1970 Bug - QUESTIONS

It's been too many years since I owned a bug ('72 super), but I'm currently a love-slave to an '81 Westy, so I guess I qualify for this group...:)

At I guess, I'd say Automatic Transmission Fluid, which was needed for the old Auto-Stickshift beetles. That switch dosen't look stock, so I'd guess that a previous owner wired in the ATF light to advise him when he had the switch turned on: maybe it was used for fog/driving lights or sumpin' like that. I do the same sort of thing to my Westy: why have unused lights in the dash when they can be put to good use? :) Try tracing the wires from the switch to see what else it might power.

Exhaust Gas Recirculation. For the world outside of California, this was added to bugs in '74. From the look of your engine, you ain't got one, so don't worry.

See above.

Rear Window defogger. Your '70 may not have this, it's a bunch of thin horizontal lines that go across your rear window. A hidden rocker switch under the dashboard (to the right of the steering column, if I recall) is used to turn it on or off. Electric window defoggers draw a lot of current (and are thus an increased load on the engine), so it's best to be advised when it's on.

Seems reasonable for the vintage. It's a single-port, so it's most likely to be a 1500.

Just one: you don't have a engine pre-heat hose. That curvy spigot-type thingy hanging down from the air-cleaner intake should be connected with a length of that silver hose to the round thing that's sticking up through the rear tin to the left of the crankshaft pulley. While it may not seem important to have engine pre-heat in California, that hole in the lower tin redirects cooling air that has just been past the engine heads and cylinders. Without a hose (or a plug on the hole), you are dumping hot air directly into your engine compartment full-time while the engine is running, which will in turn cause the engine to run hotter than it should.

Um, rags?

Oop, sorry. I meant to the *right* of the pulley.

Lyle

I'll take a swat at a few of these:

Bubba wrote (asked):

If it's a 1970, Type 1 (Bug), it came with a 1600cc engine, not a

Get the Bentley book too. A Clymer manual doesn't hurt either. I have all three, and more.

ATF = Automatic Transmission Fluid. This speedo came from an auto-stick.

EGR = Exhaust Gas Recirculation

That's an indicator light for a rear window defogger, which your car may or may not have.

As another poster sayd, you are missing your big fat engine intake preheat air hose. Get some of the same 2" air ducting that runs from your fan housing to the heat exchangers and put a piece connecting the connection in the air cleaner's 'horn' to the similar connection coming up from the engine's sheet metal pretty much directly below it.

Drive to the U-squirt-it-off car wash, armed with quarters, and clean up that oily mess! Try not to blast water into the places where water is best not, like excessively over the dist cap, into anyplace that looks like it may lead somewhere, like into the air cleaner, etc.

Hope this helps!

"ATF" is for ATF fluid temp. All VW speedos from about '68 on had them, even if the car was manual tranny.

Squiggle is for the rear window defroster, as is the toggle switch. Apparently whoever put in the later speedo wired this up to the ATF rather than the defrost light.

EGR Exhaust recirc valve. Don't worry about it, your bug doesn't have one.

"H" code engines are '68 thru Aug '69 1500cc 53 HP engines. If it has an "0" as the next digit it's a Aug '66-July '67. If it has a "5" as the next digit, it's from Aug '67 to July '69.

Don't rely only on the engine number. There's always a possibility it's been rebuilt. If that's the case it may be a 1600. Only way to tell is to pull the heads and measure the cylinders. Something you don't want to do, unless it's necessary.

Engine looks good. To clean it up, get some degreasing spray from the local auto parts. Cover the carb, distributor with plastic bags and spray the beejeebers out of it. Don't forget underneath. Pay attention to all the cooling fins.

Let it sit for about 10 minutes and wash it off with water. If you can do this at the local $1.00 (used to be 25 cent) car wash, you won't get all the gunk on the driveway.

Carb cleaner does a good job, too, but don't get any on the paint.

If you check out my website, I chronicled an inexpensive resto on my '69. That may give you some ideas.

The H engine code was from '67 thru '69 which means originally a 1500. But if the engine was rebuilt it could be a 1600cc. It wouldn't really matter either way. The engine looks OK from here. The generator pulley looks new which means somebody has been making an attempt to work on it over the years. Question - is it an autostick?

My question to the group - what's that thing on the back of the carburetor? I can tell it's for vacuum, but to what?

Charlie Houston TX

Charles Myer wrote (asked):

That's a thing to moderate how fast the engine decellerates. It's like a shock absorber for the throttle so if you take your foot off the gas all of a sudden, the throttle doesn't slap closed quite that fast.

Pollution control, I think.

I used to yank those off my Bug's engines, whenever I found one on there.

I have a 1970 Bug, the year of the "B" motor, not worth a crap I'm told, mine has a number starting with two letters, must be a replacement, single port 1.6litre.

The engine I have in my bug is a h5 and it has 85.5mm pistons and cylinders in it, which makes it a 1600. Yours could have the same thing, as the

One of the things that I saw in the pics was that there is an open hole in the engine tin where a hose is missing. This hose goes from the bottom of the air filter and connects to a fitting on the exhaust under the tin. If you are replacing the hose, fine, nothing else needs to be done. If you are not going to replace the hose, then you will need to plug the hole in the tin. The hole will allow hot air from under the engine to be pulled up and into the engine bay and then into the fan which cools the engine. This can lead to over heating and reduce the life of your engine.

welcome to the family and you have found your best source for info for your Aircooled VW.

Hiya Douglas,

I have a 1970 Bug, the year of the "B" motor, not worth a crap I'm told.

Your statement is indefinite. It's not clear whether you are referring to the car or the engine. However, if you are referring to the engine, you need to get some better advice.

The "B6" series engine started its production run in August 1969 with a single relief case. During production that year the case upgraded to a dual relief set-up. These later cases are highly regarded by engine rebuilders. In actual use the "B" series engine was a rock solid performer. Continual maintenance problems (which plauged the later dual port 34PICT3 set-ups) were non-existent. In fact, I have been told by more than one VW dealer trained mechanic (of that era) that the 1970 Bug and it's component parts (which, of course, includes the engine) was the car they most enjoyed working with.

Take this for what it's worth. But whatever it is worth, the 70 Bug and its original B series engine were surely not "crap".

I really appreciate all the help i have received. this newsgroup is really quick with intelligent responses!!!

my engine # is H5862***

so from what i gather this is either a 1500cc or a rebuilt into 1600cc? am i along the path?

man there is so much left to do on this beast...

i am buying a Haynes manual for it this weekend and i'm gonna give everything a once thru

as for the Missing Hose.... that is solved!!! thanks for the heads up

thank you everyone!!!!

Awww shucks it wuz nut'n!