Crazy thing

Keep it clean, children may be present.

Moderators: Sluggo, Amskeptic

User avatar
Sylvester
Bad Old Puddy Tat.
Location: Sylvester, Georgia
Contact:
Status: Offline

Crazy thing

Post by Sylvester » Thu Jul 23, 2020 12:34 pm

Lets see if anyone ever reads and posts on this website and is now just following Colin on Facebook.

What is the craziest thing you ever did to get a AC VW running?

I'll go first. Years ago I bought a non-running Doormobile, a 1972 model. It had not run in years, I installed new points new cap new battery etc. I was determined to drive it 40 miles to my house from the sellers. One thing was it had a leak in the gas tank. So, I bought a gas can, filled it up placing it on the floor in front of the bed, ran a long fuel hose to the carburetor and indeed did drive it away to the cheers of the neighbors who wanted it gone from the sellers driveway.

Getting it home was another long and painful story but it did run, for awhile.

Don't be shy, tell us what you did to get a VW somewhere in distress.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue, I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace. Where never lark, or even eagle flew. And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod, The high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

User avatar
SlowLane
IAC Addict!
Location: Livermore, CA
Status: Offline

Re: Crazy thing

Post by SlowLane » Sun Jul 26, 2020 8:18 am

Sylvester wrote:
Thu Jul 23, 2020 12:34 pm
Lets see if anyone ever reads and posts on this website and is now just following Colin on Facebook.

What is the craziest thing you ever did to get a AC VW running?
I don't do Facebook and never will, so I guess I will be out of the loop on Colin's adventures once this forum succumbs to entropy.

So it goes.

Craziest I can think of was when a buddy's throttle cable broke on his Bug. There wasn't enough cable left to do any shadetree extension. So we tied a string to the throttle arm on the carb, ran the string out the vent in the decklid, around the outside of the car to the driver's window, tied it off on the side mirror, and he drove home controlling the throttle with his left hand out the window. Fortunately it was late at night and there was very little traffic.
'81 Canadian Westfalia (2.0L, manual), now Californiated

"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance."
- Terry Pratchett

bus71
Addicted!
Status: Offline

Re: Crazy thing

Post by bus71 » Thu Jul 30, 2020 12:19 pm

I'm another non Facebook person so i will chime in here. Just a few come to mind. Don't know how crazy but it got us home. One day many years ago, we hopped in the bus(55) and tried to take off. Shifter appeared to do nothing. Crawled under to discover the shift coupler broke. This was the early rubber style. I clamped it together with vice grips and moved on. Carried a spare after that. So there's one. If there's more interest, I will throw in a few more.

User avatar
blue72beetle
I'm New!
Status: Offline

Re: Crazy thing

Post by blue72beetle » Thu Jul 30, 2020 6:29 pm

Not really crazy...
A long time ago I took my Beetle to a car show in another state. On the way home I stopped to fill up at a gas station, and the car wouldn't restart, bad starter. No hills around but I managed to push start it behind the gas station after many failed attempts.
I didn't want to go through that again, so the rest of the trip home I never shut the car off for gas stops.

User avatar
SlowLane
IAC Addict!
Location: Livermore, CA
Status: Offline

Re: Crazy thing

Post by SlowLane » Sun Aug 02, 2020 7:47 am

Oh, I got another one.
I was travelling home from trade school in my Beetle when the transmission decided that it wasn't going to come out of first gear. In rush hour. On the highway. 15 miles from home.
Fortunately there was a wide shoulder, so I got onto the shoulder and limped home in first with the four-way flashers going, engine spun up to max rpm the whole way.

Now, it turned out that I had just bought my first vee-dubble-you van (because that's what we called 'em where I grew up. None of this "bus" nonsense) with a clapped out engine for far more than it was worth, so that was my ride to school the next morning. I seem to recall doing an engine transplant from the beetle to the van at some point. I didn't use a trans adapter, so the beetle case must have had the mounting bosses. Can't recall exactly. That got swapped out for the Corvair engine and Powerglide sometime afterwards.

