Bugblog

Yesterday was a bit of a learning experience. First, I installed a new filler neck hose as that is often cited as the culprit for gas fume smells after filling up. Indeed it needed to be replaced as the old one was quite ratty and soaked with gas (no pic, I threw that away). So I did and I also clamped a few of the other vent hoses coming from the gas tank. I still smell gas tho. There's one other hose that I can replace and I think that should solve the problem.

I then wandered over to nearly downtown LA and picked up a few parts from a guy who was parting out his 73 Super. I now have the correct decklid for my car! Woooohoo.



I also snagged a tail right lens (it's a bit cracked) so I have that until I get shiny new ones.

The next goal was to fix the ignition. You see, the previous owner installed a little button like device that starts the car, as opposed to turning the key all the way. So, I dismantled the steering column so I could see if I needed to replace the ignition switch or if the button device was purely an add on for whatever reason. Well, it quickly became apparent that the electrical system baffles me. I have the schematic in my one book, but that doesn't help much. So, I'm gonna have to study up on that one and tackle it again this coming weekend.

Yeah, that's me with grease smeared across my head.



Oops.

Man was today productive. Today's goal was to adjust the valves and make sure they were set right.



The task sounds daunting but it turns out to be rather simple. Steve came over to help out and we studied the book to make sure we did everything just right. I adjusted the valves,



replaced the gaskets,



and Steve reinstalled the new shifter coupling using the old screw to hold the rod in. So, it should actually hold the rod in this time around. Now that the valves are adjusted the car should run better and it seems to though I can't be sure if it actually does, or it does because I think it should.



Next, we tackled the starter problem. I think I mentioned before that every so often, when I go to start the car a horrible rattling comes from the starter. Well, the solenoid was hanging on the starter by its ground strap!



That's not a lot. I'm surprised it hadn't bounced out of the car. Well, whoever put in the rebuilt starter didn't attach the solenoid to the starter with the two required bolts. So, when I started the car, the solenoid rattled around a lot. I can't even believe the car started at all. Well, we remedied that. Pulled the starter out, (good thing Steve was there, I don't really think it's a one man job), and carried it down to the local hardware store where the nice guy pulled out boxes of bolts until we found some that fit nicely. Reinstalled the starter, go to fire the car up and...nothing. Doh! Long story short, we had the ignition cable attached to the wrong contact. The bug starts up perfectly everytime! Oh, I also installed a new air filter element



(the old one being so dirty).

I've been robbed!
Orrrrrr, my tail light lens fell off.



Whichever. I can't even believe it. The pic is a bit shoddy, I took it with my new camera phone. Damn that thing is handy. Oh well, guess I'll have to order a couple of new ones

The shift rod coupling saga continues. JBugs emailed me back and told me that the coupling should be fine and I just need to make sure I tighten it extra tight. So I did. I also posted this little story on the air-cooled newsgroup to get some feedback. Turns out, common practice is to secure the screw and coupling with wire. This is the first I heard of that kind of thing. Well, turns out they might be right. On my way home from work, driving up La Cienega Blvd (a major one) I lost all my gears. You got it, the screw slipped out completely and the shift rod became useless. So, I pushed the car into a Burger King parking lot and, due to frustration, replaced the new coupling with the old one. Quick side note, as I pushed my car into the lot a "friendly" security guard sat in his car and watched. I suppose he was making sure nobody mugged me while I pushed my car, no matter, a perfect stranger helped me out. Anyway, it should be fine now, the old one has a bigger screw with bigger threads that seem to grab on better than the new one.

Ok, so I didn't put the old coupling back on and I didn't call JBugs to yell at them. I reattached the new coupling and I emailed JBugs a notification of a wonky part. Unfortunately, I was putting the new coupling back on in the dark so tomorrow, during lunch, I'll get back in there and make sure it's tight as a drum. Then, I'm sure all will be well. Stay tuned.

