Geesh, this car was new just months ago! It's amazing how things underneath get dirty and corrode. Adjusted the steering box in anticipation of a road trip a couple of weekends ago, and made a note to get under the car with some cleaning supplies and fresh paint soon. The road trip started off as a blast, headed down to the southern border of Washington state, via Mount Rainer National Park and a bunch of other twisty roads. The car was handling flawlessly, despite the heat, until I hit the desert-like conditions of Yakima. The air temperature was a little over 33 degrees, with zero wind. Driving at around 120kph the oil temp was up to 220, and I had to work to keep it below 230F. In hind sight taking the skid plate off before my trip would have been a wise idea, but I was so close to my destination I figured I wouldn't worry too much. I know from past experience that dropping the skid plate will equal a 20deg oil temp reduction, and should probably resolve to create a summer plate with some of the design features of VW's original ones.
The road trip home, though, was like a story from hell. First bad gas (water), which required overnight carb cleaning in a walmart parking lot. The rear brakes went to metal (seized slider pin) and I roasted the rotor and brake calliper. Then ignition issues, and finally a broken elephant foot adjuster (which I discovered many hours later).
I limped the car to AVR on three cylinders, and spent a bunch of time diagnosing the problem (being awake for 30+ hours doesn't help the brain to function). Thank goodness Art and Vic were there to help me out between calls and customers! Eventually I borrowed a set of Rockers from Art's drag-car parts stash, a few other miscellaneous parts and made my final two hour trip home.
And once home, the poor Beetle sat. First off to wait for parts, then to wait while Audi & truck projects were worked on, and then finally because every damned thing I did wasn't working out. The list of things I meant to take care of was rather long, the car after 42,000km was due for some bumper to bumper checks and maintenance. Some things, like the grinding starter, I was aware of…while others (like apparently I have no brake lights!) were pointed out to me on the drive home. While I waited for new rocker arms to arrive, I started picking away at the list.
The brake switch boots were filled with dried mud, and thus the contacts had corroded. Relatively easy fix that, so there was that positive factor. But the next two photos give a much better description of how my last two weeks went.
Missing from the photos is the brand new brake calliper, that once installed started puking fluid out of the e-brake mechanism…there were other issues too, but I'm afraid I'll end up in a mental hospital if I start listing them off! After breaking the new chinese-rebuilt starter ($40), the only thing I could get quickly was a Bosch rebuilt, at a price tag of $150. True, not bad for a starter…but when you toss them in a lathe and cut a 1/4" off the front face you think about whether or not you want to spend the money! My gosh, why did I not buy one of these from the get-go? All my grinding starter issues are gone, even though I haven't replaced my now hurting flywheel. Not to mention it spins so much quicker the bug starts in less then a second.
After getting the whole motor reassembled, the brakes replaced and bled (twice) I loaded in a bunch of tune up parts (points, wires, cap, rotor, plugs) and fired it up. Holy bag of hammers, Batman! The motor sounded like the crank was split in two, and all the bits were bouncing off each other. Well crap. A few evenings of sleuthing around, and eventually I simply replaced the new rocker-shafts/rockers with the old ones (putting a new adjuster into the one broken one) and everything is silent as a lamb. Same part, same part number, same measurements in every respect. The car likes one set, but not the other. I'm not going to argue, because it's running now!
I figured after a frustrating two weeks, two things where in order. First, movie night:
and second, a little upgrade today:
I need to make some mounts today, but looking forward to the front spoiler. Also, my new shifter assembly has shipped…it will probably arrive just in time for the long weekend, and I'll be away in Edmonton. Argh!!
-Dave