Started up my freshly built motor on Sunday

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franksta

Golden Member
Jun 6, 2001
1,967
6
81
Update from the update quoted below.

I know this thread is old but maybe someone cares about progress on this car?

We had another girl in March. Mix two sub-3 year olds with the garage build and it's tough to fit in time to work on the VW. I finally started getting motivated for it and making the time.

The trick for getting the motor in this car is to remove the passenger side valve cover. The body has been tweaked and that valve cover rubs making it near impossible to install the motor. Remove that one and it nearly slides right in.

The clutch was not disengaging previously and I did end up buying a new shorter cable from some different year. Maybe early '60s? That's in and finally adjusted properly. I can't go much tighter with it but I think that's OK since I think it needs to be loosened as the clutch wears.

I had actually dropped the motor to inspect the clutch disk and to make sure it was properly aligned to the pilot hole on the crankshaft. That's where I figured out the hold-up for the motor install.

Then like an idiot I fragged the spark plug wires during the install when they got caught between the body and engine sheet metal. New plug wires are installed now. Then i connected the power to the wrong side of the coil and may have cooked my compufire points replacement module or the coil itself. I've got a spare distributor with regular points that works OK but the timing isn't as stable. If the coil itself is smoked I can borrow the one from my dad's motor that's in my other garage. I should find out this evening.


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I know this is a monster bump but it's finally installed in the car. My spare time dropped to 0 a month after I started the thread when my little baby girl was born. Now that she's about a year and a half old my spare time is returning a little.

Installing the motor was a huge fight. Everything needed some convincing to get it to fit. Then the muffler was exiting inside the fender so I cut and rewelded that.


Youtube video of the motor idling in the car and a small rev

The clutch is not disengaging completely so it's grind 'em when you find 'em in the trans. I think my cable is too long. I have temporarily stacked some washers on it and hopefully it'll be good to go at least temporarily. But I've yet to try it again. If the washers works for now I'll get a shorter cable. It's not particularly difficult to install just a bit tedious.
 

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
7,306
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0
Necroing sure is hip lately.

Also turn your coil over and mount it straight up and down. Or switch to epoxy instead of oil-filled.
 

franksta

Golden Member
Jun 6, 2001
1,967
6
81
Necroing sure is hip lately.

Also turn your coil over and mount it straight up and down. Or switch to epoxy instead of oil-filled.

It is epoxy filled. Plus I'm limited by the holes in the fan shroud as to where I can mount it. This was the only arrangement that worked without modification.
 

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
7,306
5
0
Ah. Well nevermind then. ;)

It's just a pet peeve when I see those weird mounting arrangements with oil-filled coils. Usually results in leakage and/or a torched winding.

Car looks awesome, btw. I dig the black wheels and spinners.
 

franksta

Golden Member
Jun 6, 2001
1,967
6
81
Ah. Well nevermind then. ;)

It's just a pet peeve when I see those weird mounting arrangements with oil-filled coils. Usually results in leakage and/or a torched winding.

Car looks awesome, btw. I dig the black wheels and spinners.

The wheels are from a special "Marathon Edition" and I do have the stock caps for them.
http://www.sebeetles.com/marathon.htm

I probably won't keep them, I've been thinking of some reproduction Porsche "gas burners" but not gonna spend that money until it's drivable. Also, I'll probably will switch to a distributorless ignition and fuel injection.
 

franksta

Golden Member
Jun 6, 2001
1,967
6
81
Noooo. I like your current ones a lot better.

If I built a Beetle, it would have to have something in this vein:
http://asp.americanracing.com/wheel...alloy, painted center, polished rim&section=A

But with the spinner caps. They just look right.

Have you gotten to actually take it down the road yet? I gotta imagine 100hp makes a Beetle pretty damn quick.

Nope. 5+ years I've worked on this motor swap and still have no additional mileage on the odometer to show for it. I'm convinced it will be scary fast.

I think those wheels would looks sharp on a Beetle. I think I've seen similar ones in some vintage pics but they were OLD and thus rare and expensive.

Here's the gas burner style I've got my eye on.
http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C32-GBB
 

franksta

Golden Member
Jun 6, 2001
1,967
6
81
Coil checked out OK. Popped out the ugly distributor and took off the cap. Yep, let the smoke out of the compufire so I put another distributor in (I have 3, in various states of usefulness).

distributor_revert.jpg


I cranked it and got some bangs on the first go. It took a few tries to get it to idle. Finally shot it with the timing light and was within 8 degrees before doing any adjustments, not too bad.

I need to finalize the fuel line, air up the tires, ... , and profit.
 

JCH13

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2010
4,981
66
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Congratulations on not screwing up what is the most complex surgery you can perform on an engine! :thumbsup:
 

manimal

Lifer
Mar 30, 2007
13,559
8
0
awesome bug frank! I had one in the family when I was a kid and trough the 70-late eighties never broke down. Blizzard of 78 in chicago it drove out of six feet of snow
 

franksta

Golden Member
Jun 6, 2001
1,967
6
81
awesome bug frank! I had one in the family when I was a kid and trough the 70-late eighties never broke down. Blizzard of 78 in chicago it drove out of six feet of snow

I've had all kinds of fun in this one as well as several others. All through high school it seemed we had at least 1 or 2 in the family. I distinctly remember we had a '58 that I drove to school. One day it started to snow pretty fiercely at around 10 o'clock. By lunch time they decided to release us early so we wouldn't be trapped at school. We lived in Maryland at the time, and they required a front license plate. It functioned as a small snow plow to push the snow up and over the hood and into the windshield. My brother was the co-driver and I think he had the window down and was clearing the windshield with his arm.

That was probably in '96.
 

franksta

Golden Member
Jun 6, 2001
1,967
6
81
Today was promising but the brakes are scary. I don't get anything until it's practically on the floor. I backed it out of the driveway and discovered that little nugget. I also saw the kids riding their bikes and decided not to hot lap the neighborhood. So I tried to pull back into the garage and...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDJ5ESVlfEI


Finally got it in the garage though. The bike riders and their mom stopped to watch my moment of triumph. Feels good man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UusAy8zTM8w
 

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
7,306
5
0
Does it still have four wheel drums? They likely just need to be adjusted, if so.

If it's got front discs...well, drums are still probably it. The fronts generally hold off until the rear shoes make engagement.

You may want to take the wheels off and do it (not sure if you have an adjusting slot in the splash shield or not). Even if you can adjust them with the wheels on the car, I would want to do at least a cursory inspection. Yeah, you gotta pull the outer wheel bearings, but it's not a big deal. If it's not just from adjustment, then I would guess you've got a wheel cylinder issue. Make sure you actually pull back the dust boots to check for leakage.
 

franksta

Golden Member
Jun 6, 2001
1,967
6
81
Does it still have four wheel drums? They likely just need to be adjusted, if so.

If it's got front discs...well, drums are still probably it. The fronts generally hold off until the rear shoes make engagement.

You may want to take the wheels off and do it (not sure if you have an adjusting slot in the splash shield or not). Even if you can adjust them with the wheels on the car, I would want to do at least a cursory inspection. Yeah, you gotta pull the outer wheel bearings, but it's not a big deal. If it's not just from adjustment, then I would guess you've got a wheel cylinder issue. Make sure you actually pull back the dust boots to check for leakage.


It does have disk brakes on the front, rears are still drums. I think there is an adjustment slot but since it's been forever since I've driven it I'll take the drum off anyway.
 

BUTCH1

Lifer
Jul 15, 2000
20,433
1,769
126
Not trying to thread crap OP, the build looked nice but that engine is making some weird noises, maybe it's normal for that design, IDK..