MJs 1972 Beetle

[veedubnoodle]

Checked the gear shift coupling today and it looks grand so thinking the Bush on the shift rod must be scrap so I'll replace that and add a short shift while I'm at it. MJ has her heart set on a Vintage Speed shifter but they're big money lol

Also took it a quick spin to the shops today just to take it out

Also bought myself a couple of books so I can learn how to do things on this yoke considering I'm gunna be doing a proper resto on it at some point in the future

 

[JT079]

That’s is a nice one! Love that front windscreen! Enjoy the summer

 

[TheDaniel]

That is awesome! Love some air cooled goodness. Had a chuckle at the knuckle duster lol .. Heath to enjoy, the pair of you!

 

[Anto84]

EPIC Car

 

[veedubnoodle]

Can't stop taking pictures of this...

Last picture just to show the driving height.

MJ drove it everywhere over the weekend (except round Belfast, which I can understand lol) and absolutely loved it. Even managed to negotiate a few speed bumps near my parents house and didn't scrape lol

Dad had a good look round it for the first time and really likes it. He reckons it won't need much to have it sitting perfect so the plan is slowly start getting parts gathered and then get it booked in for all the bodywork after our wedding next year. Me and MJ are going to do the disassembly and reassembly ourselves but the metal work and paint we want done right so it will last a lifetime

 

[veedubnoodle]

Small update.

Had @56oval over this morning to show me how to check and set valve clearances and then he did some of his carburettor wizardry tricks and made the motor purr and start on the button every time.

Can't thank Ben enough, proper gentleman and really nice to chill and learn something new on the car.

Brought Geoffrey the Beetle home for the night and going to take him for a drive tomorrow

 

[56oval]

Was a pleasure. When you get some time it would be worth checking the emulsion tubes as those twin carb kits never come with the right ones in them. They usually are too rich down low and never idle the best, yours actually aren't too bad but I would definately check. The usually come with F78s for a Bedford van, they need to be swapped out for F6s or F3s. It will really clean up the running.

 

[veedubnoodle]

Well that was a wet weekend!

So we had decided during the week to take Geoffrey on the Reload Driven 2.0 run providing the weather was going to be ok. I spent all week watching the met office website and although it was constantly changing on Friday it was showing to be dry up round the north coast until 4pm so MJ was happy enough.

We went over to Lurgan to look at a house and then set off to the meet near Ballymena. It was only raining a wee bit leaving Lurgan but it got steadily worse heading up the road. By the time we got to the start of the run the two of us were pretty chilly but we were having such a laugh we thought screw it, we've come this far, lets just do the whole run and we can heat up when we get home

The eagle eyed of you might notice we don't have any wipers because of the safari window and we haven't got round to getting some fitted for the rainy season just yet . Thankfully I had loaded the front screen with rain-x (fantastic stuff by the way) so once we were travelling at speed the water was running straight off the window.

The drive up was good fun and bar having to overtake a few dawdlers and negotiate some crazy cyclists in that weather we made it not too far behind the main pack. The drive back was a bit meh because the car was starting to steam up and the heaters (or lack of) aren't great but we got home fine and got the car dry and locked up.

Also won some ShortShift merch in the raffle so very very pleased! The hat kept me warm on the way home

Car ran faultlessly all day, did around 30mpg and it was great to catch up with everyone.

Think that will be the last run of the season so as long as the car isn't getting in the way of anything in the shed I'm gunna get him up on axle stands and start into a few maintenance jobs that need doing.

 

[gav525]

As said on Saturday mate, the car is class! Fair play for making the journey up in the horrendous weather with no wipers and lack of decent heating

 

[veedubnoodle]

As said on Saturday mate, the car is class! Fair play for making the journey up in the horrendous weather with no wipers and lack of decent heating

Thanks man. Was good to meet ya. Next time I'll have to get a look at that big beetle of yours

 

[veedubnoodle]

Wow!

Been a while since I updated this. Nothing much has changed as we parked it up safe over the winter and with moving house we never got back to it for way too long!

Last week I decided to finally fit the Vintage Speed shifter and get it back out for the EuroTreffen show on the 3rd of July.

So having sat for 8 months not moving I arrived at the workshop, put the battery back on, pulled the power for the air compressor, checked the oil and proceeded to start cranking. A few turns of the key later and it fired right up! This thing is more reliable than my daily!

Fitted the shifter after that which has made a massive difference in selecting gears. So much easier and nicer to drive with.

Think we're going to service it next and then just enjoy the sunshine while it lasts.

Hoping after our wedding next month and over the winter I'll be able to make a few more improvements to the air suspension.

Cheers for reading,

Aaron