will i ever finish?

i meant to post this all yesterday, but i was quite busy at work and never had time. so here it is today...

this past weekend we had a lot of rain. so i worked on the bug between rainstorms saturday and most of sunday afternoon. i did get a lot of good work done. the engine is all back together and i think it's back together properly. brake lights are hooked back up and the car is off of the jackstands. i was going to start 'er up on sunday but the clouds were forming again and i didn't want to get stuck outside in a downpour. so i cleaned things up and went inside.

in order to start 'er up, i just need to attach the throttle cable to the carburetor and i'll be all set. i'm still kind of scared to start 'er up, though. i don't know why but i keep imagining the engine just blowing up. guess i'll have to get over that fear soon.

the only bummer to the weekend was that i realized the wheel spacers i bought for the front are too thin. the caliper bulges out a lot more than i thought and 1/8" spacers just aren't enough. i'm thinking i'll need about 1/2 to 3/4" spacers to get the job done. i need to call up top line and see if they'll exchange the spacers i got for some thicker ones. course, i need to actually measure the thickness i need and scrounge up some longer wheel bolts (VW's of this era don't have wheel studs).

i will say that not having studs is a major pain when you are trying to put spacers and a rim on. luckily it wasn't too bad and i got them all back together. hopefully wednesday i'll get the courage to fire 'er up and we'll see how the engine runs. obviously, i'm hoping that all the work i did fixed the idling issue. it should get me running smoother and a might more power. i guess we'll just have to see.

slowly moving closer and closer

for those of us that mostly do projects on our own and typically aren't experts in what we're trying to do, it's amazing to see what can get done having help from someone who knows what they are doing.

my friend paul came over last night and we got some really good work done. first off, the passenger side brakes were having problems because the adjusting star was really cranked down on the bushing (who did that?). so we broke those loose, adjusted the passenger side and the brakes are set. and boy are they tight! 4 clicks on the parking brake and they are solid. put your foot on the brake and it goes down a little and just sits there like a rock. amazing!

we then moved to the engine. after poking around and figuring out that the nut i dropped wasn't in the engine or anywhere around the spark plug holes where it could drop into the engine, we decided to just leave it. we then spent a ton of time trying to get the fan housing back into position. what a pain! anyway, we got it back on finally and it's all in place. we then gapped and changed out the old spark plugs with new ones and called it a night. the intake is still apart but it shouldn't be too hard to get it back on then replace the cooling tin. i'm really hoping that this weekend it'll be back on four wheels and i'll at least get a chance to fire it up.

notes from a slacker

since some of you have asked me what the heck i've been doing lately, i thought i'd put up a little post.

the last week and a half has been really busy for us. i have really only had a couple hours to work on the bug this past saturday. didn't do a whole lot. fished around for that nut i dropped to no avail and started to adjust the rear brake shoes. i was really successful with the driver's side rear but am having a problem with the passenger side. for some reason, i can't adjust the shoes out anymore. the stars just won't move. it's either because of the springs being really tight or maybe some debris in the threads of the stars. i thought i cleaned them out pretty good and they screwed on ok. who knows. but, i have tonight completely free and my friend paul is coming over to help me. hopefully we'll be able to get some good work done tonight and maybe even try and start 'er up.

so close and yet so far

it seems like my posts are getting more and more depressing. they started out so carefree and fancy-free. i guess the drudgery of a long project is starting to set in. here's an update of the work from this weekend.

friday i got a day off from work and tried to spend it on the car. i ended up getting the brakes totally bled and i have a nice firm pedal. i got some nice 1/8" wheel spacers thursday for the front. now all that needs to be done is to adjust the shoes in the back and the bug will be back on the ground.

saturday i went to work on the bolts that i'd broken off. using some left-handed drill bits, i slowly ate away at them. they just wouldn't budge. even using an easy-out they just won't come out. too many years of heating and cooling and rust. i decided just to leave them and get a machine shop to fix them once i get the car running. after that decision, all i had to do was button up the intake manifold, install the new spark plugs and i'd be ready to rumble. the only problem is that i dropped a nut between the cooling tin and my #4 cylinder. i almost started crying. luckily it's not in the engine but i can't reach it, feel it or get it out. i started to rip off the fan housing but it's still stuck on something. after much frustration and tiredness (i'd already been out there all day), i called it quits. i may stop by sears on my way home today and see if they have a strong, flexible magnet that i could use to fish it out. it's so tight on that left side but it might work. it'd sure beat taking all the cooling tin off for one nut. at least i know i'll be home free after this. barring any more fumbling.

