Hello hello!

Am getting started with gettin the 74' back up to scratch and one problem *of the many*
is there is a vibration in the wheels.. only very slight under 40mph but after 40-45 it becomes VERY violent basically not feeling safe about driving it...

add to that if anyone knows about the following:

Gear stick is loose *turns quite freely at first i thought the gear nob was dead but its the whole shaft*

Has started drinking heaps of fuel


and is running very very hot.. to the point its starting to bubble the paint...

Oh and the hand brake does not work... theres weight in it when you pull it up but no effect what so ever


Who ever can shed some light would be a MASSIVE help to me

sounds like you have either wheels out of balance or the tyre has a bubble on it or bent rims

im betting your 74 is an LBug?
thats just the classic 50mph superbug shimmy

just means 1 or a few things are worn out like rubber bushings, balljoints, etc badly balanced wheels can bring it on too

if your burning lots of fuel and running rich which is getting it hot enough to burn the paint off might be time to send it to a mechanic

Hahah superbug shimmy ... well whats got me stumped is the fact that its only just started happening .. ive not run over anything and the tyres are not that old at all
What bushings should i be looking out for?

well the other side with the heat thing is that it needs new tinwork, and has extractors with a stupid motor bike muffler

... i will get it to the mechanic but im trying to keep the cost down for the moment at least haha because theres a VERY big list of other things that are wrong

one that i forgot was the accelerator... it sticks and is very hard to push down ...

you need a goood vw mechanic mate.


if it is a super, you will need to sort out the front end, no its not cheap.... but if its not safe, why drive it? - dont sacrifice your safety cause you cant afford to make it safe, take a bus. it sucks, i know. thats where im at.

it shouldnt be running so hot that it is damaging the paint (on more than one occasion), you are shortening the life of your engine.

throttle - bad ajustment at the carb or worn throttle shaft, or sticky pedal (at the base)

or frayed accelerator cable

Hi

Besides cleaning up oil where are you?

Overheating could be retarded timing.

With front end, get the ball joints and tie rods checked for play, if they are all good get some urethane bushes fitted, these can be fitted with not much skill needed, then you will need a wheel alignment, so if you need ball joints and tie rods do this all at once.

Gear shift most likely needs a new bush under the gear stick, there is a good post about this on here by Joel.

Get all the brakes checked out, but to start off with, try adjusting the back brakes.

Steve

Im in Melbourne,
Well Im going to get under it today and check out the thermo and the tinware

I took it to a mechanic and they have caused all these 'problems'
After i took it for a service its come back with the accelerator issue and is running rough and on occasion wont start + the fuel consumption
So timing needs to be addressed..
the front end will be fixed by a mechanic but i just wanted to know what it might be

and answering the obvious question im not taking it back to that mechanic to get him to fix it dont trust him as far as i could throw him

I will work on changing the bushing would that perhaps solve the problem of it not going into reverse some times?

Sounds like the guy you took it to doesn't know much about VWs.

The best thing I can suggest is that you go to the newsagent and buy the latest VW Magazine Australia, and have a look through it for an ad for a VW workshop in Melbourne. Maybe some Melbourne people here could recommend somewhere.

You need to find someone who knows what they are doing.

Also think about joining the VW Club of Victoria and talking to their members : - http://www.vwclub.com.au/ 

I had the same problem in my '74 L bug when I still had it. After changing balljoints,steering damper and center tie rod it turned out to be the inner control arm bushes. These were only 12 months old but they died anyway, replaced with genuine vw bushes (they were still available then) and had no more problems

yeah the guy was a t00l but fear not 'pig' will not be going back there ever again.

mackaymanx, how much did the balljoints cost to change?
im goin to replace the control arm bushes aswell as the roll bar bushes and pretty much everything up in the front end


After todays work i found the problem with the accelerator and the handbrake.
handbrake the mechanism that holds the brake on has died seems like a spring or something because i can get it to work by pulling up the handle and when its at the top pressing the button... very odd!

and the accelerator was that little wheel on the back

thanks for your help so far guys its been a big help!!

I just did thechange on my super. THe front 6 bushes get done about every 2 to 3 years (Track car so low mileage). Plus have replaced the drag link (expensieve!!) plus the 4 ball joints. Normally that and the steering damper will fix it all. Make sure you get a decent shop to press out the inner ball joint. If the bushes are the stock vw ones, they ahve a metal sleeve that needs to be pushed out. The new ones (urethane) can be pressed in with a decent bench vice once the sleave is out. The rest jsut bolts in and out and will take a day or 2 the first time. But its a great chance to see the front.

