So after an impatient search for a rough but rego'd bug for less than $4k, somehow i ended up buying a non rego'd bug for $1.5k..... go figure. I'm sure some of us on here understand how logic can go out the window when you are around certain cars ?

Anyways, after too many years without a dub, I have re-entered the fold with a blue 1972 (July) S bug, which from what I can determine was last rego'd sometime in 2005, after a restoration / rebuild at least 4 - 5 years before that (earliest receipt 2001).



Picking it up at the previous (rockabilly, complete with Rat Fink tattoo and schmiko Valiant Charger) owners. Wheels are chrome 15" - I'm not too familar with 4 stud steel rims - are these mangels or just chromed stockies ?



Back at home, and the dreaded S bug rust pattern is evident if you look closely. Paint is terribly oxidised in this photo but after a quick scrub came up acceptably.



Left rust spot. Sigh, why do I do this to myself ?



Right side. Not so bad from outside the paint, but likely just as bad under it.

So it seems to have three main rust spots - the two above, and one in the outside vertical panel of the drivers side sill, behind the running board. I'm hoping that one will be a simple patch, but the two above could be fun.

Enough of the bad bits - this bug was obviously given some love many moons ago....



Twin port of unknown size, kadrons (need rebuild, throttle shaft bushing seized), alternator, oil temp (only on dipstick), 009 (bet it had a flatspot with the kadrons !) and apparently ponts replacement kit, deep sump, glass pack muffler / extractors. Havent popped the rocker covers off it yet to check head casting numbers.... prolly 113 stockies.

Wonder if it has a cam ?

Hasnt run in a while though, and has been sitting outside for a while, so everything is weathered....

Having bored you enough with my new found enthusiasm, I have two questions;

1). Last service receipt states motor has excessive end float and internal noise (query lifter). Best course of action from here is ? Is it worth me getting it to a running state (service carbs, new battery) to have a listen to the knock ? Am I more likely to cause further damage ?

2). One or two owners previous have lost the keys - so I'm now in the market for an S bug ignition barrel and key, s bug door handles and key, engine lid lock and key - any chance on of you have a full set with matching key squirrelled away anywhere ?

Cheers !

Congratulations on your return! Looks like you've got yourself a bit of a project car there

Looks like it has good potential.

Good luck.

Nice find there Mr Sweetman.Im sure between yourself and "gun" panel beaters that are out there, you will make light work of the rust.All the best getting it running and registered.Weather the beetle cost$1500 or $15,000 your love never changes for them when your addicted!..lol.

well done

As for the motor - check the end float yourself

if less than a mm - I wouldnt worry too much
Do a static tune and fire it up and see what noise it makes

That bug is an almost identical twin to one of my old ones, even down to the factory colour being honey brown.

I would just pull that engine down rather than risk trying to run it.
Sitting outside for years with those Kdog carbs and shitty filters good chance the cylinders have had water in them.

can you feel much crank play at the pulley?

Thanks Guys. There is noticeable end float on the crank pulley (I can move it laterally with a clunk clunk noise but I don't have a dial gauge to measure it. I would guesstimate it to be right around the one mm - 1.5mm sort of range. Just wondering what sort of damage I could cause by running it ? I'm guessing its a bearing damage risk, and if they are likely damaged already how much worse can I make it ?

The motor has had two rear main seals done according to the receipts, one two months after the other. Would end float issues result in symptoms like that ?

With he one piece windows, th colour, the rims etc (and condition of window rubbers) I'd guess its a late 90s rebuild - uncanny that it like your old one Joel - a popular look I guess.

It's also got two sway bars on the front end... Would love to learn more of its history.

I like the ride hieght,
Hmmm 2 sway bars must work better then one

puta Subaru motor in him

Lol Ian maybe in a future incarnation. My current plans are aircooled though !

This is basically the car I wished I had when I built my red 73 L bug. Even managed to get in contact with the original owner (well the guy that rebuilt it anyway).

I'm guessing two sway bars is a roll stiffness increase and cheaper than a larger diameter bar ?

Progress (ish).

I've stolen a few hours in the shed, removing rear guards, bumper and rear windscreen to clean up the two main rust concerns. Also got the running boards off to check the rocker panels / sills (had forgotten how painfull those bolts are to get at).

As expected, the results are not pretty and will require a pretty big patch repair.... Both sides had been repaired previous, but then had some fibre insulation (sound deadening I guess) shoved up there, just to make sure it rusted again !! Its not the VW death foam, there is still a little bit of that evident but not where the current rust is.

Left side -

This is the worst of it. Thinking I will probably need to replace most of the previous (badly done) patch. It had 1/2" of bog on top of this....

Right side -

Not quite as bad as the left but still a sizable patch will be required along the gutter. Thinking I should probably open the roof up to try and inhibit all the rust underneath this too.

I'm thinking that I should also have a look in the luggage area behind the back seat ? My 73 had rust there too, water coming down from this spot.

Last location of bad rust is the right hand door sill, which should be fairly straight forward as this replacement panel is available.



Also found a surprise on the tail light - anyone got a spare housing for a 72 S bug ? this one is holy....



Do any of you guys know if the roof sections (along the gutter) were ever produced as a repair panel ? I cant find them on any of the websites, so I'm guessing I'm off to find another bug to butcher ?

Also, does anyone in Aus carry the rocker panel / sill repair panels ? I can get one through Aircooled.net but postage is pretty exy and I cant hide it in a big order just yet (just bought a bunch of bits from CIP1, door handles and ignition barrel etc). None of the WA shops seem to have rust repair panels available....

