Leon Redbone
August 26, 1949 – May 30, 2019
Friday, May 31, 2019
Sunday, May 5, 2019
Beetle Update
We've been busy here on the farm since we got home from Arizona the third week of March. Other than our water softener freezing, we didn't have any winter damage to speak of. Some tree limbs down, but that's about it. It takes us a while to get the place back in shape with mowing and other projects.
I've also been occupied with work on the 1970 VW Beetle we purchased from another winter resident in the rv park where we winter. Because it lived all its life in the Southwest (California and Arizona) there was no rust, making it a real VW survivor requiring no body restoration work.
I've also been occupied with work on the 1970 VW Beetle we purchased from another winter resident in the rv park where we winter. Because it lived all its life in the Southwest (California and Arizona) there was no rust, making it a real VW survivor requiring no body restoration work.
However, at nearly fifty years old it was in need of some repairs and cosmetic work. It had a complete cover of oxidation. After removing all the trim, headlights and turn signals I used a cleaner wax which brought back the shine to the paint.
Over time someone put in a rally style steering wheel and since I've decided to put the car as close as possible to factory original I replaced the goofy rally steering wheel with a factory correct one. While I was at it I put in a new steering shaft bearing and new turn signal switch. I also put in new seat belts which replaced the jumbled old ones.
The seats have been recovered, however the door panels were warped and had radio speakers cut into them. VW Beetles did not come with more than one radio speaker and it was in the dash. I've ordered a dual voice (stereo) speaker which will go into the dash. Another change back to factory original. The warped door panels were replaced with new panels (no holes!).
The engine in the car ran, however was grungy and tired. The cylinders were showing low compression, which is a sign that a rebuild was in order.
After calculating the cost to rebuild the engine based on parts and the amount of labor I would have to put into it I gave some thought to a crate engine. I found one in Phoenix for just a bit more than I would have invested in rebuilding this one. We hauled the new engine home on the trailer with the Beetle. Maybe someday when I get time I'll rebuild the old engine, however I want to get this bug back up and running soon. Because the engine is original to the car with matching serial number I'll keep it.
Yesterday my son helped me remove the engine from the Beetle to prepare for the new engine. The Beetle engine is held in with only four bolts which make removing it easy. It does help to have two people to wrestle it out.
With the engine out now is a good time to replace the hauptwelle (mainshaft) seal and the lager wegwerfen (throw out bearing). Because the shaft seal was shot and leaking the bell housing will need a good cleaning.
While the engine is out it is also a good time the replace the leaking rear axles. Once again, it is just as cost efficient to buy new ones rather than tear down the old ones to fix the leaking boots and worn parts.
As I commented in past blog postings, some twenty years ago I worked on Model T's and restored four Model T cars and two Model T trucks. After I retired I said that was about enough car restoration work for me.
This has to be the last one. It's just too hard on my 69-year-old bones to do this work.
Just one day more...
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