Hi there,

Well, I’ve resisted joining up here because I feel as though I haven’t had much to report, but hopefully that will be changing soon…

I have had my ’72 Beetle 1300 for about 18 months. I inherited it from my brother when he went overseas, and to be honest I initially didn’t know quite what to do with it as I had just moved to Sydney and already had another car – a great big Jaguar XJR. However I soon found myself getting totally bored in the Jag on my daily, 40Ks-each-way commute to work, and started driving the beetle… Instant revelation! I just can’t describe how impressed I am with this little car. I still really enjoy driving it every day, and the only time it lets me down is when I run out of fuel (fuel gauge is the only thing that doesn’t work…). I’ve subsequently sold the Jag.

However the time has come when I’ve started thinking about doing some work to the car, and I’m planning to take it off the road when the rego runs out next month. There is some rust that needs seeing to, and just a general feeling of slackness which makes me think it needs to have all its bolts undone and done back up again, bushes and engine mounts replaced, tune the suspension properly etc. In fact I’ve just bought another car (an Alfasud) to replace it in the commuting duties while it’s off the road. Though something tells me I might end up spending more time working on that than the VW...

My main focus is on making it into a better (well, better than it is already) commuter car, and, in the spirit of the way cars are heading these days I want to try to pay attention to fuel efficiency rather than increasing power. At the moment I’m getting a pretty constant 8.5 litres/100kms – which is already pretty good – but I’m toying with the idea of improving that figure both by making the engine more efficient and by getting weight down – if that’s possible.

I just bought an SVDA distributor from aircooled.net which I’m getting fitted next week, just to test it out. To be honest I haven’t decided whether to plunge into a full engine rebuild as it’s already running well and the old “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” comes to mind, but it strikes me that things like raising the compression and paying attention to gas flowing might make a big difference – though I’d still like to keep it at 1300cc for efficiency reasons and would prefer to keep the original-spec carb if possible, just for the sake of keeping a few links to the past.

And the bodywork? Well it looks like a piece of crap, but I’m going to leave it that way for the moment. Firstly I don’t have the money to get that side of things right, and actually I’m sort of interested in the idea of rat-rodding…but also because my girl has a bit of a thing for Karmann Ghias. She’s only recently got her license but as soon as she’s developed her driving skills a bit we’re going to start looking for one, and we’ll then have the option of transplanting the by-then developed engine from the Beetle into the Ghia.

But, after that long-winded intro, basically I’m interested in connecting with people who might also have gone down the path of trying to build a Type 1 engine for efficiency and driveability, rather than outright power, and to share experiences.

So, pleased to meet you!

welcome to the forum I'm impressed you like your Vw over the Jaguar. i am also in sydney and modifying my 69 beetle there is a link to my thread below.

look forward to seeing more of your updates.

Welcome and a good read of your transformation from a Jag to VW, made me smile.

Just reading through your thread and a few things popped into mind. Firstly I can only dream about a car that would only use 8.5L per 100kms OMG. My car is stock standard and uses an average of 16.5L per 100, but it is a 6L V8 Commodore and the wife's uses about 14L / 100, a 4WD lol. So I would not be complaining about 8.5l / 100 unless you are on the doll.

Also, you talk about not having enough money to do up the Beetle body work and I fully understand and accept that, but I must ask how do you think you will have enough to buy and fix up a Karman Ghia. I think they are more expensive.

I am not trying to knock you at all, just pointing out a few things for you to think about. I love the fact that you are enjoying the VW so much and give you credit for wanting to improve it. But I think you will find if you raise the compression and get the engine flowing better, it will use more fuel ( I may be wrong ) and others can add their thoughts.

I'm also in Sydney (Liverpool area) if you need a hand with anything, so welcome to the forum and to Sydney.

Good luck with your plans and just ask on these forums and there will be a lot of will helpful information.

Regards, Kevin

P.S. I like the comment and think there may be some truth in it about working on the Alfa more than the Beetle

Welcome to the forum and its like music to me ears selling a Jag, with the chorus being to drive a VW.

The good thing is there are a load less parts to replace on a bug compared to an XJR and all are probably a lot cheaper.

If you are after cheap mods to make it run a bit better/more efficiently, maybe a new exhaust to get rid of those nasty burnt bits more easily.

However, not sure getting an Alfa was a great idea. I have a feeling you will be sinking some finds into that as they are notoriously unreliable.

From a fellow Sydney bug owner (as mine is ureg ATM)

G'day all and thanks for the replies,

Well it's true that the Alfasud is still sitting immobile in the driveway while I'm tracking down the necessary parts to get it on the road again... My first car was a 'sud so I'm pretty familiar with their quirks. They're great fun and my old one was completely reliable if looked after properly, but it's true that the parts supply for these car has dried up a bit in the ten years since I last looked!

