Bought My Dream Car

[Rotary Junkie]

If it was one of the later air-cooled cars, I'd say to swap the Scooby motor in or a Corvair flat-six. But considering it's a 56... Keep it close to original.

 

[niky]

Forget the engine swap... that's a very desirable Beetle... fix it up... then sell it for a ton of money and get a later car... if you need to swap in an engine, I suggest upgrading to a 2.4 liter shortblock and turbo-ing the hell out of the sucker...

There are street trim Beetles running under 9 seconds with turbocharged flat-fours... hell, Jessie James built one on Monster Garage! Who needs a Subaru engine, with all that heavy, complicated cooling stuff? Air-cooled all the way!

 

[El Jarretto]

Hey El Jarretto, are you planning on going on a trip across Botswana?

Nope. I don't plan on painting it or buying new panels or any of that, I love seeing these cars after being left sitting for long periods of time. I'll certainly do a mechanical restoration, making it street worthy, but I don't want a shiny chromed out oval, I've seen so many it just gets old. I plan on keeping it air cooled, a Subaru swap is just too much work and too much money, I'm in high school and even though every pay check will go to this car a Suby motor is over the top. Thanks for the comments though, tomorrow I stop cleaning and pick up a 26mm wrench and breaker bar to see if the engine turns over, hopefully if it does I'll be able to get it running.

 

[stumpydino]

real patina woo leave that! barn find? im sure the engine jus needs a few bits cleaned and itl splutter into life, hope

 

[buickgnx88]

Here's a pic of my dad's 1969 Baja Bug that we've been working on. It has a 1500cc engine (exposed of course!) with dual glasspacks. It sounds awesome and is a blast to drive!

 

[Specialized]

"cough" 911 engine "cough"

 

[Redline2008]

Nice choice buddy! That's a classic right there. My vote goes to restoring it 120%, repainting it with an original color and everything. Make it shine like it did in the late fifties Optionally, go for the rat look. Google it

 

[Giancarlo]

Congratulations! The Beetle is definitely a fun car to tinker with and once you get it going like you want it to, runs great. 👍

When i first got my '73 Standard, i stumbled upon www.thesamba.com/vw and found their site to be an awesome resource. Especially their forums, which is full of friendly and super helpful folks from all around the country (but mostly California ).

 

[3-Wheel Drive]

Hehe, all the buzz about your Beetle, and the first thing I noticed in the picture was your Taco (That looks damn clean, btw, with the painted grill/bumper)

Good luck on the Beetle, that thing looks like it will take some major work, but it should clean up real nice.

 

[socomplayer2]

Nice bug, I love them old beetles. I think those floor pans are going to kill ya in the end. I driven a 77 beetle convertible and i thought it was so much fun. Well congrats and enjoy your self.

 

[Jim Prower]

Yeah, you're gonna HAVE to replace the floorpans. Fortunately, you can just about build an entire bodyshell with the resto parts available today.

 

[Slick Rick]

Wow that thing is going to need some serious time put into it, good luck:tup:
Oh and wheres the clutch pedal? Is it an automatic??

 

[Joey D]

Wow that thing is going to need some serious time put into it, good luck:tup:
Oh and wheres the clutch pedal? Is it an automatic??

Both of my parents owned Beetles when they were younger and from what my dad has told me they were clutchless manuals. Either that or his was just in such bad shape that it didn't have a clutch.

 

[Giancarlo]

I remember reading once that the seats on the older models were uphosltered with genuine horse hair; is this one the same?

 

[El Jarretto]

Both of my parents owned Beetles when they were younger and from what my dad has told me they were clutchless manuals. Either that or his was just in such bad shape that it didn't have a clutch.

That was an auto stick which was introduced in '68. 3 speed manual shifting with a torque converter, now about the clutch pedal...What you are seeing is the clutch and brake pedal, look to the left and you will see a WHEEL. That is the gas "pedal" This car didn't come with a pedal from the factory, but rather a wheel. It just so happens that you can throw an old school skate board wheel on it. Must be fun for heel-toe! Anyways lately I've been doing all kinds of stuff to it, lots of tearing apart the interior and stuff, right now all that's left is a bit of sound deadener on the transmission tunnel. It's a tin can in there.

BTW, pulled the engine out!

I'll start disassembly tomorrow, the flywheel looks dead. I think I'll go ahead and convert to 12v electrical.

 

[ferrari_chris]

You need to tighten your belt a little, looks like your pants are falling down.

Good progress on the car though, keep it up! 👍