Welcome to the BugShop FAQ

Introduction

One of my car buddies who I have a "timeshare" on a MIG welder with, said something really funny once, based on his own personal experience. He said "I'm not sure when is the best time to tell your wife about the new 'project' car you just bought, but it's definitely not when the flatbed is driving down your street on a misty night with the revolving yellow beacons on."

Despite all the pre-purchase research, questions and crawling around a seller's car, there are always surprises once you get it home. I still find myself going "oooohhh!" (pleasant surprise) and/or "ohhh!" (disappointing surprise) right after drag something home. But having gone through it numerous times, I thought I would offer some sort of framework of where you might start when you get a "new" Beetle.
 

I think we can loosely bucket that newly purchased Beetle into three classes:

• The "Immediate Driver"- This a car that you at least expect to start driving regularly as soon as you get it.
• The "fixer-upper"- This is a car that you don't have to drive immediately, but you want to pretty soon. You have some weekend time to fool around with it and will get it on the road when you think it is ready.
• The "project"- This is the lifetime (usually doesn't start out that way) restoration Beetle. You bought it knowing that it needed a total restoration. You have all the ambition in the world; but also may harbor a few doubts about tools, money and skills.

Your approach may be a bit different depending on what your intentions are, so I'll address where to start for each....
 

All Cars

Buy the Muir Book!  Yep, that one you "heard about". You should do this before you even get your car, if possible. Go to your best bookstore and ask. The author's name is John Muir, the name of the book is "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive for the Complete Idiot", the ISBN is 1562614800 (check www.amazon.com). As of the above date, this book is still in print. Any decent book store should be able to order it for you. This book is very humorous and will give you a lot of insight. Keep in mind that John actually wrote most of this in the 60s and was clearly a "child of" this decade. He passed away in the early 70s and a friend of his updated the book for him, in his style.

Another good book (and actually a very nice compliment to the Muir book) is the Robert Bentley manual. These books are very technical and have excellent procedures. They can be a bit pricey though, especially for the older ones if you can find them, but they are well worth the investment. Try Auto Bound for these too.
 

Clean it out!  Yes, gut the car, take the seats out and pull up all of the carpet. Empty the glovebox and look down into the A-pillars (under the hood hinges in front). This can be bit of a treasure hunt sometimes, like exploring an old abandoned dwelling. You will likely find some money (coins), maybe an old tool or two, and some old paperwork that may give you some insight into the previous owners lives. Hunting/fishing licenses, receipts for service, old maintenance logs, magazines, etc. are some of my discoveries.

But your objective is to make sure you know what is (or is not) there so there are no surprises later. You may be required to do some emergency repair work, but at a minimum it will tell you what your car is going to need down the road. Start making a list.

Do you know where the black hole(s) in the Beetle are? They are those bottomless pits accessible from inside the hood, on either side, just under the hood hinges. Below is an excerpt from the Dealing With Rust article about dealing with those holes:
 
 

Now before you go shoving you arm way down there to try and reach some old tool or some coins that you now see at the bottom, let me give you a pointer that the inside, tender area of your arm will appreciate. At least on the '57 through '68 Beetles I have owned, the carpet in the inside firewall is held in place by glue and nails. That's right, little short nails with twisted splines so they get a grip when pounded through sheet metal. And the sharper sides of these nails poke into the dark hole that you are looking down into. But they are small and can be easily missed. So before you shove your arm down there, get some pliers, go into you car, under the dash and, even if new carpet has been glued up there, pull it down and pull any nails that you see out. Aaahh, those little "tricks" of working on VWs. That's why I wanted to write all this stuff (and if you look real close, you can still see the scars on my arm).
Clean out this area. Gunk, garbage and crap can accelerate rust. Use a mirror and a flashlight to see down there, remove the nails mentioned above and reach down and remove anything large and/or of value down there. Then shove your Shop Vac hose down there and suck out anything else.

Then drive it down to your local high pressure/self serve car wash if possible and blast all of the crud off underneath it. You might want to wear some old clothes and bring some eye protectors to do this. Get down on your knees and spray away underneath. Lots of the crud can come back at you pretty fast. Clean up the engine (top and bottom), tranny and axle areas and the front beam/bulkhead area. Then.....