That turned out to be the last trip for the beetle. I never did repair the transmission, so it sat and rusted until the scrapper hauled it away.
'81 Canadian Westfalia (2.0L, manual), now Californiated

"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance."
- Terry Pratchett

User avatar
asiab3
IAC Addict!
Location: San Diego, CA
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Crazy thing

Post by asiab3 » Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:41 am

Uhhhh years ago I bought a convertible bug, site unseen, and drove it 450 miles home... it hadn’t been outside of the neighborhood in 15 years, so I swapped the fuel lines and did a tune up. Not a crazy resurrection, but a fun one...

On the road? I had to re-ring a cylinder in 2019, had to re-cam an engine in 2016... I’ve woken up a few T4 engines from decades of sleep, and all of those FI engines are out there taking families on road trips... The carbureted engines don’t seem to wake up as easily....

Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

User avatar
whc03grady
IAC Addict!
Location: Livingston Montana
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Crazy thing

Post by whc03grady » Fri Aug 07, 2020 9:25 pm

Not to get it running, but to keep it running.

The Summer of my HS graduation a couple buddies and I road-tripped to the Black Hills from our small town in Nebraska. For some reason we took my 1970 Squareback, and not the 1974 Campmobile one of the buddies owned (the same one I now own, actually; but I digress).

The generator died and even in 1992 you couldn't get a Type 3 generator in Rapid City. So we bought a Type 1 generator and kept it in place with a couple crushed beer cans underneath. It held out reasonably well until the way home around Wall, where the belt started sounding funny and then snapped. I was driving at the time and was surprised at the instant increase in engine power. We drove it home without a spinning generator; just bought a couple batteries and replaced the dead ones when they no longer had enough voltage to run the FI.
Ludwig--1974 Westfalia, 2.0L (GD035193), Solex 34PDSIT-2/3 carburetors.
Gertie--1971 Squareback, 1600cc with Bosch D-Jetronic fuel injection from a '72 (E brain).
Read about their adventures:
http://www.ludwigandgertie.blogspot.com

User avatar
hippiewannabe
Old School!
Status: Offline

Re: Crazy thing

Post by hippiewannabe » Mon Aug 10, 2020 9:09 pm

So that's where everyone went. Facebook is certainly easier to administer, and is fine for funny banter and posting pictures and memes. But it is worthless for curating real information. I'm sure there is some worthwhile how-to posted in that FB group, but you'll never find it a few months later.

Anyway.
asiab3 wrote:
Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:41 am
..I’ve woken up a few T4 engines from decades of sleep, and all of those FI engines are out there taking families on road trips...
That reminds me of my wife's uncle's '78 Westy that got me interested in VW's. I dragged it out of the woods where it had been moldering for 12 years as a favor. Before we took it to the junk yard, I decided to play around with it. The fuel line attachments to the gas tank had completely rusted off, so I JB Welded a couple of barbed nipples in the holes and ran hoses to the engine. The oil was still full and looked new, so I decided to try cranking it. Nothing at first, but after cleaning and gapping the points, damned if it didn't fire right up.
Truth is like poetry.
And most people fucking hate poetry.

User avatar
BusBassist
Getting Hooked!
Location: Rochester, NY
Status: Offline

Re: Crazy thing

Post by BusBassist » Wed Aug 12, 2020 9:01 am

Well - at least a few folks are still lurking here. I'm not a FB user so am sad to see it take over this much-more -comprehensive and useful site.

This is not a VW story - but years ago, I was working at a music camp in Wisconsin and after a month, my family and I were going to drive to Utah to visit family. Late on a Saturday afternoon, I decided to take a quick look under the hood of our 1992 Dodge Caravan and noticed that the throttle cable was about two strands away from breaking.

