Calling all V-Dubbers...

freeferrarisdonotexist

I'm not stupid - I'm British!
Joined
Nov 4, 2008
Messages
1,143
Location
Somewhere in the South of England, UK.
Car(s)
Yamaha YBR125 (touring), FG 29er touring bike
I am buying a 1971-79 Superbeetle, that is not too modified and preferably has the original tranny and motor. To make it a daily driver unmodded, I need the 1600cc engine (as that is the 55hp one with 0-60 of 18s and a top of around 85mph) or larger. I have a few questions as to what I can do with the car concerning work, tuning and modifications.

1. I am planning on replacing the gauge face. Is there any way to make my own, or at least photoshop with confidence and send it to some sort of specialty shop?
2. How would I go about adding gauges (RPM, temp, petrol gauge, a "boost" gauge and perhaps various other instruments)
3. What is the best modification to get 70hp while still leaving the Bug aircooled?
4. What are your thoughts on the bolt-on superchargers available for Bugs?
5. How difficult is it to fit aircon?
6. How difficult is it to replace the stereo?
7. My ideal Beetle would be black with the original rims and thin-line whitewalled tyres. Would it be extremely difficult to get the original rims and whitewalls for it?
8. Is the build quality of more recent Mexican Beetles as good as the German or American-built ones?
9. Is the original Beetle toolkit available anywhere?

I apologise for all the questions, but I would rather information from people experienced with VWs and so far no-one else has given me a direct answer.

Thanks.:)
 
Is this what you had in mind for rims/tyres?
1949_VW_Beetle.jpg


EDIT: I don't know where you are, but there is a place in West Sussex that specialises in Beetle restoration, and they have parts. http://www.thebeetlewerks.co.uk

Also check this out: http://www.eisparts.com/VW-70.html (US site, my quick UK search didn't turn any up)
 
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Is this what you had in mind for rims/tyres?
1949_VW_Beetle.jpg


EDIT: I don't know where you are, but there is a place in West Sussex that specialises in Beetle restoration, and they have parts. http://www.thebeetlewerks.co.uk

Also check this out: http://www.eisparts.com/VW-70.html (US site, my quick UK search didn't turn any up)

Yes, exactly the rim/tyre combo I had in mind.

Thanks for the link! Beetlewerks looks good for parts/cars. I'll have to visit there next time I go to Sussex.

And as to where I am, I live in the south of England.

I can say no more here. Meet me at the payphone number 77566. Deposit three 10p coins and a penny, and tell the operator you're asking for Mr Sir.
Do not fail this mission or you will never know my identity:shifty:
 
How difficult is it to replace the stereo?

Is the build quality of more recent Mexican Beetles as good as the German or American-built ones?

Replacing the Stereo should be easy. At least german-built Beetles have ISO-normed car radio slot which means you can fit any standard-size stereo there, at least a power connector should be available there. The rest is about the same as with any car... get the cables below the carpet, if you really need to trade in some of the small boot space you have for a cd changer of a power amp, find places where you can ruin the door lining and/or hat shelf by cutting holes for the speakers in.

My grandfather, wo spent most of his working life in VW's sales department, planned on importing a Mexico beetle in the late-90s and even the VW brass advised strongly against it as their built quality and especially corrosive protection is horrible compared to german-built ones. AFAIK the Beetle was always a german import in the U.S., so there are no american-built ones ;)

EDIT: A Mexico Beetle nevertheless might be interesting as mid-90s models feature electronic fuel injection, a catalytic converter and were available with aircon, which would fulfill some of your demands out-of-the-box.
 
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IIRC Beetles were assembled CKD in Finland, in the '50s or '60s.
 
Get used to being cold.
 
And hot. The Mexican Beetles' air conditioning is noted for being particulary anemic.


And prepare to get run over by everything on the road, because an 18 second 0-60 is not safe for merging onto Texas freeways.
 
And hot. The Mexican Beetles' air conditioning is noted for being particulary anemic.


And prepare to get run over by everything on the road, because an 18 second 0-60 is not safe for merging onto Texas freeways.

Or any other road for that matter.
 
Hey hey hey.... I will be improving the performance, you know. As noted above, I either want to bore it out, use a supercharger, or another method (preferably one keeping it aircooled).

EDIT: Also, I have been checking specs lately... most all pre '97 mpvs and quite a few suvs have 0-60 times of 16, 18, 20, and even 29 seconds. How do they make it?
 
