New Member Here!

thatguy · Post by **thatguy** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 9:38 am

Hello all! I recently purchased a 1966 Beetle with a 1600 dual port motor. I was searching for some parts sites and came across this fine place. My bug started out in fair/poor condition, but is coming along just swimmingly. Been working on the body mostly, 'cause it was running - not anymore though...still will start and idle, but has developed a MASSIVE knock on the drivers side when gas is given. I have parked it, and am awaiting a deep well oil pump, new push-rod tubes/seals, and exhaust manifold to come in before I get too deep into the project.

I have rebuilt a ’57 Chevy Long-bed step side pickup to original, ’70 Monte Carlo from rust to ride, and a ’63 Chevy Impala 4 door rescued from the salvage yard for free(just had to tow it home) and sold for $9500! This is my first bug though, and I am finding it to be the second best (after the ’57 pickup – family owned since new and all) car experience yet! I am still new to the car, but have wanted since I was old enough to drive.

I look forward to asking and answering lots of questions!

Thanks,

David Parish

scruffy · Post by **scruffy** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:30 pm

Welcome Dave to the family,The 63 was a sweet ride I wish I would have held onto mine.you will find some helpful people here.Don't run the bug with the knock your talking about,you may have a rod ready to let go or a dropped valve.drop the motor and pull the heads and take a look see.

Post by **jmartini** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 5:23 am

Welcome to the Forum Dave! Congrat's on your bug, I'm with Scruffy on this one - I thought I read in John Muir's book that when a main bearing goes out it sounds like "Thor's Hammer" in the engine. Of course many things can make a racket in there if they go bad. You will most certainly want to pull it apart and go through the engine, but then that's half the fun anyway. Good luck and we look forward to hearing from you!

fourcylinder · Post by **fourcylinder** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 5:29 am

Hi Dave! Glad to have you as a member!!! Good luck with the engine work! With all your experience it should be a piece of cake! Once again Welcome!

thatguy · Post by **thatguy** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 7:39 am

Thanks for the welcome!

I do have some good starting experience, but I am finding that the size differential between a 63 Impala and a 66 Bug to be quite a challenge. I am 6’4” at 265#. I am not as petite as I used to be and some of the areas in the Bug are just not quite made for persons of my stature to fit into easily.

I haven’t driven it since the knocking started, and “Thor’s hammer” sounds a lot like the problem. My goal this weekend is to drop the motor out and do a complete tear down and rebuild. I am not sure that it needs to be done, but I figured, “If it’s already out, I might as well get into the guts and get familiar with it, eh?” I have worked with a 1300 ‘aforn, but not very extensively, and am not quite sure of the differences between it and the 1600 dual port; any aid there?

I have found that who ever put this 1600 in here didn’t make a lot of room for it, and some of the cooling tin is missing (on order along with a slew of other odds and ends) so that I cannot see between the motor body and the fan shroud. Is there a motor mount holding things together in there? Or can I drop the sides/bottom and tilt/pull the motor out?

Thanks again for your time!

David

Post by **jmartini** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 12:13 pm

I've never pulled mine but John Muir's book has the complete procedure for doing it. Scruffy is our very own John Muir here on the site so he may have some recommendations but I think this would cover 99%:

Disconnect the battery.

You'll need to jack up the beetle and put it on some strong jack stands or blocks. Next support the engine with a jack because later you will slowly drop it and pull it out.

Then disconnect the fuel line where it goes through the firewall tin at the front of the engine, but be ready to plug it with something small so you don't end up swimming around in gas. All the wiring needs to be disconnected, I would use masking tape and label them and the connector that they go to or you'll be sorry later when you are re-assembling it all.

Disconnect the throttle cable, and save the parts in a bag, if you think you are going to forget how to reassemble any of these parts take pictures (I'm restoring a 1975 Yamaha Motorcycle and I have labeled and bagged everything and glad I did).

Remove all the engine tin and you may need to remove the engine cooling tin.

Loosen the 4 nuts between the engine and transaxle. Start with the two on the bottom. When you remove the top two you have to make sure you have the motor supported with no weight on the trans or you can damage the shaft.

Once you have separated the two carefully wiggle the engine and lower.

BTW: I'm 5'10 so it's just the right size for me

Good Luck!

scruffy · Post by **scruffy** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 5:19 pm

I use a short 2X6 16 to 24 inches long on my floor jack take the weight up on the jack pull slowly back until the trans,shaft clears lower to the floor .I normally jack the car up and slide the engine out backwards.But the way it sounds,you can just pick the rear of the car up and push it forward

If the engine tin was missing chances are it has gotten hot and probably spun a bearing most likely rod.The cooling tin is there for a very good reason.Put new rubber engine body seals on your shopping list also.have fun we all do!