ada7
Part of things
Posts: 108 
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The 1200 is a 64mm crank, so you’ll need to change the crank anyway... a nice 69mm counterweight crankshaft, forged rods, whilst in there you may as well put a lumpier can in too. 1641 barrels and pistons, you’ll need heads, so may as well get 1600 twin port heads and then some twin carbs...... Am I helping?  And a 76mm crank isn't much more than a 69mm counterweighted one. And to make best use of it you might want to go bigger on the pistons, so machine the case for 94's (up a bit from the stock 77's!). And if you're getting the case machined for the pistons you may as well get it clearanced for a bigger crank - its only another £60 or so - and an 82mm crank isn't much more than the 76, which isn't much more than the 69... Oops, you've just started to spec out a 2276! Nothing to do with me, honest Guv!  Seriously though, if you want to go bigger, John Maher (ex-Buzzcocks drummer and top quality engine builder) once told me to go as big as you can afford. A 130bhp 1776 will be more stressed than a 130bhp 2276, need more regular maintenance and tuning and not return as many miles per gallon. This is what I was trying to say the other day (like I know what I’m taking about though lol) Adam |
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Rotaries help make the world go around... And around and around and...
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Speedle
Posted a lot
Need a Country Rock band in the Hampshire Area? https://www.facebook.com/DirtRoadDiaryUK
Posts: 2,221
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Stunning interior! That looks like such a lovely place to be! Love it!
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Nov 23, 2018 12:09:02 GMT
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One of the callook favorites, a 2180cc with a set of genuine italian 48 ida webers,Berg linkage. I had one for a short time in my 70 bug. Went like stink,when it went that is. Needed constant tweaking and adjusting. Not that fun tbh. The 1835 with kadrons went pretty peppy too,bulletproof and reliable. Just my 2 cents worth😉
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luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,839
Club RR Member Number: 45
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Nov 23, 2018 12:28:24 GMT
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Most importantly, whatever I do go for, it'll be new. The mill in Dolly is currently getting harder to start, harder to keep running if it does start, and is busily expelling oil from every orifice and crevice. It's just plain old and wore out and being a 1200 with a floppy crank missing one bearing, I don't think it's worth trying to do anything with it. I like the idea of nice, new off-the shelf parts. Partly because I don't have to waste time and money cleaning and improving 47-year-old clag-covered curse word but also because I've never had a car where anything and everything was available new before. It'll make quite a change.
Besides, a pig in knickers is still just a pig
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jpr1977
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 659
Club RR Member Number: 18
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Nov 23, 2018 14:53:32 GMT
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The less said about Sus scrofa domesticus in lingerie the better...
But as everyone else has said, that interior has made a massive positive difference and looks spot on, top work.
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Last Edit: Nov 23, 2018 14:56:02 GMT by jpr1977
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ian65
Part of things
Posts: 276
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Nov 23, 2018 17:55:27 GMT
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awesome job Nik, that's really lifted the inside, well worth all the effort.
