My 1970 Street Bug

Before:



After:

LOOKS GOOD. IM PERSONALLY AM NOT A FAN OF RED BUT IT LOOKS LIKE A GOOD JOB. I LIKED THE TRUCK BEFORE, BUT IT LOOKS GREAT NOW TOO. ALOT OF WORK THERE.

Well recently I started noticing a few problems with the Street Bug. It started to feel like it was losing power, started running kind of bad, not to mention the slipping clutch and the bad oil leaks.

This morning I was going to check a few things out, and I figured I would start off with a valve adjustment, as it has been a couple months. Right away I notice the #1 exhaust is way tight. I loosen it all the way, and the rocker is still in contact with the valve. Pull the rocker shaft off, it has a bent pushrod, and after looking a little more into it, it seemns as though the valve is higher than the rest. I made s couple calls and both (VW mechanics) pretty much said there could be a few things going on, and ultimatly recommended pulling the motor and tearing it down.

So this evening I pulled it out. Now the plan is to have it completely rebuilt. I will keep it a 1600, maybe go 1641, but just a stock rebuild. This is an opportunity for a fresh motor, plus since I'm there anyway, I will replace the clutch, and maybe a few other items will be upgraded.

So I wont be down my daily driver, I put in a 1600 single port that had originally been in my 70 DragBug. I promised to permanantly loan it to my brother for his Karmann Ghia, but since that project is going slow, I put it in my car until my motor is done. Even though it had sat outside (covered) for the past year, it still fired up right away. It runs pretty good.

Here's the motor out of the 70 StreetBug. It originally came from the 74 Super Beetle. It has been converted to the earlier style intake so it can have a header.



The inside of the tranny case was soaked with motor oil.



The old switcheroo.



It's a runner.



Instead of transfering some of my parts over to the new motor, I decided to put it in my car exactly the way it will be in the Ghia, that way, I can pull it out of my car and put it straight into his car.

GLAD YOU HAD ONE ON THE SIDE. HOPE YOUR REBUILD DOESNT DRIVE YOU NUTS AND GOES NICE AND SMOOTH.

Oil in the bell housing sucks.

I am just sayin' from someone who knows.

Both look way better.
Big improvement.

I like that second shot!

Black wheels.

Well, after the NAG meet last weekend, my engine decided it didn't want the #3 exhaust valve anymore. I was talking about it with Cliff at the meet, as I had just noticed the tapping noise getting louder. By the time I got home, the car was barely running.

I took my other motor (1600 dual port) (the 74 Super's old motor) to the shop today for a rebuild. After teardown, it seems I need everything. The case needs machine work, crank is bad, connecting rods are bad, cam is bad, it's actually missing 4 teeth off the cam gear, heads are trash, and the list goes on...

But he can have it done by December 22, which will be awesome.

$$$$$$

But I will be back in running condition, and (almost) everything will be new.

Then I will save up some more $$$$ and have the 1600 single port that's in the car now rebuilt.

I considered putting the 1915 out of the Drag car into this one for a little while, but I decided against it.

Picked up my freshly rebuilt motor on Friday afternoon.

Christmas Eve will be a big day.

Basically it is a stock 1600 with a little better cam, solid shaft rockers, and high performance lifters. I went with the cam after recommendation from the builder. The rockers and lifters were to use up a Bugpack gift certificate that expires next week.

Here's the longblock.



Going together.



Jaycee high performance pushrod tubes. I used them because I had them.

Complete. I went with the red and black to go with the car, and the blue wires and fuel lines accents it pretty well in my opinion.





In the car. Just adding oil...





Runs pretty good.

I will get some new pics tomorrow.

Looks great! I love the color theme!! Yah, the blue does accent it well!!

Looks good. I am a fan of the color red.

What cam did you put in it? Huh Huh? Is it a secret????

Looks nice Dave! Yeah, what cam did you go with? Who's your builder? Why single carb on dual ports?

Looks like a nice little driver for Christmas!

Watch out for Hugo in* RED* Coming sooner than you think >

Cam is called a "Super Stock" cam, which is the cam VW *should* have made. (words from the builder).

Engine assembly was done by Greg from Greg's VW Service. Machine work was done by Jansen Enterprises. Parts were supplied from Jansen and Wolfgang International.

Single carb for the daily driver.

Sorry about Ray, I don't put him up to these comments about Hugo all the time. Really, he talks all the smack, I will just drive the car.

I haven't heard of a Super Stock cam, but I have a pretty limited vocabulary on engine building. I look forward to seeing this little gem of a car sometime!

Neither had I. Apparantly it's what most of the builders use for stock engine builds. Just a better grind than the originals.

Oh, and I didn't get the pics today... I did finish up the tin and decklid and drive it.

One thing I've certainly learned and that is that original VW stuff isn't always the best and can certainly often be improved upon, depending on what it is.

Very true

I was driving it to work today when I happened to notice a lot of smoke coming from the engine area. Upon pulling over, I found oil everywhere except inside the case. My best guess would be the oil cooler sprung a leak.

WTF Dave! It's a new engine??!!