The Detroit CC Gathering was a resounding success; what happened at the actual event will be discussed elsewhere here shortly, so let’s have a talk about my journey there. This may be instructive or even cautionary if you don’t have your own antique auto.
My home is near Toronto, about 200 miles from Detroit. Since Paul announced this event in April I’d decided I was definitely attending with my 1963 VW which at that time still lacked an engine. I’d planned to drive down Friday afternoon, stay with friends in Windsor, meet up with the group for breakfast in Dearborn Saturday morning and head home Sunday afternoon. Here’s the car on Thursday evening:
You may notice that several crucial engine parts are still missing, there had been a growling noise which seemed to be coming from the alternator, so I replaced it at the last minute.
A bird pooped on my new alternator as I was installing it, which did not seem like a good sign.
After driving around the block to confirm that the new alternator was charging, and that the mystery growling noise was unchanged (sigh) I headed off towards Windsor.
The first age related issue occurred not with the car, but with the driver’s eyes. I had paper maps for navigation, which I could not see without my reading glasses. It was also a bright sunny day, requiring sunglasses.
I solved this problem by very suavely wearing both pairs at the same time. No wonder Mrs DougD didn’t want to come along.
Here I am passing something!
Vehicles I could pass were limited to farm and construction equipment, I got passed by pretty much everything else. I chose my route to include only two lane minor highways, which took a lot longer, but was more suited to an old VW that cruised comfortably at 55mph.
The Beetle has left me stranded before by vapor locking the fuel pump in hot weather, so I decided to take a pit stop in my old home town of Blenheim and let the engine cool down before approaching the pumps. I left the VW in front of the parking lot where my rented house once stood, and took a solitary stroll down the main street.
Like a lot of small rural towns Blenheim is struggling, but seems to be holding it’s own. On my return I found a four inch pool of oil spreading under the VW’s transaxle. I went to fill the gas tank as the oil continued to drip enthusiastically, and I ran the calculation in my head as I pumped: There was three liters of oil in there, if it’s been dripping that fast for 4 hours and I have one hour to go it’s not going to be enough.
Ultimately I decided that I would take my chances, seeing as my former house was gone I would not be spending the night there. I was pretty anxious for the next hour, old cars always make a lot of strange noises when you are listening hard but I clattered into Windsor just before 7pm and immediately stuck a garbage can lid under the VW to avoid soiling my hosts’ clean driveway.
Marcus and Catherine took me out for an Ethiopian dinner. I had no experience with this, Ethiopia being more famous for lack of food than tasty cuisine. It’s a bit like Indian, except there’s no utensils and you tear off a piece of pancake and use that to pick the various substances up. Delicious.
Afterwards we went for a walk along the riverfront, literally my old student stomping grounds.
7am Saturday and I’m setting valve lash waiting for Canadian Tire to open. Marcus made me coffee and Catherine lent me her yoga mat.
As I suspected the source of the leak was one of the rubber swing axle boots, which I had considered replacing while the engine was out but didn’t do (sigh). Since the amount of oil that had leaked overnight was measured in tablespoons I decided that plan A was to top up the transaxle oil and continue. Although the front of the VW was packed with tools and supplies, one thing I didn’t bring was the 17mm male hex socket to undo the oil fill hole in the transaxle.
After feeding me breakfast Marcus brought me to Canadian Tire in his new Ford Escape, which I noticed doesn’t leak oil or make noises either mysterious or clattery. I had to buy a complete set of both SAE and Metric male hex sockets to get the one I wanted, but at least it was on sale. Back at the house I struggled to get in a position where I could reach the fill plug. I had resolved not to touch the axle boot for fear of making it worse, but when I reached over the axle my hand brushed the gear clamp securing the boot, and it moved. I gently pulled on the clamp and it came right off, it had snapped on the back side and was no longer securing the boot.
After another trip to the hardware store I assembled four small narrow gear clamps into one big narrow gear clamp, and put that back on the boot.
Marcus came along for the test drive and we pronounced the leak cured, although setting the valve lash hadn’t reduced the clatter much. I said goodbye to my helpful and gracious hosts and headed over the Ambassador Bridge to the USA.