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bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,976
Club RR Member Number: 71
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Nov 24, 2018 18:27:16 GMT
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Stunning job - I prefer black interiors but that's looks way better than what was there before
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luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,839
Club RR Member Number: 45
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Been a while! Must be time for an update then... and sorry; lot of words, not many photos Anyone who's read this far will remember I spent much of the last part of last year stripping, renewing and refreshing the interior of li'l Dolly. And it looked lovely, although I say so myself. What was rather less lovely was the fact that the couple of months she spent sitting still doing nothing seemed to have disagreed quite severely with her ability to run  She'd start... she's a Beetle, after all, they always start... but she wasn't happy and five minutes into any journey she'd start misbehaving badly; stuttering, cutting out, backfiring and generally being a massive pain in the fox-picture. This got progressively worse until it got to the stage where it was touch and go whether you'd get her re-started after this point. If you could, and were willing to be really unsympathetic with the throttle, she'd then run OK but something clearly wasn't right. After going up a few blind alleys... after all, the poor running seemed to coincide with the point where the engine should be warmed up and switching off chokes and suchlike... it became apparent diagnosing the problem was out of my skillset. By now I'd replaced the choke, idle solenoid, plugs, checked the bellows, anything else I could think of. The dizzy and wires were only a year old, fuel was clear and unimpeded, what else was there to check? Fortunately Mrs L7 had recently got in touch with a roving mechanic friend we'd not seen in ages, but back in the day he not only had a front-cover feature in VolksWorld of his Beetle but also a 23-window Samba (for those who don't VW, that's the bus you want) which eventually sold to America for just shy of 100k! Fair to say he knows a thing or two about aircooled VWs  It took Phil all of ten seconds to diagnose the problem; the engine was @%£&!ed  I knew there was bit of endfloat when I got her, but it had got so bad you could hear it  Normally there's a bit of play when you wiggle the crank pulley. Sometimes it's so slight you have to press the clutch in to feel it. In Dolly's case, you can see it. Which explained the catastrophic amount of oil she was leaking! The crank is basically moving so far back and forth it's pushing the oil seal out the back of the case. In addition, the carb is so worn that there's a good few degrees' play across the butterfly spindle where it's reamed out the housing and you've got a perfect storm of curse word running. TL:DR It's knackered. Utterly, completely knackered. However, in an attempt at positivity and becos too many words without pics, I did sort out some before/afters to remind myself that the car overall is much improved from the overly camp excessively two-toned girly potterer I bought  Front by Nick Liassides, on Flickr  Front one year on by Nick Liassides, on Flickr  R3Q by Nick Liassides, on Flickr  R3Q one year on by Nick Liassides, on Flickr The ultimate question is; worth saving? Or throw it away and buy one that isn't FUBAR?  |
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zeberdee
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,043
Club RR Member Number: 2
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Definitely worth saving !!
Engine rebuild’s aren’t too difficult .
Could definitely build in abit more bhp for not a lot more cash .
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mungo
Part of things
Posts: 321
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You need to pull it apart and see what can be saved.
The heads might not be cracked, the case might not have already been bored to death,
If those bits are salvageable it might not cost too much ...........
or Jim @ stateside tuning has a 2000 and a 2332 type 1 on the shelf ( he'll have them at dubfreeze next week ).
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56' bug 2332 +ida's
56' lowlight ghia
72' bus 1600 devon
67' type 3 square - gone
83' gti - gone
90' gti 16v - gone
82' chevette - gone
70' GP1 Beach buggy -gone
78' lightweight landrover 3L v6 -gone
89' gti - gone
83' gti - gone
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luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,839
Club RR Member Number: 45
