Hey guys

Im Bianca and i've just bought a 75 super bug and pick it up on friday (woo!) and this forum looks like it could offer a lot of help if i ever needed it so i decided to join up!

I've never had anything to do with beetles or volkswagens but i've had a fair bit to do with cars so hopefully i won't have too much trouble with it. My current daily driver is a torana but its costing way too much in fuel and is at the point where it needs a restoration so i decided to put her in the shed and get something small and a little more economical. I never thought i'd own a beetle but i wanted something with character and that would be worth holding onto in the long run and i found this one at a good price with a rwc and seems to have been well looked after. It has receipts for an engine rebuild done 2 years ago and a list of other parts that have been replaced.

So i have a few questions....

Firstly i've never had anything to do with air cooled engines, so do they ever overheat? And when? i.e traffic, highways. And i felt a little uncomfortable on the test drive without a temp gauge to look at haha so if it does overheat how will i know??
The drive down back to my place is almost two hours so im a little nervous! I guess i'll find out if they guy was truthful when he said it was a great car.

Also i've never been in a beetle or rear mount engine car so im not sure what they're supposed to feel like but are they generally a bit rough to drive?? I understand it is an old car but it wasn't like driving my torana or the 76 f100 i have. It was lovely and smooth up around 80k's but while accelerating through 1st,2nd,3rd gear i could feel a bit of vibration etc through the floor pan i guess. The engine however was running fine. The guy i bought it off has had many beetles and assured me it was much like any beetle to drive. I hope thats not a stupid question, i could just be being pedantic and i did borrow my mothers daewoo matiz to drive to see it so im sure it would feel a lot different!

I think thats all the questions for now. Thanks!

Heres some pics

Hi! Welcome to the VW world. I was never interested in VWs either until after I'd bought my first one, but they definitely grow on you!

Air-cooled engines can 'overheat' in the sense that they can get very hot, however you don't generally get any indication that it is overheating as there is no water to boil. The oil is used to cool the engine but it never boils or anything. In general I wouldn't worry about it, unless you're running it without a fan belt or it's missing most of the engine tinware then it's pretty much impossible to hurt a stock Beetle by overheating it. I've always enjoyed the satisfaction of driving past modern cars which have overheated and boiled on hot days!

In terms of vibration, you shouldn't really feel any obvious vibration through the floor, although it's hard to judge without actually driving the car. The gearstick will vibrate a bit but they're not excessively rough cars.

When thinking of air cooled engines, remember that lawn mowers, whipper snippers, chainsaws, generators and most motorbikes are air cooled, and most of them have no temp gauge. Air cooled just means that you have a window of minor overheating before any damage that doesn't end in popped radiator. Getting to oil temp over water boiling temps will still be in a protecting range for the engine.

As long as the motor is maintained, has oil pressure and the OIL or GEN light is not on, then it is a good assumption that the cooling is working.

OIL light on, well DUH!
GEN light on may mean a snapped fan belt

From the looks of the car i think the seller was telling the truth it looks well looked after. Just make sure the oil level is fine and take your time driving the car home since you are unfamiliar. you will find you love the car like all of us VW lovers.

welcome to the forum, great looking car, i'm sure everything wil be fine, i've had dozens of aircooled veedubs but never over heated any of em, shame i couldnt say the same for a few of the water cooled cars i've driven!

factory sunroof, nice touch!!

On Sunday here in Melb it was pretty warm, and we drove about 15km on the freeway in the Beetle to go to a friends place to swim in their pool, and there were all sorts of cars scattered on the side of the freeway with their bonnets up overheated. No VW's though

As already mentioned if all the tinware is in place and in good nick and its all in a good state of tune they dont over heat.

Blocked oil coolers and head fins can be a problem but unless the car is an excessive oil leaker or travels shitty roads they stay pretty clean

Main problem is so many are missing tinware or seals, vac leaks lean it out and run hot, and so many vw's out there have been fitted with 009 distributors which very few people seem to know how to time correctly.
Timing being both over or under advanced will make them run hot as and unless you know what to listen/feel for the damage is done by the time symptoms start to show.

Not trying to scare you, just amazes me how many vws i see pull up at shows, shut down then preignition like there's no tomorrow.

oh dear, did it say please scare the crap out o me up the top?

grab us a quick pic of the engine bay and under the motor too.....in case there is something obvious to spot

yes it will feel different to the boaty float of the torana........perhaps might seem a lot harder on the bumps, but that's mainly cause of the lack of sheer weight bouncing on the suspension you are probably acustomed to by now....don't worry this wioll feel like home and a trip back in the torry will be quite scarey!

over heat, not likely........same as any car, don't hold it flat going up hill into the wind........but even the unhealthiest VW motor will practically keep going as long as you keep putting oil in as it needs it.

when you get it, give it a basic tune (or get some one to do it first up and show you how), valves adjusted, carry a spare set of points, dizzy cap and rotor and 99.9% of the time you will make it home.

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Im feeling better about the over heating thing now! Guess i'll just have to see how about the vibration, im sure by the time i've driven it home i'l be use to it. Fingers crossed we make it back ok!

I viewed the car up on a hoist so i got a good look at it and everything seemed to be in order

welcome to here..
enjoy the ride

So picking up the bug didnt go so well!!

It was going really well, till nearly 2 hours into the trip when it started missing and back firing and i pulled off the high way and it died in the middle of a roundabout! I managed to get it started again but it wouldn't idle. I was only 15 mins from home!! So tried to limp it home but after it died another two times i got sick of having to push it off the road i decided to call RACQ as i didnt have any tools with me. Turns out the points had closed up, the guy re set the gap and she ran beautifully. So i gave it a quick test drive up the street while he waited...next thing i hear is a snap snap noise and its died again. So he rechecked the points and the rotor button was just spinning....so he figured something had let go in the distributor etc. SO got the car towed to the mechanic the RACQ works from (this was late friday afternoon) and it didnt get looked at till today. Turns out the distributor bracket was bent!!??? And was allowing the distributor to pop up and spin freely....no idea how that happened. So he bent the bracket back as well as he could and i went and picked it up.

So now its still not running as good as it was when i picked it up, or when the racq guy re set the points so im guessing the mechanic who told me he had no idea about vw's didnt set the points quite right. Its running ok, its just a little off.

AND the clutch is slipping in 4th. I didnt notice it cause i babied it on the way home. The guy i bought it off said he'd put a new clutch in it but that it might need adjusting. Hopefully thats all it is! Very glad to finally have it home though!

Oh and it leaks a fair bit of oil...i hear thats a vw thing?????

.....aww that sucks for a first trip

check the timing after doing the points!!!.......this may help with the difference you have noticed after the fact

OIL LEAKS, yeah yeah they are all "fixable", some far far FAR easier than others tho.............so do the basic gaskets with the fist service and see how it goes, saying it WILL help may not be the best answer........too much end float on the crank, a cracked case or halves not sealing, leaking oil pump,even pushrod tube seals will mean shit loads of work.

if it's a daily ritual of 500ml of oil, so be it until the bigger issues are discovered and sorted

clutch likely to be adjustment..... "if".........the pedal feel is very light and the previious owner may have put too much on it for lack of knowledge how it should feel

take it easy, get us some photos and don't be surprised if we are asking you to sniff or even taste the leaking oil in the coming weeks

I'd suggest you take the car to a VW specialist rather than a normal mechanic.

glad you got the beetle home though

Will driving it around till i can get it in with a mechanic with the timing not right cause any major problems???