I have had some trouble the past few weeks. While sitting rolling up to a red light a few weeks back I heard a pop - a click - and a spring noise. It sounded like pinball parts falling around my ankles. I cut the engine, and rolled my Bug into a service station to have a look. But there was nothing around my feet, and nothing out in the road. So I got back in and tried to drive away only to find ... the gears were no longer "clearly defined". :-) I had a bad shifter bushing. By bad I mean - NON EXISTENT.
So I replaced my bushing the other night, and adjusted the clutch. Having read about the procedure and looked at lots of pictures it all went pretty easily. 1st gear and especially second gear, have never felt better!! BUT -- I still have a slight "shimmy" when I come out of a dead stop in first. This was occurring before I replaced the bushing, and is still occurring now.
I have tried adjusting the clutch wingnut back up and down, and it doesn't have much of an effect. I am guessing that what I am experiencing here is a slipping worn clutch pad. If my timing is good, the shimmy is not so bad and I am in second gear pretty quickly. On a cold morning when my reflexes aren't so good - I nearly give myself brain damage (and I am banned from giving rides to infants for fear of shaken baby syndrome). Sometimes I shake so badly that I pop the oil-bath air cleaner off the top of the engine!
Before I drop the engine to check the pad - is there anything else obvious that I should be looking at?
Thanks,
-Steve Ballantyne
68' Bug