(moved it as I realised i had accidentally put it in tech section, I already post enough dribble as is, without clogging up wrong forum!).

has anyone in here, restoring, repairing etc a vw reached a mechanical point where they are trully happy and confident it is 'there', nothing more to do? works well as a daily drive? no longer have that doubt or desire to chuck it in and buy a new car?

Just posting this in the hope someone can give peeps like me the little lift they need to keep hanging in there!

My car has been really well behaved this week, but instead of being excited I know in the back of my mind there is a fear of what it is going to do to me next week ! I am tired of suffering like this.lol. Am I alone in feeling this way? or are there others who often turn off the stereo an tune into the engine hum at the slightest noise. I really feel this is turning into a one sided abusive relationship with my bug!

Its pretty normal for old cars like this !

Its not abuse, it just you showing love for your bug

I dont think you can ever get to that stage of nirvana. At least I know I never will anyways...

no it will never reach that point. it will never be perfect!!

I think we all feel like that homebrand. I know I hate it when every thing seems perfect, cos I know it's the calm before the storm. I much prefer it with all the rattles, coughs, hesitations etc. etc., that's normal.
Isn't that the point though. If we just wanted to get in and drive without worrying or thinking, we wouldn't own old VWs (we'd have new ones). It's the challenge we enjoy.
It will never be perfect. Once she runs beautifully, different wheels would look better, or a NOS breezy would become an essential. It's a lot like marriage (or so I've been told) lots of work but very rewarding and even if you're fighting, you don't want somebody else having a ride.

Nope - your not alone on this one - I have been restoring a '65 bug for over 5 years (lack of finance and time keeps delaying it). It's taking up all of our double car garage and its only now that I am finally getting it back together (still have to paint the body but the mechanicals are going back together). My wife has a go at me for taking up her space in the garage on a weekly basis (sometimes more often - depends how often I see her during the week - I work nights, she works days...) and then things go wrong and it all makes you wonder why you bother.

Yep, it would be easier to go an buy a new car, but thats not what its all about is it? Think of the experiences that your little mechanical problems have created, all the things you have learnt and all the things that you now know because of your cars 'bad temper'. If nothing else, it has taught you to perservere(sp?), and to solve problems!

Stick with it - it will (most likely) make you a better person!! (Not that I am saying you are not a 'better' person now, but....oh...you know what I mean!)

Finally, remember, we're all here for you :kiss

R ~

...Oh yeah - here's one for you - I have just replaced the flywheel oil seal, put the engine back in, then discovered that the input shaf seal in the gearbox was leaking - pulled the engine back out and replaced that seal, put the engine back in, now I discover that I have two (not one but two!) cracked pushrod tubes that I am going to have to replace - then hopefully I will have cured the major oil leaks .... or thats the theory anyway! Grrr!

R

:thumb thanx guys I feel much better after reading these posts. I swear I think I am one of only a handful of females who carry round a big plastic box of tools in my car.
It seems that the minuate you tighten say one little 10mm nut on the fan shroud, it causes a whole chain of events, ranging from heads falling off to your brake drums exploding, which in turn causes your gears to of course all shatter and ultimately the wiper motor will burn out! (not to mention the rear indicator bulb burning out). But even so you don't want to get rid of the car (uno wat i mean). lol.
the number of times I have been on side of road (dressed up 4 a night out) fixing things :cussing passers by amused by a girl in heels with a pair of wire strippers, re connecting headlights for example (minor pitstop a couple of weeks ago). ahahaha. But I don't think I could ever be without a bug.

Think I need a kombi, that way I could just carry round a whole spare gearbox and engine with me (just in case)... Talk about cwazy.

I am tired though of always having grease covered hands, not very fem!
:puke

I must say, you are a rare breed of lady...... very rare indeed !

ps nice baja

I have so been there, driving along knowing every creek and sqweek, noting every abnormal sound with scences hightened, smeeling fuel and oil smells or evan electrical smell. So I've been there too. That was also a good few years ago.

