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Author Topic: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.  (Read 10082 times)

Jocassee

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #25 on: January 03, 2010, 01:05:35 PM »
Quote from: Ex-MA Hole on January 03, 2010, 08:27:38 AM
I had a '72 for 26 or so years...My Uncle Stuart, who was killed a few years ago gave me his VW Bug when I was 12 as a Bar Mitzvah present. 

Great story...I would fill it out a little and publish it.
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lee n. field

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #26 on: January 03, 2010, 01:08:49 PM »
Quote from: Chuck Dye on January 02, 2010, 10:50:28 PM
The John Muir book is still/again available.  It's hard to recommend it enough.

I've still got my copy.
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cassandra and sara's daddy

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #27 on: January 03, 2010, 04:12:09 PM »
lost the accelerator cable on the ghia  rigged some 50 pound test to the drivers side window with a piece of wood on the end to hold. to "go " you move hand forward in the classic wagonmaster "move em out motion. the 59 bug i was owned by had rod linkage for brakes and the clutch cable had apparently broken once  i found a pair of vice grips clamped on the frayed ends to holds em together,  afdter i drove it 5000 miles
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It is much more powerful to seek Truth for one's self.  Seeing and hearing that others seem to have found it can be a motivation.  With me, I was drawn because of much error and bad judgment on my part. Confronting one's own errors and bad judgment is a very life altering situation.  Confronting the errors and bad judgment of others is usually hypocrisy.


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mtnbkr

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #28 on: January 03, 2010, 05:14:46 PM »
CSD, I lost my accel cable once too.  It broke right at the end, so I was able to bend it into a hook and tie a piece of 14g wire to it and the throttle arm to limp home (couldn't get above 45mph).

I keep forgetting about these little things until someone else mentions them. :)

Chris
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wmenorr67

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #29 on: January 03, 2010, 05:50:59 PM »
I have owned two in my lifetime.

First one I bought from a high school friend after graduation for $125 and put $100 worth of tires on it.  Drove it to college and it was driven hard during football season.  I would drive home to watch my old high school play but would have to be back at college by 10 pm on Friday nights for football "meetings."  Acutally jsut making sure we were still alive.  Sold it sometime during the first semester for $150, I think, after ripping the front fender off and other issues with it.  Guy that bought it wanted the motor.

Second one bought a couple of years later and after blowing the motor on it, it was sold for the body.

The second actually had a few miles on it also.

Actually thinking of getting another one if I can find a good one for the right price.
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cassandra and sara's daddy

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #30 on: January 03, 2010, 06:04:33 PM »
swapped motors outside york pa in the middle of the night under the watchful eye of a pa trooper. he was skeptical then amused. what kinda guy drives to pa with spare motor in van?  same kinda guy who has 2 civil dense radiation measuring devices in his shtf closet
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It is much more powerful to seek Truth for one's self.  Seeing and hearing that others seem to have found it can be a motivation.  With me, I was drawn because of much error and bad judgment on my part. Confronting one's own errors and bad judgment is a very life altering situation.  Confronting the errors and bad judgment of others is usually hypocrisy.


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Harold Tuttle

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #31 on: January 03, 2010, 09:37:42 PM »
When my accelerator cable failed,
it shredded into a birdnest inside the tube thru the fan housing

While assaulting the Allegheny plateau, I had noticed the pedal was sticking on releasing the accelerator

On my last major mountain climb, it stuck fully depressed.
This was quite interesting as i crested the hill and tried to down shift.
As soon as the clutch was depressed, the RPMs went to 11.

I pulled over and routed a pull cord accelerator lashed off on the OMG bar on the dash.
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ksnecktieman

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #32 on: January 03, 2010, 10:31:23 PM »
I am an old man that used to be a vw mechanic. I liked them and drove them for a long time.

  Too bad no one ever talked about the heaters, and how to fix them. Before they were all old and rusted out they would work,,, IF you crack a window open. Remember how pleased you were that it was air tight? The heater pulled air past the exhaust, and blew it into the passenger compartment. If it could not get out, it could not get in. Warning. the front floor vents would melt a set of rubber galoshes on the highway.

   Lots of happy memories.
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lee n. field

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #33 on: January 03, 2010, 11:17:09 PM »
Quote
Warning. the front floor vents would melt a set of rubber galoshes on the highway.

