It's cool driving an oval. But it only seems to be P platers and people with really, really long beards who get over-excited and want to start conversations across petrol station car parks.

But this fame comes at a price.

Yesterday, after a solid 11 hours in the office and a gruelling 7 meetings (what's with people?) I crawl out to my car. To some people their car is a sanctuary. The leather seats, bose stereo, cup holders, interior light - oh the luxury.

The oval on the other hand is an assault on the senses. Still on my knees I fire the thing up. And it's running on 3 cylinders thanks to a blocked idle jet. But which blocked idle jet? The gods of horsepower can be cruel. So I have to lie in the gutter (hell I'm on my knees anyway) and delicately extract the jet holders, o-ring and idle jet, via the dirty inner wheel arch, in order to blow minuscule crap out. And I have to do all 4 just to be sure.

Thankfully, the car ran like a dream after that. A deafening dream.

Then I remembered I was low on fuel. With no fuel gauge it's handy to remember how much dowel was wet when I last poked it into the fuel tank. So I ducked into a petrol station. What I didn't remember was my wallet which was still at work. With 40 kms to home I thankfully had a 5 litre jerry can in the front. It's kind of a necessity when you don't have the luxury of a fuel gauge. So I nipped into a back street and got the rattle hose out and added 5 litres of fuel to the tank.

Because I was mad by this stage I gave it a bit of right hoof on the on-ramp of the M2 at Epping. I kept the throttle open through the tunnel. God it felt and sounded good. And loud. I saw a couple of cars wobble and others put on their brake lights at the noise as the drivers tried to figure out what the noise what's and where the bloody hell it was coming from. Certainly not the beetle.

That's enough of a rant for tonight. I'm sure I've got another rant in me regarding the intermittent indicators. Yes I know they're supposed to be intermittent. But mine are intermittently intermittent. Or wait until it rains.

Sigh.

CYA CT

What are these 'blocked idle jets' you speak of?..............I have never heard of them!

Never mind all that rubbish, CT...are you driving the Oval on Saturday

Hey CT,

Maybe it's time to consider a modern, air-conditioned, cup holder laden, start first time daily driver, and keep the Oval for weekends?

As much as I love driving my '61 Beetle occasionally, I COULD NOT daily drive it!

The noise, which is "fun", becomes less so after an hour or so on the freeway...

Don't give up on your Oval, just semi-retire it!

Our 71 Beetle is our daily driver. I know the modern things like a fuel guage, 2 speed wipers, strut front end, IRS and front disc brakes make it a bit easier. However it feels great just cruising. In case you were wondering if we actually do have a modern car, I suppose you could call the '75 Bus modern, as it is the youngest car we have.

This will make you want a new car,beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep doors open beep beep beep farted the wrong direction beep beep beep beep,u get my drift...

sounds like the old oval is all just getting too much for you ........I think it would be best for everyone concerned if you just gave it to me

I love driving my 73 bug,
In fact i prefer driving him to the wife's auto Mazda
I'd drive poor old bertie beetle to the moon and back if I'd thought he cold make it up the first hill
The rust, the squeaks, the rattles, the cold starts, the severe lack of horse power, the i'm always running low on fuel cos I'm thirsty ! the i'm in need of another oil change and my tappets need adjusting again, the don't drive me to hard.... or even at all on a hot day, the .....need i go on !

It's all a part of driving an outdated automotive relic from another era, A time when men were men ....and pansies were still just flowers ! ..... but then again that's the whole point for me.
He is my time machine to days long before electronics and phones that are mobile and the rush that every one is in now in to go nowhere, lost now are those days ...lost forever !
Also I have a theory that no one owns an VW ....it's the VW that's owns you.
I know for a fact that while ever bertie beetle is in my heart and i have breath in my body he will go on for ever!
As I'm his slave to fix and maintain him...and i do that with a smile on my face
And besides all that the look on small children's faces when they see him go by is just so priceless !!!!

Your car looks pretty sweet,.. would be a shame to lock it away for show days only.

How about setting it up a bit better for daily driving.

Quiet exhaust, some more sound proofing,.. stick in some AC,.. (I hear gilmore enterprises do a nice kit.),
Some porche seats for comfort,.. etc,..

It's only money,...

I'm getting used to it. My climate control is a hoodie or a quarter window. I have earbud headphones playing AC/DC or Adele on Pandora (An odd mix I know. But it's all about the mood I'm in).