Now I feel close to nirvana I've become intimate with my car I've removed and replaced every nut and bolt, the suspension, gear box and engine, everything is done.

But I still drive at full alert, but not worried, more like feeling the car.

Am I really that obsest?, tell me I'm not alone.

Know the feeeling as i've always driven old cars , mainly aircooled vw's. Suppose the one thing i've learnt is that if you spend the money and look after them , serviced etc , normally they are really reliable. Pretty basic set up as opposed to a new high tec motor. I carry some bulbs , fuses , toolkit , belt , plugs and points, a manual and have road assistance just to be on the safe side.
I to listen to the engine , listen for rattles and squeaks but mainly as i don't have a stereo!
Also agree that you never reach a point on being totally happy with your ride. I remember saying that i'd leave my tidy 67 totally standard as it was 1 owner etc etc. Within a week of owning it the front was dumped and i'm now planning a stroker motor! LOL. You'll always find something you want to change and waste your money on!

Great fun though! Remember your only here once!

Dan

I agree, the idea of the new fang dangled cars, with pootas etc, freak me out. So much more to go wrong, plus the feeling of being a little further distanced from the road. If something is up with the bug, it lets you know fairly quickly.

At the risk of sounding a little perverse I am an avid sniffer lowbug, you have nothing to worry about.lol. I sniff around at the first sign of danger. i have tracked a couple of electrical faults using this method.lol. You become well aquainted with ur bugs bodily fluids over time. Good diagnostic tool!
Cept when you drive past steel works or the likes and start panicing as you think you have encountered a wiry burnie problem! Peeps look at me funny as i often will hop out and stick my hands near exhaust and have a sniff (bit like a chef checking on the cooking!). Not weird at all,, no siree!

I look forward to the day I can take mine off the road and are financial enough to replace EVERYTHING.lol.

Yes the refurb was fun, did most of the work myself still cost an obsene amount of money (and is still costing), but it was done over a period of 81/2 years, and it really dosn't rattle or squeek its nice, but I still get a wiff of feul evey once and a while, and that keeps it real.

Yep, I beleive dubbers invariably develope an extra-sensitive set of nostrils.

I am with you, but I also think that bajas are the worst cos the engine is SO loud and out there and always ends up beign more of a worry. i was driving down the road and smelt somehtign hot. I peered into the blackness under the bonnet(through the air vents) and couldn't see any flames so I thought it was OK. THen i really got worried that somethign was wrong. I thought to myself "Geez, that smells like ironing??!!"

I slammed on the skids and jumped out to smoke billowing behind. I had been working on my engine and thrown my jumper and work pants on the hot-dogs, and fogotten about them (obviously). But I tell that story all the time cos I am a clown, it is funny and I love my baja.

Catch you in the funny pages.

It is hard to do. I finished my car, the EH, so I started on Fleurs Kombi, then Beetle, now back to the bus again for a Suby implant

he he Jamox, i have heard stories that some not so smarties have decided that they could put things under the bonnet when they ran out of space in the rest of the car. So you havent fallen too far. I hope it wasnt an aussieveedubber cos now i might have offended them..oh well bad luck i spose.

hehehe, the only burnies I have had on exhaust were wires or spark leads coming loose,,,:o lol. The good thing bout baja is the tool tray..I mean engine cage. I have lost a few tools because of this. Had to promptly stop after a roundabout once, heard a clink clink clink, checked for any wheel or tie rod end nuts (as you do.lol) and realised it was much worse,,, my socket drive with the 10mm socket was sitting in the middle of the road...(very crucial one to loose there).....phew! lol.

hey helbus, think fleur is onto a good thing there. I was stupid and revealed to males i could fix cars myself, now I am stuck with doing it.lol (shulda just been like my sister and mum,,, "I wouldn't know the first thing about cars, someone do it for me!",,,,,,but I have seen them checking levels and poking around the engine bays when no ones looking,, yup.. I seen em..lol )

My car was never a resto, but it is 1000% on what it was when I bought it. I have owned the 85 model GTI for 3 and a half years, and it is nearly at the stage that I want it at. I dont believe any car will ever be perfect. Whenever I get disheartened, I just go and drive, and my enthusiasm is renewed. Hang in there, bud!!!

ha ha ha! Hey $2.63 your baja sounds like mine! I often get the comment from passengers "what's that burning smell?". At the moment my oil leak is stable and my regulator has shat itself (YAY!) oh well.:thumb

after reading this thread... *cowers and worries about owning his first bug* yipe!!!!

