datsunlover Posted May 18, 2005 Share Posted May 18, 2005 Heheh.. My yonger brother just picked up a 1974 VW beetle.. but I had to drive it home cause' he's not too good with a 4 gear yet. I'll teach him as soon as I re-learn. Has anyone here ever driven a bug? If so, you know how grabby the clutch can be.. I stalled the thing about 4 times and it was only a 40 minit drive home with it! Nice little car though.. 1600cc, single weber 2bbl (electric choke), electronic distributor, and aftermarket header/mufler. (they're a little rotted though, may need to replace) Not a power house, but I was impresed with how well it got up to speed considering the what.. 65 horse it may have? AND it's lowered with the 'sport bug' 15" rims, big bumpers are gone, replaced with 'cal look' thin round bumpers and one piece door glass (no silly triangle window/bar in there) I'll try to get some pics tomorow.. it's really kinda cool looking.. I want one now! Over all, it's in decent shape and only need's rear tires from what I can tell.. We'll also have to er... 'adjust' the drivers seat/shifter/steering wheel a bit for him to drive it comfortably. You see, my 'little' brother (2 years younger) is pushing 375 pounds and stands at LEAST 6'6". yup, thats right. Smaller wheel, lower seats and a slight 'bend' of the shifter should do it. Gona have to raise it back up a bit too, and get a few more ponies out of the ol' boxer engine, but he didn't buy it for speed.. We're thinking of some wider rims/tires, new paint (has chips/minor rust/ect) and probly dual carbs/better exhast. Should be a fun summer project! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ON3GO Posted May 18, 2005 Share Posted May 18, 2005 i own 2... there awesome cars. 1st gear is awesome lol, but after that watch out... cuz pinto's will be coming up on you FAST! lol. they are great cars, and the engines are so easy to work on. the Brakes on the car is sorta werid, well atleast the pedal.. sorta has a LONG throw to it before it grabs. i would DEF go with a german look to it, or a cali style. both really make those bugs look amazing. wish you and your brother the best! mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted May 18, 2005 Share Posted May 18, 2005 Hope he doesn't plan on driving it in the Canadian winters. They go through snow pretty well but the heaters are next to useless. JC Whitney has an excellent selection of beetle parts. Still pretty cheap to work on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsunlover Posted May 18, 2005 Author Share Posted May 18, 2005 Hope he doesn't plan on driving it in the Canadian winters. They go through snow pretty well but the heaters are next to useless.. Ha ha.. HELL NO!! Tonite was a little chilly and I was wishing for some heat.. even the pathetic heat my Z has would have been nice! He has an AWD astro van for daily/winter driving, with GREAT heat. For those chilly fall nights I figure a power invertor and little 'space' heater will do (under the dash somewhere, close to the front firewall) The nice thing is it's a 12 volt system, with an alternator so accesorys/ect will be easy to add on. Oh and the pedles.. OMG!! hinged on the floor.. gas is like 4" lower than the brake/clutch.. weird, and quite a chalenge to heel toe... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynekarnes Posted May 18, 2005 Share Posted May 18, 2005 john muir's keeping your vw alive. subscription to hot vw magazine ...air cooled ( not to be picky ... boxer is water cooled, water is in the box ). a good engine is the 1641 .. stock block accepts 88.5 barrels. if want to spend more ... 1776 .. 1835 cylinder walls too thin ... 1915 ... way too thin ... bigger than that use a stroker crank ... barney's makes a kit to boost the heater/defroster output ... there are kits to add discs on the front and rear ... all kinds of parts ... so many you could almost build a new one from scratch. use a timing light to time it ... ear timing usually ends up with too much advance ... burns the valves and over heats the engine ... number three cylinder runs the hottest ... adjust the valves every 3000 ... better loose than too tight ... no oil filter, drop the screen and clean it ... i'm rambling ... good luck with the bug ... i think your brother is going to enjoy it ... wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhadman Posted May 18, 2005 Share Posted May 18, 2005 Bugs are cool. I have a '67 and I really want to keep it... but the wife wants me to sell it (one project is enough... sigh). Oh, well... hope your brother has fun with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seth Posted May 18, 2005 Share Posted May 18, 2005 Sounds very good..... I have been thinking about how cool one of them would be with a turbo R1 motor or a hayabusa. Just think of how that would sound Hurby blowing past at 12000 RPM hehehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsunlover Posted May 19, 2005 Author Share Posted May 19, 2005 ...