Crawl under!  Yeah, I know you did this before you bought it, but do it again and spend some time under there. Even if you really don't know the Beetle all that well mechanically, you should be able to spot things broken, rusted, rotting, dangling, etc. Jack up the car safely and scoot under. Make a list.

The "Immediate Driver"- Safety concerns

Now presuming that you intend to drive this car very soon after you buy it, there are some things that you must do and things that you should do very soon.
 
Check out the Brakes   No matter what the seller told you, or what you discovered checking it out prior to buying, take the time to thoroughly check out the entire system. You may be a little apprehensive about attacking your new VW with tools right away, but eventually you must service your brakes (or pay someone to do it). No time like the present. Look closely at all of the rubber lines. Look for cracking and/or leaks. Now it is normal for the outer surfaces to show some cracking over time, but bend them a bit look and look for deep cracks. Unless they look brand new, I would plan on replacing them. They are pretty cheap.

Find the main front to back metal brake line in the car. It comes into the passenger cabin just to the left of the pedal cluster (presuming a left hand drive car) and then follows the floor right next to the tunnel along, under the back seat and out. In really filthy, wet-interior cars, these lines can eventually corrode to the point of leaking. It should be a solid line with no "couplers" inside the car. If you do see one, it is an indication that the line was replaced with a "2 piece" kit. Not necessarily bad, but look for any signs of leaks. If it is badly corroded, pinched or kinked, plan on replacing it.

Pull off all four drums and inspect the shoe linings (release the emergency brake for the rears, and back off the adjusting stars for all 4 wheels). This may seem a bit difficult if you are a "newbie" mechanic, follow the instructions in the Muir book (you did buy it, right!?) for inspection. Look for leaks around the wheel cylinders, both inside the drum areas and on the backs where the hose connects. Also, on the rears, look for the common leaking rear wheel seal. This allows 90 weight gear oil to lube up the brakes and make them totally useless. A leaky seal should be pretty obvious, everything will look "wet".

Your brakes, even if minimally safe should be firm and not require any "pumping up" (indicates air in the lines). Push the pedal hard and hold it for 10-15 seconds. It should not slowly sink to the floor, if it does, the master cylinder is bad, or you have a huge leak somewhere. See "Fluid Refreshment" below for tips on bleeding the brakes.

Brake components for the mainstream years are inexpensive and the skill required to service them is minimal. The Muir book has excellent procedures for this. If they seem operational, I would still plan on total refurb of the system anyway if you plan on keeping the car for a while. "As new" brakes on Beetle will stop the car remarkably fast.
 

That Front Suspension   Read my "What to Look for When Buying" article, if you haven't already, under "Mechanical Stuff- Transmission, suspension". See the scary scenario about worn ball joint front ends ('66 and newer in the U.S.). If the front suspension on these cars is badly worn, they are unsafe to drive. The earlier link pin front ends do not have such catastrophic failure modes, but can be unsafe as well.

Muir has some good techniques for assessing the front end. These involve grabbing the front wheel(s) at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions and feeling for play while the car is on the ground. Be aware that as the front end is jacked up in the air the suspension geometry changes and things that are loose may not be loose while with is up in the air (wheels off the ground). Follow Muir's method for checking for loose front bearings, loose or worn ball joints or king/link pins, loose tie rods and worn or inoperative steering damper. These all perform important functions.

And lastly, check out the balance and alignment of the front wheels. I have been meaning to write a new article on my "rough" front alignment (toe and camber) method, but I haven't yet. Take it down to an alignment shop, it is worth the money. And make sure the wheels (all 4) are balanced. This is often over looked. Not really an immediate safety issue, but you can't really trouble shoot your front suspension with out of balance wheels.
 

The Exhaust System   You may know by now that the VW engine is air cooled and that the heat for interior of the car is provided by heat exchangers that are part of the exhaust system (see the "Heating your Beetle" article for a description of how it is supposed to work). If certain gaskets are loose, exhaust fumes can be ducted into the passenger compartment. And if the heat exchanger flaps are defective, fumes can enter even when you think the heat is off.

