For what ever reason at low revs it wants to jump out of forth gear, I have been told this a common fault and wait until it gets worse before fixing.

True

The gearboxes are quite tough, but old. You can get kits to modernise the gearboxes.

I have a single carberettor and wanted to put a pipe on it and run it to the left hand top of the engine bay witha pod on it, but was advised to fit a dual carbie with pods mounted directly on top. This sounds strange and I may not have heard properly.

Extending the inlet manifold or airfilter will significantly hamper the cars ability to run. They are not fuel injected so running a pipe will cause a massive restriction. Putting a dual carb setup is the best option. Also do not remove any seals or pipe work in the engine bay. Make sure the seals and tinwork are all there and in place. Essentially the motor should be sealed in the engine compartment with no holes or gaps. The motor will overheat if there is no seal as it is needed to ensure reliable cooling.

I have no idea what they rev to it has a tacho but I dont know wher it reads revs from our how touhg these engines are.

The motors will last a while as long as they do not overheat and are serviced regularly. The tacho feed is taken from the distributor.

Women like the beetle because they both have a VW bonnet.....

Ok, nothing useful to add....

For what ever reason at low revs it wants to jump out of forth gear, I have been told this a common fault and wait until it gets worse before fixing.

True

The gearboxes are quite tough, but old.  You can get kits to modernise the gearboxes.

I have a single carberettor and wanted to put a pipe on it and run it to the left hand top of the engine bay witha pod on it, but was advised to fit a dual carbie with pods mounted directly on top. This sounds strange and I may not have heard properly.

Extending the inlet manifold or airfilter will significantly hamper the cars ability to run.  They are not fuel injected so running a pipe will cause a massive restriction.  Putting a dual carb setup is the best option.  Also do not remove any seals or pipe work in the engine bay.  Make sure the seals and tinwork are all there and in place.  Essentially the motor should be sealed in the engine compartment with no holes or gaps.  The motor will overheat if there is no seal as it is needed to ensure reliable cooling.

I have no idea what they rev to it has a tacho but I dont know wher it reads revs from our how touhg these engines are.

The motors will last a while as long as they do not overheat and are serviced regularly.  The tacho feed is taken from the distributor.

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Thankyou

Were would I look to get a modersisation kit for the gearbox?

What is a dual carb set up?

I appreciate this info, I am just trying to do a crash course in VW so I dont get ripped off.

Scotty

Zap,

Is there any truth to the statement that these VW's love a good long warmup and cool down? Say 5 minutes before driving around? Rumour states it extends their engine life or at least decreases the wear somewhat?

Not really applicable for watercooled, EFIed etc cars.

Lumpy

LP, Yes it is important to warm them up as the pots (cylinder sleeves) are a bit loose when cold and will cause the head bolts to streatch more if you drive them cold. As for cooling them down, I am not sure, but my aunty had an '69 VW that used to runon for 5 mins due to all the carbon. I showed her how to stall it with the clutch as it was crazy to sit and wait for the bloody thing to stop.

Scotty, the gearbox parts can be obtained from any VW parts store. You would be best to get the gearbox professionally rebuild or swap for an exchange unit. I cannot remember when they brought the full Syncro box out, but that would be the choice as it is much easier to drive.

A gearbox can also be replaced in under 2 hours at home in a VW.

My best time was 28 mins to remove and install a motor and tranny.

The Dual carb setup is off later model motors. I do not know what motor your car has, if it is the 1300cc then bin it and get the 1500 with dual carbs. You can buy them from a wreckers with all the linkages. I suggest you get a VW place to fit them as they are a biatch to balance and tune initially.

The dual carb setup will be a single down draught carb for each side of the motor feeding the 2 cylinders. It makes a HUGE difference to the power and relibility of the motor.

Just remember that VW's are money pits and need to have money spent to keep them reliable. They are also over 30 years old and should be in a crusher, not on the road as they are very unsafe with drum brakes and poor crash safety.

I believe my engine is a 1600cc, I know it does a geniune 90 mp/h. There has been over 13500.00 dollars spent on this thing by the last owner, that was a rebuild from Bugs and Buses in Penerith (Mods if please delete name of company if against rules). My daughter is in love with it, actually all three are, so it is staying. I have had the brakes checjked by the RAEME guys at work and the braking system is all good albiet drums all round.

I appreciate the advice mate, I will go and get these problems sorted.

Cheers

Scotty

I knew my name would pop up here...

I knew my name would pop up here... 

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Its a shame ya balls dont drop out of your wife's handbag

The only thing I know about Vdubs is that you get one punch for a bug and two for a combie, I hope that helps.

Interesting to see negative comments posted about the Bug .... very unusual to see that from anyone who has owned one for any period of time. Most of the people I know who own them are absolute fanatics.

If it's running OK just leave it alone - the only people I know who ever have an issue with one are those who try to make the engine do things it is not designed to. Maximum revs for instance is about 4000.

Mine is a '55. Bought new by my Grandfather and handed down through the family. It is quite highly modified (for a 55). Grandad was a bit of a hoon so as soon as the 40hp motor came out he bought one. The original is 36hp and I still have both it and the 40hp but the car is now running a 1500cc motor with full syncro box. The original transaxle had syncros only on 2nd 3rd and OD - yes, fourth was an overdrive.

It now has gas shocks to properly control the four wheel independent torsion bar suspension, and yes, only drum brakes, but hey, in a Bug who needs to use the brakes anyhow? Top speed is about 75 MPH. I can tell you it gets along pretty good and surprises a lot of late model cars around the twisties.

In it's day it boasted not only fully indepenent suspension but four wheel hydraulic brakes - yes, a big deal in the fifties when a lot of cars had only front hydraulics and the rears were cable.

Also full alloy engine and transaxle - something that wasn't noticed on many exotics until the 70s. Weight is just 750 kg. And as has been said the engine/transaxle can be removed in very short time, about half an hour for both.

Poor ol thing is sitting in the garage at the moment waiting for me to re-assemble it - stripped down for a bare metal respray - will get back to it one day.