What did you do on your car today?

[beetlefanatic]

I said it's only temporarily. When Betty gets her makeover, I'll put the Porsche gauges in. Anyway how will the revcounter look without the speedo?

[Blitzkrieg]

Ya ya i'm still looking for a Porsche speedo for you

[beetlefanatic]

BTW, I bought this from Dirk the other day. Just waiting for the postal service to pull their fingers out their you know what. Now I just need the speedo.

Fuel etc.jpg

[Blitzkrieg]

[Blitzkrieg]

A good friend of mine found me another Jetta MK4 steelie

So now I have a set of steelies!!!!

[beetlefanatic]

Jacked the bay up yesterday to install the oil temperature sensor and to my utter dismay saw this!

Broken CVs.jpg

Brand new cvs and 2 of the boots are !@#$%^^!!
I have only done just over 1000km since replacing the engine and cvs etc. I felt like our other friend last week and wanted to sell the darn bus! But like a good ACVW disciple, I got on my back and removed the sideshafts and replaced all 4 boots again, with some other cheap SA crap. Hope they last longer than a 1000km. Will have to get a decent set from America some time.
Rui, help!

Also installed the temperature sensor and the oil pressure sensor. Now the at least I can keep an eye on the new engine while driving, so that I don't vark it up.

I replaced the one broken rear light with a new Empi replica. What a piece of
Firstly, there are no rubber seals. The old ones are all perished, so I had to get some Pro Auto, but they are not completely right. I tried to use just the new lens with the old bulb holder, but the new lens is so crap, that it didn't work. After removing the old bulb holder (btw it's impossible to do without tube sockets) and connecting the new unit, I discovered that the new one does not clear the body properly. After a struggle I got it in, but it's not perfect. The step will be to make it fit with a 4 pound hammer.

Has any one else found the quality of Empi stuff to be so crap? I'm very disappointed.

[karmakoma]

My, you have been busy as well ! What make of CV boot was that? only a 1000km's !!

4 pound hammer is known to make light fitting problems disappear .

I have a whole stack of empi stuff for my beetle, you now have me a little worried?!

Is it just the lights or perhaps yours was a dud ?

[Ron&Gill]

I have found some of their stuff lekker kak, ja. Front indicators for Beetle, the quality is shocking, their loom is ...er... basic to say the least, but then they stock a bunch of other stuff which helps a lot, like the adjustable gear lingage coupling. Oh yes, their gear selector coupling (the square universal type) is also rubbish. I ended up hauling out the red bit and installing it in place of the rubber in the West German VW bit (this was for the Notch), and turfing the rest in the bin followed by a couple of Amstel empties...

[Farhaad]

i must agree with u. for the price we paying, at least supply some quality shit. i bought all new blade bumpers + overriders, cigar type indicaters,front headlamps and other chrome bits. it only took a week standing in the rain at a mechanic for all the chrome bits to start rusting. took me half a day to autosil it out. do i hav to do this every time the car stands in the rain or would i only be able to drive it in summer to avoid rusting?

[karmakoma]

you live at the coast, it will rust INSIDE a plastic car cover INSIDE a garage in summer

But that is really bad if it rusts so quickly. The empi stuff Rui got me (I had to walk and go check after these posts ) are all the polished stainless steel items, they seem to be a bit better quality than the chromed items. Will let you know once they have been on the car for a while!

Farhaad, if the shipping wasnt so expensive:

http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/Detai ... 3707111AWW

[Ron&Gill]

It has a lot to do with the quality of the chroming job. In Cape Town, it is generally shite, although I have heard that there is a place in CPT where they do a good job. I'll let you know when I find out.

Has to do with the weight of chrome they apply per area... ie the thickness.

[hitlers revenge]

Ron&Gill, I think I found it. 3 streets away from HR's parking lot. Will investigate further. From their work Ive seen, it looks good.

[hitlers revenge]

Dash board is in and all wires connected. Indicators work and the hazzards so far. Battery is flat so is now on charge.

Never gonna get this buggy to Herm's Anus on Thursday.

[Farhaad]

you live at the coast, it will rust INSIDE a plastic car cover INSIDE a garage in summer

But that is really bad if it rusts so quickly. The empi stuff Rui got me (I had to walk and go check after these posts ) are all the polished stainless steel items, they seem to be a bit better quality than the chromed items. Will let you know once they have been on the car for a while!

Farhaad, if the shipping wasnt so expensive:

http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/Detai ... 3707111AWW

thats still expensive (about R1200 each without shipping)
i paid bout R680 for mine locally

[davetapson]

Decided to see if I could get my donor cabbie to run - it apparently used to run just fine five or seven or something years ago.

Will also give me an idea if I can use the engine to run the restored car around on while I build up my fire-breathing motor.

Replaced the hardened and cracked fuel lines with a new fuel line, squirted some juice down the carb throat and cranked motor over (battery provides JUST enough power to turn it over). Nothing much happened apart from a single cyl firing and stopping the motor. Went and got an old 12v battery that's been standing for a yr or two and hooked that up. Engine turns, and now and then kind of, but not quite caught.

So went and investigated.

Carb loose on manifold (some problem with rear stud), distributer loose, HT wires loose. Removed carb to figure out what problem is (I think stud was not screwed far enough in to carb body so nut ran out of thread before it could get tight.) Decided to clean / recon carb, got kit from Sonny's. Ceramic heater on side of carb is cracked, but will reuse it. The plastic dish that the heater fits in I cracked removing but will fix with epoxy this evening.

So, I've set the points, have statically timed the car, and I reckon when I get the carb back on, it will start no probs. Will wait and see...