Learn the system first, then inspect it. A rusty, perforated muffler and poor engine to body seal can allow exhaust fumes to enter the fan intake and end up inside the car as well. Most notorious are the "doughnut" seals between the muffler and the heat exchangers.
 

The Fuel System   The final urgent safety concern. It is not normal to smell any gas fumes in or around the car. See my "Fuel Path" article for a more in depth discussion of the fuel system in the Beetle. Of particular note, the rubber hose under the gas tank that connects the tank to the main front-to-back line, the rubber hose that connects the main line to the fuel pump (there are usually two, one under the car next to the tranny and one inside the engine compartment) and the rubber hose from the pump to the carburetor. These hose must all be in perfect condition (replacements are dirt cheap) and well clamped.

And also check the connection of the brass nipple to the carb (see the Fuel article).
 

Ok, you will be driving the car soon after you bought it and you have already done all of the safety checks above and fixed anything that needed fixing there. There are still some things that you should do right away, but are not safety issues.

Change that Oil!   I don't care if the seller told you he just changed it, and you believe him. I would still change it as soon as I got home. It only takes 2 quarts for crying out loud, what good reason could you give for not doing it? Do it with the engine warm, replace the strainer gaskets, refer to Muir.

Set those valves   Refer to Muir, I'm not tellin' you how to do it here. And get used to it, you will do it often (see my "Maintenance" article for why).

Wiring   Do a thorough visual inspection of all the wiring. Look for loose, corroded or frayed connections and wires and fix them. It much easier to do it at home on your own time than on the side of the road by the light of match on the way to dinner one cold night.

Fluid Refreshment   Ok, quiz time. How many kinds of fluid does your Beetle need? (Need, not necessarily contain) Gas, brake fluid, oil, tranny oil and maybe washer fluid. We already talked about changing the oil; washer fluid I'll leave up to you, gas you will use up and replace in time. So that leaves brake fluid and trans oil. You should change both of these and bleed the brakes after. Again, refer to Muir, I'm not going into any details here. But I will give some quick tips:

• Use a Turkey baster (that enormous eyedropper-looking thing you have seen in that kitchen drawer and never knew what it was for) to suck the old fluid out of the brake fluid reservoir. Don't let any fluid get on any painted surfaces, brake fluid eats paint. If you do, wipe it off good right away. Don't put the Turkey baster back in the kitchen drawer even if you do clean it with fresh gas. Go buy a new one for the wife, she will ask you about it sooner or later (and you probably are going to need her help to bleed the brakes, so stay on her good side). Buy a fresh bottle of brake fluid, fill the reservoir and bleed the brakes per Muir.
• Warm your transaxle before draining it. Use a space heater or heat gun. You can even prop a hair dryer under there and leave it for 20-30 minutes. The fluid will flow out much easier when warm. And it will flow in much easier warm too. I fill up a sink with hot water and leave the plastic 1 quart bottles that I usually buy the stuff in in the sink while I am draining. I always used a piece of old garden hose and a funnel to fill it. See Muir, you'll see why. Oh, make sure your axle boots (swingaxles, '68 and earlier in the U.S.) are fine, else your new gear oil will leak out as soon as you drive it. Use 80 or 90 weight gear oil.

 

 
 
 

Brake Adjustment   Ok, you have pulled the hubs off, refreshed the brake fluid and bled the brakes, now you need to adjust them. Reality is, you will probably do some level of brake "resto" all at once. I just don't want you to forget about adjusting the brakes, you will have to do it fairly often (see the "Maintenance"Tune Up   I'm talking about spark plugs, distributor cap, rotor, points and maybe plug wires. Read Muir. This is a good job to "cut your teeth" on if you are a newbie mechanic. Then you want to set the timing. A quick note on timing: in all the years, cars and miles I have been messing with VWs I always set the timing using the common sense mark. I just tweaked a little left and a little right until the car ran the best. Best idle, acceleration, noise, etc. There are about 7 different sets of timing marks that you will find on pulleys, and you never know which one is right for your car. I might be going out on a limb here, but that what I always did. I remember intentionally leaving the distributor clamp nut a little loose so I could pull over and twist it a bit on the side of the road.