The maintenance isn't too bad. At the moment. I have had to remove a rear wheel twice a week so far. More recently to replace a fuse to the relay I have to give the starter motor a little more voltage. And to redo the rocker cover breathers so I can access the idle mixture screws and jet holders a little easier while I'm in the nurturing stage of getting this relationship back on track. We did have a fun day today though.

Carl & Emily (above) you're spot on. The process behind driving the Oval for a few months is to improve it for street use. In the past I was so focused on improvements for track events that the comfort factor suffered. I've just managed to get one of the hooks in to hold the back seat upright after prodding the headliner with a needle for 5 minutes. And I found another a replacement for the missing one at the nationals today. That's taken 15 years to do. I'm gunna to buy some dynamat and thicker carpet and do some serious sound deadening. New red seat belts will go in the front this week. And I have a cup holder! Crazy I know.



I finally introduced my Oval to my friend Paul's 54 rag top. We let them sniff each other's butts and get acquainted before we swapped cars for a run out to the VW Nationals. It's the first time I've cruised with another oval. So cool.

Paul's oval was so much quieter than mine due to the vintage speed exhaust and a lot more sound deadening. It was very liveable. There's hope.

On the way home, back in our own ovals, Paul dashed into the middle lane leaving me in the outside lane and we lined up at the lights on Windsor Rd. We couldn't stop laughing. The the light went green and we both hit it with squealing rubber and axle tramp. We were side by side until we backed off well into third gear. We left the 3 lanes of cars lined up behind us about 2kms back. It was such fun. I felt just like a P-plater again.

I like yasdnil01 (above's) comments about "going back in time" when you drive a beetle nowdays. I also like the thought that we're custodians of the cars and that they might very-well out-live us.

ah your stories are so familiar to me daily driving my '60 I drove a new car for a year and I wouldn't have it any other way...the new car was blah. In the bug its all about the journey (and whether you make it!) and your right its the assault on all the senses.

Btw - Wolfsburg west make an excellent flasher relay that will fix those intermittent indicators one of the best recent upgrades I've done (now if I can get the semaphores working again).

I see your exhaust is as uselessly low as mine. I too am missing a fuel gauge. Having one is missing the adventure...

But what are these jets you speak of?

Aircooled doesn't mean you have to run it on toilet bowls.

It is hard work sometimes driving them as a daily.
I won't give up on it either but know how it feels to always need to be on top of maintenance.
Your story telling is ace by the way.

Quote:

Originally posted by fullnoise I'm getting used to it. My climate control is a hoodie or a quarter window. I have earbud headphones playing AC/DC or Adele on Pandora (An odd mix I know. But it's all about the mood I'm in). The maintenance isn't too bad. At the moment. I have had to remove a rear wheel twice a week so far. More recently to replace a fuse to the relay I have to give the starter motor a little more voltage. And to redo the rocker cover breathers so I can access the idle mixture screws and jet holders a little easier while I'm in the nurturing stage of getting this relationship back on track. We did have a fun day today though. Carl & Emily (above) you're spot on. The process behind driving the Oval for a few months is to improve it for street use. In the past I was so focused on improvements for track events that the comfort factor suffered. I've just managed to get one of the hooks in to hold the back seat upright after prodding the headliner with a needle for 5 minutes. And I found another a replacement for the missing one at the nationals today. That's taken 15 years to do. I'm gunna to buy some dynamat and thicker carpet and do some serious sound deadening. New red seat belts will go in the front this week. And I have a cup holder! Crazy I know. I finally introduced my Oval to my friend Paul's 54 rag top. We let them sniff each other's butts and get acquainted before we swapped cars for a run out to the VW Nationals. It's the first time I've cruised with another oval. So cool. Paul's oval was so much quieter than mine due to the vintage speed exhaust and a lot more sound deadening. It was very liveable. There's hope. On the way home, back in our own ovals, Paul dashed into the middle lane leaving me in the outside lane and we lined up at the lights on Windsor Rd. We couldn't stop laughing. The the light went green and we both hit it with squealing rubber and axle tramp. We were side by side until we backed off well into third gear. We left the 3 lanes of cars lined up behind us about 2kms back. It was such fun. I felt just like a P-plater again. I like yasdnil01 (above's) comments about "going back in time" when you drive a beetle nowdays. I also like the thought that we're custodians of the cars and that they might very-well out-live us.

We were getting along just fine.