( not to be picky ... boxer is water cooled' date=' water is in the box ). [/quote'] Um.. Huh? Did I miss something, or is is not proper to refer to the air cooled (or even a water cooled..) horizontaly oposed engine? IE; the pistons 'box' at eachother, moving towards and away as it runs? Good info though.. my brother will probly keep it close to stock, but now I am thinking of getting one.. If I do, it probly won't even LOOK stock.. but really, I love the simplicity of it. No rad/cooling system to leak, very light weight to begin with, easy to work on, and I figure you'd only need about.. oh.. 125 horse to make a bug really move good! Muhahaha.... I know where I could pick up an older 1000cc touring bike (air cooled from what I'm told) for about $500 to.. probly find a bug for the same $$.. Oh god, the wheels are turning! Must.. finish...Z... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody 82 ZXT Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 I had a '72 back when I was in High School. Lowered w', dark tinted windows and a boom'n system in the back. It was all the rage at my school. I once got it up to 97 mph out on a long streatch of highway. My Z feels better at 150 than the bug did at 80. Overall I loved the car but, just need something with more power and A/C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsunlover Posted May 29, 2005 Author Share Posted May 29, 2005 Figured I'd bring this post back rather than start a new one. We got the thing saftey checked and road legal. Then the fun started; Cut the stock shifter and welded on the top part of a (heh heh..) Datsun 4 speed shifter. My brother's a big guy, and we needed to have the shifter go towards the passenger side, then back up. I built a little "T" handel for it from 1" cold rolled and it works great. Then we used a passenger seat from a 90's Geo Storm, and built a custom front bracket. (piece of angle iron, with a curved piece of flat bar.. I'll get some pics) The rear was simple, and needed a bolt welded on one side (To the rail, easy to remove at a later date) and the seat belt clip bolt ended up almost perfectly in line with the other side of the seat. Little bracket welded to the seat, and it's in. My brother is pretty excited.. we went out today just around the backroads/subdivision and I taught him how to drive standard.. He did pretty good to! Really funny to see a 400 pound 6 foot 6 guy in a bug! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody 82 ZXT Posted May 29, 2005 Share Posted May 29, 2005 Really funny to see a 400 pound 6 foot 6 guy in a bug! Does it lean over on that side? Mine did when I used to take the really big security guard from work to the bank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynekarnes Posted May 30, 2005 Share Posted May 30, 2005 for some reason, thread notices are coming sporaticly ( that can't be spelled correctly ). i get some notices, others i don't. yeah, the opposed engine in the subaru, the 80's vw vanagon, and the chick's porsche, the engine has a box of water around it. the water cooled opposed are called boxers. the chick's porsche is called a boxter or is it boxster ( ??? ) in reference to the water cooled boxer engine. the regular air cooled opposeds are just referred to as engines or air cooled. for most people born before '69, when one hears, vw engine , most think air cooled. i always think "bug" when i hear someone say, volkswagen. i never automatically think of any water cooled product, when i hear or say volkswagen. most of the people i associated with that drove bugs were at least 5'11". quite a few friends with bugs were over 6'2". my son and i will start on his 72 baja bug, here when i get it back on the rv pad ( put a 10x16 ft tuff shed in the backyard, had to move everything out of the way ). my son is 6' 2" and 237 lbs. fits in there just fine. i believe the bug was designed for people of that stature. Originally Posted by datsunlover Really funny to see a 400 pound 6 foot 6 guy in a bug! Does it lean over on that side? Mine did when I used to take the really big security guard from work to the bank. funny story