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Hey hey hey.... I will be improving the performance, you know. As noted above, I either want to bore it out, use a supercharger, or another method (preferably one keeping it aircooled).

EDIT: Also, I have been checking specs lately... most all pre '97 mpvs and quite a few suvs have 0-60 times of 16, 18, 20, and even 29 seconds. How do they make it?



In the US, they don't sell cars, minivans or trucks that slow any more.
 
In the US, they don't sell cars, minivans or trucks that slow any more.

On one hand, I'm happy because if they enact such laws here I would be able to get out of traffic bogs caused by some idiot in an Espace...

On the other, I'm a bit pissed that I can't drive my car out of the box.
 
On one hand, I'm happy because if they enact such laws here I would be able to get out of traffic bogs caused by some idiot in an Espace...

On the other, I'm a bit pissed that I can't drive my car out of the box.

It's not a law, just common sense that driving in the US generally involves highways and nobody wants to get flattened by a truck on their way to work.
 
You could, you just have to be brave and/or stay off the big insane roads. Small highways shouldn't be a problem.
 
On one hand, I'm happy because if they enact such laws here I would be able to get out of traffic bogs caused by some idiot in an Espace...

On the other, I'm a bit pissed that I can't drive my car out of the box.

It's not a law, just common sense that driving in the US generally involves highways and nobody wants to get flattened by a truck on their way to work.

Highways and hills, don't forget the hills. :D

FFDNE: As Lupin noted, it's not a law. It's just that the US market has dictated that cars that cannot do ~12 second 0-60mph runs are undesirable.

See, our highway designers often leave you about 1/8th mile (.2km) to go from a dead stop or near stop to 60mph (100kph). Failure to do so will sometimes result in you getting rammed in the ass by a tractor-trailer rig.

If you can't get up to speed in that amount of space and time, you've got *problems*. (As a number of Smart forTwo buyers have discovered - there's a lot of idiots who bought them who try to use them on the highway.)

A maker could bring over one of those 29 second 0-60 cars. Nobody here but idiot ecofreaks that never drive on the highway would ever buy it.
 
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Highways and hills, don't forget the hills. :D

FFDNE: As Lupin noted, it's not a law. It's just that the US market has dictated that cars that cannot do ~12 second 0-60mph runs are undesirable.

See, our highway designers often leave you about 1/8th mile (.2km) to go from a dead stop or near stop to 60mph (100kph). Failure to do so will sometimes result in you getting rammed in the ass by a tractor-trailer rig.

If you can't get up to speed in that amount of space and time, you've got *problems*. (As a number of Smart forTwo buyers have discovered - there's a lot of idiots who bought them who try to use them on the highway.)

A maker could bring over one of those 29 second 0-60 cars. Nobody here but idiot ecofreaks that never drive on the highway would ever buy it.

Makes sense. I could of course get the Bug down to a 12-14s run fairly easily and without detriment to weight or reliability. My main concern isn't getting to highway speed or merging sucessfully, but as you said, getting the arse of my car (and in my case the engine) destroyed because I don't have enough immediate power.

And as for Smarts on the motorway- I have seen a few G-Wizs on the motorway here, though they top out at fifty or so and take about 30 seconds to get there :rolleyes:
 
Makes sense. I could of course get the Bug down to a 12-14s run fairly easily and without detriment to weight or reliability.

Buddy, you could have that car running 12-14 second quarter mile times easily. And it would still be reliable, and probably get 30+ mpg.
 
In the US, they don't sell cars, minivans or trucks that slow any more.

but they sell cars to idiots who try to merge at 20 MPH meaning if you're stuck behind them you better be able to get to 60 and switch over lanes pretty damn fast.
 
See, our highway designers often leave you about 1/8th mile (.2km) to go from a dead stop or near stop to 60mph (100kph). Failure to do so will sometimes result in you getting rammed in the ass by a tractor-trailer rig.

If you can't get up to speed in that amount of space and time, you've got *problems*.

A maker could bring over one of those 29 second 0-60 cars. Nobody here but idiot ecofreaks that never drive on the highway would ever buy it.

Oh yes. My current truck won't do 0-60 in any reasonable amount of time, probably in the high teens. When I am going to get on the highway (2x a day, everyday), I have to pray that there's no one in front of me, so I can gun it on the on-ramp itself, and be very close to highway speeds so it's easy to merge. Thankfully, I generally head to work well before rush hour, so it's easy. Bloody hate my truck.
 
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