VW Brasilia Oilchange/Sloppy shifter

As far as your sloppy steering goes, sounds like your steering box may be worn out. If you follow the steering column from the steering wheel down through the firewall you will eventually hit the steering box. The output of steering box is the steering arm which attachs to the two tie rods that go to each wheel. From my experience with my old '64 bug sloppy/vague steering is usually the fault of the steering box rather than the tie rod ends. As I recall the steering box has an adjustment on the top that consist of a locking nut on a bolt that has a slot cut into it so it can be turned with a screwdriver. To adjust, you get an open end wrench to fit the locking nut and a large screwdriver that fits into the slot. While holding he bolt in place with the screwdriver, loosen the locking nut. Back the nut off several turns. To tighten up the steering box turn the slotted bolt clockwise. Turn it in a couple of turns until you get light resistance. At this point hold the screwdriver steady and re-tighten the locking bolt. Take the car for a spin and test the steering. If the steering is to tight (i.e. hard to turn) you have gone too far an you need to loosen the locking nut and back the slotted bolt out a little and re-tighten the locking nut and test again. If the steering is still too sloppy you need to tighten the bolt some more as described above. This is a trial and error thing and you may have to go back and forth several times to get it where you want it. If you can't improve things by adjusting the steering box the gears in the steering box may be worn out so you might need to replace it with a new or rebuilt unit. Be aware that there is also a steering damper which is basically just a shock absorber that smooths out the forces that the road/tires are putting back towards the steering wheel. The steering damper is normally pretty cheap and it probably worth replacing while you are in there. Of course inspect the tie rod ends for wear. Just check to see if the rubber boots that keep the grease around the ball joints are in good order. If not replace the rubber boots if it has not been driven long in this condition, otherwise just replace the whole tie rod.

Keep in mind that these are my experiences with my '64 Type 1. Mine had a kingpin front end where latter models have ball joints. I think the steering boxes are basically the same though.

On the oil change the thing you need to clean is the wire screen that sits over the drain plug. You have to remove the drain plate which has a series of hex nuts on the edges of the circular plate with the drain plug in the center. You can clean it out in gasoline or mineral spirits. You'll need a new gasket that goes between the drain plate and the motor. You used to could buy oil change kits that had the wire screen and the gaskets in one package. Honestly, the screen doesn't really do a whole lot for you. I guess if you got large bugs or gravel in your crankcase it might help but the holes are so big it isn't going to clean out small stuff like a real oil filter.

Simon Putz wrote:

and then the shifter is _extremely_ sloppy. ive driven bugs,

Here is a link to some good info on the shifter slop. Once at the site below, look for an article on the shifter. Loads of good info here!