solo bleeders and spiders

last night i was finally back in action. ran into a new nemesis and a couple old ones. the new nemesis i ran into was something called a solo bleeder. they replace your brake bleeder screws and are supposed to help you bleed brakes. they have a spring with a little brass ball attached that acts like a one-way valve when you crack them open. this way you can bleed the brakes by yourself. i had installed them on my rear drums but when i went to bleed them last night, they were too big for the bleeder hose that i had. so i went to remove them and just put the stock ones back in (make sure you always save old parts!). to my surprise, the little brass ball got stuck in both of my wheel cylinders! luckily, i was able to pull them out with some needle-nose pliers but there was a lot of heart palpitation, some slight swearing and good ol' nervous sweating. not surprisingly, i'll be putting in an RMA request to get my money back on these things.

i tried to make some progress last night but i didn't get too far. i bled all the brakes but i'm still getting a lot of air bubbles. i think that i got some air into the master cylinder which could prove to be a nuisance. i can't get a firm pedal at all. hopefully i can keep bleeding it and get all the air out. i really don't want to have to get a power bleeder or try and bleed the master cylinder by itself. since i can't get it off the car, this would prove pretty hard.

i ended up going in last night after a large scale battle with a couple of spiders. for those of you who know me, you know that i really, really hate spiders and i'm scared of them. so even killing a spider is a tough job for me. anyway, it was almost 8:00 last night, really dark and these two really ugly, big spiders are in one of my fenders looking like they want to kill me. but i got the better of them and then decided it was time to go in.

doing all this work has not only taught me about my car but it's also acclimated me to the insects of TN. spiders, all sorts of flying things and maybe the grossest... ticks. i realized monday that i had a little friend living off of me and i found another one this morning. luckily, i've been able to pull both out, heads and all and so far no sign of lyme disease. this is just another reason to work on getting some sort of garage at our house. working outside is just the pits. but hopefully i'll be done soon. keep those fingers crossed!

is it fall already?

with the weather in tennessee the last few days, would think it was fall already. mostly overcast, chill breeze, temps in the mid-70s. it's been such a nice break from the high heat and humidity we were having.

today, you get a two-fer. i'll be posting about work that i did saturday and today. after running a bunch of errands with the family on friday, i decided to relax friday night. it was a nice break. onto the work!

saturday, finally finished up the last brake drum and bent the new line to replace the one that i couldn't separate. it's amazing how quickly you can do something the second time. the first brake drum i did took me 40 minutes to get all the springs and clips into place. the second one i did on saturday took me 5-10 minutes. it might have been the difference between late at night and mid-morning but it was insane. not that i'm complaining! being able to finish it up that quick was great. the only thing left to do on the brakes is bleeding. i figure i'll do that once i get the engine stuff done and i'm actually ready to take it out on the road.

the next thing i worked on is that starter. remember how i'd had to stop because i couldn't get the lower nut off the stud? well, i got into place, sprayed some more liquid wrench, got my trusty wrench and it came right off! hurray! i wiggled the old starter out and had a look. man, does it look old! but i'm keeping it to take it apart and see what's inside. yeah, i'm a nerd but i've never seen the inside. once i got it out, i tried and tried and tried to get the bushing out. nothing seemed to work. i called up my friend paul who came over and had a look. he couldn't get it out and said that he would just leave it. the bushing looked to be in good shape and it'd really be a chore to get it out. so i took his advice. i mounted up the new starter and got everything tightened down. pretty simple.

i was still feeling ambitious and had energy at this point, so i decided to start working on the engine. i managed to disassemble the lower cooling tin in order to get to the heat riser bolts. the left side came out fine, but the right side decided they both wanted to break. so now i get to learn how to use an easy-out. oh well. i started to also take apart the rest of the intake manifold but i realized that i needed a 12mm swivel socket and a big extension to get to the 2 nuts on each side. at this point it was getting late and i was tired. so i packed everything up and started to mow the lawn until the rest of my family came back home. too bad the lawnmower suddenly stopped going into gear as soon as i was done with the front lawn. sheesh! what now!? guess that'll be my next project...

pictures from saturday are below:


new guts of the driver's side drum. hopefully they stop as well as they look.


the new drum in place.


can you tell which one is the new starter?


here's a shot of it all mounted up. notice that you're looking through the inside of the rear fender.


another shot of it mounted. this time from below.

onto today's progress... after church, sears and the grocery store, i finally made it outside. i didn't really have a goal. just to work for a few hours. with new tools in-hand, i set to my task. loosened all four intake manifold nuts with no problem. loosened the one in the middle and was able to slide the right-side manifold off with no problem. i had a new gasket for where the manifold meets the head that i had to trim up, but no big deal. i then started to take the left side off but realized that the fresh air pipe coming off of the fan housing is in the way. the only way to get it out of the way is to completely remove the housing. ugh! so i'm thinking i may not replace the gasket on that side. just replace the boots and call it good. that's really all i got done. not much to show for 2 hours of work. but the boots are all ready to slip on and then i can put the manifold back together. i'm also installing the new spark plugs while the manifold is out of the way. more pictures:


manifold almost ready to come out.


and it's gone...


here's a comparison shot between the new and old intake boots.

happy labor day everyone!