The interrogation before entering seemed to be taking about 10 minutes per car, so when I rolled up to the booth I was pleasantly surprised at my interaction, which went something like this:
“Where are you going?”
“To the Henry Ford Museum to look at old cars”
“How does that thing not overheat?”
“I don’t know, I’m just happy I made it this far”
“Go ahead, you should have clear sailing”
On the I-94 to Dearborn I discovered that the VW was not fond of rough concrete highways or of trying to go 65mph. I was extremely relieved to make it to the Hampton Inn, and even more relieved to find that Ed Stembridge had come to retrieve me to meet the group for lunch.
Ed’s new Chevrolet SS is also discussed elsewhere, but suffice to say it is completely unlike the VW in every way, and I was quite grateful to be chauffeured around in it for the rest of the day.
And that is how I arrived at the Detroit CC meetup, providentially delivered from the hands of one set of friends into the hands of another.
The return journey was relatively uneventful, aside from a 20 minute delay caused by vapor locking the fuel pump after a gas stop. Did you know that you can drive exactly one mile on the gas in a VW carburetor before it runs dry? While I was waiting I was ignominiously passed by an Amish horse drawn carriage.
Luckily the approaching thunder storm sent some gusts to cool the engine, and I got my own back when I re-passed the horse and buggy down the road. You have to take your victories where you can find them.
I don’t think I’ll ever do that trip again, no need to drive a classic to a future CC meetup unless there’s one in Buffalo NY which is much closer to my home. Maybe I need a second old car, one with a V8 and and overdrive transmission so I can cruise the highway with ease…
At any rate it sure was an interesting weekend, both for the actual event and for the getting there. I was encouraged by the number of offers for assistance I received when I was in trouble, and the amount of teasing I received once I was out of trouble. I sure do have great friends, both my “imaginary internet” friends and my “real” friends, whatever that means. Thank you all.
Fittingly, this was a display at the Henry Ford Museum
Glad you were able to address your issues and make it successfully, Doug! You and Dan are inspirations to me – maybe I’ll be adventurous and take my ’82 C10 next time instead of my wife’s ’10 Sentra 🙂
Between you and Jason Shafer, the 1963 cars from our CC contributors produce some great stories, if nothing else. 🙂
As I think back, it was a 100 mile trip with my 29 Ford Model A that produced a couple of pretty good stories too. The short version ended with a borrowed truck and trailer and an article with pictures in the weekly paper in Warren, Indiana. Sadly we were bumped from the front page because of a chicken coop fire.
So, I understand your reluctance to duplicate that trip. Still, it was great fun to see both you and your VW.
That’s local new for ya. Just when you think you make it big, some damn garage or similar burns down.
I’ve done a couple of 1000-mile round trips in a Hillman Imp, the biggest problem was dropping onto 2 cylinders (a problem when you have under 900cc to start with!), due to a loose intake manifold.
Doug you just need some sorting for the car, don’t forget VW’s were designed for the autobahn!
Nice travelogue! I’ve been guilty of the glasses thing a few times myself. And, it has been in a topic in my marital relationship.
No need to feel guilty. There is a whole market for shades that fit over prescription glasses. (I think Doug got that part wrong.) O.k.- it’s a niche market. You find them at Wal-Mart, Walgreens and other fine establishments. Mine cost about $20. Choose the ones with transparent temples, the others impede peripheral vision.
Doug, that’s coffee in the glass you are holding? Are you sure you did not scoop it out of the oil filler tube?
I’m both near and far sided. Without bifocals I have to decide if I want to see the road or the map (phone in my case) I tend to be on the safe side and pull over to read the map.
Ok, enough of this. If you can see near, but not far you are likely myopic or nearsighted. If you can see far and can maybe see near but without some strain of some sort, and you are under 45, then you are hyperopic or farsighted. If you are somewhat blurry up close and in the distance, plus under 45, you most likely have an astigmatic correction.
Once we pass the age of 45, for sure, then every single person in this world becomes presbyopic. That means you can be a myopic presbyope, a hyperopic presbyope and an astigmatic presbyope. Your focusing lens in your eyes are nearing the end of their useful life irregardless of anything else prior.
