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Post by vwcranky on Mar 25, 2008 10:20:52 GMT
Hi all, Just some info on how things are progressing on the love bug. These are the first pic's from the seller. Everything looks nice and clean and ok....... or is it The ride hight looks nice... But the ride is hard and going over a bumps u ended up hitting your head on the roof as the shocks had bottom out.(No suspension to the front) It turns out that the adjustable beam was not set up right. The 2 sway away bolts are of different size top 2" and the bottom 1" with standard shocks.. So have changed the shocks to fit the adjustable beam and replaced the 1" bolt with a 2" with locking nut.. How the comfort lever is a 10 smooth ride compared to when I got it It has 3 rust spots that will need attention but not this year.. Under the bonnet I found a ratty old carpet that hid a number of faults.. wiper motor only worked at 1 speed and that was the slow speed .. nice , dismantled the motor and cleaned it, chk the wiring with a wire chart and low and behold it had been wired up wrong The spray job had gone over a number wiring connections so spent a number of hours cleaning the contact's, and things started to work, speedo started to work correctly as it was intermittent, main beam worked, and the internal light stopped flickering. The fuel indicator was intermittent as sometimes it would show a level, got help with this ands turned out to be the regulator. Was also able to access the glove box as not able to get it open. Inside the fuse's were the same the respray had gone over the terminals so they also needed a clean, but just to be on the safe side have changed all the fuses. Door cards in a very bad condition and needed to be replaced, the door handles were different from each other, the seat are the high backs and currently looking to replace them (a personal preference as they are fine no rips no tears). the back seat upright needs to be replaced (waiting on delv of replacement). I found that every 1 to 2 weeks the battery would be flat for no reason at all, but when checking the engine bay I found apx 1 1/2 meter of live wire hidden and not connected to any thing at all (so was shorting out on the body), I cut it out and now no problems. The Nikki carb needs to be replaced, it works fine but needs to be tuned correctly .. . so it running a bit rich. Have had some help with engine and is running nice but could be a lot better. Thanks to everyone how has helped, in advise,parts and their time.
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Post by vwcranky on Mar 25, 2008 11:25:57 GMT
How things have changed .. This was taken a few weeks later. I have changed the light surrounds with chrome steel ones as they were damaged and fitted eye lids.. (a nice little touch) The euro bumpers are nice but not what I wanted so have replaced them with T-bars for the time being as want to have rail bumpers on eventualy... The original set of wheels that were on were not the best but OK. I am thinking of having them blasted and redone colour coded, I have picked up a set of empi's, after a clean up and replaced one tyre, they are now on ... From this pic u can not tell how bad the cards are , I have kept them as I may be transferring the covers on to another set of cards.. The new cards have been installed with a matching set of handles (not the ones in the pic). Did try a GT gear stick but did not like it so gave it away The ride looks completely different now that the empi's are on and the euro bumpers have been replaced by T-bars. The rear wings will need to be replace with 1200 ones as they are the wrong ones, have a replacement set and and lights to match. As u can see the old carpet has been replaced with a rubber custom matting (not happy with it will need to cut another on) and a wire cover has also been used not only to hide the wires but also to support the matting. An extra touch of chrome and the front is looking nice. The ride hight looks cool to. Have fitted a hifi, but found in some of my old gear from when I last had a bug (some 20 odd years ago) a radio cover , what a find... Looks great when the HiFi is removed .. The HiFi is nice one with sub and extra speakers. And also fitted an alarm ;D Have a replacement deck lip with no vents, but for the time being have fitted a engine lid cowl to stop the water getting in.
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Post by freakybug on Mar 25, 2008 11:55:55 GMT
looks cool
i hate messing with wiring but why do people insist on modifying it lol
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Tabz
67> bug
In a world of my own...
Posts: 95
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Post by Tabz on Mar 25, 2008 14:18:45 GMT
nice looking bug
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Post by vwcranky on Mar 25, 2008 15:13:24 GMT
Thanks everyone for the comments its nice to see what people think... Finally been able to sort out the front number plate..... Its only for the local police to stop pulling me over The metal strip was given to me by a friend and it has workout quite nice (have a couple of strips left over ) But u can kind of tell what its going to look like finished ;D U can not really tell from this pic but the quarter light seals have been replaced on both sides, and the out side window scraper and chrome also (what an ass of a job) on both sides also. As u can see the back seat, back rest has had a repair in the past to the top. This is going to be changed when the replacement turns up.... The 6 white plastic air grommets have been replaced to ... the old just fell apart in my hands .. I have also used the kick plates under the seat to mount the 2 speakers ..... When putting in the speakers found more wire so have taken that out also this time about a meter... the carpets have been replaced with thick rubber mats that have been cut using the org mats as a template, they have turn out really nice ... The rear cards I have not replaced as u can see from this pic they have the org ash tray in them .. so I think I will be leaving them in ( even thou I'm a none smoker now) Oh and if u do get in the love bug its NONE SMOKING OK Have tried a few gear sticks, and have now settled on this , Not only does it look the part but the gear changing is a lot better than the standard and the GT I had... This is how it is currently looking on the inside...... new internal light... new door panels... new door handles... new gear gear stick... new mats... What I don't like are the seats and the steering wheel ... (still working on them) I have spent a lot of time on the engine, and got it running the best I can but as I said needs some one who has some idea of what they are doing with carbs... Also if u have not noticed the tail pipes are a bit odd one sticks out further that the other.. have new ones just need to put them on When the rear wings are replaced I will be leaving the rear valance in place .. kind of like it U can see now what difference in getting the correct bolts for the sway aways have made to the ride...
