1974 Super beetle, basket case...

[Amskeptic]

It appears that my seat belt / brake light / starter relay has been 'hotwired'...with a bobby pin...

Holy hackorama Batman! Personally, I'd throw that in the recycle bend and source a new one. I wouldn't trust that any farther than I could throw it.

I was going to suggest,
"it appears that my seat belt / brake light / starter relay has been resurrected from the lower deck of the Titanic."

I am available for "polishing" as I head to Atlanta/Florida in about a month. Please read my treatise on the clutch in your post in the Transaxle Forum. There are so many permutations of what was a simple system when people retrofit diaphragm pressure plates to the old floating release bearings. Got pictures of your bell housing/clutch/pressure plate in your restoration archives?

[cegammel]

Wifey has put a moratorium on my VW spending for this month, so I'll be ordering approximately one metric crap-ton of parts in September. I have October 5-9 off, for the most part, if that happens to coincide with your return. If not, I can make myself available most weekends; I'm also not above faking a heart attack.

On tap for that off week:

Aforementioned starter relay + other electrical gremlins (including a loose wire to the headlight switch, I think)
Fuel tank filler seals / leaks
oil leaks / engine pull / tube replacement
entire interior: headliner, seat covers, carpet, windshield...but I have to find and fix the damned leaks first...
Chrome-plastic window trim (spent a few hours on this...and gave up)
Tie rods
tire swapping
adjusting carb float
headlight adjusters (missing one...)

If we get bored with that, we can do the front end on the Vanagon:
tie rods / ball joints
rust remediation (again...never ending)
general check up, especially regarding my ever-bleeding down lifter


Sounds like a good 3 hours, right?

I'll get real beer this time...

[Amskeptic]

Wifey has put a moratorium on my VW spending for this month, so I'll be ordering approximately one metric crap-ton of parts in September. I have October 5-9 off, for the most part, if that happens to coincide with your return. If not, I can make myself available most weekends; I'm also not above faking a heart attack.

On tap for that off week:

Aforementioned starter relay + other electrical gremlins (including a loose wire to the headlight switch, I think)
Fuel tank filler seals / leaks
oil leaks / engine pull / tube replacement
entire interior: headliner, seat covers, carpet, windshield...but I have to find and fix the damned leaks first...
Chrome-plastic window trim (spent a few hours on this...and gave up)
Tie rods
tire swapping
adjusting carb float
headlight adjusters (missing one...)

If we get bored with that, we can do the front end on the Vanagon:
tie rods / ball joints
rust remediation (again...never ending)
general check up, especially regarding my ever-bleeding down lifter


Sounds like a good 3 hours, right?

I'll get real beer this time...

Oh, 'bout three or so . . . beers. Hours. Hours.
Why was the plastic window chrome a problem?
I have a whole roll of the stuff to re-do the BobD and I reallyreallyreally do not want to have to take out the windows to install it.
The chrome trim has what, three barbs? to catch the groove? I was going to get a screwdriver/visegrips and stick it in the groove, rotate 90* and stuff the chrome into the widened slot with an unholy amount of dish detergent. What was your hang-up? Do I have to remove the windows to get the groove to open up?
ColinPleasePleasePleaseNo
(p.s. October 6 looks doable)

[cegammel]

You do not have to remove the windows, but you do need three hands. I managed to get about six inches properly seated before hitting the first curve, then it all went to hell. Copious soapiness, a screw driver and a dulldulldull butter knife got me that far. I also used long handled needle nosed pliers to spread the groove as I worked the plastic in, but I was simply in no mood for fiddling that day.

My engine is on its way out as we speak...finally getting to my oil leaks.

How flexible is October 6? Would the 3rd or 4th be equally doable? Wife is talking about a mini road trip that week.

[cegammel]

Engine is back in; oil leaks seem to be stopped...or at least slowed. Daylight will tell...

My clutch problem from a few posts back: Clutch / throw-out bearing was squealing from engine installation onward. I tightened down the cable just a smidge, and the squeal went away. Very shortly, engaging the clutch became very clunky. I assumed this to be pilot error. Pulled the engine today, and lo...there was a pile o' parts in my bell housing. Not only was there a pile of parts, but my bearing alignment shaft has been worn down, and a large bite taken out of the bottom side. I'll try to get some pictures added here tomorrow...Very, very strange; I'm the luckiest guy around though: these things could just as easily gone through the housing and done real damage.

