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[Rickles (Rick)]

I've done a lot in the past couple months since I got the car, so I won't go day-by-day. Here's the major stuff:

Euro-type headlight flasher so I could have the "silent horn" like Europeans and modern US cars (flash the highbeams with headlights off).

Retrosound radio and speaker in the regular dash places (Just couldn't go for the Saphire's AM-only.).



Retractable, three-point front, shoulder seatbelts.

Nardi period correct (I think) wood rim steering wheel



NOS wiper motor I found on the Samba - the wipers wouldn't Park and had goofy low-off-high instead of off-low-high. Contacts inside were frozen shut, so someone put the wires on different terminals instead of fixing it correctly. Works great now.

Ed Fall rebuilt (proper '67) fuel pump - I thought the old non-'67 pump was leaking because my oil read overfull and smelled (I thought anyway) a little like gas in it. After changing the pump and the oil it read overfull at first, then later was perfect. It's a mystery, but I think the first pump was probably OK after all. Glad to have the correct '67 pump, though.

Beautiful Glenn Ring rebuilt German 010 distributor (I think I'm still too much of a newbie to be allowed to call it a "Dizzy" yet.), Pertronix Ignitor II, German Bosch cap and rotor, Bosch Blue 00012 coil ( that's not the new coil in the pic; have a Pertronix Flamethrower II for later maybe). - Had a Brazillian 009 with a Compufire, but I read how much better the 010 advance curve was than the 009. It did make a world of difference. The 010 needs a different module than the 009, so I keep the 009 for a roadside spare.



Made up a bracket and installed a Halonite fire extinguisher in front of the passenger seat. Some on the Samba felt the 1.4 lb. was too small and the 2.5 lb. would be better. I think the smaller one is adequate and a much better fit (Just hope I never have to find out.).





Pulled the distributor drive gear today to turn it 180*. Discovered it was off when I put the 010 in; I guess it was installed 180* when the engine was rebuilt. It ran fine with 1-3 and 2-4 wires swapped, but it drove me nuts knowing it wasn't "right." The wires fit better now that they aren't all jumbled and stretched to the wrong spots (I have new plugs and a set of Taylor's ((and 8mm wire clips)) to put in later.).

[Bob(Herbie)]

Very nice work Rick. You can call it Dizzy now after all the upgrades. 

[Rickles (Rick)]

Ha ha, thanks, Bob.

[Richard]

Rick,
Looks great!
Nice work.
 

I noticed your fuel lines are the OG braided type... are they rated for ethanol gas? Does the feed line stay rubber all the way back to the firewall before changing to metal?

[Rickles (Rick)]

Thanks, Richard.

Yes, it's braided line all the way to the metal line at the firewall. Are there any Ethanol (a useless political product) friendly lines that are 5mm? Better yet, are there any that are braided on the outside so they look OG?

[Richard]

Not that I could find. I'm using 1/4" J30R7 fuel hose and securing it with a fuel line type hose clamp. Not willing to risk the Beetle on non ethanol rated fuel hose. JMHO.
I am thinking about changing the metal line in the engine bay to rubber hose to help keep the fuel cooler. Not sure.

[matt]

 Great job Rick,
  Was it a little tricky getting the 3 point belts in with respect to the upper ( shoulder) mount?

Matt

[Rickles (Rick)]

No, Matt. The holes are already there and tapped in 67's and maybe in a few years before that. The trickiest part was mounting the reel at the floor to remain vertical and away from the metal backseat strip. (Although, the lock doesn't seem to work on a pendulum; it's activated by sudden movement.) It needed a little bracket from seatbeltplanet.com, where I bought the belts, to keep it away from the floor; the reel would bind otherwise using the stock bolt hole. SeatbeltPlanet was great; very helpful and everything is made in the USA. Best price I found too, and they were the only place that had an in-between length of bracket that was just right.

Not a great view, but you can see how the reel had to be spaced away from the floor under the seat.



These are of the upper mount locations (not my car, but the same).

[grungeant (Anthony)]

Not that I could find. I'm using 1/4" J30R7 fuel hose and securing it with a fuel line type hose clamp. Not willing to risk the Beetle on non ethanol rated fuel hose. JMHO.
I am thinking about changing the metal line in the engine bay to rubber hose to help keep the fuel cooler. Not sure.

When I was trying to figure out doing metal lines one thing I thought for insulation in some hotter places was to either slice a rubber line down the side and wrap it around the metal line, or slide the metal line into a rubber line, then flare the ends of the metal.

There's a place on Rt49, I think they are called Cumberland Valve? Anyways they have all kinds of fittings and hoses. I got some 30R7 hoses with the braid on the outside made by Gates. I don't know what sizes they come in, but I know I got 1/2" for my engine breather, and whatever size all the power brake vacuum lines are.

I did all my fuel lines with the gates Barricade 30R14 hoses. The parts store told me 30R7 is ethanol "resistant" but I used some as a conduit to run speaker wires under my bus, and not even 1 year later the outside was cracked near every bend.
I don't know if maybe I just got cheap stuff, but because of that I don't trust it for liquid or pressure.

[Rickles (Rick)]

During a Google search for vapor lock, I found this on a Hot Rod Magazine online article. Two types of fuel line insulation by Design Engineering Inc. [DEi].

One if you haven't installed the fuel line yet.


One for installed lines.

[Richard]

The parts store told me 30R7...    ... I used some as a conduit to run speaker wires under my bus, and not even 1 year later the outside was cracked near every bend.
I don't know if maybe I just got cheap stuff, but because of that I don't trust it for liquid or pressure.

Well, that's not good!
I find it hard to believe that that hose is so unstable. Maybe you did get bad hose. How tight were the bends. To crack w/o any fluid in it just doesn't seem right.

[Daverted]

Drove to an Oktoberfest, 2hr one way, the Sunbug ran great, even coming home in the rain.

[6T5 square]

the rear view mirror is blocking that big ol smile on your face!

[matt]

 NIce Pic.,


  And looking good!


Nice

[Rickles (Rick)]

I installed my aluminum Quick Shift Kit and Wolfsburg West Shift Lock. The shift rod bushing was missing and lying in the bottom of the tunnel. I replaced that and also replaced the shift coupler with a Rhino unit. Two day job, mostly because of the shift rod and bushing. I found a pair of hose pliers from Harbor Freight was handy for sliding the rod out (I would prefer not using tools from China, my socket sets and wrenches are Snap On, but the price was good for something I'll probably never use again.). After I finished, I found an easier method on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=410XrXNrPQ0&feature=youtu.be. I used a similar methof to reinstall the shift rod from a picture I saw on the Samba; I can't find where to give him credit.

I found a boot with a square opening that fits the lock perfectly. http://www.eisparts.com/111711115B.html

The biggest size is just right.


PVC pipe with the end rounded with a Dremel and taped to the rod.


I made a pretty sloppy cut of the mat on the passenger side for the lock, so I ordered a new mat to try again.




The lock works great and the throw is nice and short and tight.


.