Longer Term Stuff   My only real advice here is keep your eyes and ears open, become one with your new Beetle. You will find stuff broken. Make a realistic plan. Fix the most critical stuff first. Don't spend Saturday putting new speakers in the doors if 2 of the 3 rear windows leak.

And don't be overwhelmed if you are new at this. I had a friend at work tell me (when I was ragging on him about not trying to replace the struts on his Jetta himself) "Yeah, but you know how to do that stuff, I don't." Do you think I was born knowing how to do all this stuff!? No! I just had the courage (testicular fortitude) to try it. I bought some tools, failed more than a few times, cussed a lot, skinned many a knuckle, but I eventually became confident that I could do it. Grease under my nails never bothered me.
 

Now this car could be in a wide range of states ranging from it just wouldn't start (and you found a bad coil wire) to it needs and engine, seats, a headlight and a rear fender. But in any case, you have no plans of taking it apart more. If you skipped down to here, you should read everything above, because it will be relevant to you eventually.

I am presuming that the reader who gets the most out of this article is very new to Beetles. And they got this Bug for "a steal" and told their wife/girlfriend/husband/whatever "oh sure I can put an engine in it, these things are like tinker toys!". Then they realized they really don't know anything about the car nor did they ever have tinker toys. You need a plan.

First you have to immerse yourself in VW. Read books, newsgroups, visit web sites, go to VW shows. And explore your car. Look beyond the obvious. If you find rust in one place, look everywhere else. Make a list of what is broken, missing and/or wrong. Then decide what you really want to do with the car. If you want to get it together and start driving it as soon as possible, put your list in order of what needs to be done, then what you want to get done. Safety should always be your first concern. Performance and aesthetics come second. And especially if your car is tired and old and of questionable operationable ability, plan to replace stuff that is convenient while you are doing other stuff. Here's what I mean:
 

If you are pulling drums off:
 
Consider wheel cylinders and shoes. Always get a new "hardware set" (springs and retainers). This stuff is usually very cheap. If you pull rears, consider replacing rear seals if your car has a swingaxle tranny. They are cheap.
If you pull the motor (or are putting one in):
 
Consider the clutch disk and throwout bearing. Possibly also the pressure plate. And also the tranny main seal and the crank main seal (but this requires removal of the flywheel, not possible without the right tools), look closely at the clutch throwout fork (known to wear thin) and it's bushings. Again, parts are cheap, better to do it now.
Tranny coming out or putting one in?
 
You'd be crazy not to replace all of the rubber mounts (there are three)
Pulling rear spring plates and/or torsion bars? (swingaxles)
Replace the rubber bushings on the spring plate end of the torsion bars (2 each side)
 
See what I mean? Look beyond the immediate problem. Lots of times the cost of the extra "feel good" parts is insignificant when compared to the pain and effort required to get to them. Start with the safety stuff above, then the basic drivetrain stuff. Eventually you will meet your goal and start driving. But take your time and learn, it is to your AND your Beetle's advantage.

[I read a story once about a super cheap bus owner who was telling his friend about his last engine rebuild. The friend asked of the rebuild on the 130k mi. engine "Did you replace the rings?" to which frugal Freddie replied "just the ones that needed it"]
 

I think that before someone starts a "full resto" on a Beetle that there should be some kind of ceremony. Sort of a combination of a Wedding (vow of commitment), a pre-school graduation (loss of innocence) and a funeral (a loss [of money]). I don't mean to scare anyone away, but unless you have done this many times, you are in for some real challenges to your character.

My goal here is not to explain to you how to do a full resto but rather to give some guidelines on how to scope, plan and, on a high level, execute that mother-of-all restorations. As I write this, I'm on "turn four" of my full resto of my '57. I've learned a lot; I have a lot yet to learn.