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Yeah... I was sorta speaking hypothetically. Of course she's worth saving. Although with that said, I wish I'd got more than a year and a half out of her before she broke. I feel I earned a smooth ride after all those years building rotaries every other week, but it appears karma is not currently watching me. I've also been held back a bit lately with Beryl the T25 absorbing a lot of money and energy. It's not helped. However, in no particular order of importance, my thoughts on the matter run like this; * It's a 1200 so even after spending time and money rebuilding it, it's still only ever going to be a 1200 * I've already proved a 1200 isn't the best mill for long-distance work four up and/or daily driving * My time is more limited than any other aspect so I don't want a car that's going to be in pieces for two years while I steadily lose motivation * I really hate having a car you can't drive and have spent entirely too long already like that * I'm genuinely not convinced I have the inclination, time, space, or facilities to strip and rebuild the engine in the manner I'd like * Equally, I don't think I want to rebuild a skanky, possibly knackered in every aspect, 48-year-old engine when I could buy a new one; Car already isn't original Don't care about originality anyway Engine's pretty weak even when working perfectly New ones are shiny Sooooo..... we've arrived at the idea of a new engine, then. Which raises some problems of its own, of course. Again in no particular order, just jotting down thoughts as they bubble up * nothing but 1200 stuff fits with 1200 engines so everything will need replacing; tinware, exhaust, the lot. Plus of course, upgrade-proof things like oiling system. * can I get away with keeping the 1200 gearbox? And will it get annoying getting off the lights like a rocket but running out of cogs at 65mph on the motorway? * What size? Don't really want to go mad with capacity, I've no intention of living at the Pod. 1776 seems a decent mid-range option * twin carbs? Single? Do I want a life without chokes and other luxuries? Years of an RX-7 on a Weber 48IDA have certainly made me rather tired of the "will it start?" lottery on a daily basis * do it myself? Again time is a factor, and expertise. There's a really good VW specialist nearby but they're always super-busy and hard to get booked in with. Plus, do I want to just hand over the car and get it back months later when my wallet's empty but I've had nothing whatsoever to do with building up the car? * a decent in-the-middle option is to buy all the components in... new... build up the mil and ancilliaries and then get round to Phil's (who's already offered to help/supervise swapping the engine) so at least I'll still feel like it's my car, even if I've only thrown it together from larger pre-assembled chunks. Hmmmm. Much to ponder. Whatever way I go, it's pretty certain that the RX-7 will have to go to make room/money for it all  If anyone wants one of the highest-spec 1st Gen RX-7s in the country, along with a genuine mountain of spares and is willing to make sensible offers, please do get in touch  |
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ian65
Part of things
Posts: 276
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I'm in the market for a decent 12a housing if you have any and are clearing the decks... and a pair of s3 front seats in grey
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Last Edit: Feb 8, 2019 15:10:17 GMT by ian65
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luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,839
Club RR Member Number: 45
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I'm in the market for a decent 12a housing if you have any and are clearing the decks... and a pair of s3 front seats in grey I've got a couple, Ian. An almost entire complete motor that came out of the car (never split it so I dunno what condition it's in inside). Enough spares to build another (without the oil pump, sump and other external bits)....plates, housings, rotors I need to catalogue the whole lot and do a proper For Sale ad. I'd rather sell the car with all the spares if possible if for no other reason than I want it all gone. Too painful to dwell over  But obviously FB stalwarts will get first refusal if there's anything you guys want |
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ian65
Part of things
Posts: 276
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cheers Nik, hit me up when you've sorted your stuff out
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Hi Nick, I think we said a while back about engine options (although to be fair, it could have been Adam who I spoke to!) and I recommended big and unstressed. If you can stretch to a stroker crank, then do. If not, a 1776 (or 1914, just a different set of pistons and barrels) would be fine. A pair of 40 IDFs or DRLAs would be ideal, keep the cam sensible (Engle 110) and lighten the flywheel a bit. Stock valves size will be fine but make sure you match porting the heads to the intake manifolds. Full flow oil filtration will be a good idea too. You might look into the Scat engine kits?
Gearbox will be fine for now, but look out for a 1500 or GT beetle gearbox if you're going to be using it for extended periods on the motorway, but for little blasts the 1200/1300 ratio one will be fine. It's what I've got in mine!
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1968 Cal Look Beetle - 2007cc motor - 14.45@93mph in full street trim
1970-ish Karmann Beetle cabriolet - project soon to be re-started.
