The Classic VW Beetle

This last experience was some of the most interesting. Looking for advice online is akin to asking monkeys for directions. As one person put it, “The internet is proof that a million monkeys typing on computers will never reproduce the works of Shakespeare.” How True.

6 volt starter
I got completely befuddled by all of the advice on the starter and keeping the 6v starter vs replacing it with a 12v starter and adding the bushing to make it compatible with the 6v flywheel. The upgrade kit that I received from MidAmerica Motorworks had the bushing, but no parts for upgrading the starter or flywheel. A few calls to the helpful people there, and I realized that i was just reading too much. I just needed to stick with the program and do what I was doing.

The 6 volt starter will work just fine in a 12 volt upgrade in a 1200 air cooled engine. Though the main advice was not to grind the ignition, as the starter will hit the flywheel harder with the 12 volts surging through the line. I saw where some people complained of teeth breaking off the flywheel because the starter was hitting it hard, but some simply replaced the flywheel and didn’t have any more problems.

The alternator came out very easy – really, it’s a matter of locating all of the bolts and keeping a note of where they came from. The shroud was amazingly dirty and oily – i had to wonder when the last time this beetle had thorough maintenance. At points in the project i had to wonder how this thing still ran.

I had to go to Harbor Freight, my new favorite hardware store and get a set of large metric ratchets. The bolt on the old alternator was 36mm, larger than anything I had, and the bolt on the steering wheel was 26mm – time for new ratchets.

Removing the Alternator
Simply by holding the fan and using the monster ratchet I got at the store, everything came off surprisingly easy. I used my miter saw box as a platform for holding the alternator upright, and it worked out OK, as the miter box was bolted into the workbench. The fan got a nice bath and cleaning, and then it was ready to go on the new 12volt alternator.

Oil Filler and Breather
Meanwhile, i was stumped on the alternator stand, as the Oil Filler and Breather was attached to the old stand, and it somehow had to come off and join the new alternator stand. The new stand was threaded, and I could barely budge the filler to twist off. I noticed that the inside of the oil filler was notched, and fortunately at that time, my engineer brother showed up in time to to save the day. Looking over the shop manual, they recommended the VW 170 tool to remove the cap. Right. I’ll run right out and get a VW170 shop tool to remove this thing, which I’ll probably repeat when?

This is when having an engineer brother comes in real handy. First we tried clamping the stand to a workbench – didn’t work out well, but, since it was an old workbench, we simply screwed the stand to the bench through the existing bolt holes – genius!

After reviewing the notches in the oil filler, we realized that we only had one tool that was wide enough to hit the notches – the crowbar. My brother took the end of the crowbar and put it on the grinder to take off the taper and make as much of a wide edge to grab the notch. It looked to work well, but still tough going.

Funny enough – he asks me for a torch. I looked at him odd, which i think he expected. He tells me this is what “the guys in the shop do.” He heats up the oil cap with the torch, takes the crowbar and easily twists off the cap. Amazing.

So much for the VW 170 tool. Putting the cap back on the new alternator stand was just as easy. Screw it on, heat it up, tighten it, and that thing was on.

Aircooled – heh, it’s 90 degrees. I’ve considered placing the window air conditioner in the garage while we work on this project. The work lights alone put off an immense amount of heat while working under the hood. Blech!

Two projects are in play:
1. Replace the wiring harness
2. Upgrade the bug from 6 volt to 12 volt

and yes, i should have done this in the winter . . .

Someone asked me why I am wasting my time with the harness, as it is a tough job. well, i got the answer as I was pulling the wires under the hood. there are more splices than wires, some of the insulation broke off in my hands, and some of the insulation was just melted to other wires. Not a lot of stuff to keep you confident. No wonder i got stranded a couple of times when the bug wouldn’t start.

Now that the wires are cleaned out – it looks much better. I also ordered a wire cover for when this is all done.

Yeah – the original cardboard glove box. I think this is getting replaced, as it is kind of moldy on the inside.

The hard part is removing the steering wheel. I need to buy another wrench, as my set stops at 20mm. Crud.

A couple of Meyers-Manx dune buggies at the MidAmerica Motorworks Air-cooled Funfest.

The main buggy in the movie has a Subaru engine installed in the rear. The body had to be totally reshaped to accommodate the air intakes. Turn up the speakers and the sub-woofer for this video.

The next shot is from the Dune Buggy build-off. A team of people were building a dune buggy from the ground-up in less than three days. MidAmerica was helping them with parts throughout the process, as some were found to be damaged during the build.

The music adds to the excitement of the whole thing – don’t you think?

and of course, a few seconds of a really nice dune buggy mod – i love the sound that this one puts out. Loud volume works well on this one too . . .