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Post by Token on Mar 25, 2008 16:31:32 GMT
I really really like this bug
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Post by vwcranky on Mar 25, 2008 18:37:53 GMT
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Tabz
67> bug
In a world of my own...
Posts: 95
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Post by Tabz on Mar 25, 2008 23:19:18 GMT
hopefully i can see this one day cos looks good from the pix
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Post by youngdubya on Mar 26, 2008 13:37:15 GMT
looks cool mate. never see you about round bolton though which is a shame. you get out in it much? Ash.
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Post by vwcranky on Mar 29, 2008 18:36:59 GMT
Taken delivery of a few parts this week....
replacement Back seat upright.... set of 1200 rear lights.... side seat leavers.... dashboard plugs.... tin screws.... chrome door finger guards.... chrome alternator back plate.... x2 empi wheel caps (to be used as spares) complete set of seat covers
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Post by vr6chick on Mar 30, 2008 15:25:08 GMT
Wahoo! That's looking ace Ian. And it's cheered me up of a Sunday afternoon lay here on the settee feeling sorry for myself with my cold!
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Post by vwcranky on Apr 1, 2008 19:22:38 GMT
As I mentioned in previous posts about the difference in the sway way bolts that was in place when I got it, I have now repleced them with the correct size one's. Here,s pic of the two sway way bolts, u can see that there is well over an Inch difference in size ... From advise given I have now adjusted both bolts to about the same. this allowed me not only me to adjust the ride hight to what I preferred help in the ride comfort. Sorry about the quality
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Post by vwcranky on May 5, 2008 17:39:49 GMT
Just an up date on the work that thats been going on.. been looking for caps for the wiper blade nuts. but have hod no joy so came up with this .... some very small chrome blot caps, looks and does the trick. the black paint will need to be touched up. picked up a few parts at Stanford. The one that has worked out well is the beaded fuel line, I have been adv against this due the problems with the beading coming apart put just wanted it and it looks great and was not that hard to deal with to install. Also u can see I have replaced the distributor and leads to colour coded with the Lovebug. replace the top pulley nut for a chrome one. and also got some chrome wheel nuts, I say some as I did not get enough missing 3 ooooops
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Post by vwcranky on Jul 6, 2008 19:21:07 GMT
Thanks to Scoob77 and his better half for the loan of the garage, time and help. We Were able to have a good look at the adjustable front beam. when we remove the torsion arms on the drivers side we could see 1 no grease at all in the beam 2 the bottom one had signs of rust 3 the leaf springs were not damaged at all 4 the leaf springs were rock soiled and could not be moved 5 We did finally get movement to the top one but the bottom is still a little stiff, but a lot better than when we started. did have one other problem that is we split the rubber on the lower ball joint.. as it was a beeeaatch. all the work has made an improvement, as no grinding sound coming from the front and the wheel is no longer rubbing up with the wing. ;D *** will need to get hold of a grease gun and fill the beam as only able to fill with what we had at the time....... get another torsion arm ....... and after looking a scoot77 ride change the tyres *** all in all a will spent weekend.....
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Post by runningmonkey on Jul 7, 2008 11:04:30 GMT
I have a grease gun at work dude it air powered big mama and will fill your beam in about 10 seconds, but like most think you'll have to bring it to the yard, am there EVERY Tuesday night til 9
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Post by vwcranky on Jul 7, 2008 18:06:47 GMT
thanks John for the offer... I will take u up on it .. Cheers could u email me a map from bolton to your works.. crap at directions
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Post by runningmonkey on Jul 8, 2008 12:48:14 GMT
From the Motoway M66 jun 2 turn left onto A58 heading to Bury town center First left after the church that Pimhole road were unit 4
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Post by chrisbattenberg on Jul 10, 2008 18:59:27 GMT
fcuk man you shud write a manuel
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Post by vwcranky on Jul 13, 2008 19:00:35 GMT
Don't know my own strength at times ... I've snapped the end of the wheel locking bolt...
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Post by freakybug on Jul 17, 2008 14:23:10 GMT
bummer hope you sort it
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