My 1970 Street Bug

I know. Not a new oil cooler though, and I have had one in the racecar develop a crack and leak in a very similar fashion. It seems as though there is still about 1 quart of oil in the case, so it should still be fine in there.

Saturday afternoon.

The motor all disconnected.



I only had to pull the motor back to pull the fan shroud off. I didn't have to drop it all the way out.

Lots of oil on the back of the motor.





Here it is out of the car. See the red gasket that pushed out, causing the leak.



New (used) oil cooler. The old one probably just needs gaskets, but I wasn't positive that it was leaking from the gasket. Regardless, this one got a full set of gaskets.



So far no leaks.

More problems.

Long story short, after spending 2 hours trying to get the car to stay running, I found it needs a carburetor and a few other things. Unfortunatly I am so burned out on VWs right now I have no desire to fix it.

Friday afternoon the car started running poorly, so I pulled into a local park to see about fixing it.

Here was problem #1. intake manifold boot was cracked.

Attempted getting it to seal using permatex. Good attempt I suppose.



Problem #2. Carburetor apparantly had a mounting stud pull it's threads and fall out, causing the carb to not seal. Not good.



Saturday i was thinking about it, and came up with a solution....

Here's the plan. Since I am going with different carbs on the Drag Bug, I will install the Kadrons on the Street Bug.

Before:



After:



I since rerouted the fuel line to be more hidden.

So David, How is it running now!!

Well, something still isn't completly "right", but it's definitly running better, and seems faster.

The motor blew up this afternoon.

No way!

WTF. what happened??

Say it isn't so!

Boy, sounds like you are having the same luck as me when it comes to bugs! Sorry to here it blew up.

Ok it's not too bad, and will just need some machining on one head.

Today I pulled the motor out. No garage space, so I did it in the driveway between rain showers.

This is the passenger side head. I have the motor at Top Dead Center. Note how the #1 cylinder intake valve (2nd from right) is still down.



Push rod just hanging. Something is keeping that valve open.

Found it.





It's a tin screw. I looked over the entire motor and it is not missing a single screw. My theory is there was this one just laying on the little ledge to the right of the motor for who knows how long, and when I changed carbs last weekend, it got bumped in.

Definitly lucky it got stuck where it did, had it made its way past the valve, there would be a lot more damage to deal with. As it is, the head needs a valve and valve seat. I already have it at a machine shop.

What's crazy is the screw had been floating inside the intake port getting beat up by the valve for probably 60 miles before it tried getting into the combustion chamber.

WHOA!!

WoW!! Lucky man to have it stop there!!

Saturday I got the engine back together and in the car.

Went racing Sunday and ran low 19s, 19.22 being the best, and won the event.

Can you say "bounty hunter"...

Definitly had a setback today.


When starting the Street Bug this morning, the left carburetor backfired and ignited. I was able to get the fire out, but not before melting down the air cleaner, engine wiring harness, fuel line, and my nice red paint on the decklid/fender. Plus, unable to smother the fire, I was forced to put it out with water, sending water and debris down the carb.

So today I pulled the dual carbs back off, replaced the wiring harness with one from the junkyard, and started putting it all back together with the single carb setup. I need to get gaskets and intake boots still, but I will have this thing back together shortly.

Update. It's a runner with the single carb again. runs great.

Big, but not super big.

I LOVE THIS CAR. What a little charmer.

Went to the dragstrip on Wednesday night. Won the Import class.