Engine heat... as said above take it to a VW mechanic... they will get it right

The gear stick on a super will spin. They didn't come with any pins in the bottom, jsut a round ball in a cup. Type3's and some beetles had a pin that engaged in a slot in the cup, therefore you could bend the gear stick to move the knob back.

if the rear end of your vw is lower then the front it will also make the steering light.
Just change all the bushes etc as they are all about 36 years old.

Hi BiX thanks for the clear up on the gear shifter i thought mine had just died!


on the upside of todays labor i patched up the tinware *new stuff on order*

advanced the timing and cleaned the points and its running sooo much better!

that and i tightened up the steering box and its now actually handling very well ... the ball joints are shagged though

overall a very productive day!

still chugging down fuel though

...umm.. how much did you change the timing? Is it set at 0 degree/TDC, or more? Do you own a timing light?

Hi mate, we have the Superbug Shimmy too. I also am in Melbourne and take the bug to 'Dandy Volks' 1- 3 Heart Street, Dandenong. (03) 9793 1337. Max is the owner and so far am very happy with the work he does. Was in there on Friday, cos there was a new noise from the back left wheel. Turns out the handbrake cable had come off and was hitting the drum. He did the job straight away and no charge.

I was speaking to him about fixing the shimmy, he suggested the 1st thing was balancing the wheels. Then try to match the wheel to the rotor, to do this you drive the car, see if the shimmy if there. If it is, take the front wheel off, turn it around one bolt hole and re-attach. Keep doing this till you find the sweet spot and the shimmy reduces, he suggested 1 side at a time to try to find the side that is doing it the worst. Then go through all the ball joints etc.

the timing was only advanced minimally but then put back to how it was, its running better after cleaning the rotor button and the points in the distributor cap.
And yes i do have a timing light, am going to get the shimmey sorted out before tackling the engine

yes its being run on unleaded with valve additive ...

I did just over 60miles yesterday and it went through half a tank (from 1/4 full to 1/4 empty)

hey wozza78, ive dealt with dandy volks before originially bought an engine from him that was in our old bug.
im going to take it back to him for a check up and tune

getting a wheel alingment does help but the problem returns not long after.

Unless you know the bushes are only a year old or less, I would suggest replacing them at the same time as the ball joints.
There should be 6 ball joints in the steering, 1 idler arm bush, 6 bushes and 2 extra ball joints (between the lower arm and stub axle).

Well i know for a fact they are significantly older then that!!
Its getting a new stabiliser bar put on shortly with new bushes, the ball joints have been replaced once about 5 years ago so its any wonder they are dead now.

Will try as was suggested to centre the wheels correctly.

The heat issue is now fixed by way of patching the tinware.. i didnt know that a few holes made so much of a difference..

i now just want to get the carby running right again because its still drinking way too much fuel

BiX... how hard is it to change the steering damper assembly? or is it not really worth doing

steering damper can make all the difference if the old one has lost all its oil

just 2 bolts hold it in place, pretty simple as long as the bushing in the drop arm hasnt disintergrated like they sometimes do

if your accelarator cable has a little wheel it runs on near the carb i'm better your bugs fitted with an old weber carb
if those are out of tune they can really drink the fuel

any chance of popping up an engine pic?

its running a solex carb ... only pic i have of the engine isnt that great... bit blurry and you can see how ghetto my tinware is hahah but here tis..

ah check,

by wheel thing i guess u mean the barrel nut thingy
they're a pain when they get worn in one side

looks like your firewall tinware peice is missing which isnt a huge deal and engine bay seal looks alitlle non existant so that along with the old heaterhose holes woulda been why it was getting abit toasty

you'll also get the fuel filter removal patrol on you about where the filter is

Last, but not least, reach around the back of the fan shroud and make sure the spring is still in place that holds the flaps open above the heads. If the spring has fallen off you will toast your engine.

the wheel thing was actually on the back of the accelerator pedal itself.. my old bug had a different set up hence why this one confused me.. turns out a circlip of some description had come away and as a result the wheel was not actually rolling along the accelerator was just metal to metal.. all fixed now.


re the firewall tinware..it is there its just sorta shrunk/bent out of shape but yeah im just about to order new stuff so that will get changed ... new bits include...
new tinware, new dizzy cap + leads + plugs
dress up kit for the engine bay


where should the fuel filter be? I did not put it there.. the moron working on the car before i got it did... there so many things he balls'ed up on poor lil piggy

new engine bay seal has not been put in cos im going to be pulling out the tinware etc in the next few weeks

before the pump

The pump is a sucker - not a pusher

ok went and saw max and the news is not great

the reason why its running so under power are:
The 1600 manifold has been removed and replaced with a 1300 one
the 1600 carby has been removed and replaced with a 1500 one

the oil cooler ducts are missing entierly
the firewall tin is missing for the most part.
doghouse needs repair / replacement
engine housing seal is gone
extractors are pox as is the muffler

so am now on the hunt for 1600 parts!