1986 Scirocco - big plans, one day!
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We’ve got a 1200 in the shed, you can have it if it’s any use to keep you going short term... we’ve robbed a few bits, generator stand and genny, fuel pump and the carb (but that’s just sat somewhere else) It came with the Fug, was told it ran... but we were well into the 1300 so just put it in the shed But if it means you could build an engine as you want at leisure, it might be worth the 10 minutes it’ll take to bolt in As long as there’s no end float, old cases should be fine, and then you can buy an engine complete, strip it and build with whatever shiny bits you want, a complete 1600 engine would work out cheaper than new cases..... then you can throw loads of money at it anyway I’d imagine cheapest would be 69mm crank and 87mm pistons, as that would require no machining..... but that’s 1641cc, beyond that I can’t help..... but look forward to reading about it |
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luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,839
Club RR Member Number: 45
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Thanks for that, guys. neilsdavies you certainly have imparted your wisdom before, and I'm grateful every time because you know lots and I know very little Seems from my looking around that to get to 1776 is no more expensive than lesser capacities when buying new, but to get anything that starts with a 2 is noticeably more expensive. I figure if I'm going to do it then I only want to do it once, so get the best setup I can and a 1776 on twins seems like it'd be fun enough to last me forever. Without bankrupting me in the short term johnthesparky it's a really kind offer and I really appreciate it. Right now the main problem with the Beetle being broke is that my bus won't fit in the carpark at work because the roof is too low. I did ask my local manager if she'd stump up the 390 quid for a set of lowering springs and shocks but she just laughed and told me to go forth and procreate But to be honest, I'm quite happy not to be rotting the Beetle out driving through salt and slime. I get a mortgage free month next month as we get 13 paypackets a year, so hopefully I can start getting in goodies and make some progress. |
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60six
Posted a lot
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Posts: 1,679
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After owning so many beetles over the start of my car obsession - a 1500 single port was the best made engine of theirs by far. I would start looking for a shed or project with an engine - As long as you have the space - take the engine, use the rest for parts.
Always make sure the air intake pipe from the exhaust is good and not made of paper. They suffer from inlet manifold icing a lot more than other cars - Whenever someone had a problem they couldn't figure out it would be due to this. I wanted boot-lid standoffs as I loved the look but this gave the car too much air and would do this constantly.
I always think about getting one again but I remember the day I drove to college in sub zero temps - The exhaust partially gassed me and everything was 'Mr. Soft advert'. I could see my breath the entire journey - had to spray de-icer inside the car, and my gloves stayed attached to the steering wheel when I got out.
It would keep the cold inside the car so well it was like opening a fridge door when I got out.
When I came back to it - Slammed matt-black and chrome proper dirt wagon, I find a message under the wiper saying 'Nice car mate' - A milisecond passes where the lack of heating doesn't matter any more then a thought as clear as day appears .....
I don't want another Beetle!
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Last Edit: Feb 9, 2019 1:55:45 GMT by 60six
Some 9000's, a 900, an RX8 & a beetle
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Feb 10, 2019 21:49:07 GMT
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Farmer Rob over on the buggy forum sometimes has re-built/quality engines available and has an excellent rep. If you get a 1600 it's pretty quick to change (like hours not days!) This one is gone, but his contact is there www.beachbuggy.info/index.php/topic,11996.0.html - Have to cut n paste that link as the forum will not link it properly even in tags! |
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Last Edit: Feb 10, 2019 21:52:06 GMT by wightfug
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luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,839
Club RR Member Number: 45
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May 26, 2019 18:23:31 GMT
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She'd start... she's a Beetle, after all, they always start... but she wasn't happy and five minutes into any journey she'd start misbehaving badly; stuttering, cutting out, backfiring and generally being a massive pain in the fox-picture. This got progressively worse until it got to the stage where it was touch and go whether you'd get her re-started after this point. If you could, and were willing to be really unsympathetic with the throttle, she'd then run OK but something clearly wasn't right.
I knew there was bit of endfloat when I got her, but it had got so bad you could hear it 
Normally there's a bit of play when you wiggle the crank pulley. Sometimes it's so slight you have to press the clutch in to feel it. In Dolly's case, you can see it. Which explained the catastrophic amount of oil she was leaking! The crank is basically moving so far back and forth it's pushing the oil seal out the back of the case. In addition, the carb is so worn that there's a good few degrees' play across the butterfly spindle where it's reamed out the housing and you've got a perfect storm of curse word running.
If anyone wants one of the highest-spec 1st Gen RX-7s in the country, along with a genuine mountain of spares and is willing to make sensible offers, please do get in touch 
But obviously FB stalwarts will get first refusal if there's anything you guys want 
