Hey All. I'm not sure how many of you will remember my bug from a couple of years ago but.. Just under 5 years ago when I was 13, I bought an unregistered '71 Super Beetle that was fairly run down and a bit rusty in some areas.
The motor was pretty shot and running on around 2 and a half cylinders lol. Soon after it decided to let go of its no. 3 piston and smash it through the top of the case. After pulling down and inspecting the rest of the motor, I decided it would be best to keep a look out for another long block. I left the motor and started pulling the rest of the car down with the intention of restoring it or at least tidying it up.
Luckily, at around the same time, I started working part time at a Volkswagen specialist workshop in Launceston. I had so much fun working on Volkswagens at the workshop then going home and doing the same procedure on my bug. Soon I had taken the body off the chassis and started cleaning up the floorpans, which were in surprisingly good nick compared to some others. I used a wire brush on an angle grinder to remove the surface rust. After the loose rust was gone I treated it with Fertan rust converter and then primed before spraying with a sound deadener.
Anyway, during the years between then and now, when I was should have been doing homework, I was fixing up the beetle lol. I found a long block, pulled it down and rebuilt it (with plenty of new parts). I finally got the car back together in February mainly because I needed to use it for a friend's wedding. They had another red bug and two immaculate white ones – they looked awesome as wedding cars!!
The bug has had more new parts and other second hand ones from bugs at work than I can remember. And I’ve lost count of how much of 5 years pay has been spent 'tidying up' the beetle. Lucky I love it haha. It's been an enjoyable ride with plenty of highs and lows and I've learnt so much.
I'm not sure who's interested in any specs but I'll write some out because it's the sort of thing I was always looking for when I was thinking about what to do to my bug:
- 1971 Super Beetle
- 15 X 6 Performance Wheels Superlite Alloys
- 195/60 Yokohama AVS ES100 Tyres (unbelievably sticky :o)
- Lowered with adjustable struts with slimline springs (sitting 4 inches lower at the moment) Handling is so much better and more controlled now, like a much more modern vehicle
- Urethane control arm bushes (made a huge difference but partly because the old vw factory rubber ones were stuffed)
- Stuff like 3 new tie rod ends, 4 brand new CV joints (CVs hurt the wallet) lol..
- Alpine head unit with 6 inch Pioneer 4-ways custom mounted in kick panels (sounds quite nice, very clear and crisp, I’d like to add a small sub and some rear speakers eventually, to hook up to the wiring I plumbed sitting under the back seat until funds allow lol)
- Most seals are new, new cal-look window rubbers, new running boards, new bumpers etc.
- Vdo oil temp, oil pressure, fuel, speedo, tacho custom mounted.
- Re-sprayed red from purpley-pink (not bad but needs a couple of spots re-doing that are letting down an otherwise tidy car)
- Blue Gemini front seats
- Bluish carpet kit has been custom fitted looks quite neat
Motor:
- Fully Rebuilt 1776cc
- 69mm DMS Counterweighted Crank
- Lightened Flywheel
- Hi volume oil pump
- Slightly lumpy cam (very nicely driveable)
- Oversize intake valves, dual valve springs
- Dual throat, single barrel Zenith Carb (off a porsche)
- Empi extractors and quiet pack exhaust (sounds good, not too loud but has a nice note)
I'll attempt to attach a couple of before and after pics.
Note - the rust in the lower corner panel was fixed by welding an aftermarket replacement repair hinge. Last after image shows ride height before lowering, the nose was sitting high due to weaking torsion bars in the rear.
Thanks for checking it out, tell me what you think and if you want I'd love to hear some suggestions as to what I can do next..
Stephen
[ Edited on 27-7-2006 by Super71 ]
Super71 Learner Dubber
4 posts · joined Dec 2005 ·
