My pet project my wife bought ;)

[Ron&Gill]

I'll echo Baron's echo and say that that your tenacity is quite something! Thank you for sharing with us! If the PO was responsible for all that... well all I can say is he was either extremely lazy and slap gat or simply had no alternative (cash strapped). A lot of the fixes could have been done with very little money and a reasonable amount of care. Who knows maybe he had the "mechanic" down the street "helping" him.

Ha! There's definitely an echo there...

Good read. There's some perseverance there! Will be watching this thread...

[piesang]

What do the 34 carb look like, if I look at the pic of the old carb you have it look the same as the one I have on the 1600 twin port in my beach buggy.

[TimeMan]

OHHHHH FOOOOOOK !!!!

I am so pissed at the moment . I went to a old VW mechanic last week thursday to tune the beetle and man oh man he knows beetles !!! He did his apprenticeship in germany at the vw beetle plant years ago . And he set this baby that she was purring like a content lil kitten . Best part of all was he saw i am genuinely interested in the lil beetle and he explained everything he did and why he sets it the way he does , i got such a great liking in this guy , you could see he has a passion for this little beetles . Anyhow so he set and tuned her for me and it costed me only R 215 . A total bargain as the beetle was running so smooth plus i got the training for free

So day before yesterday i had to go see clients in komatipoort , about 110 km away from me , so i told my wife i am gonna take the beetle as a 220 km trip there and back is perfect for running her in .But when i wanted to start her the battery was flat , i should have taken that as a bad omen and canceled the trip but no dumbass as i am, i didn't listen to my little inner voice saying this is a sign not to take the beetle today !! Anyhow i put the battery on quick charge and took of for komatipoort .

Oh man she was running like a dream , and just before malelane ( about 50 km from komati) she started missfiring and backfireing i stopped and chacked the plug wires etc , didn't see anything wrong and drove on again not listening to my inner voice now screaming at me to turn around and go back home . She started running smooth again so i thought maybe some dirt or something was in the fuel . ...

Got to komatipoort and delivered 2 screens for a client , when i wanted to start her she was dead like a doornail ! Then i realised for some reason or another the brand new altenator was not charging , well client gave me a jumpstart and i went to a second client left her idleling outside . Needless to say she died and had to be jumpstarted again . Now at this stage i wasn't 100% sure it was the altenator or battery . Well i set of for home and 10 km outside of komati she died ,dead as a doornail , then i knew ok battery is gone . Well i phone my client in komati and asked them to go buy me a new battery and bring it to me , holy hell midas charged me R800 for a o name brand 622 battery i nearly had a fit !! But i needed the power so installed the battery . Started her up and set of again for home , once again running smooth as can be . ......... 20 km away from malelane all hell broke lose !! she started running hard ,oil smoke , and next moment CLRRRRRRRRR . dead !!

I stopped next to the road tried to start her and now the smooth sound was gone only to be replaced by a very bad sounding grinding sound . Next moment electrical smoke started coming from the back , no tools in the car i ripped up the back seat only to see the battery cables melting . Although i have a fire extingusher in the car i knew that won't help squat once the wires caught flame i needed to get the battery disconnected asap !!Well i was NOT gonna stand next to the road looking at this little beetle going up in flames . i grabbed the battery cable and dunno when i got the power from but ripped the bloody melting cable off the battery terminal burning my hand to spares !! Well that stopped the impending dissaster in it's tracks .

Then had a friend of mine drive through with my mazda to tow me home but as it was by now 8 pm and the road hectic busy i decided to leave the little beetle at a client's home in malelane .

Now to try and organize a trailer to go and fetch the broken little bug . Then taking the engine out opening her up to see what the hell happened . My guess is the main bearings gave in as that was the only thing i didn't do as i didn't want to split the crank case . At this stage i am contemplating at getting a subassebly and fit all the new parts i got , as i found out tnx to the forum that was a 68 1500 crankcase and the conrods already have been machined . Now just to get my hands on a decent sub assembly .

Well conclusions i have come to since the dissaster struck .
1. I got to put gauges in !! Oil temp / oil pressure / charging so i can know what is going on in the little motor
2. I am going to rip out the butchered damn harnass and completely redo it the correct way .
3. I need a main battery disconnect switch next to the battery that you can cut total power to the beetle
4. Going to do what my late dad did to his sani and make a jumper point in the engine compartment as this taking the seat out to jump the car is a stupid idea .

Sigh well just a update to my new found friends on this forum . Will keep you posted with photos and comments .

Wishing you all a peacefull easter ... i will spend mine taking the little beetle apart ... whoooohoooo so many days to work on the beetle !!!

[Tony Z]

wow - glad you saved the car.
Everyone you meet has a "Beetle Story" - this might just be yours

[Ron&Gill]

Wow... I think you should investigate the starter motor... Troublesome as it has been... Mechanical grinding noise plus melting battery leads makes me think somehow the starter motor engaged and refused to disengage. The bendix closes the main contacts in the solenoid and if the starter motor can't turn, it's a dead short. Given the electrical problems you've been describing, could the solenoid have received starting power from your ingnition key while you were driving and then destroyed the bendix etc, seizing everything in place, closed?