So if you want to do more than one visual task at a time then you are going to need progressive lenses, or at a minimum bifocals if you don’t care about lines.Oh, and no, before someone asks LASIK cannot correct the loss of your focusing (accommodative) system.
I suffer the same issue, and it was a revelation a couple years ago to discover they make bifocal sunglass readers (the top part is uncorrected). For nighttime driving, I ordered a pair of non-tinted bifocal readers (again, uncorrected tops), which work a treat. The only issue with them is that cheap readers (US$10-20) tend to have poor optics with waviness in the molded plastic lenses.
Varifocal sunglasses are available 😉
Map? What’s a map? I guess it’s something you find in the glovebox of a ’63 Beetle. I don’t have any in my ’63 Valiant anymore. They’re mouse attractants in the winter!
I would remove the fuel tank, look for rust and clean it out well, and be sure to remove the outlet pipe and clean or better yet replace the fuel strainer in the tank. Wouldn’t be surprised if blockage is actually causing your fuel starvation problem, VW’s don’t generally vapor lock. Also check that the needle and seat in the carb is not hanging up, try tapping the top of the carb with a hammer next time it starves for fuel, that may free up a sticky needle valve.
VW engines click and clatter even when valves are properly adjusted, you may be experiencing normal sounds from the engine. I see you don’t have a sound insulator glued to the firewall, that will let in a lot of extra noise. Wish I would have been able to meet up, maybe next time if closer to the PDX area.
Try running the engine with the fan belt off and see if the growling noise goes away. Could be cooling fan is rubbing fan housing, if so it may need to be shimmed.
Pretty sure it’s vapor lock, you can drive all over in hot weather, but shut it off for 10 minutes and the carb runs dry when you restart. Wait a bit and all is good again. Maybe the pump is weak.
Mystery noise stops with the fan belt off, which is why I replaced the alternator. It is an intermittent noise, which I wouldn’t expect with the fan rubbing. Ed and Paul both have extensive VW experience but listened to it and couldn’t make a diagnosis.
We missed a great CC Outtake photo op when ten of us were huddled around the back of Doug’s VW offering diagnoses and suggestions. While I agree that Beetles generally don’t have vapor lock issues (neither my ’64 nor ’71 ever did), the symptoms point squarely in that direction. Perhaps some heat wrap on the fuel line might be in order, or perhaps a new (metal) fuel filter if it’s an old one…
After listening to the alternator with an improvised mechanic’s stethoscope, the noise does sound like bearing rumble coming from the front (“front is front, of the car”) of the unit. Perhaps both brand-new alternators were bad, or perhaps “they all do that.”
Like maybe this one?
+1
Look, a spare engine!
Try grabbing both ends of the fan housing and pull it back and forth with the engine running and see if the sound comes and goes, heat will cause the metal to expand and contract and if the fan is too close to the housing it may only rub at times. You can loosen the clamp that holds the alternator to the stand and push and pull then tighten the strap to find the right spot to eliminate the noise. It’s fan/fan housing related for sure, which is a good thing, not engine related. Is your thermostat hooked up with the linkage (and return spring) connected to the moveable air flaps?
Are you using the metal fuel tube that goes through the rear engine cover plate? Sometimes people just use a long piece of fuel hose instead, this can cause heat related fuel delivery problems.
If all else fails you could go with a small inline rotary electric fuel pump and eliminate the mechanical pump, but I would try a new stock pump first. Also be sure fuel pump pushrod is not worn down.
https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=electric+fuel+pump+for+carburetor&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=177554504117&hvpos=1t2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14544111632236278012&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033615&hvtargid=kwd-16322605476&ref=pd_sl_7v6zzagds4_b
Also be sure you are using the correct fan for the type of fan housing you have and 12V alternator, the old 6V fan and hub won’t work properly if you have a ’71 up doghouse shroud, and make sure it’s shimmed properly. If fan shroud is stock ’63 your original fan and 6v hub should work after shimming properly.
http://www.jbugs.com/category/vw-crank-gen-alternator-pulley-cooling-fan.html
I’ve always been skeptical about vapor lock. Studebaker Champions seemed to be susceptible to it, but it’s nearly always from the gas line running too close to a heat source (read exhaust manifold).
