Gland nut removal on an automatic

Check out this site:

Specifically, this page:

hth

-- Scott

You may be screwed, but we'll go over a few things.

1. Buy the Bentley Official Manual for '70 thru '79 Beetle. Good section on the autostick.

1. The holes in the outer edge of the drive plate are for very special bolts which connect the drive plate to the torque converter.

2. There is a special tool which locks the teeth on the "flywheel" (drive plate) to the case so the gland nut can be loosened. You may be better off dragging the engine to a tire shop and have them impact it off.

Why are you removing the drive plate?

If the intake manifold has 2 rubber booties on it, chances are this is a 1600cc engine, correct for '73.

Do get the manual.

There is a forum just for autosticks:

Speedy Jim

The gland nut is what holds the flywheel on, no?

You need to lock the flywheel in so you can take a breaker bar or pneumatic impact wrench to it. That locking is done with a special tool:

(it is the tool in themiddle of the picture -- vwplace.com sells it for around $5).They sell a number of clever little tools -- as you dig into the car,their usefulness will become cleaer. As one VW newbie to another, get all the manuals you can afford - Bentley's VW bug manual is very detailed. You may want to look into getting the bugme videos Those CDs are the best tools you can have and explain it all very well in a friendly easygoing style. Also stay tuned to this newsgroup - there are some really knowledgeable nice people here.

Regards, Remco

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I'll get it.

If I find a torque converter in the pile of parts, could I reattach it and then remove the nut normally?

I bought one of those already.

The engine needs to be completely torn apart and rebuilt, at least. When I tipped the engine over, nice rusty water poured out of the intake and exhaust manifold. {snip}

Remember that I got this thing (pieces) free, so I've nothing to lose. I would rather not spend the money up-front on a turn-key, but would rather learn-by-doing on this probably-broken-forever engine first. If I absolutely can not tear it apart or if it can't be rebuilt, then I'll fork out the ~$1.5K for a new one.

Thanks for the advice.

{snip}

That's what I thought and that's what the books say, but there ain't nothing. One side has a belt pulley, the other has this thin metal disc with no teeth on the outside edge.

Animal

LOL! Had I bothered to read *my*manual, it would have jogged my memory that the teeth are on the converter, not the drive plate.

Impact it off and be done with it.

As for tearing the engine down, go for it; it will be an excellent learning experience.

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Now, before anyone asks, this is what you will need to convert the car to 4-speed:

You need a lot! Helps to have a complete donor car of the same vintage.

A tranny, of course. Make sure it has the same front mount and rear mount design. (It changed in '73)

If you will be using the old engine, you'll need a flywheel, pressure plate, clutch. Make sure the pressure plate is compatible with the tranny you use. (That combo changed in '71)

Oil pump. Your old engine has a dual oil pump. Either replace the pump with the single stage or disable the second stage and block the lines off.

Complete pedal assy.

Shift Lever.

Shift Rod (in the tunnel) Yep, auto and 4-speed are different. They also differed in length by year so you need to get one from a similar year.

Clutch cable conduit (in the tunnel). Some later years already have a spare conduit in the tunnel. Check for this first thing. If no tube, you'll have to snake one in and weld it.

Speedy Jim