It was too late and we were to remote to purchase a new part so I had to improvise. I am a professional bass player so I had a few extra strings at my disposal. The bass string already had a small metal ball on one end so I ground it down until it fit in the throttle housing and fished it through the fire wall to the pedal and used led fish line weights to secure it. AND the next day, we set out for Utah using a bass G-String - and then from Utah back to New York a few weeks later - AND then 30,000 miles later, the string broke and I bought a proper factory cable.

Funny thing - there is a guy called Washtub Jerry who plays an old-school washtub bass and he uses a Porsche clutch cable for a string. I guess it's ok to use a bass string for a throttle cable when occasion permits.
Late 73 Bay w/a transplanted 914 Engine.

User avatar
SlowLane
IAC Addict!
Location: Livermore, CA
Status: Offline

Re: Crazy thing

Post by SlowLane » Thu Aug 13, 2020 7:55 am

BusBassist wrote:
Wed Aug 12, 2020 9:01 am
the next day, we set out for Utah using a bass G-String - and then from Utah back to New York a few weeks later - AND then 30,000 miles later, the string broke and I bought a proper factory cable.

Funny thing - there is a guy called Washtub Jerry who plays an old-school washtub bass and he uses a Porsche clutch cable for a string. I guess it's ok to use a bass string for a throttle cable when occasion permits.
Nice story. Thanks. Wonder if a Porsche clutch cable yeilds a purer tone than a common VW clutch cable.
'81 Canadian Westfalia (2.0L, manual), now Californiated

"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance."
- Terry Pratchett

NewBeginningsAgain
I'm New!
Status: Offline

Re: Crazy thing

Post by NewBeginningsAgain » Mon Aug 17, 2020 4:09 pm

Sylvester wrote:
Thu Jul 23, 2020 12:34 pm
Lets see if anyone ever reads and posts on this website and is now just following Colin on Facebook.
I’m on this site weekly, looking for (and usually finding) great resources for working on my 78 Westy. Before I bought my current VW, I had been on this site well over a year reading Colin’s Travelogues, Social/Political observations and opinions, and yeah, about VW repair and maintenance too. It was a welcome escape during a troublesome time in my life. While life has surely improved, it’s been sad to watch the steady stream of posting by Colin and others dwindle to a slow dying drip.
hippiewannabe wrote:
Mon Aug 10, 2020 9:09 pm
So that's where everyone went. Facebook is certainly easier to administer, and is fine for funny banter and posting pictures and memes. But it is worthless for curating real information. I'm sure there is some worthwhile how-to posted in that FB group, but you'll never find it a few months later.
I’m rarely on cluster the cluster f*#% that is Facebook, and then only to see what the fam and friends are up to. I’ve tried the IAC page, but it’s just not what I’m looking for.
Sylvester wrote:
Thu Jul 23, 2020 12:34 pm
What is the craziest thing you ever did to get a AC VW running?
As a teenager, I drove my ‘66 bus from Ohio to Arizona and back with my boyfriend. It was a great ride.
A 21 window, walk-through, full sunroof, Lotus White with custom paint (red rust-oleum “accents”), cruise control (a brick on the gas pedal), entertainment features (pull up the floor mats to watch the road go by), and even a fitness feature (the starter didn’t work).

Every stop involved looking for even the slightest of inclines to aid push starting. When none was to be found, at a gas station for example, I was able to push start it on my own, one hand on the steering wheel the other on the door frame, hop in and pop the clutch.

Ah, yes, those were the good ol’ days. Yes they were.

A year or so later, I drove it from Ohio to New Mexico to go to college, fully loaded, and still no working starter. Thankfully my little brother rode along with me (my mom followed in a “reliable car”) so I had a little extra help with the push.