Look for points where the fuel line is close to a heat source. You can always try the old (Studebaker-owner’s) method of counteracting it — wrap the fuel line in aluminum foil, generate some ‘fins’ in the wrapping and hold it all together with some aluminum clothespins, to try to get the heat out.
Nice story, and ditto Kever/Beetle.
…now get me Rex Kramer !!
Great story Doug. I commend you on treking the distance in your VW. Sure the old cars are slower, noiser and pretty much don’t do anything as well as a new car, but it is a great adventure when you get to take them on a trip like this. I am looking forward to more posts about your Bug and of course on the CC meetup.
I snagged a short ride in Doug’s VW on Sunday, from the hotel to the HF Museum. needless to say, it brought back lots of vivid memories, having owned a ’63 way back in the day.
Thank you for your confession about the double glasses. I’ve been having to do that for some years now, for similar reasons as you in the car, or when I’m doing fairly close-up work outside in the sun, like trim painting or otherwise. There’s just no easy/cheap way around it.
So glad you made it, and back home too.
Paul, Transition lenses work well outside, which is what I wear.
No, they’re not cheap by any means, but it’s better than constantly changing glasses.
I also have prescription sunglasses for driving because Transition lenses don’t change in a closed car, so then I have a problem trying to read something up close.
Line-less bifocals on prescription sunglasses are pretty expensive.
That is what I finally did, transition lenses for my bifocals. And yes, modern cars tend to have so much UV filter in the window glass that the transition lenses don’t get very dark while driving; at least not in the Highlander, if I put the top down on the Mustang they darken right up. Yes, no line bifocals tend to be expensive but worth it to me.
I’m somewhat surprised that DougD’s VW won’t go faster than 55 MPH. One of my closest friends had a ’61 Beetle from his junior year of high school until it finally died about a month before college graduation. That particular VW would run at an indicated 70 MPH all day long, at least as long as the road was flat. Of course that was a good number of years ago so perhaps not a valid comparison.
Oh It’ll go faster, but the right front wheel becomes very agitated over 60. I haven’t rebuilt the front end so it could be a bent rim or out of balance wheel or kingpin or general looseness. That’s next winter’s expensive project..
Have you tightened the link pins? Old-time greasing method was to loosen link pin bolts/nuts, grease until grease came out around link pins, then tighten link pins & clamp down.
Next- grease until grease comes out around kingpins.
Also- it’s possible to put front ball wheel bearings together wrong, causing a rather dangerous looseness.
I find it amazing that when old cars were new, they ran perfectly – usually. What I have never been able to figure out is when one restores an older car and things are again new (mostly), their reliability is iffy at best.
I had the same issue many years ago when I was in the USAF, and my old 1961 Bel Air got a new motor. I came home on leave in late April, 1970, intending to drive it to the west coast where I was stationed, but sometimes the engine would just quit and wouldn’t start for about 15 minutes.
We never did figure out the problem, so I went back to base, dad sold the car and I used that money to buy the 1964 Impala SS convertible I loved so much for the next three years & three weeks, the car I never should have sold, for it was a rock of reliability!
I find it amazing that when old cars were new, they ran perfectly – usually. What I have never been able to figure out is when one restores an older car and things are again new (mostly), their reliability is iffy at best.
Maybe it’s our frame of reference that has changed. When new, a 60s car seemed perfectly fine, compared to other 60s cars. Now we are comparing their performance to today’s level of refinement and reliability.
One thing that I think is a factor is the low quality aftermarket parts. For example, in the Ford world, if you want a factory correct style coil, there are several choice of repro yellow top coils. They look like a factory coil, correct shape,construction and markings, but the internals are usually low quality and unrealiable compared to the OEM coils. Or try to find a decent set of points these days? Many other aftermarket and restoration parts today have gone off shore and are just not the same quality they once were. Guess what happens when you build an entire car with low quality parts?
Another factor is the age of original parts. Even though in most cases the original parts were good quality, many old cars have sat for years and then were put back into service. Many parts original parts that were put back into use have aged and sat so long that they fail quickly once used regularly again.