What a surprise I had on the way home from work today! As I make the turn onto a main road I go to shift into 2nd and, doh!, nothing but horrible rattling and grinding! WTF? I move to go to 3rd, no 3rd, where'd 3rd go? What's going on? How do I get out of the way of the 20 cars that have stacked up behind me? I move into the left turning lane, out of the way of traffic, and start moving the shift stick around looking for my recently misplaced gears. Ahhhh, there's 1st, right where 3rd used to be. Now, 2nd, no, crap, that's reverse! Right were 2nd used to be, 2nd is where 4th used to be and 3rd and 4th are there, but I have to push the stick way to the right and force it up or down. Well crap, what the hell happened? The whole way home I ponder the price of a new transmission and the possible solutions to a cheap fix.

Then I think, wait a minute, this must relate to something I've done. As noted here I've recently played with the shift rod and its parts. Well, to get to the point, I check the car after I'm home and I've had dinner and sure enough, my shiny new shift rod coupling has lost a screw and the shift rod has, um, shifted. Well, that's certainly cheaper and easier to fix than a transmission. Turns out the screw that goes though the shift rod is not so great and was only holding on by two or three threads. Well, it fell out and the coupling was all loosey-goosey. Tomorrow I plan on calling JBugs and complaining, then I'll throw the old coupling back in (oh yeah, I saved it).

Yes, it was most probably over due but I just got around to doing it. The oil change. No problem.



Nothing went wrong, I didn't dump oil all over the driveway nor myself and my bug is happy. That's all. That's it, no other change this week. Next week I'll be adding some little bits but I won't ruin the surprise now.

Today was quite productive if I do say so myself. After reading a tech article about easy, bolt on modifications on aircooled.net I went ahead and order some bits and pieces to fix up my shifter and it's accompanying parts. I also had a handful of spark plugs to install, more on that later. So, I had ordered a quick shift kit, shift coupling, and shift rod bushing. The article said this job should take about 20 minutes if you know what you're doing. It took me about 4 hours. But I'm pretty sure I could do it in half an hour next time around. The big trick was getting the shift rod out of the car. The Hayne's manual I have gave me poor instructions as it referred to a part of a standard Beetle that isn't nearly the same as the Super Beetle. Oops. So, I had to turn to the internet and, after I had searched the front of the car for an access hole cover for nearly 40 minutes, I read a post on a newsgroup about the secret access hole cover.

I replaced the coupling no problem (once the shift rod was back in the car with a new coating of grease)



and the bushing slid right on too. Then I got to install the quick shift kit. This basically shortens the distance the shift stick travels from gear to gear. Let me tell you it's awesome. I feel like I'm driving a whole new car now. As advertised it decreased the distance the stick has to travel about 40%. And, it's not all loosey-goosey anymore either. I dig it.



That part cost me like $4 and change. I like having this old car with cheapo parts. All in all I spent about $30 on parts (from Jbugs.com) for this weekends adventure.

I also shortened the fuel hose running from the filter to the firewall as the filter had worked it's way too near the transmission. I swapped out the old sparkplugs for the new and I'm happy to report the old one's looked slightly toasted as they should. (that means a healthy engine) I also attempted to pull the starter as it's been making funny noises every so often. I won't go into too much detail, but holy crap what a pain! It's way up in the car and I could barely reach the bolt on the opposite side of it, let alone reach in there and unbolt it. That's going to have to wait. Last thing I did was take off the shiny air filter I had installed and replaced the stock one. There was something funny happening with the idle after I put the new, little filter on so I yanked it and I'm going to keep it stock until I get dual carbeurators.

Oh! I nearly forgot. I purchased "cat eyes" for the headlights. The previous owner had put the eyelids on, which look interesting. But the cat eyes, oooooooh man, the cat eyes are cool! It's basically just a chrome fitting that has a center piece on it that makes the headlight look more interesting. And how! I pulled up behind a car tonight (I'm writing this on the 8th) and caught the reflection of the lights off the back of said car. It looked soooo cool. See the pic of the cat eye on, but the light off.



I also failed to mention that all of this was possible as my friends bought me a jack and two jack stands for my birthday. Check out the pic of the bug jacked up.



Good times.