Do you work on your car? repair and maintainance and try to get to know your car physically?
or do you get someone else to do it for you?

Anything I can't do gets done professionally. Start with the basics like oil, plugs, timing, tappets and go from there as your confidence builds. Get some good manuals or source some origional workshop manuals (expensive nowdays but well worth the price as the info is rather invaluable and highly detailed). There's plenty of folks on this forum that have forgotten more about Vw's and cars that I will ever know so you have hit the honeypot for a wealth of info there as well.
- Adam

I do everything

the late Gene Berg used to say, the best person to work on Your car is You...

You aren't going to do shortcuts or dodgy work

buy a few manuals...

You can buy cheap used manauls on Amazon.com in the USA.. freight can be a killer...
try not to get it air freight - posted
it does take a long time to arrive though..

but You can't have enough manuals...
workshop - operators - owners - mantainence manuals

also try to find someone who does work on their VW
and can show you a few things...

whatever you do don't take it to a NON VW mechanic..
even for an oil change...

LEE


http://community.webshots.com/user/vw68autobug 

are you using electric fuel pump??

Yes,
the electric fuel pump is located under the fuel tank..
I can also switch it off.. hidden switch..

I had to get a fuel pressure gauge as the pressure was too high for My carburetor and it started flooding...

I have rebuilt My car over 13 years...
its been on the road since dec 2005..
and i've had the engine out about 6+ times and have even changed gearboxes..

I renewed everything - brakes -brake hoses - tie rod ends - ball joints - even though there wasn't anything wrong
with the old ones... I probably would have kept the old ones in...now.. but then.. thats what i did..
I never stop buying spares..

I even replaced the original safety glass windscreen with a new laminated one..
My Son did help Me with the glass..

cheers

LEE

http://community.webshots.com/user/vw68autobug 

i odnt do anything on mi car, mi dad does when he can be bothered.
but i do want to be a mechanic but he just ravells on about stuff i cant understand so i dont really learn anything

that looks like a standard carby 34 pict 3 ??? why didn't u go for a twins or a progressive atleast


/*because back then 34 pict was all i know*/

if ur talking about Lee's engine thats not a vw carb.

looks like an old DIF weber

progressives arent even worth paper wieghts
and twins requires some reworking to use on semi auto bugs cos of the different clutch vacuum signals needed

The Lada Niva is a weber copy with manual choke made under licence and we found that it worked very well with the weber manifold on the superbug with oversize pistons and barells.

I'm a superbug.. how much oversize is it? i'm thinking of 1776 for my next project

i think it was ether an 1640 or 1680.

like my Pod filter?


/* this part is edited 1 year later
-----1 year later
what a stupid pod filter. and that stainless steel tube had a hole that was never fixed. what was i thinking?. jeez

good old time */

I try to everything by mysself, but really hard stuff like motors and crap i usally pay someone to do it... but my interior and stuff i do

As the says goes,

"write the cheques and keep my fingers clean"

I started working on My VWs back in the 70s...
slowly bit by bit....
but I never ever did the tappets - always got a VW mechanic to do them.. until a few years ago...
Mostly I did My own grease and oil changes and adjusted the brakes etc as I couldn't afford a mechanic..
but then You get used to Your car and know what you have done... etc...

My car is so modified now , a VW mechanic or electrician would have problems... lol

these are My modifications..lol .. better than VW ??

I just keep tinkering and changing things...
as i change My mind... lol

and I read a lot of VW stuff....
then do the opposite...lol

Lee

Yep work on it all the time.

so do i sob sob sob all the time sob sob all the bloddy time sob sob

I do all the work on my super myself. So far I’ve

Rebuilt / hotted up the engine top to bottom

replaced the clutch

Replaced all the seals in the brake systems and new brake pads

Installed new floor pans

Resprayed the engine bay, front boot, fuel tank, and behind the dash

Fitted an electric fuel pump and ran new fuel lines.

Fitted an electric windscreen washer pump

And I’m currently fitting out the interior with R32 skyline seats and custom made centre console.

I brought the bug about 18 months ago and haven’t stopped working on it since its still registered but at the moment it’s off the road for maintenance.

I would say i more help than do the work . My dad (1303steve on here) loves to work on the car so im normally on ratchet/spanner duty or the goffer. But atleast i'm learning right?

