maintenence before trip - 67 beetle *updated* w/video

Beetle, Karmann Ghia, Thing.

Moderators: Sluggo, Amskeptic

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:47 pm

airkooledchris wrote:
Amskeptic wrote:
If you have an OEM carb, get the correct distributor. They will only become more scarce over time.
Colin
I always heard from the bus guys they were shite and only for use in beetles, but I guess they aren't that ideal there either.

ill keep an eye pealed for a 205k
Heard what were s**t? The original distributors?
Good lawdy no. The 009s are s**t. They were promoted by people making a buck, people who were hell-bent for leather, people who did not understand the vacuum only principle, people who had the 009 s**t laying about in abundance and wanted to sell you one, and who are these bus people talking about bugs? The vacuum only distributor is the superior distributor in the buses too.
Colin

(p.s. a TDC valve adjustment (where each cylinder is moved to its TDC) absolutely does not care if the timing mark misses by a mile. Really, you can have at least 40* to almost 90* of slop and the camshaft lobes will still be a million miles away from affecting your adjustments. The whole second half of the compression stroke is Guaranteed Closed Valves, and the entire power stroke does too, that is 180* of fooling around space. Don't think that little 7.5* matters)
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

User avatar
airkooledchris
IAC Addict!
Location: Eureka, California
Contact:
Status: Offline

Post by airkooledchris » Thu Dec 10, 2009 5:30 pm

Amskeptic wrote:Heard what were s**t? The original distributors?

As you say "Good lawdy no."

Ive always heard that the 009's were the bad ones, that's been engrained in my head since just being a type2 mailing list lurker, but I do recall them being referred to as 'only good on beetles' - I was just saying that I was suprised to hear how bad they are on beetles to.

Ill keep an eye out for an actual 205k short bodied one, that came on this car to begin with. I even have a spare working vacuum can for it.

Amskeptic wrote: (p.s. a TDC valve adjustment (where each cylinder is moved to its TDC) absolutely does not care if the timing mark misses by a mile. Really, you can have at least 40* to almost 90* of slop and the camshaft lobes will still be a million miles away from affecting your adjustments. The whole second half of the compression stroke is Guaranteed Closed Valves, and the entire power stroke does too, that is 180* of fooling around space. Don't think that little 7.5* matters)
NOW THAT IS AWESOME NEWS.
Here I thought id be spending my birthday evening on my back readjusting my valves because I did the #1 and #3 at 7.5* BTDC and not TDC.
thanks for making my night. :bounce:
1979 California Transporter

bajaman72
Addicted!
Location: Quartz Hill, CA
Contact:
Status: Offline

Post by bajaman72 » Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:00 pm

My baja has a 009 and it SUKS. Plans are to find an OG and have it rebuilt. Still not fully sold on CiP1's version.

User avatar
airkooledchris
IAC Addict!
Location: Eureka, California
Contact:
Status: Offline

Post by airkooledchris » Wed Dec 16, 2009 11:03 am

VERY strange turn of events.

update:

so the beetle made it. ran fantastically. climbed hills like a champ, only had to downshift maybe once to get to the very peak of one of the many long slow uphill climbs I had to make.

the drive was nuts though. very strong winds, lots of fog and brutal rainstorms. between having no heat and the water finding it's way in here and there, I was freezing my jewels after 5.5 hours of occasional terror.

very thankful for brand new 3-point seatbelts, bright at all get-out H4 headlights, new wiper blades and the thing that finally saved me from the nasty interior glass fogging - my Windex wipes. I was using an old towel now and again to clear the fog from the inside glass, when I finally wiped it down with a Windex wipe I realized the fog stopped. The next little break I took I did all the inside glass with it and it stayed nice and clear the rest of the way.

grabbed the end of the dipstick nice and tight after the first 90 minutes on the road and it was just warm. didn't lose much of any oil to speak of and got around 25 MPG from Eureka to San Francisco - around 240+ miles and it took me about 5.5 hours to make the trek.


