\'62 Beetle and its new life.

Hey all,

Well I have finally found a good beetle for the lady of the house. She chickened out of driving the purchase home so it fell to me to get the new member of the car yard home. I sat on 50 mph all the way just to make sure I did nto cuase too much undue stress to a vehicle we have not had in our drive way yet.

On the drive home I noticed a number of things.

1. hand brake not functional (have since fix this. The design of the seems strange and if you do not have the cables adjusted correctly the ratchet will desintergrate right in your hand, usually resulting in the release button and rod hitting the dashboard, and mods to stop this happening???)
2. going around a roundabout and accerating out seems to give a very unnerving floating sensation? The car has been lowered slightly but not huge abouts. (pics to follow)
3. Gear selector seems to "stand up" once in fourth (ie drifts toward where 2nd would be) selection seems to be tightish but not as pecise as I would like (expect a aftermarket short shifter might be required here.)
4. The 1200 (i am lead to believe anyway) seems to have a slight "knock" to it and after some closer investigation it would seem the motor has been over filled with oil. Requires and oil change anyway so this will be performed sometime during the week.
5. Boot lock opens and slides at a 10degree angle thus binding on the runners etc and stuffing the pull hock thingy (real technical I know) how does one fix this? is it an adjustment.
6. There are many electrical issues. Horn, windscreen wipers, Head lights, stop lights (which I did not realise until after I got the car home.) The headlight worked out to be due to being mis wired. (ie highbeams and low beams, and ground where incorrectly installed on the globe, thus always running high beam when the light were turned on.) Since rewiring that section it was found that the dipper switch was faulty thus will be replacing with a new one. The stop light I am at a loss. The switch switches (ie end of master cyl) and 12V is at the switch but the light do not function out the back (only inds and tails work) the funniest thing is that when you apply the brake the voltage at the switch drops to 0V. What are the common issues with these. do they rub through anywhere?

Upon sorting and chasing both the headlight issues and the stop light I noticed that there is a wire haning above the master not connected to anything. Cannot remember the colour but it is hard the see what colour most wires are at present as most things are yellow :S seems when you spray a car masking is not too important... GRRRR(i am still casing the stop light issue...)

Is it common for the wiper motor to die in these or it more likely wired incorrectly? I suspect the previous owner was not electrically understanding, and thus just plug things what fitted.

Is there a switch (ignition) which incorporates a access position or is this something I will have to fabricate?

While I do like generators, particularly on a original classic, that fact that this car has already been converted to 12V (not sure of how well yet) The fact that the car will end up being a daily means an alternator may be the better choice. What is the easiest way to place a alt in the old girl. (could the windscreen wiper issues be related to the 12V conversion, having never done one in a volks.)

The inner rubber trim for teh drivers window seems not to sit nicly any pointers?

All in all for what we got I believe it is not a bad purchase. Infact for the 5 week understanding I have in the Beetles I think we have done brillantly. Anyways enough from me...

Cheers

T

[ Edited on 21-2-2006 by firefly ]

The stop light issue may be that the stoplight sender maybe faulty, for the few dollars they cost by a new one.

Marc

Well,

after looking at a number of electrical issues I decided to label all terminals and rip the fuse box out. Like with most of the rest of the electrical system within the car the terminals had there fair share of oxidisation. After and hour and a half the fuse box was installed again. and teh wiring re attached. Funnily enough the stop lights work now.. 😀 Would have seemed that the fusebox was the issue. Only occured to me once I sat and thought about it. Common issue with datsun 1600's etc. do not know why I did not think of this area earlier. The biggest issue I am concerned about is the fact that the car has been converted to 12v. this means that most circuits has increased in the current draw stakes. does this mean that the wiring needs to increase to sustain the extra current? The othe thing being what size fuses should each bank contain or do I go through what I did with my Super minx and rerate the banks for the right fuses?