The parking attendant at the Sydney Home Show the other weekend said "you got a few bucks there mate". Now in days gone by he might of meant "I think your car is worth $3". But now people are starting to realise they might be worth something. (It was an automatic ticket machine and I could reach the green, ticket dispensing, button. So why was he pressing the button for me and handing me the ticket? His effort was covering some 5 cm of distance that I was happy to cover on my own)



Then it rained. It was only a little rain. And I thought "The deck lid is closed and it's not like I have those 4 water funnels that are IDAs on the car anymore. The IDFs have covers. It'll be fine..."

Bloody thing. It ran on 2 or 3 cylinders for most of the way home. As soon as it would clear the heavens would open again and it would start running like a pig again.

A colleague took me to work the following day. I couldn't stand to repeat that horrible mechanical torture.

When I regained my sense of humour I took the tops of the carbs and there was a surprising amount of water in the carbs. I thought about filing channels into the bottom part of the air cleaner so they acted less like a bowl for water running down the K&N elements. Then I remembered the turbo-tops I bought of Rod Penrose yonks ago to try and shut the carbs up for the long trip to Warwick.

So I bunged those on with some Finer Filter socks from my IDAs. I had to remove the velocity stacks but this seems to be going ok. I haven't faced a downpour yet though. But I put a rubber seal on the base that seems like it would be pretty water tight.



And, when I had the car painted in 1999. Yes 1999 I got the panel beaters to put seatbelt anchor points in. I've never used them. But now I need to cart kids around I thought I'd install seatbelts. But do you think I could remember where they were welded in? I spent ages poking around with a needle to find the anchor points until I just gave up and ripped up the headlining.

One down. One to go.



The backs seat is original. It's not as bad as it looks in the photo.

New covers and headline coming soon... ok. Eventually.

At least 2 nights a week I have a wheel off the car, to check the starter motor, tweak the oil breather fitting on the rocker covers.... there's always something/s.



Sigh. We'll hit the road again at 6am tomorrow and see what happens. We all know it's an adventure

Later Beetles had a rain gutter under the air intake - where your fuel pressure reg. is mounted. The water runs from the gutter to each side of the engine bay, and outside. Perhaps you could rig up something similar ?

Pity you only have one of those old Oval Beetles.

Hi CT

Long time since I looked at the wiring of your oval,(15 yrs. I think) so I am sure it is out of warranty. With the flashers check the fuse for corrosion and replace the flasher unit if the fuse looks ok.Have you got one or two flasher units in yours ?
With your starter relay it should not have a fuse in it ,if it has change it to a 40 amp.anything less will blow.Any more electrical problems call, sms, or email me.
ph.03 6436 2331 m.0407 296 370.

regards Paul
ps.I am sure the flashers only came on 50% of the time.

Hey Greg. Wow. Rain gutters. What will they think of next?

I might try and fab something up.

Hi Paul. Nice to hear from you. I hope you're on dry ground in Tassie. Thanks for the electrical consultation. The indicators are currently behaving themselves but if they continue to play up I'll follow your prescription. I think I have just one flasher. And I'll remove the fuse to the relay.

Today's oval quirk was that I pulled over to check the fuel and notice a bolt had magically worked loose and removed itself from the bonnet hinge. Thankfully, I'm an experienced vw driver and just happened to have a spare M8 bolt and socket set within 30cm of the problem.

Who built this thing? They're hopeless.

CT that's a Cracker

You think your funny.

You do. Don't you car?

So with all that talk of reliable electrics last night. This is what it did today..



Smart arse car.

You don't need the other tail light coz the other door isn't open, no need to light that side up............

CT, you need to invite a few friends around to help..."Many Hands Make Light Work".

CT
We will be in Sidney early next month .I still do service calls for a free lunch .Give me call if you are still in the shite with the electrics.

Regards Paul

Used it as a daily much in the past CT?

I only used the oval as a daily for about 3 months soon after I built it.

I had a brown oval on black 8 spoke empis for a few years which was pretty cool.

But since I spend about 2 hours a day driving it's better as a Friday fun car.

The good news is that the oval's daily duties are over. It was reliable for the last 3 weeks. Today I'll treat it to a wash and an oil change.

My new daily is a twin turbo GT with 19 inch wheels...... Or without the marketing spin it's a Mazda CX5 diesel. A potential tow car which actually fits in my stupid short garage.

Now to plan the dual engine strategy for the oval. Warwick should be the next outing.