He lets you touch the spanners??????
you have a good teacher there Dave, keep watching

i used to come up with the idea and we would discuss it and my old man would to do it for me
as time progress i stop liistening to his advice such as don't have to put a subwoofer in, steering wriggle coz of the s/box (which turn out to be lower control arm bush)
a cam upgrade won't do anything (which was true after a few hundreds spent), put in strut brace

but i find i drive the car more (i don't let anyone else drive at all) and problem solving is much faster than turning it into someone else's hand.

i'm to tight to let anyone work on my car.

but besides, the vw engineers made it VERY mechanic friendly.
I was in awe to see 2 little notches cut out in the housing or the rear bearings to alloy you to poke a screwdriver (i used a tent peg :P) to drive the outter casings out.

I felt like shaking their hand... my heros indeed...

Unfortunately, no. I don't have time, space or confidence to do too much other than top up the oil - though I did change the clutch cable on the golf a month or two back. I wish I could do more myslef but current circumstances don't seem to be in my favour (and my Dad is getting old and well over working on cars - I have 2 older brothers). I just took my golf in to a reputable VW mechanic for a service and a few things, so it'll probably be expensive. But, as someone has said to me, you don't save the money by doing it yourself, you earn it.

working on your car saves you $$
I've been cheap from the start, twisting wires together and tape it. sometimes i don't even use electrical tape and used masking tape
too cheap o buy connectors until one day few of them came off and i was left with dark speedo driving home.
but now most of the electrical have proper connectors.

tappets, I never get the tappet clearance right for some reason.
when they're good ,they're good for while until it ticks again week later.
and most annoying thing the rocker cover cork gasket (unless they're new) didn't sit properly when i put it back on
and i left a trail of oil from home to uni
and it happened 3 times already

lesson : don't be too cheap

Yes, I couldn't afford to have work done on My beetle..
so, I do everything I can.. which is most things including wheel alignment.. which is a real pain in the neck to do....

I use connectors soldered to the wires for 99% of My wire connections... with lots of fuses...

I have at times used masking tape for temporary insulation..
and use heat shrink tubing for insulation where I can...

Tappets... I also find them terrible things to adjust correctly..
and can take a long time to get them the way I want..
don't worry about them ticking later on.. so long as you adjust them correctly when you do them... I know of one VW owner [since 1970s] who adjusts the tappets to a different tolerance than is normal...??

Adjusting the tappets every 3000kms for peace of mind...
or 6000 miles as per the VW manuals... is VERY important..

Some people have major problems with the tappet cover gaskets.. but I never do... lol
I just take My time... and glue them to the tappet covers..
so they cannot move..
also, the bail springs need to be very tight on the covers...
they do not last forever...lol and are replaceable ..

as I check My tappets every 1000kms or so, I don't renew the tappet cover gaskets every time...
even though I have heaps of spares...

I do however use an oil change gasket kit at every oil change ... which You will need to do when you take the sump plate off and oil strainer out....
as cleaning the mesh oil strainer is VERY important when changing the oil....


cheers

LEE Noonan

PS: I do however have 10++ workshop manuals for My beetle ... and I also find adjusting the points a pain... Lee...

Hey, Lee
lately I haven't had adjust the tappets every 3000km just for the sake of adjusting them
rather every times i took the engine off
first time was when i got a new cam, pistons and barrels so it has to be done
second time was changing the two rubber mounts thought i might aswell adjust tappets while engine is out
third time was checking the head for rattling noise, tappets has to be done again
fourth time was my suspicion of loose conrod bearing that cause rattling noise and it was the small end bearings on the conrod
there was also evidence of the piston top slapping the head.. (oops) anyway. so adjust the tappets after
so far this engine has done 4500km ish (after the first rebuild)

after each engine pull out iI usually felt reluctant to clean the tools and put them away

cheers

aside from wheel alignments i cant even remember the last time my bug was worked on by someone else
probably 2001 when it was resprayed

most general mechanics these days dont want to know about old cars with carbys and only 1 cam

I think the only time that Lee works on his is to paint something I dont think he drives it.

Hi
Bought my 68 baja mid January this year and have been doing repairs myself since. Was to be a project car to fix up but reapairs and breakdowns are getting in the way at the moment. Can't really afford someone to do it for me (just had a clutch cable done by a mechanic - cost $360 - apparently labour intensive). Problem is it's my first VW even though have wanted one since about 13, now 44. I am beggining to wonder if I made a bad choice due to breakdowns.
Distributer - water in it due to a hole in the base (sticky tape was covering it)
Sarter motor playing up - still unsure of problem but assume solenoid is stuffed
Clutch cable - snapped
Clutch operating lever - arm broken
Thrust bearing - ruined due to clutch problems
Car has spent 3-4 weeks off road due to breakdowns and limited time or knowledge to repair.
Still love the car though and will keep it.