The 1966 VW Beetle Forum

Thanks for the assurance. I just didn't want to be wearing my tires out on the edges prematurely.

I am a bit ashamed to ask this, but what do you recommend for tire pressures on Kumho radial tires? Bentley says something really low and I was wondering if those figures were intended for bias ply tires. I generally put in 24 psi on the rear and 20 on the front, but the tires really look slack. Sid...

I notice an increase in vibration when the engine is reved up to 2/3rds -3/4 throttle. It can be felt with the clutch engaged or not. Its a 1600 with the audi symbol on the crankcase. I suppose I hadn't noticed this when driving because of road noise and such. But when sitting still, there seems to ...

Hi, I just replaced the clutch, and several "while I'm there" items. The feel on the petal is quite a bit different. I went from a rigid disk to a sprung disk and the clutch seems to engage quicker and more firmly; I would have expected more of a smooth gradual response. This doesn't bothe...

The clutch disk really didn't look that bad. It was slightly thicker than 5/16" and the spiral grooves were plainly visible. I can't say for sure, but I suspect the previous owner installed it when the new motor was put in- about 20k miles ago. The pressure plate looked like a hammer was used f...

[quote="fatalifeaten"]... May be time to R/R the pressure plate, ....[/quote] Yup. that's what it was. I pulled the engine and the ring that the throw out bearing contacts was at about a 15 degree angle from the plane of the pressure plate assembly. There was also a popped off rivet rollin...

It has been getting progressively harder to put the car in reverse and other gears occasionally grind when going into position. My engagement point on the petal was way low, so I tightened up the cable so that free play was about 1 1/2". Other gears seems to improve, but reverse was a definite ...

While admiring all the grease & rust from the worms eye view on my bug, I noticed that my ball joint seals/boots are shot and barely hanging on. There doesn't seem to be any slop there, but without the seals, I am sure that won't remain the case for very long. I have located some replacement sea...

Hello again, I get to answer this one myself. I found the answer on Rob & Dave's (Most Excelent) Aircooled Volkswagen Pages, but not until after I found out that my flaps did not have the necessary clip to insert the rod into. I raised the fan housing a couple of inches only to see a flap withou...

Hi, I have located a thermostat, bracket & rod to put back on my bug and would like some guidance before I lift up the fan housing. I am going to try to hook it back up by just raising the fan housing a couple of inches- can it be done without completely lifting off the fan housing?(engine in ca...

Here's an interesting one for you: I recently pulled the engine out to install new engine compartment seals. So the engine is sitting on the floor of the garage a couple of days while I chisel and grind out the old rock hard rubber out of the groove. I happened to glance down the throat of the carbu...

A couple of weeks has turned into a couple of months! Thanks to all of you that helped with suggestions. Turning the drum cured the problem. I would not have thought a new drum would have needed it, but obviously I was wrong!

Regards,
Hal

Let's put this on hold a couple of days. I'll pull the drum off the first of the week and inspect it and the backing plate for wear patterns. And give me a day or so to run down a dial indicator and base; it generally doesn't take much persuasion to get me to buy a new tool!

Hi Volksbugusa, We might be getting somewhere here; you have offered several items to evaluate. Bearings: I did not replace them based on guidance from Muir, but I can't conclusively rule out bad bearings. The car has 106k miles. I did inject some grease in them with a needle tip. Drums: they have a...

CV Joints: don't have any of those.
Rubber: Shocks are solid and the big bullet tip for big bumps is intact. There is probably other rubber somewhere but I couldn't see it.
The brake drums are new, so I assumed that they would arrive round and true. Bad assumption?