Bathroom Reading...

Here's the place to come to post when you have questions relating to technical issues or mechanical questions on the 1966 model year.

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beatle5
New Member
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2012 10:37 pm
Location: Kittredge, CO

Bathroom Reading...

Post by beatle5 »

I’m new here, and know some vw things, but admittedly not much. I realize this will be a lengthy post but I want to paint as complete a picture as possible…

So, I have a grab bag of random questions, and some important details:

These are the parts that came with the car:
The engine is stamped AR, which looks to be a Brazilian ’73 and is a 1600 DP.
The dizzy is an SVDA with a part number that corresponds to a ’68 engine.
The carb is a Brazilian 34 Pict-3.

Ok:

1. I need a new(er) wiper assembly (transom?). I have the wipers, shafts, arms, and motor, but the mounting apparatus which the pivots and motor attach to doesn't work with the connecting arm. It all locks up. Can I use just any 'ol assembly or is it year specific?

2. How hot is too hot? I read in the Muir Bible that if I can touch the dipstick, then it’s ok.

3. How necessary is a thermostat? My car has none.

4. Should I be concerned about fairly large air bubbles traveling through the fuel filter into the carb? I’ve read that it is either a leaky fuel line/pump or it’s vaporized gas from the fuel line heating up.

5. Should I set the timing according to the year of the distributor (0*) or to the engine (ether 5*ATDC or 7.5* BTDC)? I can’t tell if my engine was made before or after Spring ’73, which does make a difference apparently…

4. This’ll be a biggie but first a little background: I bought the car about 3 years ago and it has never run "right". Hesitated, wanted to die at stoplights, hard to shift. I went as far as a tune-up, but to no avail. About two years ago, I'm driving up a hill and the bug (which was oddly sluggish till then) suddenly lost its oomph with a puff of white smoke and barely crawled the rest of the way, maybe 300 feet. Not knowing anything about anything, I figured it overheated, parked it and left it for a few hours to cool off. Later I drove it home but with less power and some weird hesitations. Needing wheels sooner than later, I settled for a different car, but having gotten attached to it, I kept the Bug. Its been garaged up till about May of this year. After my '96 Passat croaked, a certified vw buddy comes over and helps me pull the engine. We do a compression test and find that No.1 has none! We pull the heads and find that either the head or the cylinder had warped just enough to lose compression. Bought new cylinders, pistons/rings and had the heads resurfaced at a Bug-specific shop. Also, at my buddy’s suggestion, I bought a new stiff-disk clutch (but not a pressure plate), and a throw-out bearing. At this point my "buddy" flakes out and disappears, leaving me to do the work myself…

Which I really quite enjoyed actually! Learned a lot about myself, and my car. With work, family, and quite a bit of head scratching, the repair took all summer. But I got it done! Fired it up and… it wouldn’t even idle. couldn't adjust the carb to save my life. Buy a carb rebuild kit and follow instructions to a 'T'. Still nothing. Research. Ah-ha, vacuum leaks! Patched them as best I could with aluminum tape, which really minimized the loping. Warm it up and drive about five miles to and back home. The engine fluttered a bit and felt hesitant through acceleration. I "notice" a pronounced, rapid knocking sound from the passenger side of the car, but only when it's pulling a hill at maybe 30-40 mph.

As far as I can tell, the noise seems to be coming from inside the passenger area. It could be the battery rattling around, but this sounds more mechanical. It’s not gear specific, its not related to which direction the car may be leaning toward. Granted, my drive time was not extensive so I couldn't get a true feel, but I didn't want to strand my daughter and I.

A few extra points:

At no point was the crankcase ever opened up, nor the flywheel or crank pulley removed. I only replaced the above items.

Yesterday, I adjusted the carb after the car warmed up and it idled just fine, maybe a little on the high side.

Tonight, it fired up but would not stay running, even after the five-mile drive. Once home, I fiddled with the carb until it at least idled on its own. At that point the loping eased off and evened out. I turned it off, came in and wrote this.

Any advice would be highly appreciated, as this needs to be my daily driver. I’m happy to provide pics or audio/video if need be.

Thank You in advance!
(no pun intended)
Blue Baron
Senior Member
Posts: 879
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 8:34 pm
Location: Tampa, Florida

Post by Blue Baron »

First off, your biggest problem, and probably why there was no response: Too encyclopedic of a question. We're simple people here.

1. I'm guessing you want to convert to 12 volt? A '67 assemby is a direct swap complete with two-speed dash switch. A '68 and '69 assembly will also swap, but the dash switch is larger. A '70 or later assembly uses a different attachment, but can be modified to work.

2. Gene Berg makes a nifty dipstick to help you monitor oil temps.

3. A thermostat is necessary to help the engine to reach normal operating temperature. The beetle is as basic as it gets, and the factory didn't include anything superfluous.

4. No.

5. Always set timing to the engine.

6. You never mentioned valve adjustment. And going from your previous questions, you're not so sure about timing either. I'd start out by static timing it to 7.5 BTDC and go from there.
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