Good Day All,
First of all, my compliments on such an unselfish pool of knowledge. Y'all should be proud.
After a couple decades of having kids and moving around and about 8 months of searching for a rust free Beetle in Wisconsin, I am again counted as an air cooled beetle owner. I found one of the most rust-free '66 sunroof Beetles I've ever seen. (120,000 mi.) It needs some finishing to make up for a bunch of sitting and a poor previous paint job, but nothing major. I'm looking forward to finishing it up and having it ready for the snowmelt.
My goal is for this to be my primary driver for years to come as weather permits. I would also like to feel comforable if my wife or one of the kids takes it out.
I do have a handful of questions I'd like to throw out there in case some of you might have some quick answers and advice.
- I have the fenders and lids off to prep for paint and don't know what to do with the chrome trim on the door and rear quarter panels. I know the clips are accessible from inside, but the interior of the car is prisine and I would prefer to not monkey around with it. Is there a way to get the chrome strips off from the outside? I see the SS trim kits are about $70 and it might be worth that for me to NOT have to take apart the interior.
- The car tracks and drives great, but has to be rolling slightly in order to get the car in or out of reverse. Once rolling it shifts fine and there is no problem running up and down the forward gears. Is this something "inside" or does it sound like a linkage issue? Is this the begining of the end for the tranny?
- If it is the beginning of the end for the tranny, what is everyone's thought on the Freeway Flyers? I have about a 30 mile, one way commute to work completely on the freeway. If I can gain just a few mpg on the commute, I could probably pay for the FF in short order.
- Regarding the engine. It is the stock 1300 SP converted to 12V. It starts great and seems to run fine. It's a little rough when really cold, but idles and runs good when warm. It cruises along nice on the freeway at 65. That being said, it does have 120K miles on it and is leaking oil. (quite a bit more than a few drops here and there.) I have some available dollars and am leaning toward doing the engine while I have everything else apart. First to insure against a breakdown if my kids or wife are driving it and secondly so I can have the peace of mind of knowing I won't have to invest a couple precious summer weekends overhauling the engine. (plus this would give me a good excuse to paint the engine trim to match the car) :-)
As I shop for engine kits and put a value on my time, the longblocks seem to be the best value. The question is where to get one. Every Tom, Dick and Yo-Yo is selling longblocks online. Does anyone have a recommendation of a good engine company I could trust for a longblock? I stopped at MOFOCO is here in Milwaukee and they certainly had a bunch of aircooled heads, engines, trannys, etc. in the shop. They've been there since the '60s so I assume they've done something right.
Any feedback or recommendations re: the engine?
Finally, I'm going to add polished Empi 5-spokers and possibly the wide whitewall tires on it. In addition to those parts, who are the reputable mail order companies? I placed a modest order with jbugs.com and was underwhelmed with the quality and the service. (I still haven't received my complete order yet).
Thanks for your time and thoughts.
Jim