[TimeMan]

Damit . Pulled the motor opened her up and yup number 2 big end bearing is gone ! Damit this is going to mean i have to get a total sub assembly . Now to start to shop around .

Will post pics soon of how bad it looks like .

Cheers

[Edmond]

I have read about this so many times, a guy does a top end overhaul on a beetle motor but the bottom end has high mileage or is tired the increased compression of the fresh heads and pistons/barrels strains the tired bottom end the result normally a spun big end bearing.

Strip it down you might be able to save it just depends how bad it is

Good luck and love your beetle story

[Bugger]

Yes always when Rings are changed the big ends has to be renewed it is a bit of a mission to change with out splitting the block but it is very cheap insurance

[TimeMan]

It just tickles me why it hit the bearing on number 2 ? Anyone had that before ? Someone said to me that when a beetle hits bearings it is normally on number 2 . If so any idea why ? i mean that is not the last piston to get oil feed is it ?

Well now i am faced with 3 options as this crankcase have had it and not worth it to try and salvage . What would you guys do ??

1 . a Guy i know has 3 or 4 crankcases sort off sub sub assembly 's that he want to get rid off (Crankcase/crank/conrods). I could buy one open it up check the crank and bearings and maybe have it engineered ,line bored and new bearings fitted right around ... dunno what engeneering costs would be , maybe someone has a ball park idea ?
2 . Buy a recon sub assembly with 3-6 months guarantee R 3500
3. Buy a total brand new import sub assembly via a contact , from factory my guess is it will be a mexcican sub assembly for R6500-R7000

Damit this is like a nice catch 22 i then have 4 brand new pistons + rings+ barrels and recconed twin port heads that i probably will wrap in plastic to keep them rustfree and if someday i need it

What would you guys do in my situation ?

[Drusky]

I would build a time machine from what is left of the engine. Then I would go back to the day I bought that bug and klap the oke who sold it to me. I hear the fine for first time assault offence is R300 odd bucks. I would be sure to get my moneys worth!

But seriously, R7K seems a bit steep for part of an engine even if new. I've seen whole engines sold for R2K odd. Try to find a second hand sub assembly or whole engine. As you say you already have the barrels, pistons, rings etc.

[Bugger]

My first choice would be fix the old motor

You say the block is shot? why ?

What are the big end sizes ?
What are the mains size on crank?
What are the mains size on casing side?

If not bad that block could be line bored ,crank cut and you use the new pistons with liners you got with the recon heads and at the end of the day
You know what you got
These recon motors one buy for R3500 is 10 to 1 just b/e and rings done and maybe heads
I can not see reconditioning a motor for R3500 as the mains alone are around R700 and lineboring is around R1000 now a days

[Edmond]

The reason the big end let go on a beetle motor is because they are last to get oil it first has to travel to the main bearings then to the big ends.
If the mains are worn they will bleed to much of the oil away thereby seriously starving the big ends of oil.
100% agree with bugger rebuild the old motor if its savable, I wouldn't trust any recond engine unless my 2 hands built it and if you need help thats what this forum is for

[TimeMan]

Hehehe well if i'd klap this ouke i'd probably kill him taking into account that i am a big mother ^^ 6'7" and 110 kg plus i do martial arts .... so won't be a good thing if i'd klap him .

Well reason i say that block is shot is that the big ends on the crank was already machined to 60 thou and the guy at ADE spares told me to find any bigger bearings will be like finding chicken teeth , so i can just imagine what the mains on crank and casing will be .

Hell when i was looking for the 60 thou bearings for the big ends i looked for days and got it only at one guy who still blew the dust of the box lol .

[Edmond]

Hendriks has 2 cranks with rods and a casing for sale in the parts section of this forum, im sure they would be better than the ones you have.
Never heard of a crank being reground so much, I have only seen bearings available up to 40 thou undersize.
What was the crank endplay like on this engine, if it was really loose the casing could be seriously damaged as well

[Drusky]

Hehehe well if i'd klap this ouke i'd probably kill him taking into account that i am a big mother ^^ 6'7" and 110 kg plus i do martial arts .... so won't be a good thing if i'd klap him .

Bah! Martial arts, schmartial farts. Klapping efficiency is about awareness, speed and putting the energy where it does the most damage. I'm coming to Cape Town later this year so we'll have to meet so I can demonstrate... wait. 6'7" at 110kg is big... damnit where'd I put my time machine

But seriaasly considering the work done to the poor bug, as you have described it, plus the fact that the guy sold this contraption to a bloody giant knowing it was not right! All I can say is that he must have for brains, or he's is currently far, far away.

Thanks for posting your experiences. I am learning a lot from your troubles. I recently bought these two books which reflect my current mechanical aptitiude and my future ambition.