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Nastiest job on a beetle?

I allways thought putting a new headliner in a super beetle with a sunroof was the nasties job to do on a bug.... Until my windscreen wipers started to make a strange scraping noise.... Well the shafts were dry and had to be greased. No problem, I thought, I'll just remove the whole mechanism and grease the thing. I knew getting the wiper mechanism out is a bit tricky, BUT I never knew getting the entire thing (plus motor) out was this difficult on a curved windshield super beetle (1303). It turned out that if you want to remove the motor + it's wiring, you basically have to remove the entire dashboard . You just can't really get to the places where the wiring is connected to the fusebox and to the ground. And even when you could get it unhooked there, it's very hard to put it back.. So I ended up taking out only the mechanism and leaving wiring in place, and leaving the motor lying in the fresh air box. I've had this car apart entirely, and first put the wiring in place, and then mounted the dashboard. I never realised that replacing the wiper motor would be such a big job when everything is installed.

It's clear this was volkswagens first attemp to make a "real"dashboard (don't get me wrong here, I love the metal-dashboards!!) .

So, what do think is the nastiest job on your beetle?

Greetings, Gerrelt.

Reply to
Gerrelt
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regreasing cv joints.... one of the things i hate doing...

Reply to
dragenwagen

I like CV joints. Here the nastiest job so far has been the axle nut from hell. Remember last christmas? That nut handled anything I threw at it. I ended up with even a few cc's of blood less.

The nastiest job IMHO depends on the specific car you have. Here was the ANFH (axle nut from hell), yours is CV joints. Maybe there's someone out there that thinks the nastiest job is replacing the transaxle grease (I know someone who says that).

Karls

Reply to
Karls Vladimir Peña

Adjusting the rear suspension/torsion bars...especially if the bars are rusted solid to the spring plates and you need to take them to work to have the guys in the machine shop use the "big" hydraulic press to get them apart because the "small" one bent a hardened tool steel bit trying to break them free. Oh yeah, and the ear plugs you need to wear when they finally break free after 5 pumps on the press handle after it touches off on the surface. And that's just gets them free, not to mention the job of actually adjusting them!

Reply to
Steve Gift

Has to be removing floor pan bolts that go into the heater channels!!!! Especially on those old rust buckets. Not fun at all.

"Wild" Bill and "Blondie" Linda Tucker

President and First Lady Rare Air VW Club Pensacola, FLorida

'78 VW Bus ( "Old Rusty" )

'76 Bug Resto Custom ,1776, Front Disc, T-3 Rear brakes, "Prowler Purple."

'69 Squareback , Arizona car, Automatic, "Blondies' Car"

'67 Squareback

Rare Air VW Club Website:

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Reply to
Wild Bill

Throttle cable when it's 110 degrees out and your car is crapped out where there's no shade. Burned my leg on the asphalt in Palm Desert trying to get that sucker through the engine tin (after walking to a parts store to get it). Definitely the nastiest job I've ever done except for that time I had to replace the muffler after the P.O.S.P.O. had J.B. welded the old one onto the exhaust studs. Sheesh.

Anyway, go buy John C.'s "Bulletproof Throttle Cable", then put your bug in the nice, cool garage, maybe even in the evening, get a beer, listen to the ballgame, and leisurely install the cable on your terms. I did! -MG

P.S.- Eric Huelsman has a great tech article on how to do this. Go here:

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Reply to
Matty G

Reply to
Gerrelt

Oh yeah....I now remember, I had to replace a muffler outside in the street in the winter when it was freezing once.

Replacing a muffler on a beetle is always a nasty job, no matter the temperature...

Reply to
Gerrelt

actually bill... i didnt have much problem with mine... i twisted one out of the heater channel, but so.... i was replacing the heater channel anyway.... now those 2 17mm bolts that go into the "firewall" at the front of the heater channels proved to be a bear.... they squeeled all the way out and there werent many threads left on them!

Reply to
dragenwagen

Reply to
Lloyd McClelland

. . replacing rusted chrome exhaust tips which won't come out [without cracking the muffler] . . . hack sawing the stuck one off and filing out the pieces. . . .all to get out of replacing the [somewhat rusted] muffler until the next time the engine comes out. . . .then realizing the muffler has to come out anyway because if its that fragile it can't be trusted --even for another month. v. . . .and then remembering that time 30 years ago when there was an ice storm on Christmas and I had to get up under the dash to reattach the idler arm on the wiper motor so I could get to work on time. v . . .and then realizing I used go to all that trouble because I was poor, and now I still go to all that trouble because I can! ---end--- . . .everything I wanted when I was a kid but couldn't have [like that Westy climb-on playhouse], I got 2 of after I got old. . . .well except for that. hmmm. gotta go.

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Reply to
Grape Daddy

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