Itinerant Air-Cooled

A coworker has had what she calls a 60's bug in her garage for a decade. It's her son-in-law's and he keeps saying he's gonna "fix it up" someday. It has a title, but hasn't been registered in so long I laugh to think what my visit to the DMV is going to be like.

Anyway, she convinced him to sell it, and I'm picking it up cheap. It's obviously at the minimum a basket case, at worst a money pit. Still, I miss having an air cooled to play with, even if it isn't a bus.

I'm going to look at it this weekend. Wish me luck!

Looks like you have hours of fun ahead of you getting that thing back in shape and on the road. But it certainly looks restorable, at least from what we can see.

The sucky part is the car itself will need to stay at my MIL's house. I'll bring the engine home and build it in my garage, but my garage, with all my woodworking tools, can't actually fit a car in it anymore. And the condos I live in don't allow non-running cars in the carports.

Still, a 64 that seems complete, if in boxes, for $800 sounds good to me. Assuming the pan isn't a cancerous mess...

Looks like a solid candidate for resurrection. Speaking as someone who used to daily-drive a '65, the swing-axle handling can be .. interesting .. when you push the car, especially when you're not used to it.

How've you been? Haven't seen you around in what feels like forever...

Yeah, it's been pretty much forever. I sold the guac while I was in CO and haven't had an aircooled since. :(

I pop in every now and again just to lurk, but that's it.

My daughter's trying to break into acting. She's been doing background work for the past 5 years or so, and loves it. So I told her if I bought this bug, she would have to help me start a youtube series on the project. "It won't be scripted, will it?" Well, yeah. At least the intros and stuff. "Ugh, I prefer improv."

Darn kids.

Have you or she seen the "Hannah's Bug" series on youtube yet? I stumbled across it last month ago while reading up on Harbor Freight air compressors.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvVyo1 ... xQPgnKJKhg

Don't be a stranger if you don't get the Beetle -- say "hi!" every now and then. And don't get washed away in the rain .. my manager and her boss and a few others are at a trade show in Anaheim and sent me a video yesterday .. holy crap. Glad I stayed home...

Meh, this rain was a joke. The news kept talking "Storm Of The CENTURY!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111one" and we got like an inch. I was severely disappointed.

I've been reading on the 1200 that car came with. I have no idea what engine is in those boxes yet, but I'm really hoping the upgrade to a 1600 and an alternator has already happened. ;) Or any case made after 1970 would be nice. If it's still the 1200, I'll have the case and crank checked out, and if they pass, I'll stick with it. But I would prefer a nice little 1600 just because of how much time we spend on the freeway.

I'll pop in once in a while. I just felt kinda awkward without a VW. My daily driver is a 2006 Saab 9-5 I picked up for $2900 with 89k on the clock. Wife has a bone stock 2000 Exploder, pushrod v6 and 2wd. ;)

DurocShark wrote:Meh, this rain was a joke. The news kept talking "Storm Of The CENTURY!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111one" and we got like an inch. I was severely disappointed.

I've been reading on the 1200 that car came with. I have no idea what engine is in those boxes yet, but I'm really hoping the upgrade to a 1600 and an alternator has already happened. ;) Or any case made after 1970 would be nice. If it's still the 1200, I'll have the case and crank checked out, and if they pass, I'll stick with it. But I would prefer a nice little 1600 just because of how much time we spend on the freeway.

I'll pop in once in a while. I just felt kinda awkward without a VW. My daily driver is a 2006 Saab 9-5 I picked up for $2900 with 89k on the clock. Wife has a bone stock 2000 Exploder, pushrod v6 and 2wd. ;)

A properly built 1200 can be a rock-reliable little engine designed to hold 65 all day.
Colin

Hold, yes. Accelerate safely onto the 91 freeway? ;) Especially for a guy used to a turbo? hehehe

How you doing, Colin? I've missed your drawings.

OK, I'm *SOOOO* in on this. $800 is a steal. I just got back from looking at it. The boxes are full of new parts. The crank and cam are wrapped from the machinist, all the new bearings and everything, the brakes were completely re-done, and the pan is all redone! Pics!



















The case is a 1200 case, and doesn't appear to have been cut for bigger jugs. So I'll drop the case off at Rimco to have it inspected and line bored when I pick this up. She's going to let me keep the car there in her garage as long as I like, so I can arrange a place for it at my mother in law's.

Forgot the heads...

What the heck? 1200's ran the cams with no bearings?

DurocShark wrote:What the heck? 1200's ran the cams with no bearings?

There were early engines (36 horse?) that indeed ran camshafts right there in the case saddles. I don't know the details of the early engine nomenclature, (cc/hp,) but I've assumed the factory reasoning was economy, based on the cam rotating at half of crank speed.

Robbie

Rimco is supposed to be able to grind the cam journals for bearings. When I drop the case off, I'll talk to them about it. I'd feel much better with bearings in there.