My 70 Drag Bug

I bought this car in December 2009 for $300 cash, a 61 Baja Bug (paid $300 for that), and a 72 Super Beetle (paid $100 for it), so for about $700, I got a very clean, solid project car that had a running motor not installed, and good paint, clean interior, and new tires. Here is how it was when I was bringing it home:



First thing I did was get the 1600 single port together and in the car. By the way, installing a motor in gravel is not fun.







Had to do a little rust repair.

Built a cage for it.





I had won these doorpanels for winning the NASA VW Championship in 2009.



Tach installed.



Kadron 40/44s



Matched the front fenders with the back.



Drag seat.



94s.

At this point the 1915 is under construction by Greg's VW Service.

8 dowel flywheel, and the incorrect oil pump. I have a full-flow in it.



Around the beginning of May, the car went into the garage for some work.



The old motor. This will be going into my brother's Karmann Ghia along with the transmission.



Cleaned and painted.

New transmission built by Chad Bryan of Immense Performance.



Installed.



Clutch.



Longblock 1915. got it back the Monday before Bug-O-Rama 65.



All together.



In the car. In this pic you can see some of my accomplishments from the year to date. I had won the first 3 Wednesday Night Drags and the first 2 NASA VW drag races. Of course I have the 2009 Champ and Rookie of the Year on there as well.



Fired it up the thursday before Bug-O-Rama. And the oil cooler burst.



I went to Greg's VW Service on Friday night at 10pm to pick up an oil cooler. Then I pulled an all-nighter (Well, a 2am-er), to get it all together and running.

Saturday, the day of Bug-O-Rama testing. and its moving under it's own power, but there's a problem. It isn't running right.



Loaded it up anyway. I wanted to ask some of my VW friends about the problems.



Saturday, car wouldn't start. I replaced the spark plugs, rebuilt both carbs, then replaced both carbs, still had problems with it running. Meanwhile Greg was taking care of the push rod tubes which were leaking oil. Finally, about 9pm, Greg figured out what the problems was, which was a bad set of points on the 009. (It would be something simple). He worked by the light of a string of Christmas lights my neighbor brought over.



Sunday. Got the motor running good, did an oil change, and made it through tech, and ran it. Nothing but wheel hop in first and second gear, and I ran a 16.2 and a 16.1 in the time trials. In eliminations, I dialed a 16.0 and made it to the semi-finals before I broke out with a 15.85.

In the first couple weeks of June, I went to drive this car to work for some street miles. Well, I made it about 5 miles before it broke the #3 exhaust valve spring.



Took care of that and on June 27, I finally installed my aluminum door panels.

July 3rd, 2010. I was feeling pretty hungover from a July 4th party, and I figured I would take the car on a little cruise into town, nice and easy, sunroof open, never faster than 50. Then a guy was tailgating me, so at the next stop sign, I took off, made it through all the gears, and then it wasn't running good at all, I shut it down, and I see that one of the rocker shaft studs was stripped out, and the rocker shaft was loose on one side. I got a lift back home, and then towed the car home. Pulled the motor on july 6, took it to Greg's VW Service on July 7th, and he fixed it up with a custom built set of rocker shafts. Basically it's a solid shaft design, but with stock rockers. I also found a bent pushrod. He was done with it in 3 hours.

Now on july 9, I had an opportunity to use the garage, so I took advantage and put the motor in, but I held off on finishing up until daylight. Notice I also installed a new degree pulley.





Today, July 10, I went to Bugformance Sacramento, and picked up a few items I needed, and I asked about a traction bar, the guy showed me one, and I was thinking. "I can make that." So I went home and finished up the motor install.



Then I fabricated a traction bar out of scrap metal around the garage, and painted it up to match the car.



And installed it. The bolts to hold it together are actually VW head studs.



I'm thinking tomorrow, I will head into town and get some larger, stronger bolts for it.

Random pics since I've had the car.

With the others in January. The black and orange 74 is gone.



Sometime in March or April probably.



Won NASA Race #1. March 14.



Won NASA Race #2. March 28.



Found this pic online from a CMI race. March 7.



Took Semis in that race.



Arriving for the first Wednesday Night Drags of the year. 2-3-10



Won that race. 20.8? Kinda slow. I think I was having some problems ignition related.



Won again the following week. 2-10-10.



Won again the following week. 2-17-10.



Sadly I've only raced at 2 other Wednesday Night drags this year. One in this car, I took Runner-Up, and once in my 63 Dart, in which I won.

That's my story about this car.

Great story and great car!

Thanks!

Heading out to the track on Wednesday for some testing.

Raced it on Wednesday. Rocker came loose.

Oh, I fixed it today. Saturday is the next race.

Went to the track today. I got the bog taken care of and was dead consistant in the time runs. 15.88, 15.89, 15.85, It was spinning the tires, but with my setup, it's actually helping, so I want it to keep losing traction. (Never thought you would here a drag racer say that huh?). Anyway, first round of eliminations, I broke a valvespring (#2 intake), and that ended my evening. Some pics I took:

Here's a blurred pic of the valve spring. It's the same one I had an issue with the loose rocker on wednesday. Something's going on here.

I ought to just get dual valve springs and solid rockers.

The guy who built me the transmission and also sold me the heads is going to hook me up with solid rocker and better valve springs!!!

I took my motor to the guy who built my transmission to see what's up with it, instead of all the quick repairs I've been getting from the original builder. Apparantly he had installed stock valve springs, even though I provided high-RPM ones to use, so I was over-revving the motor and floating the valves, thus brreaking parts. So now I need to replace the valve springs, rockers, push rods and lifters, not to mention the machine work on the heads, and hope that the valves and pistons aren't damaged. I'll find out tomorrow when he pulls the heads. I wont rip into the guy who built it originally until I hear his side of the story, but right now, I'm just a little disappointed.

He left me a message tonight saying the damage is not as bad as he originally thought, and the motor should be done this weekend. I'll call him tomorrow and get all the info.

I just picked up the motor. It now has new chromoly push rods, 1.25 ratio rockers, dual valve springs, and he also upped the compression.

We now have .542 valve lift.

Compression is at 10.6 to 1.

110 octane for sure.

Due to a busy week, I won't be installing this until probably Saturday afternoon. (Maybe Sunday morning).

Oh, I also have a line on some Webers.

longblock