After some careful prodding with a screwdriver and little progress, I found the use of the round hole in the runner.

The two small rollers inside need to be even so the bow moves smoothly, by putting a screwdriver in the hole in the opposite side you can easily and gently bend the steel to just the right tension. Clever hans.

These are castor shims, and longer beam bolts. These improve the road manners of a lowered vw at highway speeds. I already had a set installed but on very low cars, another is needed. As the shims space the bottom beam away from the pan longer bolts are required. 

Managed to install them without dropping the beam out. Easily the best 40-50 bucks I've ever spent on the car, it will sit on 60-70mph, one hand on the wheel, relax. Before you needed to keep your wits about you as it was very twitchy and unsettled.

Now, just need to sort the vibration at and after 70mph, the deafening noise and smell of hot engine fumes and we're sweet.

An't she cute dough?

 

[63Ragtop]

Nice day for a hoon up a volcano.

 

[63Ragtop]

Hello oldschool. The bug got a new wof a couple months back. Just needed new front tyres and the front bearings adjusted to pass. Was looking pretty hard for a wider tyre as technically the 145s are too small for the 5.5in wheels. No 155s or 165s in the profile in wanted, to chicken it try a 175, so bought another set of 145/65/15r. Balanced and aligned together with the sorted front bearings and the high speed shakes have greatly reduced. 

Drives really nice now.

Except for the slow death of my clutch. 

[63Ragtop]

The other thing that likes to die is the wiper motor. It works fine until you really need them, like a thunderstorm in heavy Auckland traffic. Then they cook themselves and fuck out.

Opening the motor for possible the first time in sixty years reveled grease with the texture of smashed prunes.

[63Ragtop]

Another thing I've never gotten around to is polishing the paint. After I smashed the front fender I had intended on doing it after painting.

After sitting out in the sun all day at work for the last couple years the paint was pretty rinsed.

Spent a couple evenings worth of elbow grease, paint is actually cracking in places.

Wish I'd done it years ago, but whatever, looked so nice after a shower of rain, water all beading off.

[63Ragtop]

Still going.

After being a daily driver for the last three years, the clutch had reaaalllly had enough, I adjusted it one more time, and it was working sweet. I drove over to qualitat to grab a couple last parts, thought I'd pop in and see a mate at his work down the road, pulled up a couple blocks away and bang. No more clutch cable.

Old mate helped me push it inside, dropped me off home, picked me up in the morning, took me back over to qualitat, and helped me sort the cable. Good cunt.

Guess I had it cranked the cable a bit much and stressed it out. Anyway four hours later, I got the little loop on the little hook. Fuck.

[63Ragtop]

Which finally leads to this.

Gotta take these off first and a couple other things, and out she comes.

One very rusty dusty old (dated 1999) clutch. The bearing in the center there is all lose, don't think it's supposed to be like that ?

Plate looks okay, again center section had a rattle.

Bellhouseing was wet and grimey.

I bought new engine mounts when I good the new clutch, these polyurethane ones were cool when I was twenty, but I'm sure they make the noise and vibration issues even worse.

And the axle boots need replaced again, these only lasted 3years? Shit house. So I spent most of Sunday removing the fucked parts and cleaning the underneath of all the oil and road grime.

[63Ragtop]

Old solid front mount.

Nice new heavy-duty kombi mounts in place.

So fresh and so clean!

Just need to remember to top up the gearbox oil, something else I've never done, not the easiest process I'm guessing.

Which just leaves this thing to sort out. Which although looks cool from this side.

Is caked in oil from this side.

Any tips on stopping a vw engine leaking oil from ever possible place would be greatly appreciated.

Fin.

 

[63Ragtop]

Stripped all the tinwear off.

Some of the problem is poor crankcase ventilation. As well as the standard cam, lightened flywheel, carbs and exhaust. This engine is actually blueprinted and dynamically balanced, which means it revs faster and higher than stock. Which means more pressure or splashy oil stuff inside or something. Add to that my stupid worst than stock breather, and shit comes out everywhere and anywhere.the front pulley doesn't have any seal, it has a thread that chucks it back inside, looks like some oil has made it out, possibly the oil pump cover below also?   The rear crank seal has definitely been leaking, nice wee river running down the middle.

Comparing the 1-2 side to the 3-4 cylinder side they look fairly similar.

I'm thinking I didn't do fuckall to seal the alt stand when I put it on, was rushing to get it back on the road. The case is wet with oil around it.

One thing I did do was replace the seals on the oil cooler, so imagine how pissed off I am with the fecking oil under it. But looking closer, some of the fins on the front of the cooler are pretty hammered and oil stained. guess the fan has been shooting things at it for 30odd years.

So add that to the shopping list.

With all the leaks up top, it's difficult to tell if the cylinders or pushrod tubes are actually leaking or just covered in shit? After the last rebuild, I wasn't able to re-torque the head studs once the engine was run in, question is, how far do I go with this? It runs pretty good and now I'm not driving it daily I've go a bit of time to seal it up properly.

Look at this puddle inside the bottom slead! Yeezus.

[63Ragtop]

Turns out one person can lift a vw engine down off a bench by themselves.

But I would not recommend it. Spent a few nights degreasing the old boxer.

Came out quite well.