I had been coming down with a bit of a cold before I left and that long freezing and wet drive down didn't seem to help, I was feeling it on Saturday. of all strange things I happened to run into a neighbor of my buddy who was selling a 92 Ford Explorer with 76,700 original miles on it. had paperwork, was willing to make a hell of a deal after just buying a new car the day prior. we have been wanting something to haul the dog and kid around in together over the winter months while I pull the Vanagon motor, so I parked the Beetle in my buddies garage for the winter and on Sunday took the 92 Ford Explorer all the way back to Eureka.

Ran great. Tons of heat, very comfortable seats adjustable every which way, and oodles of uphill power. (MPG were similar to the Vanagon) - Picked this baby up for less than half of the KBB. Took it to get the oil changed, smogged, and wouldn't you know it the VW gots apparently took offence to my leaving the beetle in the SF and I lost the transmission in the Ford.

2 days of ownership of my first American made vehicle in over 15 years and it's already left me stranded.
damnit. I used to know better. I have Reverse, but no forward gears. this is going to turn from an amazing deal to a total clusteryouknowhat.

doh.


I can't wait to get my beetle back. :drunken:
1979 California Transporter

User avatar
dtrumbo
IAC Addict!
Location: Mill Creek, WA
Status: Offline

Post by dtrumbo » Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:01 pm

Sorry to hear. I'm sure your buddy didn't know the tranny was about to go out (I hope). Some deals are too good to be true.
- Dick

1970 Transporter. 2015cc, dual Weber IDF 40's
1978 Riviera Camper. Bone stock GE 2.0L F.I.
1979 Super Beetle convertible.

... as it turns out, it was the coil!

User avatar
airkooledchris
IAC Addict!
Location: Eureka, California
Contact:
Status: Offline

Post by airkooledchris » Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:40 pm

shop finally called, it's what I expected. the transmission is kaput and needs complete replacing.
$2600

doh well.

the PO didn't know. the truck hadn't left the city in eons, and unlike the beetle didn't live up to the challenge.
1979 California Transporter

User avatar
Amskeptic
IAC "Help Desk"
IAC "Help Desk"
Status: Offline

Post by Amskeptic » Wed Dec 16, 2009 4:13 pm

airkooledchris wrote:shop finally called, it's what I expected. the transmission is kaput and needs complete replacing.
$2600

doh well.

the PO didn't know. the truck hadn't left the city in eons, and unlike the beetle didn't live up to the challenge.
Good grief. I am sorry to hear that. Get a used transmission for the Flips Over Religiously Daily Exploder and unload it when you are back in the Vanagon saddle.
Colin

bajaman72
Addicted!
Location: Quartz Hill, CA
Contact:
Status: Offline

Post by bajaman72 » Wed Dec 16, 2009 10:22 pm

Yeah that definatley suks. I hafta agree here on the used tranny. Probably find a good used one at a junkyard for about 500?? Thinkin pay the same guys another 100 or 2 to put it in, then drive it like you stole it! :bounce:

Edit: !! NOW GO BRING YOUR BEETLE HOME!!

User avatar
airkooledchris
IAC Addict!
Location: Eureka, California
Contact:
Status: Offline

Post by airkooledchris » Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:38 am

checked into maybe doing the used transmission thing, but apparently these transmissions for this model are problematic at best and it's already shown me enough signs that this isn't the vehicle for me.

Im selling the Explorer to the mechanic. The money im out in the selling price to the mechanic Vs the purchase price - I got back from the previous owner.
Im only out the $90 in oil change/wipers/bulbs/BS and the $40 to get it smogged in the end when it's all said and done.

I DO look forward to getting the beetle back in my possession for fun night time garage tinkering to pass the winter madness.

the VW gods were none to happy with my short venture into automatic transmission 'merican made trucks apparently. lesson learned.
:compress:
1979 California Transporter

User avatar
airkooledchris
IAC Addict!
Location: Eureka, California
Contact:
Status: Offline

Post by airkooledchris » Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:07 am

Amskeptic wrote: If you have an OEM carb, get the correct distributor. They will only become more scarce over time.
Colin

Image


This is in unknown condition, but it was only $10 and I have someone lined up that said he can rebuild it in nearly any condition.