To remedy, I pulled the alignment shaft out of my old Vanagon transmission, as well as the Sachs bearing. They seem to be working well.
New issues:
My belt is fitting differently, and is very noisy.
When cold, this car idles terribly. It runs great when warm, though.

[Amskeptic]

You do not have to remove the windows, but you do need three hands. I managed to get about six inches properly seated before hitting the first curve, then it all went to hell. Copious soapiness, a screw driver and a dulldulldull butter knife got me that far. I also used long handled needle nosed pliers to spread the groove as I worked the plastic in, but I was simply in no mood for fiddling that day.

My engine is on its way out as we speak...finally getting to my oil leaks.

How flexible is October 6? Would the 3rd or 4th be equally doable? Wife is talking about a mini road trip that week.

The schedule is up there in the 2015 Itinerary Forum for all to see. I am not the guy with flexibility, I am the guy trying to stand up all the dominoes in a halfway logical row. October 4th is Atlanta and cannot be shifted. October 8,9,11,13,15 are all standing as well. Now what can we do?

Noisy clutch, add reduced free play, and you have a recipe for over-engagement. I could not ascertain what got damaged from your description. Is it now OK?
Colin

[cegammel]

Seems to be OK...will see. Come on the 6th. We will rearrange.

[cegammel]

My hundred year old sewage system just took a dump. Ergo, IAC visit may be on hold. What are your plans for winter? Will you be making calls in November or December? I'm jumping all over the place here, but I have to figure out the plumbing costs first. When it rains, it frickin pours.

Anyhoo...bats in my belfry and parts in my bellhousing:



The first two pieces from the right were INSIDE of the pressure plate. The center ring was on the shaft, I think, and fell to the floor of the bell-housing during dis-assembly. The twisted chunk of used-to-be-metal was wrapped around the alignment shaft, inside of the throw-out bearing. The final piece is the bearing; note the devoured plastic insert.

Current theory: The three pieces from the right fit perfectly together, so I think that those were stuck on the throw-out bearing when I installed it...stuck likely with grease. I foolishly assumed these to be part of the bearing, and slapped that junk in there. Then, those pieces ate my shaft, and eventually fell off, some inside the pressure plate... Alternatively, perhaps they were on the clutch disk, and the rest of the story stays the same.

Here's the alignment shaft:

[asiab3]

Nobody can see the pictures hosted on Google. Can you host on TheSamba so they A) won't disappear, and B) can be seen?

Robbie

[cegammel]

That is awesome. Just. Frickin. Awesome. So this entire thread is devoid of images? I see images everywhere...

Should be better. There must be a more humane mousetrap.

[Amskeptic]

That is awesome. Just. Frickin. Awesome. So this entire thread is devoid of images? I see images everywhere...

Should be better. There must be a more humane mousetrap.

I see images just FINE. I think you put in a collared pressure plate in a fingers-only bell housing.

Early VWs with floating release bearings needed that collar on the pressure plate.
1971 and later bell housings with the guide tube only need the fingers on the pressure plate with no collar.
Is that what happened?
Colin
(we can't afford to get it done right, but we always can afford to do it over . . . )

[cegammel]

Yep. That's it.
(we can afford many things; but we must prioritize...also, ignorance has no price, and yet is very costly.)

[cegammel]

Welp...I messed with it. Due to erratic idle, I tried a tune up, minus valves (just did a valve adjustment last week). Reset pointa, cleaned and gapped plugs, reset timing, then started on the carb...
I am having no uck with the specified 2.5-3 turns out on the volume control screw and getting the engine to idle. At 4.5 turns, it idles nicely. Sounds like maybe a vacuum leak, right? I am feeling my way blindly through this carb thing...

[asiab3]

I am having no uck with the specified 2.5-3 turns out on the volume control screw and getting the engine to idle. At 4.5 turns, it idles nicely. Sounds like maybe a vacuum leak, right? I am feeling my way blindly through this carb thing...

That doesn't sound like an issue at all. The 2.5-3 turns is only the starting point to begin your adjustment. Where are you getting your idle adjustment procedure from? All the reliable sources have you start at 2.5ish turns, but they also have you find an 850ish RPM idle right off the bat, using the big brass volume screw. Some carbs need three turns, some need six. It's more important to be mixing air and fuel correctly than it is to be an arbitrary number of turns out on an adjustment screw.

Robbie

[cegammel]

Bentley and Chiltons....both made the adjustment sound like the setting should be close to the 2.5. At any rate, I still have a bit of inconsistency. The idle seems to search periodically.