Going to the FunFest was a great time. I got to see a number of Things, although not as many as I would have liked to. This one, however, was probably in the best condition of any Type 181 Thing I’d ever seen.

This is a beautiful blue and white Volkswagen Acapulco Thing. The paint job was brand new for this weekend, and it had only 1 mile on it. Inside, it still had an 8-Track player with a Beach Boys endless summer tape. A perfect VW Thing for the beach.

I love the Thing, I want a Thing, I need a Thing.

Until then, I’ll be happy to just look at other people’s Things.

More fun from the Aircooled VW Funfest, Day 1.

Day one of the Air-cooled VW Funfest was an excellent day. Updates soon to come, but for now – video updates!

The Manx Dune Buggy was the theme this year, along with honoring the creator, Bruce Meyers. Here is a great dune buggy mod parking early in the day:

more to come . . . .

So Mrs. Beetle Fan and I were in Deadwood, South Dakota last month for some business meetings.

If you ever get a chance to get out to the Black Hills of South Dakota – you will never regret it! Deadwood has been extensively restored from the mining/gambling town that it was in the 1800’s. It is an amazing little city, and the main street at night is beautiful.

So, we are walking back to our hotel (Four Aces Hampton, the softest beds in the Black Hills – no kidding), as we just had dinner at Jake’s, Kevin Costner’s restaurant in Deadwood. We walk past the Celebrity Hotel and Casino, and saw a few costumes from Hollywood movies, and did we get a surprise! For the next hour we walked around the casino taking pictures, and yelling for each other to look at the next item we found.

The real find was Nelson’s Garage: Car and Motorcycle Museum. Here’s what we saw:

Herbie, the Love Bug. From the original 70’s Disney movie, complete with the registration made out to Disney Studios! The Beetle is in pristine condition, gleaming under the museum lighting. If you look closely, you can see that the passenger seat faces the rear of the car, along with a steering wheel in the back row for the reverse driving scenes. No CGI back then!

A couple of other really great finds:
The Ferarri from the 80’s show, Magnum P.I. I grew up really loving this car, I had a large plastic version of this – but no Magnum “action figure” to ride in it.

Evil Knievel’s jump bike. If you weren’t aware, Evil didn’t use lightweight dirt bikes they use today, this is a Harley-Davidson, upon which Evil made all his jumps. This bike is from the Wembley, England jump, well, crash . . .

The 1969 Camaro from the movie 2Fast 2 Furious. Regardless of what you may think about the movie, the car is amazing. Enough to make even the most hardened collector swoon.

Some other exhibits that are a must-see:

• A Jeep from M.A.S.H.
• James Bond’s Aston Martin from The Living Daylights
• Peter Fonda’s Harley-Davidson from Easy Rider
• Ann Margret’s Harley
• Trans-Am from Smokey and the Bandit

Make sure that the Black Hills of South Dakota are in your travel plans. It’s an amazing part of the country and there is much more to do there than one could ever imagine. Be sure to enjoy a few nights in Deadwood and check out the cars at the Celebrity Hotel!

Has anyone else heard that Volkswagen is now making a truck for 2010? However, unknown to many people, there was already a VW Truck years ago. I have proof. And here it is;

So what do you think? Would you buy it? I would. Sorry I don’t have a better picture of it, but you get the idea.

The thing about VW’s is that they are so customizable. You can make a truck out of a VW Beetle. Who knew? But why stop there?

You can do anything you want with any VW Beetle, Thing, Bus or Ghia. All you need is a little bit of know-how, a decent amount of money, and a big imagination. Here are some more customized and modified Beetles, Ghia’s, and Things.

Here is a VW Camper Bug;

A Ghia Barbecue;

A Volkswagen Beetle Limo;

And my favorite the Type 181 VW Thing Low Rider;

There is so much you can do to VW’s. If and when I get my VW Thing, I plan on making it worthy of the off road heritage it was supposed to have. Powerful engine, bigger off road tires, sort of like a Hummer. But a VW Hummer.

Have you done any customizing unlike anyone else? Leave a comment and show us your pictures.

Yes!! I get to go to the Mid America Motorworks Air-cooled VW funfest again. This year Mid America is honoring the Dune Buggy, and in attendance will be Bruce Meyers, creator of the Manx Dune Buggy.

I was able to go to the Funfest last year and it was great. Of course, I loved the VW Things, but there are plenty of other VW’s and air-cooled rides.

If you would like to go, here is the Mid America Motorworks registration page for Funfest 2008.

Funfest 2007 Oval Window Beetle Pictures

Funfest 2007 VW Thing Pictures

Hope to see you there!