along those lines ... at least i think it is .. well, maybe a little ... back in 73, i worked at a texaco station. a short, balding man, college professor type, jacket with the leather on the elbows, smoked a pipe, used to come into the station in his 66 karmann ghia for gas about 2, 3 times a month. he always had his wife with him, a rather large woman. she was always very pleasant, chat a little as we washed the windows and checked tire pressure and such. she never got out of the ghia, but we knew she was a big woman from the way she filled her side, and partially flowed over into the driver's side. oddly enough, the ghia sat evenly, never leaned downward, as one might expect, towards earth. as i said, if you saw him in the ghia, she was at his side. after about 2 years of him coming in for gas, one day the phone rings, it's the guy with the karmann ghia, he says his regular mechanic has moved, an old family friend, and he wants to know if we service foreign cars ( remember back then, there were more american cars on the highways, most shops REFUSED to even change the oil in a foreign car )? told him, sure bring it in, we have the oil change kit in stock and can get what we need for a tune up from A+M motor supply in los gatos, we do em all the time. about 45 minutes later, the ghia pulls in the driveway, no wife in the car, passenger side, there was about 5 inches of air between the tires and the lips of the fenders. looking dead on or from the rear, there was about a 30 degree rake to the car, much higher on the passenger side. seems she had gotten the karmann ghia as a high school graduation gift or something, back in 66 or 67, from her parents. he and the large woman had gotten married right out of high school. he showed me pix of her back then ... she was one of those hot cheerleader types. slim and trim. she was in an accident of some sort, affected her thyroid, causing her to balloon up in weight. 1970 or so, her parents passed away. because the ghia was a gift, she kept it ... when she could no longer fit behind the wheel, the husband had it modified to keep it from sagging, that way she could still ride around in her beloved karmann ghia ... Dennis Allshouse, the owner of the texaco, was so touched by that, he gave the guy the oil change for free. those two in that ghia, the story behind it, Dennis tossing in the oil change, are one of my more fond memories. since then, though i've yet to own one, karmann ghias have always held a place in my car loving heart. funny the things that make you attracted to one car over another. have your bro watch himself in the parking lots ... them bugs are fun to do donuts in, but once they start, the bugs tend to want to keep making donuts, until they flip up on their roof. ( i have no experience in this matter at all ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavD3 Posted May 30, 2005 Share Posted May 30, 2005 Congradulations on a new car in your family Just wanted to post these links which might be helpful: http://www.thesamba.com http://www.shoptalkforums.com http://www.aircooled.net I was thinking about buying Bug for a while, but need to finish my 240z first.Hope it will be done in September. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zguy95135 Posted May 30, 2005 Share Posted May 30, 2005 My older sister had a 70's bug for her first car, not exactly a rocket but it was cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsunlover Posted May 31, 2005 Author Share Posted May 31, 2005 Thanks for the links DavD3! I'll pass them along to my brother too, as he's getting more and more interested in it.. Doing his reaserch. I'm actually thinking of building a VW dune buggy for my next project... Fun, simple and convertable. Probly mod the hubs to take a datsun Z 4 bolt rim, as I have TWO sets of the 6 spoke 14" rims here, and sitting beside my bro's bug they actually looked pretty cool.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynekarnes Posted May 31, 2005 Share Posted May 31, 2005 if you are thinking of a dune buggy check out these sites http://www.manxclub.com/ http://www.dune-buggy.com/buggylinks/Off-Road_Buggies/index.html http://www.blindchickenracing.com/ http://www.vwtrendsweb.com/features/0405vwt_hotrod/ for vw bugs ... http://www.cbperformance.com/default.asp http://www.blindchickenracing.com/How_to/280Zbrakes/280zbrakes.htm http://www.vwsites.com/classic_beetle.php there are probably hundreds of vw sites on the web blind chicken racing is one of the best ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.