Aircooled VW South Africa

This is a week later, so just a quick progress update.

After a few days' elbow grease, Duifie had all the old faded paint polished off (We use Autoglym paint renovator and then Super resin polish). The finish on the car is simply amazing, considering that it is all the original paint from 1970.

The brakes were done; new master and slave cylinders, new brake shoes and the drums were skimmed.

The engine got fresh oil and then it was time for the final test drive. The original tyres are marginal (as hard as rocks) but will be replaced in due course.

Andre then found and original VW roofrack that fits the car like a glove.





This afternoon Duifie went home so Andrè can go and collect his girls from preschool.



From this



to a running, driving car in ten working days takes some dedication.



Respect, Andrè

Wow that is quite remarkable, good job on the cleaning and reviving of the original paint, Duifie looks great.

Awesome.

You have found a real gem. Enjoy

Any updates?

We were all set to debut Duifie at Ferdie's; but the best laid plans of mice and men........

The weekend before Ferdie's, Duifie developed a knock in the engine.

She was running fine, like the proverbial sewing machine, and the next moment she sounded like she was fighting her own personal war.

Andre towed her home and then the speculation started.
To me it just did not make sense that an engine that ran as quietly and smoothly as this one did, would just up and die without any warning.

Andre removed the engine and started to strip it.

As he dismantled the engine, we inspected every major part that came off for a possible clue and found nothing. Niks. Nada

The only possible clue was little spots on the face of one piston, like the carbon had flaked off.

Then I found what looked like a mangled piece of wire, about 15mm long and 2mm thick. We then went hunting upstream of the piston and found that the injector tube (pump jet) in the carburettor was missing. This gave a clue as to the origin of the piece of metal.

Obviously, the pump jet had fallen out and it then worked its way into the cylinder, causing the ruckus as the piston slapped the little intruder violently around the ears.

All in all, this little mishap turned out to be a godsend.

With the tin removed, it was found that the cooling fins were severely clogged with dust. Obviously the result of combination of a slight oil leak around the barrels and very dusty operating conditions. (That red Limpopo dust goes everywhere)

If left unattended, it would have lead to overheating on the first extended trip, and then it would have been expensive.





To remove the flywheel nut, Andre made this cool "VW" tool to lock the flywheel when the nut is loostened.





Currently the block and barrels are being boiled in a "moerse" pot to remove all the baked-on oil and to get the block spotlessly clean.

The plan is to rebuild the engine standard and just add an external oil filter and to remove all the casting slag around all the cooling fins

Diesel mixed with omo does wonders to remove grime like that..