The other thing is that the only fuse box diagram I could find was for a 1963 beetle not a 62. It would seem that the connections on my fuse box are different/lacking to that of a 63. does one have a diagram, or should I just change it to match the 63?

I have moved onto looking at the horn. Funnily enough I believe the loose wire is for the horn (spade connector at base of the steering tube. Looking at the wiring diagram suggests that the horn works the same way as eventhing else I have (ie horn ring gets earthed to the centre steering shaft. Therefore it would seem that the thing that cancels the indicators would also rub on the hornring. Seeing that I have an aftermarket steering wheel on the car then this means I need a wire from the nut in the shaft as well as one from the indicator canceler. The next issue from this is that the previous owner stated something about the horn. I cannot remember whether it was that is says on all the time or does not work at all. Both are plausable seeing what I have looked at tonight. Measuring between the steering column and the steering shaft made sure that it was Isolated. The issue as I see it though is that fact that

A) the ribbing cancel thingy, is painted in thick black paint and thus needs to be cleaned so that the metal is conductive.
B) once this is cleaned the canceler thingy, needs to become insulated from the boss kit otherwise it will be continuous beetle horn until the cops rock up or the neighbou throws an axe at the horn. 😉

What have others done to isolate their aftermarket steers? I do have the original steering wheel, but have not got the horn "pad" (half chromed ring horn button thingy.) I was thinking to use some plastic O-ring washer to isolate the connecting screws aka transformer mounting pads and some transistor insulator panels to go between the boss and the cancelating ring thingy. This would make sure that the only way to allow the horn to sound is through the horn pad.

The otherthing that has been concerning me is the about of current which will be running through the switches since the 12V conversion. I am really tempted to relay alot of the main circuits (ie, starter, lighting, horn.)

Having no workshop manual for the doors (I do have an original workshop manual for the transaxle, brakes etc ) I would like to obtain a workshop manual to fill the gaps. Not a great lover of teh gregorys/scientific pub, I am wondering what else is out there that maybe better. (actually the brakes one help me workout the issue with the handbrake lever, but I really would love to improve on the design.

Just a side thought. Did beetles come with steering rack at some stage in their evolution? Is it worth the swap? The steering setup seems a little backward, and I feel that the geometry does not seem 100% Really do nto wish to scrub new tyres out (required to rw) once replaced. Speaking of RW I believe the windscreen will be picked as there are some reasonable scratches in the glass. And suggestions of where to got to get the windscreen cut? (melbourne SE) Are the windows the same for others I have done (remove "locking strips" gentle push pry and string it in? No I am not cutting them out as the rubbers are brand new. Oh on buying new stuff, can you get new boots for the tierod ends or do you need to get a new tierod aswell? I know years ago you could get boots seperate but now for even my commodore I seem to need to but a new tierod.

I also have an adjustable front end, how does this work? Have other people put cigarette lights into their cars? if so where? ( no we both do not smoke it is for other accessories aka mobile charger/hands free kit)

Well that is enough for one post.. 😉

Cheers
T

Workshop Manual Volkswagen 1200 1961-1965 by Robert Bentley for Volkswagen Of America or the one before is 1958-1960 dont know which one would apply to yours aussie beetles are are little later in changing over,anyway whatever get a Bentley the price will scare a bit but ita as thick as a phone book REALLY,buy it from amazon.com or bend over and buy it in OZ,by the way nice beetle.:thumb

Firefly,
try this link it has step by step procedures and lots of info & links to info.

http://www.vw-resource.com/

6volt system actually draws higher current than 12 volt so wiring is more than double the capacity needed for 12v Usually all that needs changing in a 12 v conversion is all globes, coil and condensor, idlel cut off solenoid, turn signal flasher can, horn and wiper motor (unless you like wipers going 100mph on low speed setting) Many people leave 6v starter motor in (I have) and get faster cranking speed, you just shouldn't crank for long periods without starting. Try this page for electrical, it has some wiring diagrams.

http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/


Matt.