Then there is human error of the people assembling the cars and of course the car flipper types who do quick patch jobs to sell cars. And of course, good luck finding a mechanic today that can tune a carb, or setup an old ignition properly. That’s why many times old cars that are original or mostly original and have seen regular use, seem to be the most reliable drivers.
+1
It was a pleasure to finally meet you and your Bug in person, Doug! Having done some long-distance runs in my ’71 bus and ’64 Beetle, I can empathize with your desire to sit in another car – ANY other car (grin) – for a while after you arrived. Glad you made the effort to bring the car, and you certainly got some new family stories to share for years to come!
One reason your VW might sound excessively “clattery” is that the tarred felt acoustic insulation on the engine compartment front and sides appears to have gone missing. It makes a big difference in the level of cabin noise.
Your Beetle looks fantastic! So many are spoiled today with luggage racks and non-original two-tone paint, giving them a Honduran Taxicab appearance.
Your Gulf Blue paint is one of my favorites as well. VW had some great colors in the mid-sixties: https://autouniversum.wordpress.com/60s-star-colours/
I have dynamat on the inside of the firewall, but was ordering a set of tar boards from Wolfsburg West until I saw the shipping cost to Canada and decided not to for now. I should have sent them to Ed’s house. When standing around my car we all agreed that it sounds a bit clattery for a fresh engine.
The lack of accessories is intentional, the only addition mine has is the Texas inspection sticker on the windshield.
Gulf blue is the original color for that car, comparing it to original paint in the engine bay the respray came out a bit grey, but at least it’s all the same color now.
A nice detail you have correct is silver bumper brackets (1953-’67) – 90% of VW restorers get this wrong.
Actually I snuck those parts in with a paint job at work. The brackets are the same color as a gold mine tailings thickener in Mauritania Africa.
A eyeglass suggestion: I did some time as a vintage rally navigator and suffered the same issue trying to read maps, tulip diagrams and pace notes. I found the idea solution was a pair of normal sunglasses with stick-on bifocal “Hydortac” mini-lenses that go on the inner surface of the glass. You just wet them and place them where you want. They peel off anytime with no residue. You can get them at Amazon.
These are fantastic and come in a variety of strengths. Stick on with just a drop of water. Excellent optics. Have a pair for all of my sunglasses. $20 or so a pair.
In all the years I had an old VW I never had trouble with the generator. Yea the lights were dull and minimal electrics.
When I required my ’64 (still 6V), I suddenly had effective headlights! It was a revelation…
Doug:
Your story brought back memories of my clapped-out ’64 bus. Fun times! No Amish on the roads here, but if there were, they would have passed me for sure.
As a geezer who has been nearsighted for decades, I found the best (but not cheapest!) solution was tri-focal prescription sunglasses.
A rather eccentric vendor my company used to deal with was often seen sporting 3 pairs of reading glasses. (Anyone in title insurance here knows who I mean.)
Beautifull beetle.i also did not know that you guys got HOLDEN products up there.i must have missed out on that.great cc by the way.thank you.
It was sold new as a Chevrolet. Ed just rebadged it. No Holden’s here – GM has historically been abundant with brands in the US.
The appropriate Holden bits are easy to get, at least for now. I get a *lot* more attention with the Holden badges than with the bow ties, usually in the form of “what the heck is it?”
Interestingly, an attendee from Australia noted that the thing to do with Holdens in Australia is to rebadge them as Chevys, I smell an opportunity for Ed to gather up his now surplus Chevy badges and sell them down under.
Your story is great and brings back a flood of memories! I never traveled in my VW’s without a well stocked tool box, but could only carry so many spare parts, lol.
Until I truly understood the function of the clutch cable’s bowdin(sp?) tube, I broke several clutch cables- always at the pedal end. I always carried a spare cable for my ’69 Bus, and ended up changing it out on the side of the road more than once, with one being done in downtown Denver, Colorado one summer day. I didn’t need a jack to get under it, fortunately, and had it done within an hour.