Meanwhile the Beetle is still going strong but every time I drive it I find myself thinking about all the things I'd like to do to it to make it even better! And after about a year of this sort of musing it's got to the point where I can't resist any more. Unfortunately the new dizzy's not in yet - I took it to the bloke who services my girlfriend's Benz but he had a good look and decided he'd better not attempt it, so I've got it booked in to a VW specialist in brookvale next week. SoI'll let you know how that goes, but I'll only have 3 days to test it out before it runs out of rego;(

And the bodywork, well my approach to that is that there's no point doing it unless it can be made perfect. Trouble is that every single panel has at least one dent and/or rust spot in it, and the paint's no good, so I'm thinking it will probably cost more to fix than the car's worth. So I'll probably just treat the rust and leave it as is, because beetles in a delapidated state look pretty good I reckon. Though depending on how much time I have I might just use this as an opportunity to teach myself panel beating... I've always liked the idea of painting a car in matt silver - ie the same kind of finish that was used on the early jet fighter planes: Sabres, Meteors, Vampires etc - And I'm thinking that with a spraygun and a whole lot of newspaper lining the garage I could probably achieve something similar.

So thanks again, and I'll keep you posted

Further developments: I had the SVDA distributor fitted last week, along with a proper tune-up. What I am finding is that every time I drive the car it seems to get better and better - and aircooled.net does advise that the vacuum diaphragm in the dizzy takes up to three months to bed in properly.

I wouldn't call it a dramatic transformation but the engine is certainly much smoother. Throttle response is better and there seems to be a little more torque, in the sense that it holds its speed up hills a bit more, though the tune-up also identified worn throttle spindles and other associated bits so I'm going to reserve judgement until I get the carb rebuilt. Haven't had the chance to work out whether fuel economy has improved yet.

The other factor is that the tappets were reset. I forgot to ask the guy what gap he used... but I remember when I first got the car the tappets were butting right up against the springs with no gap whatsoever, and at the time I reset the gap according to the figure in the workshop manual (can't remember what that was...). This resulted in a bit more torque, especially at low revs, but also caused a hell of a lot more noise. After the recent work the noise has gone completely.

So I just wanted to ask, does anyone have experience on the best tappet gap to use, and whether there are any tricks to extract more power/efficiency vs produce quieter running?

Cheers

well .016" is the gap most people use...

as recommended by VW...

However the tappets NEED to be done frequently...

I usually do mine every 1000klms at the oil change..

I also had a noisy engine and lost a bit of power but after doing the tappets ... quieter and engine went much better..
tappets were tight.. I hadn't done the tappets for about 3000klms.. was too cold.... lol

SVDA distributor is now working great...
and also seems to go better and better...
can now accelerate slightly up hills that I lost speed on before

LEE

always do tappets when cold... .016"
[16 thousands of an inch]
LEE

Ok on the move from Jag to VW... smart move..

VW to alfasud... not good . lol
make sure You do have metal all around You as these cars do rust away...
and can cause problems mechanically... lol

Karmann Ghias are nice... but being Hand made ..
and the body etc entirely different to a beetle...

VERY EXPENSIVE to repair bodywork etc...
widened VW chassis uses VW Beetle componets... OK..

cheers

LEE

Thanks for that Lee,

Well at least the 'Sud is a four-cylinder boxer so it's gotta have something going for it! I like them, and I need at least two cars at a time to keep me sane!

Um ......Just to chime in.... The tappets should be set to .006" or .15mm

Sorry Lee im sure it was just a typo on your behalf but I didnt want Ftumpch to adjust them wrong.

welcome to here
good read ^
cheers pauly

could you look at replacing just the piston rings if you are worried about compression? You could hone while out too . Power often comes with fuel use good luck

If you have the ignition nicely sorted, that is a major part of smooth running. The distributor, leads, plugs and coil all done

The carby must be working well, fuel pump and filter etc. Change your fuel gauge sender in the tank and all is well.

The motor runs well, smooth and idling well. I would not touch it, just keep up the 5000 mile maintenance of new oil, strainer clean and gasket, and tappet adjustment.

The simplest change you can make if your exhaust is not looking good. Get a good quality muffler, and real good quality pipes. We had cheap chirpy chirpy pipes that rusted in 3 months on our 1300, and when I got a pair of German stainless steel pipes, the sound was a nice horizontally opposed engine rumble, and after 6 years no rust.

We are not trying to make a huge power Beetle, but a smooth runner. If it is a stock engine, you will gain nothing by running it on anything but Unleaded 91.

jesus my bad. Here i am correcting someone and I cant even type. .006 indeed