68-70 taillight housings are all the same..but you probably knew that.lol.Cip1 sell housings and some NOS ones are floating around on The Samba but the US SPEC ones are bigger and taller to accomodate the side reflectors..Should be an easy find through the forum..Sorry I cant help you on it

Do cip sell the housings by themselves ? I looked but couldn't find them.... Just put a big order with them too, dammit. At least I know they won't be hard to find.

I'm in America ATM but by feb il be home and have a good set if housings to sell you
Looks like a big job you have in front of you!

Joel, yep, drain hole blocked solid on left side - left side rusted out. Drain hole clear on the right, right side ok.

I see a few people selling complete assemblies, but not just the housing.... I'll have a look on Just Kampers, ta for the link.

Well sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you get what you deserve.....

Took the carbs off yesterday, and while I still held a vain hope that this motor hadnt got a gutsful of water while outside, I was immediately shown otherwise;

Left side intake ports chockers with corrosion product;



Right side not as bad but still dirty;



Bummer. I guess that makes my decision as to whether I have to pull the motor to rebuild it straight up or give it a test run first.

This stage of a rebuild is always about discovery though ! I'm getting cloe to having dicovered most of this bugs secrets though, then I can make plans and then make progress !

A litre or 15 of WD40 and she will be sweet

Lol yeah a can or two of start ya bastard ya reckon ?

Had a productive weekend...

Started looking like this;



Tried out my new spot weld drills;





And my new air cut off grinder...



And this will make engine removal easier...

Two things I learned to this point;

1) . I hate whoever Volkswagen put in charge of spot welding the rear apron.

2). Next time, take fan shroud off first to make some room....

Also did a couple of other things;

Brief degrease of engine (still need to do gearbox and surrounds but ran out of degreaser)



And then stole my neighbours trolley jack and dropped the engine;





Quite a bit of oil in the bell housing but I know it had end float and flywheel seal issues.



Overall pretty happy with my Sunday in the shed. Next step, quotes on rust repair and get this engine to a mechanic for a prognosis on (mainly) heads and end float / rebuild options.

Gotta love it when the old man cleans out his shed - he found a set of pop outs for the rear windows

Bought off ebay but wrong year for his green meanie score !!!!

Excellent stuff Doug

Now you just have to find the Berg 2007cc your old man bought

Yeah.... Maybe I should help next time he cleans up....

He is busy thinking on his 65 splitty project

Been a little while since an update but I have been busy....

Most importantly, on the 21st March Melanie and I welcomed our third child and second daughter Ambria into the world..... 4 weeks early which was a bit of a surprise. Slowly starting to get an hour here and there in the shed but most importantly she is doing well and healthy.

Soooo.... in the last ten weeks I have rebuilt the kadrons the car was originally equipped with;



One finished;



Both finished (I much prefer the look of the new air cleaners);



They will never be mistaken for new carbies but to be honest, given how terrible they looked (and how filthy and corroded they were internally) I am very happy that they came up this good and are useable !!!

I mentioned in another post that while I was rebuilding the kadrons, I snapped one of the acceleraor pump push rod arms in my haste.

After searching the world over for a replacement with little joy (Rod did mention he had a carb he could pinch one off, but I thought I would have a bash at recovering this one), I decided to try and weld it back together (they are only about 2mm or 2.5mm diameter but are mild steel and easily weldable).

So i busted out my trusty stick welder and some skinny 1.6mm rods and managed to get a workable result.



Photo was taken before i chipped the slag off. doesnt look as good as new but it works just the same !

I took the decision to divide and conquer, so sent the engine off to Bill at Volkswest for a rebuild - not without some trepidation to be honest, knowing the corrosion in the heads meant a fair bit of work was needed there, and there was a good chance of corroded bores and new p&c's etc.

Picked it back up a couple weeks later, having learned the following;

Cam is bog stock and as new cond, as were the lifters.
One barrel had corrosion pits remaining after a hone, so this was replaced with good s/h.
Oil pump was cactus, so we added a new HD filter pump.
All new bearings and rings.
New exhaust guides and seats. Heads actually turned out OK after a sand blast.
Crank needed a regrind so this has been done.
Case was good after a line bore.



I also came to the conclusion that while I am capable of doing the rust repairs, I currently have neither the time nor the equipment to do them myself. So I was lucky enough to find a VW panelbeater willing to help without removing the entire contents of my bank account. I got the photos below at 9am... by 3.30pm the right rear was finished. Hoping to pick up very soon !!!

Right hand rocker panel repair (Klokkerholm repair panel);



Pedal cluster pan repair;



Left rear quarter finished;



Right rear quarter in progress;



As well as these spots, we also welded up the original rear fresh air inlets (rust initiators), a small patch under the battery and a series of small patches in the RH heater channel outer skin.

Finally, decided I didnt want to bend down to dress the engine as I reassemble it so bought a cheap crap engine stand from MALZ ($52) and combined a bus bellhousing to make it VW style - pretty happy with the outcome.

Ok this is weird..... All my photos are now out of order ! Mods, any ideas what could have caused this ?


EDIT: Thanks for fixing - been a while since I looked but thanks all the same - this thread is like a history tracker for me

OK so a bit over 12 months since an update but have had bubs #3 in the meantime (21st March 2013 - Ambria, another sister for Bryson and Larna) so shed time is like the proverbial.

Have done some rough paint and panel work and now have the rear quarters in top coat. Photos probably make it look better than it really is, but cant expect too much from rattle cans. Ah well, its never going to be a concourse !











Now working on the removable rear apron (original one) after removing the old seal channel.