An update to the saga above, the beetle is still in San Francisco and the Ford Exploder is now owned by the mechanic that found the problem.

I have a ride back down to SF in a few weeks from now to get my beetle back. (which I apparently never should have left in SF in the first place!)
1979 California Transporter

User avatar
dtrumbo
IAC Addict!
Location: Mill Creek, WA
Status: Offline

Post by dtrumbo » Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:48 am

airkooledchris wrote:I have someone lined up that said he can rebuild it in nearly any condition.
If for whatever reason your first option falls through, these guys do EXCELLENT work. I highly recommend them.

http://philbingroup.com/index.htm
- Dick

1970 Transporter. 2015cc, dual Weber IDF 40's
1978 Riviera Camper. Bone stock GE 2.0L F.I.
1979 Super Beetle convertible.

... as it turns out, it was the coil!

User avatar
airkooledchris
IAC Addict!
Location: Eureka, California
Contact:
Status: Offline

Post by airkooledchris » Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:53 pm

dtrumbo wrote:
airkooledchris wrote:I have someone lined up that said he can rebuild it in nearly any condition.
If for whatever reason your first option falls through, these guys do EXCELLENT work. I highly recommend them.

http://philbingroup.com/index.htm

Thanks for the suggestion. I like that they are on the west coast.
I might try them out actually. Glenn Ring from over at the samba seems to do terrific work, but he's in Long Island. I was only going to go with him as he's been around on thesamba long enough to get a good reputation as THE distributor guy. ive been too scurred to ask about pricing yet. ;p
1979 California Transporter

User avatar
dtrumbo
IAC Addict!
Location: Mill Creek, WA
Status: Offline

Post by dtrumbo » Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:41 pm

airkooledchris wrote:Glenn Ring from over at the samba seems to do terrific work...
When I asked him to rebuild my "modern" distributor, he replied that he only rebuilds the 010 and other really old distributors. That's when I went looking elsewhere and found Philbin.
- Dick

1970 Transporter. 2015cc, dual Weber IDF 40's
1978 Riviera Camper. Bone stock GE 2.0L F.I.
1979 Super Beetle convertible.

... as it turns out, it was the coil!

User avatar
airkooledchris
IAC Addict!
Location: Eureka, California
Contact:
Status: Offline

Post by airkooledchris » Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:54 pm

dtrumbo wrote:
airkooledchris wrote:Glenn Ring from over at the samba seems to do terrific work...
When I asked him to rebuild my "modern" distributor, he replied that he only rebuilds the 010 and other really old distributors. That's when I went looking elsewhere and found Philbin.
thanks again for the heads up. I think ill try these guys out.
I called and they seemed super friendly. wasn't too concerned about what I had, they sound confident they can rebuild it.

was given an initial 'haven't seen it yet' quote of around $125 for the job.
that's about what I was expecting. not sure how much that goes up or down (if at all) depending on the condition of the vacuum can, or if the rebuild automatically includes that but ill worry more about it when I get it and can inspect it myself a bit before sending it off.

ill let ya know how it goes.
1979 California Transporter

User avatar
dtrumbo
IAC Addict!
Location: Mill Creek, WA
Status: Offline

Post by dtrumbo » Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:58 pm

Their prices have gone up a bit since I had mine done, but mine came back looking like it came off the assembly line in Wolfsburg. Included was a brand new dual vacuum can and even a new condenser. I don't know if they still go that far, but I know they'll do a good job for you.
- Dick

1970 Transporter. 2015cc, dual Weber IDF 40's
1978 Riviera Camper. Bone stock GE 2.0L F.I.
1979 Super Beetle convertible.

... as it turns out, it was the coil!

Post Reply