Das Volks Vintage Volkswagen Gruppe

Well, I started tackling the wiring today. Took me an hour to remember that the starter solenoid has 2 spade terminals and that the starter won't work if you hook up to the wrong one. Once I got that sorted out, I hit the key for the first time in the buggy & it turned over. The wiring before was spur of the moment, whatever was laying around, just see if it runs wiring. The kind with household light switches, oven wire, and a vacuum cleaner headlight for an alternator light. It worked, but had to go.

Next up was the fuel line. There's now proper braided line from the tank to a filter underneath, rubber fuel line to a steel line going down the side of the tunnel, rubber to another filter, then braided to the pump & carburetor. Got that together and put some gas in it. IT RUNS! No pushbuttons or light switches, but I kept the vacuum cleaner light for now. I want something bigger & more obvious than stock on it. Now if only I could remember where I put the filler neck and gas cap...

I rebuilt the carb last year but never really got it adjusted. Today I noticed the intake boots are splitting. I also noticed the exhaust was cool on cylinders 2 & 4. I've read about this before but not seen it until now. Not sure if it had to do with the carb rebuild, leaky boots, or both, I'll worry about it after I replace the boots. I'm just glad to have some progress that wasn't covered in fiberglass resin for once!

Good progress out of the gate today. Must have been sweet to hear it come back to life! Glad IT RUNS!!

good job. Glad you got to tinker with it. Keep the pics coming

Thanks, it was pretty sweet to go down the block again- even on 2 cylinders. I'd have taken pics, but it still looks the same as it did before. Only real difference is the ignition switch actually works now.

Nice Charlie.

Yesterday saw some light blue Krylon applied to the fenders and across the nose, the front turn signals mounted, and the battery in my jumper box replaced and charged. Today I'm hoping to get the same done on the rear, and if time etc allows, get them hooked up. That would leave the tag light, windshield and the wipers to be street legal. Hopefully I won't run into a state inspector who requires a defroster for an open car. I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

I'm also toying with an idea for a top made out of leftover popup camper bunk end vinyl roof & supports. Gotta get it together first.

Off the glutes to get dressed & out there...

1- It's hot out there.
2- The kids were doing their best to "help".
3- Everywhere I look it seems, I find errors & shorts in that diagram I printed off the samba. It's a good guide, but a lousy
'bible". Terminal #'s would have been very helpful.
4- The diagram in the Haynes book was written under a microscope in black and white. At least it has SOME terminal #'s.
5- Where did I put that part 9 years ago when I got it?
6- Did I mention it's hot out there? I came in to cool off.
7- The breeze is blowing all my papers around. Lineman pliers do well as paperweights.
8- If I let any of the above slow me down it will be 10 years before this buggy is done. No wait- it's already been 10 years.

Cooled off some, time to get busy again.

EDIT:
During my cooldown, it started raining. Hopefully my $h!t will dry out ok. It may take a little longer now, but it's still gonna happen.

Some progress is better than no progress!

Front running lights and headlights on hi/low/whatever they're set on are working. Gotta pull the DS headlight back off & flip the mount cup over. Figures, that's the side with the hole drilled & wire tie zipped tight keeping the wires off the tire. It's one or two steps closer now than it was though. Not all I'd hoped to accomplish today, but Raj, you're right- it's better than nothing.

Keep at it Charlie. You'll get there.

Yesterday saw new bulbs (that I've had for years) installed in the headlights, hi/low beam wiring figured out, also figured out that if I want the turn signals to flash there needs to be a flasher in the circuit- neither diagram shows one for them- only the 4 ways, tail lights mounted & wiring started, throttle cable broken, engine started & ran for a few minutes. Realized that I need more light on the back, I'm not satisfied with what's back there in the dark.

Today I'm hoping to get the lights all squared away, wiring neatened up, and if there's time get the wipers working. Maybe even look at the accelerator cable, I think it just came loose from the pedal... again.

Computer and memory card not on speaking terms right now, pics when able. One more thing to troubleshoot. GRRrrr....

Big_kid wrote:. Realized that I need more light on the back, I'm not satisfied with what's back there in the dark.
....

Glad to see you're finding time to get out there and work on this thing Charlie.

Do you mean more lights in the yard or on the buggy?

Back of the buggy needs the light. I've got more drop lights and portable lights than I have outlets to plug them in. The LED tail lights that were 'hurt you' bright in the garage get lost out in the wilderness. They need something in the lower part of the assembly, pics will clarify what I mean once I can upload them. Advance & Autozone websites SUCK if you're looking for a part without using a vehicle specific search.

I'll try for pics again tonight, got to take advantage of buggy time while I can. I just logged on to check the above websites.

