Bub: the Buggered Up Beetle

With the engine finished barring a few wee bits of fettling it is looking braw and it's a rather neat kit but some aspects are a little disappointing. The welding on the bracketry and inlet manifold could be a bit neater and the inside of the manifold tube seems to have surface rust when the rest looks like its been passivated. The instructions are clearly written but could be 1,000 times better with a few photos or even a wee video on the website. One thing that is a serious pain in the arse is the clerance between the carb and the alternator. For sure an old style VW generator is smaller but if it could be rotated by 45deg then there would be no issue about shorting out the electrics. I'm going to cut down the +ve terminal by 5mm and fit a strong rubber boot to avoid the immediate isses and to aid easy engine removal, an anderson connector will split the main +ve leads at the side of the engine so I'm not having to access the 2 terminals. The supercharger mounts on ...

Cap'n slog: Wednesday 9th Jan 2019 Arrived at work to find, a full top end engine rebuild kit and a supercharger kit, nice! Problem; no ignition kit. Contacted Joe Blow who basically said 'oops, I didn't spot your message adding it to the order' so now I'm waiting a few weeks for that to arrive. Ah well, I can get on with everything else Thursday10th Today I started the engine rebuild. With the engine on the bench I stripped off the tinware (the thin metal covers that direct the air around the cylinders), removed the fan and alternator and gave the engine a quick clean. Next, the rocker covers unclip, the rocker rail comes off with 2 nuts and then 8 nuts later, the cylinder head was off. The cylinders came off with some persuasion with a rubber mallet and the pistons come off with a removed circlip and a tap with a long screwdriver to push the gudgeon (wrist) pin out. As the great philosopher Haynes says "replacement is the reverse of removal". T...

Firstly to everyone who's been following my stream of consciousness recently, thank you, Merry Xmas, a Happy and prosperous New Year and here's to a 2109 filled with car parts, nice surprises and lots of road trips...... Bublist as at 24/12/18 (in no particular order) headlights wire side and dipped beam together fit with correct screws fit chrome bezels when they arrive Horn test horn wiring buy fit a new standard type horn  screen washer make a 'Blue Peter' style air pressure reservoir for standard washer bottle test rubber pipes & replace as required Seats repair driver's side outer rail (seat comes loose) fit plastic runner covers when they arrive (stops rattling) make new longer seat belt extensions  repair passenger seat belt mounting point fit passenger seat belt Engine Parts have been ordered to enhance performance Not chasing power but torque should be noticeably better  cars that weigh 900kg fully loaded don't need m...

Here's a thing about Beetle engines, and when I say 'Beetle', I mean real Beetles not those Golfs in party frocks, you can get seriously meaningful power and torque gains with very little effort and at reasonable cost. Of course 'meaningful' and 'reasonable' are entirely relative! First we need to define our terms; Power, Torque and how they relate to Bub and then discuss the options Power Power is what everyone discusses when comparing engines. It's the definition of engine performance, measured in Horsepower (HP/PS/DIN), brake horsepower (BHP), or kilowatts (kW), and is the measure of the maximum output of the engine . Everyone understands BHP but HP is 1.4% higher and kW (which no one really understands) is 34.1% lower. I'll talk in HP because that's what VW quoted and what information is available, not forgetting that I'm being general as 45 years cars may have had 50 horse power when new but not only are the horses geriatric but m...

Apologies for the length of this Bubdate but I've been a busy bee.. The last proper Bubdate saw the rollcage fitted and painted with Zinga galvanising coating, the tub had been painted, and the engine had been run with the twin carbs (for a short time) but there were issues with the engine, the wiring was all to cack and the whloe project is clearly fractal in nature like all projects are, i.e. the more detail yoou look at the more you find ..... Note: Videos are at the bottom - I was too busy doing the jobs to take many photos or videos While Bub sat out for a few days to help the zinga coating cure properly, I cleaned up the workshop and finished off the seat bases. The didn't need much, a wee bit of welding to finish off the frmes then painted in black paint so they look fresh. Then Bubit was dragged back onto the ramp and the reassembly started. Roll cage: The zinga coating is excellent and will take a lot of abuse but it feels horrible and rough so I got some sil...

Not an update as such but as Bub is out the garage to let the galvanising paint cure (needs moisture apparently) there's a chance for some quick pics and a wee video to see how Bub looks from a distance

Progress has been slow this last couple of weeks but the roll cage finally arrived and it's the last big piece of the puzzle. Ewart and I wasted little time in getting the cage unwrapped and set in place and ... it didn't fit! Removed, turned round, put back in and ... it fitted, after a fashion.  The cross bar that holds the tub together had to be cut out and then it fitted nicely. The front cage was loosely bolted in and it became clear that something was wrong with Bub ... he appeared to be a little twisted! Much measuring and he seems to be about 8mm shorter on the right than the left ... wheel base (adjustable), inside the tub, door gaps ... everywhere. Solution, rebate the dashboard so the front hoop fitted nicely! First rule of construction; cut it large and kick to fit! A moderate amount of swearing and welding (messy but effective) and the rear cage bottom mounts had been bolted up with extra spreader plates, front hoop built up and bolted down and it looks great...