I had to reset every valve in my ’74 Bug one time, on the side of the road, on it’s shakedown trip after a rebuild. It lost all compression at about the 100 mile mark. Something about hand lapping the valves…
Other than dealing with a very hot engine and lack of feeler gauges (just went with zero lash), It went well and I made it home with no other problems. Once the engine cooled completely, I found the valve lash was nearly perfect! The burns healed nicely after a week or so with no permanent scars.
Yeah I hear you. I always carried a spare throttle cable and clutch cable with me in my 74 vw van. By the time I got rid of it I could have the old clutch cable out and a new one in after about 20 minutes. I learned after the first couple of times a good amount of grease kept them from binding and lasting a bit longer. The Nissan Altima I have now has a hydrolic clutch but I prefer the feel of a cable for some reason, but not the maintenance.
Is it bad that I recognized the Texas state inspection sticker in the windshield shot? Looks like a 2010 one.
Last couple trips I’ve done in my classic car, have been really uneventful other than check the oil at each fill up. It’s quite happy to drive for hours and miles of miles of road with nary a complaint from it. It has left me on the side of the road a couple times though, one was twofold, jumped timing after the nylon timing set sheered off some teeth due to a failed pickup coil in the distributor. The other was a dead starter in Mississippi after completing a Hot Rod Powertour with no issues over the whole thing (Dallas TX to Charlotte NC). I subscribe to the theory that if you bring tools, the car will find a reason to use them. On the starter, I had brought all my tools, jack and jackstands, wound up using them.
Even my 340,000 mile Ford Explorer was drama free on its last major road trip at 325,000 miles, it was like the proverbial one-hoss Shay that fell apart quickly though at 350,000 miles. (according to the 3rd owner)
That Ethiopian bread is called enjera or injera. It’s made from millet.
Thanks for fleshing out the details of your journey. I was wondering why I didn’t see your Bug at the Henry Ford. I did score a ride across the Henry Ford’s parking lot in a Mk II GTI, so this VW fan did not come up totally empty.
On the glasses thing, I use progressive trifocals, with clip on sun glasses on those rare Michigan days when the overcast breaks.
Glad you made it back with less worries than getting there. It was depressing though to see your email that you’d arrived back home when I still had an almost four digit mileage to go…
The Beetle was awesome and dripped a LOT less than Dan’s Chrysler. So there’s that…
You should have seen it two weeks ago before I fixed the coolant leak and replaced one of the valve cover gaskets.
Also don’t forget that Doug’s VW has much nicer body, paint and interior as well. 🙂
I solved the map reading problem of many pairs of glasses by fitting a cigar lighter to my Hillman I just plug my GPS in, it talks, but has great difficulty with Maori place names which are quite common here a constant source of entertainment. Nice Beetle a friend has a 63 he’s restored but not yet fitted the engine its a Aussie CKD pack car so likely different to yours in details.
… it talks, but has great difficulty with Maori place names which are quite common here a constant source of entertainment.
My Garmin, besides being obstinate to the point that I named it “Gruppenführer Helga, the dash Nazi” chronically mispronounces certain things, like road, abbreviated “Rd” in it’s pea brain, is pronounced “round” and county highway, abbreviated “Ch” is pronounced “Church”.
Wow, if I’d known glasses had been such a hot topic I would have posted a QOTD. Are we a bunch of old guys, or what?
In hindsight it was a bit of a mistake bringing just my reading glasses, I normally wear progressive glasses which are great, other than being very expensive and it took a long time to get used to the side distortion which made it look like buildings were curving to fall over on me when I was walking down the street.
My reading glasses are just for close up, which was handy at the Ypsilanti museum but not so much at the HF where you are kept some distance from the cars.
Glasses were a nuisance in the car for sure, but I’ll need a better solution for my next motorcycle trip. Can’t be whipping a variety of glasses on and off while riding…
Very informative! . I can’t believe how many DougD like people there are. You guys are truly a special lot. We will talk about the glasses when you get home tonight DougD 😉 ❤️
Congratulations on another chapter for the book!
A few more shakedown cruises like that and you’ll be able to drive anywhere without any worries. I’ve always maintained, in response to similar stress factors, that if it worked once it should @#*%!$ be able to work again – interesting to read of the lapses in quality of repro parts. Surprisingly that fact has never been offered by onlookers as we wait for a tilt tray…
One beautiful Bug you have there. Built for the autobahn and soon ready for a West Coast meetup!
