Aircooled VW South Africa

Retrobug wrote:Need to block or fix them missing heater pipes
allot of cooling being lost there!
Hope to see your Bug on the 19th

hey Dean, heater pipes are blocked off, silver piping is just there for looks at the mo... had a closer inspection and everything for the heaters to work is there except for the box-to-body tube on the left, and the cables need to be properly fitted.

love this pic (excuse the rotation, it wont upload the right way up)

Right, i fiddled and farted under the bug a bit this weekend. 1st question, this bolt on the rear suspension, should it look like this?


secondly, theres quite a bad oil leak, coming from the pushrod tube seals on the right and tappet cover on the left. i'm told i can get away with just new gaskets and that once the head is off the tube seals are an easy fix. will eventually get those fancy spring loaded ones from volkspares when i have more cash...




then on to the one dodgy headlight and the fact that i cant adjust either of them. i want to fit OE Hella Citi lights this is what my light and the space in the fender looks like. what do i need to do to make the Citi lights fit?



and last but not least, i want to adjust the drums as the right rear is binding when the brakes warm up. i know its a simple adjustment but i left it too late in the day and it got dark. can someone please tell me what position the adjuster hole must be in to get to the adjust? (1 o clock/8 o clock/etc)

question time - when i pull the heads off, what all needs to be replaced (head bolts/nuts/gaskets etc)?

how bout some updates? guess which of these 2 seats i've been sitting in more lately?


bug is parked at my moms place cos my complex's rules say i cant fiddle and fix there...
so after fitting a new 2nd hand coil and going thru a few new and used condensers, the misfire is finally gone! starts on the 1st swing, even after standing for a while. idles nice, no heavy petrol smell, no more cutting out etc. but as it seems lady luck is against me, i have new issues. whenever put under load (hard acceleration or more than +-30% throttle) it hesitates and stumbles and stutters along. go back to cruising throttle opening and she's golden again. feels like fuel starvation (maybe accelerator pump, maybe needle+seat), but i havent changed anything WRT to fuelling so could possibly be i havent set the timing 100%

also finally got round to fitting new headlights. OE Hella Citi lights that take H4 bulbs, cost me very little thanks to some staff discount. went and bought a bag of various sizes of nuts/bolts/washers/self-tappers/etc to fit as well. bit of a mission getting the 4mm self-tappers to work but they're in and tight and the front is looking good again. also had to run a new earth wire for the right headlight but thankfully thats a small job. on recommendation from an old timer i know, i used some toothpaste to polish up the headlight trim rings and it actually got most of the minor scratches out

lastly i got some new stickers from the guys at http://www.stickermuch.com so put those on too.

some random pics, thanks for looking...


old dull light vs new shiny one



bunch of spare condensers


the stickerzzz




2 pics i like for no particular reason

Looking goood!

thanks Dean

Looks good but too many stickers in my opinion

Keep the stickers on the windows, that way you can remove them without doing damage.

Otherwise, nice car, enjoy her

Looks lekke man !!! I love the colour

Tony Z wrote:Looks good but too many stickers in my opinion

Keep the stickers on the windows, that way you can remove them without doing damage.

Otherwise, nice car, enjoy her

what can i say, i have an unusual attraction to stickers
thanks tony

Golfmad wrote:Looks lekke man !!! I love the colour

me too, just wish it looked as good up close as it does in photos.

MarshallGTi wrote::

also finally got round to fitting new headlights. OE Hella Citi lights that take H4 bulbs, cost me very little thanks to some staff discount. went and bought a bag of various sizes of nuts/bolts/washers/self-tappers/etc to fit as well. bit of a mission getting the 4mm self-tappers to work but they're in and tight and the front is looking good again. also had to run a new earth wire for the right headlight but thankfully thats a small job. on recommendation from an old timer i know, i used some toothpaste to polish up the headlight trim rings and it actually got most of the minor scratches out

Where did you get the headlights? Wanto to convert my Notch's headlights, they are absolutely crap!

normal Citi Golf lights, Hella is part of the company i work for, so i got staff discount

Aaaaaand this weekends new woes

took her for a drive to see if the hesitation/stumbling kak maybe cleared up, but alas the hotter she got the worse the problem got. managed to nurse it back to my driveway at which point the bug decided enough was enough. wouldnt start, wouldnt idle, definitely wont drive. i let it cool for about 30 min and then she started, but wont rev.

my gut is leading me to fuel starvation. i think on the weekend i'll fit a new filter and a new needle+seat and maybe blow thru the fuel lines in case theres some gunk stuck in there from when the tank ran dry.

needless to say, i'm getting gatvol of this, i really really really really want it ready in time for KKK...

have you checked for vacuum leaks?
Sorry, not going to read up on the whole thread again, but to me it sounds similar to my issues when my last coil started giving up the ghost. Try touching your coil when this happens. If you cant hold it its too hot.

hey Tony, new 2nd hand coil fitted and its warm to the touch but i wouldnt call it hot.