I will be picking up a '74 Super Beetle next weekend and would like suggestions on intitial "must haves". The car is running and completely stock. I live in an area with temps from 0-100 and lots of humidity. I plan on fixing some of the fire issues that I read on this board but would like to investigate oil pumps/filters and standard vs. electronic ignitions. Thanks for your suggestions!
Depending on what the owner told you he did, I consider as a must for newly acquired bugs a change of oil, brake pads (maybe brake fluid too), check fuel lines, tire wear, wipers....and probably I forget something. Of course if the PO was your best friend, maybe you can trust him on a couple of these issues, but not too much! ;)
RhinoJockey wrote in this friggin' newsgroup:
On Thu, 15 Apr 2004 08:45:27 -0400, "RhinoJockey" wrote:
...as was posted first thing is brakes. Period. No sense going if ya can't stop. Pay close attention to condition of rubber lines. If they look olde and dry....replace em. On same note...as you mentioned...fuel lines. Just replace all the rubber line....do not question whether or not its necessary....just replace it. Ifd you do wish to question though, grab a piece of the line and fold it over on itself..odds are its old....odds are it will split. While replacing the fuelline you will want to move the little plastic filter out of the engine compartment and relocate it under the gas tank. Next inspect the rubber engine bay sel.....make sure it is in good shap...indeed make sure you cannot see daylight anywhere around the engine tin....if there is a holke....seal it. Since it is a super check the condition of the front end carefully. If the strut cartidges or bushings are worn....replace. Supers will get a 30mph shake easilly when the fron end components wear....this is usually easilly solved by replacing said components. That should get ya started anywho...once ya get all that replaced and checked give a shout back for specific problems like "things that go clunk in the night" As far as electronic ignition goes, (compufire or pertronics) they will offer no performance gain....what they will do however, is eliminate the points as a wear item that needs to be serviced...this will also keep your timing more stable...as the points wear it affects the timing to a small degree...this is why you always set dwell before timing. They are a generally good investment. A CDI unit will give a hotter spark and isn't a bad add on. a good investment , if the car does not have one, is a stock styled vacuum advance distributor. The 009 centrifigal only will work but your mileage will suffer.
...Gareth
First things first:
1) 82mm counterweighed crank 2) 94mm pistons and cylinders 3) Engle W130 Cam and straight cut gears for starters.....:D
Jan
As with any 'new to you' car I suggest changing All Fluids. (And filters.)
At this point, don't get too fancy with additives, just put in fresh, correct, high quality stuff.
TBerk
Jan, helpful as usual!
Thanks for the advice. Definitely all fluids, lines, etc. are being replaced. One positive is that the PO is my wifes grandfather who's owned it for 20 years. (I'll be the third owner). So, I know what has and hasn't been done lately. As for Jan's comments...I've got a '69 sitting around that's a good candidate for those mods. The '74 is all original so I just want to clean it up and do some things that will extend the life of the car.
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