The 1966 VW Beetle Forum

You have a 1966 VW. The third number designates the model year, and your car was the 240,632 car built for that production year.

I have 2 1966 Canadian Standards and both of them have the headlamp dimmer mounted on the floor. Bingo! We can't assume everone has a U.S. spec '66. There were Canadian customs and various models around the world. The 1200 model was still sold simultaneously with the 1300 in Europe. The Australian ...

First of all, there are not many cons. I always thought the smaller windows on the earlier Beetles looked better (and still do), but that's from outside the car, not inside. From a driver's standpoint, it's much nicer with the big windows. VW did a good job reducing the cave-like aspect of the car b...

I agree that replacing the beam is the best solution, but I offer this as an option. Not everyone has the facilities or the skill set that we do. We're talking about removing the beam, drums, backing plates, tie rods, steering box, trailing arms and torsion leaves, then reassembling everything in th...

Painting a Sea Blue Beetle yellow is a cruel cruel thing to do!

It's one of the things that attracts me to the '66 model year.

That and Java Green!

What a gorgeous L87 '66. I love the original red interior. I think '66 had the most comfortable stock seats of all.

I'd ditch the visor. It's looks like fiberglass '80s stuff.

scruffy wrote:nice looking 66, damn now i don't feel so old cool! welcome

The elderly woman in the first photo is my mom. I ain't that old yet!

I'm with Matt. Sounds like a bent pulley.

If it dies at an intersection, Scruffy, then you have more problems than just the starter!

Remove the distributor. Rotate the engine by hand clockwise until the #1 cylinder top dead center mark is even with the seam in the engine case. Reinstall the distributor and check your timing. Rotating the engine until the mark on the pulley is at 12 o'clock could indicate No. 1 or No. 3 cylinder ...

I agree with John on the voltage regulator and brushes, but the fact that it charges while running and the gen light goes completely out would indicate it's probably not a charging problem. It could be a weak 6-volt battery. I would urge you to switch to an Optima 6 volt battery. Also, check out my ...

See my post about hard starting problems in this thread: http://www.1966vwbeetle.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=448

You can't clean the valves. They're inside the combustion chamber. But adjustment is vital, and easy to do. Here's a great explanation from thebugshop.org that explains why it's so important: Setting valve clearances I'm not going to tell you how (look in your Muir book that you just bought, there i...

First, TURN OFF THE CAPS LOCK.

Before we delve into troubleshooting, have you ruled out any tune-up issues, such as plugs, points, wires, timing and valve adjustment? A lot of words have been written to try and cure problems that could have been settled with a simple tune-up.

I'm with fatalifeaten. I'd keep my swing axles. First off, did you top off your gear oil? This is crucial if there's a rip in the axle boot. If you've never changed the gear oil, I'd drain it and refill it ASAP. You should also replace the boot. You must do this with load on the rear axle so there's...