Oh well, all part of the fun. I love tinkering, so it's allll good

What are you talking about, I talk to my car all the time. I make sure I stop into the garage when I get home. And when the family is going nutts I slip into the garage and get really good converations with my car. We discuss what we are going to improve next and plan it all out the best way to get rid of them all..... what do you mean, my car is alive, and don't say it isn't

Ah, but how does your car talk to you? Does she purr? Does she seduce you? Does she talk sweetly? Or does he command you? Does he have good conversations about the rims on that fancy little purple number with the nice body(kit) next door? Does he chat to you while you drink your respective beers and petrol?

so my question is, why do ppl say Veedubs are "so reliable"?

reliable.. coz when they tell you theyve got aproblem, they do.

They can be relied upon to inform you of any problems

Back in the 50s & 60s most other cars spent most of their life locked in the garage or if driven... at the local service station getting fixed... cars back then were NOT reliable as VWs were/are... its just that they are old...
I have replaced virtually everything in mine... so the overhauled engine will [I hope run for many years] but they do seem to make funny noises etc fairly often... maybe when We are contented driving the VW it likes to keep us on our toes by making strange noises etc... every now & then...
Tappets too tight ?? points OK?? distributor cap OK?? condensor OK?? rotor OK?? spark plug leads not shorting out?? spark plugs still firing??
Engine not over heating ?? well whats that smell???
Oil level OK?? the rest of My Car is virtually new so the engine is the only Qustion Mark... how long will it go?? will it drop a valve.. etc...

How will I sleep tonight????
Nirvarna --- what the hell is that?????
thanks Home Brand $2-63 (on special}??

Lee -- Scone -- 2C temp...

Well to be honest I want a new car as well so I can enjoy my bug and not have to rely on it as my only form of transport. I've had to go to work and a couple of times couldn't start the car. My '62 never broke down once, glorious 6V and occy strap to hold it in gear, but it never stopped once except for when the coil dropped off. That was reliable.

As for smells, there's the petrol smell, the melted plastic heater hose smell, the FIRE smell, the ironing smell, the running too hot smell, the electrical short smell, the electrical fire smell etc.....

Sounds are too many and varied, but a couple would be Tappets, Backfiring, brakes rubbing, fanbelt slipping, pulling my hair out, and ANYTHING else...:alien

Wrapped in fems that know our stuff as well as there own: We were going out with friends for lunch a few weeks ago and I picked 'em up en route. Soon as we left their place the car started misfiring and burping and conking out at lights and strong fuel smell...etc. *&^%^&* I thought to myself, thinking " here we go again! more bloody expense!" Thinking burnt valves, lblown cyl head gasket, broken dissy drive , crapped out fuel pump etc. My missus, who is NOT mechanically minded.. said "sounds like spark plugs to me"...
I poo pooed that idea but later when home, thought I'd better check the plugs and ripped 'em out. Sure enuf, they were stuffed. A quick trip to super cheap sorted that out. The fuel smell was actually exhaust fumes leaking in from having the boot open.. carrying many boxes beer and other stuff. (this was in the old ford, not the duberoo). My missus seems to be right more often than I care to recall.

Way to scare the hell out of a learner dubber guys! :P

Don't be scared, just buy a peg for your nose, earplugs, and keep your eyes shut, then your car should run perfectly (in your head).

Yeah disconnect the dash lihgts and don't have any gauges, and then you can motor away in total bliss. Until it come to an abrupt halt lol.