Excellent story. True stones!
As a veteran of both ’67 and ’73 bugs, I have a few comments. Both cars had 12V generators that gave zero problems. An alternator would likely be fine, but the comments on the fan rubbing the casing are valid. On the 73 (I purchased new) a paper sticker on top of the fan housing came off and fell into the fan intake. This set up a loud siren-like noise that resulted in a stop at the side of the road to investigate. This was on a ski trip so it was cold. You can reach over the housing to the intake on the front side and reach in. Regarding valve setting, no self respecting VW driver ventures out without a basic toolkit. The little one that comes with the car (Phillips/Flat screwdriver, 13mm/8mm open end wrench) plus a set of feeler gauges and a 12V test light will take care of the valves, the points, and static timing. I got so I could do the valves just by feel/eyeball. Clatter is good. Lack of clatter is bad. Regarding your front wheel shimmy your steering damper needs to be in good shape. Don’t leave home without one or you will be fighting with the shuddering steering wheel a lot. Does the ’63 still use kingpins and bronze bushings instead of ball joints?
Edit- I strongly recommend that you ditch the sheet metal generator/alternator pulley if you still have one. There was a replacement cast steel unit that adjusted the belt with a thread between the two halves instead of the cheesy shims. I had one of the sheet metal pulleys explode on me.
VW phased in the alternator in the spring of 1973 (just a month or so before the introduction of the plastic-cased dry element air cleaner); yours must have been an early-production model.
Ball joints did not come in until September 1965, so Doug’s should be a kingpin front end.
Lovely looking Beetle.
The One That Got Away
I saw this exact immaculate all-original unrestored 1962 Beetle last year and thought I should snap it up. The original mileage was something like 30,000; always garaged, and full of NLA goodies like olive running boards, and wearing its correct yellow (pre-’63) California plates.
I believe it sold at auction a few months later for only about $20,000. Someone got a great deal; unmolested Beetles are extremely hard to come by. Nice color too: https://autouniversum.wordpress.com/2016/05/03/the-peoples-car-then-and-now/
Great story! I’m a great believer in “use it or loose it”. The best way to keep an old car reliable is regular use. I’d happily take my ’69 Buick anywhere in Australia ( just not summer- no A/C and vinyl seats)
Yes, I’ve had a few breakdowns, that’s what extra cover on my roadside assist is for.
I there’s always a book, toilet paper and a blanket with me.
Ethiopian food, oh how I miss it.
No where to get such exotic food in Arkansas.
Seriously, Ethiopian food is absolutely fantastic.
Glad you had a chance to try it.
If you are ever in Boston, stop by Adidas Red Sea on Tremont St. The best Ethiopian food that I have ever had.
(damn computer crashed and ate my reply)
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Thanks for this article Doug ! .
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It’s been years since I saw a 12 volt VW 40horse .
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? Did you grease then adjust the link pins recently ? they need this every year or so .
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I hope you keep having these Meet & Greets, I’d like to attend one in my battered ’59 VW Beetle, once I get the engine sorted out .
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-Nate
If I ever get the car put back together, I have a 1385cc ‘hot rod 40 horse’ engine to go in my ’62 sunroof. I had it built up with a 12v generator…
Doug, I forgot to ask this when I first read your article. I noticed you have the old ’73 series plate on your Beetle. You don’t see many of these around anymore. Out of curiosity, how long have you had that plate? According to Wikipedia, these were only issued from 1973-77. I am assuming that they were on something else before the Beetle since I think you haven’t owned it that long?
I still have a 1973 series plate on my car, that was actually issued in 1973. They were gifted down from my Dad. I thought about switching to YOM plates, but the cost is ridiculous and I figure these plates have been on the car for the majority it’s life, so why change them,
Same thing, they were originally my Dad’s plates (I was all of six years old in 1973) and I had them transferred to me in 2006 when I first put the Beetle on the road.
The car actually came with a set of 1963 Texas plates but that doesn’t do me much good in Ontario..