Yes the colour is real class.

That was one freaky bee and better removed

Hi @Paul1953, thanks for pointing that out. My filters don't seem to have a place to connect a hose to. Can I use a crank case filter on the outlet - I've seen that done on other beetle motors?

Hi Delux. Sorry for the delayed response......

There are many buggies & beetles out there running with crankcase breater filters fitted and no connection to air filter...... 
Here is the theory as VW saw it...... Briefly.....   Crankcase develops positive pressure as a result of what is going on with the mechanicals. (Those with well worn cylinder bores have high plus pressure and you will see the blue smoke from the exhaust).

Now then the bit that has baffled others that have spoken to me is how can air get into the crankcase and oil not get out ?
Air is drawn in by design via the action of the scroll. Thrower ring stops oil going back out. (No seal required). The crancase breather is present to draw away and maintain pressure and return oil mist\fume back to cylinders to be burn via the air filter. Under normal conditions you are just talking very small amounts of oil within the air.

Some years of beetle engines had twin connection at the oil filler point. One went to air filter and the other to the atmosphere at low level in engine bay.

Is the air filter connection needed.... VW thought so. I have seen type 1 engines struggle to idle well until the pipe is re-instated. I have seen type 1 engines run ok without.

There you have it.. My opinion.... If VW deemed it an integral part of the engine I won`t argue. The type 1 engine, in my opinion, is one of the finest engine designs ever.

Only thing I would add is the oily air can play havoc with twin carbs, works better with singles

My ICTs just wouldn't run well when I tried it

For chapter and verse have a look at Peter's site, manxmaniac

Cheers Dave and Paul. Thankfully, the buggy idles very well. Thanks for the link I'll investigate.

Dave are you saying that with twin carb setups it's better with a small filter?

Clearly my buggy had wiring issues after 58 years and not knowing air cooled vw's at all I needed some help.

Gauges not working. Warning lights not working. Dodgy connectors. Scrambled wires. Left front indicator not working and when I switched on the headlights all the lights on the left dimmed...You get the gist.




Someone recommended this book... and then I began to realise I had a lot of rewiring and fault checking ahead of me.




Got to say this book is filled with ace illustrations too!










I read in the book that there should be two warning lights appear on ignition - a red one and a green one. My '71 beetle owning friend agreed. I had the bulb holders but no illumination, I changed the bulbs but no lights.

That's when I decided to start ripping wires out and using an early wiring diagram and posts from this forum to find a way forward. Who the heck knew the wiring on early beetles (mines a 1962 base) changed so much!
















The wiring was a complete mish-mash of different colours and thicknesses. Clearly someone had a lot of yellow and blue wire laying about at some point in this buggies history, so figuring out what wires went where for what, was a big challenge. I'm no auto electrician but I could tell that was a problem!

Next step was ordering a lot of wire and connectors online then systematically replacing each wire and old connector with new. It took me a good few weekends and I kinda enjoyed the experience of learning new skills and getting this right.


Now it all works perfectly!





Happy days!

Is that a (large) hole in the top of the chassis tunnel?

Is that a (large) hole in the top of the chassis tunnel?

Ouch! Good spot, that needs patching asap. The whole torsional stiffness of the chassis is in the centre spine.

Is that a (large) hole in the top of the chassis tunnel?

Ouch! Good spot, that needs patching asap. The whole torsional stiffness of the chassis is in the centre spine.

Need to get that hole welded up asap as others have said   

Well done on the wiring it is satisfying when everything works on first switch on. Agree on the tunnel also check the corners for cracks going down as small hole drilled at the end will stop them getting worse.

Thanks for the input guys. The hole cut in the tunnel looks like it's been there for a great many moons, no evidence of cracks or bends etc in that area. Getting in there to weld it up will be tricky. I'll have it taken care of once I've worked through the other issues like fuel lines.

Another fix on the buggy - the pedals.

The accelerator pedal was completely loose and needed a new floor bracket and springs. After buying an incorrect part to start, I learned that this year beetle chassis needed a different floor bracket... any way, the pedals are all sorted now complete with new VW logo rubber covers, ready for sandy bare feet straight off the beach.













Im happy with the end result.



And another video for you to watch https://youtu.be/Zm9yKjJEows

Happy Days!

👍🏻

Enjoyed the video's - welcome to the madhouse - you'll have to wait for Manx David to post and confirm that I don't think its a GP = although the gel coat looks exceptional after getting all that sh..e off of it

Roll on next summer

Merry Christmas 

Thank you Hudge Buggy. I am looking forward to enjoying the buggy in the coming years warmer weather. Hoping to get a trailer to tow it behind the camper.

Forgot to post an update...

I've not been a fan of the stripes and buxom bumble bee as you may know.

Next to face eviction were the flaking stripes. They'd  been painted over the original black paint at some point - I'm guessing in the nineties or early noughties. I had a good chat to a previous owner who'd owned the buggy during the eighties - he'd painted the buggy yellow but not added the graphics.



I figured they come off with a good blast from the jet wash.



With the flakey stripes gone all that remained of the previous bumble bee was the smaller version on the left rear fender.




So out came the hair dryer and slowly removed all the sticker.
























I decided to try foamy glass cleaner to see how well that removed the residue, and I'm surprised to say it worked very well.






The fender will need buffing out, but then again so does the whole body!


I tried some time-lapse on this video  - quite satisfying to watch.https://youtu.be/4TSS20SLWck

Fuel lines next.

Now that hibernation is almost over, I've finally got round to finishing another video about my wiring saga - the previous picture post tells only a very small part of the story.

Part 1: https://youtu.be/G7Z_1bdoFoE

Hope the weather warms up soon!