I remember driving, with an apple down by one of the heater outlets.  When we stopped a couple hours down the road, the apple was baked pretty good.

Quote
IF you crack a window open. Remember how pleased you were that it was air tight?

The floorpan rot on ours would have taken care of that.  It was bad enough that I eventually removed the passenger's side front seat on that account. 
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cassandra and sara's daddy

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #34 on: January 03, 2010, 11:24:30 PM »
my van the pipe that carried the hot air from engine compartment to front rotted away completely  just the insulation jacket left.  i replaced it with some galvanized and got heat again  could stop scraping inside of windshield.
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It is much more powerful to seek Truth for one's self.  Seeing and hearing that others seem to have found it can be a motivation.  With me, I was drawn because of much error and bad judgment on my part. Confronting one's own errors and bad judgment is a very life altering situation.  Confronting the errors and bad judgment of others is usually hypocrisy.


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mtnbkr

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #35 on: January 04, 2010, 05:55:34 AM »
Quote from: ksnecktieman on January 03, 2010, 10:31:23 PM
  Too bad no one ever talked about the heaters, and how to fix them. Before they were all old and rusted out they would work,,, IF you crack a window open. Remember how pleased you were that it was air tight? The heater pulled air past the exhaust, and blew it into the passenger compartment. If it could not get out, it could not get in. Warning. the front floor vents would melt a set of rubber galoshes on the highway.

QFT.

I replaced the heater boxes in mine when I replaced the muffler.  The heat was amazing.  Even the defroster worked.  The biggest problem was the engine RPM dependent airflow.  Going down the highway, it was too warm, but in stop and go traffic, it could get chilly.

Chris
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grey54956

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #36 on: January 04, 2010, 08:12:47 AM »
Actually, I am starting my air-cooled adventure in a week or two.
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griz

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #37 on: January 04, 2010, 09:26:36 AM »
I had forgotten about the windshield washer.  It ran off of air pressure from the spare tire, so you could pump it up enough to wash the roof.  What a quirky little car.
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lee n. field

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #38 on: January 04, 2010, 09:31:37 AM »
Quote
It ran off of air pressure from the spare tire,

Not even to forget the attention you had to pay to tire pressure.  Different pressures on front and rear, because handling was adversely affected.
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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #39 on: January 04, 2010, 12:02:19 PM »
I rigged a manual choke on the thing
I ran it to the panel between the rear seats
but instead of a pull cable, i rigged it to a bicycle thumbshifter ratchet
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cassandra and sara's daddy

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #40 on: January 04, 2010, 12:05:53 PM »
after my first engine fire i rigged onboard fire suppression.  the cops got a kick outa that  but it worked
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It is much more powerful to seek Truth for one's self.  Seeing and hearing that others seem to have found it can be a motivation.  With me, I was drawn because of much error and bad judgment on my part. Confronting one's own errors and bad judgment is a very life altering situation.  Confronting the errors and bad judgment of others is usually hypocrisy.


by someone older and wiser than I

coppertales

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #41 on: January 04, 2010, 02:40:46 PM »
My first new car, a 66 bug.  After the Vietnam thingie, I drove it to the UP of MI and after two winters, it started to rust so I sold it.  It was the only car my Dad would sign the loan for because it was slow and did not have a back seat large enough to do anything in.....chris3
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Sawdust

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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #42 on: January 04, 2010, 02:46:43 PM »
I had a squareback for a while.

Every *real* surfer in Santa Barbara had a squareback.

Or a '61 Impala with surf racks.

Gnarly, dude.

Sawdust
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Re: An air-cooled VW adventure thread.
« Reply #43 on: January 04, 2010, 03:13:39 PM »
Remember the old saying "If you took every car in America and lined them up bumper to bumper some fool in a VW would try to pass them"?  That was me in my '68 squareback.  1600 cc of fuel injected power!!  =D  I once got 22 cars in a row on a two lane road.

I also had a 62 bug.  Half the time it ran on 3 cyl.  It was a real fun trip taking a friend to school in Phila.  Had to get a serious rolling start for hills.  It had an electric heater on the inside of the front window that would kill the 6 Volt battery quickly.  I also drove to school with a cig. lighter on the window to thaw a spot to see thru.  I miss those cars.  Now I have heated seats and steering wheel for my old fat but.  Times sure have changed.
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