Now my nature is that "taking apart" is just as fun as "putting back together", but I find the latter most often more challenging. I had my 4th Beetle before I really had the opportunity to do a total "take it ALL apart" restoration. Previous to that, restoration efforts often led to me bumming a ride to work the next day. But if you are so inclined, do it. It's fun. The idea is to take the car apart a piece at a time, inspect each piece, clean it, strip it, paint it, replace it, whatever; then put it all back together again. Sounds simple right? Well the Beetle is simple. But in spite, it still takes 45 years to do this. Some have done it a few years quicker, but you really should plan as though it will take you this long. How do you plan to do something that takes 45 years you say? Simple, you make absolutely no assumptions that rely on a predictable periods of time passing between events in the restoration. For example, these means:
 

• You must never take off a part or group of parts and just lay them down in the garage somewhere thinking "I'll clean that up tomorrow and paint it this weekend, then I can put it back on". WRONG. You must store that part away as though an ice age will pass and generations-older humans will come looking for that same part in 235 years. It must be adequately preserved, packed and very clearly marked.
• You must never disconnect or remove anything that can possibly go on any way other than the correct way thinking "Hey, no problem. I'll be buttoning this back up tomorrow. It's a cinch, I'll remember". WRONG. You must label, document, photograph, video tape, carbon date everything you do such that alien civilizations would be able to re-assemble your dashboard when they land on our planet in the year 2043.
• You must never make any promises to drive your freshly restored Beetle to "next summer's show". Nor the year after or the year after that.
• You must never disassemble you car in such a way that it becomes immovable and hinders predicted residential logistics for the foreseeable future.
• You must never start a full restoration if you have any plans of moving.

 
I think you get the idea. I have experience with this. You should think of it as a "lifetime" restoration, even if for some lucky reason you happen to finish it while you still have all of your teeth. Let me summarize a little more directly, and while this is for a true "total disassembly" restoration, much of it applies to lesser restorations.
 
• Take notes before you start taking stuff apart. Take pictures, write stuff down, even shoot video tape (I have done that from day one). You will want a record of "how it was" not just to compare before and after, but also to help you re-assemble. This is especially true for wiring, behind the dash stuff and door mechanisms.
• Focus in one area at a time as you disassemble stuff. This will help you pack it up and store it away in a more logical sequence. Cool things to use to store/organize stuff:
• Egg cartons
• 35mm film canisters
• Have baby at home? Those plastic "wipes" boxes are my favorite, and baby food jars
• Small boxes. Sounds obvious but I realized that we throw so many good boxes away

 
• Save everything! I learned some hard lessons with this one. Remove everything from your car carefully and save it as though you will have to use it again, even if you know that you will be replacing it. Why?
1. Some stuff you assume is readily available might not be, or may be far more expensive than you think.
2. You might want to compare the "after-market" part with the original for form fit and quality.
3. You might need the original (or what is left of it) to install the new part.


This is especially true for interiors (headliners, B pillar coverings, tar boards, padding, etc.). Don't destroy something in haste to remove it, take your time and just find a big box and save everything.
 

• If you will be painting the whole car, make list of painted body parts that you take off. It is very easy to overlook these parts when you get a car stripped and/or painted. You really want everything painted at the same time, from the same gun, from the same paint mix. Of note:
• Hood hinges
• Taillight housings
• Glove box doors
• Ashtrays
• License plate light "noses" on the decklid

 
I'm sure there are others. Just keep a file folder and/or a pad of paper nearby while you work.
 
• And here's a final tip that has worked well for me when it comes to making progress. One of my biggest pet peeves is unfinished projects. Over the years, I tried really hard to make myself work on my car at least once a week. Even if just for an hour. Do something on it. (my Wednesday "garage night"). Often when I felt unmotivated, but if I just went out and started fooling around with it, I got into it. I always thought, as long as I am doing something every week, I'm moving forward. Slowly, but I'm moving.

 

 

And God forbid, don't let the wife or kids start "storing" stuff in it.
 

So, after you turn off the PC, go out and look over that car again. Sit in it. If it runs, start it up and listen. Breath in and smell the car (there was a thread over at the newsgroup this past summer concluding that Beetle did, in fact, have its own unique "odor"). Slide your hands down the curve of the fender. It is tinker toys. It is erector set. It's just a lot more expensive and you will need a shower after you play with it.
 
 

Copyright© 1999; John S. Henry