Took a large screwdriver to the old main seal, very carefully leavered it out. The seal itself looked ok so I thought I'd practice and pressed it half way back in with just my hands. Feeling brave, I gave the new seal a go and and it went I just as easy, some gentle tapping with a hammer and the perfect block of wood and done, hopefully it works!

Then spent a few evenings cleaning and resealing the alt stand, fuel pump block off, and the new oil cooler.

I also found this rather large crack in my shitty alloy pulley.

Wonder how long that's been like that!?

I did end up buying a new set of pushrod tubes and the rubber seals for them. But after thinking it over, to replace the pushrod tubes the head have to come off, then you might as well take the cylinders off and give em a clean up etc... And I'm not even sure that the cylinders or pushrods are leaking?

So I banged the flywheel back on, centered up the new clutch, spent another couple evenings cleaning all the tinwear, and reassembled the whole thing.

Except for these. These are for extra punishment.

And slid it all back in.

Very annoyed at not having time to delete the old heater pipes from the fan shroud, would unclutter the engine greatly. Next time

If anyone has one of these scat 36hp style doghouse fan shrouds, without heat, I'll swap!!

 

 

[63Ragtop]

Gave the crabs a birthday, both seemed to be weeping gas from the between the top plate that the floats attach to. Cleaned everything and reassembled. Also installed a new set of plugs, really need to buy some leads, these fuckers must be nearly twenty years old. Anyway, one of the plugs was only finger tight and a couple had oil stains around the thread? Maybe those rings are stuffed?

When I had it on the bench, I re torqued all the head studs, very carefully as to not pull any out of the magnesium engine case.

After a quick test of oil pressure, it started up okay, needed a small clutch adjustment,warmed it up around the block, clutch works so nice, like butter, very pleased.

On return, it was idling a bit fast, which is a pain. This engine must be warm to set the carbs. Disconnect the throttle linkage completely, and get both carbs to match. Got both down to 2-2and a bit on the air meter. It's never run this smooth, imagine if I could actually tune the Dells!

My son found this for me in a thrift shop, I've been looking for one for a while.

To go with my og 90s thrasher sticker.

Stoked.

And yes it's already leaking!!!

Quite badly!

Seems to be mostly the cylinders, between the case on side1-2, and from between the head on 3-4?

Dogs will hunt!

Still really pleased with the work done, clutch works well, flywheel hasn't fallen off, I did it to spec but man, if that was 270lbs it musta been 4 or 500 when I took it off. Engine mounts are definitely softer, it does not like hard launch's. All the axle tramp! 

Not to worried, I said I'll renovate the house next and I'm not driving it daily but it's nice to have it ready it go.

[63Ragtop]

How it started.

How it ended.

[63Ragtop]

And then the dreaded delta lockdown of 2021 happened a few days later. Dun dun duuuuun.

I've gotten pretty good at removing the engine now, super glad I made that rear valance removable!

Decided as I couldn't do much else, I'll use the time in lockdown to tidy up the old tinwear.

The layer of black came off easy, but the 20 year old vht engine enamel, not so much.

Got through in the end, nothing but time and pressure, just like Andy Dufresne.

Sprayed it satin black to stop it rusting, kinda like it, might satin the tin instead of gloss black, that's how they were factory.

[63Ragtop]

Spent an inordinate amount of time fettling the cylinder tin. These are shitty aftermarket parts like the fan shroud, and have never fitted anything very well.

The tin on a vw engine is ducting for the cooling system. So poorly fitted tin is like having heaps of water leaking out of a engine.

The big manifolds were always a struggle to fit, more fettling.

The factory manifold preheating pipe holes were welded up years ago, 

Made a start on deleting the last remnant of the heater system as well as adding 5mm hear and there to close up the gaps between the cylinder tin and the rear plate.

For some reason the 1-2 side tin doesn't even closely follow the shape of the fan shroud, 

But 3-4 was almost perfect?

Removing the heater pipes is going to declutter the engine bay so much, love a nice simple looking motor.

[63Ragtop]

Possible better than sanding, but still very messy and time consuming.

Lucky I built that extra bench, so good having another work area.

Stripping the pulley tin, poor old thing was so bent by being forced to fit the other crap.

Gaps looking saaweeet!

Mock up for inspiration.

Removed the pipe fittings from the fan shroud.

[63Ragtop]

Now these are the lower tins that wrap under the engine and direct the air under and out the rear of the car.

These are OG old-school vw parts. After paint stripping, they had a lot of bad surface rust, cracks and thing broken off.

One of my favorite things about this never ending project is learning and trying new things. So the tin got a couple days soaking in white vinegar.

Did my best with what I had to hand, check out the high tide line.

And then after a wee swim in a baking powder solution to neutralise the acidic vinegar, gave them a good hoon on the wire wheel, shit looks good as new!

[63Ragtop]

Fan shrouds turn.

Noice.

[63Ragtop]

As with the other tin, the front plate.(in a vw the flywheel is at the front of the engine) didn't fit for shit either. A critical part as when sitting in traffic, all the hot air exhaust can rush up and the plate isn't sealed to the firewall rubber the cooling fan will recirculate the hot air, which is bad.

It needed to move forward about 15-20mm 

Mustve spent at least a good couple days solid welding, bending, cutting, refitting, checking, grinding. The plan is to test fit everything in the car before paint, just in case.