Good times. Good memories.
NewBeginningsAgain


1978 Westfalia, Dakota Beige, 80k miles
1969 Transporter, Savannah Beige - Sold. Regrets
1966 Deluxe Microbus, Lotus White - Lost in New Mexico

User avatar
jimbear
Getting Hooked!
Location: Athens, GA
Status: Offline

Re: Crazy thing

Post by jimbear » Mon Aug 31, 2020 9:15 am

Not the craziest, but first to the mind...
~'67 bus/1998ish: Put out an engine fire with a flannel shirt left in the bus by a friend. Replaced a few fuel lines and spark plug wire and room-a-zoom-zoom. I was down for less than ten minutes.
~'74 beetle/mid'90's: Scored a long piece of nylon string on the side of the road after the accelerator cable broke. Attached to carb, propped the engine lid with a screwdriver, operated string-accelerator with left hand out the window, steered with right hand, passenger shifted while I called out "shift" and clutched...this was on city-ish streets (Pittsford>Brighton into and through Rochester) so we were definitely "clutching"...
~'67 bus; '96: Stopped every 2 hours or so on a 1200 mile trip to remove passenger rear wheel to add oil to a very leaky gear reduction box.
'74 Hardtop Westy
Pretty much stock engine setup

User avatar
tristessa
Trusted Air-Cooled Maniac
Location: Uwish Uknew, Oregon
Status: Offline

Re: Crazy thing

Post by tristessa » Mon Aug 31, 2020 12:44 pm

Not a crazy thing done to get it running, but I think about the craziest single thing I've done with driving an ACVW was driving my '65 Beetle 100+ miles home to Santa Rosa, CA from San Jose, through San Francisco because I had to drop something off with a friend who was living in the Inner Sunset, with no clutch because the cable broke. And the one that broke *was* the spare cable, installed on the side of the road less than a week earlier. I hadn't gotten around to buying a new spare, didn't think I would *need* a spare for the trip because it was a new cable. Noplace I could find to get a cable in San Jose on a Sunday afternoon in 1998 either, and no way in hell I could afford the tow bill, so I took a chance and hit the road.

Stop at a light, turn the engine off, put it in first, crank the starter when the light changes .. you know the drill and if you don't you should practice just in case. So I was on the way home and just hoping the battery and starter held up as I went through the City. Car got a bit of a rest when I stopped at my friend's place and we walked to Balboa for some dim sum before I got back on the road, crossed the bridge and had smooth sailing all the way up 101 from there.

Thank god it was a Sunday afternoon/evening so the traffic was fairly light. No way I'd have even tried it on a weekday...
Remember, only YOU can prevent narcissism!

User avatar
JLT
Old School!
Location: Sacramento CA
Status: Offline

Re: Crazy thing

Post by JLT » Mon Aug 31, 2020 4:08 pm

The one that comes to mind is when, on a bit of off-roading, I got too close to a tree and ripped off the plastic air scoop that the external oil cooler used. (That was on my first '71 bus, which came with that oiler cooler when I bought it. That was fine with me, because back then I believed every word of John Muir's Idiot Book.) I knew that without the scoop, the bus might seriously overheat on the 200 mile trip back home through the heat of California's central valley.

All I had was an empty gallon can of Coleman fuel. So I got out my hunting knife, cut it open and pounded it flat with a rock, and then formed it into a scoop, which I affixed to the bus with duct tape. It did the trick, and got me home.

There may have been other, more extreme episodes of improvisation, but I've repressed those memories.
-- JLT
Sacramento CA

Present bus: '71 Dormobile Westie "George"
(sometimes towing a '65 Allstate single-wheel trailer)
Former buses: '61 17-window Deluxe "Pink Bus"
'70 Frankenwestie "Blunder Bus"
'71 Frankenwestie "Thunder Bus"

Abscate
Getting Hooked!
Status: Offline

Re: Crazy thing

Post by Abscate » Fri Sep 18, 2020 9:33 am

Burnt out the brakes Leaving the handbrake on , rear cylinders melted seals.

2 hours from home at state park for a week

Waited till midnight , drove home with no brakes, 1970 Beetle

Post Reply