Aircooled VW South Africa

vader wrote:Not bad for a kit car....

Wise Words from he who pay'eth da Fuel for Hermanus.

Yesterday:

Sorted out the front left head light that stopped working. The Earth plug on the body needed to cleaned.

Replaced the right Tappet cover. It had been dumping oil and I had already redone the cover with a new Gasket during the week but the the oil leak continued. On Friday I got a new Tappet Cover from Dave R and Got it fitted. There is still a slight drip from the right side, hopefully its the last of the oil that leaked.

Adjusted the brakes. These drum brakes get set from the inside. Setting these brakes are quick and easy. The star is situated where you can see it. Today I had to do one of those orange traffic light and Camera stops. All I can say is that the brakes are good. You could hear they were a fraction away from locking. It brought the Kubel to a straight stop.

Lastnight I took it out for a spin to Table View (Visit A Client). The Head Lights need a bit of adjustment and that is next weekends work. What I am really impressed with is my voltage remains at 14V with or with out the headlights on. All of the AC I have owned before have had Alternators and Volts gauges. While you may have had 14V during the day, it dropped to 12V once you switch on the headlights. Even Aat Idle my lights dont dim. This Heavy duty Alternator was worth it.

And the heaters. Again there is nothing better that traveling at midnight with the top down and warm air wafting around you.

Today the 181 went for a family breakfast at Primi Tableview then on to icecream at Little Bay. I am enjoying this Thing.


BTW Looks like I started work on the Scoob Bug.

I popped in to see Tom and the Thing. It looks fantastic! And everything works as if it came off the showroom floor.

Nice work Tom, I we salute you.

And the Scooby buggy, now that is just insane power / weight ratio toy....

In the week that past:

Sent the 181 to have the seats done.


Repaired, Cleaned and installed the orginal oil air filter.






And of course, Yesterday rode it in the sun

I'm so jealous! Can't wait to get Rosie on the road and have a cruise with the Thing!

Looking good TOM!


Engine bay looks clean enough to eat from. Who needs an Airscarf when you have AC heater power!

Finally connect the vacuum for the aircleaner. This controls how much warm air gets fed into the aircleaner directly from the head. WOW. what a differance. All the flat spots gone. I dont know how anybody can run a centre carb without this.

Just a wild thought.
You have all these rubbers sealing the engine bay from the world. Whats the chances this was to keep the warm air in the engine compartment. VW developed lots of ways of keeping the air into the carb warm. And without it, the motor only runs OK once the whole engine bay has got hot.

Saw this car at the show in hermanus. nice.
spoke to you for awhile aswell Tom.
im the guy with the 65 that needs to be done in 5 months

Good luck on 5 months.......check out my Rosie thread!

lol, hoodrider. Do not push yourself for George. If you don't make it in 5 months then you can always go for 12 and be ready for the next Hermanus show.

By the way nice meeting you.

Saw the car yesterday in edgemead,, nice looking car

Sorry I missed you at the show but did you see the rust of the show?

Tom Bishop wrote:And of course, Yesterday rode it in the sun

Tom - don't look now, but there is a lady in your rear-view mirror!

....so much for picking up hitchikers near Uniondale

The Kubel is running well. Its had snags but good ones.

I have covered 2500Km's with her now and its been the most enjoyable kilos I have ever travelled.

We enjoyed her in Hermanus on the big Days. Its the most versatile car I have ever owned.

On a hot Day cruising to the beach we would fold the windscreen down. Driving over 50 becomes a tad windy and you dont open your mouth.

The day we went home it rained, With the roof up, side curtains in place and the heaters on we were snug.































So this brings to a end

My 181 - Kubel - Trekker - Thing Project.

Thank You for sharing it with me.

PS. Scoob bug is not next. You can follow the Thread BigToe V2. Here I will be helping my son rebuild the bug I built in 2005.

Time to pass the knowledge onto the Young Ones.

Well done, Tom!

This post should mark history on ACVWSA - I can't recall anyone (myself not excluded) actually posting a completion of a project...

The mistake I made in the past is to start using a car, the moment it can drive. You then normally don't ever get to that last bits, though

But congrats, and let this be a lesson to all - it CAN be done!!