Ditching the LED powered Jaguar marker lights for the time being. After seeing them in the dark last night I wasn't impressed. Incandescent was better in daylight, but getting anything in the lower part of the housing was proving to be a custom endeavor for another day. I broke out the originals from the donor and cleaned them up, they'll do the job. I can't see them while I'm driving anyway.

What I wanted:


What's going on (like everyone else):


Made a plate to cover what was left of the dash & mount whatever to (all that wiring was working, and will be cleaned up):


Just because it was on the camera:

nice Charlie. Good to see the family has given you an opportunity to escape to your hobby

OK, today saw the overall failure of the Jag/LED tail lights, so off to the shed I went to get the stock ones from the donor. A little soap & water, a little Krylon, almost enough time for it to dry, yadda yadda yadda, they're on. Passenger side TS work front & rear, DS I've not wired the rear. 4 ways are working, headlights are still working, cleaned up a bunch of the rat nest under the dash. Installed the "hot" fuse block on the plywood next to the "switched" fuse block and mounted it to the bottom of the dash, eliminated the factory Eurofuse panel, ran a few more grounds to the "ground plate" (scrap piece of aluminum plate) mounted to the firewall.

The passenger side TS was acting strangely for a while. The LS worked fine, but when I switched to the right it would only flash once or twice then stop. It seemed the longer I left it on the left before switching, the longer it would last on the right. I was able to isolate it to the TS switch. If it acts up it will stop and behave if I play with the high beam switch. I'm hoping for dirty contacts that will wear back in with some use, but I'm not holding my breath.

Speaking of High beams- I need to figure out which wires go to the hi-beam relay to switch it. I'd like to keep the factory function on the TS lever. I know that applying 12 volts to the S terminal will make the relay change state.

Not as much as I'd hoped for, but overall I'm satisfied with the day's progress. I'm going to have to fix that throttle cable soon- the driveway gets steeper as the day goes on, and that lip going into the garage gets bigger too when I have to push it back inside.

Big_kid wrote:
Not as much as I'd hoped for, but overall I'm satisfied with the day's progress.

Sounds like a few bumps this weekend, but hopefully you'll get them all smoothed out. that wiring is a handful for sure!

Big_kid wrote: a little Krylon, almost enough time for it to dry, yadda yadda yadda.

Nice. See these posts make me look forward to wiring the SC. YEA RIGHT!

The hardest part is the constant interruptions. Robin works weekends, so I've got the kids. Combine that with every other kid in the neighborhood wanting to "help" it's a wonder I get anything done. Between my kids' "She's breathing on me" and the rest of them asking What's this do? How does that work? Are you gonna put a tail light on the other side too? How are the pool chemicals?" etc. they're gonna drive me nuts. You know what though? Given the chance to stop all the questions, I wouldn't. They're learning (hopefully) and I have no morning cleanup the day after Halloween.

Big_kid wrote: "She's breathing on me"

this is awesome.... lol

Big_kid wrote: Between my kids' "She's breathing on me" and the rest of them asking What's this do? How does that work? Are you gonna put a tail light on the other side too? How are the pool chemicals?" etc. they're gonna drive me nuts.

What a hoot, made my morning!!

As the song goes by Trace Adkins, "you're gonna miss this, you're gonna want this back"....

Big_kid wrote:"She's breathing on me"

OMG dude it's everyday with this stuff. Then when they are getting along nice laughing and playing the crying and bleeding is soon to follow.

My kids are at Grandmas for a week.

Glenn A wrote:

Big_kid wrote:"She's breathing on me"

OMG dude it's everyday with this stuff. Then when they are getting along nice laughing and playing the crying and bleeding is soon to follow.

My kids are at Grandmas for a week.

And before you know it they are graduation from college and never to be seen again!!!

Enjoy every minute of it!!!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What he said.

There's times that I have to very deliberately remind myself that this is what I asked for, and that's exactly what I do. Slowly count to ten, or six hundred, and keep on going. They're only young once, and that's it. Seems like last week our teenager was a newborn.

I choose to look at build delays this way- all the delays and "challenges" make the buggy mean that much more to me: more obstacles overcome, more problems solved or worked around, that much more perseverance poured into it. It's been an ongoing thing for nearly 10 years now, what's another week or two? So long as I get it done in time for Manx at the Banx I'll be ok with it, but the sooner the better. (I'm really trying to make it this one) http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=449191 Given the lack of any easily visible buggy scene here and the fact that I LOVE The OBX, this is huge to me. Maybe I should check out that board more often, but I go into info overload when I visit there.

Grandma's is .9 miles away. There's no way she'd keep them over there for a week! (But they ARE talking about going to Ohio for a few days this summer... )